While I was on the run and weak at that moment, that didn't mean I was unable to do anything. I was going to find a town, hope that adventurers are a thing, and sign up to grow stronger.

I ran parallel to the road, far enough off it so as to not be seen, but not so far as to obstruct my view of it.

I ran for the remainder of the day, bypassing two large cities and stopping at the third city, which was much smaller.

"Halt." A guard levelled his spear at me. "Who are you?"

"I am Anthony." I said simply, shrugging my shoulders. "Is there an adventurer's guild present in this city?"

"Yes, there is." The guard didn't lower his spear. "Show me your guild ID."

"See, that's why I wanted to know if there's a guild." I said, the very picture of nonchalant. "I need to get myself an ID."

The guards exchanged tense glances. "Are you by any chance, the summoned hero?"

I glanced at them, not disguising my genuine surprise. "It succeeded?"

The guards visibly relaxed. "I'll personally guide you."

One of the guards broke off from the group and gestured for me to follow.

I fell into step beside him and began questioning him about the local news.

"Did the hero summoning really work?" I asked, acting excited.

"It did indeed, however the hero was powerful enough to escape the contract the Supreme Sorceress's prepared contract." The guard answered easily.

"Wow. He must have been powerful." I said, not disguising my pleasure at that piece of news. "We have summoned a very powerful hero, then."

"Very powerful indeed." The guard agreed.

"Have there been any unusual sightings in the area recently?" I asked, slipping into the guise of an enthusiastic apprentice adventurer from stories I had read.

"Oh yes. Far too many for us to be comfortable behind these walls." The guard shuddered. "We've had unconfirmed sightings of Ogres, Trolls and Orcs, confirmed sightings of Lamias, Goblins, and Undead- Of which we have unconfirmed sightings of a Greater Lich, along with confirmed sightings of Death Knights."

"Lamias?" I focused on the species I was unfamiliar with.

"Yes. Snake women." The guard laughed. "I hear they're very attractive. I also hear they're compatible with the human body, if you catch my drift."

I raised my brow at him. "Don't you have brothels for that?"

"Are brothels free?" The guard shot at me.

"Fair enough." I conceded.

We arrived in front of the rustic building sporting a sign that read 'Adventure', hung above the door.

"Thank you for guiding me here." I said sincerely. "You saved me a lot of time."

"Oh, anything to get away from the potential dangers of guard duty." The guard laughed easily, extending a hand. "I'm Michael. I'll buy you a drink the next time we see each other."

"I don't drink." I smiled at him and shook his hand.

"What are you, a monk?" Michael laughed.

"Of a sort." I responded easily, remembering the staff-wielding monk of one of my favourite dungeon-defense games.

"I'm sorry if I offended you." Michael apologized.

"Oh, no. It's perfectly fine." I waved off his apology. "Comedy exists to be offensive. It serves to expand our horizons, make us happy, and to make us mad. If we can't get mad at jokes then we have lost our ability to smile."

"You really are a monk." Michael was speechless. "I thought all monks shaved their hair?"

"That's why I said I was a monk 'of a sort'." I liked Michael. He seemed like a good fellow. "I follow certain practices, but not all."

"Alright, that makes sense." Michael shrugged. "Have a good day!"

"You too." I responded, making my way into the building.

I opened the door to the guild and was greeted by the classic novel scene of a bunch of adventurers gathering around quest boards, except they were ranked differently from what I knew.

I elected to ask the lady at the front desk when I got my ID.

The lady, contrary to novels I had read, was not attractive in the slightest, but I supposed that it helped keep the men in line. Her pinched and mottled face was accentuated by her unholy buckteeth and vibrant yet greasy red hair.

Getting my ID was really as easy as it was made out to be in novels, however. All I had to do was fill out my race, weapon of choice, age, height, and weight.

Although I knew my height in my own world's measurements, I had the cat lady at the desk measure my height and weight to avoid conflicting measurements.

"Alright, write it down when I tell you the value." She said, kneeling in front of me to properly measure to my bare feet. "One hundred seventy-two hundredths of a meter."

I wrote down exactly that, waiting for her to instruct me further.

"Step on this magical weigher." She pointed to a round piece of wood on the floor.

I complied.

"Eighty-two hundreds kilograms." She said, making her way back behind the counter.

I wrote it down and slid the paper back to the lady.

"Thank you." She smiled. "The first ID card is free, however if you lose it you will be charged irons for it."

"Alright." I nodded. "Thank you for accommodating me."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all." She responded, grinning from ear to ear and making it clear that she wasn't often thanked.

She handed me the freshly and magically printed ID card and waved me towards the activity boards.

"The quests are ranked lowest difficulty to highest from left to right. This kingdom uses a slightly different ranking system, so it's my job to explain. The ranks are E, D, C, B, A, S, X, Y, and Z" She pointed at the quest boards corresponding to each letter. "I would highly recommend you start with E rank, however you can challenge yourself and try for a D rank quest. I wouldn't recommend that, however. One more thing. If a Z rank quest is issued, run as far as you can. It doesn't matter how powerful you think you are, you will be utterly demolished by even a sneeze from a Z ranked enemy. No matter your rank, unless you are Z rank yourself, you should not even get near to such a beast."

"I'll heed your warnings." I thanked the lady once more and left to investigate the signboards.

As is typical of nearly every single game, novel, manga, or anime, the goblins and slimes all seemed to be the easiest mob to clear for E rank. Of course this was purely based upon the net gain per monster.

A goblin's corpse was worth eleven coppers, while a slime core was worth twenty. Taking into account the slime's likely resistance to physical attacks, and my lack of magic, I elected to take the goblin slaying quest.

I was starting small, but I was going to build up my power. I thought of the arrogant king and how he took my chance at life without a second thought.

'You took my life.' I thought venomously. 'So I'll take yours.'