Chapter 470 - 460: Mission Dealer

"A mission? What mission?" Moira asked.

"It’s a combined escort and collection mission. The reward is a lot of points, but it requires a B-rank adventurer. I remember you’re B-rank, right? We’ll split the points eighty-twenty. You take eighty percent, I’ll take twenty."

Hugh Finch had already done the math. Even if he only took twenty percent of the reward from this mission, it would still be more points than he’d earn from a dozen ordinary missions.

"Just collection and escort? All right, then. But let’s forget the eighty-twenty split. Let’s make it ninety-ten. You take ninety, I’ll take ten. A token amount is fine. My adventurer rank is rising too quickly, and I don’t want to attract too much attention."

Hearing Moira’s explanation, Hugh Finch hesitated for a moment but agreed nonetheless.

He knew Moira. Once she said something like that, her mind was made up.

That being the case, he didn’t argue. Besides, he was eager to raise his adventurer rank quickly.

"By the way, this mission you mentioned... it’s not on Caelus or Veridian Prime, is it?" Moira said.

"Yeah, it’s not. It’s in a place called Pyralia. You should have a way to get there, right?"

Aside from the mission’s rank, this was another key reason Hugh had asked Moira to partner with him.

He was currently on Veridian Prime and had no way of getting to Pyralia at all.

The System Mall sold Transmission Props, but they were ridiculously expensive. Besides, teleporting required the exact coordinates for Pyralia, and he had no idea where the planet was.

However, Hugh seemed to have overlooked one small detail: He had never been to Pyralia, and neither had Moira.

But that wasn’t a problem for her. Even though she’d never been to Pyralia, she could lock onto a planet she had visited before and take an interstellar train from there.

After all, both she and Hugh were interstellar citizens with legal status.

After having Patience plot the optimal route, Moira nodded. "All right, just leave that part to me."

"Still, escort and collection missions take time. What do you plan on telling Shane Rhodes and Kai York about us being gone?"

"I’ll tell them the truth," Hugh said matter-of-factly.

It was Hugh’s business, so Moira didn’t mind his decision. "But if you tell them the truth, Shane Rhodes and Kai York will probably want to come with us."

Hugh turned to Moira, the corners of his mouth twitching upward. "They can’t go even if they want to. A B-rank adventurer can only bring one companion."

Moira: ...

"I have one last question. How long will this mission take? We still have to enter the game, after all. The previous rounds only took a few minutes each, but what if something like last time happens again..."

"If an adventurer disappears mid-mission and causes it to fail, the penalty from The Adventurer’s Guild is severe. Not only do you get fined, but they also deduct triple the mission’s points. Plus, it goes on your permanent record, making it harder to get missions in the future."

The fine and the point deduction were minor issues; the last part was the real problem.

Once you had a black mark like that on your record, you could forget about high-point missions. You wouldn’t even be hired for large-scale operations. All you could take would be simple, ordinary tasks.

And it wasn’t temporary, either. It would follow you for life. Even if you revoked your adventurer status, the mark would remain.

Hugh, however, said it wasn’t an issue. "I’ve already inquired. The mission will take twenty days at most, which is more than enough time for us. Besides, if it goes over, we have the option to leave or stay, and we’ll still get the points."

Hearing this, Moira couldn’t help but comment, "Whoever posted this mission is surprisingly reasonable. You didn’t happen to run into a mission broker, did you?"

"A mission broker? What’s that?" Hugh asked curiously.

Moira explained, "It’s part of a gray market industry within The Adventurer’s Guild. It’s an open secret."

"A mission broker is someone who accepts a large number of identical missions, bundles them into a single large mission, and then re-posts it for others to take. They make a profit on the difference."

"If you have the time to do that, why not just take the original missions yourself and avoid paying a middleman?" Hugh said.

"Some people just don’t have the patience. Everything that exists does so for a reason," Moira said sagely.

’I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with what these mission brokers do,’ she thought. ’Making money is making money. No shame in that.’

’You just have to hope you don’t run into the unscrupulous ones.’

"The mission timeline isn’t urgent, then. I plan to take the Verasi Potion before we head out. By the way, how long do the potion’s effects last?"

Moira thought for a moment. "According to the data, it’s anywhere from ten minutes to an hour. It all depends on your body’s absorption rate. If you’re in a hurry, you can take it as soon as you get back to your room."

"Shane’s and Kai’s talents are incredibly destructive, so they’ll need to find a deserted area tomorrow. You won’t have to."

Hugh nodded. "Got it. I’ll take the Verasi Potion as soon as I can. What about you?"

After all, Moira had two talents, both of which were mutated dual-Attribute abilities.

And aside from her Healing Talent, none of the other three were to be trifled with—especially her Annihilation Talent.

The question made Moira remember, too. ’That was close. I almost made a huge mistake.’

’I was so focused on my spiritual power and space abilities that I forgot about my mutated Healing and Annihilation Talents.’

"I’ll go to Cloudsea Planet."

’That way, no matter how big a commotion I cause, no one will ever know.’

When Moira mentioned Cloudsea Planet, Hugh’s interest was suddenly piqued. "You’re always talking about Cloudsea Planet. Can I go see it?"

’Take Hugh to Cloudsea Planet?’

’It’s not out of the question. The Teleportation Gate makes a bit of a scene, so we could just depart directly from Cloudsea Planet.’

Seeing Moira’s silence, Hugh thought she was reluctant. "If you don’t want to, just forget it. Pretend I never said anything."

"No, I just spaced out for a second. I can take you to Cloudsea Planet. Actually, opening the Teleportation Gate causes a bit of a stir, so we can just leave from there."

Hugh’s eyes lit up. "Then let’s get moving. I’ll go find the guys right now."

Just as Hugh was about to leave, Moira suddenly called out to him.