Chapter 4: Joining the Guild
After leaving the hospital, Lucas wandered around the city until he found a quiet place to rest, which happened to be the same place he encountered the Calamity-rank dungeon.
Lucas took a seat at the riverbank and stared at the blue sky with a different feeling in his gaze.
Unlike previously, it was no longer filled with despair and hopelessness that lacked any desire to live.
Instead, his eyes flickered with hope and excitement for the future.
'Although I am now a Player with superpowers, I am only level 1. What can I do to increase my level?'
There was only one way a human can gain levels— by defeating monsters. And in order to find monsters, one must enter dungeons.
However, there was one major problem.
'How am I supposed to enter dungeons that can only be accessed by registered Players? I don't want to join any faction or guild.' Lucas sighed inwardly.
Because the Guild and the Players' Association owned most of, if not all of the rights to dungeons, only those that have received their permission could enter a dungeon.
With that being said, there was one way for Lucas to enter a dungeon without joining any power, and that is to purchase the dungeon from them.
However, Lucas was a homeless teenager with no assets and zero wealth. How could he possibly afford dungeons that cost up to tens of thousands of dollars? It was impossible.
Therefore, he could only sign up at either the Guild or Players' Association to gain access to dungeons.
'I probably shouldn't approach the Players' Association so soon after what happened...' Lucas thought to himself.
This left him with only one other choice— the Guild.
Although the Guild was similar to the Players' Association in their field of work, there is one thing that differentiates them from the Players' Association, and that would be their foundation.
Unlike the Players' Association that was built and funded by various government powers around the world, the Guild was created and funded by the Players, meaning that they had more freedom in their actions.
Furthermore, there could be more than one Guild. While there is a main Guild that makes all of the regulations and final decisions, there are countless minor Guilds created by both small or large groups of Players.
After pondering for some time, Lucas got onto his feet and began making his way towards the nearest Guild.
Luckily for him, there were plenty of Guild branches spread across the city, and in less than half an hour, he'd arrived at the location.
After taking a deep breath, Lucas entered the large building that took up the entire street.
"Hey, look at what that kid is wearing. Did he just come from the hospital or something?"
Lucas' unique appearance immediately attracted the attention of the people inside the Guild with people laughing at him from every direction.
Lucas ignored these people and managed to remain a calm expression on his face as he approached the desk.
"How may I help you?"
There was a black-haired beauty standing behind the desk with two large assets on her chest.
"I'd like to register," Lucas said.
"Are you a Player?" she asked him.
Lucas nodded.
The black-haired lady then retrieved something from under the desk before placing it on the desk and before Lucas.
"Put one of your fingers on this device. It'll extract a drop of your blood to see whether you're really a Player or not."
Lucas looked at the small device for a moment before putting his finger on it.
A second later, he felt something prick his finger.
The black-haired lady then looked at the results and nodded, "Okay, I have confirmed that you are indeed a Player."
"Fill this paper out."
She then handed him a piece of paper.
Lucas took a minute to look through it before filling it out.
[Name: Lucas]
[Age: 18]
[Level: 1]
[Rank: E]
[Role: Support]
[Specialties: N/A]
Lucas handed the paper back to the lady after he filled it out, clearly lying about a few things.
The black-haired lady raised her eyebrows when she saw what he'd written, but she didn't think that he was lying.
Normally, one would exaggerate their own strength or lie about their rank and level just to make themselves look better before the Guild. After all, nobody in their right mind would purposefully make themselves look weaker.
"Are you a late bloomer? Or have you just been avoiding dungeons for your entire life? What made you change your mind?" The black-haired lady asked him, as it was uncommon to see people at his age being level 1.
And while the majority of Players are born with their superpowers, there are some people who were born without any powers but would suddenly gain powers somewhere down the line, and these people are called late bloomers.
Hearing the lady's question, Lucas decided to remain silent.
"Whatever. I'll go get your identification card right now."
The lady then walked to the room in the back for a couple of minutes before returning to Lucas with a card in her hand.
"This is your identification card. The first one is for free, but if you lose it, you'll have to pay 100 dollars for a new one," she said to him before handing him the card.
Lucas looked at the flexible card in his hands.
[Lucas] [Age: 18]
[Level: 1] [Power Rank: E]
[Role: Support] [Guild Rank: F]
After accepting the card, Lucas turned around and left the desk before approaching the large bulletin boards hanging on the walls, and he began searching for available dungeons.
However, before he could even decide, someone approached him from behind and said, "Hey, kid. I noticed that you'd just registered. Do you want to come with us for experience? We're about to head to a dungeon."
Hearing this deep voice, Lucas turned around to see three people standing behind him— a bulky man with a messy beard, a young man with a shallow scar on his face, and a young woman who had her arms circled around the young man's waist in an intimate manner.
"Sure," Lucas quickly answered without any hesitation.
The bulky man smiled after hearing Lucas' seemingly ignorant response.
"Great! Let's get you in our party first!"
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