An hour later, Klaus stood in front of the Adventurer's Guild, adjusting his light armor and cracking his neck.
'I still can't believe it…' Klaus thought.
Someone as dumb as Taula was an A-Rank Adventurer, and here he was at D-Rank. He'd just started two days ago, but still… with her monstrous strength, he guessed he wasn't supposed to be too surprised about that.
'Well, whatever. It doesn't matter.'
He needed money, and that meant going raiding.
He entered the Adventurer's Guild, and there was a lot more noise than the last time he'd been here.
He could still see the Pawner at his side talking with an adventurer, and people speaking with the receptionists at the tables. Klaus walked over to his usual station.
There was someone in line ahead of him, talking to the receptionist. Klaus watched as she gave the wounded man a worried look.
"I hope you aren't planning to take missions in that condition." The receptionist said. "You barely survived the initial attack on the dungeon, take a rest."
"B-but Miss Astrid, I'm sure that I can still—"
"No buts. Let your arm heal properly before you go back in there." She cut him off firmly. "I'm only your helper, so I can only give you advice. At the end of the day, you are the one that decides."
The man gave her a small nod before walking away. Klaus saw the wound he had… his arm was in a sling that was wrapped in bloodstained bandages.
'Did he really plan to take missions with a broken arm?' Klaus thought.
Regardless, after the wounded man left, Klaus came forward. Astrid looked up at him with a small smile on her face.
"Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild! Would you like to register? It's just one silver." Astrid said brightly.
It had been a while since she'd seen a fairly attractive man who actually looked prepared for adventuring. "I haven't seen you here before. Is there anything you would like to know about the Galen General Guild?"
Klaus was surprised.
Was this the same rude Astrid that had welcomed him just two days prior? She felt like a whole different person… much like how she'd been portrayed in the game before he'd actually met her.
'So it was the face, huh?' Klaus thought bitterly.
It really didn't matter whether someone was a noble or not. As long as the person was fairly attractive, she'd be nice to them.
"It's me, Klaus. I registered here two days ago." He said.
Her pupils shrank.
"K-Klaus? Why do you look like that?" Astrid asked, leaning forward to stare at him.
The last time she remembered seeing him, he'd been as skinny as spaghetti and though he wasn't particularly ugly back then, he wasn't attractive either. Now he was very good-looking for a commoner.
"Ignore that." Klaus waved his hand dismissively.
He hated talking about his new face. Compared to even the Prince's disguise, he was still painfully average… just like how he'd been in his past life.
"I wanted to enter the Galen Dungeon, and I'd like to know the requirements for reaching C-Rank Adventurer status."
Astrid swallowed and eased back into her receptionist chair.
"I see… Well, I have bad news for you. Due to the new surge of monsters, adventurers that are D-Rank and below cannot enter the Galen Dungeon." Astrid said.
Klaus's expression twitched.
Honestly, he'd expected something like this. The Guild wasn't going to be dumb enough to send their lower-rank adventurers to die, after all.
"But you asked me about the requirements for becoming a C-Rank Adventurer. Well, that's honestly not too hard." Astrid said, placing both of her palms together. "There is a Guild System I need to explain to you. As you have reached D-Rank, there has been a new tab added to your Guild Card. Bring it out."
Klaus looked at the pie-shaped tattoo on his skin and summoned the card, letting it float out. He grabbed it mid-air.
It showed all of his details, but there was a new tab that he noticed there.
「Guild Points: 15」
"Guild Points?" Klaus asked, though he already knew what they were. He looked at her expectantly.
Astrid nodded.
"Guild Points are points awarded to adventurers after completing missions, alongside the monetary rewards that they receive." Astrid explained. "Normally a D-Rank wouldn't have 15 points already, but since you killed a Tier 2 monster, you were rewarded with those points. You can get more points by killing monsters, capturing bandits and reaping their bounties, or by doing Urban Missions. Currently, the only option available to you is completing Urban Missions."
Klaus already knew what those were. Urban Missions were simply missions that didn't involve going into a dungeon… jobs in the town or around the town.
"I already know what they are." He said. He wasn't eager to hear an explanation of what he already knew.
"That makes my job easier." Astrid said with a slight smile. "You need 150 Guild Points to become a C-Rank Adventurer, alongside the required monster kills. But the Guild Points are very important… the higher your completion rate per mission, the higher points you earn."
She gestured toward the far wall.
"So, are you ready to start doing Urban Missions? If you are, then please head over to the Mission Board to pick out a mission and come back to submit it." Astrid paused, then added, "I also have a gift for you…"
Klaus raised an eyebrow as a small hue of pink covered her cheeks.
"But I'll only give it to you once you pick a mission. Now go… Pick an Urban Mission within your rank."
She practically pushed him away from the counter.
Klaus dismissed his Guild Card with a thought, and it vanished back into the tattoo on his arm then he walked to the Mission Board.
Several adventurers were already there, picking through missions. It was just a huge wall with mission papers posted all over it, organized by rank.
"Oho~ What a tall man… I'm sure you can see a whole lot of missions from up there." An adventurer said to him.
Klaus honestly wasn't even that tall. What was he? 5'10" or 5'11"? But he was now taller than the average commoner, apparently.
