Chapter 106: The Dalaran Adventurers’ Guild (Part 2)

This world also has organizations similar to adventurers’ guilds, but none possess enough strength to encompass all the nations on the continent and grow into large-scale entities. The inconvenience of long-distance communication is the biggest obstacle to this.

Smaller ones are institutions similar to town halls established by local nobles, along with inns, which issue tasks to passing adventurers to solve various problems within their territories. Larger ones are agencies managed by royal families, typically used to issue warrants or bounties to serve the nation, royal houses, and nobles.

Donald planned to establish such an organization in the name of the lord of Dalaran. Unlike those that only issue tasks within the lord’s domain, this organization would also serve other regions of the kingdom, allowing it to recruit talents from all over. He had sufficient incentives to attract a large number of adventurers and professionals.

His idea of opening a mysterious alchemy shop was to use a large number of magical items listed in the Truth Book as bait to draw many adventurers to Dalaran. After all, magical equipment is extremely rare for ordinary non-magic professions, and for ordinary adventurers of varying skill levels, it can be a treasure worth passing down through generations! Not to mention consumables like alchemical potions and spell items, which can be life-saving at critical moments in battle—every adventurer would want to stock up on more. After all, no amount of money is as valuable as one’s own life.

Although the magical equipment Donald planned to offer was of lower rank, with the highest treasure being merely a high-tier magical item, in an era when alchemists were in short supply, these items produced by the Truth Book were rare treasures. Each low-tier magical item could generate at least a profit of thousands of gold sols when auctioned.

Moreover, the arrival of adventurers also boosted commerce in the sub-territories. In just half a month, five more shops were sold and seven or eight rented out on the commercial streets of Dusk Town.

It was clear that the plan for an adventurers’ guild must be implemented. Donald immediately summoned the main officials of the territory to hold a meeting in the lord’s manor.

When Donald revealed his plan, his subordinates were deeply impressed. Their lord always had such ingenious ideas—no wonder he had become a powerful mage and managed to develop the territory to its current state.

Seeing no objections, Donald first gave orders to William, the most meritorious administrator: “William, I plan to establish branches of the Dalarn Adventurers’ Guild in Dusk Town and Windbell Village. The town will serve as our headquarters, while Windbell Village will be our first office! You’re in charge of selecting locations and overseeing construction there!” “As you command, my lord…” William obediently accepted the task. He was becoming increasingly skilled in handling territorial affairs, outperforming even ordinary administrators. “Jesse, you’ll be in charge of the territory’s finances. All funds needed for building the adventurers’ guild will come from you. Make sure to maintain a balanced budget. If there’s a shortage, let me know, and I’ll find a solution!” Sir Jesse had already resigned from his position in the Stone City Noble Council, waiting for a new supervisor to be sent from the capital, which delayed the handover until a month ago before he officially joined Donald’s territory. Eager to seize this rare opportunity for promotion, Jesse worked exceptionally well. With Jesse’s help, William no longer had to handle finances, leaving him so busy that he didn’t even have time to catch his breath. With the basic infrastructure of the adventurers’ guild in place, Donald looked around and said, “For now, our focus is on construction within the territory. Outside, we’ll rely on existing inns to post tasks, attracting adventurers to Dalarn. Do you have any additions to this plan?” Uther stepped forward and said, “My lord, I believe it’s necessary to form our own mercenary unit as the guild’s armed force. It can also be used to train soldiers, turning them into skilled warriors with real combat experience.” The paladin rarely spoke, but whenever he did, it was to the point. This time, he mentioned something Donald hadn’t considered, so Donald nodded in approval. “Uther, you’re thinking ahead. But you’ll still be responsible for security at the Blue Vein Gold Mine. That task will be handled by Kelthas and Clinton.” Kelthas and the others accepted the orders. Donald continued, “Barn and Tik, select some elites from your guards and hunting teams to join the mercenary unit in batches, gaining combat experience to prepare for becoming part of the territory’s regular army!”

