Chapter 634 War Merit Exchange and an Inexplicable Warm Current

Having lived for a long time in the major adventurer hubs of Rivervale Town and Barracuda Bay, Xia Nan could clearly feel how different Bloodcast Keep was.

The Outer Camp had felt inexplicably familiar, as though he had returned to his bustling days frequenting the White Chickadee and the Three-Legged Sea Dog.

Yet as he moved inward from the Lower District, although the number of adventurers on the streets remained high, the inherent chaos of their profession had noticeably diminished, their movements seemingly bound by an invisible order.

It made sense.

After all, stripping away their class attributes and boiling them down to their nature, adventurers were ultimately highly intelligent creatures with normal cognitive and reasoning abilities.

Perhaps in their daily lives, the Transcendent Tier power they wielded gradually twisted their mindsets, leading them to tyrannize ordinary commoners.

But they were not born into evil, chaos, and low intellect like goblins.

When a truly overwhelming and irresistible force warned them, "Don't cause trouble, or you'll be sent to prison!" they were still capable of settling down and following the town's rules and regulations.

As a "good citizen" who disliked causing trouble, Xia Nan naturally had no objections to this.

He handed a piece of fresh meat he had just bought at a butcher's stall to Winter Wolf Fanny beside him, then rubbed her cold, furry head.

His gaze swept over a squad of guards passing by on the street ahead, and he frowned slightly.

This was already the third patrol he had seen in the short time since he parted ways with the barbarian Forgan.

Wasn't this frequency a bit too high?

Moreover, his sharp Perception allowed Xia Nan to vaguely sense a subtle anxiety and tension radiating from the passing soldiers.

After a moment of thought, he asked the ranger Tal, who was leading the way, "Has anything happened around Bloodcast Keep recently?"

Hearing this, the short, stout, bald ranger paused his introduction of the street-side buildings, hesitation flashing across his face as he weighed whether he should speak.

A moment later, he swallowed hard and made a decision.

"Lord Xia Nan, I have indeed heard a few adventurers talking about recent events in town, but it's all hearsay and might not be accurate."

"I didn't bring it up earlier because I was afraid of misleading you."

"But since you're asking—well, just treat it as a passing rumor. Don't take it too seriously."

"If possible—"

Tal's expression turned a little sheepish.

"If anyone asks later, please don't let them know you heard it from me."

Seeing Xia Nan give a slight nod to agree to his humble request, Tal took two steps forward and glanced around guiltily to make sure no one was paying attention to them.

Lowering his voice deliberately, he whispered mysteriously, "I heard from others that [Baron Blackcliff]—the garrison commander of Bloodcast Keep, Lord Adonis—hasn't shown his face in a very long time."

"Oh?" Xia Nan raised an eyebrow.

[Baron Blackcliff] Adonis. Xia Nan had heard the man's name earlier while gathering information in Salt Rock Port.

He knew this baron was the current garrison commander of Bloodcast Keep and had a fairly good reputation in the northeastern region of Calm Peaks Province.

He was a man of considerable ability, a pragmatist who used his noble title to realize his ambitions, and he had achieved a great deal on the border over the years.

It was estimated that after putting in a few more years at Bloodcast Keep, he would use his family connections to grease the wheels in the Imperial Capital and secure a promotion and transfer.

To think that right now, he was actually—

"How did the news get out? Are there any more specific details?" Xia Nan followed up.

"Some adventurers managed to pry it out of the castle guards." Tal raised his gaze slightly, looking toward the Upper District ahead, where several eye-catching spires poked through the overlapping roofs of the single-story houses.

"Lord Adonis goes to the Church every morning to worship. In all his years as the garrison commander of Bloodcast Keep, even if he occasionally missed a day due to special circumstances, it would be for at most a day or two, and such occurrences wouldn't even happen once in half a year."

"But now—"

"Word is that no one has seen the baron for half a month."

Having already said this much, there was no point in holding back anymore. Tal poured out all the information he had gathered, regardless of whether it was true or false.

"Some people think Lord Adonis has fallen severely ill and is bedridden. Others believe Baron Blackcliff was critically injured in a battle with some dangerous monster and is now on his deathbed, especially since the baron frequently led guards out of the fortress on missions himself."

"But no matter what, for them to lock down the news to this extent, not even announcing what happened to the baron or his current condition... it's clearly not a small matter."