He didn't reply, though, and kept browsing.
He could only pick Urban Missions within his rank, which was good. He didn't want to face something he couldn't handle and get utterly bodied.
「Mission: Escort Merchant Caravan to the Next Town」
「Reward: 2 Silvers, 5 Guild Points」
There were many missions like this posted on the board.
Apparently a noble needed protection at a town festival that was two towns away from Galen Town, with 5 silvers as payment. There was also protection for a traveling scholar who was gathering herbs.
That one didn't sound so bad, He could also learn more about herbs in the process.
However, before he even thought to grab it, a female adventurer snatched it off the board.
Klaus sighed and kept scanning. After a little while, he found something he could do that would also let him experiment with his new strength.
「Mission: Clear the 10 Tier 1 Tushboa Boars that have attacked the Elein Farmland」
「Rewards: 3 Silvers, 10 Guild Points」
'That doesn't seem so bad…' Klaus thought.
The pay seemed a bit low, but Klaus wasn't complaining about it. He wanted to test out his new Iron Skin spell, both its attacking and defending capabilities.
He pulled the paper from the mission board and returned to Astrid, dropping it in front of her.
"Oh, clearing Tushboa Boars? That's not a bad option for your first Urban Mission." Astrid said approvingly. "Show me your Guild Card again."
Klaus summoned it once more, and she placed the mission paper atop his Guild Card. Strangely, the paper began to glow and then melted into the card itself, vanishing completely.
"With this, your Guild Card will direct you to the place where your mission is held. Try your hardest to complete the mission." Astrid handed Klaus his Guild Card back. "And also, try to bring back their bodies with minimal damage if you can. You can sell them since they're edible. Tushboa bacon sells well in the markets."
She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a book with a black cover and a golden sword insignia on it.
"This is a Combat Manual with the 12 Basic Sword Forms. I noticed you bought a couple of swords the other day, and you didn't look like you could use one properly." Astrid said. "So try learning the sword forms in this manual. It should help."
Klaus took the manual with a small genuine smile on his face.
"Thank you very much, Astrid. I'll treasure it."
Astrid smiled and nodded at him.
"Alright. Go complete your mission. Good luck out there."
…
It took Klaus twenty minutes to get to the Elein Farmland, which was outside the town gates.
Unlike the route to Yerefall Grove, there were no monster attacks along this path. When he got close, he could see a long field with different crops planted in neat rows but the view was ruined by several oversized boar monsters that were completely black with white manes, roaming around and crushing the crops beneath their hooves.
Outside the broken fence stood a middle-aged woman who had an angry look on her face.
"Well, about time someone took the mission…" She said as Klaus arrived. "I'm Elein, the one who posted this mission. So listen up… I want those fuckers dead. They've destroyed so much of my crops just because the barrier magic ran out. Fuck them up!"
'This language is too vulgar for such a gentle-looking woman.' Klaus thought, but he nodded regardless.
He entered the destroyed farmland through the gap in the fence. Sure, he could bring out his swords and start going crazy with Magnetic Field right now, but he was more interested in testing Iron Skin first.
'Iron Skin.' Klaus thought, focusing the spell on his right hand. Immediately, his right hand felt weird.
Before his eyes, his entire right arm… from fingertips to shoulder completely turned into solid metal. The transformation spread like liquid mercury flowing over his skin, hardening into iron-gray steel.
He lost all ability to feel anything through it.
Klaus tapped his metal arm with his other hand. Unlike what he'd expected, it wasn't hollow at all even his bones had been transmuted into metal. It was completely solid.
"Hmm…"
He looked at one of the boars that was feasting on trampled wheat stalks. It hadn't noticed him yet.
Klaus slowly walked toward it with his metal arm hanging heavy at his side.
The weight was significant… maybe three times heavier than his normal arm. He cocked his metal fist back experimentally.
The boar finally looked up from its meal and spotted him.
It roared and backed off slightly, pawing at the ground with its front hooves like it was warning Klaus to stay back but Klaus had already reared his metal fist back so the boar charged.
It shot forward like a black cannonball with its head lowered and tusks aimed directly at Klaus's stomach.
Klaus punched forward to meet it and his metal fist collided with the boar's face.
CRACK!
The sound of impact echoed across the farmland like a hammer striking an anvil.
Klaus felt the collision run through his metal arm… the vibration rattling through the transformed bones and muscles but that wasn't the surprising thing.
For once, Klaus didn't stagger backward due to a lack of strength. In fact, his fist landed cleanly and the boar's charge was completely stopped.
Then the creature was sent flying backward through the air, spinning end over end. It crashed into another boar that had been watching from behind, and both of them were knocked onto their backs with a heavy THUD.
"Oh?" Klaus muttered, staring at his metal hand.
He flexed his fingers, they moved smoothly despite being solid iron.
He was… strong?
Actually strong?
Klaus looked at the two boars struggling to get back on their feet. One of them had a massive dent in the side of its face where his fist had connected with blood dripping from its snout.
'Holy shit.' Klaus thought. 'Iron Skin is actually insane.'
The other boars in the field had noticed the commotion now. Three more of them turned toward Klaus, snorting aggressively.
Klaus grinned.
"Alright then. Let's see how many of you I can take."