Mixed Blessing System

After Lothur and Larissa's negotiations, a few more days passed, and it was finally Friday, the time for him and Elke to depart on the mission of the Morning Star Academy!

After the last few quiet days without many problems, the time had come for them to leave on the group mission necessary to join the Ice Feathers faction.

Precisely because of this event that they needed to complete, Lothur and Elke were at this moment in the academy's mission hall, where the group of candidates for faction places were.

In one of the special areas of the hall, more than 50 people were crowded in front of a mural. Each of the missions of the groups of faction rookies was in this place.

According to the academy rules, people interested in joining different factions could not do missions together. So each faction could send candidates to participate in their own missions published there in that area.

Each faction would have to send at least four candidates to be able to do their mission, or if this were not met, the candidates would have to wait until more people joined them.

As such, there were students there interested in joining more factions besides Ice Feather.

Lothur and Elke realized this when they saw the mission posters on that wall, which had prominent symbols in their titles with the name and shield of the faction that fit such missions.

​ 'It seems that only the most important factions can send candidates to be tested on a regular basis...' Lothur saw that there were only missions for the top five ranked factions.

Meanwhile, Elke was paying attention to what was on the poster regarding the mission for newbies trying to enter the Ice Feathers.

[Ice Feathers]

[Finn Mountains Quest]

[Description: the group of students interested in joining the Ice Feathers faction is to complete a mission of investigation and, if possible, solve the problem at a farm in the Finn Mountains area.]

[Farmers in the area have reported problems with animals and beasts and the appearance of noises in the middle of the night in certain sensitive spots. Investigate this point and report back to the academy any findings.]

[The academy recommends that if successful in discovering the source of the problem, and subsequent notification to academy management, await our orders.]

[Warning: area with reports of the appearance of evil beings!]

[Duration: from 2 to 10 days; the academy will not give missing classes to students on this mission during this period. But any students interested in this will have to make up for the lost time on their own.]

[Rewards: approval by the academy for students to join the Ice Feathers faction; 2,500 merit points for the group; 200,000 bronze coins for the group; 1 Bronze-grade pill for each group member.]

'Finn Mountains?' Lothur also noted the details on that poster, remembering that he had already done a mission in that area, that time alongside Annaliese.

The Finn Mountains were a large portion of land in the Finn Province territory, with exciting spots for training and cultivation for 2nd stage cultivators.

In it, there were several hazards and wilderness areas where natural resources grew away from humans, which could be an advantage for these students, who were usually between the end of the 1st stage and the beginning of the 2nd.

But given the size of the Finn Mountains, there were not such dangerous areas in some locations, and then there were considerable threats in others.

Considering this, Lothur was not sure how dangerous this mission would be, considering only the information available on the mission poster.

Anyway, after a few minutes in front of that mural, the young people began to disperse from there, gathering according to their factions of interest far away from each other.

The group on the mission to join Viktoria's faction had four other people besides Lothur and Elke, three women and one man. Of these people, one of the women was at the same level as the redhead next to the young Ritter. In contrast, the rest of the people were already level 10 cultivators.

Only Lothur was level 11, and even without knowing it, each of them gathered around him, already putting him in the position of leader of the mission.

Everyone there knew Lothur because of his recent achievements but also because he was Viktoria's husband.

They wanted to join this woman's faction. So everyone there knew about Lothur even before he became so famous locally.

On the other hand, as they were on trial to join Ice Feathers, most did not belong to local noble powers. It would not make sense to associate with an enemy or rival.

Neither the Frost family rivals would try to approach Viktoria's faction, nor would she accept them into her group in case one of them tried anything of the sort.

Because of this, none of these people had previous intrigues with Lothur to stand in his way, and they readily accepted the idea of him commanding them.

Lothur realized this and did not like it. "I know you people want me to lead this mission, but I have no interest in that. I am a talented fighter in different areas and probably someone who attracts attention as a magnet does..." He realized he was only saying nice things about himself and changed. "Cough! Cough! Uh, I'm not so good at leading people. It will be better if one of you is in charge of that."

"But..." Some of those people commented, feeling that it would not be appropriate.

Elke then said. "Then how about letting me lead? I don't have the strength, but Lothur will back me up."

The four people there, Theresa, Annelie, Julia, and Benjamin, heard that and looked at each other, not thinking that would be bad.

Elke was a noblewoman, the daughter of a patriarch, someone who had received an excellent education. Then, even though she was not as talented in cultivation as everyone thought, she certainly knew the theory necessary to proceed on a mission of this kind.

And with Lothur supporting her with his skills, none of them could question her.

That way, they were quick to accept Elke as the group's leader and then began to talk about what mattered to them.

"We have to leave tonight. So each of you had better be ready by sunset." Elke said, looking at those four individuals, two of them members of the bourgeoisie, one from a minor noble family, and one a subordinate of that noblewoman.

The four soon said they were ready to go and with carriages available for the journey.

"Well then, let us travel in two carriages," Elke ordered since it would not be good for each of them to go in a different carriage. "You three will go in one, and Lothur, Julia, and I will go in another." She spoke, indicating that that weaker woman would go with the two of them to 'balance' the strength of the groups.

Those youths accepted, and then the only man there asked. "What do you expect from this mission? I heard that its difficulty depends on the strength of the group..." He looked at Lothur.

Everyone understood that he meant that the mission would be more difficult because of Lothur, getting a little worried about failing and having to wait another six months to join a faction.

Lothur smiled bitterly upon hearing that and said. "Well, it won't be easy, but I think we can do well... I'm a little stronger than the last time the academy measured my strength."

...