Chapter 37 037

Gemini, the vigilante, held out her right hand.

"I have to verify your identity, adventurer. Please show me your mercenary tablet."

Mercenary tablets was a kind of system that reflected the uniqueness of Erzebet, where most issues were resolved by adventurers.

In this city, all adventurers had the status of a mercenary, and they would be bestowed a rank depending on the requests they received and whether they succeeded or not.

In other words, a mercenary's rank determined the kind of requests they could undertake.

"It's an irregular request, do I still need a mercenary tablet? I thought that I could receive it regardless of my grade."

He'd read that in a post on the community page: since the irregular requests were basically unofficial, anyone could accept it.

Nevertheless, Gemini shook her head.

"It is necessary. You need to be higher than Rank A to receive an irregular request. Mercenaries of Rank A can undertake one contract, while Rank S mercenaries can choose all three contracts if they so wish to."

"I'm guessing the policy has changed?"

"It has."

Gemini responded in a formal tone. Seojin had no idea when it changed, but it was clear that his plan had gone wrong.

"Can I at least hear what it's about?"

"Only qualified mercenaries can see the details."

"…Well, it can't be helped."

Seojin simply stood up and said no more. Gemini was still a passive NPC, so talking to her was no use.

'Come to think of it, there were no recent posts on the community.'

It was already commonly known among players that the irregular request was a waste of time. Only a few people bothered to give it a go, and even fewer would post info about it online.

'It's probably been a while since it changed… I wonder why?'

It was a dead end. Seojin still couldn't figure it out. He would only be able to find out the details after receiving the request from Gemini. Seojin reassembled his shattered plan once again.

"I've gotta get a mercenary tablet first. At least Rank A… no, I have to get Rank S at all costs if I want all three contracts.

"This is the end of the queue, right?"

"Yes, you can stand behind me."

Seojin stood at the end of the long line, it looked like he would have to wait for at least twenty minutes. Seojin opened the community window to browse through some information.

Mercenary ranks are divided from F to S. It feels like school grades all over again, right? No worries! Unlike school, you only have to achieve Rank C.

There was tons of information about the mercenary system as it was mainstream content.

To summarize all of them. The mercenary system went like this: practically speaking, a player could receive rank F to C based on the results of the requests they undertook in a certain period, and they could only undertake requests according to their rank.

Of course, a player could take requests of lower ranks than them too.

EXP rewards skyrocket starting at rank C. Leveling? Don't worry about it. The monetary rewards are a little stingy though… but ordinary players like us can't get above that, can we? Let's just focus on graduating Erzebet

The guide said that players should aim for a rank C mercenary tablet. As Erzebet's graduation level was 50, rank C was enough to gain the EXP required to reach that level—or so the reasoning went.

'They're not saying it's impossible to get a higher rank, it's more like you don't have to. So, it basically means that you should compromise. You don't have to do anything too difficult.'

The OP was not Robert. Maybe it was another member of the Ironbloods, or even someone completely unrelated. The most important thing was that the majority of the community agreed with this opinion.

'No wonder there's even a guide to achieving rank C ASAP.'

Occasionally, Seojin saw a couple of guides for Rank B and even Rank A. However, more than ninety percent of the guides were for Rank C, and there were even optimized builds for it.

"Excuse me, next?"

"Oh, that's me."

It was finally Seojin's turn. Seojin closed the screen and sat down to see a member of the vigilance committee, who had a friendly impression, welcoming him.

"Welcome. I am Piron, a member of the Erzebet Vigilance Committee. First of all, could you show me your mercenary tablet?"

"I don't have one, I only just arrived here."

"I see, no problem, I'll issue you a new one then. Would you like a detailed explanation of the system?"

"No, it's okay."

He'd already researched enough on the community pages. Soon enough, Piron handed Seojin a palm-sized wooden plaque with a jagged F carved into it.

"You are currently a rank F mercenary. There is a total of five rank F requests you can take right now."

"Show me all of them."

Almost immediately, Piron handed Seojin five pieces of paper. Five holographic windows popped up next to each other simultaneously.

Main Quest: Dancing With Skeletons

* Kill 10 or more skeletons in The King's Tomb.

* Recommended Rank: F

Main Quest: Fruit

* Help harvest apples at Pansy's Orchard.

* Recommended Rank: F

Unimaginative names and boring, time-consuming content. That was what everyone expected for Rank F mercenaries. The guide said that players should take all five of the Rank F contracts. That was the first step to receiving a Rank C mercenary tablet as soon as possible. That was why Seojin didn't want to do so.

