Limits.

I went around touring the city. Not only was I interested in the city, I also watched carefully my environment. I didn"t have to search for a long time. I soon spotted a group of humans, that seemed to be doing the same thing, as I did. "I highly doubt that, these guys came here to tour the city. If I didn"t receive the note, I might"ve thought of it as just coincidence, but this is too obvious now" I thought.

The question was, whenever that group, was the only group following me? As I walked through the city and explored the buildings. I didn"t notice another group trailing me. "So it"s just this one. I don"t want to disappoint them. I should go to the building that offers work. They might have some kind of task, outside of the city" I thought, and headed to the building the Golem pointed to me previously.

Inside, I could see many different creatures. Some of them were talking to each other. Some were looking through some posters, while others talked with the Golems at the front desk. I walked over to a Golem that was not occupied, and asked "What is this place?". The Golem answered "This place is called Mercenary Guild, welcome human. Is this your first visit to the city?". I nodded my head, and said "Yes. Can you tell me more about this place?".

The Golem replied "Of course. The City of Varent is the biggest and the only city in the Land of Sands. You will be able to find and buy a lot of materials, tools and supplies here, that will allow you the survival in the wilderness. The building you are standing in right now, is called Mercenary Guild, which I already mentioned. Here, you can take up certain tasks, that are displayed on those boards over there", then he pointed at the area with boards, which had some papers stuck to them.

He continued "You are allowed to take up one task at a time. Some tasks may require to form groups, but it is not our concern, how you carry that task out. In case you are unsuccessful, we will ask for refund. The refund is calculated based on how many days you were overdue with the task, or in case you couldn"t do it, and returned the task before the expiry date, we will charge you for the amount of days that the task was not displayed for others. My suggestion is, don"t take up tasks, which you cannot handle. Focus on things you are able to carry out, and don"t be blinded by the rewards".

He then added "Would you like to register now, or when you choose a task?". I said "I will have a look at the tasks first". I then moved towards the boards, that displayed all sorts of tasks on them. I looked through those tasks, and they ranged from killing some scorpions and bringing in the materials, to collecting Lears in the caves. Some simple tasks, like Lears collection, were not paid very well. "For each 100 Lears that I bring, I would get 25 Copper Hals" I thought. Not a lot, but it was a quick job, without much of a hustle. The time limit was 1 day, and the amount required, was at least 100 of them. One could of course bring 200, or 300 Lears, and they would receive a bonus.

"It doesn"t say what type of bonus one would receive, but at least they mentioned it". I took down the paper, and went to the counter in order to register the task. What I didn"t realise, is that I would need a membership of sorts. "The Golem didn"t explain that, he only said I would need to register" I thought. The Golem said "This membership is tracked throughout the North. Any major villages and cities, will posses a similar guild to this. You can take up the jobs in there too, with that membership. It also doesn"t cost anything. All I need, is some of your details".

"This might be a problem" I thought. There was no need for them to know my real details. Especially since, I was a wanted man. Although the Golems may not care, it would still be on the record somewhere. "He also mentioned that any large village or city, has this kind of establishment. This would mean, they may have access to my information. I don"t need that at the moment" I thought.

There was another problem. To be exact, it was my name. Nex was not really common name, and my own grandfather"s pursuit, might give them clues that I was in the North. This was another reason, for which I didn"t want to reveal my name. "Only Crow knows my name, and it should stay that way" I thought. The Golem meanwhile, stood there as if waiting for something. He saw my confusion, and asked "Do you want to create the membership?". I said "Oh, right, I was lost in my thoughts. Sorry".

He nodded, and said "Alright, then pay attention. I will ask you a few questions, and record them on your membership. If you don"t know something, say so, but it might invalidate your membership. This will also be noted, and you will have a much harder time getting one in the future. Proof will be required, so I suggest truthful answers".

I nodded my head, while trying to think of something, that could be pa.s.sed off as my ident.i.ty. The Golem asked again "We can terminate here, if you are unsure. You can always return later". I shook my head and said "Let"s continue". The Golem nodded, and asked the first question "Your name?". I already thought about that, and said "I don"t have a name. I"ve always been called Dark Traveller. I travel a lot you see, and due to my hair, that was the term people coined."

He looked at me suspiciously, and asked "Why don"t you have a name?". I said "My parents died when I was very small. I don"t even remember them. Maybe they gave me a name, but I was too small to remember that. I had no other family either, and the people who were my guardians, never really cared about my name . When I grew up a bit, I travelled with some merchants, and everyone just called me "You". Then I started travelling by myself, visiting many places. Because I had no name, people coined the Dark Traveller term, and it stayed like this".

He seemed satisfied with my answer, but I was sweating underneath. "Good thing I can act a bit. Otherwise he might"ve not bought that answer" I thought. There was some truth in there too. I was the Dark Traveller"s disciple, and my parents were really dead. The other parts were fabricated. He asked the next question "Where do you originate from?". I said "The South. I"m from the Endrosian Empire". He nodded his head, and didn"t ask about any other details. Instead, he asked the next question "What is your current Limit stage?".

"Hmm? Why would they need to know that?" I thought, and asked "May I ask, why you need to know that?". The Golem explained "Sometimes, you can get employed directly, if your strength fits the employer"s demand. These type of jobs are usually very well paid. Besides that, some tasks are locked for higher ranking members, and you cannot partic.i.p.ate or carry them out, if we don"t know your strength". I nodded my head, and said "I broke through the Half Step of the Outer Limit". I figured that there was no point in lying. There were many creatures that reached this step, and of course, I rated my strength a bit higher than I said.

The Golem nodded his head, and noted that down. After that, he asked another question "What is your specialisation?". I thought "Specialisation? As in fighting with dagger or something like that?". I wasn"t sure, so I asked "What do you mean by that?". The Golem responded "What do you specialise in, it"s exactly what I said. If you want an example, fighting with a specific weapon, infiltration, scavenging, production and so on".

"So I don"t need to tell him my skills. Good, as I didn"t intend to anyway" I thought, and said "Smithing and Close Combat". This was the most comprehensive answer, I would provide. The Golem didn"t seem to mind that, and said "The last question. Are you a convict?". I looked deeply into his eyes, and said "No". He froze for a moment, then said "Congratulations. You have pa.s.sed the test, and you are now a full member of the Mercenary Guild. I will bring you the ident.i.ty stone in a moment, and explain how all the rules and perks work".

The Golem went somewhere for a while, then returned with a square, flat stone. He handed the stone to me, and said "This is your identification. You may find that there are different styles of them. This is dependent on where the membership was granted. In Varent, we use these stones as membership ident.i.ty. They can be exchanged to different cards, only when you want to advance in ranking. If you lose this stone, you will have to return here, and pay for replacement".

I nodded my head and looked at the stone. My "name" was written over there. The specialisations I provided, and the location I came from. It simply said "The South". I asked "What if I break it by accident?". The Golem laughed, and said "For that, you would need a lot more strength, than you possess right now. It is a special stone, with Formations inside. The details you gave, can be read by the Mercenary Guild if need be". He then continued "I will now tell you everything about the membership".