Chapter 1293: Temporary Companions and Task Selection_2

It’s just a matter of a word.

After all, the necklace itself is not a high-level enchanted equipment, and it requires very little war merit. It is only listed at the ‘Fortress Guard’ level because of its collection and symbolic significance, and no adventurers would be interested in it.

In fact, if this operation were exposed and known by the soldiers and adventurers in the fortress, they might wonder why someone like Xia Nan, with such connections, ended up exchanging for this, thinking he wasted an opportunity to take advantage.

And what Xia Nan has to pay is a favor.

Hmm… strictly speaking, it could actually count as one and a half.

After all, Swent is willing to help Xia Nan not because of his outstanding potential to invest in advance, nor because he made any contribution to the fortress to be rewarded.

It is purely because of the relationship with Barbarian Fugang.

If Xia Nan makes such a request, he would directly owe Swent a favor, not to mention the favor owed to Fugang, which, although probably won’t concern Fugang much, would still consume.

Xia Nan hates this feeling.

But if it’s for equipment as important as the [Final Reversal Scale], he can actually grit his teeth and endure it.

But…

In the end, Xia Nan didn’t do it.

Of course, not because he is noble or has some kind of moral purism.

Just now, when he had the idea to use the relationship with Barbarian Fugang to get [Final Reversal Scale] in advance, and was about to take action, at the moment he was about to speak.

A certain inexplicable intuition from the depths of his heart made him subconsciously swallow the words that had reached his throat, wanting to speak but stopping.

From a logical perspective, taking advantage of connections like this is completely feasible, and the price paid is within the tolerable range compared to the results that could be achieved in the end.

It seems Xia Nan has no reason not to do so.

But from the intuition aspect, the strange premonition from the heart was indeed stopping him from moving further in this direction, not wanting him to get involved with the Blood-Forged Fortress or Deputy Garrison Commander Swent.

What should be chosen?

Well, it must be explained here.

Xia Nan’s Intelligence Attribute is a ‘5’ of an ordinary person;

While his Perception Attribute is nearly reaching a Transcendent level of ’14’.

He, who always had self-awareness, didn’t hesitate to choose the latter between ‘logic’ and ‘intuition’.

And this is exactly the reason why he left the Inner Castle with the Winter Wolf and went to the military merit center of the fortress.

Since relying on connections turned out to be impractical, he naturally has to maximize his initiative, seize the time to take tasks, accumulate war merits, and improve his contribution level to the fortress.

…

…

It must be said that the efficiency on the fortress side is indeed high.

Or rather, the speed of information dissemination is even faster than Xia Nan imagined.

Perhaps because when he followed the two soldiers to the Inner Castle at the time, he did not really conceal anything.

However, within a short stay in the castle, the news that he was personally received by the Deputy Garrison Commander of the fortress had already begun to spread among the soldiers.

As a result, even though he was dressed as an adventurer through the entire Upper City District, he was almost not stopped or questioned.

Smooth all the way.

When he returned to the military merit center, the young officer who had personally watched Xia Nan leave with the two soldiers from the Inner Castle even proactively came forward to greet him.

And patted his chest in assurance that if anyone else wanted to exchange for the [Chain of Conquest], he would help delay and promptly notify Xia Nan.

Hearing this, Xia Nan also breathed a sigh of relief.

At least this way, he wouldn’t have to worry about other adventurers snatching opportunities, and he could focus on accumulating his contribution level with peace of mind.

Seeing Xia Nan come over to take tasks, the young officer originally planned to arrange a special channel for him to skip the line.

But considering he was new and didn’t know anyone, he didn’t want to offend other adventurers unexpectedly.

In the end, Xia Nan politely declined the young officer’s arrangement, and under the wary or scrutinizing gazes of other adventurers, stood at the end of the line with the Winter Wolf Fenney.

He patiently waited for a while before finally standing at the counter.

“Hello sir, is there anything I can help you with?”

The one who was responsible for reception was a young soldier who seemed to be just in his early twenties.

His words and movements appeared green and inexperienced, presumably because of staff shortages, and was directly brought over from the boot camp.

However, his attitude was much more sincere and patient than those old foxes.

Having just frantically helped a rude and impatient dwarf register war merits, he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

Seeing Xia Nan walk in, a polite smile bloomed on his face, and he greeted proactively.

Nodding in response, Xia Nan went straight to the point:

“Please find me a few suitable bounty tasks.”

“Okay, please wait a moment!”

Previously, when claiming the war merits for the Layered Armor Elephant, he had already registered simple personal information at the military merit center.

Hearing Xia Nan say this, the young receptionist immediately set to work.

Unlike the freedom of choice at the adventurer association, at Blood-Forged Fortress, if adventurers want to take tasks, the receptionist often provides two to three tasks based on adventurers’ past achievements, following related process regulations, for them to choose from.

Although it’s Xia Nan’s first time engaging in adventure-related processes at Blood-Forged Fortress, the war merits of the Layered Armor Elephant can be counted as accumulating achievements for him, so he doesn’t need to start from the lowest level of cleaning goblins.

After a round of searching, the young receptionist with a boyish face provided Xia Nan with three options.

…

[Task Number]: A12

[Reward]: Depending on completion conditions

[Task Briefing]:

Recently, a large number of cases involving missing soldiers and adventurers have occurred near the border, requiring experienced adventurers to investigate.

…

[Task Number]: B135

[Reward]: 45 war merit points

[Task Briefing]:

An adventurer team with an average professional level of lv1 encountered an unidentified demon at the southern side of Frost Hill east of Blood-Forged Fortress. According to survivors, they encountered a lv4 challenge level Banshee, now requires adventurers to purge.

…

[Task Number]: C932

[Reward]: 10 war merit points

[Task Briefing]:

Recently, soldiers have discovered traces of suspected Ghouls at the outskirts of Frost Hill, adventurers are needed to go to the corresponding coordinates and clear them.

…

Compared with the commissions from the adventurer association, the task situations at Blood-Forged Fortress are undoubtedly much simpler, with no mention of time limits and rarely additional information.

Fortunately, it is straightforward and clear.

The letters ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ after the ‘Task Number’ correspond to the difficulty and level of the task, and the ‘Reward’ is calculated in the form of war merit points.

After a quick browse through these three options, Xia Nan already had a choice.

The A-level task doesn’t provide clear information, only describing the recent situation of many missing adventurers, which seems like a long-term task, and the reward is not clear, making it hard to guarantee sufficient income in a short time, temporarily set aside;

The C-level task is too simple, with relatively little reward, and Ghoul being a demon with a challenge level of only lv1, taking on such tasks does not really fit Xia Nan’s current strength level, nor his plan to quickly accumulate war merits and enhance contribution level.

Compared to the two, the B-level task targeting a lv4 challenge level Banshee is just right.

It is neither too dangerous nor too easy, and the expected reward matches his expectations.

And according to the information Xia Nan previously learned from Tal.

A B-level task like this is exactly the threshold condition for upgrading his contribution level at Blood-Forged Fortress from the initial ‘Volunteer’ to the second-level ‘Patrol Border guard’.

If completed perfectly, he would be one step closer to his goal.

“This one.” Xia Nan pointed to the second task, speaking to the receptionist before him.

“Alright!” The other immediately nodded in response, barely finished scratching with the feather pen on the registration form when he seemed to remember something.

Looking up, he glanced at Xia Nan and the Winter Wolf Fenney beside him, cautiously saying:

“Uh, sir, may I ask… are you alone here?”