A Warlock's Ascent

He didn't have a lot of expectations from the run-down building, after all, it looked like if someone were to sneeze in it, it will fall. But from the inside it was in pretty good shape from inside, it was squirming with activity, people carrying various weapons were either drinking, looking at the boards around the building, or talking to the receptionist. It didn't look like a workplace, it looked like a bar slash cosplay party.

He went to the receptionist to get acquainted with the place, there nice middle age man behind the receptionist, he was polite and helpful, that man first asked him whether he could read and write, then he gave him a piece of paper where he had to fill out all the details about him.

He took the paper to the nearest writing desk, which had a quill and ink for public use. The form only asked him about the basic things like where he was born, whether he was a native of Vecrus, whether had he ever done some adventuring work and what kind of weapon does he use.

He wrote his name as Gilbert, he figured as he had already introduced himself to those guys with this name, he might as well stick to it. As far as the place of birth was concerned, he wrote Cloudhold. For weapons, he wrote down that he prefers bow and arrow.

After filling out his form, the submitted the form back to the reception, within an hour of waiting he was given a small bronze card, which looked like a metal credit card. The receptionist also clarified that the guild works on a rank-based system.

The ranks of the guild start from F-rank, the weakest individual or newbie get this, and then it goes up to S-rank, the strongest individuals of the guild get that rank. He could take work from the guild based on his rank, the more job he does, the more the guild would be able to assess his strength, thus granting him a higher rank.

While all the guild members are allowed to enter the dungeon any time they want, that man suggested he only go there after he had gotten some experience in the field. He then told him that he could dive into dungeons to earn some skills and increase his strength. After everything was done, he asked the receptionist where could he spend the night, but the answer that he got was not what he expected.

"You could camp anywhere around the city, adventures and the soldiers are constantly making sure that they exterminate all monsters that spawn near the city, so it is very safe." The receptionist said.

"What about inns?" he really wanted to sleep on a soft bed.

With a demeaning look, the receptionist asked him. "There are 4 inns in the city that are in business, currently. One room in those inns cost 4 gold coins. Do you have that much money?"

He wanted to say out loud that he had ingredients worth thousands of gold coins, just to rub the cocky look off the receptionist's face, but he controlled himself. "No. Do you know where I can find a tent and other supplies?"

That man smirked. "After you step out of the building, go to your left, take the 4th left, and go to the shop which is crowded the most, you will find everything you need there."

He simply nodded his head and went his way…

After looking at the size, quality, and exorbitant price tag on tents, he ran away from the shop, he would rather sleep outside, rather than buy that trash. He wandered around the city for some time, looking around, getting himself familiar with the lifestyle of this place.

As the sun was still above his head and he had a lot of time to kill, he decided that he should go and visit the dungeon, he was interested in that place for a long time, so why not visit it? After asking around, he soon found what he was looking for…

The dungeon was located on the outskirts of the city. It was around half an hour's walk from the city, and when he got there, he couldn't believe what he was looking at. When he heard the word 'dungeon' he made a mental image in his mind of an underground place, probably made of tunnels, which was full of monsters.

But instead in front of him was this tower, it was tall as a 30-story building, decorated with intricate patterns, with embedded statues of various monsters around its circumference. He saw that there was a long line in front of the tower, people were literally waiting in line to enter the place.

He also got in the line, and quietly waited for his turn to come, it is while standing in the line he noticed that most of the people in the line have come here in groups. While he on the other hand was all alone.

Most of the groups in the line were very intimidating, they all looked like veterans, they all had shiny armor, intricately decorated swords, and most of them have scars on their faces and bodies, making them look very badass, which made him realize that they were professionals, like Grump.

As the line started moving, some people started giving him looks, after all, he was challenging the dungeon alone, but he didn't mind those stares, they could not deter his resolve, so he just ignored them. As he got to the end of the line, the people at the entrance of the tower checked his card, after seeing that he was an F-rank tried to talk him out

In their eyes, he was a rookie and didn't have the strength to challenge the dungeon, at least not yet. After seeing that he was not backing out, they stepped away. Their duty was done after they have warned him, what happens to him after this was not their responsibility.

Thus he stepped into the dungeon for the first time in his life.