Ichor Cell-Chapter 44: Registering for the Guild II

The receptionist led him back through the corridor they had first walked through, the muffled roar of the guild hall slowly rising in front of them as they approached it. She stopped at one of the heavily enchanted doors set in the wall, taking out a key to unlock it.
“Here we are.” She pushed the door open. “Please enter.”
Alex stepped through the doorway.
The room was small and square, with stone walls etched in faintly glowing blue lines. They interconnected like spiderwebs, forming a net of runes that crawled across the ceiling and under the floorboards. A wooden table sat in the center, flanked by two chairs facing each other.
The woman closed the door behind them and walked over to one of the chairs, placing the clipboard on the table and lowering herself. The runes around them brightened slightly, humming with a subtle vibration.
“This room is layered with truth-detection formations.” The receptionist disclosed. “Through a process you don’t need to worry about, it can detect the veracity of your words to a high degree. It’s standard for screening new adventurers.”
Alex swallowed, suddenly getting a bad feeling. “And why do we need to go through all this?”
“Well…” The woman hesitated. “We’ve had many cases where some rather unsavoury characters trying to use the guild as a shield or a place to lay low from the consequences of their actions. After a few incidents where such individuals strained the relationships between the guild and some nations, these measures have been put in place by the ones in charge.”
The bad feeling in his gut fully realised itself into dread. “Oh.”
“Of course, for most people it’s simply a necessary extra step in the registration process.” She fixed him with her gaze and indicated the chair in front of her. “Now please, make yourself comfortable.”
Alex had no choice but to oblige while his mind raced for a way out of this situation.
‘They said they don’t let people lay low here. Does that mean that if my main purpose is to join as an adventurer, and laying low is simply a happy coincidence, they’ll let me through?
‘How does this lie detection thing even work?’
He suddenly thought.
‘I doubt it’s something as rudimentary as a heartrate detector, since that would be way too easy to get around in a world of magic. At the same time, I doubt it’s some sort of absolute causality magic bullshit, since that doesn’t seem like the type of thing that would be used for such a trivial task, on top of probably being crazy hard and expensive to make.’
‘What does that leave us with?’
Alex’s eyes suddenly widened.
‘Mind magic. That doesn’t sound anywhere near as crazy as causality or something, and it’s definitely harder to defend against than mere biological scanning.’
Now calmer, he leaned back in his chair and ran his eyes over the dense, flowing designs covering every inch of the room.
‘And it can’t be straight up mind reading, since they would have already confronted me otherwise.’
He nodded to himself.
Somewhat confident in his theory, he filled his head and torso with mana, hoping that the interference might help him pull through the test. The infusion of his head suddenly opened up his senses, making him hyper sensitive and hyper aware. Alex was forced to blink from the sudden brightness in the room.
“Great.” The receptionist picked the clipboard back up and placed it on her lap. “Now, first question.”
She tapped her quill lightly against the paper.
“Are you registering into the Adventurers Guild with the intention to cause harm to it, its members, or its interests?”
“No. I’m here to become an adventurer and earn a living. It’s also been my dream for a long time, which is a nice bonus.”
Alex kept his face neutral.
‘I’m also a fugitive from Orenthia, but that doesn’t mean I intend to harm the guild.’
He added silently.
The runes stayed steady.
“Good.” She made a mark. “Next—what is your name?”
Alex raised an eyebrow.
“I’m Alex, short for Alexander.” He said. “Why do you ask that in the lie detector room? Do people often lie about their identities here?”
“Yes.” Another mark. “Is this your first time registering with the Guild?”
“Yes.”
That one was actually easy.
“Do you have a criminal history?” she asked, looking up briefly to judge his reaction.
Alex paused, carefully thinking his answer over in his head.
“…I have never been arrested, so no criminal record, no.” He finally said, hoping that the deliberate wording would save him.
The receptionist stopped writing and stared at him. She glanced at the wall, only relaxing when it showed no reaction.
