The Strongest Talent Tree

Chapter 77: Chapter 75: The First Batch of Business

Judging by the sheer number and variety of jobs, the Five States Branch Hall was clearly much busier than the Jinzhou Branch Hall. After all, besides the Imperial City Wolf Capital, Five States City was undeniably the largest city in Beilang Country.

Five States City didn’t belong to any single state; it was located at the intersection of five states, which is how it got its name—Five States City.

Additionally, the presence of the Five Provinces Advanced Academy meant that a large number of young elites gathered here, making it the most vibrant city in the Wolf Country.

’Delivering letters, tutoring, stealing things... there’s even a damn quest to look after a two-year-old.’ After a quick scan, Feng Hao’s mood soured. ’As expected, beginner thieves have no rights. I have to find a way to get promoted to an Intermediate Thief.’

Time slowly ticked by. The fellow thieves around him, accepting quests, had been replaced batch after batch, yet Feng Hao just kept staring at the large quest screen until his eyes grew dry and started to water.

’Damn it, having too many quests isn’t a good thing either. Finding one is like looking for a needle in a haystack.’

Feng Hao rubbed his eyes, feeling a knot of frustration tightening in his chest that he couldn’t release.

Perhaps because he had been standing there for so long, he had attracted the attention of several veteran thieves. One of them, a middle-aged man in a gray robe, walked over and asked teasingly, "Hey, little thief, first time taking a job?"

"Yeah," Feng Hao replied, turning his head instinctively. He couldn’t help but complain, "The beginner quests are all over the place. I can’t find a suitable one at all."

"Haha... Just as I thought." The gray-robed veteran laughed, his eyes filled with nostalgia. "Come to think of it, I was just like you the first time I took a job. Stared at that big screen for half a day and still couldn’t find a single suitable one in the end."

"Uh, are you saying there’s a better way?" Feng Hao asked, surprised and skeptical.

"Of course there is." The gray-robed veteran grinned and pointed to the side. "See those rows of machines? That’s the real job terminal. The big screen just scrolls through a random selection of quests for thieves who aren’t picky."

Feng Hao instinctively turned his head to look and saw hundreds of special machines lined up on the other side of the large screen.

"Thanks for the tip, old-timer," Feng Hao said gratefully, then hurried over to the special machines.

The gray-robed veteran just smiled without saying anything more and continued to wander around the Branch Hall...

Over on Feng Hao’s side, the moment he started using one of the special machines, he realized just how much of an idiot he’d been.

All he had to do was place the palm with the embedded Thief’s Mark on the recognition device, and he could operate it with his Divine Sense. Unlike the large quest screen, the machine sorted and categorized all the quests in detail. By simply setting a few filters, he could find the exact jobs he wanted.

’Shit, I stood there for half the day and somehow didn’t even notice the constant stream of people over here.’ Feng Hao cursed inwardly and started searching on the machine.

After just a few minutes, he quickly found several quests that suited him:

[Low-Level Purchase Request: Seeking 10 bottles of Tier Five Blood Generation Pills for supplies. Valid until the end of this month. Reward: 5 points/bottle for mid-grade, 6 points/bottle for high-grade.]

[Low-Level Collection Quest: Urgently need one Snake-type Magical Beast Poison Sac, at least Tier One. Reward: 30 points.]

[Low-Level Crafting Quest: Concoct two bottles of Body Refining Nutrient Liquid. Materials must be provided by the crafter. Reward: 50 points.]

All three quests were perfect for Feng Hao. The two alchemy-related ones were a given, and as for the quest to collect a Snake-type Magical Beast Poison Sac, he happened to have one on him. If he remembered correctly, he’d gotten it during his trial assessment.

’The three quests will reward a total of 140 points. I’ll spend 100 points to get promoted to a Second-level Thief first.’

The ranking system in the Thief God Hall was simple, ranging from one to nine. Levels one, two, and three had beginner-level privileges; four, five, and six had intermediate-level privileges; and seven, eight, and nine had advanced-level privileges.

Each promotion in the beginner stage cost 100 points, each in the intermediate stage cost 1,000 points, and each in the advanced stage cost 10,000 points.

In other words, Feng Hao needed 200 points to get from level one to level three. To unlock intermediate-level job privileges, he would then need to spend another 1,000 points to reach level four.

1,200 points seemed like a lot, but it wasn’t a big deal for Feng Hao. After all, with his Alchemy Techniques, scraping together 1,200 points in a short amount of time would be quite easy.

He used his Divine Sense to accept the quests, and a stream of information flooded into his Thief’s Mark, detailing the clients’ addresses and specific requirements.

Feng Hao briefly checked the quest deadlines. They were all generous and wouldn’t interfere with his academy entrance exam tomorrow.

’Xiyue Frost and her aunt have probably returned to the hotel by now.’

Checking the time, Feng Hao decided to head back to the hotel first. He had no choice; Chief Black Cat was already starting to complain.

When he rushed back to the hotel, Feng Hao was stunned to find that West Moon Ridge and her niece still hadn’t returned. ’What the hell? Does it really take this long to check out an exam venue? Or did they come back, see I was gone, and head out again?’

"Hey, Chief Black Cat, do you know where your master went?" Feng Hao asked, tugging on the cat’s ear.

"MEOW!" Chief Black Cat let out a strange cry and shot him a look as if he were an idiot, then plopped down to the side and started dozing off.

Feng Hao pouted and grumbled, "What good are you besides eating? You can’t even find your own master!"

Chief Black Cat flicked its tail, its expression clearly saying, ’Go away, don’t bother me.’

"Hey, you’re getting cocky, aren’t you? I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson today," Feng Hao said, getting riled up.

Hearing this, Chief Black Cat immediately stood up, its fur bristling as it returned to its normal size. It stared at him with contempt in its vertical pupils, then provocatively beckoned with its paw.

"Uh... I was just kidding. Why’d you take it so seriously?" Feng Hao was instantly mortified. He had subconsciously been treating Chief Black Cat like a normal housecat and had only just remembered that the creature was a Tier Six Magical Beast.

Chief Black Cat, now towering over Feng Hao, looked down at him and swatted at his head with its paw.

Feng Hao was left completely dazed by the swat. It took him a long moment to recover. Being teased like this by a cat was about as infuriating as it gets. "Shit, you dare to mess with me!"

"Meow~!" Chief Black Cat beckoned with its paw again, its eyes full of provocation.

"Damn! So what if you’re a Tier Six Magical Beast? If you’ve got the guts, don’t fight back," Feng Hao ground out through clenched teeth.

At his words, Chief Black Cat shot him a disdainful look, then lay back down on the floor and started to doze off again, looking utterly bored.

Furious, Feng Hao wasn’t about to give up. He whipped out his Dark Moon Dagger and charged forward with a great shout, "Wake the fuck up!"

Spin, leap, slash.

Kick, dodge, Secret Technique.

Feng Hao yelled and shouted as he threw everything he had at it, unsparingly unleashing [Dark Moon Assault] and [Moon Wheel Dance] on Chief Black Cat. Unfortunately, every time the cat’s Qi Blood dropped, it would just rise again. It was completely useless.

Chief Black Cat ignored him, content to lie there and snore, letting Feng Hao go crazy on his own.

"You bastard, what are you doing?!"

Feng Hao was just getting into the groove of his ’practice’ when he was interrupted by an angry shout from the doorway. He turned in surprise to see Xiyue Frost glaring at him, her face ashen. Her delicate frame was trembling with rage, but it seemed West Moon Ridge had not returned with her.

Feng Hao gave an awkward laugh and tried to play it off. "Oh, uh... I was just giving Chief Black Cat a massage."