Regression of the Genius Extra

At the Adventurer's Guild, every adventurer within Whiteburn was packed inside the grand common hall of the Guild.

Adventurers from as young as 13 to as old as 70, from the weakest to the strongest were all present here.

In front of the receptionist counter, Arnold sat on a chair still on his armor he wore a while ago. His party members were all sitting on a nearby large table with exhaustion written all over their faces.

It wasn't the physical toll that burdened them, but the mental one. They were very much shaken after encountering a creature like that. Especially the sly looking man, he has come to realize that if they hadn't moved according to Arnold, all of them would've been food to that horrifying creature.

The other teammates were in similar conditions, some younger ones shakenly realizing they might have a generational trauma if that type of monster became common everywhere at some point.

Joe stood on a corner, her heart having mixed feelings while she heard Arnold explain their encounter with the strange thing to everyone and The Guild Master.

She was a woman in her early thirties with neck-length golden brown hair like the spring wheat and amber eyes. Her well defined face with low fat looked cute with motherly allure. She wore a white robe under which was a full-body silver armor covering most of her body from neck to toe.

Her usual everyday smiley face now shifted into a serious and professionally stern face. She heard Arnold's words carefully and noted every minor detail into a piece of paper.

Everyone's heart was tense and the atmosphere was suffocating as everyone realized the danger those 'things' Arnold just described would pose. Arnold's team was lucky since the unknown girl and Mr.Shadow were there to help them.

But the others wouldn't be so lucky if they ever encountered such abomination. Not to mention there were a total of ten such monsters they encountered, and there could be more.

As Arnold finished his part of the story, Guild Master Laura Pasgran's face turned grim. She put the paper and pen down and clasped her hands and said, making everyone shocked and scared, "This isn't the first time these strange creatures have appeared around Whiteburn.

"20 of these creatures have been spotted around Whiteburn throughout this year excluding the recent 10 Arnold and his party members have encountered. Though, the mutation seems to be the first case we've witnessed."

Arnold and everyone in his team looked at her with horrified looks. They couldn't believe they alone have encountered half the amount of monsters spotted in a year at once.

Joe stepped forward and asked Laura, "Miss Laura, if there are previous records of encountering such bizarre creatures, why were none of us ever informed about such dangers beforehand?"

"That's right, Laura. If we've known about such dangerous creatures beforehand, we all would've been much more careful as to not lose our life." An old veteran adventurer stated.

"I remembered there were talks of some adventurers going missing during missions. What if all of them fell victim to these creatures?" Another woman in a mage robe said.

Hearing these, everyone began murmuring among themselves.

Laura cleared her voice, which made everyone stop and listen to her. She then explained, "First of all, these strange monsters have only ever appeared in the Lands Below. The people taking missions related to there are very few and at least above level 80 Intermediates.

"Not to mention, those who go there only went once or twice at most. All of them were either able to kill the creatures or able to escape without losing their life.

"The only people who frequented that place are me, since I need to check if the situation is dire or not once a month and Shadow."

Everyone went quiet as the silence stretched until Laura spoke again.

"Second, the creatures only appeared once a month at the beginning then twice until this month. The amount I've told you is also excluding the amount Shadow has killed within the month of his arrival. So, it is confirmed that the reason we discovered as few as 20 of those creatures was simply because very few people explored that place."

Everyone wore troubled looks. Arnold hesitated, afraid of the answer but his curiosity took over as he asked, "H-How many have Mr.Shadow encountered since his arrival?"

Laura looked at him once before answering with a tired sigh, "32."

Everyone's eyes contracted and breath hitched with sheer disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me…" the sly looking man muttered under his breath.

"Not only that…" She continued, "Two of those creatures he slayed were similar to the Mutated one's."

Arnold and every other veteran adventurer gulped hard, trying to process just how strong this shadow truly is. Everyone else just stayed shocked in amazement.

Then, one of the receptionists asked with a worried look, "Um…So what should we do now, Miss Laura?"

Everyone's gaze turned to Laura with similar worried faces. It was a no-brainer that most, close to 80 percent of the adventurers were able to feed their families and give them a stable life due to their job as adventurers.

People joined this guild while being as young as 12-14 years old, just to take responsibility for their family's livelihood. So, if any of them were to encounter these strange creatures, not only would they lose their lives, their loved ones would also suffer.

But they can't stop working as much as they want to, to try prioritizing their lives. Stopping work would mean no income, and they would have to rely on their savings, only if they had enough obviously.

Very few of them truly saved enough to retire, and most of the people recently joined as adventurers and still needed training to make a stable living.

So, there were only two options unless a better option arrived magically. First, to stop going out to hunt and face poverty and starvation until the crisis is dealt with, or, go out to hunt with your life being at risk every time.

Laura closed her eyes and contemplated for some time that felt like hours before she opened her eyes and declared,

"I, Laura Pasgran, as the 19th Guild Master of the Whiteburn Adventurer's Guild, declare that all the active and recent commissions would be put on hold until we find a solution to the recent strange creature problem.

"I also forbid any adventurers to take on any third party commissions that includes going to the Kribus Forest or the Lands Below. We need to ensure everyone's safety above all else."

To be Continued…