"The Blood-colored Mining Team?!"
Someone in the crowd sucked in a sharp breath.
"My heavens, they're the undisputed number one Mining Team in our Underground City!
That one-eyed man is their captain, Black Wolf. He's a genuine Third Tier Star Vault Contract Spirit Master!
I never thought even someone like him would be drawn here to recruit this girl in person!"
"A Third Tier powerhouse... That's someone who can venture deep into dangerous mining areas alone and hunt powerful Demons! We usually have a hard time even catching a glimpse of him!"
Just as everyone was reeling from Black Wolf's arrival, another figure appeared, causing an even greater uproar.
"Look, that woman... she's so beautiful... It's Liu Yu!
The captain of the Azure Mist Guild's Underground City branch! Heavens, why has she come too?!"
"Hiss! There's much more to that woman than her looks. She's at least as strong as Black Wolf!
She's also a Third Tier Contract Spirit Master!
Most importantly, although the Azure Mist Guild behind her only ranks third here, its headquarters are in the Upper City!"
The arrival of the Blood-colored Mining Team and the Azure Mist Guild alone had stunned everyone present.
And this was only the beginning.
Several more groups pushed their way in from the edge of the restless crowd. Every one of them had an extraordinary bearing and a commanding presence.
"That's... the vice president of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, the biggest spiritual materials merchant association in the Underground City! He hardly ever shows his face in the Lower City!"
"Even the Wang Family sent someone? Their influence in the Underground City is second only to the Jiang Family's, you could say. I didn't expect them to be interested in this girl too..."
For a moment, cries of surprise rose and fell throughout the assessment hall.
Envious and jealous gazes all converged on the girl sitting on the Slime, looking somewhat at a loss.
Lin Luoluo herself was also frightened by the spectacle.
When had she ever seen so many important figures?
Any one of them could stamp their foot and make the Lower City tremble three times over.
And now, they had all come for her.
She instinctively hugged one of Xiao Bai's thick tentacles beneath her. Its soft, springy texture put her considerably more at ease.
"Don't be afraid, Xiao Luoluo."
Bai Chen's voice rang out in her mind.
"They've all come for you. Right now, you're the main character.
Show them the bearing someone with an S-Rank talent should have!"
"Mm!" Lin Luoluo nodded vigorously in her heart and took a deep breath.
Seeing more and more people gather in the hall, nearly bursting the entire space at the seams, Town Chief Liu De stepped forward, sweat covering his forehead. Wearing an ingratiating smile, he said to the crowd:
"My lords, my lords! Please move to the reception room to discuss things in detail! This is an assessment venue, after all. Look... the candidates for the next round are still waiting."
Only then did everyone notice that their arrival had brought the entire assessment process to a complete standstill.
The next group of boys and girls waiting to be assessed were peering in from the doorway, watching these legendary figures with awe and fear.
Black Wolf swept a glance over them with his single eye and snorted impatiently, but said nothing more, giving Town Chief Liu some face.
And so, personally escorted by Town Chief Liu De, the representatives of all the major forces who had arrived, along with Lin Luoluo herself, were invited into a separate reception room.
The reception room was not small, but it still seemed somewhat crowded now.
Bai Chen controlled his body and gave a gentle hop, landing with Lin Luoluo beside what looked like the most comfortable armchair.
The representatives of the other forces who had come to recruit her each found a place and took their seats.
For a moment, a brief silence fell over the room, and everyone's gaze drifted toward Lin Luoluo, some more openly than others.
Before long, Black Wolf, captain of the Blood-colored Mining Team and the first to arrive, could no longer hold back.
He was straightforward by nature and hated beating around the bush most of all.
"Little girl, let's not waste time."
Black Wolf fixed his single eye on Lin Luoluo, his voice booming like a bell.
"An S-Rank talent hasn't appeared in our Underground City for a long time. For you to earn a 3S evaluation is truly rare.
You're a promising seedling!"
"Here's my offer. On behalf of the Blood-colored Mining Team, I formally invite you to join us!
As long as you nod, we'll immediately arrange the best resources to help your Contract Spirit quickly reach the Second Tier!
On top of that, you'll get an allowance of eight hundred Silver Coins a month! Your share of the profits from mining will also be calculated at the highest rate we give our core members!"
Eight hundred Silver Coins!
The moment the number came out, the expressions of quite a few representatives of smaller forces in the reception room changed.
