“Re… really just one person?” The female mage’s voice trembled, unsure if it was from excitement or fear.
“To instantly deploy so many [Fire Walls] and simultaneously guide and release that many [Fireballs]… What level of mana reserves and mental control would that require?”
The Warrior Captain murmured to himself. As a warrior, he wasn’t deeply knowledgeable about magic, but he knew this was far beyond what an ordinary second or third-tier mage could achieve. Even a typical fourth or fifth-tier mage would likely struggle.
This speculation plunged the four of them into silence once more.
“Forget it, let’s not think about it.”
The Warrior Captain finally shook his head, suppressing the shock in his heart.
“That kind of person is beyond our comprehension. Let’s gather ourselves and head back to the city as planned.”
*
Stana, Adventurers Guild Headquarters.
Less than three hours had passed since Yize accepted the mission and left.
Miss Emily, the front desk attendant, had just finished settling a mission for another adventurer. When she looked up, she saw that familiar face again.
“Mr. Yize?”
Emily blinked, somewhat surprised.
“Do you have more questions about guild rules or mission details you need to inquire about?”
She assumed this newcomer might have run into difficulties or was unfamiliar with the mission location.
Yize walked up to the counter, his expression normal.
“No, I’m here to submit the mission.”
“Submit the mission?”
Emily was momentarily taken aback and instinctively checked the time.
Less than three hours. From accepting the mission, traveling to and from the Northern Forest Area, to exterminating ten Goblins and collecting their Magic Crystals…
This speed was unusually fast for a newcomer, especially one whose file stated “Elemental Affinity: 5%.”
Several possibilities flashed through her mind: Incredibly lucky, encountering very scattered and weak Goblins? Or… spending money to hire other high-level adventurers for help?
The latter wasn’t uncommon in the guild.
There were always some well-off but less capable young people who, to quickly raise their adventurer rank and points, would hire high-level parties to carry them through missions, only handling the final proof submission themselves.
After all, adventurer points could only be obtained by submitting completed missions.
Emily maintained her professional smile, inwardly lowering her assessment of Yize a few notches.
She had seen too many examples like this.
“Alright, Mr. Yize. Please present your identity token and the required mission proof.”
Emily said formulaically.
Yize nodded, first placing his Black Iron Token on the counter, then reaching for the storage leather pouch at his waist.
Emily had already prepared the magic crystal board for recording and the box for collecting the Magic Crystals.
Following the normal procedure, she would take the ten Goblin Magic Crystals, register them, and issue the points and base reward.
However, Yize’s next action made the professional smile on her face freeze instantly.
Yize didn’t just take out ten crystals. Instead, he poured out Goblin Magic Crystals like pouring beans, clattering!
One, two, ten, twenty… Soon, the small counter surface was piled high with crystals.
And Yize showed no sign of stopping!
The crystals started sliding off the edge of the counter. Emily scrambled to catch them with the box, but it was too late.
“Wait! Mr. Yize! What is this…?”
Emily’s voice held a rare trace of fluster.
“Ah, sorry, sorry.”
Yize seemed to realize the problem only then. He stopped, looking at the nearly hill-like pile of crystals with an apologetic and somewhat helpless smile.
“It’s mainly because of the guild’s rules… Well, they are quite strict. You can’t accept missions above your rank, nor can you accept multiple same-rank missions at once.”
He pointed at the pile of crystals, explaining in a sincere tone.
“I just got back from the mission area and thought going back and forth each time was too time-consuming.”
“Since it’s all about exterminating Goblins, I figured I might as well take care of a bunch at once, then submit them in batches. It’s more efficient.”
He paused, looking at the somewhat stunned Emily, and added very considerately.
“Really sorry for increasing your workload. How about this: you count them slowly. For every ten qualified crystals you count, settle one mission for me.”
“After settling one, I’ll immediately accept the same Goblin extermination mission again, and then you continue counting the next batch… until all these are processed.”
Yize vaguely felt like someone bringing a huge amount of coins to a bank for a deposit, making things difficult for the staff…
Emily: “….”
She looked at the small mountain of crystals before her, then at Yize’s expression of “I’m very cooperative with the rules, just being slightly flexible.”
She felt her professional composure undergoing an unprecedented test.
Deep breath.
Keep smiling.
