In the days since leaving Blackwater City, Lin Gui had been like a messenger who had finally gotten onto the right track.
He traveled mechanically and systematically between one dead city-state and another.
Steering the flying vessel, he skimmed over the wilderness and pierced through the mist.
Arrive, hang up the letters, wait, collect replies, and leave.
Then, fly to the next grey ruins.
Over and over again.
Lin Gui had already delivered nearly half of the 7,760 letters sent from Blackwater City to various city-states.
Over four thousand letters.
As for the total goal of ten thousand letters required for the Messenger's Advancement Quest, he was only short by the final one hundred and thirty letters, plus one Special Commission.
If all went well, Lin Gui might be able to complete the most difficult target of delivering ten thousand letters within the next two stops.
This thought brought a slight spark of energy to his weary spirit.
Aside from that, every time he safely arrived at a node city-state planned by the system and achieved a delivery rate of over seventy percent, the system would reward him with a corresponding amount of mana and a set number of novice spells.
Fortunately, the journey had been relatively smooth sailing.
Lin Gui had achieved delivery rates far exceeding seventy percent at every stop.
This was likely because most of the recipients from Blackwater City were ordinary people.
And their families were basically ordinary people as well.
Therefore, in the face of that hopeless calamity, they had chosen to wait for death because they lacked the power to flee...
...and thus 'escaped the disaster.'
As a result, the recipients of the letters were mostly still around.
Although Lin Gui wasn't entirely sure if their 'survival' as ghosts counted as being 'alive,' at least their minds were no different from normal people. In fact, they were almost too active.
All in all, Lin Gui had successfully completed the Weekly Commissions for all the nodes along the way.
He had also received a large number of rewards from the system.
They were a diverse mix, ranging from basic elements to rather obscure fields.
Except for a few that Lin Gui thought might be useful in the future, they were basically completely useless spells.
Like one that allowed fingernails to grow a tiny bit...
which was bizarrely categorized as a metal-element spell: Nail Growth.
And it wasn't the 'armor' kind of nail, but the actual fingernail kind.
Honestly, it was the first time Lin Gui had ever seen such a novice spell.
There were many other similar ones, such as Hair Growth, Lubrication, and Whistling.
Among the newly added spells, very few actually caught Lin Gui's interest.
In fact, there were only two.
The first was Soul Attachment.
A novice soul-element spell, its effect was very simple: it gave any touched soul a brief physical sensation of solidity.
Lin Gui understood almost all Soul Magic.
But Soul Attachment was indeed outside any known system.
It was highly impractical.
It was virtually useless for combat, defense, or exploration.
But here, inside the Wall of Sighs, it could work wonders just like Clarity.
At the very least, Lin Gui would be able to strike those spectral demons that ignored physical and energy attacks.
It was just that its power was incredibly weak.
At most, it could only augment Mid Rank spells.
The other spell, however, was a genuine surprise.
It was the only 'gold pull' out of over four thousand novice spells.
A novice spatial spell: Spatial Mark.
Through the system's explanation, Lin Gui understood its effect:
He could mark a location, leaving a unique magic imprint.
No matter where he went afterward, and regardless of whether it was within his line of sight, he would be able to clearly sense the direction and distance of the marked point.
It still sounded quite useless.
But in the wilderness, this function was of paramount importance.
When Lin Gui traveled through the wilderness in the past, his biggest headache was always navigation.
Maps often had errors, landmarks could change, and the presence of demons would distort directions.
With Spatial Mark, he could leave marks at safe zones, supply points, and temporary camps.
No matter how far he traveled, he would always find his way back.
He could also leave marks at the city-states he passed through, so when returning, he wouldn't have to constantly check landmarks or consult maps to find his way.
