Chapter 48: Riskying everything

[[Mortal-(Mythic)] mission has been requested. Random mission allocated.]

[Mythic-Mission <Wealthy Merchant> has been activated]

[Wealthy Merchant] Gather 1000 gold coins with your own strength! Assigned time [48 hours].

The countdown will start immediately. Good luck!]

[47H:59M:59S]

Jumping up in fright, Shane took a second to understand what was going on, before he rushed out of the Inn with Umbra around his shoulders towards the market.

'What the actual f**k!!' Cursing in his mind Shane read the message once again, without halting in his tracks.

Gathering 1000 gold coins by himself wasn't really that difficult but doing so in 48 hours was impossible with just hunting while being at the Mortal stage.

It could almost be said to be fraud to force a Mortal stage to gather 1000 gold coins in 48 hours but Shane couldn't do anything against the mission and he had to accept it even if he was frustrated.

Previously, Shane thought he would have to gather 1000 gold coins before he could request a mission because it was one of the requirements to purchase the [Mortal-(Mythic)] body refining technique but apparently that wasn't the case.

'48 hours!' Shane shouted in his mind, while frustration spread through his whole body.

He had to do it, otherwise, his plan to establish a perfect foundation would shatter before it even began, which was not acceptable.

Arriving at the DeepMountain shelter market, Shane already calmed down thanks to his passive [Hunter's Mind] before he used his twenty gold coins to purchase a few usable items.

Turning around, he vanished within the feeble lightened alley towards the dimensional portal.

Standing in front of the dimensional portal, Shane was under enormous pressure from the mission he got allocated as he took a short glance at the timer.

[47H:29M:37S]

30 minutes already passed and Shane hadn't even left the Deep Mountain-river shelter, which he changed immediately.

Selecting the [Radiant mountain ring] dimension, he paid 2 silver coins as transportation fee before the space twisted around him teleporting the two of them into a different dimension.

Entering the radiant mountain ring dimension, Shane looked around, only to see that there were only a few stone- and concrete houses for the construction workers, while the whole shelter looked like it was a construction site.

Shane would have thought he selected the wrong shelter if he couldn't see the tremendous large mountain range right in front of him.

Coming back to his senses after staring lost in thought at the mountain range, Shane sprinted through the halfway constructed alleys evading guards and construction workers while searching for the shelter gate which would lead him outside.

More than five minutes passed and Shane had to ask a guard for guidance before he found the gate of the RadiantRing shelter.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Shane left the shelter only to finally see the sheer size of the mountain with its surrounding forest, forcing him to gulp his saliva.

Stepping out of the shelter, Shane couldn't waste anymore time because he had to search for one of the special caves before he would even be able to mine the mana and elemental crystals he saw in one of the pictures which were accidentally uploaded by one of the scouts that ventured into the mountain area.

Shane knew the picture was accidentally uploaded because it was deleted only a few minutes after it was posted.

There were only a few views on the picture and Shane was one of the lucky ones, causing him to be able to think clearly, even though he was in an overwhelming situation.

In addition to his passive [Hunter's Mind], Shane felt weirdly enough calm, as he ran towards the mountain range.

He didn't have many information about the radiant mountain ring dimension and only a few beasts were officially posted online but they weren't anything special at all.

If there was a rare beast race nearby the shelter, Shane didn't doubt that the government already killed them but even so, that wasn't really important when he entered the unfamiliar forest with fast steps.

The beasts within the forest haven't seen many humans and treated them subconsciously as their prey.

As such, Shane had to endure quite a few wild stage beast attacks, which he easily annihilated with his combat prowess in addition to his shiolite dagger and Umbra's background support.

Most beasts at the wild stage couldn't be considered a threat to Shane anymore as his cultivation reached the 8th Mortal stage while his physique was at the 7th Mortal stage.

Two hours passed until Shane reached the outskirts of the mountain and even though time passed, he could already see some caves higher up on the mountain, which relieved him a little bit.

On his way towards the outskirts of the mountain, Shane killed quite a few beast groups but the most annoying group of beasts were six fiery scaled lizards that spewed flames, causing him an uncomfortable time.

With their long-range flames, they hindered Shane's advancement and he once again understood that he should learn archery or another long-range weapon in order to kill opponents like the fiery scaled lizards with it.

But it was not the time to lament about his incapability to hunt the fiery scaled lizards, as Shane risked everything in order to forcefully advance through the group of flame-spewing lizards.

Bareilly evading most of the spewed fire, Shane enveloped himself with a thick mana membrane protecting the area where the remaining flames struck him.

It was extremely hot and Shane almost shouted out in pain as he thrusted out with his shiolite dagger stabbing into one of the fiery scaled lizard's necks, killing it mercilessly.

Shane could advance forcefully again in order to leave the encirclement but having arrived within the center area of the fiery scaled lizards, he wouldn't let them stay alive as they burned his skin.

He was about to activate his [Berserk(F)] skill but Shane stopped himself because he couldn't be sure if he needed to use the berserk skill later.

Fortunately for Shane was that the fiery scaled lizards could only spit flames for five seconds at once, allowing him to massacre the remaining shocked lizards once their flames dissipated.

The fiery scaled lizards would have never thought that they met a being dumb enough to charge into their flames without caring for its life, only to get slaughtered by it.

They were the strongest beings within the outer part of the forest but were slaughtered just like that? It was hard for the enraged fiery scaled lizards to believe that as they let out a roar in anguish before they tried to attack Shane with their claws and maw.

This was however completely useless because the fiery scaled lizards' exceptional strong characteristic was their affinity and the high amount of mana they required to supply the flames they spit out.

Their physical strength was roughly at the 7th Wild stage, while their speed was even slower.

Shane's body refining was focused on agility and his physique already reached the 7th Mortal stage, allowing him to overrun the remaining five fiery scaled lizards as if they were mid-Wild stage beasts.

Looking at his burned skin, Shane frowned as he circulated mana around the area and enveloped his army to cool it down and heal it.

Finally being able to continue his journey towards the mountain, Shane's speed once again accelerated after he stored the six corpses within his humongous-sized spatial storage.