Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 82 - 8 Adventurer Guild_1

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Since the establishment of the Neutral Land, a new trend had emerged in the world of humans: Half-Gods who stood at the peak of life’s strength and possessed the world’s most powerful force were quite willing to converge on this new territory. There were no emperors or kings meddling in matters, no political infighting and clandestine scheming, and no weaker ordinary beings’ fear of power turning into hatred. Among the six surviving Half-Gods of the human race (including Kyle, whose whereabouts were unknown to the outside world), four now resided in the small Neutral Land.

The Adventurer Guild, located in the southern district of the City of Knowledge, was the headquarters of all adventurer guilds in the Yarran World. The chairman of the Adventurer Guild was typically appointed by the previous chairman. Apart from moral character and other factors, the most stringent requirement was strength — in the Neutral Land, as the three main guilds in the three major cities, whether it be the Mercenary Guild, the Shadow Hand, or the Adventurer Guild, the prerequisite to become a chairman was the same: having the strength of a Half-God.

This generation’s chairman of the Adventurer Guild was a human named Odin Thorol, known as the latest to advance to Half-God among the world’s Half-Gods. He was an adventurer at Legendary Rank ranger, who used to rove about the Lost Forest in the Elf territory before ascending to chairman of the Adventurer Guild thirty years ago. His fame had spread in both the Elf world and the human world. Not long after his promotion to Half-God, he was chosen as the trusted chairman by the previous chairman right before his death. Concurrently, according to tradition, he also took over the position of the lord of the City of Knowledge.

More than thirty years passed, and the once dashing middle-aged ranger had now surpassed the age of seventy and was in his twilight years. However, even at this ripe age, Odin, who held a high position, still found himself sinking into his busy work each day, rarely catching a breather. But today, the inside staff of the Adventurer Guild were surprised to find that Chairman Odin, who was usually hard to catch sight of, had unusually made an appearance in the VIP lounge. Without issuing any instruction, he sat quietly in the lounge, as if waiting for something in silence.

The Adventurer Guild’s office was divided into four areas. The first area was the commission area, responsible for taking on various commissions. Any commission intended for adventurers must be registered and evaluated in the commission area. If an adventurer was found taking on a commission direct from the client without going through the guild, he or she would be expelled from the guild forever. In the distant past when the Adventurer Guild was just formulated, many adventurers resisted the guild’s rule of centrally receiving commissions and taking a 5% management fee. But time proved that the guild’s approach was reasonable. Through the guild’s standardized assessment and grading, the adventurers had a clearer understanding of the risk level of a task before deciding to take it on, resulting in a significant drop in death rate. Also, when clients withheld dangerous details or provided false information, the robust Adventurer Guild would negotiate with the clients on the adventurers’ behalf. No longer the isolates, the adventurers gradually accepted the guild’s approach.

The second area was the member area, comprising two lounges that spanned nearly 10,000 square meters each and including the mission undertaking area, new member registration area, and member service processing area. Despite the vast space, the lounges were busting at the seams each day. A considerable number of lower to mid-ranking adventurers gathered in these two member lounges, viewing the constantly refreshing missions on the crystal information board. Once a desired mission appeared, they could rush to the mission undertaking area to reserve the mission immediately. Other teams could not reserve the mission for the following day from the reservation. During this time, the adventurer who had reserved the mission could learn more about the mission details and allowed ample time for decision making. If the adventurer decided to accept the mission, a deposit amounting to 10% of the mission reward would be required. The deposit was to compensate the client in the event the mission failed or was abandoned.

The third area was the most envious area in the eyes of low-ranking adventurers, the VIP member area, accessible only to Silver Ranks and Gold Ranks adventuring teams. The Adventurer Guild imposed strict restrictions on high-ranking adventuring teams. A team qualified to become a Silver Rank team must have at least one member with the strength of a Gold Rank or higher and must have completed a specified number of tasks of a certain difficulty. A team qualified for Gold Rank must have at least one member who is at Legendary Rank. Few teams would dare to fake these credentials as past events had shown that such actions were the most irresponsible towards the safety of their own team members. The VIP member area was a paradise compared to the regular member area. It wasn’t large, measuring less than 2000 square meters in total, with the actual lounge being only around 200 square meters. The remaining space contained about fifty 20-square-meter rooms, each equipped with a good soundproofing array on the walls to completely block out conversations from the outside when the door was closed. Every room had a small crystal board constantly refreshing missions, and experienced guild staff were always ready to process mission procedures for VIP members on a one-to-one basis.

The last, the fourth area, was the internal office area of the guild, where all the high-ranking staff members of the guild had their offices.

Upon entering the guild, Catherine and Mr. Pannis headed towards the VIP member area amidst the admiring and envious gazes of many adventurers passing by and vanished swiftly from the prying eyes once their identities were verified at the entrance of the VIP area.

"Huh?" As soon as she entered the VIP area, Catherine voiced her surprise, casting a surreptitious glance at the old man seated in the lounge, "That man should be the chairman, I remember seeing him once from afar, but something seems strange."

