The man Nawa saw was Singhkhon—the very same player who had caused a scene at the press conference held by 'The One' Association, and the person who had dealt with the Rock Bird when Nawa and his companions first arrived at Thaiban Village.
Singhkhon stepped onto a small wooden platform on the stage and shouted to everyone in the tavern. His voice boomed as if amplified through a loudspeaker—not by a skill, but by a built-in audio-amplification function found in player equipment, which worked much like a megaphone back in the real world.
Players could adjust the volume level, though higher volumes came with a steeper service fee. At its maximum setting—30 times the original volume—even a casual remark would be as loud as the sound at a world-class concert.
In an instant, the chatter in the tavern died down completely. Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward Singhkhon.
"Listen up, everyone! I am Singhkhon, a core member of the Earth-Tiger Guild. You've likely noticed the intriguing mission currently available here in Thaiban Village: the quest to exterminate the Lizardmen. There's a bounty of 20 silver coins for each one, with no limit on the number you can take down.
However, dealing with them is no simple task. These 'lizards' are 'Profession-grade' monsters, and they're incredibly cunning, too. Not only do they wield weapons, but they also operate in groups. Even for high-rank players, taking on an entire pack of them is a formidable challenge.
I know that all of you here..."
"Most of you are only Rank D or low-level Rank C players—it would be far too dangerous for you to take on monsters like these on your own. I'd like to propose that you join my team to hunt them down."
Singkhon continued his explanation, detailing his plan to form a large group to wipe out the Lizardmen. He requested a cut of 5 silver coins per person—amounting to one-fourth of the total bounty. Although it might seem like he was profiteering, many players were still interested.
This was because the terms Singkhon offered were highly attractive: participants would not be required to follow his direct orders, and Singkhon himself volunteered to serve as the vanguard. This meant the others didn't have to worry about being used as bait or human shields.
.
Although the Lizardmen inhabiting the Diamond Swamp were only around the 'Professional' rank in terms of raw strength, their human-like intelligence allowed them to coordinate with the precision of a military unit. Without a high-rank player to break their formations, it was nearly impossible for low-rank players to handle them.
Even if they somehow managed to defeat them, the risk of suffering a serious injury—or even death—was over 50%.
Furthermore, finding a high-rank player willing to hunt a pack of 'Professional'-rank monsters was extremely difficult; such players generally preferred to target higher-tier monsters, which offered greater rewards with less danger than a pack of Lizardmen.
Although Singhon was not yet a high-rank player, he was a high-tier C-rank player and a core member of the Earth-Tiger Guild—one of the three major guilds in the country. In terms of combat power, he was easily on par with high-rank players.
When Singhon stepped forward to lead, many low-rank players were eager to join him. While the rewards from hunting Lizardmen for bounties might seem insignificant to high-rank players, for those in the low ranks, it was a life-changing opportunity. Before long, Singhon had gathered a team of over 50 people.
Nawa, however, chose not to join Singhon's team. Even though the offer wasn't bad—and hunting in a large group would certainly be much safer—a gut feeling told him it would be better to keep his distance from this man.
Nawa had originally intended to find a party to increase his safety during the Lizardman extermination mission, but he had to abandon that idea, as most of the low-rank players in the tavern had already joined Singhon's group.
Still, Nawa wasn't particularly worried; his primary objective was to track down the apothecary, Mandis. In fact, if Singhon's group performed well, they would likely draw a significant amount of the Lizardmen's attention—which, in turn, would make it much easier for Nawa to search for Mandis.
With a plan in place to locate Mandis, Nawa turned his attention to the B-rank mission he had just received. To be honest, if it weren't for the task of tracking down the apothecary Mandis, Nawa would have actually preferred to take on this B-rank mission. Even though the "Anacondominium" might be an Elder-rank monster, there is only one of them.
Nawa has previously dealt with high-level Professional-rank monsters. While they may not be as formidable as an Elder-rank, Nawa has grown significantly stronger since then—thanks to consuming the beast soul of the wolf pack leader.
Even if he couldn't take it down alone, it would certainly be possible to defeat it by teaming up with others.
Given such an enticing mission reward, Nawa assumed there would be plenty of people eager to take it on. In reality, however, it was the complete opposite; after asking around at the tavern, he discovered that absolutely no one had any intention of hunting the Anacondominium.
The reason is that the Anacondominium lives in the water—and fighting it there is essentially suicide. Underwater, one's power and mobility are slashed by more than half due to water pressure; many skills become unusable, and those that do work suffer a significant drop in effectiveness.
Conversely, the Anacondominium's lethality multiplies when it is in its aquatic environment. Because of this, even a high-ranking player could easily be killed if they attempted to fight the Anacondominium in the water—which is the primary reason the mission reward is so substantial.
Nawa now understood why the system had classified this mission as Rank B—even high-ranking players would struggle to handle it. The fact that the system offered 200 reputation points for its completion made sense, given that the odds of a Rank D player like him succeeding were practically zero.
Nevertheless, Nawa had no intention of giving up. He had already invested nearly 10 silver coins into the endeavor, and the potential rewards—10 golden energy crystals and a premium-grade weapon—were far too enticing to pass up.
Nawa devised a plan: after gathering information at the home of Mandis the alchemist, he would log out and return to the real world to search the internet for any methods to deal with an "Anacondonium."
Stepping out of the village inn, Nawa opened his system interface and pulled up the details of the quest he had received from the guards of Matterhorn City.
(Quest – Rank E: Travel to Taiban Village and consult with an alchemist named Mandis.)
(Details: The city guards are facing a shortage of potions, as the alchemist from Taiban Village has failed to deliver supplies for several days. You have been tasked with visiting Mandis the alchemist to inquire about the situation.) (At Tai Ban Village)
(Reward: 50 copper coins. Condition: Must return with the news within 1 month. Time remaining: 17 days.)
(Reputation points to be gained upon successful completion of the quest: 1)
Nawa then commanded the system to display the quest location. In an instant, a system window appeared, showing a map of the area within a 30-meter radius of his current position.
A red dot blinked in the top-right corner—it marked the home of Mandis the Alchemist. Since Nawa had not yet upgraded the map function, no specific distance was displayed; however, this was more than enough for him to determine which direction to head.