Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

She secretly glanced at Lance, who was walking ahead, from the corner of her eye.

Seeing that her senior looked completely normal throughout the journey today and showed no unusual reactions at all, it seemed he probably had not noticed her strange behavior from last time.

This discovery finally allowed Cecilia’s heart, which had been hanging anxiously in midair the whole time, to settle back down slightly.

“Cecilia, let’s take a look at the coordinates on this map together.”

Just at that moment, Lance had already received the parchment map from the mentor and turned around to call out to her.

“Mmm… mm-hmm.”

Cecilia responded vaguely twice before hurriedly trotting over with quick little steps.

Lance unfolded the map issued by the guild.

When he saw the red mark indicated on it clearly, a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.

Coincidentally enough—The area assigned to their group for clearing the radiation point was actually extremely close to the place where he had gone alone yesterday to grind the Gnoll Codex.

Lance pointed at the map with his finger and began giving Cecilia a highly professional explanation of the general location of the area.

He described in detail the damp terrain over there, as well as the various low-rank monsters that might be lurking nearby.

“Based on this environmental information, try to mentally prepare in advance which spells you should use for battlefield control if unexpected situations arise later.”

Lance patiently gave tactical guidance.

But as he continued speaking, his voice gradually grew quieter, until he eventually stopped altogether.

Cecilia raised her head in confusion and looked at Lance.

She discovered that her senior was currently frowning tightly, staring fixedly at the map in his hands with an expression that had become somewhat frightening.

“What’s wrong, Senior?”

the girl asked softly with concern.

“Wait a moment.”

Lance took a deep breath.

He did not explain further. Instead, he directly reached into his clothes and pulled out another worn parchment scroll.

It was the witch treasure map he had obtained from Toby yesterday in the forest.

He placed the two maps side by side.

Although the drawing styles of the two maps were completely different—one was a standardized guild map while the other was a crudely hand-drawn sketch—

Lance continuously adjusted the orientation of the rough map by comparing the surrounding river flows and mountain outlines.

In the end, he arrived at a conclusion that sent chills down his spine.

The destinations of these two missions completely overlapped!

The alarm bells in Lance’s heart instantly rang wildly.

When one coincidence occurred, perhaps it was merely luck.

But when several coincidences fit together flawlessly, then it was absolutely no longer a simple coincidence.

This was definitely the result of fate’s trajectory being guided by some invisible force.

However, after the brief acceleration of his heartbeat, Lance quickly calmed down and rationally analyzed the situation before him.

The other party had spent more than ten long years painstakingly weaving those false life memories of the original owner.

Such an enormous investment was like planting a precious fruit tree.

The mastermind would certainly wait until the fruit was fully ripe before appearing to perform the final harvest.

And before the fruit matured, what the manipulator needed to do was continuously water and fertilize it, providing all kinds of opportunities and resources so the tree could grow sturdy enough.

The overlapping destination on these two maps was most likely the “nutrient” that mysterious man had scattered in advance.

And since it was nourishment, there was no reason not to consume it.

He could use these events to pry into the true purpose of the mastermind behind the scenes.

As long as he could uncover the other party’s intentions ahead of time and lie low while accumulating strength, he would be able to deliver a fatal blow at the critical moment!

Thinking this far, Lance instantly concealed the surging vigilance in his eyes and raised his head to give the worried girl a gentle smile.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s just that this destination is a bit special, so we must make sufficient preparations before going there.”

After a brief mobilization speech—

All the assembled interns and escorting Adventurer Parties officially set out.

The massive procession moved like a long dragon as it followed the main road toward the vast Copper Creek Forest.

However, before the enormous forest—

Once this team of over a hundred people stepped into the woodland, they quickly became like a drop of ink dissolving into the deep sea, instantly diluted by the complex terrain.

Everyone dispersed according to their respective map coordinates.

The moment Lance stepped into the forest, a clear system notification popped up on the translucent panel before his eyes.

【Current Commission: Clear Mana Radiation Point】

【Reward: 200 Knowledge Experience Points, 1 Zelos Technique Distillation Fragment】

Lance looked at the reward panel.

Just the 200 Knowledge Experience Points alone already felt extremely worthwhile to him.

Because the guild staff had explicitly stated that the danger level of this mission was very low.

There were basically no terrifying monsters guarding those radiation points. The main issue was that the accompanying spellcasters would need to spend a large amount of time slowly organizing the chaotic Aether energy there.

Which also meant—

This was basically a completely free reward mission.

And what truly surprised him was the unfamiliar reward item afterward.

【Zelos Technique Distillation Fragment】

Anything named after a God had to be something good!

This made Lance feel an intense anticipation toward successfully completing this mission.

However, he did not lower his guard internally.

While consuming this wave of rich nourishment, he intended to use every detail of this mission to pry into the true hidden plans of the mastermind behind the scenes.

After entering the forest—

Lance did not choose to advance along the open route he had already cleared yesterday.

Instead, according to the distribution patterns recorded in the Monster Manual, he deliberately selected a brand-new route with rugged terrain and relatively low Environmental Stability.

Because areas like this should contain enough different kinds of monsters for him to grind progress.

……

At this moment, in a slightly open woodland clearing—

Lance stood beneath a large tree supervising the battle.

Standing before him, Cecilia was currently facing a lone remaining Giant Wolf by herself.

The Giant Wolf, whose eyes glowed green, suddenly kicked off with its hind legs and charged straight toward Cecilia with its foul-smelling fangs fully exposed.

Although Cecilia’s expression was tense, her movements showed no panic whatsoever.

She swiftly bent her knees and crouched down, her fair hands slamming heavily onto the ground covered with decaying leaves.

Mana surged wildly within her body.

The First-Ring Spell 【Repulsion Barricade】 instantly took form!

Along with a trembling vibration in the air—

A semi-transparent spiked force field flickering with blue electric arcs appeared precisely one meter in front of her at a forty-five-degree angle.

The Giant Wolf’s charging speed was far too fast, making it completely unable to stop in time.

Bang!

Its enormous body slammed directly into the sturdy defensive force field.

The flickering blue electric arcs exploded instantly, while the mana-formed spikes on the surface of the force field mercilessly pierced into the Giant Wolf’s flesh.

Accompanied by a miserable howl, the Giant Wolf’s massive body was directly blasted backward by the powerful recoil force and crashed heavily beneath a distant tree root.

Before the Giant Wolf could struggle back to its feet—

The girl had already straightened her body as fire elements instantly gathered at her fingertips.

The First-Ring Spell 【Fireball】 roared forth.

The washbasin-sized fireball dragged a brilliant flaming tail behind it as it smashed violently into the Giant Wolf’s body, instantly triggering a violent explosion.

The flames directly swallowed the monster whole, cleanly ending the brief battle.