The next morning, Sol and Amber headed to the Adventurers Guild to receive their quest reward. The guild was located on the main road entering the city, so it wasn’t very hard to find.
The building was very different from other guild branches; not only was it larger and built of smooth stone, it didn’t have a door in the entrance. Instead, it had a very open design with pillars that reinforced the roof instead of a wall. It allowed for large amounts of people to shuffle in and out without congesting the main entrance. As the duo entered the building, they saw no tables or bar that is usually common in guilds, and there was no smell of the usual alcohol.
To the left of the entrance were the large quest boards. At the back were the guild receptionists lined up and efficiently working through the large quantity of adventurers. On the right, there was another set-out counter, but they were handling the quest rewards and also buying materials the adventurers brought. Overall, it was a very efficient system that had to be implemented or else they wouldn’t be able to deal with the amount of adventurers.
Sol decided to first receive the reward for the escort quest before deciding his next move and walked over to one of the counters. The receptionist was a short-haired woman with a green bandana.
"Good morning, how can I help you?"
"Hi, I just want to receive the reward for a quest and ask you a question if you don’t mind."
"Sure, let me first issue the reward."
Sol and Amber handed over their guild cards and quest paper which the receptionist received and took out a metal slate and started tapping on it. Sol had never seen that before and was curious at what it did.
"What’s that?"
While still tapping on the slate, she responded, "This is a remote archive, it lets us access all guild records stored in the local archive. So if I put your information in it I can find your quest information faster than having to go comb through the records manually."
Sol knew the pain of having to sift through guild papers with Annabele, "That’s really convenient. Why isn’t it used in other guild branches?"
The receptionist shook her head, "It’s too expensive. I think this is the only branch that uses this in the entire kingdom. It not only requires a lot to create it and people with the right talents but it needs to be maintained by those people monthly. Our branch can do it because of the amount of adventurers generating profit for the guild and the other side businesses we deal in."
"Side businesses?"
"Yeah, like selling weapons, armor, or buying materials off adventurers and trading them to merchants for a good price. Also, I just confirmed your quest completion, here is your reward."
The receptionist handed Sol and Amber 5 gold each.
"Thanks, I also wanted to know about the dungeon, where can I get that information?"
"We also sell dungeon guides for Necropolis if you would like one."
"Sure, how much is it?"
"15 gold."
Sol did a double take after hearing that amount, "15?!"
She nodded, being used to that response, "Yes, but I promise you it’s worth it. It’s an in-depth guide of all explored floors including maps, possible traps, and monsters."
"The dungeon isn’t fully explored?"
"As far as I know, no. But some speculate a few A-Ranker parties of the kingdom have fully explored it already and haven’t released any information. Still, the guide explains until floor 42 which should be more than enough."
’She is really making an effort to convince me to buy it and it’s working. Does she gain a percentage of the profit or something?’
Sol remembered how well the dungeon guide he bought in Kerman served him, so he decided to fork over the money. The receptionist gladly accepted it, which made Sol believe he was right and she did gain a part of the profit.
The receptionist brought out a large book and put it on the table. It was a thick book with the title "Necropolis Guide" written on it. Sol dreaded having to read all of it as he stored it in his spatial ring.
"Will that be everything?" The receptionist asked while tilting her head.
"Yes… thank you."
Sol and Amber left the counter to let the receptionist attend to other adventurers. They moved towards the quest board to see if there were any quests to complete inside the dungeon.
Similar to other guilds branches, the boards were divided by rank and Sol scanned the C-Rank board for any dungeon related quests. He planned to complete quests while in the dungeon to rank up faster, but there was one problem, he couldn’t find any quests for the dungeon. All of the quests required leaving the city to subjugate monsters or help a nearby village or town. A few were also located in the city but none for the dungeon.
It was only until Sol’s gaze accidentally landed on the B-Rank board that he figured out why.
’It’s an A-Rank dungeon, the minimum recommended rank to enter is B-Rank…’
Obviously, the guild won’t post quests for the dungeon at the C-Rank board as no C-Ranker in their right mind would delve into the dungeon.
While Sol didn’t care much for his adventurer rank, it was very important to be able to accept these quests. He needed a way to earn money to fund their dungeon diving and living expenses. Luckily, there was still a way to do so.
’We can just sell the materials that are listed in the B-Rank quests and sell them to the guild.’
Sol perused the board and found a few quests that fit his needs.
"Gather soul shards, gather dark essence, gather shadow roots…"
Sol memorized these quests and would keep them in mind when they entered the dungeon. They could then gather them and sell them to the guild. He was sure there would be a loss in profit from selling directly rather than a quest, but he couldn’t be too picky with his methods right now.