“I… see.” She cleared her throat and wrote something down—probably a very large question mark. “Right. Next question.”
She glanced again at her sheet. “Are you attempting to use the Guild as a way to escape the consequences of illegal acts?”
“No,” Alex said immediately.
Escaping is a side effect,
he reasoned.
Not the purpose.
The formations accepted it.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, the violation.
The receptionist gave him another long look. Her expression was polite but increasingly bewildered, as though she couldn’t decide whether he was genuinely an innocent man or had some way to trick the inscriptions. It seemed that his criminal record answer freaked her out a bit.
“…Alright. Do you pose a risk to public safety if left unsupervised?”
Alex blinked. “I don’t think so?”
The woman nodded. “Very well.” She scribbled the answer. “Do you have any affiliations, oaths, debts, or loyalties that could conflict with Guild interests?”
“No.”
The glow confirmed it.
“Do you have any… unusual conditions, magical or otherwise, that the Guild should be made aware of? Anything that could affect your behaviour, stability, or safety?”
‘There it is.’
Alex closed his eyes, considering his answer. The receptionist narrowed her eyes at the pause, sitting up slightly in her chair.
“I, uh…” Alex decided to come clean. “I have a… condition, maybe a curse. As a result of this condition, I need to consume blood that’s high in mana content on a regular basis or bad things happen. The source of the blood doesn’t really matter, which is another big reason I chose to be an adventurer. I’m hoping that this job will give me access to plenty of monster blood to keep my condition under control. Also, as a result of this condition, I have a rather negative reaction to sunlight, which is why I came here at night.”
“…Right.” The receptionist said as her professionalism finally failed her. Alex could almost see the gears turning behind her eyes—a very rapid accounting of
Is this my problem? Should this be someone else’s problem? Was I trained for this conversation?
This routine question had obviously never been answered for her, so her inexperience showed in her reaction.
Taking a deep breath, the woman calmed herself.
“So you need to drink blood. How often would “on a regular basis” be?”
“About once a week should be enough.” Alex answered, hoping to reassure her with a low number.
“I see.” She said like someone trying to convince themselves that they did, in fact, see. “And the sunlight issue?”
“I can be in it,” Alex said, “It just… hurts. A lot. Like a sunburn but stronger.”
The receptionist nodded slowly, made a very long note on her paper, then stopped to look up at him.
“So… let me summarise. You are cursed.”
“...Yes.”
“As a result of this curse you need to drink monster blood.”
“Yes.”
“And you can’t go out into the sun.”
“Yes.”
She blinked several times.
He blinked back.
The woman stared at the wall for several seconds, then made a tiny, defeated noise in her throat.
“…Alright. Your condition has been noted down. Moving on.”
She flipped her page with a firm, almost aggressive motion that suggested she wanted this question to be firmly behind her.
“Do you have any enemies or affiliations, living or otherwise, who are likely to cause trouble for the Guild because of you?”
Alex opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Thought about it.
“…I don’t know.”
“I swear to…” The receptionist looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. “You… don’t know?”
“I know I have enemies,” Alex clarified. “But I don’t know what they’re doing, or if they even care where I am, or how persistent they’re going to be, or if they even have the capability to affect an entity as massive as the guild in the first place. So… I don’t know.”
The runes agreed.
The receptionist’s face didn’t.
“And who are these enemies?” She asked, looking about three seconds away from exploding.
Alex winced. “People from Orenthia. Some of them really don’t like me.”
The receptionist blinked once… then her entire expression collapsed into something between relief and exhaustion.
“Oh. You’re an Orenthian escapee.” She slumped back in her chair. “You should have said so from the start.”
Alex stared. “…Would that have helped?”
“Immensely.” She rubbed her forehead. “Orenthia has been blacklisted from the guild for centuries. They don’t recognize our authority, we don’t recognize theirs, and neither side cares what the other does. We don’t operate in their borders, so there’s nothing they can do to us.”
