"Goblin market?! Those bastards sell things stuffed with gunpowder!" The lizardman, looking as though he was about to change colors, pointed at Motan and shouted at the increasingly panicked young elf. "Isn't it obvious! Haven't you noticed that random bystander who looks utterly clueless has been staring at you for a while?!"
Motan: "...…"
Then the crowd around him started to stir, with faint shouts of 'run' and 'oh crap', and, Motan stiffly turned around to face the 'inscrutable' old mage, who was cheerily waving his hands and feet as he approached, still calling out: "Why are you all avoiding me?! This wand of mine is a family heirloom, despite being old it won't just explode randomly!"
"Get lost!" A dwarf priest, who was so terrified that he couldn't squeeze past others, waved and screamed in terror: "You old fool who's about to meet his maker yet still managed to stay a beginner mage! Stay away from me!"
Immediately a sizable number of people around him echoed loudly...
"That's right! Stay away from us!"
"This old guy's antique wand that blows up everything except himself has exploded four times just last month!"
"Four times? I remember it was three…"
"You were still recovering from your injury during the last explosion~"
"Ah, wait a minute, I'm a bit dizzy. How did I get hurt then?"
"He blew you up!"
"Damn!"
Anyway, everyone except for Motan who was still in shock, had quickly run far away, and then...
The unusually talented 'beginner mage' in his eighties, suddenly had a twinkle in his eye and rushed towards Motan, jogging while cheerfully saying, "Young man, do you want to team up? My fireball is really powerful!"
"Wait!" Watching the old mage's antique wand intermittently sparking in mid-air, Motan couldn't help but feel a chill rise within him and he quickly held-up his hands. "Don't come closer..."
BANG!!!
A minute later, Motan picked himself off the ground, looking a mess, he sighed as he checked his HP, which was now barely at 5%.
Everything happened so suddenly. The moment the mage's wand started billowing black smoke, Motan didn't hesitate to snatch it. He then hurled the wand into the air with a speed that could rival a soldier tossing a live grenade under his feet, and even pushed the mage onto the ground...
Following this, he lost 90% of his HP from the explosion and got burned by the fire, causing an additional 5% HP damage.
So, it's said for a reason that good guys often have short lives...
"Bloody hell, that hurts…"
Motan, dazed, stands up and staggers to the wall, where he collapses. He ignores the stunned old mage and the surrounding crowd's gaze and applause, feeling like his life was over.
Then he hears a 'woof~' next to him.
Woof?!?
Motan turns around and feels all the color drain from his face. The classy half-orc girl, who he had noticed earlier, finally spoke up, but she had only one syllable to offer, a 'woof'...
"Um~" The human girl behind the counter held her head in her hand, then spread her palms at the seemingly dog-like half-orc girl: "How bad is your Universal Language?"
"Woof o(╥﹏╥)o..."
"Well, how about this? For mission inquiries, bark once. For complaints and such, bark 1473 times."
"Woof?!"
"Oh, it's about a mission, huh? Accepting or completing? Bark once for accepting, twice for completing."
"Woof(*^▽^*)."
"Give me the manual, let me have a look... You can take the lowest E-level missions at present." The receptionist girl handed the bone-printed manual back to her: "Go look at the task board, write down the number and come back to register."
"Woof..." The half-orc girl reaches out her hand.
"Okay, okay, I'll give you a pen. Remember to return it to me later."
"Woof~~(✪ω✪)"
The half-beast girl took the pen and ran off.
Suppressing a strong urge to vomit blood, Motan, who had slightly recovered his stamina, struggled up from the ground and went to the counter where the charismatic salesgirl was. He waved at her through the window, "Excuse me~"
"Hmm?" She played absentmindedly with her fingernails and asked, "What's up?"
Motan replied with a polite smile, "I would like to register as an adventurer, do I need to..."
Bam!
A form was slapped right in front of Motan. The salesgirl glanced at him, "Fill this out and hand it to me, and I will give you the handbook."
"Is it so simple?" Motan was surprised. Although by now, he felt that he should have become accustomed to any ridiculous thing happening, Mag had mentioned about the registration for adventurers which was not difficult, but a simple assessment would still be required.
Could it be that the information was outdated?
"Technically, we should conduct a slight test because we do have some rules here," the girl flashed a smile at Motan then pointed to the scorch marks on his body, "But seeing that you have survived under Jadka's self-destruct magic wand without getting injured or dying, your strength should qualified. After all, judging by the strength of the magic fluctuation, if you were a weakling, you would've been burnt to ashes right here by now…"
Could it be that they also practice cremation in the Innocent Continent?
Motan chuckled and nodded, borrowing a pen from her to fill out the not-so-complicated form. He quickly filled in his basic information such as name, gender, age, and under the strength column, he wrote 'Junior Warrior'.
"Mol?" The girl mumbled while processing Motan's rank on the crystal panel next to her, "This name is pretty unique, it isn't a fake name, right? Maybe your real name was something like Silly Cow... Hmm, doesn't matter anyway, the Adventurer's Guild will only recognize this name from now on, here you go."
With that, she handed Motan a thin black handbook.
"Thank you~" Motan thanked her politely and took the handbook, then heard the system prompt sound in his ear.
[You have unlocked the identity system]
[You have obtained the identity: Junior Adventurer]
[Junior Adventurer]
Identity (Not Unique)
Usage: Take or register for E-level tasks at the Adventurer's Guild
[Note: Noob]
...
[You have obtained bonded item: Adventurer's Handbook]
[Adventurer's Handbook]
Bonded, Unique
Usage: Prove your identity
[Note: Although reissuance doesn't require any process, it's very expensive...very expensive...very expensive...]
"You're welcome." The girl smiled at him, "You're now a junior adventurer. You can only take on the lowest level tasks, which are troublesome and frustrating. But it's safe at least. Once you complete certain tasks, you can level up and take on higher-level tasks. But it's better to wait until you've improved your strength before doing so, the annual death rate of our Anka branch is high enough, so for our bonus, please be sure to stay safe..."
Motan was touched at first but was left full of complaints when she finished speaking. After thanking her again, he quickly walked towards the task board not far from the center of the hall, wanting to see how frustrating these E-level tasks could be.
...
"This is against the rules, President." After watching Motan leave, the girl softly muttered as though talking to herself, "If anything happens, you'll be responsible..."
With a wave of hazy fluctuation, the gentle man, who Motan had met before at the branch's entrance, appeared behind the girl, shrugged, "When did you ever take responsibility when things went wrong? Don't worry, that young man is quite interesting..."
Martin Slone, the president of Anka Adventurer's branch, known as the Great Sage of Starlight, murmured with a soft laugh, "I saw redemption in his eyes..."
Chapter Nineteen: The End