Xia Nan didn't reply after hearing this; a thoughtful expression settled on his face.

No wonder those patrolling guards were so anxious and restless. Given Baron Adonis's prestige in Bloodcast Keep, a sudden and inexplicable disappearance like this would certainly stir up panic among the rank-and-file soldiers.

Not to mention the recent surge in monster attacks nearby. More and more garrison soldiers were dying to the monsters' claws and fangs, to the point where they actually needed to conscript adventurers.

Under such circumstances, with the border fortress's top commander suddenly facing an issue, it was completely normal for the atmosphere among the troops to shift.

However—

Xia Nan couldn't be blamed for overthinking it; after encountering so many abnormalities, he was bound to draw connections.

He suspected that Baron Blackcliff's disappearance might be linked to the inexplicably increasing and highly aggressive monsters around Bloodcast Keep, or perhaps even connected to that bizarre goblin army he had encountered and wiped out on his way here.

And the barbarian Forgan, a Transcendent Tier being with a class level nearing the Legendary rank—what role did he play, having traveled over mountains and rivers to get here?

Chaotic thoughts tangled in his mind like a ball of yarn, impossible to sort out.

While he was lost in thought, the voice of the ranger Tal—who had resumed leading the way after telling Xia Nan everything he knew—pulled his attention back to reality.

"We're here, Lord Xia Nan!"

"This is Bloodcast Keep's Military Merit Office!"

As he stopped by the street, an unremarkable two-story building came into view.

The structure itself was built from sturdy rocks similar to the main material of Bloodcast Keep. However, it had clearly never weathered the legendary battles against the barbarians beyond the borders; its stone bricks didn't exude a blood-red luster, but were instead an ordinary brownish-black.

The storefront was wide, with all sorts of adventurers coming and going. A sign stood by the entrance, bearing the emblem of a straight sword piercing a scroll, beneath which several words were written in standard and clear Common:

—"Bloodcast Keep War Merit Exchange."

It was, of course, a newly established organization from just the past few months.

To ensure these drawn-in adventurers became a genuine asset, Bloodcast Keep had put in a tremendous amount of effort.

The Outer Camp, specially built for adventurers with noticeably relaxed rules and accompanied by a large number of supporting facilities, was only one aspect.

Knowing clearly that "profit" was the sole driving force for adventurers, Bloodcast Keep's higher-ups—aiming to maximize the strength of these sources of chaos—had lazily yet incredibly wisely copied the Adventurers' Association's entire system whole cloth.

Dangerous monsters that originally required the lives of countless soldiers to barely handle had been transformed into bounty notices in the hands of receptionists.

As long as someone completed these mission objectives and brought back proof, they could exchange it at the Military Merit Office for War Merits corresponding to the difficulty.

And War Merits could then be used to exchange for gold coins, equipment, or items.

It was basically just a rebranded version of the Adventurers' Association's system.

Naturally, it wasn't copied completely blindly; Bloodcast Keep had made many flexible adjustments based on their actual situation.

After all, from a core perspective, the two were fundamentally different.

The Adventurers' Association mostly just served as a platform for posting and accepting missions, earning broker fees and maintaining industry order without any strong, overarching agenda.

It was much more commercial in nature, and much freer.

Bloodcast Keep was completely different.

It was a military fortress on the kingdom's border, officially belonging to the Servia Kingdom.

Soldiers and officers were stationed here to protect the security of the border.

And the missions Bloodcast Keep posted were all born from that very purpose.

Moreover, due to military necessities, the actual process of issuing and accepting tasks carried a slight hint of compulsion, though still within a tolerable threshold for most adventurers.

In addition, on the level of Points—or rather, War Merits exchange—Bloodcast Keep had made extensive modifications based on local realities.

The harsh reality was that compared to a behemoth like the Adventurers' Association, Bloodcast Keep couldn't even secure official support from Servia. As purely a military institution, even though they had recently raked in vast amounts of gold from soaring tax revenues due to the influx of adventurers, it was still just a drop in the bucket to sustain such a massive number of adventurers on that alone.

Therefore, although there were no overt restrictions on exchanging for gold coins, Bloodcast Keep actively encouraged adventurers to spend their War Merits on things like combat techniques, equipment, and items by offering price cuts, promotional marketing, and other methods.

