The Adventurers Guild, Lamigione.
In the still of the night, one of the rooms on the highest floor of the Adventurers Guild was still lit.
A young lady dressed like a military advisor was immersed in her work at a desk in the room.
She was pretty, her delicate beauty evident despite a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. It added an intellectual spirit and scholarly grace to her. If she were on Earth, she would definitely be trending on the Internet as the most gorgeous female professor. At the very least, the academic ambience around her was overwhelming, making one yearn to be under her tutelage.
A while later, the serene setting was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Please come in.”
The girl answered as she continued with her work.
When the door opened, someone entered slowly from the outside.
“I knew that you’d still be working, Leili.”
The person speaking gently was similarly a young lady. As she came in through the door illuminated by the light, she looked as gentle and friendly as she sounded, just like a considerate young lady from an affluent family. She was truly adorable.
Yet, such a mild-mannered lady like her was wearing an incredibly heavy suit of armor which concealed her youthful figure. She was also carrying a huge Tower Shield on her back with a long Paladin Sword by her hips. She looked like a general who was going to lead her army to war, a stark contrast against her sweet demure beauty.
With the sinking weight of her equipment, the girl moved with an accompanying metal clank.
The young lady who was addressed as Leili looked up. A display of helplessness was etched on her intellectual and calm demeanor.
“No, Vivian! You haven’t given up the armor?”
Leili’s exasperated tone was evident. She must have mentioned the thing for the umpteenth time. The girl, Vivian, was unperturbed.
“No, I haven’t.” Vivian’s tone was soothing and patient. “I’ve told you many times. I hope to shield my partners and be a Paladin who guards them from malice and hurt. Whatever it is, I’m not giving up this armor and the Tower Shield.”
The girl named Vivian sounded docile. However, her words were anything but that.
As Vivian’s long-time good friend, Leili knew that she could only nag. It was impossible to persuade her. Even when…
“They don’t even suit you,” Leili sighed.
“Nothing like that,” Vivian retorted with a smile.
Both of them shared a close bond. They chatted for a while before broaching the main topic.
“Sorry, Vivian. But, I’ve a favor to ask of you.”
Leili pushed a parchment to Vivian.
“This is…?”
Vivian picked it up looking slightly confused.
“This is the report that the guild’s staff handed in today.” Leili knocked the top of her desk and said, “From what’s known, it seems that we’ve an odd newbie today. They don’t know how to handle him, so they passed him to me.”
“A newbie?” Vivian’s interest was piqued. Scanning the report in her hand, she was taken aback as she commented, “Level 10 at 20 years old, but he doesn’t have any skills?”
“Right.” Leili chorused meaningfully, “Quite a number of Adventurers witnessed the display of the newbie on the Magic Detector and the news got out. They even checked the Magic Detector used at the time to make sure it was not faulty. So, I believe it’s true.”
“Really?” Vivian commented genuinely, “That’s pretty odd then.”
“You think so too?” Leili picked up a quill pen and pointed at the parchment on which were recorded the details of the newbie Adventurer. “It’s reasonable if he’s without talent and capability. Since he can reach Level 10, it means he has potential in battling. It’s highly unlikely that he doesn’t even have one skill. What do you think is the cause?”
Vivian pondered seriously and raised three fingers.
“There are three possibilities that I can think of right off the bat.”
“First, this newbie is on a wrong path. He has the potential to level up, but he didn’t pick up skills he’s good at and has been working hard in the wrong field. For example, he has the capacity to be a mage but he probably bit off more than he could chew, thus his level was raised but not his skills.”
“Second, this newbie may have gone through certain things in the past, such as being very ill or something else which disabled him from developing and training. When he improved later and leveled up to Level 10, his capability began to show but there’s no skill he can pick up at the time.”
“Third…”
After giving it much thought, Vivian spoke up.
“Perhaps the newbie has an exclusive skill or a special skill which resulted in what happened.”
The three possibilities that Vivian raised were similar to Leili’s conclusion. However, both of them did not consider the possibility of the newbie having the skills which the Magic Detector could not detect. No one would believe that a twenty-year-old newbie Adventurer could have skills above Level 7.
It was almost impossible for one to reach a skill level of 70 or above unless one abandoned the other skills to focus all their SP on one skill. Then, the person could perhaps level up the skill to Level 7 at Level 30. Yet, it would be difficult to battle alone with only one skill to reach Level 30.
Under normal circumstances, everyone in this world picked up several skills simultaneously to form a mature battling ability and enable themselves to partake in battles and level up quickly.
In other words, it was commonplace for people to have several skills. When one of the skills reached Level 7, the person’s level would have been quite high.
This newbie was only at Level 10. It was impossible that he had skills above Level 7. In history, there had been no one who had Level 7 skills when they were at Level 10, not even the deities nor the demons.
Therefore, this possibility was naturally overlooked by both Leili and Vivian.
In spite of it, this newbie’s peculiarity was interesting.
“Whatever the possibility, it’s worth taking a deeper look, no?”
What Leili finally said prompted a dry chuckle from Vivian, because she knew the reason the former had called upon her.
“Are you trying to slot the newbie into my Adventurer’s group?”
Vivian blatantly exposed Leili’s plan.
“Ah, Vivian. Bingo!”
Leili chuckled softly.