“So they can’t… send anyone after me through you?”
“They could send someone,” She admitted, “but they would only be going after you directly, not through the guild. Plenty of the guild’s higher ups will take any excuse attack that place, and they know it.”
Alex once again wondered what the hell was going on in Orenthia for it to be so infamous.
“Well that’s… extremely convenient.”
“For both of us,” She replied dryly. “Now, let’s finish this before something else in your life surprises me.”
The woman set the clipboard down and put away her quill.
“Alright. That concludes the security portion. Now we enter the clarification stage—you ask questions, I answer them. The goal is to ensure you understand how the Guild operates before you join.”
Alex straightened in his chair. “Great. I actually have a few questions.”
“Go ahead.”
“First… how do ranks work? You mentioned Wood rank earlier.”
Her posture shifted, her voice taking on an obviously rehearsed quality.
“The Guild ranking system goes from lowest to highest as follows: Wood, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Mithril. The highest standard rank is Mithril, though very few people reach it.”
“Mithril,” Alex repeated quietly.
She nodded. “Above Mithril, there are only named groups—exceptional parties or individuals who have achieved feats or strength outside the normal ranking scale. They don’t use badges—they’re recognized by title instead.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “Like… legends?”
“In a sense. They operate independently, often across national borders. But you don’t need to worry about that yet.” She tapped her finger against her notes. “Your focus will be Wood-ranked work for now.”
Alex thought for a moment.
“Alright, what about missions themselves? How do they work?”
The receptionist leaned back slightly.
“Missions are ranked the same way.” She said. “Wood up to Diamond. You are allowed to take jobs of your rank, or one rank below or above.”
“That seems straightforward.”
“It is—with one major requirement. To take a job one rank above your own, you need a minimum party size of four adventurers.”
Alex blinked. “Why?”
“To prevent cocky Bronze adventurers from wandering off to fight Silver-class monsters and getting eaten,” she said bluntly. “It used to happen more often than you’d think.”
He resisted the urge to glance away, thinking of the party of seven he had demolished less than a day ago.
‘Fat load of good that did them.’
“So, for example.” The receptionist continued, oblivious to his thoughts. “Four Wood-ranked adventurers can take a Bronze-ranked mission. Four Bronze-ranks can take on one Silver, and so on.”
Alex nodded. “What about taking missions lower than your rank?”
“You can do those alone, but you won’t gain progress toward rank advancement unless the mission is at least your own rank.”
“Makes sense.” He thought for a moment. “Then how do I go from one rank to the next? From Wood to Bronze, then Bronze to Silver, and so on?”
“Simple,” She said. “You either complete twenty missions of your current rank, or ten missions one rank above.”
“So, twenty Wood missions or ten Bronze missions moves me to Bronze?”
“Exactly.”
“And this applies all the way up?”
“All the way to Mithril,” She confirmed. “Though the difficulty of finding higher-rank missions increases dramatically past Gold.”
He nodded. “And why does everyone start at Wood? Even if someone is strong enough for more?”
“Two reasons.” She held up two fingers.
“One: it protects against identity fraud. If someone tries to disappear and re-register under a new name, they start from the bottom again. Very few people are willing to throw away years of progress.”
Alex grimaced. “Fair.”
“Two: it ensures they understand Guild procedure. Strength alone isn’t enough. We need to know that an adventurer can follow rules, survive, and not accidentally burn down a town.”
“That… seems reasonable.”
“Good.”
"Is there anything else I should know?” He asked.
“Plenty,” She said. “But the basics are this: You choose your missions, you’re responsible for yourself, and the Guild protects you only as long as you act within its rules.”
Alex let that sink in.
She stood. “That concludes your interview. No more questions?”
He shook his head. “No. That’s everything.”
“Good.” The woman stood and gave her first genuine smile, offering him her hand. “Congratulations on becoming an adventurer, mister Alexander. My name's Polly. I hope to see great things from you.”
He smiled back and shook it. “I hope to see great things too.”