Chapter 6

After several comparisons, Maso looked at the wax-sealed letter in his hand with satisfaction. The forged wax seal was identical to the original one in the screenshot—whether it was the thickness of the wax or the depth of the imprint, everything was a perfect match. Maso felt that the thieves would never have thought that the top-secret information from the headquarters' carrier pigeon had become less secret.

In the game, forging an item did not require any prerequisite skills. The thief's 'Forgery' skill only increased the success rate of the player's forgery. Maso, as a shaman, knew these things purely out of curiosity—cat people, whether in the game or in real life, were naturally curious and eager to learn. This had nothing to do with the intelligence attribute in the game.

Maso attached it back to the carrier pigeon's leg. As for the wound on the pigeon's wing, that was easy to handle—Maso used a minor healing spell and a light healing potion to heal the pigeon's wing, then released it.

Watching the pigeon flap its wings and fly towards the slums, Maso took out a rope from his inventory and tied it to the top of the lighthouse, then securely fastened the other end to the flagpole in front of Dock 6.

Cat people had a high bonus to their balance skill, so Maso ran back to the top of the old lighthouse along the rope. For this, he even unlocked an achievement—running ten kilometers while performing a balance check. The ten kilometers could be accumulated, and upon completion, he would receive a racial feat 'Cliff Walker.' When this feat was active, the player's agility would increase by 2, the difficulty of balance checks would decrease by 5, and they could still attack, cast spells, and defend (including parrying and blocking) while performing a balance check.

Only then did Maso pick up the other dead pigeon. After checking and confirming it was just a wild pigeon, he carefully plucked its long feathers, removed the arrow, and then ran down the old lighthouse along the rope.

As he passed through the city gate, Maso threw the dead pigeon to a guard dog by the roadside. The guard dog looked at Maso in confusion, and at that moment, a stray dog ran over and snatched the dead pigeon, sparking an immediate dog fight.

The culprit of all this walked down the street into the Adventurer's Guild. Since the game-to-real-time ratio was 3:1 (three hours in the game equaled one hour in real life), and it was now 9:00 AM in the game, there were still fifteen game hours (five real hours) until midnight.

Maso had plenty of time to use. To ensure the wallet-snatching operation went smoothly, he needed to be fully prepared—and the most important thing for full preparation was money. The reality virtual technology had been around for a hundred years, and from the first generation of reality virtual games, which were riddled with bugs, to the current seventh generation, there were no more bugs for players to exploit.

Maso approached an empty counter. The Adventurer's Guild was the initial place to get quests in the game. As a level 1 shaman, Maso was no exception, so he bowed slightly to the human clerk behind the counter, "Good morning, I am Maso, an adventurer from a distant land. Could you tell me what quests in the guild might be suitable for a shaman like me?"

Politeness was not a necessity, but being humble and smiling at good-aligned and neutral NPCs usually brought unexpected respect and courtesy. The human clerk immediately took out a stack of quest scrolls and handed them to the cat person, "Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild. These are quests suitable for 1-5 level adventurers. Since you are a shaman with quick feet, I think this quest might be more suitable for you."

The enthusiastic human clerk pulled out a scroll, and Maso took it with a smile, scanning the quest description—Ernst's family in the harbor district needed young adventurers to make divine berries for them.

This was a good choice. Maso smiled and accepted the quest. In the game, the shaman's spell slots were replaced by MP. There were two ways to recover MP—drinking potions or meditating. With Maso's perception, 50 MP could be replenished in an hour of meditation. The quest stated that making two divine berries would earn one silver coin, and if it was an odd number, half a silver coin (five copper coins) would be given.

Leaving the Adventurer's Guild, Maso followed the cobblestone street to the courtyard of the Ernst family—Cyril Ernst, who on the surface was the largest merchant in Palonest, but few knew that this kind and elderly half-elf had once roamed the seas in his youth. Maso was one of the few who knew—Maso had read a lot of game history in the library. During the dark age of the Planar War, Cyril Ernst, as the captain of the cruiser 'Snow Wind,' had achieved countless feats, including the legendary battle against five ghost ships.

Of course, he also knew a saying from that era—whenever the Snow Wind participated in a battle, no matter the outcome, all other ships, friend or foe, would be destroyed. This was why, in the last part of the war, the Snow Wind could only perform solo or dual cruiser escort missions, as most allied ship captains refused to sail with this cursed miracle ship.

