Keane had spent the last few days being useful to other people.
Elara had arranged his residency papers.
Elara had given him a place to stay.
Elara had introduced him to the mage tower.
Even most of the information he'd learned about Valewind and this world had come from people connected to her.
It was convenient… Too convenient for comfort.
Having such a thick thigh to hug was good, but not in this manner, and not this kind of thigh and in these circumstances. Convenience was usually how a leash started.
The more he thought about it now, the more irritated the whole situation made him feel. Had he really been too naive?
"Tsk."
Keane walked through the morning streets of Valewind, heading toward the Adventurer's Guild.
'No matter which world or era, power and influence rule.' He thought to himself.
He'd understood that much back on Earth. Money got people through doors, connections made problems disappear, while status and position brought authority.
It was the same in this world. The difference here was that people could apparently punch through buildings. While that changed the scale, the principle was still the same.
He didn't want to become anyone's asset, and if he was going to survive in this world, he needed his own money, his own reputation, and eventually enough strength that nobody could decide what he was allowed to do.
For that, the Adventurer's Guild seemed like a good place to start.
After a while of walking, he reached the building.
He had seen the building already, but there was something about buildings in this world. Perhaps because of just how complicated his life all of a sudden became after reaching this world, he hadn't had time to appreciate the things around.
The Guild occupied a large stone building with wide doors and several floors above it. Unlike most of the places Elara had taken him, nobody here seemed particularly interested in appearing important, people were simply working.
Adventurers sat around wooden tables, eating breakfast and arguing over contracts. A group of heavily armored men were comparing weapons near one wall, someone was complaining about payment at a nearby counter while a clerk continued writing without looking particularly impressed, a woman with a bandaged arm was asleep on a bench, two men were carrying a large wooden crate through the center of the hall and nobody stopped to admire them.
This was a kind of place where nobody cared who your parents were, and for some reason, Keane who had always liked structures in society, found it quite comfortable. There was something refreshing about a place where competence was more important than appearance.
Asking someone for direction, he was shown where to head for registration. Finding it easily, he walked toward the registration counter.
There was a young woman behind the desk. Noticing someone standing in front of her desk, she looked up.
"Registration?"
"Yes."
"New adventurer?"
"Yes."
She pushed a form toward him, but then dragged it back and turned it so she would fill it, probably assuming he would not know how to write.
"Name?"
"Keane."
"Family name?"
"I don't have one."
"Mm, origin?"
"Far away."
She looked up. "How far?"
Keane thought about it briefly, then said, "Very."
The clerk stared at him, and after a moment, she sighed and wrote something down.
"Do you have residency papers?"
Keane placed the papers Elara had given him on the desk, even having to use them stung his pride a bit now.
She looked them over and handed them back.
"Provisional residency."
"Yes."
"No registered household."
"No."
"Guild affiliation?"
"None."
"School affiliation?"
"No."
"Mana Baptism?"
"No."
The clerk stopped writing.
"No?"
"No."
"How are you alive?"
"Some would say I'm exceptionally lucky." He answered.
"Whatever. Do you have proof of combat ability?"
"No."
"Previous adventuring experience?"
"No."
"Experience in the army or as a mercenary?"
"No."
The clerk looked at him for a long moment, then she looked back at the form. "You've sure made this very easy."
She handed him the form.
"Take this to the assessment room. Someone will explain the rest."
Keane took it with a nod. The sense of familiarity was a relieve. Fantasy bureaucracy, same soul, different paperwork.
He followed a registration officer who happened to be passing through to his quarters, and he directed him through a side corridor to the assessment room, which was larger than he'd expected.
On their way as they spoke, Keane revealed that he wasn't knowledgable about how the guild operated and was kind of a sheltered small village boy turn man. It at least make the officer laugh, and from there went on to explain somethings to Keane.
On reaching the room, several testing devices were positioned around the room, including wooden training dummies, reinforced metal targets, and several large crystals mounted on stone stands.
The officer stopped beside one of them, Keane following along.
"Alright, before I test you, I might need to explain how the Guild uses the system."
Keane nodded.
"Since you don't the basics, might as well start with that."
He pointed toward a large chart hanging on the wall.
"Intermediate, Mortal, King, Earth, Sky, Heaven, and Transcendent. Those are the 7 Realms of strength everyone is categorized by, be them a mage, knight, or whatever."
Keane looked at the list, taking note. Elara had described something similar.
"The important thing isn't the name," the officer continued. "The Realms tells us roughly what a person can and cannot do, and it's part of what matters when assigning contracts."
He pointed to the first section.
"Intermediate is where most professional fighters begin. At entry level, you're dealing with people around the level of elite soldiers and large beasts. They can take heavy blows, fight for extended periods, and move considerably faster than normal people."
He moved his finger higher.
"At peak Intermediate, someone can crack stone and damage steel. Good luck hitting these ones with ordinary arrows and spells, you'd need something enchanted, and not just any lousy enchantment either."
Keane raised an eyebrow.
That was already considerably stronger than he'd expected.
"Mortal comes next. Entry Mortal fighters can destroy very large boulders, think small houses, and they can survive attacks that would kill ordinary people instantly. Peak Mortal can level medium-sized buildings and continue fighting for hours."
The officer continued.
"King Realm fighters are where things become troublesome. Entry level King Realm can destroy large buildings. Intermediate King can destroy sections of a city singlehandedly, especially mages, that's why they're more feared. Just imagine what some at the Peak can do."
Keane listened carefully.
"At Earth Realm, people become masters of the earth, having enough power to destroy towns."
The officer said it casually.
"At the higher end, we're talking about attacks that can devastate a big town, or at least a small city. They're extremely fast as well."
"How fast?" Keane asked.
"Fast enough that most people can't see them properly."
That wasn't particularly useful, but anyway, the officer continued.
"Sky Realm begins at the level where entire cities become vulnerable. Peak Sky fighters can even shatter mountains."
Keane looked at the chart.
"And Heaven?"
The officer gave him a strange look.
"Heaven is mostly theoretical for people in this building. Forget about this building, not even around."