The guildhall was bustling with adventurers, each counter more crowded than the next. Two male and two female receptionists manned the counters, and I instinctively moved toward the most crowded one. Why, you ask? Of course, it's to stealthily earn some money. With so many coin pouches dangling in front of me, how can I resist the urge to snag some? I can't.
With nimble hands, I picked quite a few pockets before my turn arrived. As I stepped up, I greeted the receptionist.
The guild receptionist was a young woman with pink hair and a cute face. She smiled warmly as I approached. "Welcome to the guildhall. How can I help you?"
"Hello, I am Ervin. I am here to register as an adventurer," I said, trying to sound confident.
"I see! Well then, please fill out this form." She passed me a piece of parchment and a quill. The form asked for basic information like my name, age, and any previous combat experience.
I quickly filled out the form, and once I was done, the receptionist took the form and looked it over. "You shouldn't lie while filling this form, you know," she suddenly said with a frown on her face. But I was pretty sure that I didn't lie about anything.
"It's your age," the black cat whispered in my ears. Ah! That's when it hit me. I vaguely remember hearing some prompt saying my age was modified to 12 years. At that time, I just choked it up to my imagination, but maybe that's true and I did become young. Oh, that would be so great. Looking down, I did appear quite a bit shorter too.
I sheepishly scratched my head and changed my age to 12 years old. "I'm sorry, I wanted to appear a bit more mature." It seems the receptionist believed the statement, as she quietly took the form back with a small smile on her face.
"I forgive you just this once," she informed and pulled out a figurine of a cat girl from under the counter. "Place your hand on the idol of goddess Systie and pray. Once you do that, your system panel will get activated, and you will be registered in the guild."
Wait! Did she just call Systie goddess!? More importantly, is that cat girl the true form of Systie? Man, she looks cute. I glanced at the black cat sitting on my shoulders, and could almost see its imaginary nose grow in pride. Is this smug cat supposed to be a cute cat girl? Yeah, I am not buying it. There has to be a mistake somewhere.
Shaking my head to remove all those thoughts, I placed my hand on the cat girl's head. Immediately, a soft blue glow enveloped my body, and I heard a ding sound.
*Status panel activated*
*Say the word
I closed my eyes and mumbled
---
Name: Ervin
Age: 12 years old
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Class: Rogue (basic class) - evolve upon reaching level 20
Ability: Prankster
Stats
HP: 11
MP: 9
Physical attack: 9
Physical defence: 4
Magic attack: 2
Magic defence: 5
Agility: 10
Skills
Slot 1—
Slot 2—
Slot 3—
Slot 4—
Skill points: 0
---
As I was appreciating the stats, the cat on my shoulders jumped down, curled up into a ball, and with a yawn, drifted to sleep. Wasn't the damn thing acting cocky and energetic just a while ago? How come it's suddenly feeling sleepy? Are my stats that bad? I stared at the receptionist worriedly.
"Wow, those are pretty good stats: an above-average physical attack and speed, average defenses, and a terrible magic attack stat. Perfect for a rogue class," the receptionist informed while extending her arm. I let out a relieved sigh hearing that.
"Not just that, you have prankster, one of the best abilities for a rogue class, it increases the effectiveness of all your non-damaging skills."
"Non-damaging skills?" I asked back, confused.
"Ya, skills like stealth and pickpocket don't cause any damage to the opponent and their effectiveness increases a lot due to prankster ability. You might even be able to sneak into a noble house undetected," she explained and then extended her arm. "Please pay 1000 cents to receive a guild card and start your missions."
Of course, we had to pay. Why would they just provide the card for free? Thank God I borrowed some money from unwilling donors just a while ago. I looked into the stolen pouches and found a few bronze and one silver coin.
"Um, how much is one silver coin?" I asked, not knowing how the currency in this world worked.
Ugh, I should have asked about these before getting reborn. I lamented internally, but thankfully, the receptionist just gave me a dubious look and explained, "One small bronze coin is one cent, one large bronze coin is 100 cents, and one small silver is 1000 cents."
I looked again at the bag. Yeah, the silver coin looked small. I took out the silver coin and received my guild card.
"Congratulations on becoming an adventurer. Now you can take missions and earn money. Remember to always be alert while doing a mission. You can choose the missions from that mission board."
I thanked her for the help and moved towards the mission board. Let's see what types of missions are available.
---
Class requirements: None. Reward: 100 cents.> Pass. Class requirements: Classes with high physical defense. Reward: 500 cents.> Again pass. Reward: Working with me is the best reward you can have.> What the!?-hard pass. --- There were a lot more missions like those. I could only sweatdrop at the scouting post. What do you mean working with you is the reward? Are all the mages like that? Yeah, no. Let's avoid mages for now. I checked a few more missions until finally finding something that looked half decent. --- Collect five red rose flowers and one blue rose flower. Reward: 100 cents for each red flower and 200 cents for the blue one.> --- I took the mission sheet and gave it to the pink-haired receptionist. "Are you sure you want to take this mission? It's pretty dangerous." I frowned at that statement. "Are there any boss monsters guarding the flower or something?" I asked, but she just shook her head in denial. "I don't know what this boss monster is, but no monster is guarding the flower. It's just that the flower grows near a forest area, and if you aren't careful, you might become a meal to a monster." I gulped, but still, this was the best mission for me. After all, I excel in speed, and the reward is pretty enticing. Ah, fuck it, let's just do this. "I will take the mission." The receptionist nodded at my statement and punched her seal of approval. First mission, here I come.