After getting that warning one gave a nervous laugh when Ella directed us to the quest boards.
"As adventurers, you can take quests equal to or below your rank, but as F ranks you can only take F rank quests. You are allowed to take one rank above yours if you are in a party, but I recommend taking F Rank Quests to ensure you can handle harder quests."
"When you complete 10 quests in a row you can move up to the next rank but when you are moving to D rank you must take the Rank-up Exam."
"Rank up Exam?" Aaron asked curious
Ella continued "The rank-up exam is when you will spar with a higher-ranking adventurer. They will observe your power and technique and approve the rank up if they deem you fit."
"There is no limit on how many times you can take the exam. I should note that taking higher ranking quests doesn't count differently for the promotion exam but taking a quest that is lower than your rank does not count towards your promotion."
"All the information related to your quests will be stored on your guild ID cards so even if you are at another guild they can register the quest for you."
Aaron nodded and we all went and looked at the quests leaving Ella to continue her other work.
The boards were simple bulletin boards with each ranking letter at the top. Several sheets of paper on the board with the quest name, type, reward and details listed clearly.
"I thought there was an S rank, why does it only go up to an A rank?" Ark asked while looking at the top of the boards.
He wasn't wrong, there are only 6 boards with the highest saying A rank.
I proceeded to explain.
"S rank adventurers and quests are pretty rare, plus any quest that is S rank is given directly to the adventurer rather than put on the board."
Everyone turned to me so I elaborated.
"S rank quests are very dangerous so rather than risking an A rank party from taking the quest they give it directly to the S rank. Plus the S ranks aren't able to do everything so the guild will analyze the quest and send it to the appropriate S Rank."
"For example, an S Rank known for being a dragon slayer would have priority for Dragon Slaying Quests rather than Vampire Slaying Quests. I'm not saying an S rank will only get quests for what they are known for but they are more likely to than others."
"Quests like this are typically called 'specialist quests'. They are quests that require a specific skill set or knowledge. Like to stop a forest fire they will ask for water mages to put out the fire or fire sorcerers to control the flames and stop them from spreading. if you become known for a specific skill set or have a rare ability you may be approached with quests directly from the guild." I finished explaining
everyone nodded and became very interested as we looked over the listed quests.
I decided to take some F-rank quests so they wouldn't feel left out. I can't take D rank quest right now anyway so it doesn't hurt to make some money.
Several basic quests were listed, mainly physical labour or helping with harvesting crops. These types of quests aren't uncommon for lower ranks and it is harvest season so I am not surprised.
I made sure to point out some hunting and gathering quests.
<5 copper for broken core | 20 copper for intact core>
at the bottom of the paper were 10 tabs of paper but most had been ripped off, and only 3 remained.
<10 copper for pelt | 50 copper for body>
<10 copper per batch>
5 of the 25 tabs remained
<20 copper per 1 kg>
I read several other quests but none seemed interesting other than these 3.
I smiled as I remembered I had some iron ore stored in the ring from a long time ago thatIi forgot about.
I looked to the others and said "Do any of these catch your interest?"
everyone was looking but Orin asked "Why are there so many physical labor quests? Arent adventures supposed to fight monsters?"
I smiled and said, We do fight monsters but monsters aren't always available or the monster-slaying quests have already been taken s the guild allows adventurers to help other people for payment."
"it works out as you don't have to worry about not getting hired and can take a break from fighting while still earning some coin."
"besides most quests are from other people asking the guild for help and asking for help finishing the harvest or clearing a destroyed building is just a part of it and can be done by anyone as they are almost always F Rank quests."
Orin nodded and looked back, paying more attention to the physical labour quests.
Why do some of these say guild quests or have tabs on the bottom but others don't?" Ark asked
"Guild Quests are those put up directly by the guild. For example, the slime quest was put up by the guild for F ranks as slimes are mostly harmless. The guild also has the tabs at the bottom to show how many more people can take the quest."
Before anyone could ask I continued "The guild has limits on some quests to help balance nature. If everyone went and hunted slimes we would drain their population in a day or 2 and the guild would have to stop putting out that quest so they limit how many you are allowed to kill per day."
