My bloodline is so eager to improve.

The old man was looking down at the documents, and the gold-rimmed monocle on his nose slipped slightly with his movements.

Those dark eyes had not been dulled by the passage of time; instead, they shone like obsidian tempered with cold stars, sharp yet composed.

However, the monocle added a touch of elegance, creating a subtle contrast with his imposing presence.

Seemingly noticing Otto's gaze, Victor put down his quill and slowly raised his head.

His gaze lingered briefly on Otto, a gentle smile breaking the serious atmosphere in the room.

"You must be Otto."

This is probably our first official meeting.

Phyllis, go and pour two cups of hot tea, from that can of Eastern Black Tea in the storeroom.

"Yes, Grandpa, oh no, yes, Chairman!"

Phyllis was momentarily flustered and almost forgot the rules she and Victor had set.

Within the Adventurers' Guild, she must address Viktor as Guild Master.

Fortunately, Victor did not scold Phyllis, which finally made the little girl relax a bit. She immediately walked to the tea cabinet next to her, her steps much lighter than when she came.

Seeing that the guests had arrived, Victor did not intend to bury himself in his work. He got up from his desk, walked to the leather sofa in the reception area, and gestured for Otto to sit down.

"Please sit down, don't be shy."

Victor carefully examined the young adventurer before him.

Just as his old friend Michael had said, this young man was only just an adult, but he exuded a calm demeanor that was inconsistent with his age. He sat upright, his eyes were clear, and he did not have the impetuousness and arrogance of an ordinary young adventurer.

He must be a reliable and dependable person, someone you can entrust with important matters.

"You must be wondering why I specifically asked you to come here."

After observing Otto for a while, Victor broke the silence first.

Just then, Phyllis came over with two steaming cups of black tea and placed one of them on the coffee table in front of Otto.

Otto thanked him, his fingertips tracing the warm porcelain cup, and asked with a hint of doubt.

"Is it because of Mr. Michael?"

Victor nodded slightly, picked up his teacup and took a sip. The steam from the hot tea blurred his monocle, but it only added to his mysterious aura.

"Yes, when Michael was finishing up his business in the North with me, he specifically mentioned you, saying that you are a young man worthy of being entrusted with important matters."

He said, "You're reliable and agile; if there's a tricky task, I can always ask you for help."

Upon hearing this veiled praise, Otto seemed to understand the meaning behind Victor's actions.

Clearly, the other party needs a trustworthy person to complete a certain task.

However, given the secrecy of the summons, Otto guessed that the other party was likely entrusting him with a special request that couldn't be publicly posted on the guild hall bulletin board.

Just as Otto was pondering to himself, Victor turned to Phyllis, who was about to sit down, and gave her an order.

"Phyllis, go to the third shelf and get the commission file that was just marked in yellow."

Upon hearing this, Phyllis's expression shifted slightly, and she subconsciously glanced at Otto hastily, her eyes filled with worry.

But she didn't ask any more questions. She immediately got up and walked to the tall file rack next to her. Her fingertips swept across the rows of neat file folders, and she quickly took out a file that was tied with a dark brown thin rope and handed it to Otto.

"Mr. Otto, please take a look."

"What is this?"

Otto looked puzzled and reached out to take the file.

The knots were tied neatly, and the cover was stamped with a yellow abnormal entrustment stamp. The ink was still fresh, indicating that the document had only been made a few days ago.

Thinking of this, he immediately untied the knot, pulled out the papers inside, and flipped through the pages to read their contents.

Meanwhile, Victor, sitting opposite him, explained calmly.

"The Adventurers' Guild has its own internal grading system for commissions, which is generally not disclosed to the public."

But, since you were the one who recommended Michael, I can reveal some inside information to you.

Regular commissions without special markings are called white commissions; they are all normal tasks that are publicly displayed in the lobby.

Yellow commissions refer to tasks that have suspicious or abnormal aspects and whose reasons cannot be found out for the time being; they are also called abnormal commissions.

The document you have here is the yellow one that was registered just two days ago.

After hearing Viktor's words, Otto became more cautious and slowed down the speed at which he turned the pages.

But when he saw the details of the document, his brows furrowed and he looked suspicious.

"This is just a regular team recruitment commission, simply to wipe out the giant rats. It's probably the most basic introductory task, right?"

Otto looked up, his tone puzzled.

He had also worked his way up from the lowest level of a log-level adventurer, so he was very familiar with these basic commissions for clearing out monsters. He couldn't understand why it was classified as an unusual commission that needed to be kept secret.

While puzzled, he carefully checked the information on the document. The commission, issued by Alex, was to recruit a teammate to go to the entrance of the underground drainage corridor on the east side of Oak Town, enter the underground passage from there, and clear out the swarm of giant rats living in it. The reward would be calculated based on the number of rats cleared.

But upon hearing Otto's question, Victor patiently explained.

"Giant rats are low-level monsters that live in dark and damp corners all year round. Their life level is similar to that of ordinary goblins, but they often appear in groups, ranging from a dozen to hundreds. Their bite force is astonishing and can easily bite through tough leather armor."

Its thick tail whips like a long whip wrapped in iron, and in terms of melee attack power alone, it is far superior to that of ordinary goblins.

It is worth noting that these giant underground rats are said to be under the watchful eye of Entana, the goddess of plague and disease, and their fur and teeth carry a large number of disease germs.

Therefore, adventurers who go to exterminate the giant rats usually take anti-disease medicine in advance and try to avoid being scratched or bitten during the battle.

But that's all. These types of missions are extremely low-risk, and there is almost no chance of adventurers dying.

These kinds of cleanup commissions are so common that almost every town's guild will issue them jointly with the local governor, and the payment will be settled according to the number of cleanups, which is considered a benefit for new adventurers.

