Chapter 298 Chasms
Just like before, when Mira entered the Mercenary Association building, everyone in it was shocked when their instincts started screaming that there was danger.
However, most of the people were used to it by now and knew that the threatening aura that flooded their senses was Mira.
However, this time, along with Mira's death-like aura, an oppressive beastly might appeared with her that made the surrounding Mercenary's hair stand on ends. Most of the mercenaries lowered their heads as they didn't even dare to look at the beast.
Robin, the receptionist, also felt danger looking at Mira and the beast she was riding on, which greatly surprised her because, unlike Mira who seemed to be covered in a veil of mystery, she could easily tell what Rank the golden wolf was at.
She could sense that it was a Peak-Stage Rank 5 Beast, but that only made her more confused. How can she be threatened by a mere Rank 5 Beast? Even some Peak-Stage Rank 6 beasts aren't her match and if she went all out, she could probably fight with a Rank 7 Beast! It should be impossible for her to feel danger from a Rank 5 Beast!
Not only that, but when Mira stepped into the building, Robin felt a gaze land on her that made her whole body freeze and made her feel like her soul was about to be sucked out of her body. She knew this gaze didn't originate from Mira or her beast, but from something else. She just didn't know what it could be.
Luckily, whoever was behind the gaze didn't seem interested in her and stopped staring, much to Robin's relief.
Mira ignored everyone like normal and started searching for missions. Now that she has Rhydian with her, she feels more comfortable taking the more difficult missions. Mira normally wouldn't depend on someone else like this, but these missions would be incredibly annoying if she did them on her own.
It's not that she couldn't do them, but she would have to spend a significant amount of time completing them and it simply wouldn't be worth the extra effort.
As Mira was looking through the current missions, she was pleasantly surprised by the amount of higher-level missions.
There were hundreds of them and not only that, but many of them were ongoing missions that were available to the general public. Many of the ongoing missions were about mining a certain kind of ore, killing large hordes of beasts, scouting the chasms, or clearing a path in certain areas of the chasms.
Mira didn't care much for any missions other than hunting ones, but these ongoing missions offered more Contribution Points compared to the others. Seeing this, Mira decided to take a few of the ongoing missions along with her regular kill missions.
To increase the efficiency of gathering Contribution Points, she also needed these missions to be in the same general area so she can take more than 5 at a time.
Mira proceeded to grab 10 missions that were all located either in or around a medium-sized chasm and walked over to Robin for her to approve them.
Looking at the missions in front of her, Robin released a bitter smile.
'Normally I wouldn't allow someone of her strength to accept so many difficult missions without a group because the chances of them succeeding are rather low, but it seems like I'll have to make an exception here. This little girl and her pet are anything but ordinary. Even I feel some danger from them which I originally thought was impossible. The two of them are clearly never-before-seen talents. I wonder where they came from and what their background is.'
Robin thought to herself as she signed off on the missions for Mira after which the latter left the building without saying a word.
'It seems I'll have to report this to the Branch Head as well. Hopefully, he'll take this a bit more seriously.'
Robin immediately became dejected at the thought of meeting with the Branch Head and decided to wait until after her shift was over to tell him about today's encounter with Mira.
***
Mira quickly left the city with Rhydian so the two of them can get these missions over with. Once the two of them left the city, Mira made Elenei check the surrounding area to make sure nobody was looking at them.
"Alright, you can spread your wings and fly now. Remember to only go where I tell you to go. We don't have the time to waste on your shenanigans right now. Let's go!" Mira ordered.
Rhydian grunted in displeasure but still followed Mira's orders as she could sense the urgency in Mira's voice.
Nevertheless, flying through the air felt great for Rhydian and she was happy that she could at least do this much.
Only thirty minutes later, Rhydian landed near their destination, which was a large crack in the ground.
Mira was glad that they were able to make it here so fast because this trip would have taken her at least a few hours to get here by foot. Although that might not sound like much, who knows how much time she'll save by the end of the year. At the very least, she would have saved days worth of travel time and might even be able to save several weeks' worth of time depending on how far away her missions will take her.
Mira hopped off Rhydian, who was now hiding her wings, in a good mood and decided to check out the chasm in front of her. She could feel a dense amount of Qi emanating from it, but that wasn't the only thing that caught her eye.
When she looked down into the chasm, she could spot all kinds of things. Caves, Spirit Stones, ores, minerals, beasts of all Ranks, and even some plants.
Mira wanted to look deeper into the chams, but she could only see up to a certain point. Anything after that was covered in darkness and gave Mira an ominous feel. Actually, it wasn't the darkness that gave her an ominous feeling. She can't sense anything below the darkness and it's the fact that she can't sense anything that gives her an ominous feeling.
"These chasms are quite peculiar. I can sense a large threat at the bottom of these chasms, but I can't pinpoint where or what it is. It's almost like whatever's down there is purposely blocking any and all perception below a certain point. But there is something I know. The dense amount of Qi coming from these chasms is just a by-product of whatever's down there. And anything that can release such a dense amount of Qi as just a by-product is bound to be powerful. Be careful when heading down into these chasms." Elenei's voice resounded in Mira's head.
'Don't worry, I'll be careful. I'm just here to complete these missions. Unless I find out that whatever's at the bottom of these chasms can help me, then I'll just ignore it for now. I don't have any time to waste exploring these chasms. Maybe I can do it after I've broken through, but not now.' Mira replied but didn't get a response back, but she knew that Elenei nodded and didn't feel like saying anything else.
They both knew that they didn't truly care about the other's well-being. Elenei just doesn't want someone she's contracted with and someone who can potentially solve her bloodline problem to die before actually helping her.
Rhydian, on the other hand, didn't know that Mira and Elenei were having a conversation and started examining the chasm curiously. She's never felt so much Qi in one place before and was excited at the thought of entering such a place.
She can sense all kinds of beasts she can play with inside the chasm and was only waiting for Mira's order before she charged in there and started killing everything!
Luckily, she didn't have to wait for long before Mira hopped on her back and told her to go on down.
"Alright, let's go down and get these missions over with. Our goal is to complete these missions within the next two weeks! Remember Rhydian, no playing around. I repeat, no playing around! I know you want to let loose a little bit after sleeping for so long and I'm not disapproving of this behavior. Just be sure that when you want to go wild, to do it during one of our missions. Okay? Good! Let's go!" Mira felt the need to remind her beast companion that they aren't here to play around.
Hopefully, she actually listens because she really doesn't want to waste time scolding her wolf when she could be slaying enemies or mining ores for her missions.
Rhydian didn't waste any time and immediately dove into the chasm with a wild look on her face.
Mira was glad that Rhydian was excited, but she was also slightly worried that the wolf would be a bit too excited. Nevertheless, at least her beast companion wasn't against the idea of fighting waves of enemies because it would've been a huge pain if Rhydian just wanted to laze around and not do anything.