I approached the first empty cubicle I could find. A woman with huge, round glasses ducked her head at me. "Crown's Blessings," she said as she straightened. "How can I help you?"

Ah, customer service. I couldn't decide if I should be thrilled to see it being reflected into this world. "I wish to join the guild," I said. "Any parties available?"

The woman bobbed her head, her chin-length indigo hair matching the motion. She gestured towards the huge screens flashing on the wall behind her. "These are the adventurer guilds in Raventhorne," she said. "The ones colored green are those who have some spots left. The number beside their names should tell you how many."

I glanced at the screen. A set of gibberish script leaped back at me. What the hell? Didn't this world come with a built-in translator? I disguised the action of waving my hand over my face to summon my screen as if to smooth my hair down. I focused on the skills set and wished there was something along the lines of translation. There was. It's called Speech Transfer. It's one of the most basic skills of this character's race. I believe we're called...spiria?

Selecting the spell's name with my mind, I canceled the menu to peer at the screen once more. Now, the plain text glared back at me. The one at the top...

I skimmed the rest of the names, none of them leaping out as familiar from when I played this game. None of the parties were those that topped the charts in the open-world events. Otherwise, I would have seen half-thought things like Party Weeeee, Cupcakes Forevahhhh, or SizzlinGuild4LYF.

As such, the cupcakes team even went on to win the rarest character skill the developers ever came up with in this game. I remember being so miffed about it, especially when I wasn't able to play since it's finals week.

But maybe these names were those belonging to the newer users down the line. It's been a while since I did play this game, after all. Even then, something just didn't add up, like, it's too...proper.

Whatever. I didn't come here to find sense in everything. I would just pick the topmost party. It still had one spot open and it looked like it's okay. "I'll pick Crown Legacy."

The woman paused. Then, her face twitched like she was holding back her amusement. "The Crown Legacy?" she said. "They're the most elite adventurers of this guild."

"Yeah, so?" I crossed my arms.

"That means you must be in a formidable level and have a ridiculous amount of magic to be even considered," the woman answered. "Applications are reviewed by the guildmasters before even reaching the captain's ears. Let me see your attributes."

I narrowed my eyes. "My what?"

The woman looked at me like she couldn't ascertain as to why I was there in front of her. "Your attributes," she said again as if the second time around would make me understand it. "Hold out your hand."

I did. "Okay, what—ow!"

The woman drew a thin needle from my fingertip and flashed me an apologetic smile. "Press your finger into this card, please," she held out a silver plaque the size of a palm in front of me.

As soon as the blossoming drop of blood from my finger touched the plaque's surface, a rendition of the map I saw in my head shot up from it. My jaw parted. Because, let's face it, that's hardcore.

The receptionist, however, didn't look too impressed. "That's weird," she said. "I don't usually see spirias with this level get past the gate. What are you?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?" I stalked closer to the wooden counter separating us. "Is my stats not good enough for whatever party I applied to?"

"It's not, to be honest, but with these attributes, you shouldn't even be allowed past the front doors," the woman jerked her chin towards the single entry and exit point where I had just been.

"What do you mean it's not enough?" I demanded. If I recall correctly, the last time I restarted this game, I maxed out the levels with no problems and left it as it was. If I could retain all my memories, shouldn't my level and attributes be, as well?

The woman gestured towards the blobs of holographic light floating between us. They do resemble the menu in my head, just that this one featured more geometric patterns than progress bars.

"If you see your magic attribute here," she pointed towards the red haze. "The spires don't even reach past the first tier."

She was right. The edges of whatever polygon it was didn't get past the smallest of the concentric circles. "Well, that's because I exhausted my magic yesterday," I reasoned. "It can get higher when I'm rested."

The woman shook her head. "The Magic attribute does not just measure how much magical energy you have at the moment," she circled a hand around the red blob as if to prove a point. "It tells us how much magic you can gain and store up at any given moment."

She tapped her chin. "Looking at this now, it's like you wouldn't even be able to handle a sacred gem, much less a Divine one."

Now, that's preposterous. I have a lot of Divine ores in my inventory, seeing as how I used to mine Ronau when I was bored. Perhaps the card and my menu didn't match through some kind of glitch?

"What about special skills?" I asked.

The woman pushed her glasses up her nose, the sunlight from the wide, glass windows above us making it glint. "Do you mean the species attribute?" she leaned towards the hologram once more, focusing on the green blob this time. "It's just like your magic attribute."

I scoffed. It must have been loud because the adventurers from three to four cubicles down flinched and turned to look at me. "That can't be right," I said, waving my hand over my face. This time, I didn't bother masking my gesture. The menu popped up. I focused on the skills menu and enlarged it. Now that there's no one who would sneak up to me to wreck my life, I could peruse my stats all I wanted. "See, I have here—"

My limbs froze when I scrolled down, past the most basic spells available at the lower levels. Because after the first page, every single skill meant to be unlocked with every level gained was dark. Gray. Even when I focused all of my mental energy into selecting them, nothing happened. The same was true for whatever skill fusion I've managed to discover over the years. Just...gone.

A stone dropped down my gut as my eyes widened. That meant—

I flitted off the skills menu and found the inventory menu again. My eyes skimmed through the front page full of beginners' items. When I attempted to scroll down, there was nothing waiting for me to be seen. Oh.

As if fate wasn't cruel enough to me since the last few months. Now, I was stuck in a game as, basically, a plebian. With meager magic and battle stats, it's going to take years before I could join any reputable guild and protect myself.

