Slime Slime

Beneath the sword, shield, and staff banner fluttering in the wind.

After many days.

The members of the Night Owl Squad gathered once more!

Compared to their bedraggled appearance when they had just finished the mission, everyone now looked positively radiant.

Clearly, after resting for several days, their exhausted bodies and minds had recovered.

"Morning, Gauss." Doyle, who had just gotten a new haircut, took the initiative to wave and greet Gauss.

"Morning."

Gauss had discovered that although Doyle had been rather quiet and taciturn when they first met, he was actually the reserved-but-passionate sort. Once they became familiar with each other, he was quite warm.

Of course, it might also have been because Gauss's strength had earned his recognition.

"What's that?"

Sharp-eyed Doyle immediately noticed the white staff tucked at his waist.

"Could it be a Wand?"

The others looked over as well, curiously staring at the slender white staff at his side.

"It's just a staff without a core embedded in it. It isn't worth much." Gauss waved a hand.

Yet clearly, the others did not entirely believe him, even though he was telling the plain truth.

The Bone Staff's design was simply far too exquisite.

Daphne was no exception. She lowered her head to look at the wooden staff in her hands, then compared it with Gauss's staff and pressed her lips together.

All of a sudden, the wooden staff she had once liked quite a bit seemed much duller.

But what material was that staff made from? Gemstone? Stone? Daphne felt that it did not resemble the most common material for wooden Wands at all.

"Alright, let's start taking commissions." After some brief pleasantries, Leven led everyone into the Adventurer's Guild hall.

The Adventurer's Guild hall was as packed as ever today.

The chattering voices of conversation flooded into their ears the instant they crossed the doorway and entered the hall.

Don't expect low-level adventurers to be particularly mindful of etiquette and speak quietly in public.

Especially those towering, fur-covered Half-orcs—once they opened their mouths, they were like blaring loudspeakers, as if afraid strangers might not hear them.

"Leven, how about we take some different missions this time?" Gauss came to his side and had to raise his voice as he spoke.

"What do you mean by different?"

"Combat commissions involving monsters other than Goblins. I want to fight a wider variety of monsters and gain more experience against enemies with different body types."

"I understand. I'll do my best to pick some." Leven nodded solemnly.

Gauss's strength had already earned his approval, so naturally he would take Gauss's request to heart.

Besides, it was only a small matter to begin with.

The low-level monsters encountered in adventurer missions were naturally not limited to Goblins. Goblins were simply the most common among low-level monsters.

That was why so many novice adventurers had the most opportunities to deal with them.

Aside from Goblins, low-level adventurers might also encounter skeletons in graveyards, Kobolds in mines, water ghouls running rampant along riverbeds, and Slimes hiding in swamp puddles.

Like Goblins, these creatures could threaten human lives and property, so people or organizations would issue commissions for them.

After making his suggestion, Gauss did not say anything further. After all, he was not the captain, so he left the choice to Leven.

Meanwhile, he browsed the Monster Codex in his Adventurer's Handbook in his mind.

The Monster Codex had a total of six pages, but he could currently only open the first page: [Common Monsters].

Only one image on the first page was still lit up: a vicious-looking Green-skin. There was a small 23 in the lower-right corner of its image.

As for the other icons, they were all gray and shrouded in mist, making it impossible to tell exactly how many Common-grade monsters there were.

Beneath the gray mist, at the very bottom of the page.

There was a line of text.

[Common] Types Collected: 1

Total Quantity: 23/50

The text recorded the types of monsters he had killed so far, as well as the total number of monster kills.

Since he had only killed Goblins thus far, the Goblin kill count was the same as the total kill count at the bottom.

While Gauss was lost in thought, the others had already gathered around Leven to discuss which mission to take.

Finally, when Gauss returned from his thoughts to reality, a commission had already been decided upon.

Find and clear out the Slime Slimes wandering outside the Harvest Orchard in Valencia Village.

Mission Reward: 60 copper coins per Slime Slime

Mission Quantity: 20 or more.

At the same time, they also picked up a long-term material collection quest: Slime Gel. The buyback price was 30 copper coins per piece.

Ordinary Slimes were less capable in combat than Goblins, but they were more timid by nature, making their traces difficult to find.

Besides, they were not entirely harmless. The acidic substance inside their bodies had a certain degree of corrosiveness.

Overall, it was a relatively easy quest.

The quest location was not too far away either.

Valencia Village. Judging by the distance on the map, they could arrive in roughly half a day.

After some discussion, everyone agreed to take the quest.

At noon, after packing all their equipment and luggage.

The group gathered once more at the town exit and set out on their quest.

Since the journey was relatively short, there was less luggage on the flatbed cart pulled by the packhorse this time.

The team members taking turns sitting on it to rest had much more room to move around.

When it was Gauss's turn to rest on the cart, he did not waste the time. Instead, he took a notebook from inside his clothes.

Lying against his pack in the swaying flatbed cart, he quietly began to read.

Recently, he had been making time to read this notebook Andeni had recorded in her early years.

Although it did not contain any specific instruction in spells, it recorded many of her personal thoughts on magic and magical power, as well as all kinds of magical knowledge she had gathered during her early adventures.

For Gauss, a newcomer who had never encountered—and could never have encountered—supernatural powers in his previous life, reading this notebook gave him an excellent grounding in some basic "common sense."

What he valued most were the descriptions of common 0th Ring cantrips and the effects of low-level spells.

He also discovered that the Identification Spell Andeni had cast when identifying the Life Magic Stone for him was a 1st Circle Spell.

Its effect was that, while maintaining contact with an item, one could cast the spell. If the item was a Magic Item or possessed magical power, the Spellcaster could, in most cases, learn its properties.

He had not expected such an unassuming spell to be at the 1st Circle level.

Still, its effect truly was quite good. At least for a Spellcaster like Gauss, who lacked the fundamentals, possessing this spell would likely be a great help in both daily life and quests.

Besides that, Gauss learned another important piece of information: there was a limit to the number of spells a Spellcaster could master during any given period.

There was no clear numerical standard. It was related to the strength of each Spellcaster's soul.

The more powerful the spell one mastered, the greater the burden it placed upon the Spellcaster's soul. It might even become necessary to use certain means to forget spells that were no longer needed.

Thus, even when many Spellcasters possessed numerous spellbooks, they would still carefully select the spell combination best suited to them.