The next morning...
Sion led August to the Perak branch of the Adventurers Guild located in the heart of the town.
'Although the Heavenly Novel realm is a realm composed mainly of cultivators and martial artists, the 2nd biggest profession of the realm are adventurers.
85% of adventurers are normal humans who have a thirst for adventure.
Whereas 15% of the active adventurers are people born with talents.
People who are born talented in either magic or cultivation become adventurers for the fame and fortune only, not to hone their skills nor rise to greater heights.
Although these people usually do become high ranking adventurers later on, they don't really have any battle prowess and the Adventurers Guild keeps them for publicity only.'
'The real talents of the Adventurers Guild however are people who hone their skills to the peak before joining the guild to help train juniors or to help maintain world peace among the various races of the realm.
They are a relative chill group of people that the Adventurers Guild pay special care of and....Oh f*ck, I'm going off topic here.....Uhm, where was I?
Ah yes, most common folk who become adventurers for fame and glory may die early thanks to their greed and carelessness, but that still doesn't stop them from diving into dungeons and ancient ruins scattered across the realm to find even the smallest of treasures.'
Sion said it in a matter-of-factly tone after returning to the topic at hand.
From his voice alone, August deduced that Sion was familiar with the top brass and Grandmasters of the Adventurers Guild.
Standing in front of 2 giant wooden doors, Sion further explained the inner workings of the guild to August so that August won't enter the building and point at everything excitedly, making him seem like an utter fool to everybody inside.
'The Adventurers Guild has rankings for the adventurers themselves, beasts that pose dangers to the people and quests that you'll find on the notice board on your left.
I'll start off with the ranking system of adventurers first.
Following the establishment of the Adventurer's Guild a few thousand years ago, a ranking system was implemented to put a stop on greedy bastards and death courting idiots from taking on extremely hard quests just because they think they have some skill after escaping death a few times.'
Sion stopped to take a breather before continuing on.
'Taking the cultivation realms here as reference, the rankings of an adventurer determines the level of jobs they can take on while also preventing them from suiciding after failing an extremely hard quest and are too broke to pay the penalty.
From the lowest rank to the highest, there are a total of 10 ranks with F rank being the lowest and X rank being the highest. Most people will start off as F rank adventurers when they first join the guild. After that, they can do quests and jobs to rank up...'
"Uhm, could you explain this to me later...I'm already at the front desk." August interjected.
'Eh?' Sion looked up to see that August had already entered the building as he was explaining the basics to August.
"Woah, who's that? He looks so skinny and pale!"
"A kid from the slums, I guess...Is he here to post a quest? Where would he get the money for it though?"
"What else could he do besides pickpocketing and robbery?"
"Tch, there's no way any of us will accept a quest of black money, right?"
"I mean, if the pay is good....I wouldn't mind."
As August pushed open the giant doors before him and strolled in, whispers and murmurs sounded everywhere as everybody couldn't help but notice the poor and sorry state August was in.
His white shirt was torn and ripped, his pants were covered in mud and burnt in some places, his hair was messy and his skin was as pale as paper.
Since most adventurers were normal people, they naturally wouldn't be able to perceive August's cultivation and think that he was just a malnutritioned young adult from the slums.
When walking past a group of lightly equipped adventurers however, the adventurers who were ready to pinch their noses caught a whiff of August's body odor and couldn't help showing looks of surprises. 'He doesn't smell bad, no...instead, he smells great! Like he just came out of a flower field!'
Upon arriving at the reception desk, August was then greeted by a young elf girl receptionist.
She had sky blue hair, big sparkling eyes, pointed ears and a shiny face.
It was also August's first time meeting an elf brimming with vitality.
The elves he was accustomed to were usually filled with dread as they marched across the Fields of Asphodel to hunt for sentient souls.
"Hello there! Welcome to the Perak branch of the Adventurers Guild. Are you here to post a quest or to apply for the Slums Aid & Relief Funds?" The elven girl asked.
"If it's the former one, please state your name, your request and reward for completing the quest here. If it's the latter, please write your name and address on this form."
"Uhm...Good afternoon, miss. I'm August Pranda and I'm here to sign up as an adventurer. I'm currently at the 5th stage of Body Tempering realm but I can assure you, I have the capabilities of becoming an outstanding adventurer if given enough time." [August]
"Eh?"
'Oi, give her the recommendation letter.' Sion reminded August.
"Oh yes, yes...Here is my recommendation letter to become an adventurer of the Adventurers Guild."
August then summoned an envelope with a black seal from thin air before handing it over to the elven girl with both hands.
"Eehh??" Having just recovered from her earlier shock, the elven girl went into shock again upon witnessing August summon an envelope from another space but found no traces of magic nor was he wearing a space ring to begin with.
"Uhm, the person who handed me that recommendation letter said he was from a pretty well known force here in this continent? Ancient Ghost Clan? I've never heard of them but he said they were indeed credible." [August]
After finishing his introduction and handing his recommendation over to the elven receptionist, only then did August realize that his surroundings had quieted down significantly.
Turning his head around to look, he was surprised to see that everyone was staring back at him with bulging eyes and gaping mouths.
He wondered whether there was anything on his back....
After taking a whole 5 minutes to recover from the immense shock she felt, the elven girl heard the words 'Ancient Ghost Clan' before slumping her entire head onto her desk and entering into an even greater state of shock.
August's sudden request to become an adventurer, revealing that he was a cultivator, and that he received a recommendation from the Ancient Ghost Clan was too much for her young heart to bear.