The thousand gold coins sat on Cynthia June's polished desk in a heavy leather pouch. The sheer, impossible weight of it seemed to suck all the air out of the room. The giddy shock of becoming instantly rich had faded, replaced by a tense, heavy silence as Cynthia's sharp, analytical gaze settled on me. Standing by the wall, Scarlett, the mint-haired receptionist, had completely abandoned her professional, aloof mask. Her own mint-green eyes were wide, darting between me, the sisters, and the legendary monster tooth on the desk.
"Satvik," Cynthia began, her voice a soft, melodic hum that did little to lessen the intensity of her stare. "The value of the materials is one thing. That, I understand. But the story your companions tell… is it true? Did you, alone, kill a Marrowmaw Carrion Strider with a single throw?"
The question hung in the air, simple and direct.
"Yes," I said, nodding honestly. The memory still felt like a dream. "But I'm not a warrior. It was just… instinct."
Eve, who had been standing with her arms crossed, let out a short, sharp scoff. She couldn't stay silent. "Instinct?" she cut in, her crimson eyes flashing. "Guild Master, with all due respect, I saw his stance. That wasn't instinct; it was perfect form. The kind of form the Duke's Royal Guard captains spend a lifetime trying to master." She took a step forward, her passion and confusion warring in her voice. "And it wasn't just a Strider. A normal Silver-tier is one thing. The ones in the Marrowmaw are… different. They're bigger, faster. They feel wrong. Almost Gold-tier."
Sera, ever the calm one, added her own quiet testimony, her voice filled with a lingering awe. "And the tree," she said, her blue eyes meeting Cynthia's. "He pierced a Shatterwood. My sister's spear should have shattered into a thousand pieces. Instead, it went straight through."
The room was thick with the weight of their words, a puzzle with a piece that didn't fit. My humble, honest explanation simply did not match the legendary feat they had all witnessed.
Cynthia held up a hand, her calm presence a gentle wave that de-escalated the tension. "I'm not doubting anyone," she said, her warm gaze moving from face to face. "But a feat like this is… unheard of. To satisfy my own curiosity, and for our official guild records, would you all be willing to take a simple potential test? It's painless, I assure you."
The sisters all looked at me. I was their mystery, the source of this interrogation. I gave a small nod, and Sera, seeing my agreement, turned back to Cynthia, her posture straight and proud. "We agree," she said.
"Excellent," Cynthia said, a genuine smile returning to her face. She signaled to the receptionist. "Scarlett, if you would be so kind."
Scarlett, looking thrilled to be a part of the unfolding drama, quickly left and returned with a velvet-lined case. Inside rested five thin, rectangular slates made of polished black crystal. Faint, silver runes glowed and pulsed along their edges with a soft, magical light.
"Place your hand flat on the tablet's surface," Scarlett instructed, her voice a professional monotone that was completely betrayed by the excited sparkle in her eyes. "It will measure your core attributes."
Vesper, being the most timid, was gently nudged forward by Sera. She looked at the strange, glowing tablet as if it might bite her. "It… it won't hurt?" she whispered.
"Not at all, dear," Cynthia said, her voice full of maternal reassurance. "Just a little tingle."
Vesper took a deep, shaky breath and tentatively placed her hand on the slate. It immediately glowed with a soft, gentle green light, and the silver runes rearranged themselves into clear, crisp letters.
Name - Vesper
Category - Support & Hybrid
Class - Grove Tender
Special Skill - Symbiotic Soul
Current Level - C
Tier - Gold
Potential - SS
A gasp escaped Scarlett's lips. "SS-rank potential…" she breathed. Vesper, seeing the glowing green light and hearing the soft hum, seemed to relax, a small, proud smile touching her lips.
Sia, never one to be shy, stepped forward next with a confident wink in my direction. She placed her hand on the next tablet, and it flashed with a brilliant, golden light, warm and radiant.
Name - Sia
Category - Mage & Spellcaster
Class - Sun Weaver
Special Skill - Beacon of Hope
Current Level - C+
Tier - Gold
Potential - SS+
"Another one…" Cynthia murmured, her professional composure beginning to crack. She looked at the sisters as if seeing them for the first time.
Eve was next. She marched forward and firmly pressed her palm to the surface. The tablet flared with a fierce, crimson light that mirrored the color of her eyes.
Name - Eve
Category - Warrior & Fighter
Class - Warden
Special Skill - Indomitable
Current Level - C+
Tier - Gold
Potential - SS+
Finally, Sera stepped forward. The leader. She calmly placed her hand on the tablet, and it shone with a steady, unwavering silver light.
