After leaving the inn, Lin Gui went directly to the Adventurer’s Guild.
Monica was already waiting for him.
The routine treatment began soon after. The Water Healing spell wrapped around his body, and a warm sensation seeped into his bones.
A few minutes later, Monica’s mana was exhausted, and her face turned a shade paler.
Lin Gui’s injuries had improved a bit more, but they were still far from fully healed.
He didn’t linger long. After giving her a mana restoration potion and expressing his thanks, he left.
Next, he had serious business to attend to.
Dragonbone City didn’t have a post office.
For mail services, people generally posted transport commissions directly at the Adventurer’s Guild.
Compared to actual transport commissions, the price was much lower, but it was still expensive for commoners. It started at a minimum of ten gold coins.
This meant that if Lin Gui opened a post office here, he would basically have no competitors.
He didn't even need to go out of his way to pull strings or clear paths with officials like he did in the Carter Royal Capital.
Now that the nobles and the powerful had fled, the city-state's political system had almost collapsed. No one was going to bother him about what kind of shop he was opening.
Lin Gui found a vacant storefront for sale in the commoner district on the east side of the city.
It wasn't large—a two-story stone building.
The price was cheap too; he bought it for twenty gold coins.
The location was excellent, right across from the main gate of Dragonbone City.
It was the place with the highest foot traffic in the entire city-state.
In the past, buying this plot for twenty gold coins would have been nothing short of a dream.
But this was a time when the Dark Tide was surging. If the Dark Tide headed north and passed through the Broken Bone Pass into the tundra, then there was a certain probability that Dragonbone City would be affected.
The noble district and the City Lord’s castle were now completely deserted.
Almost everyone with ability, power, or money had fled.
As a result, Dragonbone City’s economy had practically collapsed.
Land and housing prices had nosedived.
He found a few local craftsmen, paid their wages, and had them renovate the place according to his requirements.
The first floor was cleared out to serve as the service hall, with the counter against the wall and space left for people to queue.
The second floor was set up as a resting area.
He hung a signboard over the door that simply read, “7-Copper Post Office, Dragonbone City Branch.”
Having finished these instructions, Lin Gui didn’t bother with it further.
He returned to the Adventurer’s Guild.
Monica had just recovered a bit of mana and gave him another treatment.
It still lasted only a few minutes, and the effect was minimal.
But Lin Gui wasn't in a hurry.
After the treatment ended, he walked to the guild’s commission board, pulled a piece of paper from his robe, and posted it.
【Promotion Commission: Distribute flyers, reward: 100 copper coins.】
There was no commission number or rank.
After all, it was just handing out flyers; even the local street kids could do it.
As the new commission was posted, rookie adventurers looked over curiously.
When they saw the price, all the adventurers grew excited.
The surrounding rookie adventurers—who were busy bragging at the tavern tables because the High Rank adventurers had fled—instantly swarmed forward.
“Me, me, me!”
“Let me do it!”
“One hundred copper coins?! That’s a hundred silver coins for a hundred flyers! That’s enough to feed me for half a month!”
Lin Gui even saw members of the Thousand Towers group in the crowd.
Ada squeezed his way to the front, while Old Tom stayed in the back holding his shield to prevent them from being trampled, and Lily stood on her tiptoes to peek inside.
Monica stood at the very back. Seeing Lin Gui look over, she gave an embarrassed smile.
Lin Gui didn’t say anything. He simply handed a stack of flyers—which he had prepared back in Caran—to the receptionist, paid the commission fee, and registered the quest.
With the promotional warm-up set in motion, he left the guild.
...
Outside the city, Lin Gui came to a halt.
Before him loomed the Dragonbone Mountains.
Towering into the clouds, the greyish-white mountain peaks gleamed coldly under the sunlight.
The summits were lost in the cloud layer, their tops invisible from below.
It was the highest and longest mountain range in the southern Akara Continent.
