CHAPTER 65: HOT KEYS

Ding dong. Ding dong.

The sound of the city’s great clock tower echoed through the streets. Its hands pointed to 9 a.m. sharp.

Near the capital’s heart, one particular building buzzed with activity. People flooded in, climbing the wide stone steps, pushing open the heavy wooden doors with excitement.

It was the headquarters of Dawnbloom Guild.

Just across from it, nestled among the many stalls of the bazaar, an elderly man sat on a wooden bench observing the commotion.

"Why are so many people entering the guild today, Hans?" the old man asked, squinting through the morning sun.

Hans, a stocky man with thick arms and flour-dusted sleeves, walked over and placed a steaming cup of tea in front of him.

"Today’s the initiation ceremony, Fred."

Fred took the tea with a grateful nod.

"Didn’t they just have one not long ago? Why another so soon?"

Hans shrugged as he returned behind his stall.

"How should I know? I don’t work there." He grumbled. "Maybe it’s because of the upcoming carnival, or something like that."

Fred leaned forward, a knowing look in his eyes.

"So... your boy. He’s trying his luck this time, huh?"

"Hmph. I hope he fails," Hans snorted. "That boy’s got a better future as a noodle’s stall owner than an adventurer."

Fred chuckled. "He’s just like you were at that age. Why not give him a little support?"

Hans crossed his arms.

"At that age, I was immature and stupid. And he’s no different. Why risk your life out there for a few coins when you could be here, safe and full, working a clean trade?"

"Young blood’s different, Hans. They crave danger, the thrill of adventure. They chase glory. Satisfaction. The kind only success can bring."

"Or a gravestone if they fail," Hans muttered.

Fred gave a small sigh. "Well, if that’s how your mind’s set, I won’t argue. All we can do is pray for the best, for all the young ones taking that path today."

He took another sip of tea, then smiled.

"By the way... one bowl of noodles, please."

"Spicy or not?" Hans asked, already turning to prep the ingredients.

"Extra spicy!"

"Hmph... fine. Just wait a minute."

Hans disappeared into the back of his stall to prepare the order, while Fred leaned back and looked across the square, watching the adventurers entering the guild, one after another.

---

"What’s all the commotion down there?"

Mirinda stood on the balcony, gazing at the crowd gathering below. Her elbows rested lightly on the railing. Beside her stood Ida, equally curious.

It was unusual to see this many adventurers in one place, unless it was for an emergency quest, or...

"There’s an initiation ceremony today," said a calm male voice behind her.

"What?!"

Mirinda turned sharply, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. The voice belonged to Beltimore, who adjusted his glasses with one finger.

"Who authorized this? Was anyone going to inform me?" she snapped.

Ida instinctively took a step back. An angry Mirinda was not someone you wanted to be near.

"No. I apologize," Beltimore said, bowing slightly. "I used my authority as vice guildmaster to allow it. And I have a reason."

Mirinda stared at him, hoping it was some kind of joke. But this was Beltimore, he never joked.

She let out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. One hand rose to massage her temple.

"We’ll discuss this later, after we meet with Prince Reid. You’d better have a very good reason, Beltimore."

Then her tone shifted.

"Is the Prince here already?"

Before anyone could respond, another commotion rippled through the hall.

Two figures stepped through the guild’s great doors. One wore a regal noble’s attire, his golden hair shimmering under the morning light. The other walked at his side, clad in elegant black armor, his hair cut short and neatly combed.

Prince Reid and his Royal Knight, Sir Saul.

Every adventurer in the hall stopped what they were doing. Like time itself had frozen.

Gasps and hushed squeals came from the female adventurers. The prince’s presence in such close proximity was too much for some to handle.

Prince Reid walked with quiet confidence, ascending the stairs at the far end of the balcony. His knight followed closely behind.

As he passed, he offered a charming smile to the women who met his gaze.

They melted.

When the prince reached the balcony, he offered a respectful nod.

"Guildmaster Mirinda," he greeted.

Mirinda bowed in return, composed and graceful. She gestured for him to follow, leading him into the guildmaster’s room.

Beltimore and Ida followed in silence.

