"Captain, come take a look at this. What do you think about this mission?"

The assassin Kent pointed to the mission marked with an exclamation point on the wall.

"Let me see... An urgent mission?"

Bern carefully read through the mission description, slightly frowning.

"The reward is quite generous... but missions like this have a lot of uncertainties."

As an experienced veteran adventurer, normally, it’s best not to take on such risky missions.

But the team’s expenses had been quite high recently. After Kent and Miriam replaced their weapons, Evan’s weapon urgently needed upgrading as well.

For safety reasons, these two newcomers, Kent and Miriam, who had just joined not long ago, also needed to be equipped with at least one set of leather armor as soon as possible.

All of this required money—lots and lots of money.

Completing this mission guaranteed at least 10 gold coins in income, which was equivalent to doing two or three normal missions, enough to provide the two newcomers with leather armor.

Including bonuses from killing monsters along the way, if luck wasn’t too bad, Evan’s new weapon could also be secured.

If luck was extraordinarily good and they managed to safely bring back the merchant’s daughter...

A 100-gold reward was a fortune even for Bern, who had been adventuring for many years.

With this 100 gold, he could go to Old Rail’s shop and ask him to bring out those treasured items locked away at the bottom of his collection. He could replace his worn iron armor with a new set, and give the old iron armor to Evan.

There would even be enough left to buy two bottles of precious healing potions—treasures that could quickly restore injuries in critical moments and were like half a life for adventurers who often hovered on the edge of death!

After pondering for a long time, Bern couldn’t resist the temptation. He walked up to the counter and accepted the mission.

He would try it first, and if it didn’t work out, he would give up. After all, with his experience as a veteran adventurer, once he sensed something unusual, retreating in time should still be possible.

As an adventurer, if you couldn’t accept any risk at all, then why be an adventurer? Better go home and farm!

"Don’t worry, Miss Camilla, next time I take a mission, I’ll definitely come find you~"

Waving to his favorite counter girl, Bern turned his head to the hall where two young people were sitting in the corner. Evan was stretching his chin with his hand, leaning forward excitedly, talking to Miriam.

The short-haired girl had the white oak bow resting on her lap, fingers lightly plucking the bowstring, seemingly unaffected by Evan’s words, not paying the slightest attention.

"Let’s go, it’s time to set off."

Bern waved to the two, and Miriam immediately stood up and started walking over. Evan’s excited expression froze for a moment, then he reached out toward Miriam’s back and followed along.

"Wait for me, Miriam..."

The group left the Adventurers' Association and headed straight outside the town.

On the way, Bern began introducing the mission details to the team members, repeatedly emphasizing key points.

"Remember, this mission could be dangerous. Stay close, keep less than a meter apart, remain silent, and immediately retreat when you see my signal!"

"Got it, got it... Uncle Bern, you say this every time."

Evan was clearly a bit impatient. Since he started adventuring with Uncle Bern at sixteen, almost two years had passed. He considered himself an "old" adventurer now, no longer nervous at every sound or weak-kneed at the sight of goblins like a newcomer.

"Even if something unexpected happens, isn’t Uncle Bern here?"

He was full of confidence in his distant uncle: "A level 0.8 professional, with almost no opponents on the outskirts of Roland Forest!"

Bern wanted to scold him to be more serious, but on second thought, his nephew was right. With his strength, the monsters on the edge of Roland Forest weren’t much of a threat.

In another two or three years, once he fully mastered Shield Bash, his physique would reach the standard to officially become a professional!

Thinking of such a bright future, a smile involuntarily curved Bern’s lips. After more than ten years of adventuring and relentless effort, he was finally about to see the rewards.

"You’re the only one who knows how to talk, slick tongue."

He teased with a smile, growing more eager for this mission.

If he could smoothly earn this hundred gold coins, the time to advance to professional might even be shortened by half a year.

...

Entering Roland Forest again, Lin Mo clearly felt different compared to his initial unease and anxiety.

Curiosity... or rather, anticipation?

The dense jungle was not only filled with dangerous monsters but also a rich ecosystem. For Lin Mo, who had lived in the city for nearly twenty years, this purely natural scenery was extremely rare.

Of course, he wouldn’t relax his vigilance because of this. On the contrary, since he was alone this time, and because of the last encounter with mutated goblins, Lin Mo was filled with awe for this forest, stepping very carefully with each move.

Most of the time when no monsters appeared, the various insects around were the greatest enemies for adventurers.

Their noises often startled inexperienced adventurers into a state of nervous shock. Obviously, Lin Mo was a pure and complete newcomer.

He was very afraid of, or rather, hated insects—especially those with many legs. Just seeing them made his scalp tingle.

That’s why he invested heavily in insect repellent, fearing it wouldn’t be enough, buying two packs especially.

Applying some repellent on himself to avoid being targeted by mosquitoes nearly the size of knuckles, Lin Mo held a simple map bought in town in his left hand and a compass in his right, carefully comparing them.

Having a bad sense of direction made finding the way a torture, but with no convenient phone navigation available, he could only study it slowly on his own.

Fortunately, although the map was simple, this was still the outermost edge of Roland Forest, so the map had quite a lot of detail. Using the compass to confirm directions prevented Lin Mo from wandering around like a headless fly.

Except for often stopping to verify the direction, overall it was going smoothly.

"Should be close..."

After checking the approximate position on the map again, Lin Mo looked ahead, his gaze passing through the trees to the distance. He saw clusters of tall grass growing red berries.

Red snake fruit, about the size of a little finger, with a slightly rough skin. Inside, the flesh was soft, juicy, and fragrant. One bite... and you might as well find a tree to sit under and wait for reincarnation.

That’s right, this thing was highly poisonous.

Lin Mo closed the book in relief that he had bought the “Adventurer’s Botanical Guide.”

Although the skin didn’t contain toxins and theoretically wouldn’t poison if not eaten, Lin Mo still kept a respectful distance, deliberately detouring around these plants.

Under the trees in the forest, various mushrooms could be seen from time to time. Lin Mo held the botanical guide and compared them one by one, committing them to memory.

What was edible and what was not—this knowledge would likely come in handy later.

Edible ones were casually picked and put into the backpack. Since the quantity wasn’t much and took little space, it was convenient.

After walking a while longer, Lin Mo finally saw a plant somewhat like a flower—pale purple grass standing alone and prominently among a vast expanse of grass.