Jeffery swallowed his saliva and raised his head. “You’re serious?” he asked and wiped his sweaty palms on his leather pants. Even though his head was raised, his eyes were still angled downwards, staring past his messy beard to the piece of golden fruit resting on the table in front of him. He was at a bar, but it wasn’t rowdy like it usually was, and that was all due to the individual in front of him.

“When I’m joking, you’ll be able to tell,” the beautiful woman sitting across from Jeffery said. Her most striking feature was her pointed ears, indicating the portion of fruit on the table might really be a piece of a Fruit of Knowledge, the luxury item only elves were capable of cultivating.

“I know why you might want to purchase my services,” Jeffery said and pushed aside his mug. He straightened his back and rolled his shoulders, adjusting his posture as he folded his hands together on the table in front of him. “But this is a bit too much.”

As the best wilderness guide on the first floor, anyone who hired him for the final exam was all but guaranteed to advance to the second floor. However, anyone who had access to a Fruit of Knowledge wouldn’t need external help to pass the exam, and they most certainly wouldn’t use part of the fruit to purchase something regular geums could buy. Of course, he wasn’t refusing out of politeness; Jeffery was abiding by his own personal rule of if it looks too good to be true, then it’s a trap.

The beautiful woman smiled, and her face seemed to enlarge, engulfing his whole field of vision. “Selling a Fruit of Knowledge is too much of a hassle. I’m in a hurry, and my companions are already outside waiting for you to join us.” The elven woman leaned forward. “If you’d like, you can eat the fruit right now. There are other ways to ensure you do your job properly than waiting to pay you at the end.”

Jeffery gulped, and his hands trembled. The Fruit of Knowledge was less than a foot away from his fingers. It might’ve just been a wedge, a small slice, but it’d be enough to grant him an ability if he was willing to spend a few geums for the tower’s assistance. A small smile appeared on Jeffery’s face as he withdrew his hands and leaned back. “I’m afraid my guts are too small to accept a commission from someone such as yourself.”

The beautiful woman’s eyes crinkled. “Some people where I’m from would think your guts were quite large for refusing my request,” she said. Then, without warning, Jeffery died. At least, it felt like it. Jeffery stared into the woman’s eyes, and her black pupils grew larger than life, engulfing him in an endless darkness. He couldn’t hear anything, smell anything, taste anything. He opened his mouth, but his jaw wouldn’t move; either that, or it didn’t exist anymore.

After what felt like a few lifetimes, the darkness receded, and Jeffery’s senses returned in an instant. The myriad of colors, sounds, smells, and sights hit him all at once, and Jeffery leaned forward while opening his mouth. Vomit gushed out like a fountain, but instead of splashing onto the table, the liquid seemed to have hit an invisible barrier that caused it to flow through the air into an empty mug on the table.

After getting ahold of himself, Jeffery sat up straight and trained his gaze onto the table. A cold chill ran down Jeffery’s spine as his mind raced to come up with a solution to escape his situation. As he rejected option after option, Jeffery found himself with only two sensible choices left: accept and die later, or reject and immediately die. Even if he thought with his toe, he knew what the right choice was. Jeffery grabbed the Fruit of Knowledge wedge. “I accept your request.”

“Excellent,” the beautiful woman said. “Let’s go. My companions are waiting outside, and I wouldn’t describe either of them as the patient type.”

Jeffery nodded, keeping his gaze glued to the table. “I’ll need a day to prepare everything.”

“A day is too long,” the beautiful woman said. “We have everything we need, and if you happen to need anything we don’t have, we can make or secure it.”

Jeffery furrowed his brows. Usually, when someone spoke so arrogantly and acted in such haste, he’d directly refuse to guide them because they were usually the ones who didn’t follow his advice and made his job much, much harder. However, he couldn’t reject. He wasn’t sure what had happened to him earlier, but whatever it was, he never wanted it to happen again. “Do you have enough food to last two months?”

“Food isn’t an issue.”

“Do you have shelter supplies? A waterproof tarp is practically a necessity.”

“Shelter isn’t an issue.”

Jeffery’s eyes glanced upwards, enough to see over the table but not high enough to meet the woman’s gaze. “Do you have anything … warmer to wear?”

“Staying warm isn’t an issue.”

Jeffery scratched his head. No matter how he looked at it, the woman’s outfit didn’t fit into his definition of warm clothes. However, he wasn’t going to press someone who could murder him with her gaze for an explanation. “Is starting a fire or boiling water an issue?”

“Those aren’t issues either.”

Then what the hell are you hiring me for? Jeffery thought. Of course, he didn’t voice his question out loud; however, he still received an answer.

“I’m hiring you as a precaution,” the beautiful woman said. “If there’s some common sense in the tower that my companions and I don’t know about, and we do something stupid because of our ignorance, it’d be a shame.”

Jeffery nodded. The woman’s explanation made sense, but for some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling of stepping into a trap. Her words were like an artificially created barrier designed to herd a hare in the direction of a snare. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do but put his trust in a complete stranger. “If none of those factors will be an issue, then we’re certainly ready to depart right away.”

“Excellent, exactly what I wanted to hear.”