Chapter 302 - 301 Code-named Archer, S-grade

Caught in his lie, Li Jing simply chuckled.

"You can’t say that, bro. Not all Daohe people are as you described. What you’ve seen is just a small part of them."

The burly man blinked at his words, then gave a hearty laugh.

"Well, now that you put it that way, there’s some truth to it. Sorry about that, I let my bias get in the way."

With that, he extended a hand.

"Basaka, that’s my code name."

A code name?

Li Jing was momentarily taken aback, then caught on.

Given that they regularly undertake rather sensitive missions, even those that go head-to-head with White Hawk Official, members of the Kregar Adventure Guild start using code names as soon as they register.

And in reality.

Once confirmed as a member of the Adventure Guild, the Kregar Adventure Guild does not check the background of its members to avoid suspicion.

Quite frankly, it seemed a bit relaxed.

But the Kregar Adventure Guild operates on meritocracy - anyone with abilities can join. They undertake any type of mission, tracking member’s information only makes them uneasy, fearing they might be sold out by the guild before they can claim their reward.

Such an unusual organization wouldn’t exist in Longyu.

But in White Hawk, this is freedom.

Of course.

If you break the law, you will still be arrested.

In the face of the superpower White Hawk, people in the Adventurer’s Guild carefully choose their missions.

After all, individual strength is limited.

Picking a fight with White Hawk Official is seeking death.

Extending his hand to lightly grasp Basaka’s, Li Jing got an idea and said without hesitation.

"Archer, it’s my code name."

"Pleasure to meet you."

Basaka nodded, then said.

"Bro, you’re new to Kregar. Haven’t you registered yet? If needed, I could be your sponsor and recommend you."

"No need."

Li Jing waved his hand, saying.

"I have confidence in my abilities. No need for a sponsor to boost my rating."

The Kregar Adventure Guild operates on the basis of pure strength.

The adventurer’s rating ranges from E-grade up to SS-grade, thus seven levels in total.

Each level is defined by strength, allowing for promotion based on the number and difficulty of the completed missions.

How important an adventurer’s level is, determines what missions they can accept.

While the entry requirements were low in the Kregar Adventure Guild, they were very strict about accepting missions.

Failing a mission, getting a too self-confident adventurer killed was not a big deal compared to the trouble it would bring to the Kregar Adventure Guild.

However, there’s an exception for newly registered members.

The first assessment during new member registration is solely based on personal strength, with the highest possible registration as an A-level adventurer.

Being recommended by a sponsor is a kind of shortcut.

Having an experienced high-level adventurer as a sponsor can improve your initial adventure level during the scene member rating.

Li Jing didn’t need any of this.

He couldn’t show his Seventh Realm cultivation level but he had no pressure regarding his Six Realm.

Basaka was friendly and left a good impression. Li Jing didn’t want to trap him in anything.

Although Li Jing knew Basaka’s motive was not so pure, but it’s a good practice not to screw over anyone if one could avoid it.

If he ever needed to stir up trouble in White Hawk, Basaka recommending him as a sponsor would inevitably get him entwined in it.

Sometimes, certain things don’t require definitive evidence.

Especially when none of the adventurers in Kregar Adventure Guild were clean. If White Hawk Officials suspected anyone, then it wouldn’t take much to find a reasonable excuse to target them.

Was there a relationship or not?

It didn’t matter.

In prison, everyone would have plenty of time to "sit down" and have a long talk.

Seeing Li Jing decline his offer, Basaka didn’t insist. He took out a business card from his pocket.

"This is my card."

As he said that, he continued.

"Brother Archer and I hit it off right away, so if you need anything in the future, don’t hesitate to contact me. Also, our Star Shard troop is currently recruiting adventurers. If you are interested, consider joining us. There’s strength in numbers. A lot of tasks can’t be completed alone. Our Star Shard troop isn’t very strict, as long you’re sincere, you’re welcome to join us."

Listening to Basaka, Li Jing finally understood.

