So far, Yize’s accumulated adventurer points had reached 790.
This number might take ordinary Black Iron or Bronze adventurers months or even years to accumulate, yet he had managed it in just one morning.
Emily displayed the updated Silver-grade promotion task information for him.
[Silver-grade Promotion Assessment Task (Solo)]
Objective: Head deep into the northwest of Sitanacheng, independently confirm and kill at least one “C-rank Goblin Boss” entrenched in that area.
Requirement: Bring back the complete Goblin Boss Magic Crystal as proof.
Task Reward Points: 120 points.
Goblins again.
Looking at the task description, Yize couldn’t help but grumble internally. Did this Miss Emily have some special “deep-seated grudge” against the goblin species?
Still, the 120-point reward was quite decent.
Yize did a quick mental calculation.
If, like before, he could “conveniently” clear out a few more Goblin Bosses along the way, he might just be able to gather enough points in one go to cover the cost of teleporting to a known Guild outpost near the Olay Empire.
Thinking this, Yize couldn’t help but feel another wave of helplessness.
At this very moment, he understood more deeply than ever how useful a convenient long-distance space magic would be.
However, the [Divine Choice System] in his mind had been unusually quiet lately, as if it had entered a dormant state, not issuing any new choice tasks for a long time.
Yize remembered that the “Protagonist Value” he had saved up wasn’t far from the next lottery draw.
He had originally been hoping to rely on the lottery to try his luck, to see if he could obtain skills or knowledge related to “Space Magic.”
Could it be that the system was dead?
The moment this thought arose—
[Detected host harboring a potential belief that the system’s inactive state is equivalent to death.]
[According to Core Protocol Zero: Existence Maintenance Priority. Forced detachment procedure pre-initiated.]
[Countdown: 10, 9, 8…]
A cold, emotionless prompt sounded abruptly in his mind.
Yize’s heart skipped a beat, and he almost failed to maintain his neutral expression.
‘Damn! Is this system that petty?’
‘It takes a casual internal grumble about it being “dead” seriously?’
‘Does it have no sense of humor at all!’
“System, sir! My mistake! A slip of the tongue! Purely a slip of the tongue!”
Yize hurriedly shouted in his consciousness, his tone sincere. “How could I possibly think that! I’m still counting on you to keep issuing tasks, to draw some rare, super-tier, heaven-defying abilities!”
“You are the very foundation of my survival, my food and clothing, my promising future in this world!”
“Without the talents and attribute points you bestowed, I probably wouldn’t even qualify to be a background NPC!”
After this almost sycophantic round of appeasement, the countdown in his mind finally stopped.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief but felt a bit tired. ‘This feeling… it’s a bit like placating a girlfriend with a strange temper who’s always threatening to break up at the drop of a hat.’
Although the analogy wasn’t perfect, the mentality of needing to carefully maintain the relationship, fearing the other party might actually quit, was eerily similar.
There was no helping it. He really did rely on this “System” to get by right now.
Without the foundation the system initially provided—the maxed-out physical body and the Massive Mana—he might not have even gotten past the Raymond Territory hurdle, let alone come this far.
This “soft living” had to be accepted, and the placating had to be done.
Gathering his thoughts, Yize accepted the Silver promotion task. Without lingering further, he left the Guild again, heading deep into the northwest of Sitanacheng.
After walking a distance from the Guild and entering a relatively less crowded street, Yize narrowed his eyes slightly.
A faint sensation of being watched prickled at his senses.
His perception far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Even though the tracker’s skills were quite sophisticated and the distance was well-maintained, that subtle, barely-there sense of being locked onto was still picked up by him.
Using the motion of adjusting his cuff, he swiftly scanned the area behind and to his side with a glance from the corner of his eye.
A figure came into view—a man with a stubbly beard, slightly unkempt clothing, and a wine flask hanging at his waist. It was the same uncle who had hurriedly returned to the Guild earlier.
Right now, he seemed to be walking nonchalantly, no different from other adventurers on the street. But Yize was certain that a portion of the man’s attention remained fixed on him.
