Chapter 1178: Chapter 1177: The Adventurers’ Path

Half an hour later, Lora had already arrived in the preparation area with a group of adventurers. As she looked at the supplies distributed into her hands and the temporary teammates around her who were laughing and chatting while making preparations, the young huntress still felt somewhat dazed—she had initially planned to see if there were any routine tasks for clearing out scattered elemental creatures near the camp. How did she suddenly find herself assigned to a higher-risk "advancement team"?

Beside her, the old mage Modir appeared quite cheerful. This spirited old man casually spoke to the adventurers beside him while stuffing the Frost Resistance Potion he had received into his clothes: "Actually, giving me this stuff is useless. I’m not afraid of a little cold air—it’s you younger ones with weaker constitutions who need to be well protected. The polar temperatures are no joke. If anyone needs more resistance potions on the road, just come to me..."

The adventurer being addressed looked at the elderly man who appeared old enough to be his grandfather, and after hesitating several times, he swallowed his words—after all, the realm of the Transcendent is different from that of ordinary people. This seemingly white-haired elder is actually a mage with mysterious powers. With strong spells supporting him, an elder might not necessarily be more physically frail than the so-called "young adults." Perhaps quietly nodding is more polite at this moment...

Then Modir’s attention shifted to Lora, who had yet to speak, as he smiled: "Lora, you don’t seem very animated—this isn’t the state a warrior ready to execute a mission should be in."

"I initially planned to join the camp’s East District clearing task," Lora, snapping out of her somewhat distracted state, grinned awkwardly while helplessly saying, "I didn’t plan to sign up for an advancement team... You registered us without asking..."

"I did consult your opinion... Did I get it wrong?" Modir blinked and tapped his forehead in confusion, but soon shrugged off these minor details, "Ah, I can’t remember—looks like I owe you an apology, Miss Lora. Do you want to drop out? We haven’t departed yet..."

"No," Lora sighed quietly yet helplessly. For some reason, she always felt a sense of déjà vu when facing this eccentric elder, as if... dealing with her kind yet scatterbrained grandfather. Ever since her grandfather’s passing, it’s been years since she felt this way. It makes her relax around Modir and get influenced by this proactive old man, "It’s still around the camp after all."

"Emperor Gawain Cecil once said it well—prosperity is found in peril, young lady. We’re here not to enjoy leisure," came a hearty laugh from a nearby single-handed swordsman, "Looks like you usually haven’t participated in ’advancement team’ actions? Trust me, the rewards of these missions are far more gratifying than cleaning up near the camp. Around the exploration border, you’ll find more active elemental creatures and powerful mana zones. Their power isn’t much stronger than the non-human monsters around the camp, but the highly purified elemental cores and mana sources occasionally sprouting crystals are much more valuable than poor quality elemental mixtures..."

"And if luck favors you, you might even find treasures left from the Talronde era—these treasures miraculously escaped the flames of war, intact and lying in mud and permafrost," chimed in another female swordsman with a cheerful tone, "Those items could easily exchange for a piece of land on the Loren Continent, yet here they’re buried in the ground among charred stones... Tsk, can’t imagine what kind of extravagant lives these dragons led before the war..."

"Feels like they all lived like kings...""Certainly, I heard from a Dragonkin last time—they said everyone had a butler, called... Omega Intelligent Assistant or something? Every household had a butler—can you imagine such a life?""Can’t imagine, nor visualize—even now it’s all gone...""Such a pity."

The adventurers’ topics always ignite lively conversations, especially when relating to wealth. This temporary "squad" swiftly engaged in enthusiastic discussions. Despite coming from all over the place with diverse backgrounds, they now conversed like old friends, exchanging views, fostering a sense of camaraderie in their words—a camaraderie that occasionally enhances their chances of survival during shared upcoming actions, offering an extra hand when one falls, but most often it merely elevates the morale, dissipating tension and fear.

The camaraderie often begins with idle boasting before departure and ends with the final tally after returning to camp—of course, if luck is on everyone’s side, allowing joint survival through several such "cycles," genuine battlefield friendships will be formed and solidified amidst feasts, enduring until all pass away.

This is the lifestyle adventurers—and mercenaries living on the edge—are accustomed to.

Yet not all adventurers live like this; there are also "loners" among them, and Lora can count as one of those exceptions.

The young huntress isn’t keen on these forced-friendly conversations; she quietly prepares her gear:

Three Frost Resistance Potions from the camp logistics team—formerly expensive alchemical products, now freely distributed to all adventurers for resisting Talronde’s cold; a personal protective Magic Transmission Terminal, a worthy rental acquired for a small deposit, a product of modern industry primarily producing a single Wind Shield to assist in fending off harsh winds and enabling safe survival in toxic environments.

This second function is especially crucial: in this dangerous wasteland, toxic environments often accompany adventurers, and boundaries of safe zones are rife with leaking factory pipelines, polluted Elemental Rifts, and toxic gas sources. Even robust Transcendents may perish in these hazardous surroundings due to slight carelessness.

To safely navigate the Talronde wasteland today, a continuous 24-hour protective effect is indispensable. In the past, most average Transcendents couldn’t achieve this solely with personal mana, but tireless machines can now accomplish it, requiring only sufficient magic supply and careful inspection and maintenance. Lora wouldn’t slack in this regard, knowing that the last careless fool already perished in a factory ruin near the camp, failing to dig out a single gold coin from this "Adventurer’s Paradise" before succumbing to toxic gases. Their name is prominently displayed in the Adventurer’s Hall, high above, as grass on their grave mound will likely grow tall by this time next year...

