Mixed Blessing System

Another day began in Peters City, where Lothur was already arriving at the academy alongside Annaliese.

He had spent a great night's sleep in his room and woke up early for another day in this place, satisfied that he had gotten rid of three problems the night before.

In addition, now that Lothur had his first taste of actual combat, he was eager to begin his climb to the top of the Morning Star Academy's ranking.

He had already thought that at some point, he should start doing the missions issued by that institution. Still, previously he had been busy doing other things.

Not only had he been building up strength to protect himself. But he had also spent several hours learning about the cultivation world, specifically the Linn Province.

Even though he had a practically endless study path ahead of him, he believed he was already minimally capable of experiencing a bit more of this world.

So today, Lothur intended to stop by the Sector-1 Mission Hall, where he finally wanted to choose a mission to carry out in the coming days.

...

Saying goodbye to Annaliese, Lothur followed the path Elke showed him previously to the area where the Mission Hall was.

But as he was walking through that area, he suddenly found Anneke in his path, who was heading towards her responsibilities at the moment.

And seeing that bold man waving at her, Professor Koch remembered what she had seen the day before and decided to approach Lothur to answer some of her curiosities.

"Lothur, what are you doing in this place? Isn't it time for you to be in one of your classes?" That woman dressed in a beautiful set of blue and black clothes asked this as she walked side by side with him, not showing any more intimacy than she should have.

"Oh? Anne, you care about me far more than I thought... I wonder if you've fallen in love?"

"Tsk!"

"You brat, why don't you just answer me?" She looked at him unhappily but managed to avoid any more meaningful reaction. "In fact, why are you hiding underneath the farce of a good-for-nothing?"

"Don't try to fool me with your nonsense this time. I clearly saw you using a technique yesterday."

After hearing that, Lothur looked more carefully at Anneke but continued walking toward his destination.

After a while in silence, he said to her. "It is not right to say that I was hiding before. What is right is that I am doing it now."

"What? What do you mean by that?" Her expression changed after those words were spoken.

Not only had she not understood, but she had also been surprised at the answer he had given her.

Anneke had expected some lie or that he would simply ignore her. But suddenly, he had told her that, without showing any sign that he was lying.

And indeed, Lothur had no reason to lie or try to deceive this woman. After all, Anneke had seen him in action; whether he wanted to or not, she could already spoil his plans if she so chose.

"Well, unless there is a way to hide the results of tests done by large noble families, then there would be no way for me to hide."

She gave him a strange look, understanding that there were no ways to cheat aptitude tests in this world.

Even the strongest cultivators could not do this as specific cultivation rules were independent of how influential someone was or their talents. Nevertheless, once an aptitude test was taken, there would always be some result.

That could be the specific result, indicating the characteristics of the cultivator tested. Or it could be an abnormal phenomenon caused by the divergence in the quality of the apparatus used and the characteristics of the individual tested.

In any case, there was always some signal, so Anneke knew Lothur couldn't hide from such tests.

"As for now, why simply go out announcing to the world your good fortune when you can keep it to yourself?"

Lothur had his lofty goals, to put himself in a position that would be looked up to by many in one way or another. But he did not do this out of simple interest in attracting others' attention but for the sake of the benefits of power.

Since he was too far from achieving anything relevant to be eye-catching, there was no reason for him to reveal himself to other people.

"Is that right?" She stopped walking in the middle of the Mission Hall, causing him also to stop. "And how did you get this good fortune?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" He opens his arms, looking at her with a smile on his face.

As the two stood there in that position, the people in the surrounding area were already watching them strangely, as it looked as if Lothur was about to hug the beautiful Professor Koch.

"Hey, are you seeing this?"

"Of course! Do you think I'm blind?"

"So, there seems to be something strange between those two..."

"Yes, they don't seem to recognize where they are..."

"Sigh..."

"Did it have to be Professor Koch? Ah, another lost beauty!"

Comments appeared in the surroundings as Anneke's calm face gained a slight blush since she was listening to several of these comments very well.

'This Lothur...'

'Is he doing this on purpose? Does he want to embarrass me to stop me from asking my questions?' She bit her lower lip, feeling cowed by this man who had only been at this academy for a week.

"Tsk!"

"We'll continue our conversation another day, student Ritter."

After that, she quickly walked away from that area, letting that man turn his way back to where he could find the missions.

Knowing how this place worked because of Elke's advice, Lothur quickly went to a large mural with several posters with missions.

In this Mission Hall, as in the other sectors of this institution, any student could choose the missions of his level from the options available on the mission board of his sector.

Thus, if such a student had the minimum qualifications necessary to do a particular mission, the Mission Hall administration responsible for the mission would authorize this.

They would pass on the responsibility of the mission to the student or group of students that wanted to commit to it, making a slight adjustment to the ID of such people.

So, students could try their luck doing these missions, which of course, had to be proven when they were done, or possible benefits related to them would not be paid.

Knowing the limitations of this place, Lothur could not help but sigh for a moment since he could not take missions much above the level of a Sector-1 student.

That was because Sector-1 missions were naturally meant to challenge the people in this sector. But, on the other hand, for someone who wanted to attempt more complex missions, such an individual would have to move up a sector, something challenging to do in a short time.

That was because, in order to move from one sector to the next, a student needed to pass several tests, among them the completion of 10 successful missions in the past 12 months.

Even if he had the necessary knowledge to move up a sector, which he did not, Lothur would be unable to do missions of other sectors of this academy.

But this man understood why this was so.

This was a place of education first and foremost. As such, it was to be expected that the missions of this academy would not be given to just anyone, or some of the more ambitious students would die in droves!

With that in mind, Lothur soon began to read the title of the posters in front of him.

'Training mission...'

'Bodyguard mission...'

'Medicinal collector mission...'

'Human guinea pig... Debt collector... Specialized accessory..." He muttered to himself, realizing that there were all sorts of missions, even those that seemed unrelated to spiritual cultivation.

At the same time, the prizes promised for those missions were around 200-400 bronze coins and 20-40 merit points.

But some possibilities provided extra prizes, as in the case of someone who helped collect medicines and could earn part of their harvest.

Realizing the possibilities in front of him, Lothur spent some time thinking about what to choose until one of those missions stood out to him.

...