A familiar voice sounded in his ear. Lynn turned around and saw that it was actually Betty.
Was it a coincidence? Betty didn't look like she had just arrived, though. She was already surrounded by several well-equipped adventurers who were eagerly trying to please her.
Was Betty waiting for him here?
Uh... probably not. After all, he hadn't told her when he would arrive in town. If she were waiting here, she wouldn't have known how long it would take.
Maybe she just happened to come here to pick up a quest.
Lynn didn't think too much of it, nor did he care about the strange looks from the people around her, and walked straight over to Betty.
Betty was no longer dressed in her rogue attire from yesterday. Instead, she wore a well-fitting, light-blue robe embroidered with thread made of some unknown material that formed a magic-circle-like pattern, emitting a faint glow.
It looked like a piece of magic equipment as well.
“Betty, you're here. Don't you have classes today?” Lynn asked.
Hearing this, Betty shook her head. “Today is a rest day. Come with me. You haven't registered as an adventurer yet, have you?”
Having said that, Betty grabbed Lynn's hand and dragged him toward the second floor without giving him a chance to argue.
“Those people...”
Lynn looked back at the adventurers who had been surrounding Betty just a moment ago. They watched blankly as Betty dragged him away, but not a single one of them stepped forward to stop her.
He had thought those adventurers were Betty's teammates or perhaps suitors.
Betty smiled. “Don't worry about them. Hal, that big mouth, blabbed about my status as a spellcaster in the tavern yesterday. They came looking for me first thing this morning, wanting me to join their party.”
Lynn nodded.
So they wanted to recruit Betty.
But speaking of which, spellcasters in this world seemed to be quite rare. Even an apprentice spellcaster like Betty had so many well-equipped adventurers trying to recruit her.
It seemed mages in this world were indeed highly respected figures.
As for why Lynn was so certain Betty was only an apprentice and not a true mage class-holder, the reason was simple.
The monster manual mentioned that in front of a true class-holder, a Goblin Warrior was merely a slightly troublesome opponent.
If Betty were a true class-holder, the Goblin Warrior would probably have been killed by her in their very first exchange, and they wouldn't have had to fight such a grueling battle yesterday.
While Lynn was still lost in thought, Betty had already led him to the guild's reception counter.
Standing behind the counter was a young girl. Though young, she was highly professional, with a perfectly practiced customer-service smile on her face.
“Hello, we're here for registration,” Betty said.
While Betty was busy negotiating with the guild receptionist on his behalf, Lynn took the opportunity to look around.
The second floor of the Adventurers' Guild finally looked the part. The atmosphere on the first floor was less like a guild hall and more like a tavern for adventurers to socialize and chat.
The second floor, however, was different. Several receptionists sat behind a semi-circular information desk in the center, waiting for adventurers. The surrounding walls were covered with various quest commissions.
Everything from subjugation quests and material gathering to caravan escorts was categorized and pinned to different boards, allowing adventurers to choose suitable commissions.
It looked very well-organized.
“Lynn, fill in your information.”
Betty's words interrupted Lynn's thoughts, and the receptionist pulled out a paper form, placing it in front of him.
But Lynn just stared at the paper form, remaining silent.
Betty asked in confusion, “What's wrong, Lynn? Just write down your basic information.”
Feeling a bit helpless, Lynn pushed the form back to Betty. “I can't read. Help me fill it out.”
It couldn't be helped. Not a single person in the entirety of Yar Village could read.
No matter how high Lynn's Intelligence attribute was or how strong his learning ability was, he was forced to be illiterate.
“Ah?”
Although she didn't mean to mock him, Betty couldn't help but burst into laughter.
This was something Betty had completely unexpected.
Lynn, who had performed brilliantly during the adventure, even casting a spell, and who might become a mage in the future, was actually illiterate.
But she also understood that for commoners like Lynn, the cost of learning to read was very high, and ordinary people didn't need to read anyway.
In fact, even looking at the entire adventurer population, those who could read were in the minority. For a mage like her, however, literacy was merely the baseline.
But laughing aside, Betty immediately began reading the text on the form to him.
There was one item that surprised Lynn slightly: he had to fill in his class preference.
For rookie adventurers who weren't class-holders, the guild thoughtfully listed several class preferences: Vanguard (Warrior, Knight), Ranged (Ranger, Hunter), Skirmisher (Rogue, Assassin), and Crowd Control (Mage, Priest).
Lynn was slightly puzzled by this. He didn't understand what the guild meant by having newly registered adventurers choose a class preference.
Were they supposed to roleplay as class-holders?
The receptionist explained that this was because the guild would conduct training for everyone based on these class preferences from time to time.
For example, in four days, a rogue mentor from Whiteport would be coming.
Lynn looked forward to this.
Perhaps he could obtain some clues regarding class-holders.
He handed the completed form back.
The receptionist smiled. “In addition, a silver coin is required as a processing fee for the adventurer badge.”
A silver coin...
Lynn's expression remained unchanged, though his heart ached slightly. Still, he took out a silver coin stamped with the king's portrait from his pocket and pressed it onto the counter.
A silver coin was no small amount for a villager like him.
A villager in Yar Village, after a year of hard labor, might only save up a dozen or twenty silver coins. At the exchange rate of “1,000 copper = 10 silver = 1 gold,” this was equivalent to one or two kingdom gold coins.
As an orphan who didn't even own his own land, he relied on doing odd jobs for other villagers to earn a living. Having worked for three or four years up to his current age of sixteen, he had only saved up eighteen silver coins.
And now, just registering as an adventurer had cost him one...
But it couldn't be helped; some expenses were unavoidable. Lynn could only hope it would be worth the price.
After taking the silver coin, the receptionist's smile became a bit more genuine.
She pulled out a small piece of iron from under the counter and tossed it into a machine nearby.
After a brief operation, the machine hummed to life. Within a few seconds, a molded white iron plate was spat out of the machine and dropped onto the counter.
Lynn was slightly surprised. Since coming to this world, this was the first time he had seen an object that felt somewhat “magical.”
This magic machine looked a bit like a 3D printer.
The receptionist handed over the identification tag with both hands. “Congratulations, Mr. Lynn! From today onward, you are a White Iron Rank adventurer!”
Lynn took his “dog tag.” It felt cold and smooth in his hand, possessing a nice texture that was well worth the steep price of a silver coin.
The name White Iron Rank was quite fitting, matching the material of this identification tag perfectly.
Uncle Rogan, who had been an adventurer in town for a few months, had once told Lynn about the adventurer ranks.
The lowest-tier rookies were all White Iron Rank, and above that were Shining Silver Rank and Bright Gold Rank.
As for what came after that, Rogan didn't know.
Rogan himself was only a White Iron Rank, and in his months-long adventuring career, he had never even seen a higher-ranking adventurer.
Lynn gripped the nameplate tightly, which had his name and adventurer number engraved on it.
I wonder what rank I'll be able to reach in the future...
Rate on N.U.