It turned out his enthusiasm was merely to recruit people.

Even within the Adventure Guild, there are smaller cliques.

These cliques usually don’t have many members.

After all, no matter how generously you defined them, adventurers were still mercenaries who did things for money.

Building trust between each other was hard.

There was also competition among themselves, backstabbing was quite common.

With more people, the balance within a small clique would be disrupted.

Basaka could immediately tell Li Jing as being new to Kregar, even deducing that he was an unregistered adventurer. It appeared that he’s been watching for a while, intending to recruit new members.

Pretending to go along, Li Jing nodded and took the card, giving it a glance.

And he was floored.

The words written on Basaka’s card were straightforward - Deputy Leader of the Star Shard Mercenary Group.

The reputation of adventurers might not be the best, but it was certainly still better than mercenaries.

But Basaka seemed to have no regard for keeping up appearances...

Furthermore, it was strikingly written on Basaka’s card that he was an S-grade adventurer, a Six Realm combat mage.

Li Jing was shell-shocked.

At this moment, the main hall on the first floor of the Kregar Adventure Guild was packed with adventurers, most of whom didn’t hide their auras.

Among them, none were of the Six Realm.

Li Jing initially thought that S-grade adventurers of the Six Realm had a certain prestige and wouldn’t be encountered so easily.

Who would have thought that he had merely joined a queue at random and he met a Six Realm battle mage hiding in the crowd?

And that person is even the deputy head of a mercenary corps...

Suffice to say, he is quite different from ordinary adventurers.

Every adventurer is someone who tastes blood on the edges of a knife and follows the principle that respects power.

Low-level adventurers rarely deal kindly with people, let alone Basaka, who stood at the pinnacle of the adventurer’s pyramid?

Six Realm, this is the limit.

Upon reaching the Seventh Realm, no matter what you do, you have to retire to the background, and adventurers are no exception.

Li Jing carefully eyed Basaka, who had been looking elsewhere after passing a business card, took a moment to think, then asked a question.

"Basaka, how large is your Star Shard mercenary group?"

Seeing the question about his own mercenary group, Basaka became immediately enthusiastic and quickly responded.

"Star Shard has been established for seven years. Currently, we have more than thirty members, most of whom are veteran members. Originally, we didn’t intend to look for outsiders, but recently the group leader took a special private mission that requires manpower. Therefore, recently, Star Shard has been looking for suitable hands."

"Is that so?"

Li Jing nodded, not asking more.

He asked this to give Star Shard a mission.

With an S-grade adventurer, the strength of Star Shard mercenary group is beyond doubt.

With strength, it is naturally easy to get things done.

But he has an unfinished task on hand, so he’s not interested.

As for joining, there was no need to consider it.

Basaka was enthusiastically recruiting him without knowing his real strength. Obviously, the so-called "suitable" manpower in his mouth would be cannon fodder.

The words just now had a hint of persuasion, how could he be so stupid to follow?

Additionally, in reality -

Li Jing intended to register at the Kregar Adventure Guild, mainly to make it more convenient to go to the nearby desert.

Those without adventurer status are not allowed to enter the Kregar Desert.

One reason is that the desert’s depths are too dangerous, and the other is that the Kregar Desert itself is a rich resource production point that is hard to find in the world, and is controlled by the White Hawk Official.

Guild members can enter because there was an agreement with the White Hawk Official when the guild was created, otherwise, it would be impossible.

The right to freely enter and exit the desert is the foundation of the Kregar Adventure Guild from its inception to the present.

Seeing that the other party had asked a question and then kept silent, Basaka was somewhat unsatisfied.

Is this guy teasing him?

Is that the end?

Although he was unsatisfied, Basaka didn’t lose face, and while observing the surroundings to find potential recruits, he chatted with Li Jing.

He was very sharp.

From the first moment he saw Li Jing, he felt that this guy was a rare master.

How strong he was couldn’t be told exactly, but it was certainly much stronger than those adventurers he looked down on.

