To his side was Det as they walked just slightly behind Somnus. All of them had their ident.i.ty concealed by white-silvery masks, clearly made of magical metal. They also wore armor that further concealed their appearance. Like this, the goblins looked like just slightly taller dwarves, but they weren't as stocky. If anything, they resembled some subspecies of elf, judging by the shape of their form.

This was all thanks to the articulated plate armor Somnus made, but he himself did not wear any except for a breastplate that connected to segmented ta.s.sets which protected his thighs. At first glance, the armor did not look as special as the masks, and if anyone a.n.a.lyzed it, they would find only a slight amount of magical materials within the alloy. However, even that small amount of magical material was enough to store several spells that increased the capabilities of the trio. The masks themselves were special as they contained a wide variety of spells.

"Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild, the quest board is over there," a young woman standing behind a counter said and pointed to a wall to her left where notices were posted.

The three individuals were the center of attention of all the people in the rather large building. First and foremost, the building was a high-cla.s.s tavern. Adventurers often spent their time here, sharing "war stories" while waiting to depart for the next quest. It was usually here where adventurers would form their parties.

"Wish to register," Somnus said.

This was s.h.i.+non's plan. Somnus was supposed to spend a month or so away from the Kingdom and gain fame as an anonymous adventurer. Then, when Somnus gained a large number of supporters, he would reveal himself as the King of Gram, and supposedly, all the people he deceived would throw their lot with him.

Somnus thought the plan was idiotic, despite s.h.i.+non promising to make it interesting—whatever that meant.

However, there were merits to s.h.i.+non's plan, or rather, the idea of becoming an adventurer. To be an adventurer was to be something very close to the G.o.ds—their blessing, after all, allowed one to gain levels and become stronger. Somnus did not have any information on the G.o.ds, or this blessing, and it was not something that he could learn from spies or drones. This was something he had to experience to understand. If he was going to fight the G.o.ds, then Somnus had to gain knowledge on how the G.o.ds did things—how they operated, how they were organized and what weapons they used.

Of course, Somnus did not think that being an adventurer for a month was going to answer any of those questions, but s.h.i.+non strongly urged Somnus to do it anyway, suggesting that he would be surprised.

"Well, sir, may I know your name?" the woman asked, smiling. The smile was there to cover up her confusion. How could an unregistered adventurer have all that armor? It didn't make any sense.

"Negative," Somnus replied.

"But…" the woman began and then trailed off. She cleared her throat and said, "Very well. It is not necessary, but usually we keep a record of the name so that the adventurer can become famous…"

"Not interested," Somnus said.

The goblins looked at each other silently. A silent conversation conveyed only through exasperated looks developed between them. It was probably about food.

"Very well, in that case, all you have to do is place your hand on this sphere," the woman said as she retrieved a box from under the counter. The woman placed the box on the counter, popped the lid and retrieved a gla.s.sy sphere with a murky mist flowing within it.

"Who wants to go first?" the woman asked.

"Det impress female," the goblin said as he confidently stepped forwards. "What does goldilocks expect to happen?"

"Goldilocks" chuckled at what she thought was harmless flirting and said, "Well… you have that expensive armor but are not registered… so perhaps… Gold?"

The goblins seemed to understand what the sphere did, but Somnus did not.

"If Det better than Gold, will Goldilocks feed Det? Det not parasite like Lod. Det treat nice," the goblin said with a smile.

Lod glared at Det, an expression that was completely concealed by his mask. "Det call Lod parasite one more time, and Lod feed Det to parasites."

The woman chuckled at the two odd individuals. Never in a hundred years would she suspect that she is dealing with goblins. "Well, perhaps if you get Argentmetal we can talk more about it…"

Det emitted a "Hmph" and placed his hand on the sphere. The sphere lit up with a magical light and flashed through several colors at once. Orange, milky white, gold, grey, silvery-white and then finally brilliant white.

The woman blinked. "W-what?"

Det chuckled victoriously and slid his hand off the sphere to clasp the woman's hand. "Det think we talk now."

Lod shoulder-pushed Det out of the way and said, "If Lod better than Mithril, woman forget about Det, ok?"

The woman was still stunned by the fact that a goblin just got a Mithril rating, one above Argentmetal. This was already Hero territory. She could only nod in reply to Lod's words, her brain not even processing what he was saying.

Lod placed his hand on the crystal as Det growled at Lod. "Det hope Lod get Bronze."

Just as the word came out, the sphere flashed with a bronze color and then quickly went through all the colors. It landed on the same brilliant white that signified Mithril, hesitated for a moment, and then switched to rose-gold and red.

"Orichalc.u.m…" the woman whispered. Her surprise became fear. All the adventurers in the guildhouse stood up from their table, beginning to crowd around the trio.

"Lod cheat! If Lod Orichalc.u.m, Det should be better!" the goblin shouted angrily.

"Det just jealous. Det always ride Lod coattails of success," Lod replied with a casual tone.

"What is coattail?" Det asked.

"Only Orichalc.u.m can understand," Lod said.

Without warning, Somnus placed his hand on the ball next and it instantly replied. There was no flas.h.i.+ng of colors this time, only a rainbow spectrum of light within the ball.

The woman blinked. She tried to look at the ball from different angles, taking this opportunity to wrestle her hand back from Det.

"Is that… G.o.dmetal?" one of the adventurers asked.

"Don't be stupid. There hasn't been a G.o.dmetal in thousands of years. Only True Heroes have that. It is Starmetal," another one replied.

"Huh, makes sense," the adventurer who initially asked the question conceded.

As if responding to their words, the sphere became dimmer and then flashed through several colors, before landing on a violet, red and blue mix.

The woman looked up to Somnus and said, "It appears to be starmetal… sir…"

No one in their entire country had ever seen a Mithril adventurer, much less a Starmetal one.

"Is that acceptable?" Somnus asked. To him, the names of the ranks didn't mean anything. He remembered that the monsters brought back tags, and they were usually gold or silver. What he wanted to know was whether "Starmetal" was acceptable for being a registered adventurer.

What the woman thought he asked was different. "Sir, I am sure if you become named as a Champion of the G.o.ds, you would be a Ruby or Emerald. You certainly meet the qualifications."

Indeed, to qualify for becoming a Champion, one had to be of Argentmetal rank or higher. If they became a Champion, they would become one of the "Gems", as the people referred to them, and their tags would be made of precious stones. Starmetal was one of the final ranks a non-Champion could achieve with G.o.dmetal being the ultimate one, but requiring certain conditions to be met—to be born a Hero cla.s.s was one of them.

"Sir, we will have your tags made in a few days… but I am afraid we simply do not have any quests worth your time… perhaps if you go to the Empire—" the woman began.

"Unnecessary," Somnus said as he turned around and began departing.

"Lod wonder if he can sell tag…" the goblin said, dejectedly, as he followed Somnus.

The word soon reached all corners of the continent that three new adventurers joined the Guild; one was a Mithril, the other an Orichalc.u.m and finally a Starmetal. The number of Mithrils in the world was small, and Orichalc.u.m was likewise even rarer. Starmetals could be counted on the fingers of one's hands. Their nickname was "The Silver Masks" and without completing a single quest they had already become famous.