The door to the office of the guild master of the Figliad branch closed. Gideon remained silent for a few seconds while looking down, processing what had happened inside, before exhaling and walking down the wooden staircase.
As he reached the first floor, he was greeted by the curious gazes of the adventurers, 37 of whom were sitting on the tables scattered around. On the other hand, Ordy, Mian, Halini, and Vien stood in front of the registrar with solemn expressions on their faces, waiting for the news he was about to deliver.
Gideon shrugged as he walked down the last level of the staircase. "Well, I guess I'm an adventurer now."
Then came the raucous roars of adventurers.
"Another adventurer has joined the ranks!"
"I knew he was going to make it the moment I saw him!"
Ordy immediately approached Gideon, laughing. He pressed his massive arm against Gideon's shoulders. "I knew you'd pass the test!"
Gideon creased his brow. "What test?"
"The questions asked by Guild Master Rudwick," Halini explained.
"But Guild Master said there was no test," Gideon pointed out.
Gideon's shoulder was tapped twice by Ordy. "It was a lie. Guild Master always said that for the applicant to feel at ease and tell him what they really think rather than what they think he wants to hear," he said as he drew Gideon in front of the registrar. "There were very few who ended up failing the test based on their answers, but at least we now know that you are not one of those few... Because, after all, what kind of person would fail such simple questions?" Ordy chuckled.
Gideon fixed his gaze on Ordy, his jaw clenched. Knowing that he could have failed earlier, especially given the interviewer's reaction. "I believe I just barely made it."
As they approached the registrar's desk, they were joined by Mian, Halini, and Vien.
"How does it feel to be an adventurer now, Gideon?" Halini asked, smiling brightly.
"Uh, it hasn't kicked in yet; I can't feel anything about it right now," Gideon replied.
"Don't be concerned; you'll feel it soon," Ordy assured.
Their attention was drawn when they heard the sound of small iron wheels rolling inside the registrar. Then Seilyn appeared, pushing a wooden table on wheels. A transparent glass ball the size of an average beach ball rested at the hole in the middle of the smooth light brown table, with half of the ball buried into the table. Next to the ball was a five-inch square platform that looked like the screen of a calculator.
Seilyn grabbed the brown clipboard lying on the table as the wheeled table came to a halt in front of Gideon. Seilyn stretched her arms in the air while releasing an alluring soft groan, and as she did so, all of her body shapes were pronounced on her dress. Everyone was in awe as they watched her with their bewitched eyes and dropped jaws. For a brief moment, the boisterous crowd fell silent as both men and women stared at her with wide eyes. Then there were the sounds of forks and spoons hitting the ceramic plates.
"We thank our God, Almighty Keros, for this blessed meal."
However, the silence was broken when Mian struck Ordy's stomach with her hand while narrowing her eyes. Ordy immediately cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention to what had just been brought in front of them, the table with the glass ball. Gideon, who had been stunned for a few moments, imitated Ordy by clearing his throat and walking toward the table.
Seilyn, who was unaware of what had just occurred, pressed her eyeglasses and faced Gideon. "This is the Guild Recorder, it's the device we've been using to record adventurers' information and activities in the guild; once your information is put here, it will be spread to all the departments of the Adventurers' Guild; it's the way for us to recognize you and track your activities even if you traveled around while adventuring," she said, pointing to the glass ball in the middle of the table. "All you have to do is put both of your hands on the appraiser, the ball in the middle, and it will automatically assess you, and we will know how much mana capacity you have at the same time."
Gideon gave a nod. "I see," he said as he approached the ball and raised his hand, his gaze fixed on it.
He placed his hands on the massive orb, and almost instantly, the ball lit up with white light, causing Gideon to stare at it with his enlarged eyes; it wasn't blinding, but it was bright enough to lighten Gideon's skin. The light stayed on as long as his hands were on the ball. After a while, the square screen next to the bright ball lit up and displayed green words flashing Gideon's information, indicating that he was now an official member of the Adventurers' Guild.
Seilyn nodded and began writing on the clipboard she was holding. "Not bad," she said before returning her gaze to Gideon, who was engulfed in the light he had created. "It's fine now, you can take your hands off," she said, smiling at him. "Congratulations, you are now an adventurer; your identification card will be given to you once we finish making it; we look forward to working with you, Gideon Brangwen."
The crowd grew louder once more to applaud the new guild member. They were jumping and shouting as loud as they could while waving their wooden cup filled with booze.
Because of the loud crowd, Seilyn's eyes narrowed. "However, I must advise you to get used to the nature of this guild while you are here, but don't worry, most of the guilds around are not this... uhm, lively, to put it mildly."
"And this is the best guild around!" Ordy exclaimed as he placed his hand on Gideon's shoulders.
"Yay!" Halini agreed, smiling and waving her arms in the air.
Gideon replied to Seilyn, "I will." After a while, he decided to change the subject. "Anyway, Miss Seilyn, may I inquire as to how much mana I have? Or if I even have mana—if it's okay to inquire about it."
Seilyn's shoulders twitched. "Of course, it's perfectly fine—my apologies for forgetting to tell you." She shifted her gaze to the Guild Recorder and read what was written in the green light flashing on the screen. "It says here that you have average mana capacity by human standards."
Gideon's eyes light up with excitement. "So I actually have mana."
Seilyn gave a modest chuckle in response to his remark. "Of course you do; everyone has mana; it's just a matter of how much you can store inside your body," she said, pressing her glasses. "For a beginner, your mana capacity is actually not bad; you have the same amount of mana capacity as Ordy when he first joined the guild three years ago, and with that amount of mana, you can take on roles like warrior, rogue, or even ranger... or maybe even a tank, with enough training and weight gain."
Gideon gave a nod. "I understand," he said, returning his gaze to the people behind him, where he found Ordy raising his thumb with a big smile, Halini waving her hand at him, and Mian and Vien just silently listening.
Seilyn passed through him on her way to the board on the guild hall's front wall. "Come here, Gideon, and I'll explain the rank classes and quests to you next."
Gideon approached Seilyn, who was walking toward the quest board. "On my way."
Ordy laughed as he watched Gideon walk away and placed his massive arms on Halini and Mian's shoulders. "Take a look at him; that's my lad."
Mian, on the other hand, walked away without warning and marched toward Gideon without saying anything. Her narrowed eyes darted at Ordy before she completely left. "Hmph."
Ordy just shrugged as he watched her walk away. He draped his other hand across Vien's shoulders. "What happened? Why is our Mian in such a bad mood? Did someone irritate her?"
Halini simply chuckled and looked down, as did Vien.
Ordy furrowed his brow in response to the response. "Girls can be difficult to understand at times; it's a good thing we now have two men in our party."