This was a potential stock, whether he could be roped into the Star Shard mercenaries was still to be seen. If he made a bad impression, there would certainly be no hope.

...

The service speed of the queue at the reception window was not slow.

About half an hour later, it was Basaka and Li Jing’s turn to handle their business.

When he reached the counter, Basaka took out an ID card-like thing and handed it over.

The blonde girl at the window looked at the card, her face slightly changed, she quickly began to operate the computer without Basaka speaking and said "please wait."

Li Jing, standing behind Basaka, witnessed all this and was slightly interested.

The private task mentioned in Basaka’s words earlier seemed to be directly related to the Kregar Adventure Guild?

This was rather intriguing.

A private task could be issued by anyone.

The premise is that you can afford the cost, so that the Kregar Adventure Guild keeps the task confidential and helps you find an executor.

Normally, the Kregar Adventure Guild itself doesn’t publish tasks.

Once it was published, it was almost certainly related to the White Hawk Official.

The White Hawk official permits the Kregar Adventure Guild to exist and signs an agreement allowing adventurers to enter and exit the Kregar Desert. Any fool could see that there are clear conditions between the two parties.

The Adventure Guild often does various dirty work for the White Hawk official around the world, it’s not a secret, but both sides never admit it.

So...

What task did the White Hawk official give?

As he was wondering, the blond girl at the counter processed Basaka’s business at lightning speed. While returning the card to him, she said softly.

"The president had said, if someone from Star Shard comes, he hopes to meet them. I don’t know if Vice-chief Basaka is willing now, may you go to the top floor to see the president?"

Heard this, Basaka frowned, nodded his head, took the card, and walked away.

Seeing that Basaka, who had been very talkative during their conversation, didn’t say anything and walked straight to the elevator, Li Jing couldn’t help being curious about what task he had.

But he was just curious.

He didn’t forget why he came here.

Walking up to the counter, Li Jing smiled.

"Hello, I would like to register for adventurer status."

For those coming to register, the Kregar Adventure Guild not only welcomes newcomers but also values them greatly.

The Adventure Guild wants to stand firm; they need people.

Many people.

Adventurers often die or go missing, this is only part of the reason.

The main reason is -

Only with a variety of people, with different systems and different origins, does the Kregar Adventure Guild has more capital to exist under the agreement with the White Hawk.

The Kregar Adventure Guild has a strong desire for "talent."

The front desk staff had gone through professional and systematic training, and were promised a generous bonus for every new adventurer they processed, depending on the adventurer’s level.

Upon hearing that Li Jing was here to register, the blonde girl behind the counter beamed and efficiently produced a gold paper form from her storage space.

"Good day, sir, please fill in this registration form. If you have any questions, you can ask me."

"Alright."

Li Jing nodded, accepting the form and giving it a glance.

The form required quite a few details to fill out.

However, the only personal information required was proof of origin, they didn’t even bother asking for age and gender.

What needed to be elaborated on was one’s combat skills.

Without any hesitation, Li Jing wrote the code name ’Archer’ and filled in Daohe as his origin with the pen at the counter.

Even though it seemed rather unscrupulous, from Li Jing’s perspective, making Daohe take the blame in case he messed up was a good option for him.

Provided he didn’t get caught red-handed or reveal his identity, the White Hawk could only pin the blame on Daohe.

The historical development of this world was completely different from Li Jing’s original world.

Its recent history was completely unique.

Yet, after all, Li Jing was a transmigrator.

In some respects, he was still quite obsessed with certain things.

It is worth mentioning that Daohe was just Daohe, having nothing directly to do with the Daohe Alliance itself.

Having filled in his nickname and country of origin, Li Jing nonchalantly wrote Late Six Realm in the realm section, then jokingly wrote "King’s Treasure" under combat skills.

After finishing, he immediately handed the form back.

The form had a note stating that combat skills needed to be elaborated on.

But he saw no reason to do so.

Wasn’t it enough that he was at the Late Six Realm?

