However, for all of this, he first had to become strong, strong enough to make all of Zaun and even Piltover fear him.
A madman whom everyone would fear and admire!
But becoming strong was not something easily achieved by merely talking about it.
Not to mention whether Zaun would even provide Durin with an opportunity to grow stronger, even if it involved human modification and Augment replacement, Durin didn't have enough money to replace Augments. Each Augment replacement was equivalent to undergoing surgery, from finding a skilled lead surgeon to an anesthesiologist, then purchasing high-quality Augments, and finally, even applying maintenance oil to the Augment.
Furthermore, if you didn't give a substantial red envelope to Zaun's lead surgeons and anesthesiologists beforehand, the chances of survival on the operating table for a modification surgery were extremely low.
And most importantly, Durin didn't want to modify his body unless absolutely necessary.
That left only one path before Durin, a path that seemed to have been delivered right to him.
That was to maximize the potential of his character card system—to fight! To take on dangerous adventure quests to improve himself!
Only by gaining a large amount of experience points, increasing his character level, and then investing all his specialization points into Running and one-handed weapons, rapidly increasing the proficiency of these two skills, ideally breaking one hundred, would Durin be able to somewhat grasp his own Destiny.
If he could increase his proficiency to two or three hundred, his combat power would be undeniable to anyone, allowing him to easily obtain many things he currently desired.
After re-evaluating his thoughts, Durin slapped his cheeks hard, forcing himself to cheer up, then he stood up from the chair and walked towards a billboard standing in the center of the street.
This billboard recorded the major events that had recently occurred in Zaun. Additionally, some job postings for personnel were also displayed there, primarily focused on daily life.
Of course, there were also a few dangerous adventure quests.
Durin arrived in front of the billboard. Due to prolonged erosion by the gray haze, the brass edges of the bulletin board had already turned green and developed cracks.
It was also covered in a messy array of postings, and many people were gathered around to read.
Durin squeezed forward and carefully read every announcement on it. Some were quests, some were bounties, some were recruitment or self-recommendations, interspersed with many interesting and mostly unheard-of pieces of information, which Durin found quite engaging.
Of course, most of what was posted were numerous bounty quests.
The pale yellow papers described the information of each bountied creature as detailed as possible. Although the main characters of these bounties included marginal intelligent races like Gnolls and Minotaurs, more often, they were bizarre monsters and magical beasts.
Bounties for them were usually not because a certain part of these monsters was particularly valuable and could be sold for a large sum as magical materials, but because they had killed too many Zaunites, severely impacting local merchants, herb-collecting teams, and hunting parties leaving the city.
Completed bounty quests were marked with a large red cross.
However, a golden-bordered, ornate paper on the bulletin board attracted a crowd of onlookers. The paper read: Recently, highly aggressive Forest Strider Dragons have appeared in the mountains surrounding Zaun. After extensive investigation, we have located the activity range of these dangerous creatures. Given the dangerous nature of the commission, those who accept it cannot abandon it without authorization. Completers are requested to personally go to the Promenade Level's Emerald Estate to collect their reward. Detailed information about the monster will be provided by a dedicated person upon acceptance of the commission. Reward: 50 gold cogwheels.
"50 gold cogwheels! If I successfully complete the commission, wouldn't that mean… I wouldn't have to work for the rest of my life!"
"Don't be ridiculous. If it were something easily solved, would it be your turn?"
"What Forest Strider Dragon? I've never even heard of it. It's probably just someone exaggerating the information. In reality, there are no Landwalker Dragons at all; things like this happen all the time…"
"You're full of it! I have a friend whose brother was killed by a Landwalker Dragon. Good heavens, he was bitten in half."
"Hey, little brother! Are you going to take on the commission?" The two men who had been chatting suddenly asked Durin, who was standing nearby.
Durin quickly shook his head: "No, no, just looking."
Forest Strider Dragon, although he hadn't seen one, just hearing the name told him it wasn't something to be trifled with. Durin only wanted to improve his strength, not throw his life away with no chance of survival.
But honestly, a reward of 50 gold cogwheels, it would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted. Durin suddenly felt a slight disheartened feeling about how weak he was.
Amidst the jostling crowd, Durin caught sight of a notice from the corner of his eye and was immediately drawn to it. The notice was posted in a corner, its parchment edges slightly yellowed, and on it was simply scrawled:
[Recruiting Undercity sewer rat catchers. The sewers beneath the herb merchant's warehouse at 123 South District, Third Avenue, are infested with rats. Some Bell Rats are stealing herbs. We need rat catchers with excellent physical fitness and some hunting skills. Bounty: 25 copper circle coins.]
…
"DIVI Rock Party Preview!"
[Are you still troubled by the hardships of life? Do not be sad, do not be melancholy, because—on June 20th, a grand surprise awaits you at the Babbette Grand Theater in Zaun's Entresol Level! Zaun's youngest death electronic rock singer—DIVI will make a grand appearance!]
…
After reading all the information, Durin decided that the sewer rat catcher job was perfect for him.
So-called Bell Rats were essentially humanoid rats living in the sewers of Zaun and Piltover. Although they had an innate, untaught ability with machinery, using simple parts to create weapons for themselves, their small size, less than one meter tall, meant that even an ordinary person could take on several Bell Rats alone.
And Durin's current one-handed proficiency was 54, and Running proficiency was 37, which was more than enough to deal with Bell Rats. He could use this opportunity to increase his proficiency and improve his combat power.
Then he would have greater confidence when taking on other adventure quests!
In short, this quest had some danger but not too much, and the reward was considerable.
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