At that time of day, there were virtually no teams in the Guild capable of clearing low-level goblins with such efficiency.
Therefore, the most likely possibility was… this black-haired young man had severely underreported his true strength when registering.
She had seen plenty of adventurers who exaggerated or inflated their abilities, but one who deliberately wrote himself down as “useless”… this was truly a first.
No, wait… She glanced toward the main door. That silver-haired, red-eyed Miss Vivian, who also completed tasks abnormally fast, seemed somewhat similar?
These two people… were interesting.
“Thank you, Miss Emily. That’s very thoughtful of you.”
Yize could sense her goodwill.
While the specifics of the Bronze Rank task didn’t make much difference to him, this attitude of considering a newcomer was worth appreciating.
He readily accepted the promotion task, took the magic map scroll marked with specific coordinates and task details, then turned and left the Guild hall, heading northwest.
Not long after Yize left, a door marked “Internal Staff Channel” on the inner side of the Adventurer’s Guild hall was pushed open, and a figure shuffled out.
The man looked to be in his forties, with a full beard and somewhat messy hair.
He wore a slightly worn leather armor and had a cloak with the high-ranking member insignia of the Adventurer’s Guild draped casually over it.
His whole demeanor exuded a lazy, unkempt air.
He held a flask in his hand, taking a swig as he walked.
“Tsk, that black-haired kid who just left?”
He clicked his tongue, his gaze drifting toward the direction Yize had gone, his tone carrying a hint of casual curiosity.
“Looks pretty ordinary. Is he really that monstrous? Twenty-one Iron Rank tasks in one morning?”
Seeing this person, Emily immediately dropped her professional smile, straightened up, and bowed respectfully.
“Mister Lailong, what brings you out here?”
Lailong was a senior adventurer and one of the Guild’s high-level observers, possessing Diamond Rank strength.
His personality… was rather easygoing, but his judgment was sharp, and his status within the Guild was not low.
“Got bored sitting in there. Heard an interesting newbie showed up, making quite a stir.”
Lailong scratched his messy hair and reattached the flask to his waist.
“Anyway, I was just idling. I’ll go see for myself how ‘efficient’ this kid really is. Perfect timing, actually. Good seedlings on the human side haven’t been plentiful lately. If he’s suitable, we’ll nurture him properly.”
Emily was inwardly startled. Mister Lailong was going to personally act as the observer for this promotion task?
This kind of treatment… was quite rare.
It seemed Yize’s pile of magic crystals had indeed caught the attention of some higher-ups.
“Then I’ll trouble you, Mister Lailong,” Emily said respectfully.
“No trouble at all.”
Lailong waved his hand. His figure seemed to sway casually, then he vanished from the Guild entrance, his speed a stark contrast to his slovenly appearance.
—
Two hours later.
Yize’s figure reappeared at the Adventurer’s Guild front desk.
His clothes were still neat, his hair not even out of place, as if he’d just gone for a stroll.
Magic crystals.
But when he poured the magic crystals onto Emily’s workstation—
Clatter-clatter!
An even denser cascade of crystals tumbled out, their color and energy fluctuations noticeably stronger.
Among them, several dozen were clearly larger, with a deeper luster—D-rank Goblin Elites.
The other large pile was the familiar ordinary goblin magic crystals.
Emily’s professional smile faced its third severe test. Looking at the instantly submerged countertop, her brain short-circuited slightly.
Yize brushed off nonexistent dust from his hands, smiled amiably at her, and asked in a natural tone, “Miss Emily, this Bronze promotion task also follows the same rule, right? It can be submitted repeatedly, accumulating completion counts?”
“Of course, the promotion itself only counts once, but the extra target magic crystals can be used to complete regular Bronze Rank ‘Goblin Elite Extermination’ tasks, correct?”
He paused, then pointed at the even larger pile of ordinary goblin magic crystals.
“Also, these E-rank ordinary goblin crystals will trouble you again. Please help me repeatedly submit and complete the Iron Rank extermination tasks with them, just like this morning. Thank you.”
!
She felt she was about to lose control of her facial expressions.
This completion speed… even if the task location wasn’t extremely far, this was still too fast!
And, what about Mister Lailong? Didn’t he follow?
Forcing herself to remain calm, she began mechanically counting and appraising. The final result came quickly:
D-rank Goblin Elite magic crystals: a total of 58.
E-rank ordinary goblin magic crystals: a total of 360.
According to the Guild’s point rules, Yize earned a staggering 580 adventure points from this trip.