The highest one could possibly reach as an adventurer was the Late Six Realm, he didn’t need extra credit.

Moreover, all the skills he had mastered were unique boundary-breaking ones, which were too many to list.

Spirit Soldier Break, a skill that allowed him to manipulate its form at will, was a unique skill that wouldn’t expose his identity.

Daohe had a unique Ninja Path cultivation system.

However, most of its "Ninja Skills" were analogous to spells under the Orthodox Immortality Path, some were even simply replicated and renamed.

The Ninja Path itself was actually a branch of the Orthodox Immortal Path.

Just like the Immortal Path of the Northern God Country, the practice method had undergone modification, which caused considerable differences between the systems.

It didn’t matter if it was a sword, spear, or cudgel, as long as Li Jing didn’t shape Spirit Soldier Break into any weapon style of Longyu’s, no one could find any clues.

Not to mention those who had seen him use Spirit Soldier Break, most had only seen him using a single Spirit Soldier to control the sky.

Those who had truly seen his powerful burst and were still alive were all insiders.

On the other side, the blonde girl at the counter frowned slightly when she saw Li Jing casually write a few words and immediately hand over the form.

To achieve a higher rating, who wouldn’t document all their abilities when registering as an adventurer?

It’s true that there was no need to list all their abilities.

But at least they should make their registration form look better.

This guy...

Was he here just for fun?

Those who sought fun in registering as adventurers, not only existed but were also quite common.

They usually just wanted to register for an adventurer’s identity to show off, walking away right after registration without taking any tasks.

Thinking about it, she realized there was no harm done to her. As long as Li Jing passed, she would receive the bonus. The blonde girl accepted the form and gave it a quick look.

One glance was all it took to make her entirely stiff.

All other details didn’t matter to her.

All she saw was ’Late Six Realm’ under the realm section.

Is this...

For real?

Looking up at Li Jing’s harmless face with skepticism, the blonde girl, holding a confirmation attitude, asked aloud.

"Could you please release your aura?"

"No problem."

Li Jing casually replied, suppressing his innate immortal aura, then revealed aura of the Late Six Realm.

Instantly, the entire first floor of the Adventure Guild that was more like a bar than a guild hall, fell silent.

Even within the same realm, there was a difference of power.

Li Jing suppressed his immortal aura, so no one would notice.

Yet owing to the higher quality of his Spiritual Power compared to Spiritual Qi, this fact hadn’t changed.

The moment his aura spread out, all the adventurers on site felt a little breathless.

Everyone present was taken by surprise.

This guy...

Where did he pop out from?

His aura was insanely strong.

Is he truly at the Six Realm!?

Merely his aura was so powerful, what would be his actual combat strength be like?

Countless pairs of eyes turned towards him, as adventurers who had been flaunting their auras quickly owned up and withdrew their own.

In the Adventure Guild, might made right.

In front of Li Jing, they were nothing.

This man... they couldn’t afford to mess with him.

The blonde girl at the counter was only at the start of the Four Realm.

Facing directly the aura Li Jing had released, her face paled immediately.

The realm difference between them was too wide, making it somewhat hard for her to handle.

At this moment, looking at a certain person, her eyes were full of little stars.

Without a doubt, Li Jing was truly a Late Six Realm!

Not only that, his strength far surpassed any S-grade or SS-grade adventurer she had seen before.

By helping Li Jing process his registration, this would undoubtedly be the brightest moment of her career, and she would also get a bonus beyond her imagination!

"Ar...Archer, sir, it’s done."

The blonde girl managed to say, struggling to face Li Jing’s aura.

As per her words, Li Jing restrained his aura, then asked.

"Do I need to go through an assessment now?"

"No need, I will process your registration immediately."

The blonde girl hastily shook her head.

He could be assessed, of course.

But who would dare to assess Li Jing?

It was true that the Adventure Guild had professional examiners, but none of them would want to be humiliated.

Usually, they were the ones who schooled the newbies.

