Chapter 232: Spirit Sight, Campfire Traveler, Hero

The man had clearly realized that Lance had voluntarily brought his daughter back and immediately placed a hand over his chest and bowed in thanks.

“My name is Bazel. I'm a Level 3 Bard.”

Bazel naturally introduced his profession.

Within the circles of Professional-rank individuals, as long as neither side deliberately concealed their aura using special concealment skills, they could sense each other's rank through emitted Aether fluctuations.

The moment Bazel approached, he had already keenly sensed that Lance was a Professional who had only just stepped through the gates of advancement.

“I currently work as a column editor for the famous publication 《Campfire Traveler》 under the Bards Association, specializing in tracking and reporting the exploration progress of major regional Underground Dungeons.”

As he spoke, a sense of professional pride seeped into his voice.

“Right now, Summer Crown has fully begun across the entire continent. Because the awakening of the Will of the Underground Dungeon happened so suddenly and without any warning, all of us reporting Bards have been rushing day and night to our assigned dungeons to establish long-term observation posts.”

Since his current professional level was only Level 3, according to association regulations, the content he was responsible for could only focus on Level 1 to Level 5 dungeons. His current destination happened to be Graystone Town.

“This child has caused you trouble.”

Bazel turned and rubbed Lilia's head, his voice carrying a trace of apology.

“Because of the nature of my profession, I have to travel constantly between various towns all year round. And since this child's mother passed away from illness long ago, I simply can't trust leaving her with someone else. So I've had no choice but to keep her by my side.”

Hearing the explanation, Lance nodded.

It seemed the man truly was the girl's sole remaining family.

After exchanging a few more polite words in the corridor, Lance courteously ended the conversation and headed toward his luxury cabin farther down the hallway.

Watching Lance's disappearing figure vanish around the corner, Lilia stretched out her little hand and tugged hard on the hem of Bazel's vest.

“Bazel, that big brother is a hero.”

Just as Bazel was about to lead his daughter back to the lower cabins, he abruptly stopped.

Lowering his head, his expression immediately became extremely serious as he looked at his daughter.

Bazel knew something.

His daughter had been born with a Spirit Sight talent so rare that it was nearly unheard of across the entire continent.

As long as she wished, she could accurately determine whether someone bore goodwill toward her.

Moreover, she could see a kind of projected image behind them.

For ordinary people, however, those images were usually nothing more than chaotic colored lines tangled together, impossible to interpret into anything meaningful.

When his daughter had first stammered out descriptions of this phenomenon years ago, Bazel had no idea what practical use such a talent possessed and had assumed it was merely a simple ability to distinguish good from evil.

That changed several years earlier.

At the time, he had been fortunate enough to accompany a senior member of the association as an assistant to interview one of the kingdom's heroes.

Young Lilia had been with him as well.

After the interview ended and they departed, Lilia secretly told him that the image behind that old man was completely different from ordinary people.

She had seen a solitary figure standing before countless terrifying monsters.

And behind him, innumerable tiny figures were fleeing for safety.

After that incident, Bazel finally understood.

The visualized images his daughter saw might represent significant events in which a person had once played a central role.

“Lilia, what image did you see behind him just now?”

Using his veteran experience, he had already determined at first glance that the youth was a combat profession.

And most combat professionals chose to participate in Summer Crown.

Crouching down, Bazel cautiously glanced around the corridor before deliberately lowering his voice.

Lilia bit her finger and closed her eyes, seriously recalling what she had seen.

“I saw someone wearing a black crown. Lots and lots of people were kneeling on the ground holding treasures, all rushing to give them to him.”

“That crown-wearing person was sitting way up high and laughing loudly.”

Hearing his daughter's childish description, Bazel's mind began racing as he attempted to decipher the meaning behind the image.

He knew that beyond seeing visions, the core function of her ability was accurately distinguishing the moral nature of a person.

Since she had just confidently declared that the young man was definitely not a bad person, then the crowned figure couldn't possibly represent some tyrant oppressing the people.

Viewed from another angle, perhaps the image meant that the youth had once helped countless people somewhere.

Those people had voluntarily offered treasures to him out of pure gratitude.

Over the years, he and his daughter had traveled extensively and met all kinds of individuals.

Gradually, he had noticed a pattern.

People with visualized images behind them either possessed enough power to influence major world events, or they carried potential beyond ordinary imagination.

Yet most of those people were already famous.

The young man named Lance before him was absolutely the first person he had ever encountered who possessed such a visualized image while remaining completely unknown within 《Campfire Traveler》's intelligence network.

That was astonishing.

Surely nobody could grow to such a level in such a short period of time?

For Bazel, who desperately needed explosive news material, the young man himself was a massive untapped treasure.

However...

“Ah...”

Bazel stood up, took hold of his daughter's small hand again, and returned toward his cabin with a troubled expression.

Originally, this business trip had been intended to take him directly to the Underground Dungeon outside Graystone Town for a month-long live reporting assignment.

According to the intelligence network within their association, during just the first week after Summer Crown began, several renowned veteran parties from across White River Province had already gathered there.

The grudges and rivalries between those parties were more dramatic than any stage play.

Within the Ignition Rank specifically, those parties occupied several of the highest positions in dungeon-party fame throughout White River Province.

Two of them were even subordinate parties specially established by major adventurer groups from the royal capital.

Through extensive promotion and publicity, they had long since become famous.

Some of those party organizations had even existed for decades.

Although their core members constantly changed, maintaining such a famous reputation for decades was enough to prove the immense strength of the financial powers backing them.

Moreover, the major incident that had recently shaken White River Province and involved multiple organizations had become the talk of the region.

During the annual grand event “Golden Mystery Domain,” held by the God Mercurio, who governed the authorities of equivalent exchange, wealth, and prosperity, several major organizations had erupted into a bloody conflict.

The resulting grudges had directly spilled over into this Summer Crown.

According to reliable information, many notorious underground organizations had spent enormous sums assembling temporary parties specifically to ambush famous teams from rival factions within the dungeon.

This would inevitably turn this Summer Crown into a true battlefield.

Every old and new grudge had already been laid completely bare.

For any Bard, these were precisely the kind of sensational stories capable of selling out entire publication runs.

Originally, he had intended to chase after those hot topics.

But now...

After hearing his daughter's words,

Bazel found himself wavering.

He suddenly felt the urge to push all of his chips onto the table and place a single all-or-nothing bet on that young man.