After paying the gold, Thunder led the three horses back to his group, and they set off in the direction the big man had pointed.
In truth, they were only about ten miles from where they'd entered the forest—not too far off course—but unfamiliar terrain made it easy to get lost.
Fifteen gold was a steal. Thunder and Eric each took a horse, while Maria and Sisi, being lighter, shared one.
Sure enough, after half a day of riding, the scenery grew familiar. More travelers appeared, and soon, Faelir City loomed in the distance.
Spirits high, they urged their horses into a gallop and raced toward the city.
**Faelir Magic and Martial Academy**
After a month of silence, the academy gates finally welcomed the return of Thunder and his group.
Most students were still out completing assessment tasks under their mentors' guidance, leaving the campus nearly empty.
The four headed straight to Maria's home, tied up the horses, and Thunder made a quick detour to the library to borrow books detailing magical flora and fauna.
A hot bath and fresh clothes later, the grime of their journey was gone.
"This assessment can be considered a complete success," Maria said, her voice as soothing as ever. "Everyone performed well—especially Thunder." She smiled at him. "Since the assessment requires students to earn achievements through their own efforts, all the spoils count as your own work. I didn't contribute at all."
Sisi stuck her tongue out at Thunder. This entire mission had basically been carried by him—whether facing the jungle spiders, the griffin, or the Silver Serpent ambush.
Ninety-nine percent of the Thunder Class's success was thanks to Thunder.
"Alright, handle the spoils among yourselves. I'll go buy groceries and cook you all a feast." Maria winked playfully at Thunder before leaving.
"Help me figure out what all this is." Thunder dumped the unidentified loot from his spatial bag onto the table and tossed the borrowed books to Sisi and Eric.
It took them a full day to categorize everything: Earthroot Grass, Demon Emperor Blossoms, Cold-Eyed Lizard eyeballs, and more.
Thunder didn't even go home that night, staying at Maria's place instead. (Sisi and Eric were there too—the house was spacious, with plenty of guest rooms.)
**The Next Day – The Main Event**
The Hammer of Lightning was ready to turn in their quests.
**Faelir Adventurers' Guild Hall**
The guild was as noisy as ever, packed with adventurers. Countless counters were manned by clerks processing quests.
Thunder approached one, handing over the Violet Unity Flowers they'd gathered, along with their quest form and guild points record. "Turning in a quest."
The clerk checked the items and nodded. "Thirty-six Violet Unity Flowers. Reward: 360 gold. Points for a Rank 1 guild: 4." He stamped the forms and handed them back.
"How'd it go?" Sisi and Eric asked nervously when Thunder returned.
Thunder tossed the heavy coin pouch to Eric and held up four fingers.
"Not bad. One more point, and we'll be Rank 2."
"Next quest." Thunder scanned the quest board. Sure enough, the request for **30 earth-attribute Tier 3+ magic crystals** was still posted—likely due to high demand.
He accepted it immediately, processed the paperwork, and returned to the counter with thirty jungle spider crystals.
This time, the clerk glanced up at Thunder before stamping the forms without comment.
*Hah! Just as I thought.*
While a guild could only accept **one quest at a time**, there was no rule against completing and turning it in immediately. Thunder didn't know why the guild had this restriction, but he **did** know some quests disappeared from the board once fulfilled.
Sisi and Eric had doubted this method would work—inexperience showing. But when Thunder returned, waving their updated points record triumphantly, they knew it had.
From there, it was simple. Thunder kept cycling between accepting and completing quests. Shockingly, **everything** looted from the Silver Serpent turned out to be quest items.
Experienced guilds probably scouted quests first, then gathered multiple items in one trip to save time and effort.
Earthroot Grass—one quest. Demon Emperor Blossoms—another. Cold-Eyed Lizard eyeballs? Yet another. Black Scorpion tails? You guessed it. Thunder's legs were about to give out from all the running.
Seeing how smoothly it went, Eric volunteered to take over.
By noon, the Hammer of Lightning had gained over **40 points** from these low-tier quests, jumping straight from **Rank 1 to Rank 3**.
They could've pushed further, but Thunder stopped Eric.
"That's enough. Any more would draw suspicion—and make our assessment results look unrealistic." At the end of the day, they were just a bunch of junior mages.
**Rank 3 guilds faced restrictions.** Not on quests—but on penalties for **failed quests**. Accept a quest and fail? Pay a fine. The lack of penalties earlier was the guild's way of encouraging low-tier guilds. Otherwise, everyone would grab quests recklessly, wasting the clerks' time.
**What new challenges await a Rank 3 guild—and who's watching their rapid rise?**