Moonveil had gained a reputation as a city that produced famous heroes throughout the ages; powerful wizards, brave knights, cunning thieves, and all other sorts have claimed the city as their home or at least their starting point. Because of this, every year many young adventurers or retired servicemen flock to this prosperous place on the edge of the kingdom to try and add their name to that illustrious list of immortal legends.
As a location to produce and develop powerful people, it was situated perfectly; far toward the northern edge of Corin, near their borders with several tumultuous neighbors. It stood really as a gateway from the truly wild lands and the rest of civilized society. This locale had several helpful but unforeseen side-effects.
One: Because of its ability to produce powerful people, it has been an unwritten rule amidst the politics of the capital to let Moonveil self-govern. There were calls many times to raise taxes or levies in defense of or for the good of the realm, and there was always a reminder to keep Moonveil exempt from such "burdens". No one wanted a surprise visit from an angry wizard, or a cadre of questing knights darkening their doorsteps.
Two: Because of its location, any misfortune or shenanigans that would-be heroes and adventuring parties got up to were far away from the more populous regions of the country on average. If a man that can summon meteors wanted to air out his grievances with the archer who never missed, well all the better that such a titanic battle take place in the vast mountains or endless forest than on Main Street.
Three: Because such a group of people were located in such a place it made for a natural defense system for their northern border. Many wars and border skirmishes have been avoided simply by the fact that: "Yes, we could invade, however we'd have to get past THAT place to do so. Perhaps we should resume negotiations after all."
With all these facts in mind it's no wonder that competition for recognition, high paying jobs, and valuable equipment and information was fierce in the city. Rarely did anything boil over into all out violence in the city, and when it did it was quickly quelled by a kind of make-shift neighborhood watch composed of the middle and higher tier heroes that wanted none of that nonsense.
No, instead monopolization was more common. Well established groups and individuals were sought out for the more perilous jobs or adventures, and others paid lower level adventurers to act as scouts to inform them the moment something interesting popped up. Very few lucrative prospects ever hit a public job board, and for this reason most new thrill-seekers and would-be's formed groups of four or five to better their odds and raise their overall power ranking.
Our two heroes from another modern day earth knew none of this of course, and so as they strode bright eyed and hopeful into the adventuring hall: "The Gift of Fortune" they did not realize how much work and toil was really in front of them.
Most adventuring halls or hero's guilds in the city served as part employment agency, drinking hall, and apartment complex. There was typically a job board with all manner of requests or news pinned to it and where to go and whom to talk to listed; ranging from the simplest of vermin hunting to the wildest claims of dragons or giants spotted in the deep wilderness.
There was always a large area for the "employees" (though they were legally and more practically considered freelancers in the modern sense) to drink, eat, perhaps enjoy some live music and otherwise unwind. Drinks and food were discounted for those that were under the patronage of the establishment and willing to only take jobs from them, since they received a tidy split of any profits for their advertisement and services.
Additionally, usually in a separate building on the same plot of land, there was a section for lodging available to the adventurers who didn't quite yet have the coin or means to afford their own. There was no structured rent system in place most of the time, the cost of their lodging was just deducted from their pay from completed jobs and quests. Of course, if an adventurer or party couldn't find work, or worse yet, failed several jobs in a row, they would be swiftly evicted.
The Gift of Fortune was no different in regards to any of these things; sporting large wooden tables to drink and relax at, a small stage, a rather humble job board, and simple but comfortable rooms. What it lacked however was a famous name attached to it.
It's not that no great heroes had ever been through their establishment, it was just that they never stayed. When Leoril the Lion Swordsman of the East, who famously slew one hundred demons single handedly, made his start, he was a patron for only a week before moving on to larger guilds. When Agatha the Sage-Woman tamed the rampaging spirits that threatened to pull both realms together stopped into the Gift of Fortune, she stayed only long enough to get a glass of water. This unfortunate reputation had given rise to the idea that while the Gift was a good place to start, it was no place to stay, and it has kept that reputation for nearly three hundred years now.
So as our two young protagonists entered, and found their way to the receptionist desk tucked into an alcove by the entrance, sporting a hand carved tall oak table and a stack of papers, pens, and stamps, it was no surprise that the middle aged man sitting behind it did not look thrilled to see them.
He was a human man, easily pushing forty, with sunken eyes, shaggy black hair that reached the middle of his ears and a returned stubble that he had given up on keeping trimmed and clean. The little office space he worked in wasn't dirty, but it wasn't tidy either. Lit by lanterns that highlighted the shadows from the tall stacks of paperwork he was procrastinating, it was a small space taken up by too many unfinished things.
Still, Jack and Robert approached him with easy smiles and confidence, and when there was no greeting or acknowledgement from the overworked and no doubt underpaid paper-jockey who was looking them dead in the face, Jack cleared his throat.
"Uhh. Hello." Jack began. Perhaps the man had fallen asleep with his eyes open, his elbow was already resting on the table and his chin was in his hand. But no, he was awake, for he blinked and sat up straight, and when he talked it was tired.
"How can I help you?" The programmed response of everyone in customer service. Jack idly wondered if that really was ubiquitous, even across worlds.
