Versatile Mage

Edited by Aelryinth

“Take this sum of money from my account and help me collect as much information on the young Medusa as you can and organize it for me. The rest is your reward,” Mo Fan raised a finger and said to the Hunter Mistress called Anna generously.

Anna smiled with a flirtatious wink.

She went to another room and spoke to the clerk at the desk, “Transfer ten million out of this card and collect the information about the young Medusa. Filter out the most reliable information.”

Anna purposely turned around after finishing the sentence. She gave Mo Fan a thoughtful smile before proceeding to organize the information.

Mo Fan remained smiling, but the smile stiffened as soon as Anna left.

-Holy crap, I didn’t say ten million, it’s already insane to pay a million just to collect information!-

He clearly went too far with the posing.

Even though ten million was not necessarily a huge sum for Mo Fan anymore, only an idiot would spend so much money just to collect some information!

However, Mo Fan was well aware of the price of valuable information. If he went to search for the young Medusa like a headless fly, without spending some money on the information about her, it would be no different than scooping up a needle from the bottom of the ocean. After a brief thought, Mo Fan clenched his teeth and withheld the urge to knock Anna out just to get his money back.

The reward was currently at three and a half billion. He believed his decision of spending a sum that could easily buy a house in Shanghai for the mere information of the young Medusa was going to pay him back handsomely.

Anna was a professional operator in the Hunter Union. Mo Fan noticed a rare badge that indicated her rank as an International Hunter Mistress on her chest. Even though her rank was not high enough to serve Senior Hunters, she would have serviced hundreds, or even a thousand, Hunter Masters by now.

—

Anna soon returned with a single piece of paper. She had compiled the information into a single page in a very short period of time.

Most Hunters had to collect and analyze information themselves prior to becoming a Hunter Master. Many Hunters would spend more time on organizing information than the actual expeditions, and it was very common for their efforts to be in vain if they ended up collecting false and unreliable information.

It was much less worrisome with a Hunter Mistress’ help once they achieved the rank of a Hunter Master.

Mo Fan had Lingling, the all-purpose Little Loli back home. He had never had to rely on a Hunter Mistress, but he definitely needed help when he was in foreign countries. She allowed Mo Fan to learn the information he needed in the shortest time possible!

“You came just in time, a Hunter was temporarily recruited by the military for a mission. He discovered the hair of the young Medusa at the Sunset Valley. What do you think?…” Anna explained to Mo Fan in a serious manner. She was no longer sporting a seductive smile.

“Are you sure it’s the young Medusa’s hair?” Mo Fan asked.

“We normally refer to Medusae’s hair as silken. Many reputable forgemasters like to use it as the padding between pieces of armor around the joints. It gives the armor a high defense while minimizing the restrictions on a Mage’s movement. The Hunter I once served managed to collect some of it, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to bring it back alive…” Anna said.

“Oh, so he sold the information at the main hall?” Mo Fan asked.

“Yeah, the bid for it went up to seven million, but I bought it with eight million and made it exclusive to you. I also organized bits and pieces of the news that other Hunters have collected. Here is the map for the young Medusa’s activity range that I’ve made…” Anna placed a tablet in front of Mo Fan.

Anna had done everything in a very professional manner. Mo Fan was familiar with the information that the map was providing him. Lingling often did similar analysis to pinpoint where their target might be before confirming it by buying some expensive clues from the Hunter Union. Her accuracy in finding the target was higher than fifty percent, and she could further increase it when provided with more reliable information.

“This is the activity range of a mature Medusa, and this is the activity range of the young Medusa. I’ve tagged them with different colors. According to other news, the mature Medusa seems to be residing at the Sunset Valley, and the young Medusa showed up at the Sunset Shrine a few days ago,” Anna said.

“The Sunset Shrine… how reliable is it?” Mo Fan asked.

“Rumors like these? I would say less than twenty percent, but the information we bought with eight million does fit perfectly with it. I am now seventy percent sure that the young Medusa was at the Sunset Shrine a day ago,” Anna replied while adjusting her spectacles.

“Any other information?” Mo Fan asked.

“Well… not for the time being, I’ve already bought the most valuable information, but there is indeed something I can tell you for free. Before the young Medusae mature, they will molt their hair once every week. There’s a species called the Roving Desert Beetles. They love the hair that Medusae shed, so if you are heading to the Sunset Valley, you can bring some Roving Desert Beetles along. I’ve roughly calculated for you; the information you’ve acquired with eight million indicates that the young Medusa shed its hair around three days ago, which means in the morning on the fourth day from now, if you are within five kilometers of the young Medusa, the Roving Desert Beetles will lead you to the hair that the young Medusa just shed. That way, you should be very close to the young Medusa!” Anna said.

