After the Downpour

The next day.

When Gauss got up, he sneezed several times in a row. He seemed to have caught a chill.

Fortunately, his constitution was now above average. In the poor health he'd had in his previous life, he might already have come down with a fever.

"Phew—"

Gauss drank some water.

With a constitution of 6, it was now very difficult for him to get sick under normal circumstances.

He glanced at the Life Magic Stone hanging around his neck.

Aside from the boost he'd gotten from putting points into his constitution, this stone had played no small part.

It could also strengthen Gauss's constitution gradually, and when combined with the effects of putting points into the stat, it was like adding fuel to the fire.

He stretched.

He was now 1.8 meters tall, and had stopped growing.

More important than his increased height was how much sturdier he'd become. At the very least, he could travel for half a day without getting too tired.

He also needed less time to rest after a fight.

And his stamina in prolonged battles had improved as well.

These were all benefits of a stronger constitution.

In short, for every profession, whether Warrior, Ranger, or Spellcaster, constitution was an important physical attribute.

Sitting on the bed, he immersed himself in the Adventurer's Handbook deep in his consciousness.

The image of the second monster on the Monster Codex's details page had lit up.

It was a green slime monster. Beneath it was its species name, Slime Slime, and in the bottom-right corner of the image was the number of slimes he'd killed: 9.

He was still 18 monster kills and three new monster species short.

Gauss thought it over. He felt the former milestone would come first.

Still, compared to the unknown strength and type of the ability he might extract, the attribute reward from the Monster Kill Count was far more straightforward.

He decided not to get his hopes up too much about extracting a monster's Talent. After all, the earlier prompt had said that weaker Talents were more likely to be extracted.

As the saying went, if you didn't expect anything, you couldn't be disappointed. Keeping your expectations in check was a good way to increase your happiness.

Once he'd gathered his thoughts, Gauss got out of bed, got dressed, and headed downstairs.

The downpour had started and stopped quickly.

By now, the weather had cleared up.

Several unfamiliar groups of guests were eating in the inn's first-floor dining hall.

Gauss was used to it. The inn often had a new batch of short-term guests.

The diners chatting at their tables seemed to have noticed Gauss's "elite" gear and weapons, and how unapproachable he looked.

They pursed their lips and, almost in unison, lowered their voices.

Gauss noticed, but didn't think much of it. He glanced their way, then looked away.

In this world, ordinary people generally preferred not to provoke adventurers.

For one thing, adventurers often carried more sophisticated weapons and armor, and ordinary people couldn't win a fight against them.

For another, adventurers lived with the risks and pressures of quests and monsters. Some had short tempers, and the wrong look might be all it took to set them off.

Though the town had guards and a magistrate, they couldn't help in time if a conflict broke out.

The best approach was to avoid dealing with adventurers unless necessary.

"Awake? The rain was so heavy yesterday. You should've taken a day off before coming back." Sophia was tending to the potted plant she'd just placed on the counter.

"We didn't have much choice. The weather was fine when we set out, then it suddenly started raining on the way." Gauss shook his head.

No one could have predicted something so sudden.

"What kind of plant is that?" He glanced at the herb on the counter.

"Rosemary. The inn's been a bit damp lately, so I put it out to freshen the air and keep the bugs away."

Gauss smiled, doubtful it would do much.

After eating at the inn, he headed to the Adventurer's Guild.

The first thing he needed to do that morning was turn in yesterday's quest.

He was in a good mood as he walked.

Though this was only his third quest, turning one in and collecting the reward always gave him the same sense of relief he'd felt after handing in the final exam of his previous life.

The other members of the Night Owl Squad lived in different places. Some had rented houses of their own, while others had taken long-term rooms on the second floor of a tavern. So they arrived at different times.

When Gauss got there, only Leven had arrived.

He seemed to be the first one at every gathering.

"Morning," they said to each other.

The rain had left Leven looking a little down, but perhaps not wanting the conversation to die, he rallied and made small talk with Gauss.

"There'll probably be a lot more monster quests available soon."

"Why?"

"After a downpour clears, a lot of monsters come out, and they become more active. People have noticed the pattern."

"Should we take on more quests over the next few days?" Gauss asked for a reason.

With more quests available, they'd have a better selection.

Adventurers couldn't take quests blindly. They had to weigh the distance, the type of monster they'd have to kill, whether the enemy might damage their weapons, the reward, and the potions and equipment they'd need to prepare.

If they took whatever came along, they might end up with a troublesome quest and, after all that effort, even have to pay out of pocket.

Leven discussed the options with the others every time they chose a quest.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it, but it also depends on how everyone's feeling." Leven nodded.

"If you can, Captain Leven, could you look for some quests involving other kinds of monsters next time?" Gauss felt a little embarrassed asking.

"Not goblins or slimes?" Leven asked with a smile, drawing on their previous experience.

"That's right."

"Sure. I'll keep an eye out next time." Leven didn't make any promises, but he was already thinking about which monster quests might be suitable.

Seeing how seriously Leven took the request, Gauss guessed their next quest would probably involve killing a new monster. He felt relieved.

He needed to kill 50 monsters as soon as possible, and see if he could extract a monster's racial Talent early as well.

He felt that those two rewards would give his personal strength another boost.

Then he could consider taking on some smaller quests alone.

He couldn't keep relying on the squad to help him.

Actually, he felt he could probably handle around ten low-level monsters even now, and the simplest quests usually involved groups of about that size.

But he couldn't guarantee that nothing would go wrong.

After all, though he'd killed nearly ten slimes on his most recent quest, he'd had teammates taking the hits at the front, drawing enemy fire, and providing ranged support from the flank.

Facing more than ten times his number of opponents alone would surely be much harder.

To be safe, he wanted to keep developing steadily for a while longer.

Efficiency mattered less to him than staying alive. He was already certain he could keep growing stronger, but he still needed to be careful before he'd fully come into his own.

Adventurer quests weren't a game. You couldn't come back to life after dying, so safety had to come first.