The Hero Turned Into A Potato And The World Fell To Ruin
Chapter 94: Shady Business

Water flowed fluidly, clear and crisp. A huge wolf, nearly three meters in length, trashed violently, desperate to escape the watery prison that enveloped its head.

But no matter how hard it struggled, the transparent, crystal-clear liquid clung to it like a relentless parasite. No matter its efforts, the water refused to release its hold.

Unable to hold out, the wolf inhaled a large mouthful of water. Gradually, its struggling weakened, and it eventually collapsed to the ground, motionless.

"Haa…" Liu Ji exhaled, and with that, the ball of water dispersed, splashing harmlessly to the ground.

He wasn't in his water element form, so maintaining control over water with this level of precision had been a real challenge.

"Not bad, this has been your best attempt," Yaine remarked, sounding satisfied as she walked over to the now lifeless wolf.

With a flick of her finger, an icicle extended from her fingertip, and she drove it through the corner of the beast's eye. With a quick twist, the wolf's breathing ceased for good.

Although there was a bonus for bringing it back alive, the magical space they used for storage couldn't sustain living things. Given the number of jobs they had undertaken, trying to keep all their quarry alive was simply too much trouble.

"Phew, this should be the last of them, right?" Liu Ji asked while rotating his shoulder.

His control over magic wasn't proficient enough yet, and he would subconsciously tense up his muscles when using magic.

Thus, while he didn't find it mentally straining to cast spells, his muscles would ache after.

This sort of reminded him of the old days playing video games where he would unconsciously move his body along with the character on screen, even if it didn't help.

"Yeah, that's all the jobs." Yaine nodded. "Now we just have to find Guoguo, help her wrap up her jobs, and we can head back."

At that moment, a high-pitched scream pierced the air nearby.

"Help me!"

Liu Ji and Yaine turned to see Guoguo, clutching a small red flower in her hand and tears streaming from her eyes, running for her life. Surrounding her were the potato younglings, all running at full tilt.

Behind, a massive lizard, easily seven or eight meters tall, roared as it chased after them.

Liu Ji's eyes widened, and without a second thought, he activated his desert manifestation form and sprinted over. With a powerful leap, he kicked at the enormous lizard.

The creature, however, opened its jaws wide and lashed out with a sticky tongue, aiming to snatch Liu Ji up.

But the lizard caught nothing but sand.

Liu Ji's body dissolved into flowing sand, snaking its way up the lizard's head. With a swift motion, his right hand transformed into long strips of sand, which he used to bind the creature's gaping mouth shut.

At the same time, Yaine had finished her chanting.

Electric currents shot forth from her array, racing through the lizard's eyes and snaked deep into its brain. With a convulsive shudder, the massive creature's eyes rolled back, and it slumped to the ground with a resounding thud.

Guoguo, finally safe, came to a stop, resting her hands on her knees as she gasped for breath.

Liu Ji landed beside her, asking in his broken common tongue, "You… Okay?"

Guoguo managed a shaky smile. "Y-yeah… Thanks…"

Yaine also approached at this time, observing the unconscious lizard curiously. Scratching her chin, she muttered, "Weird. According to the reports, monsters these large shouldn't be in this area… Guoguo, where did you encounter it?"

"I was picking this flower," Guoguo explained breathlessly, holding out the red bloom. "It suddenly came down from the cliff and scared the life out of me…"

"Ah? Isn't this the flower from the final gathering job?" Yaine eyed the flower, then frowned as she cross-referenced it with the notes provided.

The report mentioned that the flower could attract monsters, but only if there were such large monsters in the vicinity.

Something about this still didn't sit right.

Could it have just been bad luck, running into a dangerous creature wandering out of its usual territory?

It wasn't impossible.

"Well… we'll take it back and ask around," Yaine said before starting a complex incantation. A stone golem emerged from the earth, lifting the unconscious lizard onto its back.

While the lizard wasn't a part of the jobs they had taken up, in a place like this, they could probably find a buyer willing to pay for such a large, intact specimen.

Their work was done—it was time to head back to the city.

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Baam!

"Nice job, rookie. Here's your payment," the guild receptionist said, placing a heavy pouch of coins onto the counter. "A total of 180 gold Kagas, count it if you want."

"Thanks." Mervant grinned, accepting the pouch. His eyes briefly flickered gold, confirming that the amount was correct.

"Hey, brother, made another big score?" A fellow hunter waved at him from across the room. "How about a drink to celebrate?"

"Sorry, I've got something to take care of today," Mervant replied, offering a polite smile before pocketing the coins and heading out of the hall.

"Heh, that guy's really striving hard," muttered the hunter as he watched Mervent disappear into the street. "He's been running two jobs daily for the past few days. Even the donkeys at the next door mill don't work that hard."

"Two jobs daily?" Another hunter was taken aback. "How's he pulling that off? Half a day for a single hunt?"

"No, he's not taking hunts. He only does gathering jobs." The first hunter shrugged. "Word's been going around that this new guy is some kind of gathering maniac, taking the most dangerous gathering jobs and finishing them in half a day."

"Huh… That's rather impressive," the other hunter mused, sipping on his drink.

"Yeah, lots of folks want to pick his brain about gathering. Too bad the fella's been so busy. He hasn't even sat down for a meal yet," sighed the first hunter. "Not sure what's driving him to work so hard…"

"Who knows? Maybe he's saving up for a massage?" the second hunter joked.

"A massage?" The first hunter blinked. "What massage?"

"Eh? Haven't you heard? There's a new massage place on North Street. Every masseuse there is built like a brick house," the second hunter explained.

"What's the big deal? The place on South Street's pretty intense, too. Last time I went, the old man working there nearly broke my back."

"Heh, there's where the North Street one is different," the second hunter said, lowering his voice. "The owner's got some kind of special talent. After a single look, she can make it so that you don't feel a thing no matter how hard her staff works you over. All you feel is relaxation."

"Huh? No way… You don't feel the pain?" The first hunter rubbed his chin, clearly intrigued. "That's got me tempted. What do you say, want to check it out?"

"Nah, I can't afford it." The second hunter shrugged. "It's crazy expensive. Like 10 gold Kagas for a single session."

"Ten? That's daylight robbery!" The first hunter's eyes widened in shock.

"Yeah, totally," the second hunter agreed. "But the establishment opened with that pricing right from the start. Those three idiots from Mabing's squad were the first to find it. They thought it was some kind of shady business, but they walked in, got their muscles realigned, and left their entire savings behind.

"Last I heard, they're out on a new job to save up for another round."

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