Chapter 376: Undercurrents Beneath a Harmonious Atmosphere |
"Oh?"
Hearing the other party's words, Lin Mo's eyes immediately lit up. Of course, he hadn't forgotten the situation regarding the investigation of the adventurer fatalities in the Millennium Cold Cavern. The Adventurers' Association had promised him an additional reward, but at that time, it needed to be reported to the association's headquarters to decide the specific reward details, so it wasn't issued immediately.
At that time, the association staff member also told Lin Mo that once the headquarters made a decision, he could collect the reward at any association branch on the continent.
It seemed now that was indeed the case.
However, when you got down to it, what he completed back then was only an A-rank mission. It was just because the perpetrator was connected to the association that the intelligence he provided was exceptionally valuable. But no matter what, it couldn't escape the scope of an A-rank mission. So, regarding the gratitude gift from the association, Lin Mo hadn't held out much hope.
That being said, it was still an extra reward. This kind of unexpected windfall, no matter the amount, was something to be happy about.
Lin Mo didn't have to wait long. After a short while, that association staff member returned to the reception room with someone whose attire was noticeably more refined.
"You must be Mr. Lin Mo? I am the Vice Chairman of the association's branch. Thank you for your contribution to the association."
The man immediately greeted Lin Mo with great enthusiasm.
Since the other party was being so polite, Lin Mo naturally wouldn't be discourteous either. They exchanged a few pleasantries.
After a few greetings, the other party got straight to the point: "It's getting late, so I won't waste time with small talk. The incident that occurred in the Frostbreath Snow Mountain area was a major failure in the association's work. On behalf of the association, I formally thank Mr. Lin Mo for helping the association thoroughly investigate the incident and for your significant contribution!"
He spoke with great sincerity, then looked back at the staff member holding a tray.
That person immediately understood and stepped forward.
The Vice Chairman lifted the silk cloth covering the tray. On it lay a storage ring and several golden badges.
"What's inside this ring is the association's token of gratitude for that incident. Additionally, after you all submitted the mission this time, you have already met the criteria for promotion to Gold-level adventurers. Therefore, I had your adventurer badges prepared directly."
Lin Mo nodded. Having just returned from outside and with the time being late, he wanted to rest quickly and had nearly forgotten about this matter.
Although, it wasn't a very important thing anyway.
Upon promotion to Gold-level adventurer, the association would send congratulatory gifts, but those things, for adventurers capable of reaching Gold-level, were just minor additions, not significant.
Those items were probably also placed inside this ring.
So, what really mattered was how many things were inside this storage ring.
Lin Mo picked up the ring and probed it without holding much hope.
He didn't realize until he probed it, but the results truly gave him a huge shock.
The contents of this ring completely exceeded his imagination!
First was the simplest and most direct: money.
Shining coins lay inside the storage ring, totaling approximately 30,000... not Gold Coins, but Crystal Coins!
That was equivalent to a full eight million Gold Coins!
Was, was it really this much?!
And it didn't stop there. Besides that, there were also many alchemical reagents with various effects, including even the expensive elemental reagents!
There were over a dozen intermediate ones, and even three advanced ones!
A single bottle of advanced elemental reagent could cost several hundred thousand Gold Coins.
And the three bottles placed in the ring happened to be the Earth, Wind, and Water elemental reagents that Lin Mo currently lacked.
Lin Mo immediately realized: they had investigated him in advance.
Seeing the look in Lin Mo's eyes, the Vice Chairman before him didn't conceal it at all, smiling as he said, "For a prodigious talent like Mr. Lin Mo, I think any smart person would hope to build a good relationship with you."
Understood.
To put it bluntly, they were using this opportunity to legitimately give him gifts.
This actually wasn't too surprising. After all, Lin Mo had already demonstrated quite astonishing talent. Talent of this level almost certainly meant he would become a top-tier powerful expert in the future.
Generally speaking, top-tier organizations like the Adventurers' Association didn't need to actively recruit talent.
After all, the association itself was already an entity standing at the pinnacle of the continent. Without needing to recruit, naturally, large numbers of geniuses would actively seek contact or join.
