Assimilate All Talents

Making it to the city, Sol was a bit overwhelmed and didn’t know where to go at first, but soon decided to simply head to the Adventurers Guild. After getting directions from a friendly passerby, he quickly made his way and arrived at the building.

The Adventurers Guild of Kerman was much grander than the one in Initium. Instead of wood, the building was made from bricks, and it was almost double the size, reaching four stories tall. Sol almost missed the place until he saw the sword, cane, and shield emblem that represented the Adventurers Guild.

Walking inside, Sol saw multiple receptionists attending the adventurers and noticed that some lines were ridiculously long.

’Why is everyone lining up over there? There are 3 other lines with almost no people.’

Peeking at the front of the line out of curiosity, Sol noticed that all the long lines had a beautiful receptionist attending them. Understanding the reason why those lines were long, Sol chuckled as he made his way to a male receptionist who looked bored as he waited for someone to approach.

Seeing Sol approach, the male straightened himself as he smiled at him. Now standing straight, Sol saw the receptionist’s name tag which read: Trevor.

"Welcome! What can I help you with?"

"Hey, I want to turn in a quest."

Sol handed over the quest papers, and Trevor checked over the details.

"Oh wow, that was fast. We just put that quest up on the board. Did you accept this somewhere else?"

"Yeah, I was planning to stay in this city for a while and I took this quest on the way."

"I see, it also says here that you encountered a variant kobold? Did you obtain any proof?"

"No, was I supposed to?"

Trevor nodded his head.

"While you can still complete the quest, encountering a variant could raise the grade of the quest, giving you more points to rank up. Just cutting off a piece of their body like an ear or finger would be enough as we have people who can use [Analysis] and identify the level and type of creature."

’Ah, that’s unfortunate, I completely forgot about that as encountering a variant is unbelievably rare.’

"Welp, if there is a next time, I will make sure to bring proof."

"Sorry I can’t be of more help. Here’s the reward for the quest."

Sol then received the 5 silver reward and pocketed it, but before leaving, asked Trevor a question.

"I plan to stay here for a while. Do you know any good places to stay?"

He nodded with a friendly smile, "There is a good inn called The Rusty Bed. Don’t let the name fool you, the owner just has a bad sense of humor. It’s pretty cheap, only being 50 copper a night, breakfast included, and they usually have rooms available."

Not knowing how to react to that name, Sol simply nodded his head.

"... Alright, I’ll trust you on that."

"Trust me. You won’t regret it."

Sol then said his farewells and left the guild building and looked at the sun nearing the horizon.

’I will come check the quests available tomorrow. It’s already late, so I should head to the inn.’

He hesitated on following Trevors advice but decided to trust the man’s suggestion. At worst he would simply go to another inn.

Arriving at The Rusty Bed, Sol noticed it appeared to be a normal inn. Besides the odd name that stands out, the other thing of note is that on the signboard instead of a normal picture of a bed, it is instead a bed with a leg broken being tilted to the side.

Beginning to find the humor in the theme they were going for, Sol chuckled. ’Ok, that’s a bit funny.’

Entering the inn, Sol saw a wide room with tables scattered around and a stage on the far end. Near the entrance was a counter attended by a middle aged woman.

"Hello dear, welcome to The Rusty Bed."

"Hi, do you have any rooms available?"

"Yes, of course! How many nights would you be staying?"

While Sol plans to stay in the city for a while, he doesn’t have enough money to stay for a long time.

"For now, four nights. Would it be possible to extend my stay later?"

She nodded, "You can extend your stay however long you want, though you need to pay in advance."

Finding it fair, Sol handed over 2 silver and received a key.

"Your room is the 3rd door on the right. Breakfast is at any time before noon; just let us know, and we will whip something up for you. Also, every Friday is open stage night, feel free to come and enjoy the shows."

’A show?’ He’s never been to a show before and was curious to attend one.

"Sure, I’ll go if I have time."

Sol then went to his room. Upon entering, he found it was actually much nicer than his actual home back in Initium. Although the room was the same size, the furniture was much nicer, and there was even a table with 4 chairs. Leaving his backpack on the table, Sol threw himself onto the bed and enjoyed the soft mattress.

’With this, I truly begin my adventure. Currently, I am too weak to really make an impact, so I should focus on getting stronger first. Tomorrow I will head over to the guild and see what quests I can take.’

The next day, Sol woke up early in the morning and ate the breakfast provided by the inn. He then made his way over to the guild.

Going to the E rank quest board, Sol looked at his options.

’Find Frost Thistles… obtain Moonlight Water… rescue a missing cat?’

Looking through the E rank quest, almost all of them didn’t involve combat and were mostly gathering type quests. Only three quests involve any sort of fighting.

’Slay Goblins, Pest Control: Giant Termite, Gather Wolf Teeth. These are the only quests I can take that involve combat. In other words, it’s the only quest that will gain me skills and experience.’

While Sol has siphoned skills off his enemies, he couldn’t actually level them up himself. For example, Sol’s [Intermediate Swordsmanship] level would take years of dedicated training to level up once, unlike someone who had the talent [Sword] who could reliably increase its level from training. The only skills Sol was actually able to level by training were [Siphon] and [Analysis]. So to keep improving, he had to take on quests that allowed him to use [Siphon] to gain and increase the level of his skills.

’Speaking of which I need to use [Analysis] more. While [Siphon] has leveled up, I have barely used [Analysis] unless I’m in combat. I should use it whenever I can.’

Sol then realized that he hadn’t even inspected his "new" sword either and quickly checked its details.

Iron Sword

Common

Attack: 15-20

Durability: 250/275

’It’s still better than my old sword.’

Bringing his attention back to the quests, Sol decided to take all three of the fighting related quests and in addition to that, he took every quest related to herbs.

’While I’m outside I can use [Foraging] to find the herbs easily while looking for enemies. Completing so many quests will rank me up faster so I can take on better quests.’

Taking the small bundle of papers, Sol went to the reception area to accept those quests. Finding Trevor’s counter empty again, he went to him.

"Hey! Did you stay at The Rusty Bed?"

"Yeah, you were right. It was surprisingly good."

Trevor nodded his head in agreement.

"So what can I help you with?"

"I planned to accept these quests."

"Sure, let me just see them real qui- woah man! Why so many?"

"Well, I planned to complete the gathering ones while I searched for the goblins, termites, and wolves."

"Do you have [Foraging] or something?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, that makes sense then. Alright, I will process it. Just give me one moment."

Sol was then given a single paper with the information of all his accepted quests.

"Alright, with that, you should be able to leave the city, and the guards won’t charge you for it." Trevor advised as there have been cases before where gate guards would trick new adventurers to pay for the entrance fee anyways and pocket the money.

"Thank you, Trevor."

"Just doing my job. Stay safe out there, Sol."

Parting ways with Trevor, Sol made his way out of the city to begin his mass questing spree.

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