Struggling to Survive in Hell Difficulty

Chapter 100.

When I could feel the ground beneath my feet, I found myself returning to the desolate, destroyed Inn I logged out from. After checking my condition and my inventory from the system, it seemed like nothing was stolen in the duration I was logged out.

With a sense of relief that nothing bad had happened to me, I went out of the decrepit building before making my way back towards the Guild (through the system's assistance).

The streets were dark and quiet, save for the rhythmic and realistic sound of my footsteps against the sandy ground. There were no NPCs loitering around like before, and there were definitely no players moving around the area. I had no idea whether this was because all of them had already gone to the Guild or none of them wanted to play this late at night, but I decided to put those thoughts aside for now.

As I got closer to the Guild, I noticed a faint smell of smoke coming from somewhere. As I followed the source, I could see an old person's somewhat illuminated face coming from the opposite side of the road. When I got closer, I realized it was just someone who was having a smoke with the pipe in front of his mouth.

"...you again..."

And when the other person... or rather, when Terian saw me, a cloud of smoke suddenly came flying in my direction, causing me to catch a whiff before coughing in reflex. I could see Terian's face making a slight smile at my reaction, but soon disappeared when I managed to stop coughing.

"So why are you here this early?"

"...haa... I was told that the Guild is open at 3."

Hearing my answer, Terian let out a sigh, heavy with resignation. I noticed his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, a clear sign that my presence was anything but welcome to him.

He then wrapped his weathered thumb around the bowl of his pipe, covering the open part perhaps to extinguish the ember within. After heaving another audible and deep sigh, he gestured towards the door and said, somewhat tersely, "...come on."

I paused for a bit, watching Terian as he walked into the Guild and pushed open both of the swinging doors. The interior was still dark without any light source, just like the scene outside of the Guild. And it did not seem like Terian was going to light anything up to illuminate the room.

Although I could still faintly make out the position of things around the room, I still ended up bumping against some of the misplaced chairs and tables here and there. On the other hand, Terian effortlessly navigated through the darkness as he made his way behind one of the counters.

"...so, what is it that you want?"

His words promptly made me recall the conversation and the information I got from Plina just recently.

"......can you get me a Quest that befits my Level and Class?"

I could not clearly see Terian's face in the dark, but I could hear him exhaling through his nose before turning around.

"...what is your Level?"

"...I'm just a Level 16, so just give me some weak, generic Quests."

"......are you sure?"

"I want to push my limits, but I need to know my limits first."

And right after I said that, a system notification popped up in front of me.

[Your act of humility surprised Terian]

"...I guess not all Adventurers are fame-hungry and greedy."