【Ding! Weekly Commission generation has begun.】
【Beginning to retrieve the number of letters collected by the Host.】
【Time remaining for retrieval... 6 days and 23 hours.】
【Would you like to end the retrieval immediately and start the Weekly Commission?】
“End it.”
【Ding! Your weekly messenger quest has been updated.】
【Ding! Weekly Commission has been updated.】
【Content: Escort 512 reply letters back to New Covenant City and deliver them to each designated recipient.】
【Route: Caran City → Audo Canyon → Black Demon Forest → New Covenant City】
【Time Limit: 14 calendar days】
【Commission Completion Condition: Delivery rate exceeding 70%.】
【Base Reward: For every letter delivered, receive random Novice Magic x1.】
【Bonus Reward: Slightly increase magic control precision and maximum mana. (Rewards based on checkpoint distance.)】
【Risk Warning: Demon activity in the transit areas is as high as 90%. Rumors suggest Legendary Demons may be lurking within.】
He never would have expected that after managing to escape from right under the nose of a Legendary Demon,
he would almost die from his own sudden streak of recklessness.
Crawling out of the cowshed, Lin Gui collapsed onto the ground and plucked the straw clinging to his hair.
Looking back on what had just happened, a cold sweat broke out across his back.
Clearly, he had suppressed himself for far too long.
The thrill of soaring through the sky had completely released the pressure built up over nineteen years of living a closed-off life.
Up above the clouds, he had seen the mesmerizing sunset, but down on the ground, night had already fallen.
Lin Gui quietly gazed up at the twinkling stars in the night sky.
“Thanks, System. You saved my miserable life back there.”
【Don't look down on the System's rewards next time~】
【By the way, Host, do you regret it?】
“Regret what?”
【Have you forgotten? In New Covenant City, you accepted so many letters outside of your official quest.】
【If you had refused them back then and waited until you departed from New Covenant City again,】
【you could have obtained at least four hundred more Novice Magic spells...】
It was true. If he could have rolled a few more Levitation spells to increase his proficiency, Lin Gui's strength would have seen a significant boost.
Levitation synergized perfectly with the Veil of the Gloomy Night, compensating for its greatest drawback—the inability to move once cast.
Thinking of it that way, his loss was indeed immense—over four hundred skills.
But did he actually regret it?
Lin Gui chuckled softly and replied,
“Why would I regret it? That was what I intended to do in the first place.”
【...】
“Alright, time to get to work. I'm bursting with motivation now!”
After recovering some of his mana, Lin Gui stood up.
Retracing his steps, he found the bag he had tossed onto the ground.
Fortunately, the spot was quite secluded, and none of the letters inside were lost.
Pulling out a blood-stained envelope from the bag, Lin Gui recalled that the reward for this quest seemed to be...
a random special magic spell?
The task was simple: he just had to deliver this letter to the guild leader's wife, who worked at the Adventurer's Guild.
“System, can you tell me a bit about this special magic?”
【Host, don't you already have a special magic spell yourself?】
Ah... a spell like the Veil of the Gloomy Night.
While Lin Gui's interest was piqued, he also felt a tinge of unease.
Ever since coming to this world,
everything he possessed had been won through immense hardship, struggle, and failure.
His current magical strength and the self-created spell he took great pride in, the Veil of the Gloomy Night,
had been forged step by step through his own hard work.
Yet now, it seemed he was obtaining something so easily...
There wouldn't happen to be a catch, would there?
With a heart full of trepidation, Lin Gui set off to deliver his final letter in Caran City.
Surprisingly, even when the notification popped up to signal the quest's completion and the reward was credited to him, nothing bad happened.
The guild leader's wife knelt on the floor, weeping bitterly. The receptionist knelt beside her, offering gentle words of comfort.
The surrounding adventurers who overheard the news couldn't help but bow their heads in silence.
Guild Leader Barnard's death had been officially confirmed.
