Questing

"So basically, there are superhumans right now on Earth?"

Zara shrugged, "Depends on where you set the limit. Some would say Control Realm Experts are super humans already, while others don't consider the Inner Realm to be superhuman domain."

Felix crossed his legs as he asked, "What about within the game? Does it work as well? Are Inner Realm experts that much stronger?"

"They are. They are generally strong enough to kill a Lord Rank monster of the same level. But there are differences within the Rank, and among Inner Realm experts. A strong Inner Realm can probably kill a weak Lord Rank without much effort, while a strong Lord Rank could do the same to a weak Inner Realm expert."

"That is all very enlightening. But how exactly does one reach the Inner Realm? I know I'm not even in the Control Realm, but it can't hurt to ask."

"Well, the thing about the Inner Realm, is that there isn't really any specific way to reach it. It's more like… a sudden enlightenment. No patterns were really found in reaching the Inner Realm. That's partly why so few people reached it."

Felix nodded, his thoughts moving to the magical side of things. One might think that with how close the Infusion Realm was to the Inner Realm, as the only difference between the two was the energy used, that one might be able to use the insights of one realm to reach the other.

However, Mana could be felt and manipulated even before reaching the Infusion Realm. All that was required from the players was to hone their ability to manipulate Mana to the point they become capable of infusing it into their body.

On the other hand, humans had no ability to either sense or manipulate Inner Energy before reaching the Inner Realm, so the process was quite different.

But while Felix was lost in his own thoughts, Drakon sat back down at their table and asked, "So, what's your plans for the next few days? Anything interesting?"

Scratching the side of his head, Felix groaned, "My plan was to return to Red Dawn Town to train for a while, but you won't be able to stay for long there, so honestly, I don't know yet. But we will preferably stay around the city, or within the Kingdom at the very least."

Drakon's eyebrows scrunched as he said, "Sorry if I'm ruining your plans."

Felix snorted and said, "You're not. I would have just trained while waiting for Blue Light to move anyway. I can do that anywhere, and seclusion might not be the best way to train anyway."

Turning his head to look at the rest of the room, his eyes stopped on a large board on the left side of the room, where many pieces of paper were stuck.

Getting up from his seat, Felix approached the bar, where the bartender was wiping a glass. Looking Felix up and down, stopping for a moment on his ID, she asked politely, "What can I do for you?"

[Laura, ?, Common]

Looking at her in a similar way, Felix's eyes slowed at a different part of her, but not long enough to be creepy as he said, "I'd like to know more about being an adventurer."

Whether she did not notice Felix's glance or she had grown used to such glances, Laura made no comment on Felix's actions as she smiled and teased, "People tend to come by when they reach Level 10, I haven't heard of a Level 25 knowing nothing about the Adventurer's Guild. Is that really all you wanted to ask?"

Catching onto what she implied, Felix did not feel any shame as he leaned onto the bar stand and replied, "Well, I wouldn't mind getting to know such a beautiful girl better, but I do have questions."

Still smiling, Laura put down her glass and picked up another, "Tell me then, what do you want to know?"

Felix shrugged and said, "This is my first time inside the city, so I don't know anything about it."

Laura looked a little surprised, but she nodded and said, "General introduction it is then. Well, to start off, I heard many Otherworlders ask about Adventurer Ranks. I'm not sure where they heard about that, but there is no such thing as ranks among adventurers."

"Does that mean anyone can take any mission?"

Shrugging, Laura replied, "Depends on the mission. Some employers will ask for the adventurer to be at a certain Tier and Level, but that is mostly for protection missions. Most other missions can be taken by any adventurer. Well, if they don't mind being killed. I don't think any Tier 0 is foolish enough to take a mission to kill the Ankylion the Black Dread."

Felix nodded, whatever this Ankylion was, he didn't want to have to face it. The Black Dread awfully sounded like an End game boss. However, it was interesting that if he really wanted to, he would be able to face it today. Or well, take the quest for it anyway.

"You can think of the Adventurer's Guild as a hub for Quests. Clients come, give us a Quest, and we put it up for adventurers to take."

"So anyone can become an adventurer? Are there any advantages to becoming one?"

"Well, the Adventurer's Guild is mainly a human organization, but any sentient being that won't rain fire and hell on us can join, yes. As for advantages, there are a few. You can form or join Guilds, which is the easiest organization to form under the System, but that's about it for System rewards."

"So there are advantages that do not pertain to the System?"

Putting down the now clean glass, Laura did not pick another, but instead pointed at the wall and explained, "All kinds of people offer Quests here. For example, there are a few Quests that were posted by Earl Eric. There is even one from the Queen herself. And if you go to the headquarters in the office, you might even find a Quest from the Empire itself. Accomplishing these Quests is a great way to grow and get to know them."