With a slightly trembling hand, Emily exchanged Yize’s identity token—the original Black Iron token was retrieved, replaced by a new token with bronze-colored edges.
“Congratulations, Mister Yize. You are now officially a Bronze Rank adventurer.” Emily’s voice was a bit dry.
“Thank you.”
Yize took the new token, then immediately spoke up. “Now then, Miss Emily, I would like to apply to accept the assessment task for promotion to Silver Rank adventurer.”
“Huh?”
Emily didn’t react for a moment, instinctively following procedure to remind him. “Mister Yize, promotion to Silver requires you to first accumulate at least ten Bronze Rank task completions, and your points must reach…”
Her words cut off abruptly.
Because she saw Yize point at the pile of D-rank elite crystals on the table, then wave his brand-new bronze token, that harmless smile still on his face.
“Individually slaying D-rank Goblin Elites—this Bronze Rank task—didn’t I just complete it?”
Yize’s tone was gentle, his logic clear.
“And, I completed it quite a few times. While the promotion only counts once, using them to meet the cumulative requirement of ‘ten Bronze Rank tasks’ should be sufficient, right? My points also seem to be enough?”
Emily: “…”
She opened her mouth, finding herself completely unable to refute it.
Guild regulations stated that credentials from monsters slain by the same adventurer during the same task outing, which meet task requirements, could be used to settle one promotion assessment and multiple regular tasks of the same type.
Yize killed 58 elite goblins. Using one for the promotion assessment, the remaining 57 could be used to settle… 19 regular Bronze Rank “Goblin Elite Extermination” tasks (typically three counted as one completion)!
And regular Bronze Rank tasks also counted toward the “ten Bronze tasks” requirement for Silver promotion!
In other words, this guy went out once, not only instantly completed the Bronze promotion, but also incidentally grinded out the required task count and a large amount of points for Silver promotion in one go!
This could no longer be described as “efficient.” This was practically… the embodiment of a rules loophole!
Or rather, he had, with a brute and unreasonable level of strength, crushed the normal task flow into another shape.
Emily felt a wave of helplessness. Silently, she operated the magic crystal, called up the Silver Rank promotion task list, and began filtering the next task for this rule-breaking newcomer.
Her heart was filled with absurdity and intense curiosity—just who was this Mister Yize?
Right then, the Guild door was thrown open violently. Lailong rushed in, looking flustered and excited, clear confusion and urgency on his unkempt face.
“Where is he? That kid, Yize! Has he already come back to submit the promotion task?”
He went straight to the front desk, looking at Emily, his tone agitated.
Emily snapped out of her complex emotions and quickly nodded. “Yes, Mister Lailong. Mister Yize just completed the promotion. He is now a Bronze Rank adventurer.”
She couldn’t help but ask, “Weren’t you following him? How was the process? How… How did he deal with so many goblins in such a short time? He even drew out an extra elite group?”
Hearing this, Lailong’s face immediately showed a frustrated and incredulous expression. He grabbed his own messy hair fiercely.
“Follow him, my ass! I barely chased him out the Guild door, turned two street corners, and the kid’s shadow was gone!”
“Fast as hell! When I rushed to the task area at full speed, the place was already a mess. The battle traces were fresh, scorched pits and debris everywhere, lots of goblin remains… but forget the kid, I couldn’t even find a single living goblin! Cleaned out, like it had been swept!”
He took a big swig of alcohol to calm himself, his eyes turning sharp.
“So I come back, and you tell me he not only completed the task but exceeded it by dozens of times? Emily, are you sure the credentials he handed in are fresh? Not old stock or faked by some means?”
Emily smiled wryly and shook her head. “Mister Lailong, I personally tested them. The energy residue on all the magic crystals is extremely fresh, perfectly matching the task area and description. No possibility of forgery. And… he just applied for the Silver promotion task.”
Lailong: “…What?!”
He looked at Emily’s expression—a mix of resignation, shock, and a hint of numbness—then at the now-empty counter, and finally out the Guild door in the direction Yize had left. He was silent for a few seconds.
Then, this Diamond Rank adventurer, this senior observer, slowly let out a long, alcohol-tinged sigh.
An unprecedented level of interest and investigative desire erupted in his eyes.
“Interesting… Too interesting. This kid… hides it deep, doesn’t he?”
Lailong stroked the stubble on his chin and grinned. “Silver promotion task… Heh, looks like I’ll have to get serious. Next time, I definitely can’t lose him again.”
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