【System Weekly Commission Completion Rate → 90.09%】
【Detected that all letters sent from Blackwater City to Whitestone City have arrived.】
【Ding! The Weekly Commission has been completed!】
【Completion Details: Successfully delivered 432 letters to the recipients in Whitestone City.】
【Sources of Letters:】
【Blackwater City: 245 letters.】
【Stonestrand Town: 23 letters.】
【Longbridge Fort: 13 letters.】
【.......】
【Three-Way Junction: 56 letters.】
【Sign-off Progress: 393 letters signed for in total (Current Progress: 90.09%)】
【Distributing rewards...】
【You have successfully delivered 393 letters, obtaining random Novice Magic x393.】
【Duplicate spells will automatically be converted into corresponding proficiency.】
【Spells with maxed proficiency can be cast without chanting.】
【Congratulations to the Host for obtaining:】
【Water-element Novice Magic: Condense Dew * 91 → Condense Dew MAX】
(Condense Dew proficiency is maxed. Chantless casting is now available.)
【Wind-element Novice Magic: Whistling * 90 → Whistling MAX】
(Whistling proficiency is maxed. You can now whistle to your heart's content.)
【Demon-element Novice Magic: Enchantment * 59 → Enchantment MAX】
(Enchantment proficiency is maxed. Chantless casting is now available.)
【Demon-element Novice Magic: Demon Eyes * 51 → Demon Eyes Lv.9】
【Soul-element Novice Magic: Soul Attachment * 50 → Soul Attachment Lv.5】
【Spatial-element Novice Magic: Spatial Mark * 42 → Spatial Mark Lv.3】
【New spells added as follows:】
【Wood-element Novice Magic: Flower Growth Lv.2】
(A magic spell that can conjure flowers out of thin air.)
【Extra Reward: Mana Reserve +100】
【Host: Lin Gui】
【Rank: High-tier High Rank Mage】
【Mana Reserve: (9854/10000). 10,000 mana points needed to break through to the next rank】
【Ding! A new round of Weekly Commissions is being generated.】
【Destination: Deepwood Outpost.】
【Beginning retrieval of the number of letters collected by the Host...】
【Remaining retrieval time: 6 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes】
------ “May every thought cross the mist and reach the land of destruction” ------
Lin Gui glanced at the list of newly added spells.
He then peeked at the baffling, maxed-out novice spells on his personal status interface:
Novice Metal Magic: Nail Growth (MAX).
Novice Water Magic: Lubrication (MAX).
Novice Wind Magic: Whistling (MAX).
And now there was also... Flower Growth.
The corner of his mouth twitched silently.
Well, another weird spell had been added to his arsenal.
Subconsciously, he let out a soft whistle.
The sound was crisp and short, echoing with peculiar clarity in the quiet stone house.
Opposite him, Eve was bowing her head and breathing warm air onto her fingers, which were red from the cold.
Hearing the whistle, she paused and looked up.
A trace of surprise flashed in her violet eyes.
A whistle?
That didn't seem like something Mr. Lin Gui—a guy who looked so serious on the surface—would do.
Besides, his expression seemed a little disgruntled?
But on second thought, recalling his slightly dazed behavior just now... She had been quietly observing Lin Gui for quite some time, and this state of his usually meant only one thing.
“Are we setting off for our next stop?” Eve put down her hands and asked softly.
Lin Gui nodded.
Whitestone City was relatively small. The letters that needed to be delivered had all been sent, and the replies that needed to be collected had all been signed for.
In his mind, he had also manually stopped the system's letter retrieval.
The Weekly Commission had been updated, so there was no reason to stay any longer.
“Yeah, it's time to go.” Lin Gui stood up and began to pack the scattered paper and pens.
“The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can leave this godforsaken place.”
The two of them quickly gathered their belongings and prepared to depart.
Just as Lin Gui pulled open the wooden door leading to the ruined streets, a glass bead suddenly rolled in from beneath the crack of the door.
Before Lin Gui could even activate his Eyes of the Netherworld, a slightly excited voice rang directly in his mind:
“Messenger lad! Don't be in such a hurry to leave!”
“Do you want to join us...”
“and play a prank on some people?”
“Some living people have arrived in Whitestone City.”
Rate on N.U.
