Doing Quests

Standing before the energy detector, the Guild Master said, "Reke, we shall begin now."

"Hurry up, you've wasted enough of my time."

Reke had long since suppressed his combat power to 8,000, hence his impatient urging.

"Beep-beep!"

Looking at the reading of 8,000 on the instrument, the Guild Master was not overly surprised.

Having heard the receptionist's description, he already knew Reke's energy signature was high; he had even sensed it himself after Reke entered the reception room.

Despite his appearance, the Guild Master possessed a combat power of 2,000 and had plenty of experience. Although he could not sense Ki, he had his own methods for gauging danger.

Reke gave him the same feeling as those with 8,000 energy signatures he had encountered in his youth; in fact, his body kept sending him danger signals, urging him to stay away from Reke.

Once the Guild Master handed the Level 6 Adventurer ID and communicator to Reke, he respectfully escorted him to the door.

Watching Reke's retreating figure, he felt a secret sense of relief in his heart.

"Damn it, I'm too old to be dealing with this kind of stress. I'm quitting this lousy job tomorrow and going home to look after my grandkids."

Reke had no idea he had just scared a guild master into early retirement.

He was busy fiddling with the exclusive adventurer's communicator.

Scrolling through the list of missions, he was clearly in high spirits.

Just then, a mission caught his eye.

It was posted by a research lab, and by an old acquaintance of his, Plus.

The mission required the capture of a Rock Monster, with no specific requirements for energy signature.

Seeing this, Reke understood Plus's objective; he wanted to study the weaknesses of these monsters to facilitate future countermeasures.

He casually clicked to accept the mission.

Reke was in no rush to complete it, nor was he worried about anyone else beating him to it. He returned to his residence with Pat.

Reke didn't go out for the rest of the day, spending his time browsing through missions.

Some of them were genuinely interesting to Reke.

For instance, there was one requiring a substitute teacher for a month with an energy signature of 500.

There was another looking for a fake boyfriend to help deal with her parents.

In short, they were a mixed bag, and Reke had the distinct feeling of reading through job postings.

Without realizing it, Reke spent the entire night scrolling.

"Lola, I'm heading out for a mission, don't bother preparing my food."

As soon as dawn broke, Reke flew toward the Rock Mountains.

Reke's method of capturing the Rock Monster was simple and brutal: he shattered its limbs and flew back while holding it.

The entire trip took only two hours.

"Plus, open the Space Gate, I'm here to turn in the mission."

Reke hovered above Plus's facility and shouted.

Plus ran out of the research lab, looked at Reke and the Rock Monster in the sky, and hurriedly turned off the air defense alarm.

"It's fine, you can come down," Plus shouted back.

"Do you have a place to contain this thing?" Reke asked, holding the two-hundred-meter-tall behemoth.

The corners of Plus's mouth twitched.

"Are they all this big?"

"What did you expect? I even picked a small one; the higher the combat power, the larger the size."

"The one I killed before was over a thousand meters tall."

Plus was on the verge of tears. Thinking of the ten-meter-high containment room he had prepared, then looking at the two-hundred-meter-tall monster in Reke's hands, he was at a loss.

"I don't have a place to contain it; what I prepared is too small."

Reke looked at this simpleton and felt troubled himself; he couldn't just keep holding this thing forever.

"How about I destroy it? I'll go catch another one once you've prepared a proper place."

"Wait, let me think."

Plus paced around in a panic. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he said, "I've got it! A research institute I used to work at has a containment facility. I'll contact them now, wait for me."

"Fine, hurry up. I have another mission to complete."

"It's settled, head straight over there."

"Professor, I hope you don't let these things affect the construction of the spaceship. I'll let it slide this time," Reke said meaningfully, bouncing the Rock Monster in his hands.

You guessed it—the main reason Reke accepted this mission was to warn Plus. As for the commission, while substantial, it was nowhere near as important as the spaceship to him.

He had invested a third of his time into this project; if Plus dared to be half-hearted about it, he clearly hadn't learned what it meant to face death.

Reke no longer glanced at Plus, disappearing into the horizon.

Plus also heard Reke's warning and understood his position in Reke's heart.

Undoubtedly, their relationship had shifted from cooperation to superior and subordinate, all because he had dismantled Reke's spaceship and it would take another twenty years to build a new one.

Understanding his predicament, Plus threw himself into the research lab.

Reke, having completed Plus's task, ignored the stares of the research institute personnel who looked at him like a monster and headed straight for his next mission.

This one was posted by the mother of a young boy living in the slums, and it was the lowest priced on the mission board, only 50 Mari.

The mission was to find a child of similar age to play with her son for a day.

When Reke found the boy, he was rummaging through a trash can.

Seeing the boy's earnest and desperate demeanor, Reke couldn't bear to interrupt him and waited quietly by the side. Only after the boy finished searching did Reke speak.

"Hello, is your name Lan Xin?"

The boy looked up at the sound of his voice, saw Reke, and his small face was full of confusion. He didn't know how this well-dressed boy knew his name or why he was being called.

"It's me. Who are you? What do you want with me?"

The boy wore patched clothes, but they weren't dirty. One could tell that whoever washed them had done so very cleanly. What impressed Reke even more were the boy's eyes.

His sky-blue eyes were clear and full of hope for life.

"Your mother commissioned me to find you and asked me to play with you for a day in her stead," Reke said softly.

"No, you go by yourself. I still need to collect trash. Mom is waiting for money to buy medicine." The boy's eyes showed a longing to play, but he still refused Reke.

Reke was taken aback. He was stumped and didn't know how to handle this situation.

"Then when do you have time? Find a day when you're free, and I'll come find you then."

"Really, you don't need to. I need to collect trash for money every day." Lan Xin refused again.

"Then I'll accompany you." Reke wouldn't know how to collect trash with him, but he could manage to simply stay by his side.

"As you wish!"

Reke didn't see the big smile that spread across Lan Xin's face.

Reke watched Lan Xin from morning till night, as he searched for trash, collected trash, sorted trash, and finally sold trash.

He followed him all the way to the entrance of Lan Xin's home.