Chapters [65 - 66]

Chapter 65. An Adventurer's Paradise

_ _ _ _ _Start_ _ _ _ _

Foothold No.7C82 was known as the Carefree City. It was given such a name as the foothold had encountered monster hordes so many times and the residents were severely injured. In order to show that they hope for a better future, the human had named the foothold a Carefree City.

One odd thing that happened was, ever since it was given such a name, fortune had particularly favored the foothold and monster hordes have never invaded them for over hundreds of years.

The city had a slow pace of life. The residents were living and working in peace. Indeed, it was a carefree place.

It was one o'clock in the afternoon when Lin Huang arrived at Carefree City. He did not depart immediately but he headed towards the Adventurer Paradise.

Adventurer Paradise was a subdivision of the Hunter Association's so-called Adventurer Association. It was specially established to recruit the adventurers going on exploration missions. However, as soon as the Hunter Association slowly transferred the explorer jobs out from the Adventurer Association, it was separated and became an independent organization, eventually changing its name to the Adventurer Paradise.

The Hunter Association used to be a loosely organized organization. It was actually a training organization that cultivated talents. However, they could not control these talented people, causing the loss of top-class talent. The initial objective of establishing the Adventurer Association was to retain the talented individuals.

However, the Adventurer Paradise imposed strict obligations whereby they had a totally different set of rules and regulations compared to that of the Hunter Association. The members of the Adventurer Association had to accept a mission within a specific period of time. Compared to the Hunter Association, it had better management.

Despite Adventurer Paradise becoming an independent organization, both organizations in many ways were still interrelated.

Lin Huang was seeking for a station at the Adventurer Paradise as he could not enter Wangyou Forest on his own.

Wangyou Forest was located in the southwest of the Carefree City, approximately 3,000 kilometers away from the city. Towards this direction, not even a small sized foothold was found. In fact, small sized footholds had been built before but they had been repeatedly destroyed by monster hordes, causing injuries and casualties. Eventually, the authorities had decided to cease building them.

Without the foothold, there would not be any stopping points for eagle rides, let alone traveling from one portal to another.

It was an uninhabited area. The regions within 3,000 kilometers were wilderness that ranged from level-1 wild zones to level-3 wild zones.

It would not be safe on the road even if Lin Huang rode on his iron-level rank-3 Sand Monster. Therefore, he was looking for a silver-level adventurer as a companion to enter Wangyou Forest.

Soon, he found the Adventurer Paradise's station at a foothold. The entrance was crowded.

As he entered the station, Lin Huang looked around. It was somehow similar to the Hunter Association's station as the design of the buildings were alike. The only difference was the atmosphere.

Similarly, it was a square-shaped office that had a transparent polygonal dome at a height of around 10 meters. The wall was painted with light, warm, yellow paint. It felt totally different from the grayish-white colored wall of the Hunter Association. Besides, the color of the floor was different as well. The color of the floor was also light yellow here whereas the Hunter Association's floor was a dark gray color.

As Lin Huang was looking around, a young female staff came up to him and asked, "Mister, can I help you?"

"I'm looking for an adventurer team to go to the Wangyou Forest," Lin Huang asked her.

"I'll help you to check on it," the female staff nodded her head and smiled. She led Lin Huang to the customer service counter. In just a short while, she had gotten the results. "There is a team going to Wangyou Forest four days from now. You're considered lucky as the leader of the team is of a Gold-level. She had a mission with her and had to stay at Wangyou Forest for a week. The next team heading towards Wangyou Forest would have been 12 days from now," she said.

"Of course, you may consider hiring an adventure team to escort you. After getting things done, they'll escort you back here. However, the expenses would be a lot higher," she continued.

Lin Huang had inquired about this before through the network. He knew that there were two ways that he could follow the adventurer team. The first one was the adventurer team had to go on a mission and lead him to his destination while the other method was to directly hire an adventurer, the latter of which being more expensive. The credit points one needed to pay for were equal to the Life Crystals he consumed each day. However, the former cost only two credit points for a round trip.

As he heard that he'd be having a Gold-level adventurer as the team leader, Lin Huang made up his mind. "There's no need of hiring an adventurer, I'll just wait for a few days," he told the staff member.

"Alright, the full cost will be 20,000 credit points. Before making any payments, here's one special requirement for those who are heading towards Wangyou Forest." As soon as the female staff finished her sentence, a web page popped up in front of her. "Please read carefully before you agree to accept the terms and conditions."

Lin Huang took a look at it and realized that it was a disclaimer. It was briefly about the safety of the visitors heading towards Wangyou Forest. Upon arriving at Wangyou Forest, it was no longer the team's responsibility to protect the visitor. The team was only responsible for the visitor's safety during the journey. If the visitor died in Wangyou Forest, the team would not bear any responsibility and the fees once paid would not be refunded.

