"You an I could join Gilderhaven as a mber?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
The woman let out a small, amused chuckle. "Yes and no."
Arthur waited, intrigued.
"Yes," she continued, her voice smooth and professional, "you will be registered under the Gilderhaven Guild, but you won't be a full-fledged mber. Think of it as a contracted partnership."
Arthur's fingers tapped lightly against the counter. "aning?"
"You will not be bound by guild rules, nor will you receive any benefits or compensation that official guild mbers do," she explained. "You simply take the job, complete it, and leave after getting paid."
Arthur nodded slowly. That worked perfectly for him.
If he joined as a full mber, he'd be tied down by guild obligations—rules, duties, and worse, loyalties.
He needed absolute freedom to operate.
This way, he could reap the benefits of the guild's resources while still remaining independent.
The woman continued. "Of course, we take 10% of the reward as a guild commission."
Arthur smirked. That was expected.
A small price to pay for having access to the city's most powerful missions.
"Alright," he said. "Sign up."
The receptionist nodded, before asking him questions.
"Na?"
"Azarel," Arthur repeated once again.
"Race?"
"Human."
She wrote it down without another word. "Talents?"
"Summoner."
After noting it down, she asked the next question.
"Talent grade?"
"B-Grade"
"Level?"
"Level 15." Arthur lied through his teeth, he wasn't level 15 but he had to lie to accept higher missions, whilst also not showing too much suspicion of him. If he could, Arthur would have said 20 or higher, but he was too young and they wouldn't believe it.
"Alright. Place your hand here."
She gestured to a small, glowing emblem embedded in the counter.
Arthur pressed his palm against it. A faint pulse of energy ran through his skin as the system recognized him.
[Ding! You have been registered as a Gilderhaven Guild contractor.]
[You may now accept missions from the guild.]
[A 10% tax will be automatically deducted from your mission rewards.]
"Congratulations," she said. "You're officially registered."
Arthur stepped back, rolling his shoulders.
"Anything else I need to know?"
She tapped a finger against the desk. "Just one thing—your reputation will be built based on your mission success rate. Fail too many, and you'll be blacklisted."
Arthur nodded. Failure wasn't sothing he ever considered.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Now officially registered, Arthur slid the Blackwater Hollow mission slip across the counter.
"I'll be taking this."
The woman gave it a quick glance before stamping it with a deep red seal.
"Level and Talent grade Approved. You are suitable for the mission."
...
Arthur stepped out of Gilderhaven Guild, and soon enough a quest appeared in front of him alongside a faint chi echoed in his ears.
[Ding! You have Accepted the D-Level quest : Retrieve fifty fangs of Poisonous Painted Serpents from Blackwater Hollow. Quest duration: Seven days. Reward: 10 Gold Coins & Rare Poison Vial. Failure: You will lose -100 reputation points]
Arthur's eyes flickered over the notification.
The system had officially recognized the mission as a quest.
Good. That ant the guild wouldn't be able to scam him or alter the agreent. The rules were set, and he could focus purely on the hunt.
With a small nod, he closed the interface.
The streets of Caldera bustled around him, the air thick with chatter, clanking tal, and the scent of roasted at from nearby vendors.
But Arthur wasn't here to waste ti.
Blackwater Hollow awaited.
Arthur made his way through the city streets, weaving past rchants, adventurers, and common folk. The towering stone walls of Caldera's gates ca into view, their sheer height a reminder of the city's fortified strength.
Two armoured guards flanked the entrance, their piercing eyes scanning every traveller.
As Arthur approached, they didn't stop him.
With his Thousand Faces Mask still active in the Azarel persona. He did not use his real identity to sign up with the guild.
Slipping through the gates, he stepped into the vast wilderness beyond.
Slipping through the towering gates of Caldera, Arthur stepped into the vast wilderness beyond.
The mont his boots hit the hard-packed earth, a stark shift in the environnt beca apparent.
The first kiloter surrounding the city was eerily barren—a wasteland of scorched, flattened land stretching as far as the eye could see. The earth was cracked and dry, devoid of any grass, trees, or even shrubs.
Arthur narrowed his eyes, scanning the emptiness.
The barren stretch of land surrounding Caldera wasn't natural. It was either carved by strategy or scarred by war.
If it was intentional, then it was a fortress in itself—a wide, open expanse where nothing could hide. No trees, no hills, no cover. Enemies would be exposed long before they reached the gates, their approach nothing more than a slow, inevitable death
But if this emptiness was the result of battle… then the land had been burned clean. Not just once, but over and over again. Siege after siege, until the very soil gave up, refusing to grow anything in defiance of the blood spilt upon it. A graveyard without bodies. A wound that never healed.
Arthur's boots crunched against dry, cracked earth as he walked.
"Strategy or ruin?" He thought, before he exhaled through his ose
Either way, it didn't matter.
His focus was beyond the wasteland—toward the true wilds.
Arthur pressed forward, the ground beneath him transitioning from dry and cracked to softer earth.
The change was gradual at first—patches of stubborn grass appearing here and there, followed by the occasional lone tree standing defiantly against the sky.
Then—
A wall of green.
A dense jungle lood ahead, stretching as far as the eye could see.
But it was unlike the forests near the village.
The trees here were monstrous—towering titans, easily three to five tis larger than anything he had seen before.
Their trunks were thick, their bark gnarled and scarred by ti. So of them looked as if they had survived countless battles, their roots twisting through the earth like massive veins.
The canopy overhead was so dense that sunlight barely filtered through, casting the jungle in a perpetual green twilight. The air was humid, thick with the scent of damp earth and rich foliage.
Arthur's steps slowed.
Arthur moved forward cautiously.
With every step, he morized his surroundings, noting key details.
The roots of the trees were massive, so jutting out of the ground like small hills, while others twisted together to form natural archways. Read exclusive chapters at My Virtual Library Empire
Thick vines hung from the branches, so as thick as his arm, swaying ever so slightly despite the still air.
Arthur continued forward, Then—A sound. A soft, slithering hiss.
'I've finally found them,' Arthur thought, as he heard the sound.
The jungle was alive with noise, but this sound was different.
Low. Slow.
It ca from beneath the roots of a massive tree, where the shadows pooled like liquid darkness.
Arthur's grip tightened on Chaos.
Then—a flicker of movent. A scaled body coiled just out of reach of the light. Arthur didn't need to see the full body to know.
Serpents.
And not just any—the very ones he had co to hunt.
Arthur exhaled slowly, his pulse steady.
He had found them.
Blackwater Hollow was here.
And the hunt was about to begin.
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