Mage Moray, who had fully integrated into Donald’s group, also spoke up: “My lord, relying solely on the armed forces in the territory may not be enough to ensure security in all aspects. It would be better to recruit some members from among adventurers to handle peripheral tasks, while our own people focus on core management. This way, we won’t lack manpower, nor will we have to worry about them having ulterior motives!”
Once the general direction was set, Donald delegated the specific plans to his subordinates, while he devoted himself to mage training and alchemy research, striving to accumulate enough knowledge as soon as possible to enhance his own strength.
Soon, a few days later, the headquarters of the Dalaran Adventurers’ Guild was completed, located in the southeast corner of Twilight Town. Building on existing structures, William ordered four vacant houses to be combined into a larger courtyard, decorated in a grand and imposing manner. The interior could accommodate hundreds of people to handle affairs at the same time, while the outer courtyard could hold several hundred people standing.
In the short term, such a scale of headquarters should suffice. If the guild grew in the future, further expansion could always be done later.
As for Windchime Village, since it was merely an office, William ordered one of the houses between the inn and tavern to be simply modified, with a few staff members assigned to manage it.
On the day the Dalaran Adventurers’ Guild was established, not many adventurers chose to register with it. Most adventurers staying in Dalaran adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
Adventurers gathered outside the guild discussed among themselves.
“What’s that lord trying to do? Doesn’t he know we adventurers are used to being independent and free? How could we possibly join some organization?”
“This isn’t just any organization. I heard the Adventurers’ Guild is specifically set up for adventurers, allowing us to take on quests and also posting quests there! It’s not much different from taking quests at the taverns before, except there are far more quests and it’s more convenient!”

A man who appeared honest and strong spoke indignantly, “I heard that this place also handles professional rank assessments, which can prove one’s strength. I already possess the strength of a peak Black Iron rank, but those guys like Mark just refuse to acknowledge it. Every time we go on a mission as a team, the share given to me still follows the old standard. This time, I’m going to get a rank certification so they can all see!” Another adventurer dressed like an assassin nodded and said, “Good idea! I heard that the lord himself is a powerful Bronze Mage, and his teacher is the top mage in the North County—Silver-ranked Meisel. Moreover, the Stone City Mage Guild is involved as well, so the certifications here should be quite accurate!” Many adventurers shared this view, but few of the more experienced ones actually registered. Only one young adventurer, who had just reached adulthood at around eighteen or nineteen, couldn’t wait any longer. Gathering his courage, he stepped through the newly built gates of the guild under everyone’s gaze. As soon as he entered, he was shocked by the task wall right in the front of the lobby, his expression changing rapidly. The guild receptionist below assumed the young man was too overwhelmed by the list of tasks to know which one to choose, and felt smug inwardly. He could envy the other young men in the village for having gotten the chance to work in the lord’s guild after passing the trials among dozens of candidates. Unexpectedly, after a while, the young adventurer finally said, his face red with frustration, “I can’t read much. Could you please explain to me what’s on this wall?” Hearing this, the receptionist almost choked on his own saliva—this guy couldn’t even read a task! He had wasted his time here for nothing. However, the staff of the adventurer guild were all trained and selected under Lord Donald’s strict requirements, and only locals with clean reputations were employed. Faced with this situation, the receptionist still smiled and explained everything to the young adventurer. “This is the task wall of our Dalaran Adventurer Guild. All tasks, big and small, are posted here. If an adventurer thinks a task is suitable, they can take it on!”

“The tasks are divided into nine levels according to the rules set by the lord, with each level having different difficulties and rewards. Levels 1 to 3 are black-iron tier tasks, simple and ideal for beginners; levels 4 to 6 are bronze tier tasks, usually requiring experienced bronze adventurers or multiple black-iron adventurers to complete. Levels 7 and 8 are silver tier tasks, extremely difficult, typically only achievable by large mercenary groups or silver-ranked powerhouses. The ninth level, gold tier, is the highest rank of task.” Then the receptionist introduced the specifics of several tasks on the task wall to the first adventurer, from lowest to highest. “…The last ninth-level task is currently the only gold-tier task in our guild—it’s the dragon-search mission issued by our lord, to find traces of dragons in the Izumo Mountains. If anyone can venture deep into the Green Cloak Forest and the depths of the Izumo Mountains and discover dragon traces, they can receive a reward from the lord: a bottle of Moon Elf Wine that can alter one’s aptitudes to grant mage talents, along with 10,000 gold sols.” Donald also divided task levels into nine according to the professional strength hierarchy of this world. Of course, only the first four levels and the final ninth level currently have assigned tasks, many of which are merely created to fill space. As for that ninth-level dragon-search task, it was obviously created by Donald as a decoy to attract adventurers’ attention. The existence of dragons in the Izumo Mountains has always been a legend, and even if someone truly found dragon traces, his current strength wouldn’t allow him to take any action against them. Adult dragons are generally at least silver rank, and with their racial advantages, they can easily deal with three or five human silver-ranked powerhouses. Some noble-blooded adult dragons even possess gold-tier strength and powerful innate abilities—far beyond what he can handle at present. Unless it’s a young dragon that has strayed from its group, in which case Donald wouldn’t mind catching one to play with.