Chapter 4 -The Guild

Walking towards the north side of the city, he heard bard’s singing outside restaurants and at cross roads in the city. He asked a white skin man with black curly horns the direction towards the Dashing Horse Inn. He found that around forty percent of people he encountered were human. After forty minutes of walking he had arrived in front of the inn. It looked like any stereotypical inn. The bottom foundation was made up of stone with wooden support pillars. The walls were painted white with square windows. It looked surprisingly spacious considering it had a basic medieval style. He walked in and a pretty elven girl in her late teens was behind the counter twiddling her thumbs. Morpheus approached the counter. “Welcome to the Dash…”

The girl didn’t speak and just stared. Morpheus could’t tell if it was because he was a chimera or of his high charisma stat.

“Rose what’s going on!” A lady spoke from a room behind the counter.

“Nothing mother.”

“Hi, I’d like a room for the night.”

“Uh.. Of course we... We have..”

“Bloody girl, what’s wrong!” The lady from the other room emerged.

“It’s very rude to stare, especially at a handsome young man”

“Oh and a chimera too.” She said with a nice smile.

“Thank you, I was just inquiring about a room.” Morpheus said.

“A single bed room is ninety coppers and a double bed room is one silver.”

“Breakfast and dinner is included for twenty coppers a day. The bathhouse has private rooms which are open before dinner.”

“I’ll take the double bed please for three nights, meals included. I might be staying longer I’m not sure yet.” He put the money on the table. Morpheus didn’t know how long he was going to stay.

“Dinner is in thirty minutes. Tonight’s menu is horned hare stew.” Morpheus longed for a nice warm meal. He rarely cooked for himself back on Earth.

“I’m sure Rose would like to show you to your room.” Rose walked around the counter and he followed up the stairs.

“You can ask me questions you know, I’m used to it.” He said.

The girl stopped by a door and slowly turned around to him. “I’m so..sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. I just like to read a lot and your kind are talked about in the stories. Is it true you posses different racial traits?” She asked.

He paused and willed up his status to show his basic racial traits from each of his races.

“Wow troll blood how cool.” She analysed the screen like a scientist before realising she was meant to be showing him his room.

She put the lock into the key and opened the door. “This is your room and here is the key. Dinner is at seven and so is breakfast. Anything else you can ask at the counter. If you’d like to use the bath house before dinner, the fee is two coppers.”

“I’d like a bath please, and where is the light switch?” He asked her while handing over two coppers.

“Switch?” She asked as she leant her hand over to the side of the wall and fed mana into a glowing rune on the wall, which lit up a stone hanging from the ceiling.

“That answers my question.”

The pretty teenager left and he fell on the bed and closed his eyes for a second. The room felt cozy, it was all wood including the wardrobe and the bed frame. The bed felt comfy but nothing like on earth. ‘Much better than a giant bird's nest’ Morpheus chuckled to himself as he popped his cloak into his pouch and headed downstairs for the bath.

Meeting the girl again she showed him to a wide stone hallway in the basement which had over twenty doors. Each door had a small crystal which showed either red or green. Morpheus assumed that it was meant to show vacant or occupied. She then led him into one door to find a large rectangular stone hole in the ground filled with water. Rose transferred mana into the rune and he could see a faint red mark appear at the bottom of the bath. After Rose left he stripped and dived into his nice warm bath. Washing his red tinged hair and face. Ten minutes later he had enough of relaxing, and wanted some nice warm food. He dried himself with his cloak and headed out towards the inn’s restaurant.

He sat down at a table with a few odd looks but nothing new. There were a few other girls with Rose serving groups and couple’s across the room. An older gentleman at the bar was serving some drinks to a few adventurers. They were being loud and obnoxious but Morphues thought nothing of it.

The horned hare stew tasted great, which made Morpheus wonder if there was some cooking spells. The ‘Ale’ just tasted like sweet beer which wasn’t bad and the bread was pretty plain.

After the meal Morphues retired upstairs and fell on the bed, stripping into his birthday suit. Shortly after he fell asleep, excited for the day to come.

He awoke and rolled over to check the time and his stuff on the chair. ‘6:30 am.”

“Uhhhh..” He groaned. His old habits are coming back to him. Morpheus got dressed and opened the window out onto the street to see some early birds strolling about. Lighting a cigarette he people watched until breakfast came.

The breakfast was bacon and eggs followed with orange juice. After scoffing his breakfast he decided that he needed new armour, especially walking into the guild. Morpheus had already seen how rowdy adventures can get.

Walking out the door he found a small blacksmith down the street. Walking in, a dwarf called over to him, in which he asked for pre-made high quality black leather armour. Morpheus could never be bothered to wait to wait at all.

The new armour cost him fourteen silver which Morpheus accepted because of the stats.

'Basic Black Light Leather Armour' This set increases the wearer's physical resistance by 15%. Quality-Good. Cost Estimation~13 Silver. State-New.

