Chapter 44: CH. 44 | News About Eastern Front

Theo turned and stretched his hand out, blue light flaring in his palm, aimed at the remains of the ten rabbit monsters in front of him.

He activated his extraction skill to gather whatever drop items he could.

[Congratulations! You have successfully killed a monster]

[Type: Red Fang Rabbit (F-Rank)]

[Count: 19]

[Reward: +190exp]

[EXP: 390/550] [+190exp]

[Skill Extraction Activated]

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

[Reward: 10x White Rabbit Fur]

He’d earned exp after taking down nineteen rabbit monsters, along with ten white rabbit fur items, collected as a bundled roll.

Looking over that panel, Theo suddenly remembered his Authority Quest. His current mission was to dodge an arrow attack three times.

Among his party, Aya was the only one who could actually help him with that. He turned to her and asked something.

"As our newest member, would you be up for a fight against me, Aya?"

"You just need to hit me once with your new skill," Theo added.

Hearing that challenge instantly left Aya nervous. She glanced quickly at Thalia and Lily, and both of them responded with smiles and nods, as if giving Aya the green light to push herself.

Thalia even told her that Theo used to train with her often, back when it was just the two of them.

She explained that sparring with Theo would help Aya a lot, especially with accuracy and precision in her attacks.

"O-Okay, but please don’t go too hard on me," Aya said quietly.

"Of course," Theo answered, "I won’t attack you."

The two of them stood at a good distance from each other, with Thalia and Lily keeping watch behind Aya to make sure she’d be all right.

Once both of them were ready, Theo asked Aya to fire an arrow attack straight at him. Aya nocked an arrow to her bow and unleashed her new skill for the second time.

Theo watched it unfold clearly. His eyes caught five phantom arrows converging on him, though only one was the real one.

Theo’s real purpose for training with her wasn’t to test Aya’s ability. Her skill was already more than solid enough for the party, his actual goal was completing the Authority Quest.

As the arrows closed in on him, Theo immediately activated his skill.

[Foresight Skill Activated]

[Future Observation Duration: 00:00:00:10]

His eyes watched the world around him shift into gray once again. Not only that, but he also saw the five real arrows freeze in place, while their future shadow images kept advancing straight toward him.

He’d definitely activated the foresight skill, but there was no sign of the Eternity Ring’s buff kicking in. He still didn’t understand how to trigger it, but he was relieved to confirm the buff activation could happen manually.

After studying the attack carefully, Theo deactivated his skill again. He immediately dodged, leaping backward, letting all five arrows drive into the ground.

"That’s some real precision, should be more than enough to take down a monster," Theo said, "You must have bought a low tier class skill, right?"

"A-Actually I bought a mid tier skill, with room to upgrade it further," Aya replied.

Theo smiled, sheathing his sword and pulling Aya’s real arrow out of the ground as he walked toward her, "That’s great. You’ve got a lot of room to grow that attack even further down the line."

Having successfully predicted the arrow attack, Theo watched the Authority Quest panel appear in front of him. His EXP and Authority EXP both increased.

[4th Authority Quest:]

[Objective: Use the Foresight Skill to predict an arrow attack (5/3)]

[Reward: 50exp || 100 authexp]

[Status: Completed!]

[EXP: 440/550exp] [+50exp]

[Auth EXP: 400/500 authexp] [+100authexp]

He handed the arrow back to Aya, who tucked it away into the quiver on her back. Twilight was nearly over, the orange glow fading from the horizon, replaced by the darkness of night.

Theo suggested they head back to the city to rest, and Thalia and the others agreed.

As they walked back toward the city, Avara flew out from the nearby forest and landed on Theo’s shoulder. Thalia was startled seeing the black crow reappear.

"I thought you’d let her go earlier, since I hadn’t seen her around," Thalia said.

"She went into the forest to find food. Looks like she can find me easily enough," Theo explained.

"By the way, where are you all staying tonight?" Theo asked.

Lily raised her hand and told Theo her house was empty. She invited Thalia and Aya to stay there for the night. Theo smiled at the offer.

