Chapter 19: CH. 19 | Guild Mission Successful

Once he’d calmed down enough, Theo got up, wiping the last traces of vomit from his mouth. He turned toward the forest and stepped inside, intent on finding Thalia.

He walked into Sarka Forest and called out loudly, shouting Thalia’s name over and over.

Before long, he heard a voice answer back from another direction, and Theo could tell right away it belonged to her.

"I’m over here!" Thalia shouted.

Theo heard it and immediately ran toward the sound. The closer he got, the clearer her voice became. After weaving through a few more trees, he finally found her.

Thalia was crouched down, pulling up some grass and plants. She turned and held up what she’d gathered, a green plant with a refreshing scent, unlikely to be anything poisonous.

"Are you okay?" Thalia asked, standing up right in front of Theo.

Her attention snapped to the bloodstains on his hands and clothes, sending her into a panic.

She stepped closer and started checking over every part of his body without missing an inch.

Theo stopped her for a moment, "I’m fine... just tired."

"So, what happened to them?" Thalia asked.

"I... managed to kill one of their party members, and I left Arvin with a serious injury too," Theo answered, "Listen. It’s not a problem. We need to focus on finding those herbs."

Thalia went quiet for a moment, unsure how to respond since what Theo had just said sounded so unreal to her.

Theo noticed her confused expression and tried to reassure her that everything was fine. Thalia nodded, choosing to trust what Theo told her.

She pulled out the herbs she’d managed to gather so far, seven types in total, though a few of them shared the same color and shape.

Even so, there was no written rule in the guild mission requiring Theo to collect ten distinct herb types. So even with some overlap, they were still allowed to count them.

Only three more herb types remained, and they still had plenty of time. Theo decided to help Thalia finish gathering them.

In under ten minutes, the two of them had gathered everything they needed. Thalia handed it all over to Theo, and he immediately stored it in his inventory bag.

It wasn’t even evening yet, the sun still shone brightly overhead, a simple sign that it was still midday. If they headed back now, they’d easily claim their reward in no time.

However, near the location of Sarka Forest, there was a level 1 danger zone they could use to grab some extra EXP before turning in the mission.

Theo suggested it to Thalia, and she turned to look in the direction he was pointing, agreeing to the idea. The two of them set off, heading north, about a ten minute walk away.

Since the location was close by, Theo could clearly make out the level 1 danger zone. To the west, he’d fought water slimes in a danger zone just like this.

Now to the north, he saw the monsters occupying this forest danger zone were medium sized black ants that glowed with red eyes.

They arrived at the spot, and a faint rustling sound came from the bushes, accompanied by a red glow flickering behind the leaves.

Theo drew his sword and braced himself for a fight.

Even so, he needed to stay careful. Even though these were monsters occupying a level 1 danger zone, they seemed to have more capability than the water slimes had.

One of the black ants charged forward, lunging at Theo. The young man gripped his sword tight and swung it sideways, cleaving the dog sized ant clean in half.

[Congratulations! You have successfully killed a monster]

[Type: Black Ant (F-Rank)]

[Reward: +10exp]

[EXP: 210/300] [+10exp]

Theo looked down at the ant’s carcass, leaking black blood with a sharp, pungent smell. He reached his hand out, glowing blue as he activated another skill.

[Skill Extraction Activated]

[You performed a Deep Extraction and successfully obtained an item]

[Reward: 1x Black Ant Antenna]

Right in Theo’s hand appeared a black ant antenna, looking a lot like a small tree branch. Where he’d gotten a slime acid bubble before, this time he’d gotten an antenna instead.

Still, he had no clear idea what the antenna was actually good for. Could it be used as a weapon? Did it have some other purpose? How was he even supposed to find out?

"Did you get something?" Thalia asked. Theo nodded.

He turned and showed her the black ant antenna. Her expression shifted noticeably, eyes narrowing as she held her chin in thought.

"I’m not sure... there’s a huge list of loot items for every monster out there, but I definitely haven’t read or memorized all of them," Thalia answered.

"There’s something like that?"

"Yeah," Thalia answered, "You could ask Sara about it. She should be able to help you identify the item."

Worth a shot, I still have the slime acid bubble too, along with this black ant antenna. If I can figure out what these items actually do, it could end up being a huge help.

Theo decided to store the item in his inventory bag, then turned his focus back forward. Thalia had already gotten herself ready with her spell, a single go-to attack type.

The young man charged forward, gripping his sword tightly. He chose not to bother with his foresight skill this time, since fighting F-Rank monsters like these black ants was easy enough, their attacks simple to read.

That afternoon, for a full two hours, Theo and Thalia made the most of their time hunting black ants. Even so, Thalia’s limited mana meant she couldn’t keep attacking indefinitely.

In total, Thalia managed to kill twelve monsters, while Theo pulled ahead with around seventeen. The amount of exp Theo earned pushed him up a level.

[Congratulations! You have successfully killed a monster]

[Type: Black Ant (F-Rank)]

[Count: 17]

[Reward: +170exp]

[EXP: 80/400] [+170exp]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up]

[Name: Theo]

[Class: -]

[Level: 3] [↑1]

[EXP: 80/400]

[Attribute Points: 10] [+10]

It wasn’t just Theo either, Thalia beamed with excitement, having leveled up to level 4 herself. Theo was happy about it, but the two of them needed to hurry back to the guild to turn in the herbs.

Thalia had no objections, especially since she mentioned her mana was already completely drained. She wouldn’t be able to take down any more ants in that forest.

The two of them left the area and made their way back into the city, arriving right in front of the city guild. But Theo noticed something felt off.

As he approached the guild entrance, he caught adventurers looking at him with strange expressions, more than a few of them whispering quietly among themselves.

Could it be... word about Lucas’s death from Arvin’s party has already gotten around to them?

Theo tried to keep his cool, walking through the guild door and stepping inside. The situation stayed the same, and they were already talking about it openly throughout the building.

Thalia noticed it too and walked closer to Theo. "Is it because you killed an adventurer that they’re acting like this?"

"I don’t know... just act normal, Thalia."

"I will."