It was the guardian deity that had protected the borderlands from demon incursions for thirty years.
It was also the greatest obstacle blocking the connection between the borderlands and the Central City-State Alliance.
Lin Gui looked at it with a complex expression.
If Caran City wanted to grow stronger, it had to have a Golden Route that directly connected to the Alliance’s transport network.
It had to be short, but it also had to be safe.
He took a paper map from his storage space and spread it out on the ground.
Although the Messenger’s Chart could precisely mark distances and geographical information, it was limited to places he had already traveled.
Everywhere else was shrouded in mist.
Therefore, he could only rely on a paper map to make his judgments.
His finger traced across the map.
Heading south from Dragonbone City, crossing the Dragonbone Mountains, and entering the borderlands.
The nearest city-state was to the southeast: Dragonridge City.
The distance was roughly one hundred kilometers.
It was an isolated small city that likewise had not been incorporated into the City-State Alliance.
Two hundred kilometers further south was Flowerwood City.
And one hundred kilometers south of that was Caran City.
The reason these city-states had not been included in the Alliance’s transport routes was simple: they were weak, remote, and lacked precious resources.
Moreover, the Dragonbone Mountains naturally obstructed the development of a Golden Route.
At the same time, these isolated city-states were a vast distance away from the only traversable geographic pass in the Dragonbone Mountains—the well-known Golden Corridor north of the Carter Royal Capital, the Broken Bone Pass.
The distance was far too great.
The mages of the Dark Tide had suggested that Lin Gui abandon his plan. They wanted him to find a new city-state that was also isolated and had its ruling class wiped out—just like Caran—to serve as the foundation for the Spark Revolution.
But Caran City had survived.
Though Lin Gui didn't know the reason, his original plan could continue.
And the first step of that plan was to open a Golden Route leading to Caran City.
Depending on himself alone, it was naturally impossible to bore a tunnel through this massive mountain range that pierced the sky.
He still needed to prepare.
He would visit other city-states to find a way to carve a tunnel through the first great mountain range of the south.
His trip this time was simply to first scout the demon situation in the surrounding area and find the narrowest point of the Dragonbone Mountains.
In the Adventurer’s Guild, adventurers would periodically scout the surrounding demons.
Lin Gui could get the information he wanted from there.
But it was limited to the mountain range closest to Dragonbone City.
And that was not the optimal place for him to cut through.
So he had to conduct his own survey.
Five days passed in this manner.
During this time, Lin Gui almost always lived in the wild.
He would only return to Dragonbone City when it was time for his treatment.
Monica’s healing sessions were very brief. He would stay for only a few minutes before leaving.
The scouting task was not just about recording the gathering spots of demons. It also involved documenting the species of permanent demons, the active ranges of powerful Legendary demons, and the surrounding geographical information.
With the Messenger’s Chart, Lin Gui saved a great deal of effort, but it still took him quite a long time.
And five days was more than enough time for the ridiculous number of rookie adventurers to scatter thousands of flyers to every corner of Dragonbone City.
In streets and alleys, taverns and roadsides, and even in the shantytowns at the foot of the city walls, people were holding flyers and talking.
“Have you heard? A new post office opened at the city gate. Sending a letter only costs seven copper coins!”
“Seven copper coins? Are you sure it’s not seven gold coins?”
“The flyer says it clearly: 7-Copper Post Office, honest prices for young and old.”
“Many people went to see the finished office today. The sign really says 7-Copper Post Office, Dragonbone City Branch.”
“A branch? Does that mean there are many post offices like this?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never heard of it.”
“Could it be some kind of prank played by the nobles to trick us?”
“To open for business in Dragonbone City at a time like this, while the Dark Tide is breaking out... it’s so eerie.”
“Everything will be clear tomorrow. Apparently, it officially opens tomorrow. We’ll know when we go see it for ourselves.”
Most of the residents who had received the news were filled with curiosity, expectantly waiting for the next day to arrive.
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