Val left the Awakening room with a bright smile, which initially took the middle-aged receptionist off guard, however being very experienced at her job she was able to recover from the surprise rather quickly, and it became obvious to her that the cute young boy in front of her had awakened a strong talent.
"Good job, I can see that the awakening has gone well for you".
The receptionist commented, to which Val replied with a charming genuine smile, which he rarely showed others and had not had for quite some time and responded.
"Yes, it went even better than I hoped".
The receptionist gave a slight smile and then asked.
"That's good, were you planning on becoming an adventurer? If you were we can get you registered now".
Val quickly responded with a confirmation and the two of them returned to the receptionist's desk in the hall of the adventurers guild. The receptionist took his basic details, like his name and age, to which Val just gave the name Val. He didn't know about his family situation or who they were, so he wasn't going to risk giving it to anyone. She then proceeded to ask if he had a Magic Talent or a Martial Talent, to which he answered that he had awoken both. No one was allowed to force someone else to share specific details about their talent, but one could voluntarily share them and the basic knowledge about if you have martial or magical talent was considered to be beneficial for the guild to know because it would impact if they were to recommend requests or party invitations to you. So Val was willing to share this information.
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Once they had completed the registration the receptionist had a few important things to tell to Val, so she began her speech which she gave to every new adventurer when they registered.
"You will begin your adventuring career as an F-Rank adventurer. You will receive your guild card, the guild card is a magic item that records your basic details and binds to you, so it is impossible for someone to steal it and pretend to be you. The card has other functions besides basic identification, it will record the requests and missions you take and the ones you complete or fail. It also has a special function which is that it can identify monsters and beasts and tell you what parts need to be brought back for proof of subjugation and what parts can be sold for money. It will also tell you where the skill crystal will be located, if the beast or monster has one, though that is very unlikely, you should always check, just in case you get lucky".
"To use this function, you need to grasp your guild card tightly and shut your eyes as if you were looking at your status and focus your mind on a mental picture of the beast or monster and the details will be presented in your mind".
"Do you have any questions?"
Val thought about it for a bit and then asked,
"What about for mutated beasts and variant monsters?"
The difference between monsters and beasts is that beasts are animal-like beings that have higher intelligence and have martial or magic skills and are capable of learning new skills, though this is difficult for the wild beast to achieve without guidance, whereas monsters don't have many similarities to animals, but also have more intelligence than animals, they are also capable of evolving when they become strong enough and have stored enough mana in their body. An example to make it easy to understand would be; a goblin is a monster and the goblin is capable of evolving to a hobgoblin, a wind wolf is a beast (a wolf with Wind Talent and capable of using wind skills) and a regular wolf would be an animal.
Mutated beasts are beasts that have awakened talents different from their racial talents, for example, a wind wolf who has also awakened a Lightning Talent, these are actually one of the most common mutated beasts and have been named Storm Wolves.
A monster variant is a monster born differently from the normal species, for example, a goblin shaman is a goblin variant. The reason this is a variant is because a monster like goblins naturally doesn't have Magic Talent, they are only meant to have Martial Talent.
The receptionist promptly responds, as if expecting this question,
"If the mutated beast or monster variant has been found and documented by the adventurers guild before then the information will appear but if they are a new discovery then the information of the closest monster or beast will be shown. In this situation is it requested for the body to be brought back to the guild if possible, the adventurer will be rewarded generously of course."
Val nodded his head in understanding.
"Okay, I understand, thank you."
The receptionist asked if the young boy had any more questions, which he denied. Val thanked the receptionist again and then headed to the request board.
He noticed that most F-Rank requests available for F-Rank adventurers were quite simple, such as collecting herbs or killing goblins. These quests were also repeatable quests and were meant to support new and young adventurers to gain experience and money so that they could survive. These quests did not need to be accepted at the counter and could be redeemed at any guild branch when completed, by bringing in the proof of subjugation or the herbs.
Val was heading to the door to leave and start his adventure when he realized that he didn't know exactly where he should go.