"What’s wrong?" Mr. Pannis, upon seeing the casually dressed old man, had his pupils slightly contracted. He squinted and displayed an odd smile.

"It’s nothing, just a strange feeling. Can’t quite put it into words, it’s just a faint sensation... anyhow, it’s similar to the feeling you’ve been giving me lately." Catherine frowned as she struggled to describe her feeling: "It’s simply indescribable."

"You got quite the sharp senses, huh?" Pannis shrugged, "I don’t feel anything at all."

Catherine glanced at Pannis and shook her head: "Never mind, let’s go in. It must be my imagination."

"You go ahead, I’ll have a look around here. Seeing how envious those people outside are, this must be a great place." Pannis made a silly face and looked all around.

"Alright, alright." Catherine gave a somewhat vexed sigh, "Remember our morning agreement. Don’t cause trouble for those around us, don’t let your sense of self become selfish. You have to know..."

"Stop." Pannis crossed his arms in a big ’X’: "Now I finally understand Lina and Vivian’s horror. Go, go, before all the good tasks are taken and there’s no money to be made. Ah, lovely gold coins, about to fly away if you don’t hurry."

"Since you’ve joined, I’ve rolled my eyes at you more times in a day than I did in a year previously." Catherine retorted while rolling her eyes at Pannis again before turning to leave.

Pannis watched Catherine walk away, then nonchalantly took a seat next to the old man whom Catherine had described as strange. From the moment Pannis walked towards him, the old man’s gaze had been fixed on him. Only after Pannis had sat down did the old man speak up with a courteous "Hello." amidst the stunned gazes of the wait staff nearby.

"How do you do." Pannis nodded.

"My name is Odin." The old man stroked his beard and added, "Odin Thorol."

"I figured." Pannis responded unenthusiastically, "I’m Pannis now."

The old man didn’t say anything for a bit, only looked on with interest as Pannis selected an unfamiliar fruit from the snacks reserved for VIP members and began to crunch on it. He showed no sign of being overwhelmed by his busy surroundings, and didn’t speak again until after Pannis had finished his fruit.

"Alright, you win. She’ll be back soon." Pannis sighed, "Are you here for me?"

"Yes." The old man nodded.

"Is there something you need?"

"No." He directly shook his head: "Just stopping by to see you."

"Me?" Pannis pointed at his own nose, waving to a staff member standing beside him: "Hey, beautiful lady, do you have a mirror?"

"Huh?" Having been standing next to the mysterious guild president, the staff member was too flustered to react. Hearing Pannis’ question, she dumbly nodded and took out a small makeup mirror. Pannis took the mirror and studied himself for a while, then said dubiously, "I don’t think I’ve gotten any more handsome recently, so why would you want to see me?"

"Hehe." Odin forced a couple of laughs to adjust his mood before he said, "I’m here on behalf of a mentor to check in on you."

"Mentor? Let me think... Neutral Land, City of Knowledge." After Pannis pondered with a frown, his eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers, "I got it, the little green-skinned trickster."

"Ahem, sorry, perhaps you and Mr. Christo use such terms among yourselves, but he is my mentor." Odin coughed a few times.

"My apologies." Pannis toned down the jesting expression on his face to sincerely apologize, "I shouldn’t have referred to him like that in front of you. I’m sorry."

Accepting Pannis’ apology, Odin nodded, "But you are quite different from how Mr. Christo described you. You are... more unique than he depicted."

"If there was no difference, I might still be struggling through life in Quinzel Town, or some other unknown small town. Now that there is a difference, it means I’ve found my direction." Pannis laughed dismissively, his tone growing more serious, "I have stepped out."

"Indeed, you have found your direction." Odin responded with a touch of respect, "We all felt it back then. Congratulations."

"If Christo wanted to see me, why didn’t he come in person?" Pannis asked curiously.

"He doesn’t know whether you’d want to see him now." Odin replied, "As Mr. Christo said, if you wanted to see him, you would naturally go. If you weren’t willing, a forced meeting wouldn’t be good."

"Hmm. It seems better if we don’t meet for now." After some thought, Pannis promptly denied his previous statement, "It appears I haven’t completely stepped out yet. Hmm, not yet."

A trace of disappointment appeared on Odin’s face as his fantasies crumbled. Touching his beard, he didn’t know what to say, but luckily Pannis took the initiative, "You’ve seen me now. Do you have any other questions?"

Odin appeared slightly nervous as he said, "There is one more question. You’ve stepped out now, changed. But are you still the you from before?"

Pannis looked at Odin with an almost laughing expression, "This question... seems to be more about your doubts than Christo’s, isn’t it? Not very reassured?"

"Indeed." Having grown up hearing stories of the legendary heroes in the war of Return of the Dead a hundred years ago, Odin didn’t bother to pretend or hide anything in front of Pannis, and directly admitted his worries.

"You should know, people like us, those at our level, no matter how our personalities, hobbies or methods change, this place here." Pannis pointed at his own heart, "This here is very, very difficult to change. No exceptions. I’m no different."

"I understand." Odin sighed in relief and stood up lightly, "I won’t disturb your new life any longer, Mr. Pannis. Goodbye."

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