Chapter 162: 《Hermann’s Legacy Hypothesis》

Lance returned to the washroom and washed his face again.

Food had to be eaten one bite at a time, and roads had to be walked step by step.

No matter how massive a harem he planned to build in this other world in the future, if he wanted to achieve such a goal, then he first needed enough strength to protect them.

If he could not even keep himself alive, then what was the point of talking about adapting to local customs?

He first set a small goal for himself.

After wiping the water from his face, Lance’s eyes became firm once more.

“At the very least, I need to become a Legendary-rank Adventurer first.”

After tidying his appearance, Lance pushed open the door and strode toward the Adventurers’ Guild.

The guild hall was somewhat noisy today.

Many Adventurers gathered in groups of three or five, all whispering about the red light formation that had appeared above Copper Creek Forest in the middle of last night.

A disturbance of that scale made these people—who relied on low-rank commissions from Copper Creek Forest for a living—feel uneasy.

Quite a few parties were even hesitating over whether they should still accept outdoor commissions today because they could not figure out what was happening inside the forest.

Lance did not linger long in the first-floor hall.

Passing through the crowd, he skillfully made his way up the stairs to the Guild Master’s office on the third floor.

Knock knock knock.

Lance curled his fingers and lightly knocked on the heavy oak door.

“Come in.”

After receiving permission from the old Guild Master, he pushed the door open and entered.

The moment he stepped inside, Lance saw that Necros’s massive wooden desk was already piled high with all kinds of urgent documents stamped with wax seals.

“Sit down, brat.”

Seeing Lance enter, Necros stopped his quill pen and gestured toward the chair opposite the desk.

After Lance sat down, the old Guild Master rummaged through the pile of documents.

Finally, he pulled out a file bearing the distinctive purple wax seal of Violet Academy.

“Regarding last night’s sudden incident…”

After pushing the file toward Lance, the old Guild Master continued:

“Violet Academy has determined that this field internship encountered an unforeseeable danger beyond human control. In order to ensure the students’ safety, this year’s internship has been terminated early.”

Once a mission ended, rewards naturally had to be settled.

“Because the employment commission back then was personally guaranteed and signed by me, I’ll be the one settling your reward now.”

This was precisely the main reason Lance had come to the guild so early today.

According to the original contract, the full reward amounted to three shining gold coins.

For the current Lance, this absolutely counted as an enormous sum of money.

“Besides the gold coin payment originally promised to you in the contract.”

As Necros spoke, he pulled open the drawer beside him.

From within, he took out two bronze badges engraved with crossed swords and casually placed them on the table.

“These are internal guild merit tokens. Each one can be directly exchanged for one hundred Merit Points.”

The old Guild Master looked at Lance with clear admiration in his tone.

“In consideration of your outstanding performance during this leadership mission, both the guild and the academy have unanimously decided to award you an additional two hundred Merit Points.”

“An extra two hundred?”

Upon hearing that number, Lance did not immediately reach for the badges on the table. Instead, he frowned cautiously.

Since when had guild rewards become so easy to obtain?

He did not believe there was such a thing as a free lunch in this world.

“Guild Master.”

Lance looked at the old man opposite him and asked carefully.

“I thought the final settlement for this kind of employment commission would only be distributed strictly according to the amount written in black and white within the contract.”

“You don’t need to test me like this.”

Seeing Lance act as though he were guarding against a thief, Necros could not help but laugh and curse lightly.

“The reason this extra merit is being given to you is because you exceeded the original objectives we expected from this commission.”

As the old Guild Master spoke, he gestured for Lance to open the file.

“Take a look yourself. This is the final internship evaluation Cecilia submitted.”

Filled with suspicion, Lance accepted the parchment and lowered his head to read it.

At the most eye-catching spot on the evaluation sheet was the final assessment.

【Overall Ranking: First Place】

“First place?”

Seeing this result, Lance was genuinely surprised.

Although he knew the Half-Elf girl was highly motivated in her studies, he had never expected her to directly seize the top position.

“On the night before last night’s sudden incident, the academy organized a written comprehensive survival examination inside White Oak Manor.”

Necros slowly explained.

“Cecilia handed in a perfect full-score answer sheet in that examination.”

“And did you think nobody knew about your commission performance during this period?”

“Every commission form you submitted during this time was copied by the guild and handed over to the leading mages at White Oak Manor.”

“You were merely a temporary two-person party pieced together on the spot.”

“But the number of missions you completed around the outer forest far exceeded those fully equipped six-man and even seven-man parties.”

Necros’s tone was filled with praise. That old fellow had refrained from criticizing him afterward precisely because he had seen these results.

These outstanding achievements also proved that his choice had not been wrong.

“With such overwhelmingly superior results, Cecilia naturally became the top intern of this year’s Violet Academy class.”

“And as the Internship Mentor responsible for guiding her, your status naturally rose along with hers.”

“These two hundred Merit Points are a special reward specifically allocated after discussions between Violet Academy and our guild to express their gratitude toward you.”

Only after hearing this perfectly reasonable explanation did Lance finally lower his guard.

He straightforwardly reached out and calmly stored the two bronze merit badges into his pocket.

Now he no longer needed to worry about exchanging for new skills.

“Of course, besides these material rewards, I also have a special reward suitable for you.”

“Lance, if I’m not mistaken.”

The old Guild Master stared sharply at the black-haired boy before him.

“Your physical condition should already be at the threshold of breaking through into the Professional Rank, correct?”

“Yes.”

Since the old Guild Master had already seen through it, Lance chose not to hide it and nodded openly.

“All of my base attributes and combat skills have already approached that critical point infinitely closely.”

“If nothing unexpected happens, then within a week at the latest, I’ll need to prepare for an official Class Advancement Ritual.”

“Very good.”

Hearing that affirmative reply, Necros smiled in satisfaction.

He then took out another strangely shaped object.

It was a badge entirely cast from bronze, with the image of an open book engraved upon its surface, surrounded by intricate gear patterns.

“Take this.”

Necros handed the bronze badge to Lance.

“Starting today, all knowledge documents of Level Two and below inside the guild’s internal library are fully open to you with unrestricted access.”

“As someone who has gone through this before, before your official class advancement…”

The old Guild Master looked directly into Lance’s eyes and earnestly instructed him.

“I hope you’ll go to the guild library and properly read a book called 《Hermann’s Legacy Hypothesis》.”

“Once you’ve completely finished reading the contents of that book, then decide for yourself exactly when you should take that step into class advancement.”