Demon Knight... I feel like I've heard that somewhere before? “Is that bad?” Nedoma asked. The receptionist is putting out a completely different feeling as she continues to stare at the result of the selection. Her likely well trained smile isn't even present to save her from revealing that something is likely wrong. Worried at the silence, Nedoma asks a different question. “Can I try again? Maybe I focused to hard and threw it off.”

Xilia shook her head. “It will always return the same class. Even if you decided to enlist as a different class and went against our recommendation, if you came back years later and tried again it would say the same thing.” Xilia pauses, clearly focusing on what her next words would be. She sighs, “Well, whatever you were born to be, I need to finish your registration. Nedoma Rold, will you accept your recommendation as a Demon Knight, or will you seek a different class?”

Nedoma looks at her for a moment. “How much does training as a different class cost?”

Xilia's eyes try to avoid Nedoma for a moment, before returning his gaze when she answers “For beginners, its normally about two gold.”

Nedoma raises his eyes for a moment, before forcing himself to appear calm while he thinks for a moment. The next words he says will decide the next few years of his life. Her eyes say that this path is not a desired one. The voice, that one should be hesitant to choose this class. Her words, that there is no such thing as a redo. All of these weighed on one side of the scale. And the other side...I only have thirty-three copper coins. Nedoma sighs. “Yes, I accept.”

Hearing Nedoma's answer, Xilia simply nods her head. “I see.” She takes the magical stone she picked up before and places it in his spare hand. “Put it up against the ball and focus your mana on the stone and the ball.”

Nedoma did as she said. He touched the stone up against the ball which still swirled with violent color and forced his energy into the stone. The berry-looking color began to swirl towards it, as if it were a drain. As color left the ball, the magical object in Nedoma's hand began to absorb it's color instead. When the process was finally complete, the ball sat completely see-through once more, and the stone Nedoma held was now a completely different shade. It was almost entrancing, he held it in front of him, rotating it as if he was trying to memorize it's exact shape.

“You asked how they can be used to identify you?” Nedoma felt himself snap back to reality, he looked at the receptionist and nodded his head. “Grip the stone tightly and close your eyes. Then, focus on it within your grasp.” Nedoma did as she instructed. At first, he wondered if this was some sort of trick. The glass ball had been pretty incredible, but could magic really reach his own thoughts? As more time passed, he began to focus more on what lie in his hand. The smooth surfaces, the jagged edges, and how his palm and fingers enveloped it all. That's when he saw it. Whether in his mind or his dark vision he wasn't sure, but suddenly a backdrop that resembled the stone appeared, and in front of it the words appeared. Nedoma Rold.

“Woah.” As he opened his eyes, the word vanished. When Nedoma noticed Xilia's outstretched hand, he figured she was asking for the stone and placed it there.

“Thank you. Now, lets go finish the registration process.” As she turned and began to walk away, Nedoma followed her out of the room. Demon Knight. Nedoma keeps thinking about his newfound identity. I wonder if they're strong? What if she looked worried because they are a weak class?

“Do you know if Demon Knight's are strong?” he asked.

“Hmmm...” To Nedoma, it was a surprising sound to hear. The receptionist for a moment there genuinely sounded as though she didn't know the answer. “You'll likely be heading to the uh, class guild for Demon Knights after this. Someone there should be able to answer all your questions.” When they arrived back at the counter, Xilia resumed her position behind it and Nedoma stood in front. She took out the form she had before and wrote some additional things down. She grabbed a copper chain and attached it to the stone that he had handed back to her. “Wear this around your neck, you should always carry it with you. Anywhere you need to identify yourself as an adventurer, you need to present that necklace. The stone has your class and name, and the chain is your standing within the guild” As Nedoma put it on, she continued talking. “If you noticed, the chain is copper. The guild has six ranks. Copper is the beginner rank. Then Bronze, Iron, Steel, Argarrium, and finally Tengon. The important way to think about ranks is it's what level of strength the guild believes you have obtained. We have an interest in making sure our adventurers don't just run out and die immediately...so we normally restrict you from taking on quests or missions that are more than one difficulty grade above you.”

Level of strength huh.. “So how can you tell if someone is ready to go to the next rank?”

She gave a small shrug. “In general, we try and aim for a minimum number of accomplishments completed before we rank you up. We don't give out the exact number because there's also other factors we consider, and those are a bit harder to quantify.” She paused for a moment. “For instance, if you are individually strong, but nobody wants to party with you because you are abrasive or for whatever reason, we might not promote you as most adventurers typically need to work in groups. Although it seems a bit secretive, by not giving out the number we run into less situations where adventurers start trouble about having not been promoted yet.”

Nedoma nodded. “I see.”

“Since I mentioned quests and parties... The adventurer's guild typically posts quests to be completed on the quest board.” She pointed towards a large wooden board, divided into six sections, filled with papers nailed to its surface. “We organize them based on difficulty from left to right being easiest to hardest according to rank, but even within the ranks we do our best to determine what constitutes an easy quest within copper rank versus a harder quest within the same rank. The rewards are listed on the paper. To complete the quest, you just need to submit proof of completion at an adventurer's guild branch. Please don't rearrange them around, it just adds additional work to us and we'll find a way to punish you.” She shakes her head, clearly having to deal with hooligans before. She then points to another, smaller wooden board. “Over there people both looking to join as well as recruiting for their parties post their requests there.”

“Ah, I see. And um..” Nedoma hesitates for the moment, feeling strangely awkward about what he is about to ask. “When do I get the five silver and vouchers?”

“Oh, right.” Xilia pulls out five silver coins and 2 small slips of paper, each with an intricate seal stamped on them. She holds up one of them. “This voucher is for starter equipment.” And slides it across the counter towards Nedoma, then holds up the other. “This one is for for beginner training.” She passes the other along. Nedoma takes both and the coins and places them in his sack.

She turns around momentarily, before placing Nedoma's sword on the counter as well. Oh, that's right, I had forgotten that. “Thank you.” Xilia nods her head. Nedoma tries to run over the list of things that happened today. Demon Knight. Copper Rank. Magical Rock. Quest Board. Party Board. Five Silver. Two Vouchers. What else... Nedoma thought for a moment. Oh. “Where's the Demon Knight guild?”

Once again, the normally calm and all-knowing face of Xilia appeared confused for a moment. After a short while, she grabbed a large rolled up paper and stretched it out, revealing a large map of what appeared to be Luton. While looking at the map, what stands out the most is the shaded in colors of each respective class's guild. As she pointed to where the Demon Knight's guild was located, Nedoma couldn't help but notice what part of town it happened to be in. Ugh.