Of course, these were side stories.

"I come from the Adventurer's Guild. I heard the Ernst family needs divine berries, so I'm here to help." Looking at the guard, Maso handed over his credentials and said cautiously—being a level 1 shaman, showing respect and humility to an 80-level lawful guard was entirely appropriate.

Lawful guards did not need to be lawful-aligned; the only thing they prohibited was evil alignment. They were a branch of the heavy armor warrior class in Ashby, using two-handed swords or sword and shield, and were as important to the military strength of the Ashby Kingdom as the holy paladins.

"The credentials are genuine and valid. Welcome to the Ernst Garden, young cat person shaman. Please come in; my lord is waiting for adventurers like you in the main garden." The lawful guard pointed at the light warhammer on Maso's waist with his sword, "Before entering the garden, please hand over all your weapons."

Maso handed over all his weapons, including the carving knife—players with high stealth skills could smuggle small weapons like daggers past guards, but Maso did not want to do that because he was here to make money, not to cause trouble for himself or others.

Entering the garden, Maso saw naturally growing flowers everywhere, which was in line with the elves' views on nature and aesthetics, and also with Cyril Ernst's identity—as a 40-level druid and 100-level guerrilla knight after the Planar War, Cyril Ernst's brief druidic life in his youth had shaped his aesthetic sense.

On a bench in the main garden, Maso saw the elderly half-elf feeding a nest of baby birds with fresh berries.

"Finally, another young adventurer is willing to keep this old man company." The old elf, with some wrinkles, smiled and waved Maso over after looking him up and down. He gestured for Maso to sit on a high chair by the table, "What a lovely little cat person. You must be here to make divine berries for this old man, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Ernst. I am Maso, Maso Su, and I pay my respects." Sitting on the high chair, Maso showed respect to his elder, as his mother and grandfather had taught him.

Maso's smile made the old man laugh as he pushed a basket of berries towards him, "These are berries grown by this old man. Have two, then start casting the divine berry spell."

Maso picked up a berry. His survival skill was only 4, not enough to identify the scientific name of the berry, but such a good-aligned elder would not put poisonous berries in front of a junior... So Maso swallowed two berries without hesitation.

"Player Maso Danne has consumed a high-level strength berry, gaining a temporary +2 strength. This effect can stack once, lasting 24 hours and persisting after resurrection."

"Player Maso Danne has consumed a high-level strength berry, gaining a temporary +4 strength. This effect has reached the maximum stack, lasting 24 hours and persisting after resurrection."

"Thank you, elder." Seeing the buff effect on himself, Maso looked at the old man feeding the thunder eagles with high-level strength berries and bowed reverently—this old man seemed to have not abandoned his druidic profession, and anyone who could cultivate high-level berries was a legendary druid.

...

When night fell on the easternmost part of the continent, Maso stood outside the garden gate. Having received two gold coins as a tip, he bowed to Cyril Ernst, "I am leaving, elder."

"Um, you are a patient child. If you like my garden and have free time, remember to come over on the seventh day of each week," the old man smiled and handed a wooden oak pendant to Maso, "Child, show this to my guards, and they will let you in."

"Thank you, elder. I am truly honored," Maso said, somewhat surprised.

"It's nothing. This world needs patient children like you. An old friend of mine once said that only by learning to endure can one achieve great things... I look forward to your performance." The old man patted Maso's head and smiled, "Go to the Adventurer's Guild to complete the quest. They will pay you the commission."

"Yes, elder. I will take my leave." Maso bowed and left.

With these two gold coins and the commission, Maso felt that tonight's operation would surely succeed.

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When the night fell on the easternmost part of the continent, Maso stood outside the garden gate. Having received two gold coins as a tip, he bowed to Cyril Ernst, "I am leaving, elder."

"Um, you are a patient child. If you like my garden and have free time, remember to come over on the seventh day of each week," the old man smiled and handed a wooden oak pendant to Maso, "Child, show this to my guards, and they will let you in."

"Thank you, elder. I am truly honored," Maso said, somewhat surprised.

"It's nothing. This world needs patient children like you. An old friend of mine once said that only by learning to endure can one achieve great things... I look forward to your performance." The old man patted Maso's head and smiled, "Go to the Adventurer's Guild to complete the quest. They will pay you the commission."

"Yes, elder. I will take my leave." Maso bowed and left.

With these two gold coins and the commission, Maso felt that tonight's operation would surely succeed.