Lin Huang nodded his head after he read. "If they had completed their task in Wangyou Forest after a week, but I'm not done, for how many days will day wait for me?"

"At most, three days. Three days later, be it you're alive or dead, they'll be coming back. According to our rules, if you did not show up at the gathering point after three days, you're considered dead," she said.

"Of course, if there are some valid reasons that caused the delay, you may apply it through our network. However, additional charges will be incurred according to the expenses of employing an adventurer. Approval for deferment is subjected to the team's willingness." The staff explained the details. "If the team declines your application for deferment, you may apply to hire an adventurer team. However, the cost of the new team would be double the fee," she continued.

"I understand and accept the terms," Lin Huang nodded his head and scanned his Emperor's Heart Ring on the lower right corner of the disclaimer, which was an empty space. Soon, his personal identity information was printed on it.

"Please check the contract. If there's no other problem, please scan to confirm your payment by scanning the payment streaks at the end of the contract," the staff continued. A new page popped up.

It was a simple employment contract. Lin Huang briefly looked through the contract and flipped to the last page of the contract. Using his Emperor's Heart Ring, he scanned the payment streaks. It was somehow similar to the payment barcode that existed on Earth. However, the payment streaks looked nicer in color with a picture.

In just a short while, a notification message to confirm transaction was completed and received. Also, the staff showed that payment was accepted.

"Employer-employee relationship is established. The adventurer team will contact you soon. Please remember to record the venue and time to meet up," the female staff reminded him.

"Yes, I know. Thank you," Lin Huang nodded his head and walked towards the exit of the station.

Leaving the Adventurer Paradise, Lin Huang looked for a hotel. Since the adventurer team would depart four days later, he would have some extra time to practice his sword technique with the hope of collecting a complete set of skill pieces before his departure.

Lin Huang checked the information of the hotel on the network. Suddenly, a notification message popped up. The content was short and simple, "Depart three days later. Gather at the south door of the foothold at nine o'clock in the morning."

Looking at the message, Lin Huang grinned. "The message was clear and concise. He seems to be a guy who did not talk much. That's great. I can enjoy the silence on the trip," he thought.

_ _ _ _ _End_ _ _ _ _

Chapter 66. Mission Card Has Been Activated

_ _ _ _ _Start_ _ _ _ _

Lin Huang checked in into a nice hotel in Carefree City and he had specifically asked for a suite with a bigger living room. It was for sword training.

He had four days before he exploring the Wangyou Forest and so Lin Huang wanted to accumulate skill card pieces. It would be perfect if he got a complete skill card before he left for Wangyou Forest. However, things did not go the way he imagined them to.

Lin Huang checked into the hotel around two o'clock in the afternoon. Apart from the 20 minutes he spent having dinner, he practiced until 12 midnight. He had lost the momentum he had before. Even after 10 hours of practice, he did not obtain even one card piece.

For the next three days, apart from eating and sleeping, Lin Huang had spent all his time on practice. He started at eight in the morning and practiced all the way to 12 midnight. In total, he practiced more than 15 hours every day.

However, what he obtained within the three days were not up to his expectations.

He only got hold of the rhythm of the sword twice and obtained two skill card pieces in three days.

On the third night, he laid on his bed, exhausted. He was upset, "It's not easy to mimic the rhythm after watching the demonstration once. If Li Yanxing was to show me more of his thunder sword or even a couple more times of the same technique, I would have more reference to practice and probably not seem as pathetic as I do now with the few card pieces I have."

He then went to bed, tired.

The next morning, he washed up and then had a buffet breakfast on the second floor of the hotel. He then ordered a monster car and headed straight to the south door.

A monster car was a transport similar to a carriage. In this world, it was only used for traveling within the city as the distance between one foothold to another would be too time-consuming as they were really far apart.

The monster used for the monster car would usually be a creature that lived in the snow. It was a tamed hoofed creature with white hair, it looked like a horse but it was much bigger than a horse. Its body length was usually around three meters long and it had silver sharp teeth with a tremendously strong bite. It was an omnivore that loved meat.

Lin Huang chose to ride on a monster car as it would attract too much attention if he rode on his Sand Monster or Ox Devil. Also, his monsters walked on two legs, they were not meant to be ridden on and it was uncomfortable to ride on them.

It was cheap to ride on a monster car as it would only cost him one credit point for one kilometer. It cost Lin Huang 12 credit points to ride from the hotel to the southern door of the foothold.

It was 8:50 a.m. when he arrived at the south door of the foothold. Just as he got off the monster car, he saw a familiar tall young man.

"Li Yanxing? Why is he here?" Lin Huang found it strange, he thought about it and realized that since he was a VIP, he should have used the exclusive path for VIPs. That was perhaps why he did not see Li Yanxing when they got off the spaceship.