Emily recited the first rule of the Guild Front Desk Manual in her mind.
She tried to keep her voice steady.
“Mr. Yize… In principle, mission proof needs to correspond to the currently accepted mission and be submitted all at once. Your method… of pre-storing proof, then settling in batches…”
“Can’t an exception be made?”
Yize asked, his eyes clear.
“I read the rules. They only say ‘submit the proof required for the corresponding mission.’ They don’t say you can’t prepare extra in advance, right?”
“Each time I settle, I’m accepting a new mission on the spot and then submitting the corresponding ten crystals. The procedure should be fine?”
“After all, some people can’t exterminate Goblins with such precise numbers. The extra Goblin crystals shouldn’t go to waste, right?”
He made so much sense that Emily was momentarily unable to refute him.
But was this “extra” Goblin Magic Crystal just “a little”?
The guild rules indeed didn’t explicitly forbid this behavior, because it usually didn’t happen—
Who would have nothing better to do, kill far more low-tier magical beasts than required by the mission, and specifically keep a large amount of proof to grind the most basic Black Iron missions?
The input-output ratio was just too strange!
Unless… This black-haired young man before her truly possessed the ability to clean up large numbers of Goblins in an extremely short time, with extremely low consumption, or he simply didn’t care about the consumption.
Emily scrutinized Yize again.
Calm expression, somewhat plain clothing, no signs of intense combat on his person, not even much dust on his robe.
The glaring “5% Elemental Affinity” and “Second-Tier All-Element Magic” in his file formed an absurd contrast with the “achievements” he had just placed on the counter.
“…Please wait a moment.”
Emily ultimately decided to deal with the pile of “trouble” before her first.
She called over another temporarily free front desk colleague to help maintain order, then began resignedly counting the crystals.
One, two, three…
“First extermination mission completed.”
Emily recorded 10 points on Yize’s identity token.
“This is your reward. Mission completion count accumulated: 1.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Yize immediately handed the token back over.
“Please, accept the ‘Exterminate Goblins in the Northern Area of Stana’ mission again.”
Emily operated mechanically.
Mission accepted successfully.
Yize immediately separated ten crystals from the pile and pushed them over. “Submit mission.”
Emily: “…Second extermination mission completed. Points increased by 10, cumulative 20 points. Mission completion count accumulated: 2.”
“Accept it again.”
“…Mission accepted successfully.”
“Submit a mission.”
The area in front of the counter seemed to have fallen into a bizarre loop.
Gradually, some adventurers waiting to conduct business or who had just returned began to notice the situation.
Looking at the conspicuous pile of Goblin Magic Crystals and the front desk lady’s increasingly numb expression, they started whispering and pointing.
“What’s up with that guy? Where’d he get so many Goblin crystals?”
“Don’t know. I saw him register as an adventurer just today.”
“A newcomer? Can a newcomer get that many in such a short time?”
“Could it be that he’s rich, bought them from other adventurers?”
“Look at Miss Emily’s expression… Hah, I’ve never seen her like this before.”
Yize seemed oblivious to the surrounding议论.
When Emily said for the 21st time, “Mission completion count accumulated: 21 times,” and mechanically pushed over the silver coins, the pile of crystals was finally depleted.
Yize nodded with satisfaction, collecting the final reward and his identity token. The points displayed on the token had become 210, with a mission completion count of 21.
“Thank you for your hard work, Miss Emily.”
Yize thanked her sincerely, then seemed to remember something and asked.
“Oh, right. How exactly is the point consumption calculated for using the guild’s Teleportation Array?”
Emily answered almost by instinct, her voice carrying a trace of fatigue.
“Base fee… For every 10 kilometers of teleportation distance, 1 point is consumed. The minimum usage permission is Silver rank…”
One point per 10 kilometers.
Yize quickly calculated in his mind.
Stana was tens of thousands of kilometers from the Aolai Empire… Even taking a median value, it would require at least several thousand points.
“Miss Emily, I’ve completed more than ten Black Iron rank missions.”
“Does that mean I can accept the mission to promote to Bronze rank adventurer now?”
After all, mission points were related to mission quality.
Promoting to Bronze Adventurer first, then to Silver Adventurer, and finally accepting Silver rank missions would also make grinding points more efficient.