Once the doors closed behind them, the hall slowly came back to life. The adventurers resumed their chatters.

---

Me and Bob were sitting in a corner of the guild hall. Watching that man, clearly someone of nobility walk in just now had frozen us in place, just like everyone else. He radiated royalty so strongly, it was almost overwhelming.

We sat apart from the rest of the adventurers. Everyone gathered here was one of the candidates for today’s initiation. By my count, there were only six of us. A surprisingly small number, considering the size of the guild.

Still, sitting here waiting made me nervous. It felt like I was about to be interviewed for a job or something.

Bob, on the other hand, looked completely relaxed.

"Don’t worry, dude. We’re guaranteed to be S-rank," he said with a grin.

He was not exactly wrong. I had powers like him,if he was S-rank, then surely I would be too. I tried to calm myself with that thought.

"Don’t get your hopes up too high, bro."

A voice spoke beside me. I turned and saw a man who looked like he just escaped from a food stall. He wore a white cloth wrapped around his forehead, an apron, and had two buck teeth that made him resemble a rabbit.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Because even getting A or B rank is rare. S-rank? That’s nearly impossible. It’s been years since this guild had an S-rank in the initiation. And if you score below D, you might as well forget about being an adventurer."

I blinked. Is it really that strict?

The guy gave us both a look from head to toe, then added bluntly, "You two don’t really look like adventurers. You look kinda weak."

Bob and I exchanged a glance, our irritation rising.

What’s wrong with this guy?

"But hey, don’t worry. If you fail, you can come work at my dad’s noodle stall," he added with a smirk. "We need someone to wash dishes after I become an adventurer. You two seem perfect for that."

This guy’s words are straight poison.

Veins started bulging on Bob’s forehead. I quickly put a hand on his arm to calm him down before he exploded.

"Even if we fail, we won’t end up as stall workers," I replied firmly. "We’ll still give it everything we’ve got."

The guy scoffed. "Heh, baseless determination. But good luck to you both. You can find my father’s stall later...after you failed."

I really wanted to blast this guy with a spell. But instead, I kept my cool and opened my status panel, tuning him out.

After yesterday’s training session with William and the others, we’d leveled up to 4. My MP and Intelligence had increased dramatically. Looking at my high Intelligence attribute, I liked to think my brain now had matched geniuses like Einstein.

Hopefully.

Reaching level 4 also unlocked a new feature: Hotkeys.

Bob had misread it at first and thought it said Hot Chicks. Seriously, what’s going on in that guy’s mind?

The hotkey feature allowed us to assign up to 4 classes, 4 pieces of equipment, and 4 spells into quick-access slots. That way, we could switch between setups in battle without needing to manually open our status panel every time.

I set my classes to Mage, Archer, and Timeweaver.

For equipment: Indra, now Level 3, Gaia Sword, and my trusty Spiked Club, my signature alongside Indra.

For skills: Hellfire Burst, Firebolt, Ice Shard and the newly unlocked Iron Spike Bullet.

The feature was honestly a huge quality-of-life improvement.

Last night, we also spent the most of our BP, about 5000, pulling ten new cards from the [Rise of Heroes] beginner pack. That was Bob’s idea. He said it was one of the cheapest packs and believed something special might happen if we collected the entire 300 cards from the pack.

Most of what we pulled were common and uncommon cards. But some were surprisingly useful, like Iron Spike Bullet.

As for the [Level Up Reward], my luck had clearly dipped. I only got an uncommon supply card, [Hidden Map], usable three times. Not sure when I would ever need that.

Another thing we discovered, only rare and above equipment could be leveled, and even then, not all of them. For instance, my Manaheart Pendant and Bob’s Earthwalker Boots were rare, but they could not level up.

Meanwhile, Gaia Sword could, and it was already at Level 5. Indra, despite being one of my best weapons, was still at Level 3. The XP requirement clearly varied by rarity.

As I continued reviewing my setup, deep in thought, the sudden sound of creaking wood interrupted me.

A staff member from the guild entered, pushing a trolley. On top of it rested a large, glowing orb.

They wheeled it to the center of the hall and set it in place.

The initiation ceremony was about to begin.