"Kyle!" two shouted at the same time as Kyle entered the cafeteria.
The next moment, the two people glared at each other before charging towards Kyle at the same time.
"Dudes, calm down," Kyle said with a smile. "One at a time. I will listen to both of you and decide after. Timothy, you go first."
Timothy smiled.
"We accepted a mission to hunt a Land Crawler that's troubling Hillscape. This guy keeps coming and going, and nobody knows where it is. It's most likely a Mid Ferocious Beast. Are you up for it?"
Kyle nodded. "How's the pay?"
"You get 50 Ether Pebbles for finding it," Timothy said.
"Okay," Kyle said before looking at the other guy. "Now you, Simon."
"A Mid Knight deserted and is most likely hiding in the wilderness somewhere. We need to know where he is. You will get 70 Ether Pebbles," Simon said.
Kyle nodded again before falling into thought.
"Can the Land Crawler wait?" Kyle asked. "I would be happy to help, but the deserter seems to be a more pressing issue."
"How long will you need?" Timothy asked.
"I might need a day," Kyle said.
Timothy furrowed his brows.
"Well, security is more important, but we can only wait a day. Anything more will be troublesome," Timothy said.
"Thanks," Kyle said before turning to Simon. "Alright, give me the mission details."
Kyle was doing very well in the Stark Brotherhood.
He had not joined any team officially, but he had worked with over half of the teams already.
The reason was simple.
Kyle was a specialist.
He had a particular set of skills that nobody else had.
Investigation.
Naturally, Kyle wasn't nearly strong enough to fight the Land Crawler or the deserter, but what he could do was find their locations, gather information, and report back.
Kyle's services were very popular in the Stark Brotherhood because of his low prices and high rate of success.
Kyle only asked for 5% of the reward.
At first glance, this was not a lot of money.
Kyle would need to do 20 investigations to cover the reward for one mission.
However, Kyle's services targeted teams that accepted missions that were far out of his league.
The rewards for these two missions were ten Ether Stones and 14 Ether Stones, respectively.
Spending 50 Ether Pebbles to increase the odds of success of a mission worth ten Ether Stones was more than worth it.
Another reason for the popularity of Kyle's services was his money-back guarantee.
He only accepted payment after he had successfully investigated everything.
If he failed in his investigation, he would not accept any payment.
This made the purchase of his services safe.
It didn't make a difference whether he failed or succeeded.
In both cases, the client would be happy.
The only bad part was that Kyle wasn't on the mission officially, which meant he wouldn't get any contribution points.
After accepting the two requests, Kyle directly went to the local Hunting Guild.
"Oh! Kyle's here!" one of the hunters shouted when he saw Kyle entering. "Got another investigation?"
"Yep," Kyle answered. "Deserter. Mid Knight. Most likely in the wilderness nearby. Any unusual beast deaths?"
"That sounds bad," the hunter said. "Let me just call Bryan."
A moment later, the vice-leader of the Hunter Guild spoke with Kyle and shared a bit of information with him.
It was also in the Hunter Guild's best interest that a deserter was dealt with.
Deserters were powerful and nervous.
If a hunter accidentally saw them, the deserter might kill them.
After getting all the information, Kyle decided to go south.
He very slowly and stealthily moved through the wilderness.
Some hours later, his nose picked up a peculiar scent.
'Fire Ether. Human,' Kyle thought. 'Has to be a Knight, Sorcerer, Beast Tamer, or Priest since they are the only ones who have an improved Center.'
'Since it is pure Fire Ether, the person must have also learned the Core Tome.'
'Priests don't really exist in the Skysand Kingdom.'
'Conjurers are rare, and they don't usually live near Starkhold. If a Conjurer were on their way through, they wouldn't be traveling through the wilderness.'
'Sorcerers almost never travel alone through the wilderness. Sneak attacks are deadly to them since they need time to prepare their Spells. If this were a Sorcerer, I would most likely smell another human as well.'
'So, it's either a Beast Tamer in search of food or another beast, or it is a Knight.'
'The scent is isolated and pure. There is no beast smell accompanying it. So, probably not a Beast Tamer.'
For several minutes, Kyle continued carefully moving through the wilderness, and the scent grew stronger.
At that moment, his instincts were slowly becoming nervous.
They told him that extreme danger was nearby.
Luckily, the danger hadn't noticed him yet.
'Jackpot,' Kyle thought as he slowly retreated.
Thanks to Lady Whiskers, he had become quite good at staying hidden.
Some minutes later, Kyle entered the Stark Brotherhood again and gave his report.
Simon just shook his head in disbelief.
In his eyes, Kyle had just left a couple of hours ago to find a wanted criminal that nobody could find.
And then, he came back with their exact location.
"I have no idea how you're doing this," Simon said. "You know, I told you that the Affinity of the Knight was unknown, but that's not the truth. We already knew he had a Fire Affinity. The fact that you even got that right is scary."
Kyle just smirked. "I'm good at what I do," he said.
"You sure are," Simon said. "Alright, we're going now. If your tip turns out correct, you will see your payment by tomorrow."
"Thanks," Kyle said.
Next, Kyle went to find the Land Crawler.
He talked with the local guards of Hillscape, who all recognized him as well.
Naturally, they helped him and pointed him in the approximate right direction.
The reason why Kyle was so successful was something he had learned on Earth.
Networking.
Hunters didn't just share intimate knowledge about their territory.
Guards didn't just tell any random person about local issues.
But with some favors, friendliness, and familiarity, Kyle managed to earn the trust of several important people in the surroundings.
Information begot information.
Some people had some issues and didn't know what to do.
Kyle had many connections, and he could give them the identity of someone who could help with these issues.
In return, these people would give Kyle information, which he could then give to other people in case they needed help.
"Oh? You're not sure how to catch that fish? I know of a good fisher. I'll ask them the next time I see them."
"The ore coming from the east is getting more expensive? When I'm in the east, I will check the prices and ask for information."
"You're missing an important beast? I think I remember one of the guards saying that they saw a Beast Master going to the wilderness. Let me check again. I'll be back later."
All of these favors were free.
They were just that, favors.
Kyle was helping people, and in return, the people were more willing to help him.
'Networking! The way half of all managers on Earth get their job!'
'The nobles of Skysand Kingdom know how important networking is, but the normal people don't.'
Of course, Kyle wasn't earning all of this money just to hoard it.
Every Ether Pebble he owned, he reinvested in ways to grow more powerful.
Techniques and courses.
While Kyle was still the weakest member of Gill's group, the difference in power was no longer massive.
Now, some of the weaker Fighters actually needed to go all-out against Kyle while fighting him.
'Give me six more months, and I will be average.'
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