Unless your talent was truly formidable, strong enough to have the potential to reach the Legendary Realm, would top-tier forces like the Adventurers' Association or the Empire take the initiative to befriend and invest in you.
This was simple logic. It was like top universities such as Tsinghua and Peking University; normally, they didn't need to actively compete for students—countless people were scrambling to get in.
But if your achievements truly reached a certain height, or even demonstrated some transcendent talent in certain fields, that was a different matter altogether.
Clearly, the association's current assessment of Lin Mo had reached this level, which was why they were so generous.
Lin Mo had no intention of refusing either. He smiled, nodded, and accepted the gift.
Afterwards, they chatted briefly for a few more sentences. Without leaving the association, Lin Mo directly led everyone straight to the lounge upstairs.
After entering the lounge, Lin Mo closed the door and took everyone into his Portable Space.
Now he could finally rest properly for a while.
Tomorrow, he still needed to go to the Master Craftsman Forge to see how Grandmaster Xavier's design plan was coming along. Also, how to spend the money he had earned...
While pondering these matters, Lin Mo started "taking his medicine."
The storage ring he just received conveniently contained the advanced Earth, Wind, and Water elemental reagents he currently lacked. Lin Mo drank them one by one.
Above advanced elemental reagents, there were naturally elemental reagents with even stronger effects.
But at that level, it was no longer just a matter of price; they were practically priceless and unavailable on the market.
The elemental reagent above the advanced level was called the super elemental reagent. The raw materials required came from mid-tier Epic Level magical creatures, and more than one was needed. Furthermore, the refinement difficulty was extremely high; even a Grandmaster-level Alchemist had a chance of failure.
Once it failed, the materials might also be damaged, resulting in enormous losses.
Therefore, the price gap between super elemental reagents and advanced elemental reagents was astronomically huge.
The materials from a mid-tier Epic Level magical creature were worth at least over four hundred thousand Gold Coins. Refining one bottle required materials from several such creatures. Adding in the loss rate, the price of a single finished bottle of super elemental reagent would reach several million Gold Coins!
Moreover, even in a place like the Imperial Capital, this quality of potion was unavailable most of the time; you couldn't buy it even if you wanted to.
Lin Mo currently neither had enough money nor the channels to purchase these things.
Then there was equipment...
Again, the same phrase: priceless and unavailable on the market.
To see any improvement now, he at least needed to purchase upper-tier Epic Level equipment. Equipment of this grade was already very rare and difficult to buy.
Even if he bought it, the improvement actually wouldn't be that significant.
Alchemical reagents... didn't seem that useful to him either.
The best choice seemed to be continuing to expand his skill pool, relying on stacking a large number of skills to rapidly increase his level. But the problem was... where to buy so many skills?
Among the skills available on the market, Lin Mo had already learned many of the common ones. Those skills with low prevalence were harder to buy.
After calculating, Lin Mo suddenly felt like he didn't know where to spend his money.
Such a headache...
Forget it. In any case, let's first forge the mithril gloves... The cost for that thing probably won't be low.
"Lin Mo... Lin Mo!"
While deep in thought, Ellie's hand waved in front of his face. Lin Mo snapped back to reality and looked at her. The girl then giggled: "What are you thinking about? Come on, it's time to eat."
Turning his head to look at the others who had already taken their seats one after another, a smile unconsciously curved at the corner of Lin Mo's mouth. He rubbed the little wolf's head: "Okay."
Dinner was still sumptuous and very warm.
Lin Mo really liked this kind of peaceful life. Especially after an adventure, spending a few days of such tranquil living could shed much of the physical and mental fatigue.
Maybe he should rest a couple more days this time...
After finishing the meal, everyone wasn't in a hurry to return to their rooms. Instead, they gathered again in the living room, sitting together eating post-meal fruits and snacks while chatting.
After chatting for quite a while, Flora yawned first, sleepiness setting in, and went back to her room to rest. Only then did everyone slowly disperse.
Lily was the last to leave.
As a newcomer and not very skilled at communication, she barely participated in the conversation just now, only listening quietly.
However, she really liked the serene and peaceful atmosphere during the exchange.
Everyone was such good people... and very kind. This friendly and loving atmosphere was really nice.
Lily couldn't help but think this way.
