As they left the Mages' Association, Gray suddenly asked Lynn a question.
“There's less than a month before the annual Autumn Hunt begins. Do you plan to participate as an apprentice, or as a class-holder?”
The Autumn Hunt was a hunting campaign jointly organized by the Adventurers' Guild and the Mages' Association.
Its purpose was to clear out excessive monsters to prevent or weaken the winter beast tide. The Monk had mentioned this before.
Lynn was a bit puzzled. “Is there any difference between participating under those two identities?”
Gray explained, “To encourage adventurers to actively participate in the Autumn Hunt, the Guild and the Mages' Association jointly commend those who perform outstandingly.”
“To make the selection easier, they divide the apprentices and class-holders into two separate groups for evaluation. This is to prevent novice adventurers from getting discouraged.”
Lynn nodded.
So this Autumn Hunt had a competitive element to it, and it even split the adventurers into apprentice and class-holder categories.
Gray continued, “You should be quite close to condensing a class, right? But I suggest you don't do it just yet. Participate in the Autumn Hunt as an apprentice. That way, you can get the Guild's rewards. The first-place reward is very generous.”
“But if you condense a class now, you'll have to compete with those class-holders...”
“Last year's first place among Wingen Town's class-holders was a Tier 4 Fighter, and he seems to have recently advanced to Tier 5. It will probably be difficult for you to defeat him.”
Lynn asked with some curiosity, “Are the rewards for the apprentice group and the class-holder group different too?”
“Of course. For the same ranking, the class-holder rewards are much better than the apprentice rewards.”
Lynn nodded, but he didn't explicitly tell Gray which group he planned to join.
There was still a month left...
Lynn felt that he might actually be able to compete for a ranking among the class-holders.
After all, even though he hadn't condensed a class yet, his strength was already greater than most Tier 1 class-holders.
Take the Dungeon Slime, for example. For Tier 1 physical classes like Fighters or Rangers, it was an unbeatable foe.
Even a Mage would find it difficult to solo such a monster at Tier 1 due to the chanting time required for spells.
Lynn, however, had been able to easily kill the Dungeon Slime by relying on a powerful First-Circle spell, combined with Evocation Control and the Burst Step rune.
Furthermore, even if he didn't activate a bloodline that could increase his Intelligence, as long as he could collect moon dust fungus and make Moon Fungus Cake, his Intelligence attribute would rise to the level of a class-holder.
In other words, he only needed to collect moon dust fungus and raise Magic Missile to Lv.5 within a month, and he would be able to condense his class and become a Mage!
By then, his strength would receive another massive boost.
If he were facing a Tier 5 Mage, Lynn would most likely give up on competing.
But if it was a newly advanced Tier 5 Fighter, Lynn felt he still had a chance.
After all, the Autumn Hunt wasn't an arena duel. It didn't test who was stronger in a fight, but who was better at subjugating monsters.
When it came to destructive power, other classes could hardly compare to a Mage.
...
At the Adventurers' Guild, on the first-floor lobby.
The moment Lynn entered, he could feel many eyes focusing on him.
Over the past few days, the news of him saving the Fire Shield Party had gradually spread among the adventurers, earning him a certain level of fame.
Some of the more familiar adventurers even approached Lynn to strike up a conversation, wanting to invite him to join their parties for adventures, but Lynn politely declined them all with a shake of his head.
This treatment was a world of difference compared to his first time coming to the Adventurers' Guild.
Lynn still remembered when he first entered the guild hall. He had only been wearing a piece of tattered, second-hand leather armor, carrying a spear and a short sword.
Wherever his gaze fell, the adventurers there would lower their heads and pretend to be busy.
Comparing the past and the present, Lynn couldn't help but smile.
However, his refusal of the other adventurers' invitations wasn't because of this.
He simply had a clear goal for this trip.
Going straight to the second floor, Lynn arrived at the reception desk.
“Excuse me, are there any commissions posted by Mr. Grote today?”
Grote was originally a baron's surname—specifically, the former lord of the southwest barony.
But after the previous generation of Grotes was stripped of their title, the current young Mr. Grote had been reduced to a semi-commoner.
Even so, the Grote family hadn't completely fallen into ruin.
A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. The current head of the Grote family had sold off most of their family property to purchase the only two cemeteries in the town: the Public Cemetery and the Graveyard.
The Public Cemetery served the low-level adventurers and the poor, while the Graveyard provided comprehensive services to the wealthy of Wingen Town. By targeting both ends of the market, they had basically monopolized Wingen Town's funeral industry.
According to Mentor Gray, if the next generation of the Grote family could nurture a Mage, it wasn't impossible for them to restore their glory and regain their title of Baron.
However, Lynn noticed that Gray had been rather nonchalant when mentioning the Grote family regaining their barony.
He spoke of it with the casual tone of someone saying, “Oh, look whose kid made something of themselves,” as if he didn't care about a baron's title at all.
Lynn couldn't help but wonder about Mentor Gray's true identity.
Back to the present. Upon hearing Lynn's request, the receptionist flipped through a few pages of the ledger and quickly found a quest that met his requirements.
“Mr. Grote indeed posted a quest. It was put up yesterday, and fortunately, no one has accepted it yet.”
The receptionist handed over the commission sheet.
【Quest Name】: Commotion in the Public Cemetery
【Quest Number】: Wingen Town White Iron Rank 1230913
【Type】: Subjugation Bounty
【Client】: Public Cemetery Keeper - Mr. Moni Grote
【Quest Content】: The “clients” in the public cemetery have been very restless lately, repeatedly rising from their coffins at night. Please clear out the active monsters in the cemetery during the night.
【Time Limit】: None
【Bounty Amount】: 2 silver and 50 copper per zombie; 50 copper per skeleton; 3 silver per skeleton soldier. If the cause of the anomaly in the public cemetery can be identified, an additional reward of 8 gold coins will be given.
Rate on N.U.