"The guild monitors monster populations and dungeons all over and will put out quests based on what is available."
"Araki and Aaron, as scouting and stealth-based adventurers you can apply to the guild and get paid for monitoring the monsters. You would have to go out and count how many monsters there are and if any odditives are spotted you report it to the guild. You don't need to fight them just scout and report."
"It should function like specialist quests so feel free to do so when you get the chance."
Araki and Aaron smiled as they heard that and both looked at more quests.
They did ask a few more minor questions but nothing major for the rest of our time.
When we finished looking over them we agreed to take the slime and mint quests but I also had them accept the iron gathering quest as well.
They were confused but I said I would explain later.
"Have you decided on what quests you will all take?" Ella asked as we walked over to her.
Everyone nodded and handed her the quest papers.
She went over them and counted.
"Ok, we have 3 slime quests for Orin, Aaron and Araki, a mint and iron gathering for everyone, and a wild dog hunt for Zek. Is that everything?" she said as she submitted everyone's quests.
Everyone nodded their heads.
Ella smiled and said "You are all lucky to have an upperclassman teaching you about being adventurers, especially one who doesn't care about race compared to the other nobles. I can't tell you how many nobles have gotten beat up here because they insulted a higher-ranking adventurer." she laughed.
Everyone gave quizzical looks as they noticed something wrong with what she said.
"what made you think Jack is an upperclassman?" Zek asked
"What made you think Jack is a noble?" Orin asked at the same time as Zek
Ella was confused and turned to me.
I nodded and calmly said "We are in the same year and I am a commoner. What made you think I was?"
*cough* "Sorry I didn't mean to assume... I just saw your age on your ID and noticed your clothes are made from demon spider silk. so I assumed you were a noble upperclassman, I'm sorry." she explained.
Zek was wide-eyed as he looked at my clothes while everyone else was staring at my face.
I waved my hand and said "It's not a problem. I can understand your confusion. I was supposed to join the academy last year but certain circumstances made me miss the entrance exam so I had to wait a year."
She nodded and I noticed everyone was not staring at my clothes
Zek burst out asking. "How do you have clothes made from de-?!"
I quickly closed his mouth and motioned to the other adventurers around the room.
"I did a quest for a mage a few years ago and they paid me handsomely with these clothes. They clean themselves and grow to fit me as get older," I explained quietly and let go of Zek now that he calmed down.
"speaking of my clothes," I turned back to Ella and calmly asked, "How did you know these were made from demon spider silk?"
She sunk a bit and said "M-my mother is a seamstress and has been working hard on a dress made from the same stuff so after some time I began to recognize it with a glace. I thought you were a noble as I only ever see them wearing clothes made from demon spider silk."
I nodded as I could understand that.
while I was talking with Ella I noticed Orin bringing down to Zek
"What exactly is demon spider silk?" Orin asked
Zek turned and whispered "A type of silk from a special type of spider that is infused with magic. It is extremely strong and can act as a way to transfer mana allowing you to cast spells from it."
Orin was wide eyes and the others were also paying attention to him.
"If Jack is wearing clothes completely made from demon spider silk then he is wearing armour stronger than unenchanted steel, can absorb magic attacks and can boost self-enhancement spells."
Everyone stared wide-eyed and both me and Ella and I became a little worried.
It wasn't uncommon for adventurers to kill each other if the other had better equipment and I can't blame them. My clothes are very strong and are worth several gold coins and could go for a lot more if they went to auction.
I sighed and quickly said "Before any of you get the idea of stealing them, I also made sure the mage put a blood seal on it. The silk will lose its effects if worn by anyone other than me."
Saying that made them more interested but also reassured me that if they wanted to take them they would have to ask me how the blood seal was made.
The interesting thing was that I lied about the blood seal so no matter how long they checked they couldn't find something that wasn'tthereI
'I hope I don't have to leave this party because of this again. I want to rank up but if they try and steal from me, I am screwed.' I thought to myself as we all got ready for the quest.