Chapter 292 – A Pretty Picture

Unlike how messy and chaotic the mercenary offices are, the alliance office was a respectful government office so the inside was neat and orderly. The walls were filled with swords and armors, and a middle-aged man was sitting lazily at the counter while flipping through a heavy book. There were several tables next to him with fresh fruits and desserts prepared on top. The wall on the other side was filled with posters, other than a lot of densely packed characters, several large characters, like E and D, stood out.

Was that the place to take missions?

Lin Tian guessed as he watched the men standing around the posters, then his train of thought was suddenly interrupted by somebody.

“Hey, what are you brats doing here? Don’t cause trouble here, go play somewhere else!” The middle-aged man at the counter harshly scolded them and thought they were some mischievous brats and was going to chase them out.

No one could blame him, after all, Lin Tian and Yao Zi were still students and looked immature, it wasn’t strange they were taken to be brats.

“W-we’re not here to play… uncle, is this the alliance office?” Lin Tian asked.

“That’s right, so scram!”

“Uh… uncle, we’re actually here to get certified.”

“Certified?”

The man stopped and shut the thick book and walked out from the counter to size them up.

“Look, this is our badge!” Lin Tian quickly fished out his badge and handed it over, and at the same time urged the slow Yao Zi to do the same.

The middle-aged man thought they were joking at first and was shocked when he saw the genuine badge.

“I’m the manager here, Hebrew, you two?”

“I’m Lin Tian, she’s my sister Yao Zi, we’re students from Bamboo Academy!”

“Bamboo Academy? … Oh, you guys.”

He already heard that the winners of this year’s academy tournament was some small no-name academy. The team also had no one special, they might have been slightly better than others of the same age, but they were no were close to being geniuses. The only reason they were able to win was because of their insane luck.

Not only did something happen during the middle of the tournament, the final winners were also harshly criticized. To everyone, this was a failed year that no one took seriously.

“Since you recognize us, then quickly certify us! There was an S-ranked mission issued recently, right? Let me take a look!”

“There was an S-ranked mission issued, but you guys think you can complete an S-ranked mission?” Hebrew disdainfully snorted and played with Lin Tian’s badge in his hands and said, “Don’t tell me you thought that you would successfully be certified, right?”

“Ah? W-what do you mean?”

Lin Tian felt like a bucket of cold water was tossed over him.

“Previously, a lot of alliance investigators sneaked their relatives in, so there’s a lot of trash that just takes money without doing any work… In order to prevent that, since five years ago, all new investigators have to pass a ‘Strength Challenge’ before they can get certified. Otherwise, they can’t get paid or take missions.” Hebrew squinted at them while explaining, already scheming up something inside.

These two were just some rash brats that didn’t know anything, rather than chasing them away, might as well get something from them… he could probably use that.

“Oh, I see… t-then let us take the ‘Strength Challenge’!” Lin Tian was still trying to act tough, but he was already panicking.

The ‘Strength Challenge’ that Hebrew was talking about sounded difficult. Although he diligently meditated regularly, but since he was injured before and he was talented, he currently only had the strength of an intermediate fifth-level. Even though he’s a respectable magician, but he might not meet the high threshold of being an alliance investigator.

“Hehe, if you want to take the challenge, we can do it right now!” When Hebrew saw Lin Tian hesitate, he immediately thew out some bait. He changed his initial disdainful attitude and familiarly pulled on Lin Tian’s arms and urged him, “Lin Tian, if you successfully get certified today, not only can you immediately take a mission and get a thick paycheck!”

“Really? But if I don’t…” Lin Tian was already moved and he looked back at Yao Zi, when he saw her blank look, he clenched his fist and made a decision, “Okay, let’s go then!”

“Haha, that’s it, that’s what it means to be young!” Hebrew laughed and patted Lin Tian’s shoulder with approval, then took the two of them towards the backyard.

Seeing that, the people remaining that were looking at the mission board smiled at each other and read the same emotions from each other’s eyes.

“Sigh, it’s been a while since I’ve seen investigators that young, so isn’t it fine for them to suffer a bit?”

“Of course, we were almost tricked by that damn Hebrew as well… forget it, young people learn from their mistakes.”

They bitterly smiled and shook their heads while following them and watched from a distance.

At that time, Lin Tian and Yao Zi already followed Hebrew to the backyard and stopped in the center.

“Do you see that?”

Hebrew pointed at a strangely human shaped piece of stone that was tens of meters away.

“That’s… a refined magic stone?”

Lin Tian fixed his eyes on it and noticed it was a doll made of refined magic stone. Rather than doll, it was more like a fat cylinder, other than sitting stably on the ground outside it was pretty much just a roly-poly toy.

“The challenge is simple, you just have to stand here and use magic to knock it down. Once you pass, I’ll immediately write your name into the investigator roster and give you your salary.” Hebrew painted him a pretty picture, and he was worried that Lin Tian would be nervous so he even consoled him, “Don’t worry, although the refined magic stone can absorb most of the magic, the inside is actually empty and just filled with wood. So according to the Four Kingdom Alliance’s requirements, fifth-level magic can knock it down.”

“Just fifth-level magic?” Lin Tian widened his eyes and asked in delight.

He was currently intermediate fifth-level and could proficiently cast fifth-level magic, especially ice magic, so it would be a piece of cake to knock it down!

It seems like he’ll get his first paycheck soon!

“Ah, that’s right, just fifth-level magic… hehe.”

Hebrew nodded and then unawaredly raised the corner of his mouth.