Entering the guild, he found the receptionist table only having three members on it. Seeing the lane filled with people, Nine wondered if he should do this another time.
Taking this note, he made his way to the dining area of the guild, sat on a table, and ordered some apple pie from the waitress working there.
Since Nine had to wait for his food to arrive, he recalled his finding last night. With nothing on him, not even a bag to put things in, he messed with the things he had on him.
From what the system gave him, which were the lighter, bracelet, hammer, identity template, and finally the small bag of money with 15 silver coins. The things he got from the weapon shop were the mask and three lantern oils.
Placing them down on the tiny table in his room, he wondered how the bracelet worked. From the things he got from the system, he could summon the identity template and bag of money from it.
While the hammer was part of it. Then… he wondered… could he place other things in them? If he didn't place back the two, there would be two empty slots in the bracelet. Couldn't he just place other things in there?
So Nine started doing it. Forcing other objects he wanted inside those two empty slots. At first, nothing happened. So did the second, third, until the eighteenth try.
He was dejected about this. Nine felt like accomplishing the thing he wanted to do was impossible. But he knew giving up this early would be foolish.
So he tried once again. But something new happened on this try. Nine felt the new existing energy within him (mana) move and, with a single thought, the mask on the table disappeared.
Nine successfully placed another object within the empty slot of his string bracelet. From then on, he tried placing the rest of his things within the bracelet.
To the lantern oil, mask, blanket of the bed, chair, and even the table in front of him. Through this, he learned that he could only put one item inside a slot; he couldn't put both the mask and identity template.
But he could place multiple objects within a slot as long as they were essentially the same thing—like the three lantern oils he received.
And with this finding, Nine placed the lantern oil within his bracelet that he used in the sewage before. While keeping his identity template in his pocket.
Snapping back to reality, the waitress placed down the apple pie he had ordered earlier. Paying up, Nine started eating. Although it was only yesterday when he ate such a thing, Nine quickly fell in love with the food.
***
Time: 9:47 p.m. Within the guild's private room.
Nine is sitting on the sofa alone while facing multiple people before him. These people are:
The purple-haired lady with glasses Nine met this morning after his jog. Because Nine wanted to leave the guild as soon as possible this morning, he didn't even get her name at all.
An adventurer wearing full body armor that doesn't let any of his skin show. From head to toe, everything was covered by something. Looking at him reminded Nine of a certain adventurer from an anime he had watched that only takes a goblin slaying quest.
A woman in nun clothing. She had dark green eyes and hair, and the atmosphere around her was like a sadistic noble lady that considered everyone else as ants.
Yet the expression on her face was the complete opposite, emitting this bimbo vibe that showed she was an easygoing person that could make everyone her friend.
And finally a red-haired man with a giant scar across his face. Trying to estimate his height, Nine came to the conclusion he was around 6'6 at best. A muscular body that Nine would only see from an anime that repeated the word: Jo.
Looking at him, Nine wondered if this person was the local gang leader. But seeing how the nun addressed him as father, he understood this person was a priest.
Nine was in conflict about this matter.
Enough of that. The atmosphere around the room was horrible. So bad that it was in complete silence unless the nun talked. Nine was silently sitting on the couch while the other three stood behind the purple-haired lady.
"What the hell did I get myself into?" Nine thought, unable to take the atmosphere around him. He was suffocating, even without anyone doing anything to him.
Finally, after some moment, the silence was broken..... not just by the nun.
"Hmmm. Well then, Mister Nine, can I ask you something?" the purple-haired lady asked.
"Feel free."
"Do you know why you are here today?"
"No. I myself don't know why I am here." Nine answered, wondering if his tone was friendly or not.
"Hmmm. I guess that makes sense. Well then, I'll explain why you are here with the four of us." The lady cleared her throat a bit before starting.
"Earlier this morning, you made your way outside the town to enter the tunnel that leads to the town sewage system. From the report made by Lance here, it is said that you have cleared at least 17 piled-up trash within it and opened 13 out of the 24 manholes around the entire thing, allowing the flow of water to pour out."
"Ahh! So my quest maker's name is Lance," Nine thought before answering the lady.
"That's right. I did that… Did I do something wrong, or did something bad happen because of what I did back there?"
The lady was silent for a bit. "No… that's not the reason why you are called here right now. What we want to know is how you made it that deep within the sewage system."
"You may not know this, but the reason why the quest you have taken is a repeated one is because no one managed to get that deep within it. At best, people can only go halfway before leaving. The reason is mostly because of the smell, but the main reason is because of the thick dark energy within it."
"The moment you get in touch with the dark energy, you'll receive all kinds of debuffs and at some point your stats will be reduced until you only have 20% of your original stats…"
Before the lady could continue, Nine summoned his mask and the things he got from the mutated rat and placed them on the table next to the tea that was given earlier.
He pointed at the mask and spoke: "This. It was because of this mask that I made it deeper than anyone else and did not experience the debuffs you are talking about."
"Mask?" the lady thought, looking at the two obvious earrings on the table. Before she could ask, Nine took them and put the two pieces in his ears.
As soon as the earrings were placed, Nine made a command and the two disappeared while a light green energy covered half of Nine's face before this too disappeared.
---
After that small introduction on how Nine made it deep within the sewage system, the conversation between them went smoothly. The talk instantly went from how he survived the dark energy of the sewage to how much he would receive from the quest.
After a small explanation on the reward system of the guild, Nine received 7 gold coins, 134 silver coins, and 53 bronze coins.
Since he revealed what he got from the rat, he was asked by the armored man about buying the mana core, but the red-haired man (who's a priest) quickly reminded Nine to take it for himself.
And told him to use it on a weapon he'll main in the future and use the item skill too and hope the skill he'll have is good.
After a small purification on Nine, making sure he wouldn't bring any harm to anyone in the town, the three said their goodbyes and left Nine with the lady alone in the room.
***
End of chapter 9.