Emerging from the 'Heart of the Gears', Barrett glanced up at the sky and then at his newly purchased pocket watch. One of the hands on the dial is docked near the 'one', while the other, longer, points exactly to the 'three'. At one o'clock in the afternoon, the sun shines brightly.

The shopkeeper told him that just like a creature needs to eat, the watch needs to be wound regularly to keep it running, but it doesn't need to "eat" every day, and "eating" once a week is enough to keep it energized.

Through the exquisite skeleton dial, Barrett can vaguely see the gears inside it are 'ticking, ticking' in an orderly manner, and the precise engagement and nesting of those gears make Barrett feel a special mechanical beauty.

The 'meat ball' of what appeared to be a flesh golem was still standing on his shoulder as usual, and the two black eyes of the little one showed a simple and innocent look. The Wanderer of the Mond in the shop, who had left the Machine Realm, told Barrett a lot of speculation about the little guy, but he didn't understand much of it.

Our barbarian adventurer listened to it for a long time, and finally silently summarized those words in his heart into two points:

One point is that the ball of meat seems to be the product of an intermediate state of the devil in the process of promotion, transformed by special means, and the other point is the original words of 'the beans planted in the spring' (Fubinen), "whatever it was, but where the materials from which it came from, the constructor is the construct, and the will of the master will be greater than everything." ”

Seeing Barrett standing silent, Meatball asked weakly. "Does the master dislike Joey?"

"No, I just want to know what the hell you are, that's all. Barrett replied.

"Joey is Joey. Meatball repeated the answer it had said many times, "It's nothing else." ”

"Well, got it, let's go. ”

......

Leaving Crystal Spider Street, Barrett strolls towards the borough of the city-state of Muya. He was going to the garrison hall and find the garrison officer there, 'Julian', to hand over his mission.

Barrett didn't know if his investigation was completed, although he had done his best during the whole incident, and went to hell to suffer a circle of ordeal for it, but strictly speaking, he did not report the results of the investigation to the Magic Association in time, nor did he immediately dispose of the humans who colluded with the devil and nip the invasion in the bud.

But this is also something that cannot be helped, when Barrett went to San Nino, the other party's preparations were nearing the end, and his immature investigation only slightly stimulated the other party's advancement speed, and had no impact on the overall situation.

Julian's guy shouldn't pay him, I don't think so. Remuneration, that's what Barrett is most concerned about at the moment.

When Barrett arrived at the garrison hall, his contact, Julian Easley, was not there. The brute waited for a short time in a resting place according to the guard's instructions, and then the guy ran back in a hurry.

The almost unkempt garrison welcomed the brute into his room, "You look pretty good. He patted the brute on the shoulder enthusiastically, "It's too hot, what do you want to drink?"

"Clear water is fine. Barrett sat down in the same chair she used to sit in.

"I knew it the first day you got back to the city-state, but I didn't expect you to come so early, and according to my estimation, you'll have to rest for a week or so. The garrison said with a smile.

"No one is going to get paid for it. Barrett took the glass of water from the other party and drank it cleanly.

He was a little thirsty at this point, but the sun was shining today, and the kind of meatloaf made of shark meat and crayfish that he had eaten since he came out of the heart of the gear tasted a little salty, so his mouth was very dry all the way.

"That's a good point, your words remind me of the time when I was younger. At the beginning, every time I completed a task, I would ask for payment as soon as possible. Julian poured him another glass of water. "One time I had worked so hard to complete a quest – the kind of quest that the publisher had already paid for the adventurer's guild – and I came back a little late, the guild was already closed, so I slept in the doorway for the night. You know, it was winter, and it was snowing heavily at night, and when the guild staff came to open the door, I was covered in snow, and they thought I was frozen to death. Do you know why I didn't go to a nearby hotel for the night?"

"Because you don't have any money. Barrett easily guessed the answer. He lived in the slums of Garano for quite some time.

"Haha, you guessed it right. At that time, I only had six copper plates on my body, and four of them were accidentally lost on the way back. Julian said, rummaging through the drawer of his desk, "Those are two 'copper fish' from the Kingdom of Forsy, I never knew what kind of fish they had printed on the obverse of the coin, and I thought they must be able to escape because they snuck out of my wallet." Therefore, when I collect money in the future, I never ask for copper coins from the Kingdom of Fusai. ”

"Snapper," Barrett said.

"What?" the rummaging garrison didn't seem to understand.

"The kind of fish printed on the copper coin of the Kingdom of Fusai is sea bream. Barrett further explained, "It's an extremely tasty fish. "It's also expensive, far from being affordable by its carrier (copper coins).

"Oh, it's not important, we don't talk about that. Julian took out a few pieces of paper, looked at them all over and over again, and then threw them all into the trash, "I heard you went to a great place." How's that, is it interesting there?"

"It's not fun, but at least it's not boring. "I don't think many people in this multiverse would think of Bato's Nine as an interesting place. But not necessarily, if you look at it from a different angle, it should be very good to watch a few fierce gladiatorial fights in the Arena of Diss as a spectator, but unfortunately Barrett has never experienced it.

