Mission Reward

Sword One, Sword Two, and the other four skeletons went off to put on their equipment.

Wu Heng's gaze fell on the rigidly standing skeleton formation.

He selected five Skeleton Warriors with slightly higher experience and called them to the front.

One of them was the skeleton that had originally been transformed while holding an Iron Sword.

The Sword-Wielding Skeleton was the only one that had reached Level 2.

"Drop your weapon."

Clang, clatter!!

The Skeleton Warrior threw the weapon in its hand onto the ground.

Wu Heng picked up a spear and handed it to a skeleton. "Take it."

The Skeleton Warrior accepted the spear and gripped it in its hand.

Wu Heng stepped back two paces and pointed at the Iron Cage beside them. "Attack the Iron Cage."

The Skeleton Warrior raised its spear and made a forward thrust.

With a clang, the spearhead struck the Iron Cage.

Seeing that the skeleton could perform the movement put Wu Heng at ease.

He had been genuinely worried that, with a spear in hand, it would slash around as if it were wielding a cleaver or an Iron Sword.

Though the spears were cheap, it was still a good thing if ordinary skeletons could use them.

Wu Heng then handed spears to the remaining skeletons one by one.

He gave them the same order to try attacking.

They all made thrusting motions as well.

The results were fairly good.

At that moment, Sword One and the other skeletons, now equipped with armor and weapons, returned.

Wu Heng glanced at the darkening sky and said, "Don't go outside. Stand by upstairs."

The four skeletons nodded in unison.

Wu Heng did not linger any longer and returned to Blackstone Town with the skeleton Bartholomew.

After some simple Physical Training, he went to bed.

The next morning.

After breakfast, he headed alone to the Adventurer's Guild.

According to Captain Ortluk, he was supposed to visit the guild that morning.

He made his way to the Central District and entered the guild hall.

The moment he entered, he saw a slender figure standing before the Notice Board, looking up at the posted commissions.

"Cavina, you're here so early," Wu Heng greeted her.

Cavina turned at his voice and nodded. "The captain told me to wait for you here. He was worried you wouldn't be able to find the place."

"Oh, thanks!"

They passed through the corridor and arrived outside a room.

When they pushed the door open, they saw Captain Ortluk seated inside.

"Captain, Wu Heng is here," Cavina said.

Ortluk nodded, gesturing for the two to sit before continuing, "Wu Heng, this is the rest room the guild assigned to our team. You can come here directly from now on."

"Understood, Captain."

Ortluk continued, "At yesterday's meeting, our team's performance received praise from the steward. Wu Heng in particular received separate commendation from the Town Hall."

After affirming their performance in this mission,

Ortluk took out a file and handed it to the two of them. "Blackstone Town has already interrogated Archido. This is the record of his confession. Since we participated in the operation, we received a copy as well."

Cavina looked through it first, then handed it to him.

Wu Heng took it and read it carefully as well.

According to Archido's confession,

what had been taken from Mining Village was the corpse of an infant.

Three years ago, his wife had given birth to a stillborn child. That was nothing unusual in this world, and they would have simply buried it and been done with it.

But before the burial, a scholar passing through found him and said he had a way for the dead infant to continue living in another form, while also helping Archido's business.

At the time, he believed the man and followed his instructions, placing the dead infant in a spot within the mine. Sure enough, his mining business began to improve.

It was not until recently, when the villagers began to go mad, that he realized something was wrong. But when he tried to retrieve the corpse and bury it, he found that everyone in the village had gone insane, and his men could not get in at all.

Then Blackstone Town sent Investigation Teams one after another, so he took the risk of setting the trap from the day before yesterday.

Since he could not stop the second Investigation Team, he would have them lure away the mad villagers so his people could enter and retrieve the infant's corpse.

The facts proved that the plan had gone fairly smoothly.

The only unexpected part was Wu Heng.

He had killed several members of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group by himself.

That had caused the Entire Plan to fail at its final step.

After Wu Heng finished reading, Ortluk continued, "Blackstone Town believes that passing scholar was a Necromancer. They have already begun investigating him."

A Necromancer.

With a casual suggestion, he had killed an entire village.

No wonder this profession was so rejected.

"So the thing driving those villagers mad was the infant's corpse?" Wu Heng asked.

"According to the records, it was a wraith cultivated through Necromantic Magic—the infant's soul form we encountered back then. Once infants become soul forms, they have no concept of good or evil and are often even more dangerous," Ortluk answered.

An Infant Spirit? A soul form?

How had this somehow circled back to ghosts again?

But on second thought, even skeletons possessed Soul Fire, so the existence of ghosts in this world was hardly surprising.

At the very least, souls sounded far more plausible than skeletons standing up and walking around.

"All right, this mission is over. Because the intelligence was incorrect, the guild and Blackstone Town have increased the Mission Reward. The Silver Coins have been raised to 220, along with one Medium Item Reward."

At those words, Cavina, who had not been interested in the story at all, brightened immediately.

At least she had not risked her life for nothing. The reward had been increased.

What Wu Heng cared about, however, was the Medium Item Reward.

He could exchange it for a medium-grade Skill Book. Acid Spray did not seem all that effective; casting it felt like spitting, without a shred of elegance.

"Oh, right, Wu Heng, there's something else you need to watch out for." The captain looked at him again.

"Huh? What is it?"

"This incident affected an entire village and involved a Necromancer. Although the Town Hall acknowledges your performance this time, they will also increase their scrutiny of you."

Wu Heng frowned at once.

In other words, the consequences caused by this Necromancer had made the Town Hall view this profession as even more dangerous.

As the Necromancer in this city, he would also become a key subject of attention.

No, he had always been considered dangerous. This time, he had become a priority dangerous subject.

"I understand, Captain."

Ortluk took out two Money Pouches and handed one to each of them. "That will be all for today. Cavina, show Wu Heng around the guild so he can familiarize himself with it."

"Sure!" Cavina put the Money Pouch into her Backpack, rose to her feet, and headed outside. "I'll show you around the guild. You can ask me anything you don't understand."

After leaving the room, Cavina led him onward with her long legs, her shapely curves drawing the eye.

"That's the Training Ground. It has a huge field. The captain likes training in there—he's a complete training fanatic."

"That room over there is the Alchemy Lab, reserved specifically for alchemists."

"And over there is the meeting room..."

Along the way, Cavina introduced several special areas to him.

The Adventurer's Guild was truly wealthy.

The entire building occupied a large area, and its various facilities were quite complete.

"Do they provide meals here? Breakfast and dinner and such?"

"No!"

"Oh!"

After making a round of the place, Cavina left on her own.

Wu Heng went to the counter instead.

"I want to use my Medium Item Reward to exchange for a Skill Book."

"Certainly, sir. What class of skills do you require?"

"Mage."

"Certainly, sir. Blackstone Town currently has two mage Skill Books available."

As she spoke, she took out two Skill Books.

Grease Spell and Fog Cloud Spell.

Their covers were old and worn, as if they had been leafed through more than once.

Grease Spell

(Description: Turns a designated area into Difficult Terrain. Flammable.)

Fog Cloud Spell

(Description: Creates dense fog that fills every corner.)

Thanks to Angels' Trajectory for the 5,000-coin donation.