Cantrip: Mage Hand lv3 (3/50)
Level 1 Spell: Magic Missile lv2 (17/20)
Level 1 Spell: Mage Armor lv2 (19/20)
Swordsmanship Basics lv1 (9/10)
Gauss glanced at his character panel.
The number of skills and traits he had accumulated was growing rapidly, a clear reflection of his increasing strength.
While he was checking the panel, the two villagers who had come with him returned from a distance.
“There were 8 in total. You guys double-checked the count, right?” Gauss snapped back to reality and gestured for them to confirm the dead goblins lying in the mud.
“Yeah, that’s right.” The two villagers nodded repeatedly.
They’d witnessed the entire battle and had no doubts about Gauss’s strength. In fact, they couldn’t help but feel a little reverence.
He looked so young—probably even younger than they were—and his calm, bookish appearance completely transformed in battle. When cutting down monsters, he turned into something else entirely—like an old butcher who had spent decades slaughtering livestock, claiming life after life with casual precision.
That stark contrast in demeanor filled them with a sense of unease.
They feared that if Gauss wasn’t fully satisfied, he might just turn around and cut them down too, mistaking them for goblins.
Fortunately, his mood seemed stable for now.
After the brief satisfaction of victory passed, Gauss returned to his usual calm. He remained alert, scanning the surroundings for any creatures drawn by the scent of blood or the sounds of battle.
After collecting the goblin ears as proof, he rummaged through the corpses for anything of potential value and took what little he could find.
Back at the village, the chief confirmed the details with the two villagers and promptly handed Gauss the agreed-upon reward: 7 silver and 20 copper coins.
With the impromptu commission finished, Gauss explored the surrounding area a bit more.
He killed two slime creatures and a stray skeleton, but nothing else noteworthy showed up.
Eventually, he returned to the first village, said farewell to the chief and Jenos, and began the journey back to Grayrock Town.
As the sea of green farmland slowly thinned, Gauss realized he was getting close.
The outline of the dusty gray stone town steadily grew in his vision.
Passing through the checkpoint gate, Gauss couldn’t help but feel a little excited as the familiar streets came into view.
Humans are strange—always chasing novelty. When he first arrived in the peaceful countryside village, he thought the slower, quieter life there was kind of nice. But after a few days, he began missing the liveliness of town.
The village was too quiet. It had no real shopping options, and when night fell, the place went pitch black. He found himself turning in early just like the locals.
That lifestyle... he could never really get used to.
Shaking off the thought, Gauss made his way straight to the Adventurer’s Guild. His first order of business: submit the commission results.
This time, the receptionist on duty was Petra.
As the first staff member who had greeted him when he joined, Gauss felt a bit of nostalgic familiarity when he saw the blonde-haired woman again.
But what surprised him was that even before he pulled out his adventurer’s badge, Petra called his name.
“Mr. Gauss, did everything go well this time?”
“Uh... yeah. Nothing too dangerous.” Gauss blinked at her, mildly surprised.
He remembered Petra as fairly ordinary—good memory, sure—but not particularly remarkable. She was just the first guild staffer he met, so it was natural he’d remember her more clearly.
But for her to remember him? That was different. She saw dozens of adventurers daily. To not only recall his face but also his name... That wasn’t normal.
Maybe that’s just the level of professionalism they expect from guild employees. Gauss reasoned.
If he were the one doing her job, he probably wouldn’t remember some random newbie adventurer at all.
Petra accepted his quest materials and badge, occasionally glancing up at his face.
Compared to the last time, he carried himself with more confidence.
Of course, she remembered him—not because she had a photographic memory, but because Gauss had left an impression.
She’d even kept an eye on his task records. For a rookie, he had advanced smoothly and had already started taking solo commissions.
That kind of performance could only be described as "exceptional talent."
“Apologies, but these goblin ears don’t match the current commission requirements.”
“Oh, maybe I mixed them up by accident.” Gauss replied calmly as she sorted out a few specific ears and set them aside.
But in truth, he hadn’t mixed them in by accident. He’d done it on purpose—to see what would happen.
To his surprise, the guild’s verification method had identified them with pinpoint accuracy. The number she pulled out matched exactly what he’d slipped in.
Was it based on when the ears were harvested? he wondered.
But that theory didn’t hold up. The two sets had been collected only days apart.
Plenty of commissions took weeks—or even months—to complete. If time of collection were the metric, it would be far too prone to errors.
So the guild must be using some sort of detection magic or trace-tracking enchantment.
Having confirmed his theory, Gauss didn’t linger. The line behind him was getting long.
He was paid 11 silver coins.
As he slid the coins into his pouch and felt the weight, his mood instantly brightened.
Current funds: 42 silver, 65 copper.
Glancing down at his boots, he realized the soles were nearly worn through.
Definitely time to restock on clothes, boots, and basic supplies.
That’s the thing about being an adventurer—wear and tear on gear is way higher than for ordinary people.
Not only were their travel routes longer, but they also constantly fought through brush, rocks, and thorns that tore fabric and gear.
As for why Mage Armor didn’t block that kind of wear and tear?
Well, from what he could tell, it didn’t register everyday interactions like bug bites or environmental abrasions.
It probably had some kind of spell logic or condition-checking mechanism built into it.