Niss entered the 5th floor of the guild hall, and what he saw amazed him. There was a large open space with numerous tables and showcases displaying dungeon artifacts. Many adventurers were inspecting items and talking to guild staff about prices.
"Hello, young man. Is that a dungeon artifact you have there?" asked an older man wearing the adventurers guild uniform, a simple robe embroidered in silver displaying the guild insignia.
"Yeah, I think its D-rank but I was hoping I could find someone to appraise this for me." Niss said, holding up his kama for the man to see.
"Yes, yes, why don't you follow me? We can use this room over here." the old man said, pointing toward a nearby door that led to a private room off the main showroom.
Inside, Niss saw two couches facing each other, with a crystal ball-like artifact resting on the table between them.
"Well then, have a seat. Don't worry, I won't bite." the old man said, giving Niss an amusing look.
"Is this a detection artifact?" Niss had seen a smaller and less lustrous one in Rivenwood before.
"That's right. Now sit down and hand me that kama of yours." The old man sat across from Niss, placing one hand on the detection artifact and holding Niss's kama with the other. "Hmmmm..." He hesitated for a very long time, leaving Niss wondering if he had perhaps dozed off.
Suddenly, the old man's eyes shot open. "Yup, it's a simple D-rank weapon, though far more beautiful than most in its rank. Still, it's D-rank." After another pause, the old man looked at Niss. "I could offer you 250g for it on behalf of the guild. Of course, you're also welcome to keep it if you like."
"I'd like to keep it, actually. I've felt quite drawn to it ever since I picked it up," Niss said, reaching out to take his kama back from the old man.
"Hmmm... well, that's alright. Finders keepers, or whatever the kids say nowadays," the old man said, frowning peculiarly as he scrutinized Niss. "Why don't you come out to the showroom? You might even find something you like for a trade."
'Seems like he actually really wants it, I'm not an idiot he's even offering to trade it in now.'
"Sure, it doesn't hurt to have a look around. I'm still waiting for my friends anyway," Niss replied, and they both exited back into the showroom.
Well then, come find me if you have any questions or have a change of heart, young man," the old man said, waving as he walked away from Niss. "May your aura shine brightly."
Niss waved back and offered a smile before heading towards some artifacts on display.
'What a strange old man. I feel like his reaction to me and the artifact was unnatural' Niss thought, reflecting on the interaction when Trevor interrupted.
"Look who got promoted to D-rank! It's me, Trevor Thorne!" Trevor exclaimed, overjoyed as he ran up to Niss and hugged him. "Check out my new badge!" He proudly displayed his shiny golden badge.
"That's great, Trevor. You really proved you deserved it," Niss replied, giving his friend a warm smile.
Niss knew that by now, he was easily in D-rank in terms of his aura strength, now only needing to clear another dungeon as per the guild's requirements. With his kama and dagger, he planned to develop a slightly new combat style that he was sure would accelerate his progress, making his path to C-rank quite clear.
....
Each rank is granted an Adventurers badge, they are distributed as follows:
F-Rank - Silver
D-Rank - Gold
C-Rank - Platinum
B-Rank - Sapphire
A-Rank - Emerald
S-Rank - Diamond
SSS-Rank - Mithril
.....
The two of them went downstairs where the list of dungeons needing to be cleared was displayed.
They looked over the possibilities for their next dungeon while they waited for Siarra to finish shopping.
The dungeon board had every dungeon in the vicinity of the guild hall and if the dungeons nearby are all cleared the guild will communicate with other locations and send adventurers over to them as needed, meaning adventurers never ran out of dungeons to clear but sometimes they had to travel a little ways to reach one. When the group first met at the guild hall in Rivenwood their was only one dungeon available to be cleared and being that it was a C-Rank the guild hall gave them a quest to clear Darvinia Mine the F-Rank dungeon near Mourne town.
This area was much different than Rivenwood, it was notorious for many dungeons between F-Rank and C-Rank. Niss and Trevor were now looking at D-Rank dungeons, as long as Trevor, an official D-rank, lead the party then usually the guild would allow them to take members one rank below the dungeon's difficulty. This meant they had a few to choose from this time, although it seems Trevor's eyes were bulging right out of his head when Niss looked over at him holding a posting for a dungeon clear.
[Chillcrypt Catacombs]
D-Rank Dungeon
Reward: 400+ Gold
(This dungeon has been neglected for a while now, and the guild is beginning to worry. The base reward is 400g, and if shown proof of the dungeon maturing, additional rewards will be added to compensate.)
Recommended party size: (5+)
Requirements: At least one party member must be capable of healing magic.
...
Trevor read over the posting with excitement.
"Whoa, this is four times the reward we got for clearing the F-rank dungeon. This is crazy! I could buy that new sword artifact I wanted upstairs!" Trevor was getting worked up already.
Niss, being more level-headed, sighed inwardly. "Trevor, it requires a healer. It also recommends five or more party members. We could go with five, but that means we would have to recruit a healer and at least one more member for this." Niss paused, thinking for a moment. "If I had to guess what happened with Gerard, I'd say he headed directly back to Rivenwood. I don't blame him after the loss of his sister, but that means he's not coming back to us anytime soon."
As the two discussed matters, Siarra spotted them and made her way over, holding two large books, spell tomes. Even before she said hello, she captured Niss's attention. He greeted her and shared his thoughts on Gerard's situation, as well as filling her in on Trevor's ambitious plan.
"I think we should do it, Niss! We've learned a lot, and I'm not even scared anymore as long as I'm with you guys..." Siarra trailed off, her cheeks turning red.
"Hmmm, Trevor, it's your idea, so find us a healer," Niss said, trying to hide his excitement. Deep down, he longed to push the limits of his strength. "Siarra and I will find us a fifth member, and we can all meet back here before the end of the day. We still need to rent a room for the night."
"Oh, don't worry, I already took care of that, actually," Siarra spoke up. "I mean, since my family owns an Inn here, we can just stay there."
Niss's suspicions were confirmed as she said this.
'I figured she was wealthy when I first saw that flash of fancy chainmail under her robes.'
"It's called 'The Frosty Griffon Inn' and I had my dad arrange for three rooms for tonight and tomorrow night, just in case." Siarra said, her smile returning, radiating confidence as she spoke about her family's successful chain of Inns.