Arata stepped out of the large wooden building. It seems weird. She said that I wouldn't receive special treatment, but she gave me these rare powers.
"I didn't give them to you."
Arata jumped at the voice in his head. "How did you get in my head?"
"Don't worry about that. By the way, it wasn't me that gave you those little gifts of yours."
"But you said no special treatment. Not that I'm complaining, but giving me super rare abilities after everything you've said and done. It's weird."
"IT WASN'T ME! Those things were chosen randomly. Even here, it seems you're still lucky. Better hope that luck doesn't run out."
Just like before, the voice fades away.
Arata grimaced; the thought of having her in his head sent a chill down his spine. Gross!
He stroked his chin, standing in front of the guild.
The next thing on the agenda is to make some money. I'm not going to survive much if I can't afford some basic necessities. Also, I should probably boost my stats. Being called pathetic is too hard to stomach, especially when it's coming from someone as nice as her.
Arata, lost in thought, was approached by a familiar cloaked figure.
"So, you signed up with the Adventurer's Guild. That's great."
Arata raised his head, taking notice of the person in front of him. "You're…"
"We met earlier; don't you remember? I'm the guy that told you to follow the sign poles."
"Yeah, hard to forget someone I met just a while ago," he laughed, placing his hand behind his head.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking to form a party; I need someone to watch my back while I hunt monsters.". He moved his cloak a bit to reveal his sword's golden hilt.
He needs to form a party. That's great! I just need to convince him that I'm good enough.
"Hey, how about I become your partner?" Arata said, striking a pose with his thumbs.
"Huh?"
For a moment, he seemed shocked at Arata's offer before excitedly grinning, "That sounds great. You just signed up, right? This is a perfect way for you to learn the ropes and grind safely."
The cloaked figure gave him a thumbs up. Arata silently redrew at the cloaked man's enthusiasm.
"Why are you so ready to help a random stranger? Plus, I'm a newbie adventure too."
"Because…" His expression softened as a smile grows on his face, "It's our job to help those who need help. Someone once told me that. It's the rule I choose to live by."
The man, his intentions unclear, actively tried to help him. There's no way someone would help a random stranger for no reason.
Arata looked the man up and down; the man still seemed lost in thought. Maybe I'm being overly guarded. It seems like he truly does want to help others. Whoever it was, their words obviously stuck with him.
"Alright, let's go." Arata pumped his fist in the air, finally breaking the man out of his trance.
"Yeah!! That's the spirit!!"
They made their way to the city gate.
"Aren't we supposed to register as a party?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll show how to do that once we get there."
"What?" Arata eyed the man, his eyes fixated on his friendly smile. It's hard not to trust the guy when he seems so stupidly nice, despite wearing a cloak. Though I might be a poor judge of character, considering how I got here.
They walked for a while, arriving at a large, empty field. The cloaked man turned to Arata, with his hands placed on his hips.
"Listen up. We're here to take down some powerful monsters that lurk around the area. The surrounding towns and villages won't be able to handle a monster invasion of their level. You got it?"
"A monster invasion? The monsters invade the towns."
"Yeah, they bombard towns and villages with random stampedes. Where are you from? Isn't it the same there?"
"Oh…Um…You see…Where I'm from... is... nowhere."
"Nowhere?"
All that time just to think of nothing!!!
"I come from a small island in the east. Kind of an unknown kingdom.". Arata lets out a nervous chuckle.
The cloaked man narrowed his eyes as he stroked his chin, looking him up and down.
He let out a sigh. "No need to worry; I won't intrude. You have your reasons for not wanting to tell me."
Arata chuckled with his hand behind his head. Thank you!
"Ah, right," He reached into his cloak and brought out a blue card, "We probably should link up."
Arata reached into his pocket to get his adventurer's card.
"How do you mean?"
The cloaked man pressed his card against Arata's. BLEEP
A dim blue light shone in tandem with the sound. The cloaked figure put his card back in his pocket.
"See, we're officially a party now."
"Huh?! How?! All you did was press your card against mine."
"You're new, so I'll guess you don't know how they work yet. Didn't Mary give you the rundown of what your card can do?"
"No, not really."
"That might make sense, but she must have been really shaken up by something."
A cold sweat ran down Arata's cheek, darting his eyes away from him. She probably wasn't expecting someone like me to show up.
"Whatever it was, for her to make a slip up like that is crazy. I'd like to hear from her soon.", He grinned wildly.
You're going to hear something pretty unbelievable. I just hope I'm not going to be there when that happens.
"Don't worry, I'll explain it to you. You'd probably need to know them if you want to survive."
"Thanks."
"First, we'll talk about what the card actually is. It's a device that is made to support adventurers and collect data. The guild uses it to make things go smoother for them."
"How so?"
"The card acts like a multitude of various gadgets. There's a function where the guild can contact you as they wish and keep track of your movements and vitals."
"Isn't that a lot of information to give?"
"The guild tries to look out for its adventurers. Don't worry, they don't use it to stalk you. If you were in danger, they could easily track your location and send a rescue team."
"So, it's a safety measure. Alright.". I guess it's like a company's legal responsibility to watch out for its employees' health and make sure that they're safe.
"Next is a pretty useful function. The team-up function. It's usually a long and arduous process to form a party, but with this function it becomes as easy as pie."
"Hmm?"
"Technically, the cards are pre-programmed with a basic contract to form a temporary party. When we pressed our cards against each other, it automatically signed the contract, allowing us to become a temporary party."
"What! What did I just sign?". Arata pulls out his adventurer's card, sweat running down his face.
"Relax; it's nothing. Just basic jargon like we share the pay fifty-fifty and stuff. When it's over, we just tap our cards against each other again."
Arata breathed a sigh of relief. I know I'm worrying a lot, but with how people used to get tricked into signing away their souls, I'm just being cautious. Though I feel like I can trust them.
"Another important feature is... the exp gauge. It stores up exp, which can be used for various purposes. For example, you can trade it for gear, armor, and pretty much anything available to you.
Though that depends on your rank, which you can trade those too to raise. Since you just joined, I'll say you're bottom-class rank F. The lowest tier."
"And where would you rank?"
"I'll say that I'm at least an A-. A lower-class rank A."
A rank A. In video games, that means he's pretty strong. I wonder... who is he behind that cloak?
"The last function is that you can use it to accept quests and as payment. Once you sign up, the guild opens an account for you. Rewards from quests you complete will be sent to your account. You can go to the nearest branch to withdraw it…Or simply use your card as a means of payment."
For a medieval-looking world, it seems weirdly advanced. A phone, GPS, a vital screen, the credit card. For some reason, this fantasy world is strangely modern.
"Now that you get it, let's go hunt some monsters.". Arata let a small smile grow on his face.
"Sure."
They approached the forest, which was dense with trees, and a purple mist flowed out through the trees.
Arata looked over at the cloaked man to notice his stoned face.
Whatever we're facing must be strong. Time to get serious. With that, they disappeared into the thick walls of trees and mist.