Jack struck his best heroic pose, which at the moment wasn't much more than standing straight and raising a closed fist, like a boxer hyping himself up for a fight.
"We want to be adventurers and a friend told us this was a good place to go."
The receptionist looked at Jack, or more accurately looked through Jack, and then glanced at Robert to see if it was the both of them, or just the perky one. With a nod from the brunette swordsman the man sighed and produced a small clock from behind a stack of papers, checked it, and then asked:
"Today? Now? You're sure?"
"Well, yes. I mean, there's time right? How long does it take?" Jack had started to backpedal. He was always sympathetic to that kind of work and the hassle and burn out it can bring, having done quite a lot of it himself.
"No, yeah. It's fine. Give me one second." The man pushed a hand through his hair and tidied up his desk for a moment, putting stacks of papers into drawers and producing two sets of forms and rudimentary pens for them both. "Just fill these out, name, moniker, grade, that kind of thing."
"Sorry, grade?" Robert asked, stepping forward and starting his own paperwork.
A small, almost pained groan escaped the receptionist. "You two aren't graded yet?"
Both boys shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders or upturned their palms, signaling their confusion.
"Ok, that's fine, it's just…hold on, let me find it." The man rubbed at his forehead a moment before ducking down beneath the desk to rummage about in the drawers. When he returned he held a dusty, esoteric device. It was akin to a large ring attached to a stand that held it by the ends and fixed to a heavy base, six inches wide and very thin, made of some glossy black material akin to obsidian. He plopped it onto the desk with a thud and blew the dust off of it, scattering it to the air between them.
The boys wave the dust away from their faces as the man starts his explanation with a deep breath. "Ok, this is an adjudicator. All you have to do is stick your arm through the ring and it will give you a grade. That grade determines what kind of jobs you can take. You can only take a job that's your grade or lower, or if you're in a group the average of your grades plus half the number of your party. As an example if there were four of you, and you were all grade B, you could take grade S jobs. Make sense?"
After a moment the boys nod and then Jack asks the obvious question that lingered on both their minds. "What are the grades exactly? I mean, how many are there, I guess?"
"Man, you kids are new huh?" The man nabbed a piece of paper and drew them a small graph, outlining it from lowest and ascending to the top of the mountain. "Here, look, it's like this."
SSS - Mythical heroes, world ending threats, mythological stories.
SS - Legendary heroes and monsters that are confirmed real to some extent.
S - The strongest of the "normal" heroes and monsters. Adult dragons and countrywide threats rank here.
A - Powerful monsters and threats that would be difficult to bring down even with a company of knights.
B - Very strong monsters and threats. Orc warlords, average necromancers, most wizards rank here.
C - A challenging threat for the average hero. A roving group of skeletons or well organized goblins.
D - The average threat that most heroes face. A few bandits making trouble, or twenty slimes where they aren't supposed to be. Most registered adventurers rank here.
E - A below average threat, only slightly more than a normal person can handle. Giant vermin, or a lone kobold.
F - A normal person with no magical aptitude or fighting ability. Regular vermin, and the weakest of monsters.
The boys study the sheet of paper they had been given for a moment, and behind them a few of the regulars had meandered over to see where these young boys would place. Some were eager for fresh meat that was placed below them, and others hopeful they might bring new life to their favorite haunt.
"So.." Jack started before looking at the sheet again. "How do you go up in rank or grade or whatever?"
A few chuckles escaped the small crowd behind him and the boys glanced over their shoulders to see the now mounting peer pressure and expectation. They ignored it though and turned back to the receptionist for an answer.
"Well when you think you've gotten strong enough to advance a rank you come back to the adjudicator. There's a fee attached though so don't think about trying your luck every week on the off chance you suddenly get better."
"There's a fee?" Robert perked a brow. "What about for today?"
The disgruntled man sighed again and shook his head. "No, not for today. Your first one is free if you've never been graded and you're registering to a guild. It's just more paperwork for me." He gave the weakest thumbs up known to man and motioned to the strange device. "So who's first?"
Jack raised his hand and shuffled to the middle of the table, rolling up his sleeve and tentatively putting his arm into the ring.
"So how does it know? I mean does it scan my brain or read my memories or something? Is there a pop quiz I'm going to have to take?"
Without an explanation from their disgruntled office worker the device came to life. Thin beams of yellow and blue light traced out from the inside curve of the ring and shot into Jack's arm, it left a cold sensation in the area, like putting your hand in ice water. On the surface of the base of the device runic symbols appeared in a soft glow and the entire thing started to hum at a low buzzing frequency. The humming gradually grew louder and as it did more and more of the runes appeared on the base. It reminded Jack of booting up a computer and watching the loading bar slowly fill.
When the entire thing was covered in strange runes and indecipherable glyphs, and the humming had reached its apex, it all suddenly stopped. The beams of light vanished, the noise went away, and the runes on the base were replaced by a large fonted "D".
The too-tired clerk snagged Jack's paperwork after that and spun it around to finish his portion; signing here and taking out a large stamp and pressing it to the paper to bear the emblem of the guild alongside Jack's name.