"So being an adventurer can help one expand their social network."

Laura looked at Felix weirdly as she replied, "I have no idea what a social network is."

Felix looked at her in surprise as he argued, "But you used the word hub before. The two are related."

Laura frowned and said, "I'm on expert in wheels or carriages, but I'm pretty sure there is no part that's known as a social network in them. That sounds like something a spider would make."

Felix paused for a moment, before faking a cough, "Sorry, it was a term from my world. What I meant to say, is that it helps making friends. To earn reputation, and become connected to important people."

Laura nodded matter-of-factly, no trace of her previous smile and demeanor left, "Yes. That's about it. If you are interested in doing any Quest, pick it up from the wall and present it to whoever is at the counter."

The bartender was clearly not in the mood to talk anymore, and while Felix was puzzled as to how he had managed to offend her, he knew their conversation was over. Since forcing the conversation to continue would only worsen his case, Felix flashed an awkward smile before walking over to the board, to take a look at the Quests hung there.

He failed to see the stares from the other adventurers present, amused at the interaction. They might not have heard the conversation, Laura's face did not leave any room for a misunderstanding.

As Felix looked over the numerous Quests seriously, Drakon appeared next to him, asking, "Anything that caught your attention?"

Felix shrugged and replied, "Many of these are way too high leveled for us, I've barely found any that catered to our levels."

Drakon nodded at that and said, "Of course. Players have already been here for several weeks, they already took most of the good Quests. The ones left are those that were either not interesting enough to be picked up, or that were too difficult and ended in failure. Like this one."

Drakon pointed at a paper, and Felix directed his gaze to it.

[Rainbow Lotus]

[Request: A Rainbow Lotus was spotted near Lake Aurus. Your task is to find it, and bring it back.]

[Deadline: None]

[Recommended Level: Unknown]

[Difficulty: Unknown]

[Deadline: 8 days]

Titling his head, Felix asked, "How are the difficulty and recommended level unknown?"

Drakon replied, "The majority of those who took the Quest never came back, and those who did were the ones that did not get close to the lake."

"What about other players? Even if they died, they should have seen what was so dangerous about that area."

Drakon shook his head, "That's the thing. They didn't. All the players that took the Quest died, and none of them even saw how. And it's not like only a few tried it. The Quest has been under heavy scrutiny because of how mysterious it looks, and it has been there since the very start of the game, apparently."

"That's definitely suspicious. You want to take it?"

Drakon grinned, "Read my mind. The players who tried the Quest did manage to narrow whatever is killing them to an instant death, so it probably isn't poison. It could be an OP monster, as the corpses of those killed always disappeared quickly. But still, no one has found the cause yet. Actually…"

Drakon pointed at another Quest, and reading it, Felix realized this was a Quest about the lake itself.

"So if we manage to find the Rainbow Lotus, we would be solving two Quests at once. But that's if we manage to do it."

"Nothing like a little challenge."

Looking at Drakon like he was a fool, Felix commented, "I would hardly call a mysterious instant death effect a 'little challenge'. What's the point if we die and don't even know how? A fight to the death would be rewarding. This, would be nothing but a pointless death. You might as well throw yourself into a giant fire, you might get a Fire Resistance skill."

Despite his words, Felix felt like Drakon's grin was turning stranger by the second as he said, "But that is if we die! It doesn't matter if everyone else died. Wouldn't those morons have died in the Mountain Pass too? We didn't."

Felix facepalmed, "That makes like zero sense. We fought players, not instant death."

Drakon's grin did not disappear though as his eyes narrowed, and he suddenly uttered, "I can see it. You're interested."

Felix remained silent for a few seconds, before he sighed, "You are being an awfully bad influence."

Drakon laughed out loudly and quickly tore four pieces of paper off the wall, and ran to Laura with childish delight.

Before Felix could even ask why he had pulled four of them off the wall, Drakon was already coming back towards him, his hands empty this time.

Looking at the giddy bigger man with a blank face, Felix asked, "How old are you?"

Drakon was shameless about his actions as he merely waved it off, "Age is but a number. I also took two other Quests I had spotted, one is about gathering the pelts of wolves that can be found between the city and the lake, and the other is to…"

His voice turned into white noise as Felix's blank face somehow turned even more stony. He had accepted to protect Drakon because he seemed like a no-nonsense kind of guy that wouldn't say much. But only now did he start considering that maybe he was only that way in front of strangers.

Or rather, Drakon was truly usually reserved, but as soon as it came about matters of life and death, he seemed to turn into a giddy child.

Felix hadn't screwed himself over, had he?