Appearance Can Be Deceiving

"What did you see?"

At some point, a refined-looking middle-aged man in a dark-blue robe had appeared beside Mo Tan. He tilted his head with interest and asked him that question.

"I saw an epic." Mo Tan glanced at the statue of Gary Ancen, founder of the Adventurers' Guild, then turned back and stared at the nameless adventurer statue without a face or any class or racial features. "And a mirror~"

The man smiled warmly at him. "Well said. I feel the same way every time I come here..."

"It's not a feeling." Mo Tan smiled faintly at him as well, then shook his head. "The epic and the mirror are what I saw, but if you're asking about my feelings..."

He looked up at Pioneer's Gate, which was wide enough for an adult dragon to pass through freely, and sighed. "Freedom and nonchalance. Nothing more."

The man paused, then looked thoughtfully at Mo Tan for a long while. In the end, he said nothing. He merely patted Mo Tan's shoulder before turning and leaving.

Mo Tan glanced back curiously, only to discover that the middle-aged man who had been standing in his view moments ago had vanished in the blink of an eye, as if he had never appeared.

He suddenly regretted it. If only he had answered more thoughtfully instead of blurting out what he truly felt, perhaps he could have received some hidden quest from that handsome uncle—something like going to Ten Mile Slope Mountain Shrine outside Anka Market tonight to fool around...

Then he would be rewarded with a book of Spirit Sword Control, a set of Celestial Master Talismans, and a beautiful goddess with the Nuwa Bloodline~

"What a lunatic." Mo Tan rolled his eyes and cursed himself before hurrying toward the Adventurers' Guild's Pioneer's Gate. He decided to register his identity first. After all, he could disconnect at any time, so he could not waste time spacing out.

As one of the largest Adventurers' Guild branches in the Northwest Continent, the Anka branch was filled at all times with adventurers of countless races, genders, ages, worldviews, and sexual orientations. This made Mo Tan, who had just entered the first-floor hall, feel as though he had wandered into a subway station during rush hour...

It was not quite crowded enough to lift his feet off the ground if he was careless, but the number of adventurers here was still greater than the total number of living creatures Mo Tan had seen in the game over the past two days...

A thin rogue with several daggers hanging from his waist, his entire body wrapped in black leather, and a mask without even a breathing hole leaned against the wall as if asleep. Even so, he still gave off a sharp chill.

A White Elf huntress with a longbow on her back, long pointed ears, and a slender, graceful figure was speaking softly with her companions. Mo Tan keenly noticed a nearly imperceptible silver halo occasionally spreading around her. Perhaps beneath her agile appearance, she was also a priestess with unwavering faith.

An elderly human mage strolled calmly through the crowd. The other adventurers, who looked equally powerful, subconsciously made way for him. Sparks constantly burst from the unremarkable ancient staff in his hand, and his reserves of magic power seemed unfathomable.

There was also a Half-Orc girl standing before a display window. She had gray animal ears and sharp tiger fangs. Although she remained silent, it was surely because this seemingly unremarkable girl had just completed some dangerous and difficult quest, and she could not reveal anything until a higher-ranking receptionist arrived...

And there were many more. With just one glance, it was obvious that they were all dangerous characters!

As expected of the Adventurers' Guild. Sure enough...

Having just entered the hall, Mo Tan gathered a great deal of information through observation in an extremely short time and could not help feeling awed. But before he could finish even half his thought, a resounding howl came from afar.

"Awooo!!! Who stepped on my foot!" The thin rogue who had previously "given off a sharp chill" jumped three feet into the air. He looked left and right warily, then asked in confusion, "Huh? Why did it suddenly get dark?"

A kindhearted person nearby patted his arm and reminded him, "Your mask fell down..."

"Oh, thanks!" The rogue hurriedly pulled up his mask and muttered, "It was supposed to be down in the first place. I forgot to cut a hole in it when I made it. No wonder I felt so stifled when I accidentally fell asleep just now..."

