Since Hayato did not want to go to the main area of the academy that day, he decided to stay in the dormitory area the next day until the last day of the freshman orientation. Rafe was forced to walk around alone after all the other F-rank students chose to stay away from the main area of the Academy for their own safety.
"Hey, are you going to the academy today?" asked Rafe as he knocked on Hayato's room door.
It seemed that Rafe was now wearing the typical Elexia Academy clothes; yesterday, all first-year students received seven pairs of Academy clothes along with their adventurer cards. The door to Hayato's room opened, it seemed that Hayato was also ready in his academy clothes.
"Of course, today we're going to do our first quest and show these lowly NPCs who the hero here is!" said Hayato excitedly.
"At least don't involve me in your civilized grudge," Rafe grumbled as he stomped off.
"You don't have a choice, you can't do quests on your own because you're not officially an adventurer yet. All new level quests can be done by at least two students," Hayato said as he followed Rafe from behind.
"The rules in this era are weird," Rafe grumbled.
"Hey, don't you know what the points on your Adventurer Card are for?" asked Hayato.
"Are there points on the adventurer's card?" asked Rafe in surprise.
"You! Didn't you read the adventurer's manual that came with the card?" asked Hayato with an annoyed look on his face.
"Does it matter what it says?" asked Rafe, furrowing his brow.
Hayato immediately patted his own forehead and sighed deeply. He explained that there were guild points on all adventurer cards that reset every year, and that rank F students had to earn at least 1000 points in a year to avoid being expelled from the academy. Rank E students 975, Rank D 950, Rank C 100, Rank B 50, Rank A 25, Rank S 10, and Rank Hero 0.
Hayato also explained the points they would receive from each level of quests. Tier F quest point reward is 1 point, Tier E gets 2 points, Tier D gets 10 points, Tier C gets 20 points, Tier B gets 40 points, Tier A gets 80 points, Tier S gets 200 points, Tier SS gets 500 points, Tier SSS can get more than 1000 points.
All these points are given to each student who participated in the quest, and the prize money is also equal to the point value of the quest. For example, the reward for a level F quest is 1 gold coin, the reward for a level E quest is 2 gold coins, and so on. The difference was that the gold coins from the quest reward still had to be distributed to the students who participated in the quest.
"Eh! So if we both complete the Level F quest, that one gold coin has to be split into two?" asked Rafe in surprise.
"Looks like your brain is starting to fill up," Hayato praised.
"You think the brain in my head is empty, huh? I won't be able to beat your teacher if I don't have a brain!" snapped Rafe, glaring at Hayato.
"Yeah, I was just kidding anyway," Hayato said with a laugh.
"That's the truth, the weak and poor have no hope of becoming an adventurer in this kingdom. That's why there has never been a Rank F student to graduate from the Elexia Academy," Hayato explained.
"I'm getting more and more fed up with the rules in this era," Rafe grumbled quietly.
The two of them finally arrived at the main area of the school. Today was the first time the freshmen wore their uniforms. Each of the teachers in charge of them began to come to their respective classes.
Each class had a different schedule. The F, E, and D students study with a teacher for one hour each day, while the C, B, and A students study and practice for four hours each day. The rest of the time they can practice on their own or do quests. All students are allowed to skip class if they are doing quests that take a long time to complete.
"Today's lesson is over, you can start taking quests from today. Remember, the points you need to survive are a lot, don't waste your time," Nia said as she walked out of the classroom.
"Finally able to take the quest!" Rafe exclaimed as he stood up.
"Rafe, I want to do the quest to help herd sheep, do you want to join me?" Nlo offered.
"No, I'm planning on doing the Tier SSS quest, it says the reward is the biggest," Rafe declined as he walked away.
"Eh?" muttered Nlo in surprise, the other Rank F students also seemed to be shaking their heads because they couldn't guess Rafe's thinking.
"Elena, do you want to go on the quest with me?" Nova asked Elena, who looked thoughtful.
"Yes, we have to collect as many points as possible," Elena replied happily.
"Looks like I need to catch up with that ancient man before he starts that tedious quest," Hayato said as he hurriedly caught up with Rafe.
Rafe and Hayato immediately headed for the Academy's guild building. It seemed that it was already crowded with other students from different years, hunting for quests to gain points to survive at the academy until graduation.
A few students whispered and laughed as Rafe and Hayato entered the Academy Guild building, most of them laughing at Hayato. But Hayato seemed to try to ignore them and immediately invited Rafe to choose a quest.
"Watch out, there's a main character who wants to be Ms. Lola's slave coming through," several students whispered while trying to get out of Hayato's way.
"Uh right, be careful. He'll offer you his sperm, too," another student scoffed while moving away.
"What does that mean? The main character? What a strange language," another student said with a laugh.
"Tch. What exactly did I do that day?" Hayato thought as he looked down.
"It's too bad that someone as tough as Rafe has to be friends with someone like him," said a student who was worried about Rafe.
"He's a good person, maybe he's sorry that weirdos like him don't have friends," another student said.
"Listen to this, Hayato," Rafe said as he patted Hayato's shoulder.
"You want to make fun of me too, huh?" grumbled Hayato while glaring at Rafe.
"Hehehe... how scary," Rafe scoffed with a chuckle.
"Tch. All NPCs are the same, they're annoying. You'll see when it's time for me to show my strength," Hayato thought.
"Retrieve Electro Skullix Monster Crystal on the tenth floor of Ruttera Dungeon, spawns in two days, level S, minimum two members and maximum thirty members," Rafe mumbled as he read one of the quests.
"Electro Skullix? Tenth floor dungeon, aren't all dungeon monsters in this world the same? From the picture, it looks like a giant skeleton monster that usually exists in dungeons," Rafe said quietly. He was a little curious because this was the first time he had heard the name of a monster in a quest.
"Let's just take this Tier A quest, Rafe!" Hayato said loudly for the other students to hear.
The other students who heard Hayato's words looked at each other before finally laughing with satisfaction.
"Hahaha! F rank students want to take the A rank quest?" a D rank student said while laughing.
"Don't joke, you fart boy," another student taunted, also laughing.
"Bandits don't lose just because they smell your farts," said another student.
"Killing bandits in Pulla Village? I'm not interested, let's take this one," Rafe said as he picked up the Tier S quest paper he had seen earlier.
At that moment, the students who had been laughing suddenly stopped. They were surprised to see Rafe taking the Tier S quest. Hayato was even more surprised when he caught up with Rafe.
"Hey, if you fail, it will be even more embarrassing. I know you're good, maybe you can beat those bandits in Pulla Village, but the dungeon is different," Hayato stopped him.
"Don't you want to show off when you successfully complete a difficult quest? Better take this one instead," Rafe said.
"Yeah. Hey Rafe, but this is a life risk," Hayato persuaded.
"If you're afraid, you don't have to come, I can invite others to fulfill the quest requirements instead. Nia also said we can invite anyone, whether it's ordinary people, merchants, teachers or whoever if they want," Rafe argued as he continued walking.
"Tch. Your brain always sucks in situations like this," Hayato grumbled quietly.
"Do I have to die on my first quest?" Hayato thought worriedly.
Continued...