The Bottom-Level Ecosystem

"Little Gauss, do you want some breakfast today?"

"Next time, Sophia. I'm heading out!"

Gauss walked out of the inn's main entrance.

His practice with Magic Missile had yielded some results, and he was ready to head to the Adventurer's Guild to check things out.

After reaching level 2, the speed at which he gained proficiency through normal practice had significantly decreased.

Compared to arduous training, practicing skills in actual combat was more effective.

Besides, the numbers on his Monster Codex had been stagnant for a while.

Total Monster Kills: 12

"Next Stage: Accumulate a total of 50 monster kills."

Practicing Magic Missile was like sharpening the knife before chopping wood; now that the knife was sharp, it was time to test it.

And the most crucial point was that during the few days he spent practicing spells around the town, his little stash of money had been depleted rapidly. He needed to take on some commissions to replenish it.

Current Cash: 26 Silver Coin 15 Copper Coin

In just a few days, more than 2 Silver Coins had vanished without a sound.

The vast majority of that money had been spent on food and meals.

This was even after he had consciously controlled himself and avoided extravagant spending at the tavern.

"What's going on? Did I just eat a bit too much meat?"

Gauss shook his head.

He had even chosen some relatively "cheap" street food vendors or small eateries for his meals these past few days, so his spending hadn't really been that high.

Even though he had meat with almost every meal, could the expenses really be this exaggerated?

Gauss felt he couldn't blame himself for this issue.

If anyone was to blame, it should be the high meat prices in this world. This world should reflect on itself; after so many years, has technology and productivity developed at all? Why couldn't meat be transformed from a luxury item into a common consumer good?

He shook his head.

His desire to eat meat likely wouldn't wane anytime soon.

As his Mana reserves continued to increase, he felt like a teenager going through puberty, constantly consuming a large amount of energy every day. If he only ate vegetarian, his body simply wouldn't be able to handle it and would soon develop problems.

Moreover, he didn't want to restrict his culinary desires.

His cultivation was already so arduous; what was wrong with enjoying himself a little? Living like an ascetic had never been his life's pursuit.

He walked into the Adventurer's Guild hall.

There were still many people inside today.

This was the norm for the Adventurer's Guild, especially in the morning and at dusk. A swarm of Adventurers, much like housewives rushing to grab sale items at a supermarket in his past life, would flock in, milling around the hall, possibly looking for suitable quests.

Gauss had been to the Adventurer's Guild a few times and was now completely disillusioned with the place.

Through his careful observation, he noticed that some Adventurers, despite their impressive appearances, would just linger by the various notice boards, browsing the commission information and nodding repeatedly, but after a long time, he never saw them take any further action.

He even had a vague feeling that he saw a few specific figures every time he visited.

He reasonably suspected that among the vast number of Adventurers, there were some paid extras, possibly even hired by the Adventurer's Guild itself, to make the hall seem livelier and thus stimulate the Adventurers' desire to "snatch up" quests.

Shaking off the random speculations in his mind, Gauss also approached the commission notice board and browsed the quest information.

First, he wasn't considering gathering quests. Gathering material-type quests often required a lot of time spent aimlessly searching in the forest, which was a waste of time. Furthermore, he lacked the methods, tools, and experience for collecting and preserving herbs.

Some escort quests were also quickly ruled out.

Fixed monster extermination quests were also just for show.

Those commissions were issued by the Grayrock Town city hall and were long-term. However, because of that, the areas had long been devoid of monsters due to constant sweeping by Adventurers.

Gauss mainly looked at monster extermination quests commissioned by civilians.

In this world, there were many low-level monsters, like Goblins, that had little intrinsic value. They couldn't produce any usable materials.

Therefore, villagers and human settlements often pooled money to post quests at the Adventurer's Guild themselves.

Perhaps some might wonder, even if a dozen small monsters like Goblins were gathered, wouldn't a village of dozens of people be able to handle them? Why would the villagers not clear them out themselves and instead hire Adventurers?

The previous Gauss had also been somewhat confused.

But after talking with some villagers in Birch Village, he had a general understanding of the reason.

Firstly, the combat power of small monsters in groups was different; their strength relative to humans couldn't be judged by simple numbers. Many small monsters, while relatively weak individually, had developed rich group combat experience from constantly fighting beasts and other monsters in the wild.

Secondly, there was unfavorable terrain. Jungles, lairs, or other wild environments were not suitable for human combat.

Most importantly, there was the unavoidable risk of injury and death when combat occurred. Villagers who had been engaged in farming for a long time rarely possessed decent combat will. Even if one or two occasionally did, they couldn't motivate others.

It wasn't difficult for Gauss to kill Goblins, but that was entirely because his previous life as a hunter meant his physical condition was already excellent among ordinary people. His Intelligence, which was higher than average, gave him a combat ability akin to a super low-budget bullet time, coupled with the buffs from magic, weapons, and teammates, made him appear like a "god of war."

However, ordinary villagers didn't have his advantages. Once combat began, it was difficult for everyone to finish it without injury. Injuries, and even deaths, often occurred.

Compared to fighting themselves, the timid villagers were more willing to grit their teeth, pool some money, and commission the Adventurer's Guild to handle the matter.

Over time, a customary practice had formed on this continent: it was best to entrust monster-related disasters to Adventurers.

Gauss felt that the Adventurer's Guild had played a part in secretly fanning the flames and promoting this idea. How else could the guild operate if no one commissioned them for tasks?

After browsing the corkboard for a long time, he still hadn't found a satisfactory commission.

He hoped to find a commission involving monsters that numbered less than five and weren't particularly strong.

However, such tasks, while not nonexistent, were definitely on the rarer side. When the monster threat wasn't significant, villagers wouldn't go to the expense of raising money to post a task at the Adventurer's Guild.

Moreover, many low-level monsters, despite their low intelligence and combat power, would be driven by their survival instincts to band together and continuously expand their group size.

Thus, in the monster ecosystem, there were situations analogous to "beasts of prey always hunt alone, while cattle and sheep need to form herds."

"Besides, I wouldn't be able to snatch those up anyway. The moment safer tasks are posted, they're probably snapped up by some low-level adventurer teams," Gauss shook his head.

Regardless of the field, competition at the bottom rung was always the fiercest.

"Or, maybe I should check over there?"

His gaze drifted to a corner of the hall, the most densely populated area.

If he wasn't mistaken, that was likely where Adventurers spontaneously formed teams. After all, not every Adventurer had a fixed teammate, and many tasks couldn't be completed by an individual's strength alone. In such cases, they could only recruit temporary teammates in the Adventurer's Guild hall.

Just like how he had volunteered to join Hailiel's team last time.