Chapter 78: Seeing the Old Blind Man Again

“Commander, please don’t misunderstand, you were right about everything you said, it’s just…” Lu Kuan swallowed nervously. He certainly didn’t want to sour his relationship with Lyra, and his mind was racing to find a way out. “I’ve just been so exhausted these past few days and haven’t performed at my best. Honestly, I’m rather desperate myself...”

“Haha, it’s fine, I understand,” Lyra replied, her smile not reaching her eyes. “You should have some time to recover your strength tonight, right? If you can complete the Golden Trial of the Ranger’s Sanctuary before noon tomorrow, come back then to collect Aunt Mitchell’s tools.”

With that, she turned and strode from the training ground without waiting for Lu Kuan’s response.

Lu Kuan’s eyelid twitched, and he couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. Great—he hadn’t even started on his backpack quest or the Clearwater Village mission, and now he had a Golden Trial on top of that…

Normally, Lu Kuan would have jumped at the chance to take on high-difficulty quests, but now, faced with two time-limited missions at once, even he felt a headache coming on.

He looked up just as his gaze met Meteor Under the Moon’s. Seeing the smug look in the other’s eyes, Lu Kuan didn’t hesitate to return the gesture with a raised middle finger.

Meteor Under the Moon smiled faintly, waving goodbye to Lu Kuan with an air of grace before turning to leave. Inwardly, he was elated—ever since their conflict began, this was the first time he’d left as the undisputed victor.

Watching him go, Lu Kuan, on the other hand, broke into a smile. The “Golden Trial” Lyra had mentioned referred to the daily quests from each profession’s hall.

Every day between eight and nine in the morning, the various profession halls would offer a daily quest—repeatable tasks with different objectives depending on one’s class. For the Ranger’s Hall, this meant testing the players’ archery skills across several disciplines: simple short-range targets, precision mid-range shooting, long-range arc shots, and, most difficult of all, moving targets.

Achieving a perfect score in all these areas was considered completing the “Golden Trial.”

Despite the daily availability of these quests, very few ever reached the golden standard, and, as for the Ranger’s Hall specifically, not a single player had completed the Golden Trial to date.

Lu Kuan had never bothered to try, knowing full well that the only reward was a useless “Warrior of [City Name]” title.

Players called such quests “Battles of Honor,” because the titles were marks of true skill—display one, and others would immediately treat you with newfound respect, setting you apart from the crowd. Yet, for Lu Kuan, spending time on a “zero-reward” quest was out of the question.

“Sigh… but now I have no choice.” Lu Kuan resigned himself. At least the daily quests could only be accepted starting at eight in the morning. There was no rush; he decided to first seek out clues for the Clearwater Village mission.

When it came to appraisals in Molten Fortress, no one was more skilled than Old Blind Eye. The ancient fish-man had lived more years than anyone could count and had seen it all. Lu Kuan decided to start with him.

The appraisal center was as crowded as the tailor shop, but with more staff on hand, and Old Blind Eye being the chief appraiser with high fees, only a few players queued before him. Soon, it was Lu Kuan’s turn.

At the sight of Lu Kuan, Old Blind Eye’s slimy mouth drooped, his two large nostrils flaring with annoyance. “You again? I still haven’t recovered from that last thing you brought me,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. Of course, with his fish-like, perpetually squinting eyes, it was hard to tell the difference.

Most NPCs responded to Lu Kuan with this kind of cold detachment, a consequence of his low charisma score—he was used to it by now.

“Heh, I’m always happy to support an old friend’s business,” Lu Kuan replied with a sly grin, producing the glass bottle containing the blood laced with lightning. “Master, care to take a look at this? Name your price.”

Old Blind Eye barely opened his eyes until Lu Kuan’s last sentence piqued his interest. Lazily, he took the bottle.

The blood inside was a deep purple, threaded with faint black lines, viscous and slick. Without explanation, no one would guess it came from a feline creature.

Yet what happened next surprised Lu Kuan greatly. Old Blind Eye froze, his milky eyes widening until they seemed ready to pop from their sockets, shot through with blood-red veins—he looked absolutely terrifying.

“Go—go! Take that blood away! I can’t appraise this. Don’t ever come to me again!” Old Blind Eye flinched as if burned, tossing the bottle back and scurrying off to the back room. With a slam, the door shut so violently the building shook.

What the hell just happened?

Lu Kuan blinked, looking down at the bottle in his hands. Had the old fish-man gone mad? Why would he be so terrified at the sight of this?

He had a thousand questions, but with the nearby guards eyeing him warily, he couldn’t chase after Old Blind Eye. With no choice, Lu Kuan left the appraisal center, his mind full of doubts.

He hadn’t even told Old Blind Eye what the bottle contained. Most people, seeing the purple liquid, would assume it was some unknown ingredient or alchemical concoction. But Old Blind Eye had recognized it as blood at a glance.

In other words, Old Blind Eye probably knew it was poisoned blood—perhaps even knew exactly what kind of poison it was—and, for some reason, was deeply afraid of the truth behind it.

“When something is strange, there’s a reason. That old fish-man is definitely hiding something,” Lu Kuan concluded to himself.

With the trail cold again, he stood in the street, thinking for a moment, then headed to the profession hall.

Of all the NPCs in Molten Fortress, his best relations were with the ranger mentor, Lor. Lor had lived here for many years and might know something about Old Blind Eye’s past.

When Lu Kuan arrived, Lor was feeding his cliff-dwelling owls. Seeing his prized student approach, the ranger mentor greeted him warmly.

“You’re asking about Old Blind Eye from the appraisal center?” Lor asked, intrigued after hearing Lu Kuan’s purpose. “He’s very old—over two hundred years, at least. One of the founding elders of Molten Fortress. Why are you interested in him?”

Lu Kuan produced the bottle of lightning-tainted blood and briefly explained the Clearwater Village matter.

Lor examined the bottle and shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t help you with this. If you had access to a high-ranking druid or priest, perhaps they could attempt to cleanse the poison, but Molten Fortress is too small—we don’t have any druid sanctuaries or proper churches at that level.”