Adventurers made way for Grant who headed towards the request board. Although most of these adventurers looked down on him as a rookie, none dared to say that.
They didn't know whether the psycho would target them next if he were to be offended. News of what happened to Marco already made its way into the ears of others.
Some were amused, some fearful and others, they wanted to teach the rookie a lesson regarding seniority.
And they weren't idiots. Grant might be hiding more than he had shown.
Unless they could find a high-level adventurer with an intermediate class to deal with him, they won't try anything with Grant yet.
Grant carefully touched the hung up papers whiles inspecting them. He soon noticed that the quest ranks only went up to rank C at most.
The F rank quests were about menial tasks that required at least someone who could defend themselves out in the wild. They ranged from capturing a few monsters that hid deep in the forest or foraging for some uncommon herbs.
E rank quests involved hunting fairly dangerous monsters. Hunting goblins, killing kobolds or scouting out an area that wasn't too dangerous.
C rank quests was where things started getting more lethal.
Bandit groups had to be either slaughtered or turned into the law. Goblin nests needs to be rooted out and sometimes, a C+ rank quest involved dealing with middle-class monsters.
Grant has yet to know how truly strong monsters were. He snatched a total of three E- rank quests.
Hunt ten goblins, capture a rare monster alive and look for a priestess' staff that was stolen by a small band of goblins.
He didn't dally and proceeded to cut the line despite the other adventurer's protests which were easily silenced by a long glare of his.
Grant reached Stella who was finishing wrapping up her conversation with Athal. She caught the papers Grant was holding through the side of her eye.
Guessing his intentions, Stella shot him a welcoming smile before taking the papers and giving them to Athal the receptionist who in turn put on his glasses.
"I advise you to not take these quests." Athal finished skimming through the papers before shooting Grant a narrowed gaze. He took off the glasses and proceeded to clean them thoroughly while he was awaiting Grant's reaction.
"Why is that?"
"Too dangerous for a low level like you. Even if you have such terrific foundations, again. I do not recommend taking these quests." Athal warned the man who grew more curious and daring instead.
Grant had an itch to leave and explore. Those three quests were perfectly suited for his tastes.
"I insist." He didn't relent and Athal sighed tiredly. Stella pondered to the side whether to stop Grant or not.
So far she didn't see anything that could harm Grant. With the exception of Hado who was still strong despite being injured.
'I'll follow him then just to be sure.' She decided to play things safe and see how capable Grant truly was. Stella wouldn't risk losing him.
"If you die then you can only suck it up. Don't say I didn't warn you." Athal gave one last warning before stamping the papers and writing something unto his notebook. Reaching under the counter, he pulled out a brochure of some sorts and handed it along with the papers to Grant.
"Something to enlighten you." Athal gestured to the pamphlet that Grant tucked away into his pants. He noticed that he had yet to change his clothes.
"And this could help you." Stella received a black scarf and thanked Athal before he dragged Grant who was intensely reading the brochure.
"What is that?" Grant separated his glued eyes from the pamphlet before he saw the black scarf held by Stella who was inspecting it.
"This scarf belongs to Beatry who misplaced it during one of her trips to the guild."
"Problem solved then. I can sniff her out." Thanks to his enhanced senses, Grant was confident in tracking down Hado's missing daughter.
"You sure?"
"Positive, now go back and inform Hado of the good news. I guess I would be able to return tomorrow with his daughter in tow." Lips curving slightly upwards at the prospect of being able to use searching as an excuse to leave the town, Stella blinked to find Grant gone along with the scarf.
Though she managed to see Grant mix into the crowd before he truly disappeared from view.
"Grant come back!" Stella shouted anxiously before sprinting towards the general direction where Grant disappeared.
-----
Having read the pamphlet, Grant came to know the dangers posed by monsters. Monsters were animals or strange creatures that had been heavily doused with mana.
Twisting their form or evolving them further. They were segregated and classified into different ranks.
Low, Middle, High, and Calamity Class.
Low-class monsters have base attributes equal or less than 300 points
Middle-class monsters have 500 up to a thousand
High-class monsters possessed starting attributes from a thousand up to even ten thousand.
As for the Calamity class? None lived to tell the tale of how strong their initial attributes were.
Using [Appraisal] to inspect such monsters led to instant demise. Therefore Calamity class monsters are determined by their sheer size and how much damage they could cause to the surroundings.
It only gets worse when such monsters level up. Though most monsters possess no class to gain growth correction from, they have specifically targeted attribute growth bonuses.
[Gigantic Strength] which cyclopes possessed is only an example. It offers a growth correction bonus of 1.
And since monsters didn't possess classes, that growth of theirs follows a different trend.
AI= 10% base attribute + [10% base attribute (specific growth correction)]
Due to this, even the demon lord had to be wary of high-level monsters. Luckily, monsters have a hard time leveling up after the system came into being.
Ending the millions of years that the monsters ruled the land.
It didn't take long for Grant to reach the Town gates and to be stopped by two guards. He flashed them his copper adventurer's license and allowed him to leave.
'Smells like roses. Heavenly~' Sniffing the scarf that had the scent of rose mixed with lavender, Grant headed towards the forest and stopped.
Sharply turning his head around he glared at a specific direction with wariness.
He felt like someone was watching him. He stood there, rooted to the spot like a tower before shrugging off that feeling.
He just put a mental note inside his head of the possibility of being watched.
Grant was always vigilant and on guard. He had to be.
When he was rich back then, those who surrounded him kept on showering him with praises.
They justified their actions to be for his sake yet deep down, they held daggers in the dark.
Waiting to strike and take away everything he had.
He had to learn things the hard way when almost everything was stolen from him.
Grant once gave his heart to someone, only for it to be used as a tool to betray him.
'Let's hurry up. I'm getting quite hungry.' Grant's stomach growled at him in hate, causing the headstrong youth a little discomfort.
If he had money he would have just ate at some random restaurant instead of going through all the trouble of looking for some child.
He didn't even dare think of asking Stella for some funds. His pride won't allow him to live off a woman.
Closing his eyes and focusing on the rosy lavender smell, he found a faded trace leading further into the forest.
The forest was not simple. It consisted of huge towering trees standing a few dozen meters into the air. The shade coming from the ancient oaks cast a dark shadow into the land beneath.
Plunging the whole forest floor into a state of near total darkness.
It was the forest of shadows. At daytime the forest was dark to the point of having almost no light enter it. And at night the forest becomes a nightmare.
Nocturnal beasts would be awakened by the moon and danger would fill every corner of the forest. This was the reason why Zirakib, albeit being a few centuries old and situated just outside the forest of shadows, didn't dare to try and claim it as theirs.
The losses in capturing the forest posed too much of a deterrence. And rumors of a Green dragon residing in it circulated through the town.
People feared it while adventurers dared to delve into it. Drawn by possible wealth or a challenge.
Those who enter too deep never return.
Grant dashed into the forest without any hesitation. His breathing grew calmer and more in synchronized with his movements as he darted through the forest floor.
The interior of the forest was dark but not completely able to hinder his enhanced vision.
'Where are you?' He followed the scent that seemed to be overlapping with the smell of nature.
He was getting nearer but the more Grant drew closer the more on edge he felt. Like something was waiting for him to arrive.
He suddenly halted in his steps. The scent of blood mixed in with the rosy lavender scent.
'What an idiot...' He mocked the red haired girl whom he witnessed being brutally assaulted by a shadow leopard and a little goblin band with 7 members.
He readied himself before charging into the fray.