Mo Tan: "..."

Next, the elven huntress who had looked like a graceful, "devout priestess" whispered aggrievedly to her companion, "But it's pretty..."

"Pretty my ass!" The Lizardfolk summoner beside her was so angry that his scaly red face turned green. He stamped his feet and shouted at her, "Why would a ranger apprentice with nothing better to do buy Aura Glitter Powder?! It would be one thing if you could climb trees! But you're an elf who can't even climb a tree, and now you can glow intermittently. Do you have a death wish?!"

The ranger apprentice shrank her neck and said in a small, flushed voice, "All girls like sparkly things. Besides, mine was clearance stock from the Goblin Secondhand Market that was almost expired. It shouldn't glow too brightly..."

"The Goblin Market?! How could anything those bastards sell not contain gunpowder?" The Lizardfolk, furious enough to look like a chameleon, pointed at Mo Tan and shouted at the increasingly panicked young elf, "How is that not obvious? Can't you see that passerby with the look of someone who doesn't understand but is deeply impressed has been staring at you for ages?!"

Mo Tan: "..."

Then the crowd around him began to stir. He vaguely heard people shouting things like "Run!" and "Holy crap!" Mo Tan stiffly turned around and happened to see the supposedly "unfathomable" elderly mage dancing his hands as he approached, shouting, "Why are you hiding from me? This staff of mine was passed down through my family! It may be a little old, but it shouldn't explode for no reason!"

"Get away!" A Gnome priest who could not squeeze past the others waved his hands in terror and shrieked, "You're an old bastard who's about to be buried, yet you're still only a novice mage! Stay away from me!"

Several people immediately shouted in agreement.

"Yeah! Stay away from us!"

"That old bastard's antique staff, which explodes everything except itself, has already blown up four times!"

"Four times? I remember it being three..."

"You still hadn't recovered from the last one~"

"Uh, wait. I'm a little dizzy. How did I get injured back then?"

"He blew you up!"

"Damn!"

In short, aside from Mo Tan, who was too stunned to react, everyone nearby fled warily. Then...

The extraordinarily gifted old man, who was over eighty yet still only a novice mage, suddenly brightened. He trotted toward Mo Tan, grinning cheerfully as he called out, "Young man, want to form a party with me? My fireballs are absolutely devastating!"

"Wait!" Mo Tan stared at the antique staff in the old mage's hand, which kept emitting ominous sparks in midair. A chill rose from the depths of his heart, and he hurriedly waved his hands. "Don't—"

BOOM!!!

A minute later, Mo Tan got shakily to his feet. He also pulled up the old man whom he had instinctively tackled to the ground, then sighed as he looked at his remaining five percent health.

Everything had happened too suddenly. The moment a wisp of black smoke suddenly rose from the staff in the old mage's hand, Mo Tan had snatched it away without a word. Then, with the speed of a special forces soldier discovering a grenade rolling to his feet, he had thrown it into the air and dropped flat on the ground, pinning the old mage down as well. Then...

Then the explosion had taken away ninety percent of his health, and the burning effect applied afterward had consumed another five percent.

So, in ordinary circumstances, the saying that good people did not live long was not without reason...

Damn, that really hurt...

Mo Tan rose woodenly to his feet, staggered to the wall, and slumped down. Ignoring the dazed old mage and the countless looks and applause around him saying, "That young man is impressive! He's not afraid of death!", he felt utterly hopeless.

Then he heard a "Woof~" beside him.

Woof!?

Mo Tan turned around and instantly felt himself turn pale. The seemingly aloof Half-Orc girl he had noticed earlier had finally spoken. It was only one syllable, though, and it was a "woof"...

"Um..." The human girl behind the display window raised a hand to her forehead, then spread her hands at the canine-blooded Half-Orc girl before her. "How poor is your Common Tongue, exactly?"

"Woof o(╥﹏╥)o..."

"Sigh. How about this? Bark once for questions about quests, and bark one thousand four hundred and seventy-three times for complaints and similar matters."

