World Online

"Welcome back Baron." A young woman smiled at Jake.

"I am here to deposit a few things." Jake said.

"As you wish. Please, follow me." The woman nodded as she took him to a private room through the busy corridors.

Jake looked through the NPC filled corridors of Reich Bank. He was back for a simple reason.

"What do you wish to deposit?" The woman asked as they entered the room.

"Pretty much everything that I have." Jake said as he started taking out things that he had bought over the weeks. Rare items, gold, the priest\'s necklace, the ring of luck, and a few Epic Materials.

He put down everything down except for his armor, sword and his boots. He considered putting his boots down as well, but at the end, he decided not to.

"We will make sure that all of your items will be safe until you collect them." The woman smiled.

"I can see that I am pretty poor now. Just a few thousand coins barely available." Jake sighed, shaking his head.

He turned around and left the room. Right now, he was pretty sparse. The only thing he had was boots, items that he couldn\'t drop, and a bank card that no one else could use.

He was now ready for the next stage.

Jake walked past the crowded streets and got to the adventurer\'s guild.

It was a simple tavern. Adorned by a simple wooden sign that had the words, \'Adventurer\'s Guild\' furnished in yellow letters on its brushed surface.

The sign was small, nothing too bright. And yet, it was completely crowded. There was not a single table empty as far as Jake could see from where he was standing.

Although the Adventurer\'s guild was called a guild, it was not a place that a player could just join. It was a haven for mercenaries like Kierch of his previous life.

For people with no affiliations, the adventurer\'s guild offered missions that anyone could do. Taking them up was free, and the penalties for not completing them were not harsh at all.

As for the rewards, they changed based on how difficult the mission was. The more the risk, the more the reward.

A guild like this wasn\'t operated by players, obviously. For something like this, one needed a huge foundation. No corporation had a stronghold enough to establish something like this.

This was an NPC establishment that aligned itself with one entity that was above all kingdoms: The Adventurer\'s Company.

The main branch was in the capital of the Uriel Empire, and if Jake wanted to visit it a few days ago, maybe he would have.

There were branches of the adventurer\'s guild in every city. EVERY CITY. This was the standard. A city was not considered a city if it didn\'t have an adventurer\'s guild within.

That was the effect of the adventurer\'s guild.

Jake took one step into the tavern and he could hear the coarse shouts and laughter of the NPCs within. They were what one would expect in a tavern. Bearded and bald, burly, black haired, husky, rough mouthed, and with rotten teeth, gorging down meat and mead.

All of them took one look at the scrawny looking boy that arrived and went back to their food the next minute. Why would they need to care for someone like that?

But a second later, they stopped eating. They turned back a second time.

"A Noble?" One of them frowned.

Jake chuckled as he walked to the side. The bar was separate from the adventurer\'s guild\'s main business.

As he walked, all the eyes followed him. They wouldn\'t give this level of supervision to any other newbie that came through these doors.

But this one was different. This one was a noble.

Jake stopped at the receptionist\'s desk. He tapped on the desk as he looked at the beautifully crafted piece of art in front of him.

The receptionist had eyes that drew him in like no other. It seemed like an inevitable thing. Only the most beautiful of women were made the hostesses of bars.

Only the most delicate creatures would house these coarse breeds that came through the doors.

"Baron! How may I help you?" The receptionist asked in the most captivatingly sweet voice. He smiled as he nodded at her.

"No need for formalities. You can all go back to what you were doing. I would feel quite uncomfortable not hearing all of the sound that this place should have. What is an adventurer\'s guild without the sound of laughter and cheers all round?" Jake chuckled as he looked at the men who were staring back at him.

A large man stepped up, a big jug of mead in his hands. He had only a curled mustache that extended from his nose a few inches wider than his face.

He stepped up to Jake.

"This noble… we found a good one." His mouth cracked wide open as he thrust the jug of mead into Jake\'s hands.

"Come! Let us drink to a good noble for once!" The man roared.

"Why not?" Jake nodded as he brought the jug to his lips, letting the cold brew drip into his mouth gulp by gulp.

[You have been intoxicated. Stats will decrease for ten minutes.]

[You have been intoxicated. Stats will decrease for ten minutes.]

Jake put the jug down.

"As much as I would enjoy letting myself go for one night and drink till the day ends, today is not that day. I must disappoint you all. I have some work to do." Jake sighed as he turned to look at the receptionist.

"You seem to have hit it off a little with the men." The woman gave a nice smile.

"Ah! You might see that a lot from people like me." Jake smiled. He wasn\'t lying. As someone with a lot of karma, NPCs would inherently like him.

"So why is someone like you here? You shouldn\'t have a problem with money. Are you here to post a quest yourself?" The woman asked.

"I am here to try to ascend. I wish to start my Tier Ascension Trial."

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