The results were actually quite decent.

After all, the border had accumulated resources through countless battles over the years. Backed by the Servian government, not only were their warehouses practically overflowing with various high-level equipment, but the combat techniques they offered were also official reserves that couldn't be found anywhere else on normal days.

Gold coins could be earned anywhere.

But missing out on these rare combat techniques and discounted equipment meant truly missing out.

No matter how greedy they were, the vast majority of adventurers could still recognize this much.

With Winter Wolf Fanny at his side, Xia Nan followed Tal into the War Merit Exchange.

The space wasn't large. Compared to the two Adventurers' Association branches he had visited, it was only about a third of their size.

Solid oak floorboards covered the ground, and the walls on both sides were bare, lacking any paint or extra decorations. It was as sharp and simple as Bloodcast Keep's own identity as a military fortress.

The most prominent feature in the hall was a long wooden counter.

Adventurers stood in noisy queues, while receptionists wearing the official military uniforms of the kingdom sat behind the long counter, busily processing their transactions.

They seemed a little short-handed. Xia Nan noticed that two of the receptionists were likely new recruits temporarily drafted from the barracks; they were sweating profusely under the adventurers' urging, so nervous that their faces had turned slightly pale.

This was different from the Adventurers' Association, where massive numbers of quests were posted on mission boards for passing adventurers to choose from.

Most of the tasks here in Bloodcast Keep involved dealing with monsters near the border, lacking significantly in both quantity and diversity.

As a result, the mission board only held a few notices and long-term quests.

If an adventurer wanted to take a commission, they had to speak with a receptionist personally and choose from three or four options provided, which imposed an obvious restriction.

"Right, strictly speaking, that Armored Elephant I killed earlier should also count as a dangerous monster near the border, shouldn't it? Can it be exchanged for War Merits?" Xia Nan asked Tal beside him, suddenly remembering it.

"Of course!" Hearing this, Tal nodded heavily with absolute certainty, patting his bulging backpack for good measure.

Inside was a small piece he had severed from the corpse—the tip of the Armored Elephant's tusk.

It could be used as proof to exchange for the corresponding War Merits.

This differed from the Adventurers' Association's typical workflow of accepting a commission first, then completing the task to earn a reward.

In order to maximize the incentive for adventurers to hunt monsters—much like Rivervale Town's old Hunting Day—Bloodcast Keep maintained a baseline bounty mechanism for any monster that appeared near the Servia Kingdom's northeastern border.

Kill it, bring back the proof, and you could directly convert it into War Merits.

Leaving Tal to queue up, Xia Nan had originally wanted to stroll around the Military Merit Office to familiarize himself with the environment.

But suddenly, a burst of commotion erupted from the already crowded entrance.

"Make way, everyone make way!" a young officer in Bloodcast Keep's official standard armor shouted, directing the adventurers at the door to step aside.

Immediately after, a squad of soldiers filed out, carrying a large amount of goods.

This was likely inventory pulled from the Inner Keep's warehouses for the exchange.

Perhaps hoping to boost the adventurers' enthusiasm, the vast majority of these goods weren't covered up at all. The soldiers simply carried them openly, fully exposing them to everyone's eyes.

Standing amidst the crowd, Xia Nan's attention became highly focused.

His expression remained unchanged, but secretly, he had already pulled up his Attribute Panel.

It was only a short distance from the entrance to the inner door of the Military Merit Office's warehouse, and he couldn't possibly follow them closely to inspect everything. The entire process was quite rushed, so he could only scan the equipment panels in passing, keeping his attention primarily focused on the "Quality Grade" column.

The vast majority were white common items with a few affixes, but there was also no shortage of green Fine ones.

He didn't spot any purple Unique items, but there were actually a few blue Rare pieces, though they were all weapons of types unsuited to him.

Covered head to toe in custom-made enchanted gear, his threshold was already set incredibly high, so these ordinary enchanted items naturally failed to pique his interest.

But right at this moment.

Suddenly, from the [Proof of Diligence] bracelet on his right wrist, a faint, inexplicable warm current pulsed out, entirely imperceptible to anyone else.

Realizing something, Xia Nan's heart instantly skipped a beat.

Pushing his Perception to the maximum, he began to doubly scrutinize every single piece of equipment and item being carried past him by the soldiers.