Jiang Ning turned around to see Lan-jie, whom he had just met earlier.
Lan-jie stood with her arms crossed, looking at him sternly, seemingly displeased.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Ning couldn't help but ask.
Lan-jie seemed somewhat exasperated: "What's wrong? How old are you? You've actually come to the Adventurers' Guild? Where is your family?"
"But when I just came..."
Lan-jie said: "I thought you were here accompanying this person beside you, but you're here to register? Really now, what is Katherine doing? How old are you?"
Jiang Ning said: "Two months shy of sixteen."
"Two months shy of sixteen, you..."
Lan-jie fell silent. The Adventurers' Guild regulations allowed registration at fourteen, so it was actually compliant.
However, that wasn't Lan-jie's main concern: "But you can't just take on this kind of commission right away, are you tired of living? Do you know what Ruin Guards are? Even regular Vision holders usually need two or three people coordinating elemental reactions to safely complete the elimination task, you..."
"My senior apprentice sister has a Vision," Jiang Ning said.
Lan-jie glared: "That's still not okay. Although I don't manage Guild affairs, I still need to be responsible for you newcomer adventurers. Really, why do we get several people each year who register and then overestimate themselves..."
Jiang Ning wasn't annoyed by Lan-jie's criticism. After all, it was clear she genuinely cared about the wellbeing of newcomers like them.
However, he and Shenhe were far from being newcomers.
"Hm? Jiang Ning? And Shenhe?"
A somewhat surprised voice rang out.
The three turned to see Liyue Harbor's ubiquitous purple-haired cat-eared lady.
"Lady Keqing? What brings you to the Adventurers' Guild today? And you know them?" Lan-jie asked.
Keqing nodded: "Yes, I do know these two... With the Rite of Descension coming up, we're short-handed, and for some reason, the monsters in the wild seem more restless than usual. So, to save on Millelith manpower, I thought of coming here to post some commissions for clearing out wild monsters."
"I see... Indeed, the Rite of Descension requires manpower in many areas. But Lady Keqing, since you know these two, that makes things easier. These two just registered as adventurers and already want to go eliminate Ruin Guards in the wild," Lan-jie said, pointing at Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning smiled and waved at Keqing. He had quite a favorable impression of this character who had come home three times in a single ten-pull.
Keqing nodded and said: "Then let them go. Actually, I have quite a few wilderness clearing tasks here. If you're willing to take them, please do. Of course, we'll still go through the Adventurers' Guild commission platform, since we have a cooperative relationship and there needs to be some commission fee."
Jiang Ning said: "Sure, we have nothing else to do anyway. Leave it all to us."
Lan-jie quickly interjected: "Wait, wait, are you saying these two are... strong?"
After all, Lady Keqing wasn't the type to send young people to their death.
Keqing said: "Hmm, I can't reveal too much, but this young man before you, who looks quite young, can take down a Stonehide Lawachurl single-handedly in just a few moves."
Lan-jie was startled, staring at Jiang Ning. This harmless-looking young man was that powerful?
Not only did he have good looks, but he was also skilled?
Lan-jie said: "Since Lady Keqing says so, I won't stop you. Lady Keqing, please proceed as you wish."
Saying this, she turned back to look at the notice board.
Keqing examined Jiang Ning. Although she had met him before, now she was looking at someone who was supposedly Ganyu's love interest.
This made Keqing even more curious.
Same faction, powerful abilities, and appearance-wise... well, even someone as particular as herself had to admit he was perfect.
Keqing's face grew slightly warm.
No wonder... no blame on Ganyu for developing heavy industry, one could only say the foundation was truly perfect... just a bit short in stature.
Jiang Ning was puzzled about why Keqing was staring at him with a reddened face.
But he didn't think too much about it, just took the commission and went to register with Katherine.
The Adventurers' Guild's tasks, especially these elimination types, actually had two ways of completion.
One was to obtain the corresponding monster drops, like Ruin Guard parts and such.
Of course, there were also monsters that couldn't drop materials. In such cases, the Adventurers' Guild would specifically send people to check, and after confirming that no commissioned monsters had appeared in that area for a continuous period, they would consider the elimination task complete.
Only after Jiang Ning left did Keqing snap out of her "though appealing, Ganyu can't break the law" dilemma.
She lightly shook her head, then after posting some miscellaneous clearing tasks from the Liyue government, quickly departed.
She couldn't waste too much time, or work wouldn't get done.
Little did she know that her reactions were all observed by Lan-jie.
Lady Keqing actually spaced out looking at a young man, and with a red face at that.
This... could it be that the work-loving Lady Keqing was experiencing spring feelings?
Thinking of Jiang Ning's face, Lan-jie thought it wasn't incomprehensible, but he was still young - this seemed a bit predatory.
However, this kind of alternative sentiment, temporarily not recognized by law, was what people loved to gossip about most.
Although Lan-jie's personality was what it was, she was still a woman after all.
And so, Lan-jie felt she had found her next topic of conversation.
...
Jiang Ning and Shenhe walked in the wilderness, looking less like they were on a commission and more like they were out for a leisure walk.
Their commissioned location was in the middle ground between Qingxu Pool and Liyue Harbor.
This road was also considered one of the trade routes connecting The Chasm and Liyue Harbor.
It was specifically used to transport various ores mined from The Chasm.
Therefore, it was quite important.
Upon reaching a hillside, they saw Ruin Guards on standby in the grassland.
"This should be it... There are two of them. Which one do you want, Senior Sister?"
Jiang Ning asked.
Shenhe said: "Either is fine..."
Jiang Ning said: "Left for men, right for women, let's go with that!"
When the two approached the Ruin Guards, their single eyes, which were also their cores, immediately lit up.
Accompanied by mechanical collision sounds, the Ruin Guards activated directly.
Although they looked slow, these things had high defense and significant damage output. Regular Vision holders would find it difficult to dismantle them before activation.
However, Shenhe with her supernatural strength and Jiang Ning with his skilled spearmanship were clearly not in that category.