"I'm glad you're back from that 'not boring' place, and I felt sorry for you for a long time when I heard that you died on a mission. That's not kind words, if you do die, I'd consider myself one of the accomplices. The garrison officer suddenly stopped his movements, and his tone was a little emotional, "Then again, there are really a lot of good young men who died in my hands, alas, ......"

Barrett didn't answer, he passed the glass to his lips and took another half gulp.

"Let's talk about remuneration, I like to talk about this because it's a topic that makes both sides happy. Yes, I'm happy too, but I'm not the one who paid for it in the end. Julian smiled, "The impact of this incident is very large, and it is foreseeable that such incidents will continue to occur in the future, and all we can do is to minimize the number of incidents and minimize the damage." ”

The garrison shrugged his shoulders, "No way, unless we can completely wipe out those evil devils, and then completely wipe out the plane of Bato's Nine Prisons, otherwise, those purgatory creatures in the Nine Prisons will eventually run into my world and use their cruel and despicable means to get something out." They have to live on this. ”

Barrett thought of the thousand souls in his spatial ring, and he felt lucky, if it weren't for the last-minute arrival of Krees and his legendary mage teacher, he was sure that he would never have been able to bring these thousand souls out of hell.

"Your investigation task has been completed well, although it is an investigation, but in fact, the core and most critical work of the whole thing has been completed by you. Julian exclaimed in surprise when he said this, "Ah, I found it! He picked up a palm-sized flat wooden box, went around from behind the table, and handed it to Barrett.

"What is this?" asked the brute, curiously as he took the box,

"One of your rewards. The garrison officer returned to his desk, "Given your performance in the incident, the Society's powerful 'Arcane Spearhead' organization has opened its doors for you. ”

Arcane Spearhead?Barrett knew that the little mage was the Order, and so was the vampire mage Cyril that he encountered in the Dark Realm. He opened the wooden box, and inside was a small Mithril insignia, the emblem was a traditional magic seven-pointed star, and an ancient style of long sword was engraved in the middle, "Isn't it true that only mages can join that institution?" asked the barbarian suspiciously.

"No, not all of them are mages, but the vast majority of them are, at least more than ninety percent, after all, the combat power of the association mages is obvious to all in the entire multiverse. Julian shook his legs and said, "And some other non-division professions, if their own strength is enough, and they have passed the test, they can also join it." Rest assured, it's certainly not mandatory, and ultimately it depends on your own wishes. ”

Barriet held the Mithril Emblem in his hand, "Will it do any good if I join?" He originally just wanted to get the qualification to enter the blue light curtain of the Adventurer's Guild and take on some higher-paying tasks, but he didn't expect to come to this point step by step.

"Of course there will be benefits, after all, the Magic Association is very generous. You wait a minute. Julian leaned back on the table, his whole body twisting and rummaging through a drawer.

He rummaged through it and muttered, "Good! Who would do a living without good? After all, we are not saints." But then again, this world doesn't need saints anyway, because they can't even save themselves. When I was a child, there was an old witch in my hometown, who claimed to be able to help others avoid disasters through crystal balls, why can't you ride a horse tomorrow, can't eat turnips when the wolf is the night after tomorrow, can't open the windows when it rains recently, etc., many residents in the village believe it very much. Later, one day when she was eating smoked chicken, she was stuck in her throat by a wishbone and suffocated to death. Why didn't she help herself dodge?"

There are always many such people in remote villages, and some of them are more famous, and even grandiosely become the guests of many nobles in big cities. As Leslie, the boss of 'Ears Up', said, there are so many strange things going on in this multiverse that people will inevitably believe in some mysterious power that is half-true and half-true.

Julian, "Damn, where did I put the good? Found it, here!"

He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Barrett, "Some of the basic benefits that the 'Arcane Spear' can obtain are all on this, and of course there are some hidden advantages, such as prestige in the association, and interpersonal relationships with mages, which are not easy to measure. Other higher-level benefits require a certain amount of contribution to be obtained. ”

Barrett glanced at the long list on the piece of paper, and the rights that come with joining the 'Arcane Warriors' are a lot. What is the low-cost teleportation, the purchase of magic materials such as magic crystals, the opening of the floating city can be entered and exited at will, the opening of more than seventy percent of the facilities of the association such as the large library, the opening of the heterotopic stronghold, which can undertake all the tasks issued by the association and its subordinate institutions, and so on.

Of course, the corresponding responsibilities and obligations are also very heavy, not to mention anything else, just look at the little mage, that guy has been talking to the mastermind of the Mind Flayer for a whole year.

"If I choose to join and one day I suddenly don't want to do it, can I quit at any time?" Barrett asked again.

"Of course," said Julian, "you can think of it as a very ordinary employment relationship, the guild is the owner of a caravan, and you are the hired bodyguard. The boss will pay you regularly, and you will protect your boss's caravan from bandits and monsters. If the bodyguard is unhappy, he can naturally leave, and correspondingly, the owner of the caravan can also fire the bodyguard who does not agree with him, and that's it. ”

Barrett thought about the time to take a few breaths, then smiled at Garrison Julian, "I don't think there's any reason for me to refuse. ”

......