There were three other young men with him. Lin Huang hardly left his room when he was on the spaceship. He had only seen Li Yanxing. He figured that the other three men could be royalty just like Li Yanxing was.

As Lin Huang was checking them out, Li Yanxing looked at him and waved out of a sudden. Lin Huang thought that was odd. He looked around himself and realized that there was nobody else there and in response, Lin Huang pointed at himself.

Li Yanxing nodded and gestured at him to go over.

"Don't tell me he's the one leading the team…" Lin Huang mumbled while walking towards the four of them.

"Hi, my name is Li Yanxing. You must be the Lin Huang who is following our team, am I right?" Li Yanxing smiled to Lin Huang while he walked closer to them.

"Hi there, I've seen you on the news." Lin Huang smiled and nodded, "I'm the one who is joining your team to Wangyou Forest, nice to meet you."

"Bro Lin Huang, as we have a mission in Wangyou Forest, our schedule is pretty tight. We usually never have anyone else follow our team. We made a mistake by accidentally picking someone from the application form and now you're on our team…" Li Yanxing seemed troubled.

"It's our mistake. We can give compensate you sufficiently so that you can hire an adventurer team. We do suggest that you withdraw from our team because we really do not wish to bring an outsider with us."

Though Li Yanxing sounded sincere, Lin Huang hesitated. He thought he could secretly learn Li Yanxing's sword skill during the trip. But now that Li Yanxing insisted him to withdraw from his team and was willing to compensate him, it was hard for him to reject Li Yanxing's offer.

Seeing that Lin Huang was not quite happy, Li Yanxing added, "Actually the highest wild zone in Wangyou Forest is only a grade-3 and therefore, a silver-level adventurer would be sufficient. There would be less risk if Bro Lin Huang hired a silver adventurer. If you follow us, we will have to part ways when we arrive in Wangyou Forest. If you hire a team, you could get them to bring you into the forest and they might even hunt for you."

The more Li Yanxing explained his position, the more convinced Lin Huang was. He did not choose to hire a team earlier as he did not have that kind of money. To hire an adventurer team, he would need 100,000 credit points for a day. The journey into Wangyou Forest would cost him 100,000 credit points and upon return, another 100,000 more. If there was a delay in the forest, he would be broke.

Just when he was going to reply Li Yanxing, a notification came up and a communication box popped up in front of him.

"Mission card activated due to special circumstances."

A mission card then popped up.

The blonde lady dressed in a black maid attire on top of the card started to speak.

"Congratulations, your mission card has been activated due to special circumstances!"

"Now, let me announce your mission!"

"Your mission is as follows: Follow Leng Yuexin into Wangyou Forest. After you have leveled-up to iron-level, follow Leng Yuexin back into Carefree City! Mission time limit: 15 days."

"Mission Award: One Advance Card."

"If you failed to complete the mission within given time, you will be punished: One of your monster cards will be randomly removed!"

"Mission announcement has been completed; you can read the description of the card."

After the mission announcement was done, the blonde lady became stood still again.

Lin Huang was doubtful as he did not see Leng Yuexin here at all. Why would his mission include following Leng Yuexin into Wangyou Forest if they were not there?

As Lin Huang was thinking, a lady's voice spoke from behind him.

"You must be Lin Huang who is following the team, is that right?"

Lin Huang turned around; it was a poised woman standing behind him. She had black, short hair that covered half of her neck. She seemed very cold.

"My name is Leng Yuexin, I am the team leader of the mission," she said.

"Hi, I'm Lin Huang who is following the team." After confirming her name, Lin Huang finally understood the reason why the mission card was activated.

As the mission was confirmed, Lin Huang was not thinking of withdrawing himself from the team anymore.

Seeing Lin Huang talking to Leng Yuexin, Li Yanxing frowned.

The other royalty young man spoke too, "Bro Lin Huang, I thought you mentioned that something came up and that you won't be following us anymore?"

Lin Huang looked at the young man and pretended not to know what he was talking about, "Did I say that? Oh, I don't remember." Lin Huang said shamelessly.

No matter what, he would not leave the team or else he would lose a monster card if he failed the mission. It would be a great loss if he were to lose Bai or Tyrant.

Leng Yuexin noticed that there was something transpiring between the both of them. She interrupted the young man who was attempting to speak again and said "Since he's here, let's go together. You can always handle your stuff when you're back, Lin Huang"

"There's nothing else I have to do apart from this mission." Lin Huang mumbled innocently.

Although his voice was soft, the rest heard him loud and clear.

"Then it must be my mistake…" The young man let out an awkward smile and did not speak again.

_ _ _ _ _End_ _ _ _ _