‘Someone from the Guild?’
‘Did my abnormal task completion speed attract attention?’
‘Or some other force?’
Yize thought quickly.
In this unfamiliar city of Stana, he had no connections. Being targeted could only be for a few reasons: money, ability, or… looks.
Under normal circumstances, Yize might have felt a bit playful, toying with this tracker, using some tricks to mislead him, or simply pretending to have completed the tasks by sheer luck.
But right now, time was his most precious commodity.
The Betty Territory was in imminent danger. He had to complete the promotion, accumulate enough points, and find a way back home at the fastest possible speed.
‘Sorry, uncle. No time to play hide-and-seek.’
Yize thought silently. The rhythm of his footsteps remained unchanged. However, the moment he turned into an even quieter alley, the [Agility] and [Constitution] attributes maxed out by the system within him quietly activated.
There was no glow of Aura, no fluctuation of magic. His figure seemed to blur for just an instant.
In the next moment, as if merging with the air, he shot out from the other end of the alley at a speed difficult for the naked eye to follow.
After a few leaps and bounds, he completely vanished into the labyrinth of streets, alleys, and building shadows.
—
On the other side, Lailong was concentrating, firmly locking his perception onto the aura of that black-haired young man a few hundred meters away.
For a Diamond-level Adventurer like him, this distance was the perfect interval—ensuring concealment while allowing timely intervention if the target encountered trouble.
However, the moment the target turned into that alley, a warning bell faintly rang in Lailong’s mind.
The target’s speed seemed… to slow for an instant?
He even vaguely felt as if the kid had glanced in his direction?
‘Discovered?’
This thought had just arisen. Before Lailong could adjust his strategy or close the distance, a scene that left him dumbfounded occurred.
The aura he had been locking onto vanished—completely and without any warning!
Not hidden, not shielded, but simply “disappeared” from his perceptual field!
Lailong abruptly stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening in disbelief. He even subconsciously rubbed them.
He rushed to the alley entrance. It was empty.
He quickly expanded his perception range, scanning several nearby streets. Still, he found nothing.
No residual fluctuations of space magic, no Aura fluctuations—nothing.
That newcomer named Yize had vanished into thin air.
“Are you kidding me…”
Lailong muttered to himself, his face a mixture of confusion and shock.
He was a Diamond-level Adventurer!
A powerhouse ranked highly even within the Guild headquarters!
Possessing the practical combat ability and rich experience to independently handle A-rank and even A+ rank threats.
How could a newly registered newcomer, whose file stated “Second-tier Mage, Elemental Affinity 5%,” shake off his tracking so easily?
Without even giving him a chance to react?
Unless… the target’s speed had surpassed the limits of his dynamic vision and perception lock?
Or he had mastered some method of movement that Lailong couldn’t comprehend or detect at all?
Either possibility was enough to prove that this Yize was anything but ordinary.
Left with no choice, Lailong could only abandon the pursuit and instead rush at full speed towards the location of this Silver promotion task.
He held onto a sliver of hope. Perhaps he could find Yize there, or at least see some traces of battle to deduce the young man’s true methods.
When Lailong arrived at the designated area in the Grey Rock Hills, the scene that met his eyes plunged him into silence once more.
The area near the entrance of the presumed Goblin Boss den was a complete mess.
The battle had clearly ended, and it had ended with exceptional speed and thoroughness.
There were no scorch marks from large-scale magic bombardments, no precise cutting wounds left by exquisite martial arts.
Only the most primitive, most direct form of violent suppression remained.
The smell of blood lingering in the air hadn’t fully dissipated yet. But apart from that, Lailong couldn’t sense any residual mana or Aura belonging to Yize.
It was as if the young man had just passed by, casually swung his fists, and these goblins had simply fallen over.
Lailong crouched down, carefully examining several of the wounds. His frown deepened.
This method of destruction… achieving such results purely through physical strength, its explosive power and control were both terrifying.
This was absolutely not something a “Second-tier Mage” could accomplish.
Even many Gold-rank adventurers from demi-human species known for their strength might not be able to do it so effortlessly.