Yes, just like that…
Gray didn't even have to open his eyes.
He could feel it, he could smell it, his own blood was calling out to the big building in the distance. [SSS-Blood Rank Slime Stirs!]… as if the most predatory of GPSs.
And soon…
| Adventurer Guild! |
Long ago it had been pristine marble. Now? It had long turned crimson. And as he saw it for himself, memories flashed before his eyes. Not just one life, but three.
The first he had forgotten almost entirely.
The second he had spent suffering.
The third was just starting…
…
He entered.
The same stench as back then.
He didn't remember much of his first life, but he absolutely remembered his original distress from seeing this place for the first time. It was nothing like a student would have expected.
There was no clean and classy shop with innocently cute yet sexy guild receptionists. No, the people here were adventurers, and the place was akin to a bloody meat market.
"Selling goblin ears! Cheap, perfectly severed!"
"Get your wolf pelts! Only 5 Silvers!"
"Slime cores! Green and Blue!"
…
Adventurers.
Why sell to the guild directly for a lesser profit?
Chaos. The smell of blood, and a slime in his veins flowing faster with excitement. All the monsters it saw here were in the Dungeon? It couldn't wait to go taste their fresh blood.
And as the slime grew heated, so did Gray. But outwardly? He fucking flew. A youngster showing up at the Adventurer Guild, but most importantly a youngster wearing… THAT.
'Hey, isn't that crest… Stormveil?!'
'But who the fuck is that guy?'
'A distant relative maybe?'
…
He instantly made waves.
His entrance wasn't subtle one bit— just the way he wanted it.
And it was at that precise moment that the biggest sucker known to mankind appeared. Playing the fool, Gray hurriedly ran from seller to seller with eyes bigger than stars.
And then especially stopped before a party…
"Oh?! That's so cool! This thing is HUGE! Oh god, how are humans even supposed to defeat a monster like that? Wait, you guys brought an entire giant wolf back? For real?!"
He stared at a duo who couldn't help but rub their heads in shame. Most adventurers would either learn skinning, butchering, or some shit eventually. But them? They were failures.
Put on the spot they started blushing. But then…
"I'll buy it if that's okay. WHOLE!"
At that moment the place froze.
"S-SURE!!!!"
The transaction merely took instants. A way too enthusiastic Gray happily buying something that anyone else would have spat on with a wide grin. Pure foolishness.
He had just spent 15 silvers for a wolf worth 10 at BEST!
Countless wide eyes instantly went: $_$
And he ignored it all…
…
Instead, he sauntered toward one of the reception desks. There a beautiful receptionist welcomed him, but under her gaze was a light that showed she too one day had been an adventurer.
She eyed him without blinking, her green eyes judging him. The clothes. The young face. The eyes. Those goddamn eyes that would most likely finish dead in a ditch somewhere.
But then again, he might just be a noble, which meant…
"♡ Welcome to the Adventurer Guild! ♡"
"♡ Is it your first time with us? ♡"
"♡ How about a tour? ♡"
…
A honey trap?
He might have played with her a bit had the circumstances been slightly different, but the hunger inside him was getting ravenous. So he sped-run the shit out of it. He went super quick.
He'd absolutely need an Adventurer's Registration to access the Dungeon! It took an instant for him to get the form, and then he wrote all over it as if he had planned for it his entire life.
⠀⠀
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adventurer Basic Info
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Gray Bright
Race: Human
Class: None
Age: 18
…
Combat Type: Melee Fighter
Weapon of Choice: Any / Depends
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⠀⠀
He wrote like he was possessed. Class? Tamer, obviously, but he'd be damned if he ever wrote it. As far as the world was concerned he would be the greatest fighter.
Ah, and also the ultimate fool. By now the vultures were already approaching him, eager to profit, some of them already rubbing their hands in expectation.
"Young master, you have quite the eye. How about snake liver—" NOPE!
"Young master. Here's the fang of—" NOPE!
"Young—" NOPE!
…
Gray turned toward the crowd.
"Everyone. The reason I bought that wolf was for research."
"I need to see the whole body if I'm ever to become a legendary adventurer! Otherwise what's the point? Would buying fangs, tendons, or livers possibly help me prepare to fight them? NOPE!"
"For today only, I'll buy all bodies…. WHOLE ONLY!"
The guild was already going crazy in the background but he didn't bother with them one bit. He kept filling his form.
⠀
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adventurer Extra Info
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Transmigrator (Brave)?
Yes ☐ No ☑
Previous Dungeon Experience?
Yes ☐ No ☑
Special Circumstances:
Very Handsome
Emergency Contact:
Aura Stormveil
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⠀
What was a bit of blatant fraud between friends?
Gray lied on that form as easily as he breathed. And the more he filled it, the strangest the receptionist's gaze became as she looked over his shoulders, her brows rising incredibly.
Emergency contact Aura Stormveil?
Circumstances, very handsome?
More importantly, no CLASS!
…
The whole thing was odd. Since when did nobles go adventuring in the Dungeon without an escort? Yet, it wasn't her damn problem. She just processed the file.
"Hmmm. Alright, it's all been registered. Just know that you won't be able to use the party finder until you awaken an actual class and neither will you be able to get actual class missions!"
"I strongly suggest that you don't blindly go in. The Stormveil Dungeon is kinda insane. Our KDA's around 4.5 nowadays so don't go too deep in search of treasure. Well, then again…."
Did he seem like the kind to hunt for treasure? Even now...
"Boss, I got goblin corpse. WHOLE!"
"Here's a dire rat, tail and all!"
"I brought an Ice Boar!"
…
Even amidst the beginner explanation he was busy buying beast corpses?! Had it been anyone else the receptionist would have probably taken offense. But a single look at the Stormveil garbs he was wearing was enough to make her forget her worries.
Instead, she just kept going, very naturally…
"So anyway, your application is all in order. Which means—"
Gray was already extending his hands, ready to receive his Adventure Emblem, one starting at Unranked, of course. Yet, his hands had barely gone out that he was instantly denied.
"Ah? No no. Do you think we'll let you go just like that in the Dungeon? Don't be silly. We have to test you! Or else, it would be sending you to your death wouldn't it?"
She giggled so naturally that it felt divine…
And yet, his eyes couldn't help but turn cold. Send him to his death, was it? She had. In another life. Back when he was a proud transmigrator. Back when he still cared.
And once more he was reminded of the law of this world. The weak just die. Only the strong have rights. And this care? It was only because he was a "Stormveil" now.
Good. Great even. Still, he fucking hated it.
"Ah, a test is it? Let's go. I'll do my best!"
'My best to make you regret…'