“Oh hey, my boots actually have an effect attached to them! A 1% jump height bonus isn’t much but still more than nothing. Still not a reason to keep the gear once I find more post-bottleneck appropriate stuff. Welp, off to the guild before night falls.” Jason passes through the gate and jogs off.

The Adventurers Guild is packed to the gills when arrives. He had somewhat expected this but the number of hunters is still impressive. From the various goods they are hauling around most of them must have come from the wasteland area. Jason is about to get into the line for quest completion when a couple letters pop up. The first is simple enough, Andrew just confirms he plans to go and check out the animal-headed goblins. The second letter however makes Jason feel a bit guilty as it reminds him he still had confirmed nothing with Rosha. It is simply a letter from here dated a couple days back asking if he has a plan on where to meet up at. With a bit of shuffling Jason reaches the letter station and grabs a piece of paper and borrows a magic pen for a copper. That gathered he joins the correct line and writes a response.

Hey Rosha,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Just broke through so everything is fine on my side. I will stay the night before I head out. However I don’t have a map yet. Since you went to a more standard place, they should have something. Pick where you want and I will meet you there. I will swing by the guild tomorrow morning so you can send me another letter. Also, it might interest you to know I got Andrew to check something out for me. Found a tribe of animal-headed goblins who wanted to be people. Don’t know what will happen but we should keep it in mind next time we find something interesting related to the System. We might not be able to do anything but Andrew fits the classic saying of “A Wizard did it”.

Sorry for the late reply,

Jason

With the letter done all he can do is wait in line. Time passes and he reaches one of the quest turn in desks. The tails change hands and he receives the remaining sixty silver. A trace of sadness flows through him because of the lost money from the earlier turn in. Nothing he can do though so instead grabs the last automatically harvested goods he will get from the System. It surprises the receptionist with how dark green the ear is. After confirming that I was indeed turning in the Jarr elimination quest they call over a manager. From the back a portly halfling waddles out. The shadows cling to the pseudo elemental and his steps are still as silent as any other of his kind despite his bulk. As he approaches the counter the receptionist pulls out a small set of stairs built into it to accommodate shorter workers. The steps creak as he climbs them but he is soon inspecting the ear.

The halfling manager hums and haws while muttering under his breath. Then with a sharper glare than Jason expected he looks up and asks, “So boy, this is what the System thought appropriate for your second bottleneck?”

Jason stutters, “uh, well yes? It was suggested, I mean Jarr was suggested to me. Fern at the inn gave me, well informed me of my choices for local bosses. Jarr was, err, seemed the most straightforward?”

With a deep sigh the halfling messages his temples, “Boy, listen to me. You likely already planned this as does anyone that crazy elf puts her eyes on but if you want a good life avoid her. Not that you may have that much choice in this. However, let me tell you, we have bosses galore. Fern told you of what, two bosses I would guess?” Then he stares directly at Jason. This was not a rhetorical question.

Jason steadies himself under the piercing gaze, “She mentioned five but only suggested three of them.” The halfling manager stair gains a steely look, “The two likely are the towns boss and some critter in the wasteland. Besides Jarr, who else did she suggest?”

Jason feels pressed down at this point but manages to answer, “Twig, an abandoned treant and a nameless wolf shifter she said was only known to her. However she revealed that what it shifted into was a giant scorpion.”

The manager yells, “JERA! Upgrade the subjugation quest reward and danger level for Twig! SAM! Send out the scouts yesterday! There is an unknown wolf shifter whose alt farm is something Fern described as a ‘giant scorpion’. Level 24 but you know what that means when that elf is involved.” Then the manager seems to think of something, “Boy, what else did she suggest for you to do and what happened?”

Jason is just standing there while one of the other adventurers in line is supporting him. Being addressed again snaps him out of it and he responds, “The snarltails, she had me reach the bottleneck off of them. During the last bit while I was heading towards Jarr there was an odd bramble area. While I cultivated near it, the whole clearing grew up overnight with the stuff.”

With a loud smash the halfling bashes his fist through the counter, “SAM, cancel that last order! The brambles are back in play! We need a map of the affected area ASAP! We have confirmed sightings near where Jarr was last seen! An insectoid shifter no matter how ‘interesting’ it is to Fern can wait.” He turns back to Jason and stares directly at him as if to see through his soul. This ends up being truer than Jason would prefer. With a sigh, the manager eases up on his presence, “A heart core, eh? Good job, looks like Penny was right about you. Though that will just mean she will boast our ears off next meet up. Anyway, sorry about that. I don’t know why but Fern seems to only be able to tell us about these things through nonsense roundabout ways. Oh, and you should equip the title you got for the core. Some people might be a bit curious about you if you don’t. Not a problem with most but some are more hands on with their curiosity.”

He turns to the receptionist everyone had forgotten about. He is just standing there like a statue. The halfling sighs, “What, never seen a guildmaster take charge? Like I would let a manager deal with anything involving a demi-cyclops. Don’t worry about the boy, mark the quest complete and upgrade him directly to D rank. You can skip the minus under my authority. The system might have upgrade Jarr because of his bottleneck quest but he was likely on his way to begin with. This is probably the best outcome anyway. Jarr might have gotten away after his breakthrough and this way it is taken care of.” With a final hmph the local guildmaster stalks off into the back again.