In the corner of the hall beside the huge sword and blade statue, groups of adventurers gathered in twos and threes.
“We’re preparing to team up to sweep through the underground cave to hunt slimes and collect slime cores. Anyone interested in joining?”
Slimes are low-tier creatures in the famous slime monster family.
They are also the monsters most novice adventurers encounter.
They rely on their swamp-like bodies to engulf prey, preventing escape, and they painfully torture enemies to death by constricting them through writhing movements.
Like goblins, their individual combat strength is relatively weak. One-on-one, most adventurers can easily deal with them.
The only thing to watch out for is not letting them stick to your weapons or armor, as their bodies secrete a mildly corrosive substance that might damage lower-quality gear.
“That black-haired young man, do you want to join our team?” Perhaps because Gauss’s gaze landed there, a red-haired youth who was recruiting teammates to hunt slimes in the cave just now sent him an invitation.
Gauss was somewhat tempted but quickly dismissed the idea in his mind.
“Sorry.” Gauss shook his head and declined the invitation.
“Hey, young man, are you a swordsman? Want to join our squad? We’re just missing a frontline warrior for charging.” Soon, another adventurer approached him, probably noticing the rapier hanging from Gauss’s waist and assuming he was a swordsman, so he actively invited him.
“I’m not a swordsman, I’m a mage apprentice.”
A mage apprentice is someone working toward the mage profession.
But even if Gauss called himself a mage, others wouldn’t consider him a formal professional.
Professional-level adventurers are all on the second floor; very few stay on the first floor and casually come to places to recruit.
Also, many low-level apprentice adventurers like to call themselves warriors, rangers, rogues, and so on.
Although Gauss added the word “apprentice,” the key word “mage” still attracted many adventurers’ attention.
One after another, they cast their gazes toward him.
Many mage apprentices often have their own fixed adventurer squads.
Even freelancers are quickly absorbed into relatively elite squads.
Among low-level adventurers, apprentices like mages, priests, and warlocks are fewer, whereas among formal professionals, the ratio of each class is relatively balanced.
This is easy to understand.
Compared to warriors, rangers, and rogues, mages, priests, and warlocks have higher entry barriers. Ordinary people without family backgrounds often cannot access related skills, so their numbers are relatively small.
“Hey, mage young man, join our squad!” A tall, burly young man stepped ahead of many and put his hand on Gauss’s shoulder. “Unlike those temporary ragtag teams, our Night Owl Squad is an elite team, and we happen to be missing a mage. Want to give it a try?”
“You big dummy! Who are you calling a ragtag team?”
“Forget it, forget it, he is... let’s not provoke him!”
The crowd instantly buzzed with noise following the young man’s boisterous voice.
But the young man ignored others’ protests and only focused on Gauss, waiting for his reply.
“Sorry, I don’t intend to join a long-term squad for now. I just want to temporarily join a team this time to train myself,” Gauss spoke honestly while controlling Mage Hand to lift his rapier, confirming his identity.
He only wanted to join a temporary team for now. It would be best if other members could support him by killing some small monsters while he practiced Magic Missile.
He wanted to earn some money, save up, and later check the price of a magic wand to see if he could buy one with a Life Magic Stone.
Once he bought a magic wand, he would sprint toward becoming a professional.
Only after officially advancing to professional would he consider squad matters, and most likely, he would form his own team.
He would recruit trustworthy frontline and support members to help him secure small monster kills, even if it meant sharing part of the commission reward.
Or he might act solo; the lone wolf mode offers more freedom.
But no matter what, he didn’t want to stay long-term under someone else’s leadership. That would hinder his personal development since he wouldn’t control squad actions, commission acceptance, mission processes, or monster encyclopedia collection.
If he weren’t currently lacking the ability to complete missions solo, he wouldn’t come to such a temporary recruitment spot to try his luck.
“No problem. Temporary is fine; think of it as us getting to know each other,” the young man laughed heartily, unfazed, continuing as if making up for lost time. “Even if you want to officially join our squad later, my team won’t agree without testing your strength and personality first.”
“By the way, my name is Levin. I’m a shield bearer. My teammates include an archer, an assassin, a swordsman, and a priest.” Seeing Gauss still not reacting, he introduced his squad’s composition, also wanting to showcase their strength.
Gauss followed the direction Levin pointed and saw four male and female adventurers.
Unlike other adventurers, this squad truly exuded an elite aura that warned outsiders to keep away.
The archer held a pitch-black longbow, expression unchanged when he caught Gauss’s gaze; the assassin wore a hooded cloak, and upon closer inspection, a small crossbow hung at their waist; the swordsman matched Gauss’s stereotypical image; the priestess girl clutched a wooden staff and stayed close to the wall, curiously watching Gauss.
This squad’s lineup was very complete: ranged support archer, flanking assassin, frontline shield bearer, frontal damage swordsman, and even a logistics healer priest.
In fact, even without him, they could handle most low-tier adventurer missions.
“What tasks have you accepted?” Even though he was tempted, cautious Gauss didn’t immediately agree.
He wanted to hear about the missions they accepted first.
If the missions were unsuitable or too risky, he wouldn’t join.
He worried they might choose only extremely difficult missions because of their “strong strength.”
“Don’t worry, just about 15 goblins,” said Levin, patting his chest confidently. “Our squad consists of pre-professionals striving toward professional goals. We never take on missions beyond our capabilities.”
“In fact, missions like these are just daily training to hone our skills. We’ve done similar missions more than a dozen times. Relax.”
Levin obviously sensed Gauss’s interest and spoke more earnestly.
Fifteen goblins seemed manageable.
The last time in Birch Village, there were twenty goblins, including one unusual individual, and they still managed.
Without wanting to badmouth others behind their backs, this squad was clearly stronger than Hayley’s trio by more than one tier and had more members.
Combined with his own greatly improved strength, this should be safe to complete.
Gauss quickly weighed the situation in his mind, made up his mind, and extended his hand.
“Then, let’s have a pleasant cooperation, Captain Levin. I’m Gauss.”
“Welcome, Gauss.” Levin shook his hand with a bright smile.
Joining a top-tier rookie adventurer squad first and secretly developing for a while wasn’t a bad choice.
Gauss needed to improve skill proficiency, earn money, practice swordsmanship, and accumulate monster encyclopedia kills.
But he couldn’t blindly rush into the Emerald Forest to slaughter monsters recklessly; that would be suicidal.
A well-rounded squad, even with a healing priest, could provide a stable environment for him to develop and level up temporarily.
Moreover, he felt the others were clear-headed; even if strong, they had no intention of taking on high-difficulty missions.
For adventurers aspiring to become professionals, taking on meaningful but manageable commissions while ensuring personal safety is the best pace.
His thoughts aligned well with the others.
That is, steady development, no reckless moves!