Elite Squad

Near the huge sword and saber statue in the corner of the hall, groups of adventurers gathered here and there.

"We are forming a team to head down to the underground caverns to clear out some oozes and collect ooze cores. Is anyone willing to come along?"

Oozes were the baseline creatures of the notorious ooze family.

They were also the monsters most frequently encountered by novice adventurers.

They relied on their marsh-like bodies to swallow living beings and prevent them from escape, using constriction to painfully torture their enemies to death.

Just like goblins, their individual combat power was relatively weak. In a one-on-one situation, most adventurers could handle them quite easily.

The only thing to watch out for was not letting them stick to your weapons or armor, otherwise the mild corrosiveness inherent in their bodies might damage equipment of mediocre quality.

"That black-haired young man, would you like to join our party?" Perhaps because Gauss's gaze had wandered over, the red-haired youth who had been recruiting teammates to go down into the caverns to sweep for oozes issued an invitation to him.

Gauss felt tempted, but quickly dismissed the idea in his heart.

Underground caverns in the wild were far too dangerous for novice adventurers. Who knew what extremely dangerous monsters might be lurking within? In the event that he ran into one, escaping while deep underground would be extremely difficult.

"Sorry." Gauss shook his head and declined the invitation.

"Mister, are you a swordsman? Would you like to join our squad? We're just missing a frontline-charging warrior." Before long, another adventurer walked over to strike up a conversation. Perhaps seeing the rapier hanging from his waist and thinking he was a swordsman, he took the initiative to extend an invite.

"I am not a swordsman, but a Mage Apprentice."

A so-called Mage Apprentice was someone striving toward the path of a mage class.

Yet even if Gauss called himself a mage, no one else would regard him as a formal professional.

Adventurers of the professional tier were all on the second floor; very few ever stayed on the first floor, let alone had the spare time to wander over to a recruitment spot like this.

Besides, many grassroots adventurers in their apprentice stage loved to call themselves warriors, rangers, rogues, and so on.

Although Gauss added the word apprentice at the end, the much more crucial word at the front—"mage"—still attracted the attention of many adventurers.

One after another, they cast their gazes toward him unbidden.

Many mage apprentices often had their own fixed adventurer squads.

Even freelancers would quickly be absorbed by relatively elite squads.

Among grassroots adventurers, the proportion of preparatory classes like mages, clerics, and sorcerers was relatively small. Conversely, among formal professionals, the proportion of each class was relatively balanced.

Actually, this was also very easy to understand.

Compared to warriors, rangers, and rogues, mages, clerics, and sorcerers had a higher threshold. Ordinary people without family backgrounds often found it hard to come into contact with related skills, so their numbers were naturally relatively small.

"Mage mister, join our squad!" A tall and powerfully built young man beat many others to the punch and grabbed Gauss by the shoulder. "Unlike those stinky fish and rotten shrimp who throw temporary parties together, our Night Owl Squad is an elite squad, and we're just missing a mage. Would you like to come and give it a try?"

"Big fool! Who are you calling stinky fish and rotten shrimp?!"

"Forget it, forget it, he's—we'd better not mess with him!"

Amidst the man's boisterous voice, various reactions instantly rang out from the crowd.

Yet the young man paid no heed to the protests of the others, simply staring intently at Gauss as he awaited his reply.

"Sorry, I don't currently have any thoughts of joining a squad long-term. Coming here today, I merely want to temporarily join a party to temper myself." Gauss spoke the truth, while controlling Mage Hand to lift his rapier as proof of his identity.

At present, he only wanted to join a temporary party. The other squad members would ideally be able to assist him, harvesting the kill counts of some small fry while giving him a chance to practice the effects of Magic Missile.

He wanted to earn a bit more money, and once he had saved up enough, he would go inquire about the price of a wand in a while and see if he could buy one with the help of a Life Magic Stone.

Once he acquired a wand, he would make an all-out dash for the professional tier.

Only upon formally advancing to a professional would he consider matters regarding an adventurer squad, and in all likelihood, he would probably form a team himself.

He would recruit trustworthy vanguard and support personnel to create opportunities for him to harvest small fry, and even if it meant giving up a portion of the commission reward for the sake of it, it would be worth it.

