Nightmare Fantasy Online

Oooooh. This is coooool~.

"Hahaha! Everyone has a reaction like that when they're given their Adventurers' Card. Don't miss it, as it will take 1.000 sol to compensate for it." - Belford

I nodded to the Union Master's word but didn't take my eyes off the sparkling new card that represented my new status as a proper adventurer. The card was produced from a special machine referred to as a "magitech" and I could even choose its design myself.

I made it black with a spider-web motif, and a big E was printed in the upper-right corner. There's also info about my classes and other specialties. The first part is obligatory to show, but I kept my other talents a secret for now. Most adventurers are doing the same thing unless they wanna promote themselves. 

As for where we are now, it's a place that looks like a tavern combined with a post office. The Adventurers' Union building. The place smells a little..., not. They are keeping the place clean with some tamed slime-type monsters, according to the Union Master. 

"Moving on is the adventurer rankings. Keep your ears open, because this is important." - Belford

Oh, and part of the excuse for the ridiculous treatment I got earlier is a complete "first-class course in an adventurers' know-how" by the Union Master himself, plus free registration to become an adventurer. The price was just 100 sols, so the boss took the teacher role upon himself to compensate.

We're sitting at one of the tables in the tavern part of the building. Turns out the place also acts as the common meeting spot for the adventurers to take a drink, eat, and complain about their job. I'm getting treated to a wolf steak out of all things. Tastes better than what you would expect from a carnivorous animal. Especially the fruit-based sauce. 

According to him, adventurers are divided into the same ranks as the racial ranks. Meaning from G to A, but there's also a special S-rank that's given to adventurers that are literally outta this world. G-rank adventurers are just small children that want to earn some extra pocket money with G-rank Quests, which are better to be called "odd jobs" than Quests.

The real thing starts at F-rank and above. The second an adventurer shows they're combat-worthy, the Adventurers' Union can rank them up to E-ranks, which they can with safety send out in the field. F-rank Quests are mostly harder work that children can't do. 

"Missy is strong enough to travel through the forest without worries, so letting you skip the F-rank is no skin off our nose. Plus you even conquered a Dungeon. I'd promote you to a D-rank right away if I had the authority to do that." - Belford

"Okay...? Dungeon?" - Garami

"The world's voice told everyone about it, that "Migrant Garami has conquered the Arcechina Castle and become its new owner"." - Belford

Ah, the World Messaage. Guess it's called different by the "inhabitants". Also, "Migrant" is what they call the players, while they refer to themselves as "inhabitants" to distinguish between our two groups.

"E-rank Quests are the real deal where you have to hunt monsters or search for rare items that can only be found in the wild, and the difficulty goes up with each rank." - Belford

According to the boss, the minimum requirement for an E-rank adventurer is that they can solo an F-rank monster and defeat an E-rank with a party of other E-rank adventurers. The D-rankers need to be able to defeat an E-rank on their own and a D-rank with their friends, and so on. 

S-rankers are real monsters who can go head-to-head with A-rank creatures. They're so strong that each country tries to tie these guys to their place. A single S-rank can balloon a country's war potential several to ridiculous degrees. 

The boss is "just" a C-ranker, as he put it. Turns out most of the NPC don't try to risk their lives for levels. They don't come back to life after all. He did however say that if the compatibility was good, he could defeat even several C-rankers if he had to. That's awesome.

"You're only allowed to take up to 3 Quests from the quest board, plus you're only allowed to take 1 Quest that's 1 rank higher than your own. We can't favorite a single adventurer after all. And finally, you will get Aether Points when you clear a specific number of Quests by the World System." - Belford

Turns out I'll get 0.1 AP after clearing 10 F-rank Quests. The number goes up to 0.2 after 10 E-rank Quests, then 0.3 with D-rank Quests, and so on. They're a bonus given by the World System after all in addition to the individual Quests' rewards, so I'll be content with getting some at all.

"Is that all?" - Garami

"Except for the recommended skills all adventurers should take, but there is something I need to ask you," said the boss with a serious face.

"That Dungeon of yours..., in what region, or area, is it located in?" - Belford

The Fort's location..., no, just a rough estimate of where it is? Well, he's not asking for its name or concrete location, so...

"In the Darklands." - Garami

"Phew. That's a relief." - Belford

It is? Before I could ask him why one of the other adventurers in the tavern spoke up.