Moreover, they are all permanent contractors, and can be accessed at any time.

Even Victor admitted that such clearing operations had a low fatality rate and were actually quite common.

However, this very request is now not only marked as an abnormal request, but also requires the chairman to summon adventurers to handle it, which is obviously quite suspicious.

After hearing Victor's words, Otto simply spread the documents on the coffee table, pointed to the mission instructions, and looked up at Victor.

"Since you specifically asked me to handle this matter, it means you've run into trouble, right?"

What kind of trouble is it?

Otto thought to himself, surely Victor wouldn't actually ask him to come and clean up the giant rats?

Upon hearing this, Victor simply sighed, reached for the top page, and pointed his finger at the name Alex.

"The problem is not with the delegation itself, but with the person who issued the delegation."

Victor leaned back on the sofa and began to explain the inside story to Otto.

"The person who issued this commission is named Alex, around forty years old, and has a low-quality superhuman class: swordsman."

Alex was an adventurer from the Westerlands who came here specifically after hearing about the discovery of a new dungeon near Oak Town.

It's perfectly normal for outside adventurers to post quests, since they don't have many resources or connections locally.

The problem is, this is already the third time this month he's posted a team-based commission to exterminate the giant rats.

Viktor paused, his tone becoming somewhat somber.

"As for the adventurers who teamed up with him for the previous two commissions, they have all disappeared."

Upon hearing this, Otto felt a chill run down his spine and instantly understood the other party's intention.

The first two times the team members disappeared, and the third time they still dared to post commissions as usual. Either Alex himself has a problem, or there is an unknown danger hidden in that drainage corridor.

"He issued a third commission, so you want me to pretend to team up with him and secretly investigate this matter?"

Otto looked up at Victor, his tone calm, yet he had already guessed all of the other's plans.

Seeing Otto's keen insight, a hint of appreciation flashed in Victor's eyes.

"That's right, Mr. Otto. According to our assessment, Alex himself has only advanced three life levels, after all, his job quality is what it is."

But I heard that your extraordinary profession is perfect and is nearing its end.

With your assistance in the investigation, there's a high probability we'll uncover the truth behind it all.

Even if you encounter any unexpected danger, I believe you are capable enough to handle it calmly.

I hope you will accept this commission after you have completed the disguise.

Victor was not sending Otto to his death; he only decided to invite Otto to join the investigation after he had a clear understanding of Otto's strength.

The reason why abnormal requests are tricky is that the abnormality is unclear. Sending people to launch a strong attack rashly may alert the enemy and even cause more casualties.

If Victor wants to find out the truth and mitigate the risks, he must find a reliable and capable person to infiltrate and investigate.

But it was deep winter, freezing cold, and the high-level adventurers he knew had either returned to their hometowns to avoid the winter and recuperate, waiting to come out and be active again in the spring.

Alternatively, you can join an adventurer squad or warband to participate in expeditions to distant lands.

Others had already amassed enough wealth and retired from guild affairs.

For a time, he couldn't find a suitable candidate.

Just as Victor was racking his brains over this, he happened to hear that Otto had returned from the village.

Although Victor had never met Otto, he trusted Michael's judgment, which is why he immediately sent Phyllis to fetch him.

"The first two missing adventurers, one was named Tom, a shieldbearer who had only been in the profession for half a year, a Blackrock-level adventurer, and he had a young brother at home."

The other one, Old Coman, was a scout and a Blackrock adventurer. He had originally planned to go back to the countryside for the winter after finishing this job.

Victor tried to provide Otto with as much information as possible about the previous two commissions, his tone carrying a hint of heaviness.

"The guild sent people to search the drainage corridor several times, and only found a small amount of bloodstains and a torn piece of clothing deep inside. There was no corpse, nor any signs of a large-scale fight."

The giant rats in the corridor looked perfectly normal, with no signs of anything unusual.

It is precisely because no problem could be found that this matter seemed particularly strange, and that's why it was classified as a yellow abnormality request.

Don't worry, the compensation is negotiable.

Victor's tone was very gentle.

"All gains during the commission process belong to you personally, and the guild will not interfere."

In addition, I can personally write you a letter of recommendation for this month's Adventurer Level promotion exam.

This should be helpful for your future adventurer level advancement.

Otto's heart stirred upon hearing this.

He definitely needs this reward.

I recently spent a considerable amount of time with Michael in the Northern Realm of Extraterrestrials. Although I gained a lot, it delayed the progress of many regular commissions, and I am still far from meeting the required number of commissions for promotion.

He had originally planned to take on a few more tasks after the spring to catch up and strive for a promotion so he could take on higher-level assignments. But now, with President Victor's personal recommendation letter, he could save himself a lot of trouble.

However, this was Otto's first time making such a request, so he intended to proceed with as much caution as possible.

Otto pondered for a moment, then looked up at Victor and said in a deep voice.

“I can join, but on one condition: if I perceive danger beyond my ability to handle, I will immediately withdraw.”

"no problem."

After confirming Otto's willingness to join, Victor immediately nodded in agreement to his conditions without the slightest hesitation.

"I have complete faith in your judgment."

Believe me, what I want is the truth, not for you to take unnecessary risks.

The two finalized the deal on the spot, and Victor didn't even sign a formal written contract with Otto.

For partners, verbal agreements sometimes carry more weight than magical contracts, which in itself is a manifestation of trust.

Otto put down the file in his hand, leaned forward slightly, and became even more serious.

"Now, tell me more about this Alex."

I need all his information.

As the secret conversation raged in the office, the sky outside the window darkened a few degrees, for the days in the depths of winter are always exceptionally short.

While the adventurers in Oaktown were secretly plotting for this unusual commission, in the heart of the distant continent, in the capital of the Kingdom of Thorne, the city was ablaze with brilliant lights.