Or perhaps operating solo would work too; the lone wolf model was much freer.

No matter which it was, he did not want to remain long-term in a squad led by someone else. That would be very disadvantageous to his personal development—he wouldn't be able to decide the squad's actions, the acceptance of commissions, or the mission process, and the collection work for the Monster Codex would be difficult to carry out.

If not for the fact that he currently lacked the ability to execute missions solo, he wouldn't have come to a temporary teammate-recruitment spot like this to try his luck.

"No worries. Temporary is fine too, consider it a chance for both sides to understand each other." The young man laughed heartily, unconcerned, and added as if to compensate. "Even if you wanted to formally join our squad right now, my members wouldn't necessarily agree before your strength and personality have been tested."

"Right, I am Leven, a Shieldbearer. Among my companions, there is also an archer, an assassin, a swordsman, and a cleric." Seeing that Gauss still didn't react, he continued to introduce his squad's composition, which was also intended to show off their strength.

Gauss followed the direction pointed by his finger and saw four male and female adventurers.

Unlike other adventurers, this squad truly exuded the demeanor of a "don't-approach-me" elite squad.

The archer held a blackened longbow, her expression unchanged upon seeing him cast a gaze over; the assassin wore a hood, and upon closer inspection, a small crossbow hung at her waist beneath the cloak. The swordsman sported a look straight out of Gauss's stereotypical impressions, while the cleric girl clutched a wooden staff, shrinking against the wall as her eyes curiously observed Gauss at the same time.

Gauss felt somewhat tempted.

This team's personnel truly were quite complete, featuring an archer for ranged support, an assassin for flanking thrusts, a shieldbearer for front-line damage absorption, a swordsman for frontal output, and even a cleric for logistical medical support.

In truth, even without him, they would be fully capable of executing the vast majority of ordinary missions for grassroots adventurers.

"What kind of mission have you accepted?" Even though he was already tempted, the cautious Gauss still did not agree immediately.

Instead, he prepared to first listen to the contents of the commission mission they had taken.

If the mission was unsuitable and the risk was too great, he wouldn't join.

He was simply worried that because they were "formidably strong," they would choose tasks of exceptionally high difficulty.

"Rest assured, it's just around fifteen goblins." The man named Leven patted his chest. "Our squad consists of quasi-professionals striving toward professional goals, so we won't recklessly accept missions that exceed our capabilities."

"In fact, a mission like this is merely training for us to hone our skills on a daily basis. We've executed similar tasks more than a dozen times, so you can put your mind completely at ease."

Leven clearly also saw that Gauss had the inclination to join, and his words became a lot denser.

Fifteen goblins—that felt pretty manageable.

Last time in Birch Village, there were twenty goblins in total, plus an unconventional individual, and they had weathered through it in the end.

Though he didn't want to badmouth others behind their backs, this time's squad was clearly more than a tier stronger than Hailiel's trio, and had a larger headcount.

Coupled with his own greatly increased strength, barring any accidents, it should be enough to complete the task safely.

Gauss weighed things rapidly in his mind, and having made up his mind, he took the initiative to extend a hand.

"Then, happy cooperation, Captain Leven. My name is Gauss."

"Welcome, Gauss." Leven shook his hand as well, a brilliant smile on his face.

Gauss returned the smile.

Joining an elite-tier novice adventurer squad first and quietly developing for a period of time might not be a bad choice.

Gauss needed to raise his skill proficiency, make money, practice sword skills, and accumulate kill counts for the Monster Codex.

Yet he couldn't blindly charge into the Emerald Forest alone to find monsters and slaughter them indiscriminately; that was no different from courting death.

A fully equipped squad that even possessed a medical cleric could indeed provide him with a temporarily stable environment to develop and level up safely.

Besides, he felt that the other party and his companions had a good grasp of themselves; even with decent strength, they had no thoughts of challenging high-difficulty missions.

For adventurers aspiring to set foot in the professional realm, taking on commission missions that had training value without exceeding their capabilities while safeguarding their own lives was the most suitable rhythm.

In thought, he and the other party's group were largely in tacit agreement.

That was: steady your development, don't court death!