Then, she prepared to return to her room to rest.
Just as she reached her room door, she suddenly heard movement downstairs...
Because she arrived relatively late, the rooms on the 2nd floor were already full, so Lily lived on the 3rd floor.
"You guys came over too?"
Through the voice, she recognized this as the young woman from the Ice Wolf Clan.
"Trying to seize the initiative again? How cunning."
The voice responding to her sounded calm in tone but clearly carried a sting.
This was the maid lady who looked as cute as a doll.
During the earlier chat, she also spoke very few times. The limited times she opened her mouth were all during exchanges with His Highness Lin Mo.
Compared to then, although her tone didn't seem to have changed noticeably, even Lily, who was somewhat slow in these matters, could hear a hint of "passive-aggressiveness" in her words.
"Ellie, last time it was you guys first. This time it should be our turn..."
Finnie's voice still sounded soft, but it was very firm, with no intention of compromising at all.
"Don't be so particular. We're all sisters. Who goes first or later is the same..."
Ellie said carefreely and was about to push the door open but was quickly stopped by Sherfilia.
"If it's all the same, then please wait a moment, Miss Ellie and Miss Lena."
Sherfilia raised her head, her gaze meeting Ellie's, not giving an inch.
Lena hid behind Ellie, blinking her eyes, unsure whether to speak up or what to say.
Meanwhile, Finnie took half a step forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sherfilia.
"That's right! There should be some fairness!"
Ellie helplessly pursed her lips: "Alright then... Just remember to be gentle... Don't hurt him."
"Isn't the least gentle person actually you?"
Sherfilia's retort was as sharp as ever.
Ellie was momentarily unable to refute, only able to cough awkwardly twice before taking Lena back to their room.
At the same time, she was already reviewing in her heart—
No good. The soft and adorable Finnie, under the tutelage of that scummy maid, has seen her "combat power" rise steadily. If this continues, fighting one against two won't yield any advantage... Seems I've been somewhat neglecting Lena's training lately. I'll go back right now and work overtime; I need to make her tougher!
Accompanied by the sounds of doors opening and closing, the house finally quieted down.
Lily on the third floor was dumbfounded, sweat even beading on her forehead.
The atmosphere of this team didn't seem as harmonious as she had imagined...
Also sweating profusely was Lin Mo inside the room.
Of course, he could hear the commotion outside but didn't dare make a sound.
If he spoke up, all the blame would be pointed at him. If he had to choose then, no matter what he chose, he would be wrong either way.
In this kind of situation, it was best to stay out of it, not get involved. Then the fire most likely wouldn't burn him.
Playing dumb was the way to go.
Another seemingly harmonious night passed.
The next morning, after everyone got up, they still greeted each other with smiles all around, looking incredibly harmonious.
At first, Lin Mo thought just that—everyone got along well, without any conflicts or disputes, happily and harmoniously.
However, as time went on, he gradually came to realize that beneath this surface harmony, undercurrents were actually swirling.
In any interpersonal relationship, given enough time, it's impossible to have no conflicts, let alone in their team's special situation.
Who goes first, who goes later; the duration of time; the speed of attribute and level improvement; who gains more skill proficiency... these could all become sources of "competition."
Fortunately, among the three groups, there was one person who didn't care much about these things: Finnie, Lena, and Eve. So this hidden struggle, at least for now, wasn't too intense.
But judging from last night's situation, it seemed these three more easygoing girls were slowly starting to get involved in the "battle" too.
Sitting at the dining table, watching everyone chat and laugh happily, Lin Mo felt immense pressure in his heart.
This harem really wasn't easy to manage...
Did he also need to study some of those "imperial statecraft"?
Feeling somewhat weary, Lin Mo couldn't help but turn his gaze toward the only one who remained aloof from it all: Lily.
The girl was still wearing her armor, but while eating, she had taken off her helmet, revealing a very youthful and pretty face.
She kept her head down, eating her meal in big mouthfuls, not acting ladylike at all at this moment.
That carefree, single-minded focus on eating appearance actually eased much of the "anxiety" in Lin Mo's heart.
Forget it, take one step at a time...
After all, no matter what, he was still the head of the household. He should be able to keep things under control.