Name - Sera
Category - Rogue & Ranger
Class - Blade Dancer
Special Skill - Adaptive Flow
Current Level - C+
Tier - Gold
Potential - SS
Cynthia leaned back in her chair, her mind clearly reeling. Four unknown sisters, all with the current power of Gold-tier veterans and the potential to reach the legendary, almost mythical, SS-rank. It was a miracle. A statistical impossibility.
And then, all eyes turned to me.
I took a deep breath and placed my hand on the final tablet. The result was not a gentle glow. It was chaos.
The tablet didn't just glow; it screamed. A high-pitched, whining sound filled the room, and the slate erupted in a violent, blinding, rainbow-colored light that made everyone flinch back.
"It's overloading!" Scarlett yelped, taking a step back and bumping into a bookshelf.
Words flickered on the screen, but they were glitching, struggling to form.
Name - Satvik Arya
Category - Avatar
Class - Artisan Sage
Special Skill - Omnicompetence
Current Level - A
Tier - Adamantite
Potential - ERROR // CANNOT MEASURE
With a final, loud CRACK, a fissure spiderwebbed across the crystal's surface. The violent light died, the whining sound ceased, and a thin wisp of smoke curled up from the now-dead, broken slate.
The silence that followed was absolute.
The four sisters stared at me, their faces a mixture of shock, awe, and a profound, dawning understanding. I wasn't just a kind, handsome man who was good at cooking and who had gotten lucky. I was something else entirely. Something their world had no way to measure.
Cynthia was the first to find her voice, a soft, reverent whisper escaping her lips. "An… Avatar…"
She stood up, her eyes shining with an incredible, fervent light. "You five," she said, her voice trembling with excitement. "Your potential… it's a force that could change the fate of this kingdom. Of the world." She looked at our ragged clothes and our bewildered expressions, and made an offer that would change everything. "Join the Oakhaven Adventurer's Guild. All of you. I will register you, right now, as a C-rank party. The Gold-tier. You would be given a proper house to live in, here in the city. A stipend for equipment. Access to our libraries and training grounds. A place with a real roof. Solid walls. A door that locks."
Her words hit their mark. A real house. Safety. I could see the hope ignite in Vesper's eyes and the excited sparkle in Sia's. But Sera, their leader, did not look overjoyed. She looked thoughtful. She glanced at Eve, who gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head.
"Guild Master June," Sera began, her voice respectful but firm. "Your offer is more generous than we could have ever imagined. But… we cannot accept the house."
Cynthia blinked, clearly surprised. "May I ask why? It's a fine home. Safe. Much safer than the forest."
Eve spoke up, her tone blunt but honest. "The forest is our home. We were born there. We understand its dangers. The dangers in a city… are different." She glanced at the rough-looking adventurers we could hear laughing in the main hall. "We prefer the ones we know."
Sera nodded in agreement. "She's right. We are grateful, but we cannot live within walls. We will join the guild, and we will take on quests when we are able. But… instead of the house, would it be possible to receive its value in coin instead?"
Cynthia stared at them for a long moment, a slow, impressed smile spreading across her face. "I see," she said, her voice full of admiration. "You are not so easily tamed. You have the power of Gold-rankers, the potential of legends, and yet you choose the freedom of the wild." She gave a warm, genuine chuckle. "Very well. I accept your terms. A new adventurer's residence of that quality is valued at a modest five hundred gold coins."
A collective gasp went through the sisters.
"Scarlett," Cynthia commanded, her eyes twinkling. "Please prepare five C-rank guild cards. And their signing bonus, plus the housing stipend."
A few minutes later, we were official adventurers. The guild cards were thin plates of polished gold, magically engraved with our names and ranks. Cynthia then pushed three pouches across the desk. The thousand gold for the teeth, a bonus of two hundred and fifty gold for joining, and another five hundred in lieu of the house. A staggering one thousand, seven hundred and fifty gold coins. A life-changing fortune.
My head was spinning. The money, the new status… but my eyes were drawn to the broken, smoking tablet on the floor. My engineer's mind was buzzing with a thousand questions. How did it work? What was its power source? Why couldn't it measure me?
As if reading my thoughts, I asked, "Guild Master… that device… is there a way I could buy one? For study?"
Cynthia chuckled, a warm, melodic sound. "My dear boy, after what you did to it, consider it a gift." She looked at the broken slate with a thoughtful expression. "Perhaps you'll be the one to figure out how to build a better one."
We left the guild a few minutes later, stepping back out into the noisy, chaotic streets of Oakhaven. But everything was different now. We had a fortune in our pockets, official status as high-ranking adventurers, and a broken piece of magical technology that held the secret to my impossible existence. We weren't looking for a new house in the city. We were heading home, back to our cottage, awith the power and the resources to build our own sanctuary, on our own terms.