[Fireball]
Arcane energies began condensing in and around my hand, converging on the location I was projecting my will to: directly above my cupped palm and clawed fingers. And instead of pushing it, I tried to hold back the flow of energy as much as I could with my limited intuition on magical control.
Suddenly a small portion of the energy condensed and formed a small spherical flame in my hand. Enamored with my creation, my control that held it in place slipped as the skill automatically burst apart into many embers.
Luckily the embers flickered out before they could fall on anything, and it probably appeared as if I had only done it to demonstrate the spell's function.
"I see that your only skill is indeed the Stone ranked skill, Fireball."
The scholarly guild employee finished up some paperwork, before handing me a gilded stone crest, as well as a guild member's ID which had all of the information I gave displayed.
"Normally this card will be blank and the information on it hidden, but you can choose to temporarily reveal certain parts of it if for convenience. If you want it updated to reflect your abilities better at a later date than please do return here and ask an attendant for an ID reassessment."
I could immediately see the use of the shiny card in front of me, as it could not only prove my identity but also be used to demonstrate my worth later on to people who might otherwise not believe me. It went both ways as well, and I would be able to ask to see another adventurer's ID in order to avoid being tricked in some way.
I watched as the card turned blank, and then tapped on the spot where my name had been, revealing only the name. Supposedly this protected against people stealing my identification and using it for themselves since it would only work with my touch, and an ID that didn't come in contact with its owner for more than 10 days would erase all of its information and become a blank slate.
The guild apparently had a different ID card for each rank, and I noticed the one I had was a solid stone gray in color. You had to get a new ID every time you achieved a rank up, conversely this meant if you lost your personal ID you would have to wait until you ranked up to get a new one.
I applauded this system which seemed to promote efficiency on the guild's side and safety on the member's side all at once.
Making my way out of the branch building, I headed back towards the edge of town, this time with a new destination in mind.
Aside from the main branch building of the Pentaz Guild in Breezy Meadow Town, there were many smaller buildings spread among the outer city, with most being directly next to a town entrance.
These were called Guild Posts, and they typically held a bottom floor that acted as a bulletin room with information, announcements, and most importantly: quests. They would typically be situated next to a tavern and an inn, which might be run by, or just partnered with the guild. And I was making my way to the one I had passed upon entering the city.
I found the building after enjoying a long, scenic walk back out to the city's wall, finding a lively Guild Post absolutely crawling with interesting figures.
Inside, there was an entire wall that was removed to make way for the tavern situated next to the Guild Post to be completely connected to it, as well as a stair case off to the side that led to guild owned rooms in the two floors above the common/bulletin area.
I took a moment to adjust to yet another entirely new environment, noticing how much I already liked this place and its lively, homey aesthetic.
I saw parties celebrating successes I could only imagine, people standing alone and pondering the contents of a paper they had taken off one of the many large boards, and circles of people holding various discussions. Both as they ate at large circular tables off to my right, and around announcement boards to my left.
Feeling incomparably giddy and hyped, I waved to a guy who was walking past me, seemingly headed over to the bar area of the tavern side.
He was tall and lean with light leather pieces of gear covering his durable looking clothes, I noticed two daggers sheathed on either side of his waist as well.
"Hey, how do I see the job and quest offers here?"
The guy glanced at me and looked me over quickly.
"Newbie huh? go over to the boards with the ranking plaques above them, I would definitely recommend sticking to the stone board. Don't even bother with the crazy stuff, they won't let you accept those."
He explained quickly even as he continued walking off, and I was glad the interaction went over smoothly.
I then walked over and slipped through the rather substantial crowd situated around the request boards, and started skimming the countless papers pinned on and over each other within the section indicated by the plaque with bold lettering, 'Stone Grade Requests'.
I scanned the board, seeing many types of requests. From the typical beast extermination, to resource gathering, and even part time gigs like:
Help With The Harvest|
Construction Work|
Personal Guard Needed|
Along with many more. The interesting part was that the vast majority were these kinds of jobs, and it seemed like only 10% or so of stone rank requests had anything to do with fighting monsters.
I was only really interested in these kinds currently, since that was the only way to increase in level. However, I had zero experience and didn't want to be reckless, so I headed over to the community boards instead, saving solo quests for another day.
Hopefully I could find some party requests there for a temp hunting group, or even a posting for [Monolith] exploration recruitment.