Atst, Jake was before The Miner Guild.
Its exterior appearance was amusing to the eye.
Though it harmonized with Last Night''s architecture, the roof of the guild was half-round and yellow. The bright and giant circr lighting orb in the middle spilled the truth about its design—the miner''s helmet.
It certainly looked like one of the essential miner''s equipment.
At night, the big shlight would eclipse all streetnterns, probably the reason none was in front of the building or across it.
The three-story building was also tall and lean.
Looking from afar, some people might mistake the building for a giant miner cardboard standing straight and tall in a red miner''s suit.
''It onlycks a smile for a good advertisement,'' Jake grinned.
Stepping over the threshold, Jake entered the world of men. As far as his eyes went, he only saw male residents and yers going past each other to their respective destinations.
Some were dirty, and some were clean, just about to start their work.
The dirty miners were returning from the counters where they had sold their loot. The clean and ready-to-work miners were heading to the counters beside the selling windows. They''d pick up information about miners, how many were in each mine or dungeon, and what ore was required on the market.
Jake followed a broad-framed yer to one of those windows.
When it was his turn, he saw the first female resident of The Miner Guild. She wore a suit inspired by modern Earth fashion and held her hair in a bun. She struck Jake as someone knowledgeable and serious.
"Wee to The Miner Guild. How may I help you?" asked the receptionistdy.
Jake smiled and replied, "I''d like to be a miner. I want a miner subss and a title."
"Understood. I''d like to warn you first that delicate yers rarely do well in the mines or dungeons. If you''re a mage, I suggest trying out an alchemy," thedy receptionist warned Jake.
Perhaps it was because he looked leanpared to the broad and taller yer she had just served. Jake''s clothes were enough to hide his toned muscles, so anyone could misunderstand his strength and ss.
Jake smiled, "I''m an archer."
"Oh? May I see your hands?" the receptionistdy''s interest surged upon hearing Jake''s ss. Her request wasn''t particrly odd in The Miner Guild because it was easy to tell a yer''s experience with hard work by seeing his hands.
Sneaking his hands past the gap below the window, Jake waited for thedy''s judgment.
He didn''t think much about it.
That said, thedy''s eyes widened upon seeing his callouses. Those weren''t the hands of a new yer or someone who had just arrived on the maind. Her interest shone in her eyes as she extended her hands to caress Jake''s hands.
It went against her policies, let alone The Miner Guild''s rules, but thedy couldn''t have stopped herself. It was like when some people couldn''t stop themselves from popping bubbles on a bubble wrap.
"You must have spent a lot of time building your stats," thedy whispered in a tone that could be misunderstood by anyone around them.
In fact, people next to Jake and behind him, who were standing in queue to other receptionists, had craned their heads to look at what was happening. The same happened to the receptionist''s co-workers.
Bobbing eyebrows, squinted eyes, smirks, and other reactions had fallen on Jake immediately.
It was embarrassing for him, so he grew slightly red and looked down.
A cough from one of her co-workers brought the receptionist back to her senses.
She coughed thrice and cleared her throat, "Forgive me… A miner subss and a title, was it? I''ll help you get them immediately aspensation for my inappropriate behavior."
"No need to feel so bad… you were pretty adorable," Jake replied.
A few smirks felt heavier after he had said that.
Nheless, it was a truth, so why would he hold that back? It should have also helped thedy''s burden. s, it worked the opposite, as the receptionist''s face grew crimson.
Jake didn''t expect that. When he praised Ingrid, she took it differently. No one really listened to their conversation back then, too.
After a few awkward minutes, Jake received a special letter of rmendation. It''d take him to the basement of The Miner Guild, where a skilled miner would assess him.
Someone who had yet to touch any of the mining experience wouldn''t meet that miner. yers usually would be required toplete a few quests and get their mining proficiency to at least an intermediate level to meet one of the skilled miners.
They''d receive more demanding quests, which would either help them upgrade their ss grades or skills.
Jake, however, had received a special privilege to head down to the basement on his first visit.
While leaving the first floor, he heard various yers shouting at the receptionists, "Look at my hands!"
"Those shook many pickaxes, and not only that!" A male yer said with a smirk and bobbing eyebrows, receiving a disgusting stare from the receptionistdy.
"I worked for three months already! Where is my rmendation letter?!" Another yer barked at the receptionist, only to receive a death re and a kind request to turn around and leave.
Those reactions were both amusing and surprising to Jake.
He didn''t listen for long because he had a hunch that some of those yers would turn to him and demand him to share his experiences with them.
It''d be a hassle to avoid them, to say nothing of dropping them off his tail.
Finally, Jake was in the basement. It was some sort of a stone maze at the feet. A few people would mistake this basement as some sort of prison, as various stone doors were lining up corridors on either side.
Following the receptionist''sdy''s directions, Jake headed to one of those rooms and knocked on the doors.
Soon, a man in histe teens stood before him.
"I heard the news. A promising miner has arrived!"
Jake didn''t want his path to the top to be sullied with insincerity.
He smiled and replied, "It''s rather the receptionistdy getting worked up over my hands."
"Haha! I see! Come over, brother!" the man patted Jake''s shoulder and invited him to the room.
It was surely not… a normal room.