The armour felt a bit more heavy but it was nothing compared to his new body. And so he headed towards the adventurers guild.

The guild building was huge, easily about a hundred metres by fifty. There were only a few windows close to the big open entrance. The whole building was made out of stone with a wood sloped roof over the edge.

He followed in closely behind a giant of a lizard kind. Shuttling in the line to the counter, he began to notice and even more variety of races he had seen. Different types of weapons from gauntlets to knives extended on the wrist.

He approached the counter to be greeted by a lady in white shirt and grey waistcoat.

“How may I help you?" The lady asked.

“I’d like to apply to join and sell some monster corpses.”

“Yes of course, fee is ten silvers. We also need to go over a few things, if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah sounds good.”

He followed the lady out from behind the counter to a small room with two chairs a table.

“Just a few things about the regulations of joining. Theft and murder of the innocent will result in you being stated as a criminal. We encounter monster hordes every few a year, if you are inside the city or around. You are given a mandatory quest to post up at the wall and fight alongside the soldiers and guards. Any questions?”

“What’s a monster horde?” Morpheus asked.

The lady looked confused but answered none the less. “Usually, partially sentient monsters who are able to control a variety of monsters to attack the walls and gates to get in the city. Sometimes half giants, shadow wolves but mainly orcs and goblins.”

“We will buy any monster parts or items for decent prices, we also charge for dismembering but that’s only a small fee on top. Any other questions?”

“What about dungeons and areas of monsters I should look out for or avoid?” Morpheus asked.

“We have a hand book for those, it’s quite expensive but almost every adventurer has them would you like me to add it on your total joining fee too?”

“Yes please if you don’t mind, I’d also like to ask about classes?”

“Go on.”

“When will I get my Primary and secondary classes?”

“Secondary at level twenty-five and primary at fifty.” “They usually complement each other, sub classes are mainly used for other choices in life but can also be used for other magics to further enhance your fighting capabilities. They can randomly pop up and offer themselves or you can follow a class book to help you get your desired class. Classes can be very boring or unique depending on almost all of your stats and achievements. You could get boring ones such as ‘Fire mage’ and ‘Ice Mage’. Or you could get ‘Pyromancer’ or ‘Ice Child of Skadi’. Some people may even get a lost class. But because a class is rare doesn’t always mean it’s powerful. And you must never judge someones class because ‘Life-Form Identification’ in the first evolution can’t tell if someone is a scout or assassin. It takes an estimated guess of their stats and skills and designates them a simple class to you.”

“That pretty much answers all my questions thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, sorry I haven’t even introduced myself yet. My name is Ellana and I’m the chief secretary at the Guild here in Ervos. What is yours?” Ellana said.

“Morpheus, nice to meet you. I was wondering if you can hold on to your classes choices to see if you can get a better one at a later date. And how can I evolve a skill?”

“Yes you can, but it’s better if you can choose one straight away to begin levelling the skills up to make you stronger. To level a class you need to achieve feats, these vary from slaying monsters, to upgrading your class skills, or to even a reading a book. These class upgrades differ in the same way as your first class. You can evolve a general skill when at level twenty, same with resistances. And if you get to level twenty with your class skills they also go towards your next class. If you like just for a few of twenty coppers we can measure your affinity for magic and skills.”

“Sure.” Morpheus blurted out. This nice ‘lady’ was thinning his pockets very fast. He laughed in his head as Ellana went to grab something that looked like a crystal ball. ‘How cliche’ he thought again but he still liked it.

She directed Morpheus to place his hand on top and feed mana into it. Her eyes bulged at imagine she was looking at.

“That’s not displaying my traits and stats is it?”

“No, no. It just hints towards them but doesn’t specify them. Customer confidentiality.” She winked.

She studied the weird colours floating up next to him. Her eyes bulged scanning everything.

“You have the most prominent features of any warrior I’ve seen. It seems you were born or ‘made’ for battle. You have a gift for ancient arcane magic. We only have twenty people with it at our guild and it’s very weak but yours is a strong connection. You have a strong bond to most weapons. And an almost not-natural form of shadow affinity. You also posses a unique blood flow probably due to your heart.” Ellana began to breathe heavy.

“Excuse my Ervos tongue but who in the fuck made you. Was it an ancient blood mage grandmaster or even a god? The calm lady spluttered, her cool sexy nature flying out the window.

“I have no idea Ellana, but I’d prefer it if you kept it to yourself. I don’t want some crazed king to string me up and use my blood to feed his children.” He said half jokingly.

“What sort of classes should I aim for?" The young chimera asked.

Ellana stood there for a split second and seemed to admire him.

“Very interesting…” She whispered to herself as she closed the splurge of colours in front of Morpheus.

“Ah yes classes, in all honesty I have no idea what you should aim for. Focus on the arcane magic and your unique blood. I can offer the basics but whatever class you’ll hopefully get won’t come close to the basics.”

