The Asshai's Bloodmage

 I headed towards a large tower. This tower stood out for using many flags that represented its origins. This was the headquarters of the Adventurers' Alliance, a group created by the descendants of the first dungeon explorers. And nowadays, they are the most active in exploring this type of place. Although they have some Masters in their organization, they are not very active, and the Alliance is currently managed by the so-called vice-leaders. They were the descendants or disciples of these Masters, in addition to being the most powerful adventurers in the Alliance.

The entrance to the tower resembled the Tower of the Sages. It had a similar model to a bar, but much larger. There were masked and unmasked men drinking inside, a table that I assume was of tasks similar to ours and the Garden of Beasts, and a kind of small kiosk with a beautiful woman inside. Avoiding the bar and the eyes of many on me, I went to the woman first to ask a few questions, but before I could say anything, she spoke first.

"Good afternoon sir, welcome to the Adventurers' Alliance. How can I help you?"

"Good afternoon, this is my first time here. How do I register as an adventurer?"

"To register as an adventurer, you need to fill out this form and pay a fee of 2 gold coins. After that, you can choose to take a test to improve your initial position within the organization."

I took the form, paid the 2 coins, and started filling it out. It asked questions like where I came from, my skills, whether I belong to any group in Asshai, and mainly about my combat experience. After reading it, I turned to her and asked:

"What does initial position mean?"

"Adventurers are classified by rank. The higher your position in this ranking, the better the tasks assigned to you. If you choose not to take the test, your initial position will be F. This is the lowest position in our alliance, and you will only be left with simple cleaning and gathering tasks after the main teams clear some dungeons."

"I'm going to take the test! Where should I go? And how many times can I increase my rank through this test?" The woman smiled at my words and questions, then answered me calmly and patiently.

"You're going to a small tower that belongs to our alliance. There are some wild animals inside it. You must fight or avoid them to recover one of these two emblems. The first emblem is on the top floor of the tower and the second is on the bottom floor. If you can recover the emblem on the top floors, your level will go from F to E. If you can recover the emblem on the bottom floor, your level will immediately go up to D. To increase your level beyond D, you need to make achievements within the Alliance, which takes time..."

After that, she added a basic explanation about the levels before ending her guidance. I thanked her and said goodbye. I left there with a brooch with the letter F in Asshai'i. It's the symbol I got after filling out the documents and that I must use to take the test. From what I understand, the rankings of the adventurer's guild are F, E, D, C, B, A, and S. With F being complete beginners and S being a position given only to Masters.

As soon as I arrived at the small tower, I identified myself to the two guards at the door and went straight to the lower floors. Since it was a small tower, there were no elevators and I could only go down using the stairs. On the first underground floor, some rats the size of dogs tried to attack me. I used my short sword to cut them all down and continued down. On the second floor, the number of these rats increased and I started to speed up my pace to avoid fighting them. If I remember correctly, these creatures were also found in large numbers in the sewers of Asshai.

On the third underground floor, I find some wild boars with spikes on their bodies. I almost mistook them for porcupines. But they are fast and have huge tusks. If they hit me in a lunge, I could get seriously hurt and even die like poor King Robert. I activate my shadow cloak's ability, disappearing into the shadows and running straight to the fourth and last floor of the small tower.

The place is full of the same wild boars from the third floor and is also full of vegetation and fruit trees. In the center of the floor, there is an altar with some silver brooches on top. It must be the emblem the receptionist mentioned.

I run to the place, but stop just before I get there. There is a trap on the floor. I could feel the energy of the blood ritual. It will hurt anyone who steps on the place and even the surrounding area. I smile and send my raven to collect the item by flying. Without stepping on the ground, the trap will not be activated, the person would probably have to work a little and deactivate it before picking up the item, but I can easily avoid this with my pet, saving me valuable time. When I'm leaving the fourth floor, the effect of the shadow cloak ends up revealing me to the boars, I release a green glow from my boot and run towards the stairs, and the animals can't reach me at that speed.

My new artifact allows me to cast the Haste spell once a week, the reason I used it this time was to test its efficiency in escape situations. The effect only ends when I reach the ground floor of the tower, before leaving I take off the pair of boots and put on another spare pair that I bought. The 7-day cooldown is a pain, and I decided to bypass this time by having an identical spare item. Before leaving the tower I give a report to the two guards about the state of the dungeon, according to them it is a normal procedure, only then I return to the alliance headquarters and speak to the same receptionist, it is time to gain a higher position and see what a real expedition is like in these more dangerous dungeons…

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Magic Apprentice: Parsa, Pato Senalima, Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Vinnie, frimorigo, Scott Robertson, Takatchi, Leery Falcon and Austin!