Chapter 140: Title? Designation?

Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Title? Designation?

The outskirts of Gray Rock Town at night.

The desolate cemetery was completely shrouded in the thick darkness of night.

A few crows perched on withered branches, letting out harsh caws.

A cold mist clung to the ground, slowly spreading.

Crude tombstones appeared and disappeared within the fog.

Lance was dressed all in black.

He carried a heavy tool bag, a shovel, and other grave-robbing tools.

He moved as silently as a ghost along the edge of the enclosing wall.

He skillfully avoided the gravedigger making his rounds with a lantern.

Lance lurked quietly in a dark corner.

He waited until the yawning gravedigger had gone completely inside the small wooden cabin, which glowed with yellow light, to rest.

Only then did he slowly emerge, tools in hand.

He came to a grave overgrown with weeds.

Lance silently congratulated himself.

’Luckily, my original self’s family was so poor they couldn’t afford to bury Molok in a high-class, heavily guarded cemetery.’

’Otherwise, I’d have no chance of sneaking in here so easily to dig tonight.’

Lance took a deep breath, pulled out his shovel, and began to clear the dirt from the top of the grave.

The dull thuds of flying dirt sounded jarring in the cemetery.

Fortunately, this spot was remote enough, and since he deliberately kept his movements small, he didn’t attract any attention.

Relying on that miraculous Talent that provided Unlimited Stamina.

He didn’t need to stop to catch his breath at all.

A little over an hour passed quickly.

Lance cleared away all the heavy soil covering the grave, revealing a cheap oak coffin below.

He switched to a metal crowbar and jammed it forcefully into a seam.

With a few scraping sounds, he wrenched the rusty iron nails loose.

Lance put all his strength into his arms.

He threw the thick coffin lid right off.

By the faint moonlight, Lance saw the scene inside clearly.

Then, he laughed silently.

Resting neatly on the corpse’s eyes were two Parthian Copper Coins.

’How arrogant.’

This was Lance’s only assessment of the mastermind behind the scenes.

The other party was clearly absolutely confident in their own abilities.

The mastermind was certain no one could escape his manipulation of their fate, that no one could break free from that cognitive distortion.

Certain that the cowardly boy would never discover his life was an illusion meticulously controlled by others.

It was precisely because of this condescending arrogance that the other party left behind such a ridiculous flaw.

’How could an ordinary flesh-and-blood corpse, buried in the damp ground for two whole years, not show the slightest sign of decay on its surface?’

This was clearly an Alchemy Puppet created using High-Tier technology.

’I’ve found you.’

’Morlock Lot.’

Lance stared at the face that was seventy percent similar to his own and whispered the name.

If his deduction was correct, this man who played the part of a loving father in his memories was the true mastermind controlling everything.

Even if he wasn’t the ultimate schemer, he was definitely a direct link to the truth.

Although he had no idea which corner of the continent this insidious fellow was hiding in, tonight’s exhumation had at least allowed Lance to confirm one very important thing.

That is, the other party definitely couldn’t monitor him in real-time.

If they really could track his every move at all times, they would have intervened long ago when he forcibly deviated from his fate by resurrecting; they wouldn’t have let him live to this day and get closer and closer to the truth.

Whether this so-called father intended to use him as a sacrifice for some ritual, a vessel to bear some kind of power, or to complete some shocking, grand design, Lance would not let him off easily.

’Since you enjoy hiding behind the curtain and toying with people’s lives...’

’...you’d better be prepared for the prey to bite back.’

The night finally passed.

As the first ray of morning sun fell upon Gray Rock Town, the great day for the Violet Academy and the Adventurer’s Guild’s joint operation to clear the Magic Power radiation hot spots had officially arrived.

When Lance, carrying a heavy camping pack, strode into the small plaza in front of White Oak Manor, the sight before him made him pause.

The plaza was already bustling with a clamor of voices.

Well-equipped Adventurer teams were gathered here in groups of three and five; a rough count suggested there were already over a hundred people.

The clang of weapons intermingled with the coarse laughter and chatter of mercenaries.

The last time Lance had seen such a grand, large-scale assembly was during the joint sweep organized by the Guild a while back.

He scanned the bustling crowd and quickly spotted a familiar figure.

He saw Cecilia.

The Half-Elf Maiden was currently with Yuna in Valeria’s party.

Lance walked over and took the initiative to greet the tall Female Swordsman.

"Thanks for taking care of my intern."

Valeria gave a hearty wave of her hand, saying it was nothing, and introduced Lance to the other members of her team.

Every one of those team members had sharp eyes, and you could tell from their stances that they were all skilled, veteran Adventurers.

They exchanged a few pleasantries.

Just as Lance was about to leave with Cecilia to go check in and pick up the mission point map for their two-person team, Valeria suddenly called out to him.

"Raven."

"You should be about ready to choose your Profession, right?"

the Female Swordsman reminded him.

"The Underground City’s Summer Crown is about to begin."

"It’s a grand annual celebration, very important for new Professionals. Don’t miss it."

Valeria clapped Lance on the shoulder. "With your incredible strength, I’m sure you’ll be able to earn an outstanding title."

’Huh? What does she mean?’ Several question marks popped up in Lance’s head.

’Summer Crown? A title?’

He had never heard these new terms before.

But just then, the supervising instructor in the distance started shouting Cecilia’s name.

It seemed that among all the interns, she was the only one who hadn’t picked up her mission map yet.

Lance could only swallow his myriad questions for the time being and hurry over with Cecilia to pick up the parchment marked with the radiation hot spots.

Throughout the entire process of waiting in line for the map, Cecilia barely said a word, nervously clutching the hem of her clothes and appearing extremely reserved.

This, of course, was because she was mortified.

The evening before last, she had been carried back to the manor on her senior’s back. It was only later that night, when she went back to her room with Yuna to wash up and change, that she discovered in despair that she had wet her pants!

The discovery made her break down on the spot.

She had no idea if it was because she’d really needed to pee at the time, or if it was caused by that uncontrollable Trembling that had suddenly overcome her body while on her senior’s back...

Now, just thinking back on that blush-inducing scene made Cecilia so embarrassed she wished she could just dig a hole with her toes in the manor’s stone floor and build a whole new Violet Academy in it.

’So embarrassing!’