Jack rolled up his sleeve and once the clerk-man was done with the paperwork was handed a small metal badge. It too bore the emblem of the guild; a hand holding out a single coin, and beneath that the single letter "D".
"Congratulations. That's actually not bad for a first rating." The receptionist said as a small cheer and some polite clapping came from the little crowd behind them. Jack let out an emphatic 'woo-hoo!' and fist pumped the open air.
Robert gave his friend a pat on the back and slid to take his turn, rolling up his sleeve and putting his arm inside the ring. Someone from the crowd hushes those around him with: "Alright, let's see what the other one's got!"
The same beams of light, the same droning hum, and the same soft runes about the surface show. They grew in the same intensity and reached the same crescendo, and when the light faded and the hum stopped, and the runes faded away there was a bright bold "B" displayed.
Jack snapped up and broke the silence immediately, high fiving his buddy who returned the gesture with a cheerful smile.
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! That's my boy with the good grades!" Jack was hooting and hollering, but everyone else in the room had fallen into a hushed silence, only exchanging soft whispers between each other.
"What's the big deal, why is everyone freaking out?" Robert asked the clerk, who had sat perfectly straight up at this point and hadn't moved a muscle. After a moment the clerk cleared his throat and was very quickly more polite.
"Uhm. People don't get their first grading that high. Most of everyone here, everyone in the city honestly, grades in at E or D. Occasionally retired knights or wizard apprentices come in at C but the only people that start at B, and so young, have been very famous heroes. Oh! Sorry, hold on sir, let me get you your badge. One moment please."
Jack and Robert share a look. This was great news, they figured, unaware of either the Gift's reputation or the competitive landscape this had placed them in. After a moment though, Robert was presented his badge, a bright silver thing compared to the iron color that Jack's was.
"Let me be the first to say congratulations master…" The clerk checked the paperwork again. "Master Robert. Just so you're aware you're afforded discounted food and lodging for the duration of your time here with us. I feel obligated to tell you that at present you're the third highest rated person here in the guild, and so if you need anything then I am completely at your disposal."
A bit flabbergasted Robert nodded and put out his hand for the man to shake. "Yeah, I appreciate it. What was your name?"
He was given a firm handshake and the clerk stood up to deliver it. His hands were quite calloused and Robert got the sense that the man must have been an adventurer himself at some point. "Adrien Wilhelm, sir. It's a pleasure. Look, I wasn't trying to give you the wrong impression earlier, so I'm awfully sorry about that."
Robert patted the man on the shoulder and took his badge, slipping it into a pocket. "Don't sweat it. Look, we're waiting for a friend so we're just gonna go take a seat for now, alright?"
Adrien nodded and the little crowd dispersed back to their own tables or otherwise disappeared to their rooms. Some of them mumbled amongst themselves things like: "Machine must be broken…" and "Never seen that before." The mood wasn't entirely sour however, some of the others patting the boys on the shoulder as they passed and welcoming them briefly, or commenting about how they will watch their careers with great interest.
The boys found a quiet table out of the way of the others but in eyesight of the door. A large breasted waitress in a tight dirndl-style dress took their order and brought them a few drinks and a hot meal on the house. She too welcomed them to the Gift and commented briefly on how young and cute they were. Jack blushed a bit at this but Robert brushed it off and said what they were both thinking.
"Well, we did it. I'm honestly pretty pleased, I thought this process was going to be way worse. I kind of figured they were gonna make us go to some magical highschool or something."
Jack chuckled softly and took a sip from the frothy mug in front of him. "Hey man, that's a trope all on its own. Still man, you came in with good grades, hell yeah, congrats!" They clinked mugs, fairly made things of pewter, and toasted each other as Lisa made her way inside and found their table.
They quickly got her up to speed on all the things they had seen and their impressions of the city, and of course how they had joined the Gift of Fortune officially and their grades.
"A 'B'?! Seriously?! That's incredible! And Jack you still were graded quite high as well, for someone so young! Most adventurers need years under their belt before getting there and some never leave it! Congratulations you two!" She had sat next to Jack and so in her excitement, leaned over and gave him a rather large hug, but quickly remembered herself and detached, sporting slightly rosy cheeks.
They both smiled at her and enjoyed a fine meal together, talking well into the evening and otherwise just enjoying the company of fine friends together without any immediate pressing concerns. Eventually Lisa said her goodbyes and promised to meet them here in the morning and discuss their next steps.
The boys, now a little inebriated, returned to Adrien and opted to share a room rather than have two cuts taken from their future pay. They collected their keys and were led to their room, heading inside.
It was a cozy space, with two beds, two dressers, a very small attached "bathroom" that amounted to little more than a chamber pot and a bit of privacy. It had one full sized mirror, no doubt to aid people getting into and out of their armor, and was lit by a pair of candle lanterns that were housed in perforated metal holders. A large fur rug dominated the middle space on the floor. It felt like they were staying in a rustic room at an older ski lodge, or were glamping at an overpriced tourist spot in a national park.
Above all though the space was enclosed, and it was warm, and it promised safety. They could finally exhale and for the first night in several they could sleep without worry or trepidation.
They could be heroes tomorrow, tonight, they would rest.