*sigh* "What a day." Soren said with a tired expression as he was looking at the carriage's ceiling. Ever since the two of them left the Longinus mansion, Soren felt a wave of fatigue hit him like a truck and he felt like he would fall asleep if he closed his eyes for even a second. It has been around fifteen minutes ever since Soren had taken one of the carriages and left the mansion and he didn't have much to do anymore. Aside from getting the results and rewards of his mission and having some dinner, he had pretty much completed all the important stuff he had for the day.
As the carriage was making its way towards the Adventurer's Guild, Soren decided to check on something that he didn't the opportunity to do so before. He opened his bag and from it, he took out a red book and opened it. The inside was still empty and Soren could only sigh as he was turning the pages of this empty book. Aside from the materials that this book was made of, he didn't know what this book was supposed to be. 'Was it a rare book whose information got erased with the passion of time? Was it a spellbook that could show its spells through a contract of sorts? Was it a cursed book that could take souls of the dead?' These were the kinds of thoughts that went through Soren's head as he was staring at it.
After spending some time theorizing about it, the carriage suddenly stopped and the driver then said to Soren:
"We have arrived at the Adventurer's Guild sir."
The moment Soren heard that, he saw that they had really stopped just outside of the Adventurer's Guild. He then put the red book into his bag, got out of the carriage while carrying Lavenza on his arm and entered the building after he thanked the driver for his services.
Since it was night time for Mermen, there weren't as many adventurers sitting or waiting in the building. Aside from some who had tired expressions, everyone else was full of energy while conversing with some of their fellow co-workers or just checking the mission board.
After looking around for a bit, he found Jay who was at the reception and was talking with a female adventurer who had black hair, a purple tail and was wearing black leather armor that was coveing most of her body. Soren thought for a moment that he had seen her before, but he decided to not bother since he was too tired and he wasn't in the mood to ask. After waiting for around ten or so minutes, the mermaid left and then Soren went to Jay to ask him for the mission.
"Hey, Soren. How is it going?" Jay said while waving at Soren with a happy expression.
"Just fine. How's work treating you?" Soren asked with a tired expression on his face.
"Same as usual and with your quick drop off, it couldn't get any better." Jay said sarcastically.
"Anyways, the mission? What are the results?" Soren asked while rubbing his head from a blunt headache that he was having now.
"Let's see... 5 tier 1 monsters, 2 tier 2 monsters, one of those two being a bounty that had been posted a while ago. Your grade for finishing the mission is-"
"A" Rohan said with a happy expression while interrupting Jay's sentence and standing behind Soren.
Soren nearly jumped from suprise while hearing his grade because he didn't expect Rohan to suddenly appear behind him. After seeing him, he asked with a suprised expression:
"Rohan? What? How did you...?"
"Calm down Soren. 1 question at a time." Rohan tried to calm down Soren with a happy expression on his face.
"Well, for starters, how did you appear out of nowhere?"
"I was in one of the training facilities and the moment you entered the building, I got word that you arrived and decided to suprise you a bit."
"Alright. Now, can you please explain the results a bit better? Right now, I would like explanations." Soren asked with a serious expression.
"Fine. For starters, Soren do you remember the things that are required for the grade assessment of the quests?"
"Hmmm... I know it's something about quality and condition, but I can't remember well enough." Soren asnwered while rubbing his head.
"I guess I didn't explain things well enough. Let's start with requirements. Requirements are what you require to complete a quest and to get those, you require to do the things that the mission tells you to do. That is the most bare basics of mission and quest completion. Next, quality. Quality is determined by a few factors. Time, effieciency and precision. Time is obvious, the amount of time required to complete a mission or the deadline of a mission. Efficiency is the amount of time that would usually require for someone of the mission's level, compared to the actual ime that the mission was cleared. Don't confuse them with the time aspect of the missions, that's more of a deadline, rather than an actual timer. Finally, precision. Precision is checked by the amount of injuries and trauma on the carcass of the beast. That will check how well can you cause fatal injuries, without causing other unnecessary injuries. Those Sea Wolves that you sold around a week ago, those had a high precision grade that would have given a decent increase on your grading. Finally, conditioning. Conditioning checks your own damage, compared to the rewards that you would obtain, upon completing the quest. That counts all body injuries, items that were used during the quest and any damage caused on your equipment." Rohan explained without stopping while looking at Soren. That entire explanation was a bit tiresome for Soren, but he kept himself focused throughout the entire explanation.
"I get now how the assessment works, I got a decent grade on time and did alright with the rest probably, but how is that helpful?" Soren asked while tilting his head with a bit of confusion while looking at Rohan.
"That grading system is used for either important missions or rank up quests. I think you can guess the rest if you put your noggin through the works." Rohan said while touching Soren's forehead.
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait a minute. You are not actually implying that..." Soren had a suprised expression when he made the connection in his head.
"Check your Adventurer's Card." Rohan said with a satisfied expression. At that moment, Soren took out the card and when he saw it, he was ecstatic.
[Name: Soren
Age: --- (CBAL)
Blood Type: --- (CBAL)
Race: Merman
Rank: E
Companions without a guild card in the same team: Lavenza/Sea Serpent/Rank E]
"So that Hunter's test was a rank up mission this entire time?" Soren asked with excitement.
"Yes. I don't believe that you are aware of this, but you should know that there no rank F quests that require any sort of combat skills. All rank F quests are either collection quests or errands posted by the citizens for anyone who wishes to make a quick and easy buck." Rohan explained with a casual expression.
"The reason why I decided to give you a rank up quest immidiately as your first mission was to allow you to have access to combat related missions, as well as the training courses that are available upon reaching rank E. That way, we can avoid wasting over a month making you go through collection quests. Although you will have to do collection quests as well to get experienced with those, for now though you will require training to protect yourself." Rohan continued explaining for a little while.
"I see..." Soren said while looking relieved. He couldn't believe that he would have to do collection quests for over a month, if it wasn't for this quest.
"Anyways, aside from the rank up, you will get a monetary reward based on your grade. Here's the list for the rewards for the completeion grades of the rank E mission." at that moment, Rohan gave Soren a sheet of paper with a list of letter, sentences and a few numbers as well:
'Rank E advancement quest rewards
Failure of completion: Nothing/Advocation of the Card
F: 5000 Kus
E: 10000 Kus
D: 20000 Kus
C: 50000 Kus
B: 100000 Kus
A: 150000 Kus + One free weapon/armor
S: 200000 Kus + One free weapon/armor
X: 250000 Kus + Two free weapons/armor and access to quests from nobles.'
As Soren was reading the sheet of paper, his mouth started to drop slowly to the ground. He didn't expect to see that the rewards would be so good. Compared to money he got from selling the Sea Wolf carcasses that were equal to the rank D reward, these rewards could be the greatest treasure yet for Soren. After he read the list, Soren decided to ask Rohan with a serious expression:
"Rohan, can I ask what these "quests from nobles" are?"