As for the other six Gold Rank adventure groups, there was still no word of them, but... no one held out any hope.
A heavy, somber gloom settled over the usually bustling Adventurer's Guild.
Lin Gui didn't feel much emotion. Being an adventurer was a profession with a mortality rate exceeding fifty percent.
He had seen far too much death.
Yet this ordinary scene was abruptly shattered the moment he stepped out the door.
Before his eyes could even adjust to the dim evening light outside,
a squad of fully armored guards silently surrounded him, their cold metallic pauldrons gleaming faintly in the twilight.
Moving with synchronized precision, they blocked every possible avenue of escape, causing the tension in the air to spike instantly.
The squad leader stepped forward. He had a rugged face and eyes as sharp as a hawk's.
His gaze swept over Lin Gui, finally locking onto the bulging messenger bag slung across his back.
“Are you the messenger?”
The captain's voice was deep, devoid of any emotion.
Lin Gui's heart skipped a beat, but he maintained a calm facade.
“That's me. Is there a problem?”
“We received a report that you are connected to the final letter of the Gold Rank adventure group's leader, Barnard.”
The captain's words were clear and frigid.
“His group and the other six cooperating teams have been confirmed wiped out in the depths of the Black Forest. There are no survivors.”
He paused, his gaze growing even sharper.
“However, according to multiple residents, you have recently been seen traveling with and closely associating with a silver-haired, red-eyed half-demon.”
“And by sheer coincidence, that half-demon happens to be... the sole survivor of this incident.”
The surrounding air seemed to freeze.
The captain took a step closer, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword. He lowered his voice, making it sound all the more menacing.
“Now, please explain why the deceased guild leader's final letter was delivered by you.”
“And why do you happen to know the sole survivor?”
“What exactly... is your connection to the annihilation of the adventure groups?”
Before Lin Gui could even respond to the guard's interrogation, the tense atmosphere around them suddenly erupted.
“A half-demon... is it that 'Crimson Thorn' Theia?!”
A burly adventurer in the crowd slammed his fist onto a nearby wooden table, knocking over a tankard and sending ale spilling across the wood.
“I knew something was off about her when she came back from that mission!”
“Leader Barnard and the others were completely wiped out! Why is she the only one who made it back alive?”
Another archer with a scarred face chimed in, his voice shrill and laced with blatant suspicion and fury.
“And on top of that, she's been hanging around some sketchy messenger of unknown origin!”
“I've heard half-demons have betrayal running through their very veins!”
“Who knows if she and this guy colluded from the inside out to lure the leader and the others into a trap!”
The malicious speculation and accumulated grief instantly found an outlet.
Countless gazes filled with suspicion, rage, and confusion locked onto Lin Gui like physical blades.
The atmosphere at the entrance of the Adventurer's Guild, which had merely been solemn moments ago, suddenly turned hostile.
A few hot-headed adventurers instinctively gripped the hilts of their weapons, slowly closing in.
They formed a second, far more volatile perimeter outside the guards.
In the distance, the guild leader's wife, who had just received the final letter, also looked over with doubt in her eyes.
The guard captain frowned, seemingly wanting to maintain order.
But the boiling fury of the crowd made him choose to remain silent for the moment.
He simply watched Lin Gui, who stood at the center of the storm, with heightened vigilance.
Faced with the sudden escalation of hostility and accusations that threatened to swallow him whole,
Lin Gui's expression darkened completely.
He ignored the spittle flying near his face and the venomous glares directed at him.
Snapping his head up, his gaze locked dead onto the guard captain.
His voice cut through the noisy clamor, so cold it was devoid of any emotion:
“Put that nonsense aside for a moment.”
“Tell me. Where is Theia right now? How is she?”
His question caught everyone off guard.
There was no defense, nor was there any panic.
The sole focus of his concern was actually the very half-demon everyone was pointing their fingers at.
Rate on N.U.
