Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

In any case, every one of those interns carried life-saving items on them, so there were sufficient safety measures to handle the aftermath.

The old man directly planted the flag in his hand into a deeper region on the forest map.

A mysterious young man who inherited that dangerous Breathing Technique, together with a genius mage apprentice whom his old friend valued extremely highly.

Looking at the new arrangement on the sand table, Necros could not help raising the corners of his mouth.

He was genuinely starting to look forward to it now. He wanted to see just how many astonishing things these two young people could still accomplish during the remainder of the internship period.

……

“BOOM!”

A deafening explosion tore through the quiet night of Graystone Town.

Centered around the “Blind Toad” underground casino, the four-story gray-brick building beside it instantly erupted into a dazzling blaze.

The massive shockwave shattered the glass windows across several surrounding streets.The commotion at this scale was simply too enormous. There was no way it could remain hidden from anyone.

The patrol garrison stationed in the southwestern district had definitely already been alarmed. In less than ten minutes, a large number of fully armed law enforcers would completely seal off this area.

From a fourth-floor window billowing with thick smoke, a shadowy figure was violently blasted outward by the explosion’s aftershock.

That person was Buck.

A four-story fall was absolutely fatal for an ordinary person.

Yet at the very moment he was about to hit the ground, Buck displayed astonishing bodily control.

His waist suddenly exerted force, and he forcibly twisted his posture midair.

The instant his toes touched the rough stone pavement, he immediately rolled forward to disperse the impact.

【Shadow Agility】

This was a combat specialty unique to the Thief class.

As long as one wore light armor or no armor at all, not only would their evasion checks receive massive bonuses—

but when falling from great heights or being launched away by blunt force impacts, there was also a very high probability of negating fatal collision damage through proper recovery movements.

After rolling seven or eight consecutive times, Buck crashed into a roadside trash bin in a somewhat miserable state.

Gritting his teeth, he swiftly darted into a narrow alley devoid of light nearby.

The moment he hid within the shadows, Buck immediately reached out to tear at the dark hardened leather armor on his body.

At this moment, the armor’s surface was covered in a layer of bizarre crimson mana.

The thing resembled living slime, constantly emitting sizzling corrosion sounds.

Enduring piercing agony, Buck forcefully ripped off the ruined defensive equipment and threw it onto the ground.

Under the faint firelight shining in from the alley entrance, it was clearly visible that a large portion of the clothing over his chest had already been corroded away, while his flesh had turned grayish-black with rot.

Buck’s expression became incomparably ugly as he stared at the still-burning fourth-floor window.

For today’s ambush, he had practically emptied his entire fortune and thrown out every hidden trump card he possessed.

The hallucinogenic spore poison powder he purchased at exorbitant prices, the military-grade alchemical bombs obtained from the black market, plus his own backstab attack as a professional.

Yet even such an inescapable trap still failed to kill that bastard Syndic on the spot.

The foundation of a Level 2 Professional truly was terrifying.

At the instant the alchemical bomb exploded, Syndic had apparently used some strange method, transforming into a crimson afterimage moving at astonishing speed as he forcibly charged out through the sea of flames.

Buck leaned against the brick wall and gasped violently.

Although pain twisted his features, the corners of his mouth gradually split open into a soundless laugh within the darkness.

He was laughing at Syndic, that arrogant idiot.

For the past several days, that lofty Corrupt Mage had been secretly hunting down the subordinates of his Ghoulhounds like a cat toying with mice.

Yet he had never expected that this Ghoulhound cornered into desperation would dare carry enough explosives straight into his lair.

When Buck recalled the expression of extreme shock and terror on Syndic’s face at the moment before the bombs detonated, the satisfaction in his heart felt as refreshing as chugging an enormous mug of ice-cold ale during peak summer heat.

However, that pleasure of revenge lasted only briefly.

“Hiss……”

An unbearable wave of agony erupted from deep within his body.

Buck painfully curled into himself, his forehead covered in bean-sized cold sweat.

That was the First-Ring Spell 【Blood Boiling】 released by Syndic in a desperate counterattack before escaping.

Right now, Buck felt as though molten lava rather than blood flowed through his veins.

The heat within his blood was continuously increasing, ravaging his internal organs every second and causing severe sustained damage.

He had to kill the opponent immediately.

As long as he killed him, the spell would naturally be lifted.

Besides, if he failed to eliminate the roots completely and allowed that Level 2 Mage to recover, then the one left without even a complete corpse would be Buck himself.

There was no time left.

From the distant streets, the urgent whistles of guards could already faintly be heard.

Before the patrol bureau’s net fully closed in, he had to find the heavily wounded Syndic, personally cut off that head,—

then take the funds he had hidden in advance and leave Graystone Town forever, heading to some town where nobody knew him to recruit forces anew.

After making up his mind—

Buck reached into a hidden inner compartment in his clothing and carefully pulled out an ancient brass object.

It was a bizarrely shaped compass.

The glass cover on its surface had long shattered into a spiderweb pattern.

Inside the dial, there were no engraved directional markings for east, south, west, or north whatsoever.

Only a twisted dark-red magnetic needle quietly rested in the center.

This was his ultimate life-saving trump card hidden at the very bottom of his chest—

a genuine Curious Object of Fire Theft.

【Guiding Compass】

This Curious Object possessed no direct offensive power whatsoever, but it had an extraordinarily miraculous tracking ability.

It could establish absolute directional guidance toward any target within a one-kilometer radius.

Whether the target was a person, a specific location, or a certain object, as long as it remained within that range, it would absolutely be unable to escape the magnetic needle’s lock-on.

However, to activate it, the user had to place their mouth close to the copper needle and verbally describe in truthful detail some kind of connection existing between themselves and the target.

The more detailed and private the description was, the higher the compass’s tracking accuracy became.

Once, when Buck was being hunted by an adventurer party, he had luckily escaped alive precisely by describing the characteristics of the opposing leader and using the compass’s reverse guidance.

But this was ultimately still a cursed object that defied common sense.

The moment one used it, a painful price had to be paid.

The side effect of the 【Guiding Compass】 was that for every continuous sixty seconds the needle pointed toward a target, the user’s mind would forcibly receive a mandatory to-do list.

The tasks within those lists would absolutely always remain within the user’s current capabilities.

For example, shouting one’s most embarrassing secret at the top of one’s lungs in the middle of a bustling open street.

Or forcing oneself to perform five hundred standard push-ups consecutively.

Or dry-chewing and swallowing ten hard black breads without being allowed even a single drop of water during the process.

Every single one was an absurd and troublesome task requirement like these.