Archer's Adventure Manual

"Phinetta, what's the principle behind this knowledge?" Loran sat in the training camp's reading room, carefully asking Phinetta about various magical concepts.

As a fully-fledged apprentice mage capable of casting spells, Finita naturally possesses a very thorough understanding of magical knowledge.

Loran was always happy to answer his various questions, and with such a helpful assistant, Loran's understanding of magic knowledge improved rapidly.

"I think you're so good at magic tricks, you must have a real talent for learning magic too!" Finita said, expressing her high regard for Loran.

Loran smiled slightly, "It's not that easy. Just memorizing all this knowledge would take quite a bit of effort..."

"It's okay! I have complete faith in you!" Finita smiled confidently.

Loran nodded slightly. He could sense that he was still some distance away from mastering magic arrows, but that distance was getting shorter and shorter as his knowledge grew.

...

After a few days of rest, the Dog Dagger Squad regrouped at the Adventurers' Guild.

Guild ranking table:

1. Total number of shields in Granado Espada: 302

2. Ke Ye's squad has accumulated 300 shields.

...

7. Sharp Spear Total Shields: 103

(This is currently peak mission season; during this period, the number of shields earned from missions will be doubled.)

Loran looked at his Rock-level Adventurer's Certificate. There were already eight shields on it. He only needed to complete one more task to collect ten shields and advance to Bronze Adventurer.

On the surface, it may seem like only the title has changed, but the benefits are real. Bronze-level adventurers can now enjoy a 8.5% discount at the Adventurers' Guild Shop.

"How has everyone been resting lately? Everything seems fine in Rockfall Town... but we can't let our guard down, and we need to remain vigilant when selecting missions," Lin Wen reminded.

Everyone nodded, indicating that they understood.

Everyone now knows that the outside world may be dangerous, but that doesn't mean Loran and his friends should stop their adventurous journeys.

After all, they can't just sit here and live off their savings; not taking risks means the loss of their economic resources.

Of course, they would not take on high-risk missions, but rather simpler ones to ensure the team's safety.

Lin Wen glanced at the series of tasks on the mission notice and couldn't help but frown.

"You see, these missions seem no different from before: goblins... kobolds, beast troubles, and so on."

"But why is there absolutely no description of these creatures called Doghead Forest in these missions? That's so strange. Did those monsters just stop moving after destroying Rice Paddy Village?"

Lin Wen said with a strange expression.

"It is indeed strange. Logically speaking, such a large group should at least have a place for them to live, or they should be scattered to avoid being wiped out. But none of these missions are related to it," Noah said in astonishment.

Finita examined the mission carefully and quickly said, "Not entirely. Although these missions aren't much different from regular missions, they all have bonus tasks following them. Look, this mission request has an additional investigation task!"

"Yeah, is there still no news about this monster horde...?" Lin Wen was also very puzzled. Could it be that even with the connections of the Lord of Falling Rock Town, they couldn't find any information about the monster horde?

Loran remained silent, recalling the scene he had witnessed that day, and then began searching through the quest log.

He soon found some unusual tasks.

"You see, perhaps it's not entirely without information," Loran said, pointing to a mission request.

Everyone was taken aback and looked over at Loran, curiously reading the contents above the mission request.

Mission Assignment: Investigate the cause of Chuck's death.

Clients: Chuck's parents.

Mission Details: Chuck discovered a body in a well in Rockfall on April 10th of the first year of Klin and hopes that the person accepting the mission can find the murderer.

Task reward: 260 silver coins (including a 30% increase in reward during special periods)

Bonus Quest: Submit valid intelligence on the recent attack on the monster horde in Inada Village. Rewards will be given based on the importance of the intelligence.

...

The date described in the task details above is exactly three days ago, very close to the date mentioned above.

"A...murder case? Perhaps adventurers with some detective experience would be better suited to handle this kind of task," Finita said uncertainly.

Loran didn't speak, but instead pointed to the next few task assignments.

Without exception, all of these assignments involved murder and disappearances, and the cases all occurred recently and very close in time.

Lin Wen and the others gradually came to their senses.

"This...is very abnormal. Why are there so many accidents involving people happening so frequently lately...this doesn't make sense!" Lin Wen discovered the key point.

Even in poorly governed towns, there wouldn't be frequent murders. Although the lord didn't care about the lives of the common people, he still valued their labor.

Even if they didn't care, they wouldn't let civilians die so easily. Even if someone did kill them, the murderer must have had a motive.

In general, it's quite easy to find the culprit in these kinds of cases by tracing the source. Ordinary people aren't good at disguising themselves, and they all know each other in the neighborhood, so finding the culprit isn't difficult and the process doesn't take too long.

The fact that this matter is now being commissioned indicates that the town's existing guards are unable to effectively solve this problem, hence this desperate measure.

So what exactly happened these past few days that caused so many murder investigation requests to suddenly appear?

Surely not every civilian who accidentally kills someone in a fit of emotion becomes a professional cleanup artist? The basic security personnel can't even trace it back.

Although everyone had the same idea, they understood the general direction: these mission requests were likely related to the recent group of monsters.

"To be honest, I've recently spotted some unusual guys in Rockfall Town... Come with me, everyone."

Loran led the group to a more secluded place and recounted what he had seen, what had happened to the strange man, and the suspicious nature of the scent Brian had detected.

After listening to Loran's account, Lin Wen's eyes widened. "Every mission has an extra mission. They're trying to find some clues. Isn't what you saw a clue about the recent monsters? The monsters have infiltrated our town with spies!"

Noah nodded in agreement. "Indeed, the information Loran saw is very useful, but the Adventurers' Guild will doubt its authenticity. We need to provide certain evidence to prove it before we can receive the corresponding reward and get the Adventurers' Guild to take action."