Chapter 129: Territory Task

This, of course, was not cursing Depake, but cursing the Mage Tower's rules; raising an Apprentice's Permission Level to Official Mage requires the Lord's consent, and even with consent, one must still make up for the previously missing Territory Tasks.

And Xia Duo was still worried about one problem: whether he could really be like Aidelian, raising his Permission Level first and then making up the tasks later. He did not have Aidelian's background; if he couldn't raise his Permission Level because his task count was insufficient, that would be a disaster!

If he were to raise his management-type Permission Level, he could do it immediately right now, but management-type Permission Levels inevitably come with related administrative duties, and getting entangled in them would simply be a waste of time.

This kind of Permission Level is actually more similar to that of an externally hired staff member; while relatively loose, the Knowledge one can access is bound to be discounted, which does not match Xia Duo's expectations.

If one wants to get by in the Mage Tower, one naturally wants to become core personnel and access core secrets. Unless one becomes an Archmage or Legendary, it is actually the same everywhere, so it is better to continue working in a relatively familiar environment.

After leaving the Examination Room, Xia Duo turned directly to the Task Management Office, which was also on the Public Level; he had not taken it to heart before because of his insufficient understanding of the Task Management Office.

Up until now, he had only gone in once when he first joined the Mage Tower, and had not gone a single time since; thinking about it now, he really felt a bit regretful.

Arriving at the Task Management Office, the scene here was quite "sci-fi"—two huge, transparent glass sheets were pasted on the walls to the left and right of the entrance.

Text information flashed on them from time to time, looking very similar to the LCD TV walls on Earth, but judging from the Magic Aura they revealed, they were clearly masterpieces of Magic.

But corresponding to this "sci-fi" scene, at the very back of the room, behind the long office desk, the duty Mage and Apprentices had not achieved the paperless office of Earth; they were still using ink pens to register and record on Parchment.

The stark contrast between these two different scenes in the same room made Xia Duo feel quite incongruous.

……

The information display screens on the left and right sides showed the same information; Xia Duo went directly to the one on the left, where the task list had all kinds of tasks from top to bottom.

He first skipped the tasks that required long-term stays outside, such as the Military Camp garrison tasks, which required staying in the Military Camp for a long time, as well as patrol tasks, divided into Town District Patrol and outside-town Territory Patrol.

They were all tasks with low "cost-effectiveness."

Xia Duo focused on "high cost-effectiveness" tasks with short timeframes, high rewards, and low difficulty; of course, such tasks might not necessarily fall to him, as plenty of Apprentices wanting to become Official Mages were eyeing them!

——【Temple is recruiting several Apprentices to teach believers the Netherese script; long-term effective, generous rewards.】

"Huh—" Xia Duo's gaze stopped on this Temple task; if a task could be sent to the Mage Tower, it certainly wasn't fake, and the generous reward also stimulated Xia Duo.

The so-called one-year Territory Task, the most critical standard of measurement, is not time, but rewards; otherwise, wouldn't it be fine to just take tasks that involve slacking off?

The Temple task is to teach ordinary people how to read, which is not hard to understand, as only by being literate can one interpret the classics; and Xia Duo even knew what the first classic ordinary people come into contact with is—isn't it that book, the "Sacred Proverbs of the Lord of Radiance"!

Xia Duo had a self-made dictionary, so he believed he could definitely exceed the task requirements, but he didn't dare; if it were before Dewan became a believer, he would still have been interested.

But Dewan suddenly becoming a devout believer made Xia Duo hesitate, not knowing if it was because he had taken this task that such a change occurred.

Sami seemed to know the inside story, but when asked, he was also ambiguous, and Xia Duo did not dare to take chances with himself.

With some regret, he skipped the Temple task, and below it was another task with decent rewards—

——【Town Hall is recruiting 2 Mage Apprentices, must be proficient in Detect Poison, Message, Arcane Mark, etc.; those with certain investigation experience preferred; task duration one week, remuneration 20 Gold Coins per person.】

It looked like the pay was very little, but compared to the 1 Silver Coin per day Apprentices got in the Mage Tower, it was already many times better; and according to Xia Duo's speculation, it should just be going over every day to cast a few Ring Spells.

This was just right for him! With his current spellcasting proficiency within a rest cycle, completing this task would be effortless, and besides this task, he could also take on other tasks.

"Hello."

Xia Duo immediately went to the long office desk and found a random duty Apprentice, "I want to take on Task 032."

That duty Apprentice first rummaged around on the desktop, then asked the Apprentice next to him a few questions, before telling Xia Duo, "Task 032, the quota is full, please pay attention to the next round."

"……"

Xia Duo was furious; the real-time nature of this information display screen was too poor, but there was a duty Mage right next to him, so he couldn't say anything, and had to go back to the display screen to choose again.

——【Mage Tower Task Management Office is recruiting 2 Mage Apprentices, must be serious and cautious; task duration one week, reward 10 Gold Coins.】

Being half the reward of the one outside, Xia Duo skipped it directly.

——【Town Hall is recruiting 1 Mage Apprentice, to clear out Goblins in Hexi Village and investigate the cause; those who have participated in the Orc War task preferred; time unlimited, reward 20 Gold Coins.】

"This one is good!"

This kind of task certainly had Territory soldiers cooperating, and the time was unlimited, meaning even if it was completed within 1 day, the reward would still be 20 Gold Coins.

Definitely high cost-effectiveness.

As for having participated in the Orc War task, this was simply a load of nonsense; those who could come to take tasks were all Official Apprentices, and Official Apprentices had almost all been conscripted.

Xia Duo immediately went to the long office desk, still the same duty Apprentice, "I want to take on Task 054."

After another round of rummaging and asking, the duty Apprentice asked, "Task 054 is available, do you want to take the task now?"

"Yes, now!"

"Okay, processing it for you immediately."

This duty Apprentice immediately summoned the Tower Spirit to check Xia Duo's identity, and after confirming that the name was correct, recorded it on the task Parchment, then handed it to the Official Mage for filing.

Afterwards, he handed a task voucher to Xia Duo, "Apprentice Xia Duo, you have taken on Task 054, please head to the Town Hall to report as soon as possible."

"Mm."

Having only taken one task, Xia Duo was a bit unwilling, but after carefully checking the task information display screen, there were almost no tasks with high cost-effectiveness that did not conflict with his current task.

Xia Duo felt a bit disappointed; if it were like this, he might really have to do tasks for a year!

……

Outside the Mage Tower.

Xia Duo stood for a moment, easing the nausea brought on by the Special Portal, while feeling the breath of spring.

On the roof not far away, the accumulated snow only had stubborn patches the size of a palm left; although the wind still carried a final trace of chill, it was much softer than the last time he left the tower.

Rubbing his dull chest, feeling the nausea dissipate quite a bit, Xia Duo strode toward the Town Hall at the north end of the Central Plaza.

Pedestrians were extremely scarce in this section of the Mage Tower, and it was very spacious once he reached the Central Plaza, so Xia Duo's speed did not stall in the slightest as he arrived in front of the Town Hall.