Tension was still a little high after what happened, so Shelly’s question was enough to shake things up. If Rin did not take control of the situation now, then the chances of things derailing from his plans were high.

Thankfully, Reina was here as the voice of reason.

"Don’t be short-sighted. I found Madam Yao and her people as unsettling as you did. However, I can see why Rin decided to get involved with them. They have the insight to survive in the apocalypse as well as the ability to take decisive action. They can become a great backbone—"

"Or scapegoat"

"That too."

Reina and Teressa came to an easy understanding over their shared interest in using GBF. Rin decided to let them be since it helped them bond.

"Should we head back?"

Rin asked and everyone started loading their things into the car. It was a quiet ride back and Rin would have usually preferred this silence. But the mood in the car felt off.

Shelly had fallen asleep and her head rested on Rin’s shoulder while Reina and Teressa were looking outside. Albus, on the other hand, tried to look calm but looked visibly guilty.

"Do you want me to have a talk with him?"

Reina asked as she looked at Albus. She had not been concerned about his wellbeing before, but decided to pay attention to him when she noticed Rin’s interest in Albus

However, Rin decided to tell her that it was not necessary.

"There is no need for that. I’ll give Albus time to come to terms with whatever is bugging him. Meanwhile, I need you and the others to start gathering resources for me."

Rin might have sounded confident in front of Madam Yao, but he had his doubts about the third task. So it was time to prepare beforehand.

As for his missing memory...

Rin was still bothered by it. But he did not have time to spend on it.

Survival was the first thing on his list.

...

Rin sat in his office chair and stretched his back. Then, he picked up the paperwork he had discarded. But there wasn’t much of it.

There was a lot to prepare but the people under Rin were capable of handling most of it. So he was left with nothing to do at the moment.

"Didn’t you say you had some work for me?"

Rin asked the system and it immediately materialized in front of him.

[The urgent work has been handled already. However, if you are volunteering to work for free, who is this system to refuse—]

"Who said I would work for free? I want information about the next task in exchange for my help."

Rin kept his demand clear and the system immediately changed its tone.

[(⸝⸝⩌ ⤙ ⩌⸝⸝)]

[Do you think it’s fair for a Rookie to demand incentives like these? Information regarding the next tasks is confidential.. The system cannot just-]

"I will exchange 100 potions for it."

[-hand information over...But if it’s for a loyal Rookie like you, the system can make an exception and look the other way.]

The system agreed and Rin let out a sigh.

His trade had worked this time, but he was not sure how long he could bargain with the system to give him information in exchange for his potions.

’It will be for the best if I am able to evolve my skills further and produce something better to trade with the system.’

But first, Rin would have to evolve his skill and he started crafting the potions immediately.

It took him a full day to craft 100 potions and with the help of the Rum-coffee, he did not even crash afterward.

[100 Potions are being collected. Rewards will be issued once the items’ authentication has been verified.]

Rin went to dinner and by the end of it, the transaction had been processed.

[User has gained 1,000,000 Coins.]

[User has received a guide for the next task]

The two items were deposited in Rin’s inventory and he immediately opened the second item- the task guide.

It was barely 10 pages long with not a lot of instructions. But everything Rin needed was contained in these pages.

[Guide for task 3: Role-play

Title of the play: Humanity against the Demon Lord.]

It sounded fancy but it was the typical story of heroes banding together to defeat the demon king. The ’heroes’ in this story were the hunters while the demon king was the a demon manifested by the system

Killing the demon king sounded simple, but there was a twist in the game- the last person to land the killing blow would become cursed and have to face the trial.

The one to face this trial in the original novel had been Madam Yao’s successor- Alex.

It was also something that led to Calamity of the Rose which made a huge impact on GBF’s defenses.

Since they were in an alliance, Rin wanted to help them prevent this. However, this went against his KPI.

"What a headache. I guess I have no choice but to wait for the task to come. Meanwhile, I should enhance more weapons for my people. When is the group from GBF arriving?"

One question led to another and then another until Rin was buried in it all. He finished as much work as he could and by the time he was done, it was morning.

It was time for representatives of GBF to arrive and Collin came to get him.

"Sir, it’s time...did you not get any sleep last night?"

Rin must have looked worse than he thought for Collin to ask this question.

"I did sleep a few hours, but I had files to complete. Did our guest arrive already? I should come with you to show them to their rooms."

Rin diverted the topic and ran out to get away from the scolding he knew was coming.

His butler sighed and decided that there was no point in arguing with his young master. Knowing Rin, he was going to get ignored.

It would be faster to hide work from him.

"Collin, stop wasting time. Can you gather a small but elite unit to train our guests? We need them to be up to par with our guards for this cooperation to work."

"Of course sir. I have selected the right people and informed them to come to the training ground. Everything is ready."