"Stop chatting, check equipment, check equipment."

A mature, steady-looking shield warrior noticed Lora’s quiet actions and promptly reminded the slightly too relaxed temporary comrades, causing the adventurers to finally quiet down and skillfully inspect their life-saving equipment.

After a short while, bells signaling the readiness of the gate finally rang out in the gathering area, and several adventurer teams, each allocated tasks, began moving toward the departure channel at the camp’s edge. Lora and Modir left the assembly area at the back of the hall with others, passing the path named "Armer’s Trail," reaching the end of the tall, sturdy wall, where a high, cast alloy door towered before them, its heavy doors shielding them from the harsh weather outside the camp.

Amid the creaking of mechanical structure, the heavyweight black door slowly opened, and the howling cold wind instantly surged in, making the accustomed-to-warm-environment individuals shudder despite the Wind Shield.

Modir was awestruck by the sprawling Talronde wasteland, and the old mage couldn’t help but smile, stepping forward—

"Ah, the unknown lands... I am ready!"

...

On the watchtower atop the high wall, Byron gazed upon the vast wasteland below. He saw the adventurers’ gate open, and over a dozen fully armed teams streamed out, stepping onto the plains outside the town, severely polluted and strewn with ruins. Unable to resist, he sighed with emotion: "Ah... adventurers... seeing this scene always reminds me of those days when I worked as a mercenary."

The voice of Dragonmarked Witch Asha Leyna came from beside him: "I don’t recall having such pomp and logistics when we were mercenaries back then—such a large-scale base, efficient management center, specialized mission coordination and logistics teams, semi-standardized equipment, and within the activity area, there are dragons available to enter as rescue units at any time. Back then, not even the regular army had such treatment."

"Not even back then, the modern regular army rarely has such treatment—this is Talronde, the land of dragons," Byron remarked with a smile, withdrawing his gaze and looking at the red-haired lady beside him, "I was just recalling those past days a bit."

"...The managers of Agondale have begun pushing west to expand the control zone. Nearly half of today’s adventurer teams are heading toward Crystal Rock Hillock; their mission is to assist in clearing non-human monsters along the way and stabilize the safety boundaries of this passage," Asha Leyna commented casually, "Looks like the dragons are finally unsatisfied with Agondale being just a solitary safety island in the wasteland."

"I’ve heard about it. The dragons seem to plan to open a channel between here and Crystal Rock Hillock within a week and set up a communication station there for receiving transmissions from the Western Coast," Byron nodded, "If this communication station is established, the contact between Agondale and the monitoring post on the Western Coast will be much easier, at least raising the communication frequency to once a day..."

"Considering what’s being watched by that monitoring post, even a daily communication frequency doesn’t seem high enough," Asha Leyna shook her head, "But with Talronde’s current lousy environmental foundation, them being able to handle this long-distance communication across nearly an entire continent already counts as miraculous, can’t be too demanding."

"True... but this doesn’t have much to do with me," Byron shrugged, "Anyway, I’ll be leaving in a couple of days."

"You’re returning to the Loren Continent?" Asha Leyna glanced at Byron in slight surprise, "So soon?"

Byron waved his hand, speaking casually: "I’m the naval commander; my task this time was merely to escort alliance support materials and aid-building teams, lingering in Talronde too long doesn’t conform to the orders I’ve received—I still need to return to report."

"Indeed," Asha Leyna nodded and then chuckled, "That works out well; I also need to leave, so we’ll be on the same route when heading back."

"You’re leaving too?" This time, Byron was finally surprised, he couldn’t help but look the Dragonborn lady in front of him up and down, "Aren’t you the leader of the support team? Not staying here to continue assisting the Dragonkin with their rebuilding efforts?"

Asha Leyna shook her head: "Like you, my mission was also just to safely bring the team to Talronde—subsequent tasks will have other specialized Dragonborn coming to take over."

"I see... I thought you’d continue to oversee subsequent aid-building tasks. I was curious, how can someone like you, who knows nothing besides drinking and fighting, manage such professional tasks..."

Listening to Byron’s offhand remarks, Asha Leyna couldn’t help but smile a bit. She turned her head to look at her former "mercenary leader", smiling broadly, as tangible magical flame flows scattered from her lips, hot dragon breath rising from both sides of her cheeks.

Byron was startled by the sight: "Hey, hey! Asha Leyna! There’s no need to be so serious! If you spray me with fire now, it’s a diplomatic issue!"

"Hearing the word ’diplomatic issue’ coming from you is quite rare, but even rarer is that you’ve managed to call my name correctly all at once," Asha Leyna smirked, the unformed dragon breath dispersing silently as she raised an eyebrow provocatively, "Why, is the impression I left you back then only those two things: drinking and fighting?"

"...Are you asking me to say ’beauty and wisdom’?" Byron pondered for a moment, uncertainly remarking, "If you really want me to say so, I could..."

"Never mind, I imagined how ridiculous it sounds coming from you, almost as if it’s an insult," Asha Leyna’s expression turned peculiar as she waved her hand, then suddenly stopped, seemingly caught in thought and recollection. After several seconds of silence, she spoke again, "The memories... I can barely remember what our companions who adventured with us in the southern borders looked like."

Byron glanced at Asha Leyna unexpectedly: "Don’t you Dragonborn have very long lifespans? I thought those matters still seemed like they happened yesterday to you..."

Asha Leyna didn’t respond, merely fell into silence again, after several seconds quietly spoke again, "I want to go see them."

"...Do you have vacation time?"

"I can request it—it’s not difficult."

"Then I can help you apply for an entry permit."

"Then thank you, Leader."

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