Continuous Rain, Professional

"Finally, the sun's out!"

Gauss opened the window and looked at the bright sunshine outside, a smile appearing on his lips.

A few days ago, after submitting their commissioned quest, the team members had each received their share of the reward. They had originally planned to take on another commission in two days.

But unfortunately, it had rained continuously for several more days.

So, their original plan had to be postponed.

He always felt that the rain was strange, but he had no clue why.

"Could it be that the rainy season has already started?" Gauss walked on the street, something he hadn't done in a while, thinking to himself.

Having been cooped up in the inn for days, the only things he could do besides practicing his rapier in his room were to chat with Sophia in the first-floor lobby to pass the time.

If he stayed a few more days, he felt like his body would rust.

Now that the weather had finally cleared up again, it was natural to come out and stretch his limbs.

He wasn't the only one with this thought.

The town streets were filled with bustling pedestrians and convoys.

"Hey, you guys! Hurry up! Or get out of the way for this lord!"

A large, bare-chested half-orc was roaring at the pedestrians walking side-by-side ahead of him.

Gauss heard the noise from behind him and turned his head to look.

He wasn't involved, just curious about what was happening.

Just like the rumors said, most half-orcs were quite irritable and violent.

This one was no exception. Its wide-open eyes were like copper bells. It was probably annoyed that the pedestrians in front of it were walking too slowly and blocking its path, so it started shouting.

If it were ordinary civilians, they might have backed down after being yelled at by him and seeing his unusually imposing physique.

However, the man in front of him this time didn't seem like an easy pushover either.

Hearing the half-orc's road rage-fueled roar from behind, he stopped dead in his tracks.

He turned to face the half-orc, a provocative smile spreading across his face.

There was a huge difference in their builds. The human man was only about 1.7 meters tall, while the half-orc was nearly 2 meters tall, standing there like a solid wall.

But the man's face showed no trace of fear.

"You bastard!"

The already agitated half-orc was provoked, and its face instantly turned red. It could no longer control its temper.

"BOOM!"

A massive fist, accompanied by a powerful gust of wind, was immediately swung towards the man's face.

Nearby pedestrians, startled by the scene, quickly scattered, keeping a safe distance from the two.

"BANG!"

Unexpectedly, the half-orc's powerful punch was easily caught by the man's seemingly ordinary hands.

The fist couldn't advance even an inch past the palm.

The half-orc's eye twitched. The originally red and ferocious face suddenly squeezed out a friendly smile.

"Sorry, bro-"

He was about to beg for mercy, but before he could finish speaking, a lightning-fast knee strike instantly slammed into its lower abdomen.

"GURK!!"

The man retracted his leg, and the half-orc immediately knelt on the ground, gagging repeatedly.

Gauss, watching this from afar, his expression turned serious.

"Professional."

That kind of terrifying strength that ignored the difference in size could only belong to a Professional.

He's really strong.

Gauss recalled the kick from before; it was so fast he couldn't even see it clearly.

Even though he wasn't in his thought-acceleration state, it was terrifying enough on its own.

His eyes couldn't even track the movement of the other person's muscles.

No wonder people say Professionals are like human weapons.

There is indeed an insurmountable gap between ordinary people and them.

Even the half-orc, with its inherited bloodline power, couldn't withstand a casual kick from him.

Ordinary people would fare even worse.

In close range, could I react? The thought popped into Gauss's mind.

No.

Soon, he had an answer in his heart.

Even with accelerated thought, capturing the trajectory of the opponent's attack, his body couldn't react in such a short time.

If he could create some distance, he might be able to cast Magic Missile to attack.

But Gauss worried that given the opponent's physical prowess, he might not be able to lock onto the target while casting.

"I'm still too weak."

Compared to the Night Owl Squad, Gauss, who had previously felt he had made considerable progress, once again recognized his own strength.

Facing a Professional, he was probably no different from an ordinary person.

Everyone around dispersed, no longer watching the spectacle, fearing trouble would find them.

Gauss also withdrew his gaze and quickened his pace to leave.

He wasn't scared like the other onlookers; he just desperately wanted to become stronger.

He needed to take on commission quests as soon as possible.

"Knock, knock!"

After announcing Leven's name at the counter to the attendant, he went upstairs to a room on the second floor of the tavern.

"Room 3."

Leven was renting here long-term.

Not long after, a voice called from behind the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Gauss."

Immediately, the sound of a chair being dragged could be heard from inside, and soon Leven opened the door.

"You're here to talk about commissions, right? I was just about to look for you."

Leven moved aside, gesturing for Gauss to enter.

Although the room he stayed in wasn't luxurious, it was fully furnished.

When Gauss arrived, Leven seemed to be maintaining his weapon.

The Oak Greatshield was placed in the center of the table, with beeswax, resin, a bristle brush, and a small iron shovel beside it.

"I was planning to come to your place today," Leven said slowly, picking up the brush to maintain the Wooden Shield. "I wanted to tell you, if the weather is still clear tomorrow, we'll meet at the Adventurer's Guild."

"Now that you're here, I can save myself a trip."

Leven stretched. The continuous rainy days had made him restless.

A Professional's skills would degrade if not practiced for a long time. Although this degradation wouldn't happen after only a few days of not practicing, Leven still felt uneasy.

He felt that by lying around for a few days, his chances of advancing to Professional in the future had decreased.

"Do you want me to notify the others for you?"

"No, I'll go myself this afternoon. It'll be a good excuse to go out."

Gauss sat in Leven's room for a while longer, learning how he maintained his Wooden Shield and the techniques involved.

His memory was excellent; in just a few moments, he had etched the not-so-complex maintenance knowledge and steps into his mind and left contentedly.

The next day.

The weather was still clear.

Gauss put on his equipment and left the inn.

He arrived at the Adventurer's Guild, which was packed with people.

The number of quest commissions pinned to the wall was also greater than usual.

"What kind of quests should we do this time?" Doyle rubbed his hands together, his face full of excitement. "I feel like my Cross Slash is about to be completely mastered, I have a very strong premonition."

"You said that a lot last year too," Meva reminded him expressionlessly from behind.

"This time it's really different!"

"Mm, that response is exactly the same as what you said last year."

Many Adventurers often had this illusion that their skills were about to reach mastery and they were on the verge of entering the path of guidance.

After all, there was no clear quantitative way to show their progress; everything had to be judged by personal feeling.

But feelings could change with mood and subjective thoughts, making them highly misleading.

"You should calm down. Be careful. I heard some Adventurers who constantly deluded themselves into thinking they were about to enter the path ended up having mental breakdowns and going mad," Oliver also patted Doyle's shoulder.

Gauss watched silently from the side.

He once again marveled at how his skill proficiency could directly display progress; it was truly overpowered.