“Roving Desert Beetles? Anna, isn’t a piece of information like that worth a lot?” Mo Fan asked curiously, staring at Anna.

Anna’s expression shifted slightly. She lowered her head and said, “I learned it from my previous employer. It cost five million, but my hirer did not make it back alive. As a Hunter Mistress, I’m not allowed to sell the information I’ve learned…”

“I see… you were in love with your previous boss, right?” Mo Fan speculated, judging from Anna’s reaction.

“No, she was my friend, we’d been working together for five years,” Anna shook her head. It turned out that her previous boss was a female Hunter Master.

“Oh, oh, thank you for the useful information,” Mo Fan said quickly.

“My pleasure. I will keep you updated with the latest news with the Sand Eagles’ help. Unfortunately, too many people are interested in the news about the Medusae, so I’m afraid ten million won’t be enough to acquire the latest news,” Anna said.

“Hold on to my card, use it to buy any information that you think is valuable,” Mo Fan said generously.

“Sure, good hunting,” Anna smiled, placing the unpleasant memory behind her.

“I’ll take this with me,” Mo Fan took the piece of paper that had the information Anna had compiled.

The information was extremely useful. General Fenna had only mentioned that someone had seen the young Medusa, but she had no clue where the spotting had occurred. The outskirts of Cairo covered a huge area and had many, many demon creatures roaming around. It would be almost impossible to wander around and look for the young Medusa.

Now that Mo Fan had confirmed where the young Medusa was, things were a lot simpler!

“Mr. Mo, there’s something I want to ask you,” Anna stopped Mo Fan when he was about to leave.

“Go on,” Mo Fan said.

“Did you really complete the quest of the Drowning Curse? I spent quite some years at the Aegean Sea before. I’ve heard a lot of terrifying rumors about the Drowning Curse. It’s like a Curse of the ocean that everyone is scared of, yet you are so young. Oh, I’m not questioning your capabilities, I’m just confused as to how were you able to solve such a great mystery of the ocean when so many Senior Hunters failed to discover the truth?” Anna said. Her eyes displayed a strong desire to learn the truth.

Mo Fan had requested to he be matched with a Hunter Mistress as soon as he reached Cairo’s Hunter Union. Anna was actually the manager of the Hunter Mistresses in Cairo’s Hunter Union, so she had the clearance to quickly discover that Mo Fan had completed the quest of the Drowning Curse!

Every Hunter that had completed a quest with a reward pool was considered a legend. Anna agreed to be matched with Mo Fan, as she was intrigued by the man.

The reward pool for the Drowning Curse came from donations from all over the world, mostly from the families of the victims who did not want anyone to suffer the same misfortune. It was more of a reward pool gathered from charities, so the sum was not noticeably high. Meanwhile, the Tear of Medusa had a great demand, both because of its own value and the fact that many people were suffering from the Curses of the Medusae. In terms of difficulty, it was actually harder to solve the mystery of the Drowning Curse, since there was no clue or information about it at all!

Anna had not revealed her intentions earlier. When she realized Mo Fan was a very approachable man, she decided to ask about it.

How did such a young Hunter Master manage to solve the mystery of the Drowning Curse!?

“It’s quite complicated, maybe we should find somewhere quieter to talk about it after I’m done with this quest?” Mo Fan proposed, raising his brows.

Anna was amused by Mo Fan’s reaction. She replied, “Sure, I await your good news!”

—

Mo Fan left the Hunter Union, actually leaving his card with Anna.

It was not like Mo Fan did not really care about money, but he was impressed by how professional Anna was. The activity map she made, her speed, and decisiveness at acquiring the information he needed were comparable to Lingling’s.

Lingling was not familiar with the situation in Egypt, but Anna was. His chance of completing this quest was a lot higher with the Hunter Mistress’s help!

Mo Fan was only willing to spend money on accurate information. If he had only spent a million, he seriously doubted he would be able to find a single strand of the young Medusa’s leg hair in the end!

Mo Fan was not worried that Anna would spend his money without his permission. A Hunter Mistress that was qualified to serve a six-star Hunter Master was worthy to be appointed the Minister of Finance of a country. They would clearly list out the things that they had spent money on. They would never spend their client’s money on anything useless.

A Hunter Mistress that did waste their client’s money would not be worthy to become a Hunter Master’s advisor. The Hunter Union had many branches across the world, and its management had always been strict on the Hunter Mistress’ ethics. Even though a lot of Hunters saw the Hunter Mistresses as toys, there were still a lot of impressive and professional Hunter Mistresses!

Anna was clearly the professional kind!