He headed back to the receptionist, who was doing some paperwork, and embarrassedly asked,
"Excuse me, I was wondering if you had a map of the surrounding area?"
The receptionist who was looking down at her paperwork, raised her head to see the cute boy, who was a little embarrassed that he had forgotten to ask such a simple question earlier. She stood up immediately to find a map of the surrounding area for the boy and responded,
"Sure thing, maps of the local area are given free to new adventurers, I can provide you a map of the entire County, the Broski County, which Grandish Barony is a part of."
The Receptionist found the pile of copies of the map and handed one to Val. Val took the map from the receptionist and thanked her.
"Thank you".
Val opened the map and had a look. He knew that Vicla town was in the west of the Grandish Barony, next to an extensive forest that few ventured into. He found out that the Barony was in the South West of Broski County. He thought about where he should head first, he was thinking that the capital of the Barony would be an optimal place for his first trip. It was approximately 7 days of travel by foot, he would have to travel through fairly open tree land though. As he was planning his root he noticed a tower symbol on the map. He decided to ask the receptionist what it meant.
"Um, what does this symbol mean?"
The receptionist moved her gaze to where Val was pointing and saw the tower symbol, and promptly replied,
"The tower symbol represents a dungeon."
Val was surprised, he had heard of dungeons before, places where a lot of monsters and beasts resided and that they were created by evil gods, they were very dangerous and the Gods used them to kill people and capture their souls, but in return, there were a lot of resources and treasures which could be found in them including skill orbs.
The receptionist noticed Val's pondering face, and smiled as she spoke about this dungeon,
"This dungeon is of the lowest tier, an F-Rank dungeon, it is very useful for beginner and even intermediate adventurers. The treasure and resources you can find in it aren't the best but the danger is also lower. There is a town located nearby on the border of this Barony and the Hasdo Viscounty which is in the west of the County. The town has a representative of the Count, who works alongside the adventurers guild master of the Loka town branch to run the town, as the town's population has a lot of adventurers, due to its close proximity to the dungeon".
Val digested the information he received from the receptionist and decided that his first destination would be Loka town. He needed to earn money and gain experience and the dungeon seemed like his best bet. He currently had no equipment, except for his backpack and a 1 man tent which had become a traditional gift from the orphanage when kids left to become adventurers, as for food, he only had a little dried meat which he took with him when he left the orphanage, he would have to ration it out if he was not able to find and kill animals or beasts to eat on his travel.
He would need to buy two short swords but unfortunately, he did not have any money, so that would have to wait.
After making his plan in his head he thanked the receptionist for all her help. He may not have liked or trusted many people, but he was not an intentionally rude person, and when someone helped him, he would show his gratitude and thank them.
"Thank you for your help, it has been very useful and informative for me".
The receptionist smiled at him and Val was turning around to leave and start his adventuring life when she quickly gave him one last piece of advice,
"I know you awakened powerful talent, but do not let it get to your head, you are not yet powerful. Talent is just your potential, it is the end result, not the beginning, you have the potential to be powerful, but you are currently not. So be careful, we see too many young talents get arrogant and cocky and they often end up dead. You are also alone, which will make things harder, I recommend finding a party as soon as you can, so you have others to help and support you."
Val listened to her words and thought deeply about them as he gave her a nod of appreciation and he headed for the door.
'The first part of what she said is true. I cannot allow myself to get too cocky, I am a newbie, I don't have good equipment and I'm inexperienced, I should remember this and take it into consideration before entering battles. However, I can't agree with the second part of what she said. If I allow people to get close to me they will betray and abandon me, just like everyone else. However, I can fix this issue with my tame skill, hopefully, I can find a beast that I like that I can tame to become my partner and have my back!'
By the time Val came out of his thoughts about what the receptionist had told him before leaving the adventurers guild, he had already made it to the gates of the town. He was ready for the beginning of his adventure, the beginning of his story, and the start of his new life.
He took his first step out of the town as an adventurer and he couldn't wait for what would happen in the future.