If she pushed Li Jing to anyone to be assessed, she feared she would be resented for a long time.

Hearing that he didn’t need to be assessed, Li Jing raised his eyebrows and nodded.

He would rather have leisure than be assessed.

The Adventure Guild’s management was really lax; anywhere else he would at least have had to go through a spiritual qi strength test.

At the counter window, the blonde girl’s delicate hands were typing rapidly on the keyboard.

Before long, a machine resembling a 3D printer spat out a golden card next to her.

She carefully checked the card for problems, swiped it through a card reader, and then handed it over.

"Mr. Archer, this is your Adventurer Certificate, please keep it safe."

Saying this, she began to explain.

"The Adventurer Certificate holds a great privilege within the White Hawk territory. As an esteemed S-grade adventurer, as long as you carry your Adventurer Certificate, you can freely use Sky Control in non-urban areas. Also, after completing corresponding S-grade tasks, you can apply at any bank within the White Hawk territory to borrow ten thousand Spirit Crystals in the name of the Kregar Adventure Guild. To repay the loan, just go directly to the guild counter."

Upon hearing the blonde girl’s polite speech, Li Jing was taken aback.

He’d put in a lot of effort to perform.

But the girl instantly promoted him to an S-grade adventurer, well beyond his expectations.

Normally, newly registered adventurers would only receive an A-grade rank at most.

This, was different from what he had originally understood.

Most shockingly, they had the authority to do such a thing...

After taking a glance at his adventurer’s certificate, Li Jing looked back up and confirmed to her.

"Is my registration process finished now?"

"Yes."

As the blonde girl answered, she casually tore a piece of paper from the notebook beside her, scribbled down a string of numbers and handed it over with a sweet smile.

"My name is Alice, this is my number. Mr. Archer, if you have any needs or questions, feel free to reach out to me."

That sentence was very tactful.

Any needs, or questions.

The former, Li Jing was not too concerned with.

As for the latter, it might come in handy.

Accepting the note smoothly, Li Jing turned to look at the queue behind him, who had retreated a bit further after feeling his aura, he turned back to ask.

"I have a question. I need to release a confidential task personally, and I might want to pick up some tasks as well. Regarding..."

Before Li Jing could finish, Alice interrupted.

"For general tasks, you go to the second floor hall, for special tasks, the third floor, and to release tasks, the fourth floor. If you want to release a confidential task, you need to communicate with the fourth floor staff and talk in the secret chamber."

"Understood."

Li Jing nodded and walked away.

The crowd in line behind him instinctively made way for him.

Seeing this, Li Jing reflected thoughtfully.

He remembered when he was a patrolman handing out fines, people from One Realm dared to argue with him. He couldn’t help but feel that the people of Kregar Adventure Guild was quite straightforward.

Of course, his thoughts only went that far.

Putting aside the occasional inconveniences at work, the environment at Longyu was the right path.

It was the place where he could truly feel relaxed, with no burden, and enjoy life without care.

...

Just as Li Jing went into the elevator to go upstairs, another elevator door opened with a "Ding" sound on the other side. A good-looking woman with silver hair down to her waist walked out.

Catching a glimpse of this woman, the adventurers present changed their expressions all at once, rushing to look away.

All fearing that just one extra look would be taken as an offense to her.

The silver-haired woman looked around after leaving the elevator, her gaze landing squarely on Alice.

Upon seeing this, Alice quickly put up a ’Temporarily Closed’ sign at the counter window, rushed out of the counter, and whispered to the woman.

"Vice-President, you’re just a bit late. He just went up, you just missed each other."

The silver-haired woman nodded in acknowledgment and asked in a low voice.

"Is he going to take a task or...?"

"Both."

Alice affirmed, saying.

"Compared to accepting tasks, Mr. Archer came here mainly to release a confidential task, he most likely went to the secret chamber on the fourth floor."

"Got it, you can get back to work."

The silver-haired woman, who was referred to as the Vice-President, said before calling for the elevator again, heading inside once more.

...