"It doesn't have to be Crown Legacy, miss," the woman waved her hand over the hologram of my failures, making it disappear. "There are other parties looking for members, but unlike Crown Legacy, these ones need upfront guarantees."

I knitted my eyebrows. "Guarantees?"

The woman nodded. "Most charge as little as six ethrans but the price could go up to twenty," she said. "How much do you have, miss? I might be able to fetch some options."

Ethrans? Must be the currency. I checked my inventory again. The spot where money should be was just a big fat...zero. Huh? Where did all my money go?

Wait. Did I...? The memories of the liquor bottles, the green goop, and the tavern's broken pillar flashed back into my mind. Oh, yeah. I did.

I was broke.

The worst part was I couldn't even remember how in the world I was able to cash out when I couldn't even figure out how to store my armor back into the inventory. Did I just prove that people could do amazing things when drunk? For real?

"Um...that's the problem, see," I managed a nervous laugh. To any eavesdropper around, they must have lost interest in my patheticness now. "I'm short of funds right now."

The woman cleared her throat. "Then, there's little I can do, miss," she said. "May I please request you to exit our premises and return when you have...more suitable attributes?"

I frowned. Nope. I wasn't going anywhere without being connected to a guild. It's the only way I could survive without being flattened by people like Dragon Dude. If I have an adventurer's card, I might be able to live out my days killing monsters for a living and earning bucket-loads of ethrans or whatever.

Users should be able to join any party they wanted, even form their own, without the guilds' interference. When did it become so much like a corporation? This game couldn't have changed this much during the time I stopped playing. What other things were different, then?

"Maryan! This lady giving you a hard time?" a reedy and hearty voice said somewhere to my right. Before I knew it, a weight pressed against my body and an arm draped over my shoulders. The thick smell of butter and vanilla wafted to my nose.

The woman, whose name was Maryan, didn't look too thrilled about the newcomer. "Stop barging in when I'm working, Heather," she said. "I was helping the lady join an adventuring party but she's not qualified enough."

I was about to open my mouth to defend myself when my world whirled as the newcomer, Heather, gripped my shoulders and spun me to face her. What greeted me was a woman with unevenly-chopped red-orange hair cropped to her chin and neck, bright green eyes, and the most crooked set of teeth I've ever seen. Then, I noticed the thin, scaled tail swishing between her legs. Dragonkin.

"What's the matter with you, Maryan? This is one well-bred lady," Heather scanned me from head to toe, even going as far as lifting me a few inches off the ground with nothing but her strength, as if I was a piece of novelty item from a gift shop. "You don't mind if I took her in?"

"I'm right here, morons," I snapped. Heather's head jerked back to me. "I would like to have a say in what I'm going to join and what I avoid."

Maryan perked up and rubbed the back of her neck. "Heather's the leader of the Crimson Scouts," she explained. "I guess that's another route you can take, miss."

"Is it an adventurer's party?" I asked.

Heather laughed, the sound so boisterous it threatened to blow my eardrums to dust. "Not quite, young lady!" she said. Internally, I grimace. If they would just stop referring to me, a woman well into my thirties, as 'young lady'. I felt as young as a raisin and let's leave it at that. "We're a scouting party!"

I glanced at Maryan for help. The receptionist blew a breath. "Scouting parties are in charge of providing adventurer parties and the guild their missions. They...um, scout for possible swarming areas and report it accordingly. Over time, scouting parties tend to become adventurer parties should they earn enough mission points and commendation from the guildmasters. Like I said, it's one path you can take."

Heather set me down, but not without throwing her arm around my shoulders again. "What do you say, lady?" she said. "I know talent when I see one, and I feel like you and I would do wonderful things together!"

I couldn't begin to imagine what she meant by that. Not in a million years. Instead, I pushed Heather away and straightened my arm greaves. "Will I have the same protection and access as an adventurer if I join a scouting party?" I asked.

Heather braced her hips and beat Maryan to it. "Of course! We are under the guild's influence, after all," she said. "You get basic access to vaults, low-ranked resources, and funeral guarantees!"

My saliva didn't go down my throat the right way, causing me to hack. "What?" I tapped my clenched fist against my breastplate as I coughed. "Funerals?"

The dragonkin nodded. She didn't look too bothered about it. "What can I say? Adventuring's a pretty dangerous job after all!"

"Uh..." I scratched the side of my face.

Heather's tail snaked around my waist, pulling me closer to her. My blood drained from my face at the sight of the familiar rock-hard scales and barbs jutting out from the other side. Just a little turn and they would've impaled me. I haven't had good interactions with anyone who looked like Heather since I got here.

"Come on," Heather gave me a little shake. "We lost one of our warriors not too long ago and we need a replacement."

Oh, okay. I was just a replacement. Got it.

I averted my eyes from the names glowing green and red from the boards. It wouldn't take a genius to guess that the arrangement must be because of their general standing in the guild. The ones displayed on the screen could only be the best of the best. I watched Heather's expectant face from the corner of my vision.

A scouting party, huh? Maryan didn't appear to be concerned about me, a person with basically no talent or magic, joining Heather. It must have been a common practice around here. Those with lacking attributes could level up with scouting parties in order to become adventurers later on.

If that's the case, then fine. I came here to access the guild's protection. I guess a scouting party's good enough. We could just gather points through missions in order to be recognized as a legit adventurer's party the soonest we could. Either way, I'd get there.

"Fine," I said, avoiding looking at the widening smile Heather flashed at me. She might not like how unenthusiastic I was with my decision. Whether I liked it or not, I was going to be forced to work hard just to survive. But, hey, what else was new?

I glanced at Maryan who flinched when she noticed my attention. "Where do I sign?"