Miss Emily’s face still wore that professional smile as she patiently explained the rules to the black-haired new adventurer who seemed to have quite a few questions.
“Hello, Mr. Yize. According to Guild regulations, a Black Iron Rank adventurer can only accept one task of the same rank at a time.”
Her voice was gentle and clear, without a trace of impatience from repeating the explanation.
“This is to ensure task completion rates and the safety of every adventurer, avoiding situations where one bites off more than they can chew.”
Yize nodded, not surprised by the answer, but he found the efficiency here truly headache-inducingly low.
“Understood, thank you.”
Yize responded politely, then turned and walked with Vivian towards the huge magic quest board in the center of the hall.
Light and shadow flowed across the panel, with densely packed task entries constantly refreshing and scrolling, clearly categorized by rank, type, and region.
“It seems we’ll have to find tasks separately,”
Yize said to Vivian, his eyes quickly scanning the board, “First, accumulate completions and points as fast as possible. The target is Silver Rank. Efficiency is the priority.”
“Got it.”
Vivian looked at the task board and muttered quietly, “So basically, anything that can be solved quickly with acceptable rewards, right…”
Soon, Yize locked onto a target.
[Black Iron Rank Task: Extermination]
Target: Exterminate the goblins roaming the outskirts of the northern forest of Stana City. Submit ten complete goblin magic crystals as proof.
Quantity Required: 10.
Task Reward: 10 Adventurer Points.
Note: Goblin group activity is frequent in this area. It is recommended for Black Iron Rank adventurers to form teams of 3-5.
“Goblins…” The corner of Yize’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
Old opponents. And they sounded like the standard variety, not the mutated kind from Kapessi Village.
Weak, disorganized—perfect “point-farming mobs” for him.
Most importantly, this was a repeatable, routine extermination task.
He glanced sideways at Vivian. “What did you pick?”
Vivian waved the simple parchment voucher generated after accepting a task with her identity tag, which had a magical imprint:
“Here, exterminate Wind Demon Wolves. Three of them. Location is the hills to the west.”
She had also chosen a repeatable extermination task. Her thinking was clear.
“Alright, different task locations. Splitting up is most efficient.”
“Meet back here after completing the tasks.”
“Got it, got it.”
Vivian was still thinking about what Yize would take her to eat tonight, feeling inexplicably more motivated.
She gave a little wave of her fist, turned, and squeezed her way towards the Guild’s main door, her petite figure quickly disappearing into the stream of adventurers of various races.
Yize also withdrew his gaze, not delaying any further, and quickly left the Guild hall, heading towards the northern part of the city.
Northern outskirts of Stana City, forest perimeter.
This area wasn’t too far from the city proper. The woods weren’t particularly dense, but the terrain was slightly undulating, with bushes and rocks of various sizes everywhere.
It was indeed an area goblins favored—close to human activity for easy theft and pillaging, with the forest providing basic cover and survival resources.
By the time Yize arrived, it was nearly noon.
He observed the environment a bit and realized this area wasn’t just for him, the “exterminator.”
In a few relatively safe clearings near the forest edge, he could see several adventurer teams clearly composed of newcomers, moving cautiously.
Most consisted of two to three warriors and one or two mages, their levels seeming to be between first and second tier.
Their tactics usually involved warriors using terrain or simple bait at the front to lure isolated goblins away from small groups.
Then the team members would swarm, relying on numbers and basic coordination to end the fight quickly.
Not far away, a four-person team had just successfully killed a goblin warrior they had lured out.
The human youth warrior serving as the vanguard, wielding a short sword and wooden shield, wiped his sweat and smiled at his companion behind him who was using a small knife to extract the magic crystal:
“Good luck, found a lone one.”
“Got it, Captain.”
The dwarf youth responsible for collection was fairly proficient,
“This is already the fifth one! At this rate, we might complete one task today!”
The only female mage in the team, a human girl with freckles, rubbed her slightly sore arm and said:
“I have about half my mana left. Should we continue? We might finish this afternoon.”
The young warrior called Captain shook his head, his attitude steady:
“Even with half left, we should go back to rest and replenish. This is the wilderness, after all. If we encounter a small group of goblins counter-attacking, or attract something else, running out of mana would be trouble.”