"No one's crazy to claim ownership over the Darklands, so there are no laws there." - Adventurer A

"Meaning if people try to attack the place with no good reason, they can't get angry for the Dungeon fending them off, or at worst, kill them." - Adventurer B

"They're right. Rather, the law regarding self-defense holds no matter where you are, so if someone invades the Dungeon, your rightful property, you even have the right to kill the invaders as they're no better than thieves or worse." - Belford

W-wow..., thievery can give you a death sentence? Or is it just that there are no rules that limit that law of self-defense?

"Though, I would ask that you would lead people who get lost in your Dungeon without any harmful intents back to the nearest settlement." - Belford

"Sure, but..., Darklands?" - Garami

"Good point. Just keep it in mind." - Belford

After that, the boss went on recommending skills that would be favorable for the adventurer business, like [Dismanlting], [Capture], and [Harvest]. 

"-and don't forget to ask the Union if there are some skills you want to train." - Belford

"Yes, got..., train them?" - Garami

What, are there training locals here? That could be useful, but I find it easier to do so in the field. With some weak monsters, preferably. 

"A skill stuck on Lv.1 isn't worth much, you know. And spending Aether Points on increasing the level when you can simply ask for tutoring from-" - Belford

"Hold that thought! Skills can grow without spending AP!?" - Garami

"Whoa, that was sudden. And you didn't know? Some of us inhabitants have been selected by the gods and the World System to be able to teach in the arts of certain skills we have mastered. I can teach you close-quarter combat if that is your wish. You need to obtain the skill on your own though." - Belford

Oh, so it's not completely free. Also, you need good connections with the NPCs if you wanna find a good teacher. Plus, some skills like [Lesser Darkness Talent] feel like they're impossible to "teach" about.

"...I wanna take [Dismantling]. Is there someone who can teach me?" - Garami

[Dismantling] is a skill that delays the deterioration process all monsters undertake when they die and allows the user to disassemble it to obtain more materials outside the drop item.

The [Capture] skill stops the deterioration completely, with variating results depending on the skill level, so you can take the whole corpse (what's left of it) with you and have the Union dismantle it for you for a price. However, I'm not sure if it can be taught by the NPCs. I asked the boss and he confirmed my suspicion. Damn...

"Go to the back and ask for Jorgen. He'll agree to teach you. But missy, there's something I got to warn you about." - Belford

"About what?" - Garami

"Remember how scared those whippersnappers were at the entrance?" - Belford

Ah, those pitiful nobles. Think "scared" is an understatement, but I nodded to his words.

"That reaction of theirs is typical for someone from Seira Chaos, the country they belong to." - Belford

That's the main capital where players can start! No wonder why there were only humanoids among them.

"Dungeons are being used as bedtime stories to keep children in check. That bad kids get lured into a Dungeon and eaten by its ruler." - Belford

"How rude." - Garami

"Probably, but that's the point. Seira Chaos is one of the countries that despise Dungeons, but they're still in the moderate faction. Even then, I suggest you forget about any ideas of asking those guys for teaching." - Belford

"...then who's good?" - Garami

"To ask? Well, our country of Umbral is one, then there's the country of Homura north of here, and the country of Serendipity to the south. Other than those would be Irkalla, the country under the ground, I think." - Belford

Okay, then I'll limit myself to those three places. And isn't Homura a Japan-inspired place? It's gonna be cool going there. 

"Other than those, keep clear of people you know are closely integrated to the other countries. Some of the more radical guys will attack first and never bother asking questions before or after the deed." - Belford

Ugh, point taken. Let's stay in this place for now.

I went to the back room where this Jorgen guy should be. On the way, I noticed a strange Quest note on the space on the wall assigned for them. What caught my eye was its rank.

Rank: "?"

"?"? They don't know its difficulty? Strange. 

The description didn't make me much wiser either, but it has nothing to do with me. Let's start clearing some Quests instead. But first, [Dismantling]. Since the adventurer card doesn't count killed monsters or anything, so I need to present parts from it as proof. 

Time for a bloody mess at the butcher~.

---

Vice-commander's PoV:

"Retreat, RETREAT!" - Vice-commander

My soldiers ran for their lives, but they still fell like flies from the attacks of the wretched monsters. 

How could this be? Why did this happen? 

Our troops can individually match a D-rank adventurer in combat abilities, we had more than enough resources and potions for this expedition, and there was nothing out of the normal that..., no.

That there was nothing wrong with the forest despite that thing being here is the strangest possible thing to happen. Why didn't we notice it sooner!? Why...

"Why is there a Vile Queen here in this region!?" - Vice-commander