Shang walked towards the exit of the academy. He wanted to go straight to the Hunter's Guild to earn some gold.
But when Shang went past the gate of the academy, he noticed the teacher guarding the gate.
There was always a teacher present. During the night, it was teacher Loran, but during the day, there were always different teachers. It probably depended on the schedule for the day.
This time, Shang recognized the teacher guarding the gate.
"Teacher Mervin," Shang greeted respectfully.
The older man was standing at the side of the gate like a statue. In comparison to teacher Loran, he seemed to take his job much more seriously.
Teacher Mervin was one of the three teachers that had supervised Shang's entrance exam. As far as Shang knew, teacher Mervin was responsible for teaching swordsmanship.
Teacher Mervin looked at Shang, and a small glint of recognition appeared in his eyes.
"You've done something you regret," teacher Mervin commented.
"What do you mean?" Shang asked calmly.
"You are blind to your own emotions," he said. "I have seen many people in similar situations. I know what they look like."
"And what do they look like?" Shang asked.
"Distracted, stressed, active," teacher Mervin answered.
"Active?" Shang asked. The first two made sense, but the third one?
"You can't stand to do nothing," teacher Mervin said. "Whenever you find a moment of calm, your memories haunt you. It's impossible for you to calm down."
"I don't think that's true," Shang said.
"When was the last time you slept?" teacher Mervin asked.
Shang's mind went through his memories.
When was the last time he had slept?
He hadn't slept since he had arrived at the academy nearly two weeks ago.
Normal humans needed regular sleep, while Peak Soldier Stage warriors didn't need much sleep.
However, Peak Soldier Stage still needed around ten hours of sleep per week.
And Shang?
He hadn't slept in two weeks.
"I'm not tired," Shang said.
"The effects of sleep deprivation have already taken hold," teacher Mervin said. "You are already showing signs of having a headache, but you simply don't notice them due to your abnormal resistance to pain and suffering."
"You should try going to sleep. Your concentration is lacking in your current state, making fights many times more dangerous."
Shang's insides were churning in frustration, but his head told him that teacher Mervin's words were the truth.
Shang didn't want to admit that he needed sleep, but he knew that he needed to sleep.
"There's still something I have to do," Shang said.
Teacher Mervin didn't answer as he only looked at Shang with neutral eyes.
Shang took a couple of steps forward.
But then, he paused.
"Teacher Mervin, what's the teachers' quota for the Day of Chaos? What's the quota for?" Shang asked.
"I'll tell you if you promise me that you will go to sleep before you're going to do whatever you think you need to do," teacher Mervin answered.
Shang looked at teacher Mervin for a bit.
Then, he turned around and left for the Hunting Guild.
When teacher Mervin saw Shang leave, he released a sigh.
'He's running from his problems,' he thought. 'Yet, what's the use in doing that? He will have to confront them either way.'
As Shang walked towards the Hunting Guild, he had a couple of thoughts of his own.
'Yes, I need to sleep, but I don't want to sleep right now. I am so close to finally having a powerful weapon. I got my Light ore, my Darkness ore, and my Ice ore. I'm only missing the Fire ore, which should be the easiest and cheapest one.'
'Just one more hunt.'
'I can sleep after that.'
Shang arrived in the north of the city rather quickly. He had been here several times since the gates were also at the north, but he hadn't really looked around here.
Shang searched for the Hunting Guild, and he quickly found a very wide building at the side of the main street.
Shang saw several hunters coming in and out of the building, most of them being at the General Stage.
Some of them were leaving the city to the north, while several others were walking further into the city.
Shang walked into the Hunting Guild.
When he entered, he was a bit surprised.
The Hunting Guild looked very different from what he had expected.
He had expected some kind of big bar with alcohol and music, but none of that was here.
Instead, Shang saw several counters with clerks, lots of paper everywhere, a couple of potted plants here and there, white walls, and some chairs for hunters to wait.
This definitely didn't feel like a Hunting Guild of some fantasy game or something.
'It looks like a mixture of a doctor's waiting room and the DMV,' Shang thought. 'At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if I have to get a number and wait in line.'
This looked far more like a public office than some kind of Guild.
Shang looked to the left and saw a young woman standing behind a counter that had the word reception written on it.
Shang couldn't feel any specific kind of Mana coming from the woman, but he could feel a certain density of Mana surrounding her. She was probably an Adept.
'Well, I guess I should walk over,' Shang thought.
"Hello, this is my first time here," Shang said. "Could you please explain to me how everything works here?"
The woman looked up from the papers in front of her and at Shang. She quickly noticed Shang's uniform.
"I need your Emblem first," she said, extending her hand.
Shang took out his emblem and placed it in her hands.
The receptionist spoke two quick words, and several confusing signs appeared on Shang's emblem.
The receptionist furrowed her brows as she looked at the confusing signs.
Then, she looked at Shang with a bit of surprise.
"Alright," she said, giving Shang his emblem back.
After that, she grabbed one stack of papers and another smaller stack of papers.
"Here you go," she said, handing the two stacks of paper to Shang. "These are your available missions for the day. Read through the mission list and tell me which ones you want to accept. Please keep in mind that the missions you accept have to be completed in less than 24 hours. So, please don't choose too many of them."
"If you have any questions about any specific beasts on the list, you can ask me, but please keep your questions to your mission targets. I'm not a teacher," she explained.
After that, she looked away again as she returned to leafing through another stack of papers with furrowed brows.
Shang felt a bit awkward since the receptionist had explained everything at record speed without even giving him an opportunity to answer.
"Thanks," Shang said absentmindedly.
Shang took the two stacks of papers and walked to one of the chairs at the side. A couple of other hunters were already sitting there as they were looking through several stacks of papers.
Shang sat down and looked at the first stack of papers.
'Missions for Initial General Stage beasts in the Wild Forest,' Shang read with surprise.
'I can choose missions to hunt Initial General Stage beasts?'