“Safety first. Let’s go back to the city for lunch and come back this afternoon. Steady and sure is what newcomers should do.”
“Alright, alright, Captain, you’re just too cautious.”
The dwarf youth grumbled but clearly agreed with the Captain’s judgment,
“But our team’s efficiency is definitely high among newcomers, right?”
“Completing one Black Iron task a day! At this rate, in another ten days or half a month, we might have enough points and completions to try the Bronze promotion task!”
“Hopefully.”
The female mage also showed an expectant smile,
“I hear Bronze Rank tasks have much better rewards and more types to choose from.”
The team atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful, carrying the unique, future-oriented anticipation of the newcomer phase.
They packed up their spoils and began a planned withdrawal, preparing to return to Stana.
Just then—
“Hmm?”
The Captain warrior suddenly stopped, looking puzzled towards the deeper part of the forest.
That area was habitually called the “disaster zone” by adventurers—the direction of several main goblin nests and larger gathering spots.
Usually, unless a Silver Rank or higher team organized an extermination, Black Iron and Bronze adventurers would avoid going deep.
The other team members also sensed something unusual.
First was the abnormal rise in temperature.
The originally cool forest air rapidly became dry and hot.
Then, from deep within the forest came a series of dense, heart-gripping explosions and the goblins’ unique, sharp, miserable shrieks, mixed with the sounds of trees snapping and rocks cracking.
“What’s going on?” The female mage gripped her staff, somewhat nervous.
“The disaster zone over there… something’s happening!” The dwarf youth stood on tiptoe to look, but couldn’t see clearly due to the trees.
The Captain warrior’s expression turned grave. He signaled his team to stay alert and looked towards the source of the sound.
The next moment, his mouth fell open, his face filled with disbelief.
In a clearing in the distance, walls of fiercely burning fire cleverly formed moving cages, dividing, herding, and gathering dozens—possibly even hundreds—of panicked goblins together.
That wasn’t all.
Immediately after, under the clear sky, above the area circled by the fire walls, mana converged wildly. Countless fireballs poured down like a rainstorm!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosions merged into a continuous roar. Flames and thick smoke billowed up.
The goblins’ shrieks rapidly weakened and vanished amidst the relentless explosions.
“My god…”
The Captain warrior’s voice was hoarse,
“This… how many high-tier mages are casting simultaneously? Did a Gold or Platinum Rank elite team come to clear out the disaster zone today?”
The dwarf youth also scrambled up, staring dumbfounded:
“Too… too exaggerated! That kind of firepower coverage… how much mana would that consume? Using it on goblins? These high-level adventurers might have a lot of mana, but they can’t waste it like that!”
The female mage was puzzled from a magical perspective:
“And… why use so many low-tier [Fire Wall] and [Fireball] spells?”
“Even though it’s spectacular, if they are high-tier mages, wouldn’t one or two area-of-effect fourth or even fifth-tier fire spells be more efficient and mana-saving?”
This extravagant, almost wasteful casting method completely surpassed their understanding of “efficient extermination.”
As they were shocked and discussing, at the edge of the ravaged area, as the smoke cleared slightly, a figure walked out at a leisurely pace.
It was a black-haired young man.
He muttered quietly:
“The numbers are a bit less than expected… too spread out, annoying to chase. But this batch combined should be enough to turn in the task, right?”
After saying that, his figure flickered, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the woods at speed and left.
Leaving the newcomer team on the rocks looking at each other, speechless for a long while.
“Tha… that person just now…” The dwarf youth swallowed hard.
“It seemed… only he came out?” The female mage said uncertainly.
The Captain warrior gritted his teeth. “Let’s go, take a look! Be careful!”
The four-person team, filled with immense curiosity and caution, carefully approached the “disaster zone” that had just experienced the “firestorm.”
The sight was one of devastation.
Charred earth, broken and burning tree remnants, and a large number of goblin remains, mostly carbonized and almost unrecognizable.
The air was thick with the smell of scorching and the residual heat of mana.
They searched the surroundings carefully. Apart from the shallow footprints left by the departing black-haired young man, they found no traces of any other adventurer activity.
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