Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 49 First Ques

It turned out all it did was display basic information such as his name and approved danger-level, as well as verified completed jobs and current Quest Points.

Shrugging, he walked back to the common hall area as he contemplated the earlier spar and his gains.

First, the sword skills he had seen definitely, definitely, definitely transcended all system and levels of power he had ever seen or ever heard of! Just one fragment of that martial combatant's memories and a single demonstration of the sublime sword strike was enough to fill him with a sense of nirvanic awe!

And right now, with less than 0.001% comprehension of that slash, just a brush of his sheathed sword across the Master-level bearman's chin was almost enough to knock him out!

He shivered with excitement as he wondered just how powerful it would be if he used his full-power for that strike! Despite his physical abilities still being somewhere in the Adept-level, he was convinced that he had already exceeded the peak of Elite-level and was approaching Master-level in pure hand-to-hand combat alone!

It was all thanks to the "lucky draw". Speaking of which, he wondered what Kizorik had gotten from spending its 20% share of the Abyss Points. Surely he hadn't blown it all on the gacha system, right...

'D-don't you dare ask! I forbid you from ever mentioning or noseying into what I spend it on! It is forbidden, forbidden, I tell you!' In his mind's eye, he could see the little penguin waddling about, wearing an oversized pirate hat with a matching stump leg boot. The bird also wore a skull-and-crossbones eyepatch, obviously part of the set.

'Oh, what effect does that artefact set have?'

The demon froze in place, then began to turn pink. Then red. Then crimson. Then explode in fury.

'I TOLD YOU NOT TO ASK!!! WHY MUST YOU RUB IT IN THAT I ONLY GET WORTHLESS COSMETICS THAT HAVE BARELY 0.1% BOOSTS TO STATS??? YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU WHO'S BOSS, HUH???? HUH????!?! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND EVEN BASIC COMMON TONGUE!?! I'M EVEN SPEAKING YOU EARTHLING'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!! @#&^&%^*@*!!!' Various colourful expletives flew out of the cute little critter's mouth, matching its already colourful state.

Zoning the foul-mouthed demon out, Lars reached the door to the ability test area and saw that it had already been unblocked from this side - perhaps the drawers he used to obstruct the door were removed by the crowds of trainees and training questers who left before him.

He sucked in a breath and prepared himself just in case the trap from earlier ambushed him, then pushed open the door.

Despite the late hour - it was already past 8 PM - the guild common area was still bustling. If anything, there were even more people hanging out at Starbolts, mostly sipping on ManLattes, something Lars felt was a major waste of coin. Each cup, even the shortest cup which absurdly was called the "Tall" size, cost 2.90 silvers! And how should one split a silver to pay 0.90 silvers? Easy, just give 3 silvers and the 0.1 silver can be a tip to cover service charge! Though he had no idea what services the baristas actually provided...

Most people came here to socialise as it was a recent trend to be seen with a cup of Starbolts in your hand, looking "cool", whatever that meant. Lars sighed like an old man, he couldn't understand what was considered as "hip" nowadays... At least it was better than the bar where brawls were common and sobriety absent!

He went over to the jobs posting board and looked over what was available. Quickly he shortlisted a couple of suitable jobs, but paid special attention to one just posted not long ago that seemed to pay very well in gold *and* in QP, and yet seemed too easy compared to other Silver-rank jobs:

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Danger-level: G-grade.

Description: Find missing baby goat.

Reward: 50 gold.

For more information, look for Astrid Estreya, XXX YYY ZZZ Address.

Urgent."

---

He looked around, wondering why no one had taken this job that looked like free money, then shrugged as he held his badge up to scan the Quest Receive Code (QR Code) and accept the job.

He heard a *Beep* and checked his badge mentally to confirm the job. He nodded; he saw it in the list of jobs.

'Oh wait...' He suddenly realised why the name of the job awarder sounded so familiar. Wasn't the Estreya family one of the big four houses of Gorun?

'Hmm... I'm still curious why no one else took it, but this could be an opportunity to get close to one of the noble houses and perhaps find out whether I can risk just revealing my full powers... Then I could just quickly earn the money in a flash!' He made some plans in his head and decided to scout out the situation quickly. If things looked promising, perhaps he could even get on with his journey home within a week or two at most!

Then he scanned over the available Silver-rank postings once more, then settled on two other simple sounding which paid well, choosing only those that did not require travel or lengthy time periods to perform.

Then he was startled by the crash of upended tables and a group of men arguing fiercely.

"Take that back or I'll slug ya to the moon and back!"

The groups were at each other's throats. Lars shrugged. Fights over money or pride were common wherever one went. So he walked on by and nodded to the huge front-desk greeter before leaving. He did manage to catch a hint of what the fight was about before leaving, though.

"Ptui! Over my dead body! And yeah! How can you say that the Freeze-cino is better than a Latte! That's, that's blasphemy! Lattes are love, lattes are life!" A skinny but plucky man raised up his fists in a boxing stance as he took a sip of his ManLatte.

Lars could only face-palm as he walked off.

Too much nonsense for one day. It was time to head back and call it a night. He had a long day ahead tomorrow, anyway.

First he needed to do some shopping for some basic equipment. He scanned over his body and coughed in embarrassment - he looked too much like a simple newbie quester right now. His current attire and gear wouldn't give any potential customers a sense of confidence...

After that, he planned to quickly check out the prices and effects of various artefacts and, if possible, find out more information on runes.

Once he was properly equipped in runes and artefacts, he would have the confidence to go in, guns blazing and make a place for himself even in the Kingdom of the Sands.

Then after that he would go drop by the Gorun Stadium to check out the upcoming selection tournament for the Duke de Caldis' family guards. It would be good for him to register today, just in case there was a closing date for submitting one's candidacy, or perhaps too big of a crowd on the day itself.

It would also be a chance to find out more about the eligibility criteria, testing methods and scout the competition. He did wonder just where he stood against other youths his age, whether his Adept-level strength but peak-Elite skills would be enough to stand victorious.

He smiled.

If he had to, he would just need to reveal the slightest bit of his magical abilities - just enough to win without drawing too much attention.

But all this could wait for tomorrow. For now, he decided to call it a night.

He needed to get his beauty sleep and take good care of his complexion.

Chapter end