Before, he’d worried about Lily going back to her own house. But now that the threat against her had clearly started to fade, letting Thalia and Aya stay there seemed like the right call.

Beyond saving on rent, their presence there could also indirectly help protect Lily from her old party.

They split up before reaching the city square, Theo heading toward his apartment while Lily, Thalia, and Aya headed off in another direction.

That day, he’d earned quite a bit of money, exp, and items. He’d picked up ten rabbit fur items from the solo hunt earlier. Before heading home, Theo decided to stop by the city guild and sell them off for some extra copper.

He turned at the intersection near the city center, walking alongside other adventurers toward the guild. The door opened, and he could see a line already forming in front of the reception desk.

There was no sign of Sara behind the counter. Theo remembered then that her shift ended at midday. Now, another staff member was handling things.

Theo’s turn finally came up. He smiled, greeting the guild staff while showing her the item he’d collected. The woman immediately knew what to do.

"According to this morning’s market listing, this item’s valued at twenty three copper each."

A bit less than the bubble acid slime, but fighting the rabbit monsters was tougher than the Watery Slimes.

"That works."

In total, he earned 207 copper, and Theo asked for it to be converted to two silver and seven copper. The guild staff had no issue with that.

Once his business was settled, Theo glanced briefly to the side and spotted an empty table in the tavern area.

Fighting off those rabbit monsters had drained a lot of his energy, so there was no harm in relaxing and grabbing a meal before heading home, he figured he’d count it as dinner.

He walked over to the empty table and ordered food and drinks. The tavern staff understood and got everything ready right away.

KNOCK!

Theo’s attention snapped forward as a woman knocked on his table. He was sitting alone, so it wasn’t unusual for another adventurer to ask to share the same table.

"I’d like to sit here. Mind if I do?"

"Sure," Theo said.

The woman had long black hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a long black cloak, and beneath it he could make out light armor gear that left her midriff and part of her body exposed.

Her look... she seems like some kind of assassin.

"Hey, did you hear the Dark Legion’s gaining ground on the eastern front?"

"That’s terrifying. If the Kingdom of Astana can’t hold them back, it could end up affecting Aluric City too."

"I also heard there’s a Dark Knight fighting alongside them out there. This is going to be a brutal fight for the kingdom."

Theo froze, catching that conversation from a nearby table of adventurers. If what they were saying was true, then Michelle and Yasa, currently stationed on the eastern front, were in serious trouble.

But given Theo’s current abilities, there was no way he could go out there himself. Doing so would only get him killed almost instantly.

While he waited for his food alongside the mysterious woman across from him, Theo turned his attention as a male adventurer in gleaming white steel armor stood up in front of the tavern area.

"I’ve heard from a friend that the Dark Legion’s gaining ground on the eastern front of our kingdom. I, Xavier, leader of the Sword Sky Party, invite all of you to form a combined party," the man named Xavier declared.

"We need to work together to help push the Dark Legion out of our homeland!"

"If we can gather ten parties to join us, we can submit an independent quest, and the guild will reward us for it!"

"Who’s with me?!" Xavier said firmly, spreading his arms wide.

Theo watched the man’s confidence, his optimism clearly igniting a spark of enthusiasm in the other adventurer parties around him.

One by one, they stood up, offering themselves and their parties to join Xavier’s cause.

"A bunch of clueless idiots," the assassin woman across from Theo muttered, her voice sharp and dismissive.

Theo caught her comment, and so did Xavier apparently. The man’s face twisted with fury and irritation. Without hesitation, he drew his gleaming sword and pointed its blade straight at her.

"What did you just call us?!" Xavier demanded, furious.

"If even the Integrity Knights can’t hold back the Dark Legion, what exactly do you think you’re going to do?" the woman asked.

"I don’t appreciate that pessimistic attitude of yours," the man snapped, "That kind of mindset is exactly why our kingdom keeps losing to the Dark Legion!"

"I don’t care what happens to the Kingdom of Astana!"

"They destroyed my village. They killed my parents!"

"If the Dark Legion ever attacks this place, I’ll personally roll out the red carpet for them to burn it all down!" the woman said.

"YOU DAMN TRAITOR!"