Bai Chen also made a quick calculation in his mind:
"Eight hundred Silver Coins? That sounds pretty good. An ordinary First Tier Star-Hidden Contract Spirit Master's standard allowance is only a hundred Silver Coins. He's offering eight times that right off the bat."
Bai Chen had little idea of the value of Silver Coins, but the girl had been saving for so many years and had not even managed to save up 100 Silver Coins.
Lin Luoluo was even a little dizzy from the number that had struck her.
Eight hundred Silver Coins... She had never seen so much money!
She and her younger sister had always scrimped and saved, and their living expenses had amounted to only a few Silver Coins a month.
To her, this sum was simply astronomical!
Yet before she could recover from this enormous surprise, a woman's voice, tinged with laziness and mockery, rang out.
Liu Yu of the Azure Mist Guild rose gracefully to her feet. Without even looking at Black Wolf, she curved her red lips slightly and smiled gently at Lin Luoluo.
"Eight hundred Silver Coins? Captain Black Wolf really is generous. Offering that little money, are you trying to brush off a beggar?"
Black Wolf's face darkened, and a flash of anger passed through his single eye, but before he could lash out, Liu Yu continued.
"Little sister, don't listen to this brute.
Come to our Azure Mist Guild, and we'll give you two thousand Silver Coins a month!
All our other terms will be better than the Blood-colored Mining Team's. They certainly won't be worse."
"Two thousand... Silver Coins?!"
This time, not only Lin Luoluo but even Bai Chen was stunned by the number.
That was more than twice what the one-eyed man had just offered! It was outrageous!
Liu Yu looked at Lin Luoluo's shocked expression with satisfaction, then raised the stakes further, playing her real trump card.
"Money is only the most basic thing.
Little sister, the Azure Mist Guild's greatest advantage is that... our headquarters are a powerful guild, very well known even in the Upper City.
The Lower City's resources will ultimately limit your development."
"With your talent, your future is boundless. Sooner or later, you'll enter the Upper City.
And our Azure Mist Guild is the best and safest stepping stone for you to reach it!
That's something these bumpkins who only know how to dig underground can never give you!"
At those words, Black Wolf's face went completely dark,
but, unusually, he did not argue back, because what Liu Yu had said was true.
The other team representatives who had come in with them also felt immense pressure when they heard the figure of two thousand Silver Coins.
Although the Azure Mist Guild ranked only third among the Underground City's Mining Teams, it had the great tree of its Upper City headquarters to lean on and deep pockets to match.
On top of that, its mission fatality rate was the lowest among the top Mining Teams, and safety was assured, making it a place countless Contract Spirit Masters fought tooth and nail to join.
It seemed that if their somewhat weaker forces wanted to secure this 3S-Rank genius today, they would have to bleed heavily!
"The Hundred Treasures Pavilion offers three thousand Silver Coins! And little girl, we'll give you thirty percent off all the spiritual materials you need for cultivation in the future!" the Hundred Treasures Pavilion's representative immediately stood and shouted.
"The Wang Family offers five thousand! We can also provide a private training ground and a dedicated instructor!" The Wang Family's representative was no less willing to back down.
"Eight thousand! Our Earth-Splitting Mining Team offers eight thousand Silver Coins! As long as you join us, you'll be our vice captain!" A captain who looked the most unassuming flushed red and practically roared out the price.
Several of their core members had died on their last mining mission, and they were in dire need of people now.
Eight thousand Silver Coins?
That was nearly the highest price a rare-attribute Demon approaching the Third Tier could fetch!
And now, it was merely one month's allowance for a First Tier Contract Spirit Master!
But neither Black Wolf nor Liu Yu showed the slightest discouragement upon hearing the price.
Money had never been their only core advantage.
Black Wolf spoke again.
"Little girl, I'll raise my offer to five thousand Silver Coins.
But I'll say just one thing: in the Underground City, no matter how much money you have, you need to stay alive to spend it.
Our Blood-colored Mining Team has a high fatality rate, but those who survive are the strongest! What we can teach you is how to stay alive!"
"I'll raise mine to six thousand Silver Coins as well."
Liu Yu spoke with a smile too.
"Little sister, what I said still stands. Do you want to spend your whole life as the strongest rat in the dark underground, or do you want to go up there and see the real sky?
Think it over carefully."
At that moment, everyone's gaze once again focused on Lin Luoluo as they waited for her final answer.