(xiv.)

Lucas let out a roar of laughter. Clearly he didn't view this potential rivalry as a problem... for either of them.

The guild master pulled out a small, rectangular guild card with a green gem embedded in it. At a glance, Lazarus noted that the card was blank.

“Because of all this, we are going to award you the starting rank of Emerald. However, as a special request I must ask that you complete at least 500 quests before applying for a guild promotion. The upside to this is that subjugation requests are plentiful at your rank so I'm sure it will take no time at all for you to do so. It is possible to get promoted before that but it's on a case-by-case basis.”

Lucas smiled dangerously, peering down at the lich. “Please do not attempt to bypass this restriction; it's way too much paperwork for me.”

Lazarus nodded sagely. Paperwork truly was the bane of the gods; he knew this all too well from personal experience. “As long as I can work and move freely from country to country I will do my best to not create more work for you than need be,” he said diplomatically.

And that is a rather dangerous quantity of very sharp teeth on the bloke. While I'm sure we're all a bit more civilized than that, I'd hate to see what kind of damage those might inflict.

Lucas handed the card over to Lazarus. At his touch, it flashed bright with mana. His most basic information was instantaneously inscribed on the blank side:

Name: Lazarus

Rank: Emerald

Race: Lesser Lich

Class: Necromancer

Quests Completed: 0

Lucas commented, “You'll see that your race is displayed on your guild card; however, please don't think less of us for it. Royal decree states that this must be displayed on all guild cards.” He showed his own card to Lazarus as proof of this:

Name: Lucas of the Scales

Rank: Black Diamond

Race: Red Dragon

Class: Dragoon Lancer

Quests Completed: 530,023

That seems like a most-impressive number. Regardless of life span, that must have taken a herculean amount of effort.

“It's mainly to stop obvious fraud but it does act as a passport, too. So keep it handy.” Now the guild master got more serious and raised an eyebrow at the lich. “Now, I understand you have information to sell the guild regarding several new spells and your class?”

It was phrased as a question, but both gentlemen knew it was anything but.

“A brand new class not already in our archives is so rare it hardly ever comes up,” Lucas continued. “The guild is going to pay you 100 gold for that information. This is due in part that to the fact that you did not use any of your class skills in the whole entire testing.

“Additionally, for the the unique skill we will pay you 10 gold per appraisal of your unique skill and 5 gold per appraisal of your standard spells. I will be conducting the appraisal myself. You are of course welcome to a copy of the results if you wish to waive the gold paid by the guild.”

Lazarus weighed the value of the information versus the gold itself, rubbing at his nonexistent goatee.

All things considered, it seems hardly worth keeping these base level skills a secret at this time. Information is indeed valuable; however, this isn't particularly valuable information to me. After all, it seems that I can just create more skills and spells at will. I could even focus on a different skillset if I so desire. Not to mention, I really do need the coin to get myself established in this place.

“I'm afraid I'll have to take the gold, Master Lucas. You see, I'm in dire need of funds for my journey and will need to find and establish a base of operations until I can head out of town so sadly I must pass on the information at this time.”

Lucas gave the lich a small smile. “That should be no problem. Please sit still for a moment; we need to record your results accurately.”

Again Lazarus felt the slight tingle mana go over his being like a sprinkle of rain, the feeling started to to increase in intensity like a small downpour.

He must be checking the class now. Not overtly unpleasant but... it still feels invasive. No matter.

Lucas looked stunned by his own results. He quickly wrote down the information and put it away out of sight. He then congratulated Lazarus on passing the test one final time and passed him off for Linda to handle once again.

“Master Lazarus, if you will follow me up to the counter I'll be happy to provide you with the gold you are due,” the receptionist said with a small bow. “Additionally, we will be putting up a notice on the boards about your passing the test, and reaching the rank of Emerald. This is a wondrous achievement for a newcomer!”

Linda handed him a bag of 130 gold coins. It was... surprisingly heavy. Seeming to intuit his thoughts, the woman made a rather attractive offer: “That is a large amount of money to carry on you. If you'd like, we can load some of it onto your guild card to keep it safe. We are happy to allow you to withdraw it at any time from any guild location.”

Fascinating, like a magical banking system? That seems handy.

Lazarus took out 30 coins from the bag and gave the rest back to Linda.

“I'll deposit this amount, thank you. Is there anywhere nearby I could buy adventurer supplies?”

Linda smiled at Lazarus. “Gladly, just pass me your guild card.”

A new line appeared on the card:

Name: Lazarus

Rank: Emerald

Race: Lesser Lich

Class: Necromancer

Quests Completed: 0

Guild Funds: 100g

She gave the empty bag back to Lazarus. “You should keep the rest of your gold in this, at least until after you get your supplies. Just across the street next to the restaurant is a supply shop run by a nice dwarf, Ashbard. Show him the jewel side of your guild card to protect your information. He will treat you good. He used to be an adventurer, too.”

Lazarus thanked Linda for the information and headed over to the dwarf's shop. He found the front of the shop with no problem but it appeared the place was fairly busy with other adventurers. The lich overheard the conversation they were having:

“Hey old man, these prices are too damn high! How about you lower them for us? See, we're a party of Rubies. What do you say?”