“Not helpful but thanks.” He muttered.

“So for everything including the sign up fee the total is fourteen silvers and twenty coppers.”

He reluctantly gave her the money and she then gave him his green identification badge.

He asked what the colours mean and Ellana gave him a piece of parchment.

‘Green <25. Blue 25-75. Red 75-150. Purple 150-200. Grey 200+. Silver, Gold and Platinum all correlate to yours achievement given from either kings of the free land or head of adventuring guilds.’

After reading it Morpheus was directed to the dismembering room.

Morpheus knocked on the door, the smell coming from the room was nothing to sneer at and he regretted knocking.

A grey skinned man with jet black horns protruding from the side of his head opened the door and made a wavering sign for him to step in. The man was covered in blood and guts, but the blood was black and smelt much worse than the goblins, he was wearing something to cover his nose and mouth. If Morpheus was back on Earth he would have ran for the hills as soon as he saw the man covered in blood, but he assumed it was normality here in the guild.

He saw Morpheus’ scrunched up face and slammed his hand against a wall where a yellow light emitted. As if by ‘magic’ the black blood all around the room began to vanish and he could smell the body odour and ale from over the bar.

The demon-kind said “Hi welcome, I’m Adam and this is my son Boros, you have some nice monsters for me?” Adam pointed to a young boy. He looked like as if this demon-kind had just reproduced asexually.

Morpheus knew that he liked this man instantly. Passionate and happy with his job.

“I have some low level monsters I was hunting in the oak sow tree forest.”

“Yes by all means come in.” Adam said.

The young boy who looked slightly younger than himself was practically exploding with excitement.

“Ah sorry about Boros he gets to dismember the low levelled ones while I deal with the high level and disgusting ones. That smell came from a ‘Giquoto’, imagine a mosquito except giant.” He said with a smile and a chuckle:

“Where are the monsters?” He asked while looking behind Morpheus.

Morpheus taped his pouch and brought out three horned hares which slammed on the metal table in the center.

“Oh my apologise, young chimera. I’ve apparently forgot about the levels you lose when you are created.”

“None taken. I have a lot more as well as two goblins and also a wreckon if you have a few more tables.” Morpheus said.

“Wow! Can I take apart the wreckon?” Boros asked.

“Yes of course but be careful with the scales.” Adam said to his child.

“Ah, I slightly botched the wreckon as I had no clue where I was or if I had a magic pouch.”

He looked at Adam who shook his head sarcastically. The demon summoned two more metal tables for which Morphed unloads his kills up onto the tables.

“You are one scary hunter, nice head shots and… What did you do to this poor fella?" Adam questioned Morpheus looking at the poor deformed goblin.

“He got me good.” Morpheus said, taking his old armour out of his pouch.

“The poor fucker got what he deserved then.” Adam chuckled and his poor son looked terrified at the destruction the young chimera caused on his fine specimen.

“Well for all I can do you for, this is seven silvers. The goblins always have a high price of one silver for each body. Then wreckon’s body even with your botch job, I’ll take for two silvers and the rest of the hares for four silvers. Boros will be taking twenty coppers for the dismemberment. I should make roughly fifty coppers off all this."

“Why do you say how much you’ll make off this.” Morpheus questioned.

“Ah I could of blagged you if you hadn’t of known.” He chuckled.

“My kind cannot lie, it hurts us physically. Our first kin from demon offspring were cursed by Athena. She believed the lies the first generation told her about their origins and how we were from ‘Black demonic goats.’ And not ‘demons’. The dumb whore believed them and when she found out she cursed my bloodline. Take a look."

Adam brought up his screen to show a racial trait in which it said .

Racial Trait- 99% Demon Kind.

-Passive Curse- Cannot lie, results in physical pain.

“Well fuck me, you must never be able to cheat.” Morpheus jokes.

Adam chuckled as he threw me a bag of silvers.

It wasn’t even ten o’clock and Morpheus still had the whole day to go. As such he decided to go to the trees around the north gate, reason being it was closest and had a good quality of shadow wolves. These level twenty beasts often hunted in groups of two to three and were easy to kill in a group of three of four.

He began walking through the streets as he was wondering if he should try and find a team. Morpheus or ‘Alex’ on Earth was not really a very social person. Preferring himself as company made him more happy than attempting to talk to people around him. Morpheus also had the point that he would grow stronger if he did not share experience. Moreover sharing loot would also be a pain. If Morpheus wanted to be able to solo kill almost every monster he would have to upgrade his healing and his skills. To practise that, he would either have to cut himself repeatedly or throw himself into fights. This would level his current skills and would help him fight alone.

Morpheus lit a cigarette as he was closing in on the north gate. He yet again saw a bunch of people sharpening spears and swords in the gap between both of the walls. He looked down to his newbie green badge and thought that he would become so strong, that none of these people here would be able to touch him.