A Wizards Misadventures

~~Level Nineteen~~

AN: You know that this is the third time I rewrote this chapter before I was happy with it? I've got eight thousand words just sitting around… let nobody ever say that writing is easy work but I still love it.

I've been having some trouble writing lately. It's not that I'm lacking much in inspiration or time. There's just not much happening lately. I don't write well when I'm bored. I need to be excited or happy or sad. Anything, really. It's hard to get into the 'writing zone' when everything is starting to get repetitive. I need to start writing more to get chapter 20 out before next Saturday. It might be a little late. I'll try to avoid that.

Lastly, there's one misspelling here. It's intentional and a pun on skeletons. No need to point it out.

[|||| =LEVEL 19= ||||]

I walked into the guild, lazy eyes scanning the room, my cloak around my shoulders. All the adventurers were looking at me, but politely out of the corner of their eyes instead of outright staring. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ainz and his servant stiffen. He was wearing armor and hulking over a table while the servant, a doppleganger named Narberal, hid irritation and fear at me. I walked past them to the desk where a cute dark haired receptionist sat.

"Excuse me," I said pleasantly. "I'm a mage with a few years of experience. Some… circumstances have caused me to become an adventurer. Is there some sort of test I can take to advance past the lower ranks or is it a requirement to work my way up?" I gave her my most charming smile and she blushed.

"I-You'll have to start at copper like everybody else, sadly," she said, stuttering at first. I made a show of disappointment.

"I see. Am I limited in the jobs I can take?"

"If you join a more highly ranked group you can take more advanced jobs. Pay is divided according to whoever signed up for the job, though," she said, actually managing to sound sad for me. It was fake, but still nice to hear. Ah well.

"Hm. Alright then. I'm sorry to trouble you more but how do I increase my rank?"

"After taking enough jobs you become eligible for a rank test, wherein you demonstrate skill above your current rank." The receptionist smiled proudly. "I performed second tier magic to advance to iron rank, for example." I raised an eyebrow and peered into her mind to see what differentiated these 'ranks' of magic…

Seriously? A firebolt - literally just a teensy little fireball that doesn't even explode - is rank one? And rank two is a proper exploding fireball. Rank three is a teensy firestorm. Ainz is basically a god with how weak humans are here. Pathetic.

"Rank two?" I smiled but leaked a little condescension into it. "Impressive." She could tell I didn't mean it and looked a bit irritated.

"Here's your plate." She slid over a copper tag. "Just push some magic into it. You-" I had already inserted some aura into the flimsy enchantment. It broke. My aura was too potent for it. Too little and it couldn't detect me. Adding more broke it. I studied the enchantment and refined it to take on more powerful energies. The new one held my soul but it made the copper a little blued.

"Nevermind," she scoffed. Bitch. I turned away from her and looked at the job board when I felt Ainz get up from his seat and stride over to me. He held out his hand when I looked at him.