"I'll just do this one, the skeleton hunting stuff."

You have accepted the quest.

"You can collect your reward at the window on the far left of the headquarters. Goodbye."

Seojin left the building after the friendly farewell, just one quest in hand.

* * *

Eastern outskirts of Erzebet.

At the entrance of "Ant Cave," there was a crowd of players looking to party up.

"Anyone want to marathon all of the Rank F requests?!

"Looking for casters for one-eyed gargoyle hunting!"

Many players with different goals repeatedly met and parted once again. The dominant attitude around there was to join first and discuss later. The reason was rather simple, it was because the entrances to every dungeon in Erzebet were here.

'What kind of name is that?'

There were numerous holes in the floor that one had to jump through to enter each dungeon. Perhaps the devs designed it as a quality-of-life feature, but thanks to that, it was always crowded near the Ant Cave.

'It's still better than hunting on fields. At least there won't be a turf war.'

There were two types of hunting grounds in Midgard: fields and dungeons. Everyone shared the same field, just like where Seojin had hunted the squirrels. Dungeons were a bit different, as the game generated a new copy of the location for each group.

"Well, hello. Are you a spellcaster?"

"No, I'm not."

"That's okay! Are you going to The Spider's Den?"

"Nope."

That was already the third time that Seojin had been approached by a total stranger since he arrived here. They all had something in common.

"Where are you heading? How about joining us if we're going to the same place?"

They were all hellbent on searching for a new party member. Seojin almost felt like he was being hunted by cultist missionaries.

"I'm waiting for my friend."

"Where is your friend going?"

"Nowhere, we're just going to stand here and people-watch."

"Oh… I see, I see. Enjoy the game! Come and find me if you change your mind!"

They were almost like salespeople, scurrying around and inviting everyone over. It looked as if the difficulty of the dungeon was quite high.

'Or maybe they just want to speedrun it… no, gathering a big group would take much more time.'

Seojin was not intending to find a group. It was the same back when he was in Movelon. He was a hidden class, so going along with others was a huge risk.

'The King's Tomb… there it is.'

Seojin approached the entrance to the dungeon where the skeletons appeared.

'Is there anything hidden around here?'

Seojin scanned the entrance before heading in, just to see if there was any hidden content. But instead, all he got was endless party invitations. Seojin refused them all and slipped into the dungeon when he felt that people had lost interest in him.

The King's Tomb

* Recommended Rank: F

* Recommended Party Size: 5

Warning! Insufficient Party Members!

Are you sure you want to proceed?

"Enter."

He ignored the warning. His vision darkened quickly, and the next thing Seojin saw was scenery that resembled an underground dungeon.

Entering: Dungeon — The King's Tomb

Even the system message was written in blurry font to match the grave atmosphere. However, Seojin had nothing to worry about.

'The mood here is terrific.'

It was true that he came into the dungeon without a second thought, but he was sure that it wouldn't be a problem.

'I have to draw the best output I can from this quest.'

The reason Seojin accepted only one of the five requests was that there was a limit to how many requests you could complete per day. Adventurers were allowed to complete five requests a day and they could only receive a new one twenty-four hours after the request was closed.

'Following the walkthrough takes too long.'

Also, while it was possible to reach rank C by doing various requests, that wasn't effective when it came to rank B. They could even get demoted if they didn't have good results, and that was the reason why all of the guides said that players should aim for rank C. Every mercenary above rank B had to maintain their productivity to match their respective rank. And just like that, mercenaries climbed the ladder of promotion.

'Getting rank B or higher is so difficult that there is not much information available about it. Only freaks would even try to do that, I guess.'

However, that was better for Seojin, rather than being overwhelmed by too much information. Who knew whether crooks like Robert would upload false information or not?

'I have to get ready.'

Main Quest: Dancing With Skeletons

* Kill 10 or more skeletons in The King's Tomb.

* Recommended Rank: F

The goal was to kill ten skeletons, but that was not enough for Seojin. That was where his two new skills, which he had learned from the skill books, came in.

A White Lie

* "Petty Liar" buffs affected target (1X).

* Affected by INT

* Effective: 10 Minutes

* Cooldown: 60 Minutes

One was a buff that affected another skill,

Thousand Faces (Active)

You may now use makeup packs without any restrictions.

Cooldown: 30 Minutes

And the other was an active skill that allowed Seojin to utilize makeup packs more freely.

Here, Seojin naturally used A White Lie. Combined with Seojin's high stats, he could create a picture that no other players would dare to imagine with the skill.

"Let's go."

Seojin stepped into the pitch-black darkness with relentless vigor.