"Woof?!"

"Oh, you mean something about quests? Are you accepting or turning one in? Bark once to accept, twice to turn one in."

"Woof (*▽*)."

"Hand me your handbook. Let me see... You can only accept the lowest-level E-rank quests." The clerk handed back the handbook, whose cover depicted a large bone. "Go look at the quest board. Once you've chosen one, copy down its number and register it with me."

"Woof..." The Half-Orc girl reached out her hand.

"All right, all right. Here's a pen. Remember to return it later."

"Woof~~(?w?)"

The Half-Orc girl took the pen and ran off.

Suppressing the urge to vomit blood, Mo Tan recovered a little strength and struggled to his feet. He walked over to the unusually spirited young clerk and greeted her through the display window. "Sorry to bother you~"

"Hm?" She played with her fingernails and asked absentmindedly, "What is it?"

Mo Tan smiled politely. "I'd like to register as an adventurer. I was wondering what I need to—"

Smack!

A sheet of paper was slapped directly in front of him. The young woman glanced at him. "Fill this out. Give it back when you're done, and I'll give you a handbook."

"That simple?" Mo Tan was startled. Even though he felt he should no longer be surprised by anything ridiculous, Mag had mentioned that registering as an adventurer was not difficult but still required a simple assessment.

Had that information gone out of date?

"Normally, we'd still test you a little. We do have some rules, after all." The girl smiled at Mo Tan, then pointed at the charred patches on him. "But I saw you survive Jadeka's old geezer's exploding staff just now. You neither died nor lost any limbs, so you should be qualified in terms of strength. Judging by that magic fluctuation, if you were a weakling, you'd already be burnt into the ground..."

So Continent of Innocence has cremation too?

Mo Tan laughed awkwardly and nodded. After borrowing a pen from her, he looked at the uncomplicated form and quickly filled in his name, gender, age, and other basic information. Finally, he wrote "Novice Warrior" under strength, completing the form.

"Mo?" The girl entered his rank on the crystal panel beside her and muttered, "That's a pretty distinctive name. It isn't an alias, is it? Was your real name something like Dumb Ox...? Well, whatever. The Adventurers' Guild will recognize only this name from now on. Here."

With that, she handed Mo Tan a thin black handbook.

"Thanks~" Mo Tan thanked her politely and accepted the handbook. Immediately afterward, he heard the system notification beside his ear.

You have unlocked the identity system

You have obtained an identity: Novice Adventurer

Novice Adventurer

Identity (not unique)

Use: Accept or register completed E-rank quests at the Adventurers' Guild

Remark: Noob

You have obtained a bound item: Adventurer's Handbook

Adventurer's Handbook

Bound, unique

Use: Prove your identity

Remark: Replacing it requires no complicated procedures, but it is very expensive... Very expensive... Very expensive...

"You're welcome." The girl smiled at him. "You're now a novice adventurer. You can only accept the lowest-level quests. They're troublesome and terrible, but at least they're safe. Once you complete enough quests, you can increase your rank and accept higher-level ones. But you should preferably improve your strength first. The annual death rate at our Anka branch is already high enough. For the sake of our bonuses, please take care of your personal safety..."

Mo Tan had been feeling a little touched, but by the end, all he had left in his heart was sarcasm. After thanking her again, he hurried toward the quest board not far from the center of the hall to see just how terrible those E-rank quests were.

"This isn't in accordance with regulations, Guildmaster." After watching Mo Tan leave, the girl quietly spoke to the air as if talking to herself. "You'll be responsible if something happens..."

Amid a hazy ripple, the refined man Mo Tan had encountered outside the branch appeared behind the girl and shrugged. "When have you ever taken responsibility when something happened? Don't worry. That young man is quite interesting..."

The guildmaster of the Anka Market Adventurers' Guild branch, Martin Sloan, known as the Star-Radiant Sage, chuckled softly. "I saw redemption in his eyes..."

Chapter 19: End