A/N: I have come to the conclusion that I cannot keep up with a regular update schedule due to some of my medical issues. All well, it's life so I'm sure I'll figure something out. A quick shout to generically for all the amazing support in the power stones department and I gladly welcome every other new reader here. Enjoy the show!
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Back in town at the Silver Fang Guild, the guild hall was up and bustling as busy as ever even though it was still so early. Two adventurers in particular were having a chat by the quest notice board about Liam's exam that had happened the other day.
"Say, Terry-", One of the men said to his friend, "I heard that new guy took up old man Jacob's request to pick up herbs from Wilgreen forest"
"Oh yeah? Well, sure sucks to be him then, Jimmy", the other man, Terry, said with a snort, "For the past few months, every citizen, merchant or adventurer that has entered that damn forest hasn't come back out. That place either has to be haunted or has become the territory of a really powerful creature"
"Think it might be the demons at work?" Jimmy speculated but Terry simply shook his head.
"We're too far down south for us to even be of any concern to those bastards", Terry answered, "Plus if it was them, we would have known about it by now"
"I guess you're right", Jimmy nodded his head before he sighed, "Still, I wish we could've at least warned the kid about the situation. He seemed like he had a lot of potential for a newbie, especially since he beat Spin"
"Welp, there's nothing we can do now, is there?" said Terry with a shrug, "With any luck, whatever got him made it quick and painless"
CREAK~
As the two of them were just concluding their speculations, Liam walked through the guild entrance doors. Terry and Jimmy stared completely baffled as Liam made his way to the front desk with a black dog trailing behind him and a little blue slime on his shoulder.
Hilia, the female attendant who had assisted him in his evaluation, looked just as shocked as the two adventurers. Just like them, she hadn't excepted Liam to come back after submitting the herbs quest. Especially not in the state he was in.
Liam himself probably hadn't noticed but he was covered head to toe in yellow spore dust and his hair was a rats nest. His clothes were so torn and ripped up that they barely covered up his body anymore, revealing his toned muscles that made even Hilia blush slightly.
'He seems...different from before', Hilia thought as she noticed the changes he had undergone from his evolution. She thought he looked taller and a little more mature than before. However, now was not the time for that.
"Hello again, Ms. Hilia", Liam politely greeted her with a smile.
"G-good morning", Hilia responded, slightly surprised that he remembered her from the other day, "How may I help you?"
Liam glanced at Blu and the little slime hopped off of his shoulder and onto Hilia's counter. Hilia's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when Blu spat out three full sacs of fox glove herbs right in front of her. This caught the attention of all the other adventurers as a group of them even came closer to verify if what they were seeing was true.
Liam looked around at the crowd of people surrounding him with a nervous expression on his face as he thought, 'Was that still too much?'
Truth be told, the fox gloves Blu had spat out was only a third of the total Liam had. So he was surprised that despite holding back so much, he had attracted this much attention. Was the herb situation of the Town really that bad?
"Ay, young lad", a large man dressed in full plated iron armor spoke up, "Where did you find all these fox gloves? They're a pretty rare find nowadays"
"Err, that huge forest that's east of Town", Liam answered honestly.
"What?! You entered Wilgreen and came out alive?!" the man exclaimed in astonishment. Murmurs broke out amongst the crowd once again at this shocking revelation.
BAM!
Hilia slammed her hand loudly onto her counter, immediately silencing everyone.
"I am sure everyone is bewildered by Liam's sudden achievement", Hilia stated as sweetly as possible but her voice betrayed a hint of irritation, "But shall we all calm down and remain quiet for a moment to allow Liam to share his story"
All the adventurers seemed to agree and a few muttered apologies here and there. Liam was impressed with Hilia's ability to quickly handle a crowd and made a mental note to not get on her bad side.
Taking a breath, Liam began recounting everything he had gone through. From entering the mysterious forest, to discovering the Corrupted Fernil Trees and finally battling against the Demonic Fernil Sporix.
At first, most of the adventurers were skeptical about his claims and even tried to provoke into telling them the truth. However, they all quickly changed their minds once Liam showed them proof by having Blu spit out one of the dead tree corpses as well as one of the tentacles of the mushroom creature.
Under Odin's suggestion, Liam purposefully left out the part about him stumbling upon the loot he had found in the Sporix's head. There was no telling how they would react if he were to reveal it here, in the presence of so many powerful adventurers.
"So the demons have started moving South, huh-?" a louder, more commanding voice asked.
The crowd parted and everyone's heads turned to see an old man in a blue robe approach the counter. The old man had neatly trimmed short gray hair and striking forest green eyes. In his left hand, he held a long jade staff traced with various runic markings.
"G-guildmaster", Hilia stammered and hurriedly bowed her head to the old man. Everyone else followed suit and murmured their greetings as well but the guild master simply nodded his head at them before moving to stand in front of Liam.
Droplets of cold sweat rolled down Liam's back as the Guild master studied him. Every single sense and instinct in his body was tingling vibrantly, warning Liam that the man in front of him was powerful and not someone to be tested.
"I heard your story, young man", said the Guild master with a glint of worry in his eyes, "I had hoped that the hero's party was holding up well against the demons in the north but I guess that was just naive of me"
'The hero's party?!' thought Liam excitedly.
The hero's party were a powerful group of adventurers handpicked by the world system to assist the man who had first been blessed by the system and given the mythical hero class. The hero class was a once in a lifetime class, that was said to belong to the person who shall fight for humanity against the demons and defeat the Demon lord.
To say that they were beings in a league of their own would be an understatement. They were a party that every adventurer out in the world respected and feared for their unrivaled strength.
Shaking off the gloomy expression on his face, the guild master smiled kindly and said, "That aside, if it weren't for you, that spore creature's influence would have spread and those tree creatures would still be causing problems for us. I can't thank you enough for getting rid of it"
"If you're ever in need of a favor, my doors are always open to you", said the guild master before he extended his hand towards Liam.
"I-I'll keep that in mind", Liam promised as he shook the old man's hand.
"Hmm, that's good", The old guild master chuckled before turning to the large crowd of adventurers and bellowing, "Boy, I'm feeling kinda thirsty! Why don't we celebrate our young savior's recent victory with a guild feast? What's say you?"
"YEEEAAAH!"
The crowd immediately roared their approval and Hilia had some other attendants bring in barrels of ale and various plates of food. Liam's stomach immediately growled it's complaints at the mere sight of the steaming food. Understandable, since he hadn't had a good meal in a while.
After quickly settling the matter of the herb collecting quest with Hilia, Liam joined the party and enjoyed himself for the rest of the afternoon.