Chapter 85

"First things first, the Andrato Kingdom recognizes anyone as an Adventurer who has successfully passed our evaluation and has decided to join our guild. They are the only ones eligible to delve into the dungeon within each town or city. Trying to enter a kingdom's dungeon without an Adventurer's License is treated as treason." The aide began.

"To qualify as an Adventurer, you have to possess a certain level of skill and strength. Every Adventurers' Guild office has the necessary equipment to test for such things. However, if you have awakened as a mage or have sparked as a fighter, you can skip that procedure after a quick verification process."

"There is no fee for registration and the Guild will provide you with lodging, starter equipment, and some training for fighting against certain monsters. Of course, the quality of the above-mentioned services depends on your Adventurer Rank."

"The Guild distinguishes between 4 Adventurer Ranks; Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, and Master. As long as you are unawakened and pass our basic tests for unsparked fighters, you will automatically be registered as a Novice Adventurer. After you get your license, you can immediately set out if you wish to, although it's not recommended."

"If you've already reached the Amateur Stage you can enter as an Intermediate Adventurer. Otherwise, you will have to kill the first-floor boss a hundred times to Rank Up."

"As a Journeyman, you're eligible to join our ranks as an Advanced Adventurer. Else, you can be promoted to one for killing the second-floor boss a hundred times."

"Lastly, to earn the badge marking you as a Master Adventurer, you need to either be an Adept upon joining, or kill the third-floor boss a hundred times."

"Each Rank gives you correspondingly higher benefits with fewer obligations. For example, Novice Adventurers hand over 50% of their yields after each dungeon run, and are obligated to run the dungeon at least once a week to maintain their rank. However, the items that they get to keep will be bought by the Adventurers' Guild for the base market price regardless of the season." The aide smiled as they explained the intricacies of their system.

Darius had listened carefully up until this point, but internally he was cursing at their shamelessness. He couldn't help but feel utter disdain for this so-called Adventurers' Guild. They were nothing like what a person from Earth who had consumed fantasy media would expect.

With rules like that, they were basically no different from a corporation aimed at sucking you dry! Darius would know, as he had owned the biggest conglomerate on Earth before his passing.

Preventing anyone from dungeon running unless they had your certification, seizing 50% of all earnings for providing basic lodging and some likely very cheap equipment, all while the adventurers would have to risk their lives fighting monsters on a weekly basis... just so that the Guild could earn weekly profits instead of intermittent ones.

Novice Adventurers were no different from sweatshop workers!

This was corporate slavery, which was quite baffling in Darius' opinion. While the aide continued to elaborate the benefits for the other Ranks, he quickly turned around and noticed that despite the horrendous conditions, the guild was nevertheless packed full of people.

Darius even wasted his time analyzing them and learned the shocking truth that 90% were unawakened and unsparked. His mind whirred as he processed what he was hearing as well as what he had just checked, and drew one logical conclusion.

People were desperate! Either that, or they were greedy!

From what Darius had read, even basic drops from dungeons were crucial to the survival of a town's economy and the growth of a kingdom. It could strengthen awakened mages and sparked fighters in various ways, as well as form useful exports for international trade.

Dungeoneering accounted for 70% of the acquisition of raw materials in Andrato, with the rest being farms, homesteads, and external hunters who acquired things from the wild.

And who were the people who acquire these goods for the nation? Adventurers! In a normal setting, such a group would be a big deal, heavily gatekept and well pampered by society, being even a notch above most nobles.

Yet, they were treated like this? There could be only one reason.

There was a problem with the occupation! There had to be something about it that, while it promised wealth and valor, also made it very unappealing for most!

Darius felt that the obvious answer, in this case, should be the mortality rate! Dungeons were not pig pens where adventurers could laugh gaily as they harvested the lives of monsters.

From what he knew, they were brutal war zones where monsters sprouted endlessly in order to invade the surface, but were culled and maintained by these brave, yet suicidal Adventurers.

Still, the mortality rate should not be enough to elicit such abuse of their workforce. In all other forms of media Darius had consumed in his previous life, scenarios where only a group of people could perform any lucrative but dangerous job had almost always still been heavily valued.

In fact, in almost any fantasy media, the Adventurer was a beacon of hope to the common man and was given many privileges wherever they went like free access to towns, discounts on lodging, and discounts at blacksmiths or the like.

Yet none of this was provided the average adventurer? This naturally led Darius to believe that... the mortality rate was high!

Skyscraper high! At least, higher than 80%!

In other words, what the Adventurers Guild needed was not quality, but quantity?!

The bottom feeders of society and those who were desperate for money were endless. Darius was willing to bet that the so-called 'test' would be light enough to allow anyone who could competently swing a sword or throw a punch to sign up.

Even so, why? Surely, they could afford to pay Novices better benefits to attract more? Was there a piece of logic somewhere that Darius had been missing in his speculation?

He decided to see how the dungeon was like first before drawing any conclusions. Coincidentally, the aide was done with their explanations and was currently waiting for Darius to digest the info.

Darius smiled and said: "Well, I would still like to register. How exactly can I prove my power as an awakened Mage?"

The aide's eyes sharpened as his guess had proven to be right. This noble scion had indeed awakened. As such, he had already made preparations before Darius had asked his question.

"Please, Sir Mage, if you would follow me, I shall have this done as soon as possible."