My Name Is Galen, It's Bruce

He Xi nodded, indicating understanding.

As long as it was a commission to clear out monsters, it met his core needs.

The two left amidst the envious and jealous gazes of the surrounding adventurers, heading in another direction.

After walking for a few minutes, they saw three figures standing under the shade of the trees not far away.

The other party also noticed them, and one of them raised a hand in greeting.

He Xi understood that these should be Hulk's teammates.

Looking from afar, the one who greeted them was a well-built male warrior with a longsword on his back.

Beside him stood a tall woman with a longbow on her back, and a person completely shrouded in a gray cloak, their face hidden in the shadow of the hood.

"Hey, Hulk, already got something so quickly?" the swordsman greeted as they approached, his gaze sweeping over He Xi.

At this moment, the female ranger's eyes darted between He Xi and Bruce, then she spoke with undisguised doubt and displeasure, "Level 8?"

He Xi understood; the other party had clearly used Appraisal Spell to glimpse his approximate level.

Hulk's voice rang out, "This young man is Galen, and his profession is Mage."

He then turned to He Xi and introduced them one by one, "These three are my teammates: the warrior Belt, the ranger Laila, and our stealth specialist, Zoya."

Upon hearing the word "Mage," Warrior Belt's eyes lit up, and he curiously sized He Xi up.

Even the stealth specialist Zoya, who had been silent, slightly raised her head, the shadow of her hood shifting as if casting a scrutinizing gaze.

He Xi also took this opportunity to try and see the stealth specialist's face.

The deep hood and a black cloth mask concealed most of her features, revealing only a pair of eyes in the shadow.

They were eyes as clear as amethyst, breathtakingly beautiful, but their gaze was like a blade tempered in ice, sharp and indifferent.

"Purple pupils?"

These unusually beautiful eyes made He Xi even more intrigued and curious about the already mysterious stealth specialist.

Ranger Laila's displeasure eased upon hearing "Mage," but she still regarded him with scrutiny, bombarding him with questions, "Mage? What magic can you use? Only level 8? Are you... an adult?"

In her eyes, an 8th-level spellcaster was simply too young and weak.

He Xi didn't offer further explanation and directly raised his right hand.

Poof!

A sharp Earth Spike instantly burst from the ground in an open space not far away, the action clean and swift.

"Earth Spike Technique?!" Laila was genuinely surprised this time, "What's your Intelligence stat? This spell is known for being difficult to master among basic spells!"

Belt nudged Laila with his elbow, lowering his voice to remind her, "Look, he's not using a staff..."

Laila then noticed He Xi's empty hands, her surprise deepening. She looked at Hulk as if he were a trafficker who had kidnapped a child prodigy, "Hulk! Where did you find this monster? An 8th-level guy, casting Earth Spike Technique instantly without a staff?"

Hulk laughed heartily, a hint of pride in his voice, "Got lucky, ran into him right at the guild entrance. Galen is a new registrant, and I quickly snatched him up.

I was also surprised by his technique when he cast Earth Spike Technique.

Most importantly, this spell is very suitable for our team's tactics.

Those low-level monsters are often very agile and move quickly. We don't fear confronting them head-on, but chasing them is too tiring. With Earth Spike Technique to restrict their movement, our efficiency will be much higher."

He Xi was not surprised by their reactions.

After all, his appearance did look quite different from a typical Mage.

However, he was quite satisfied with the team's overall composition.

With a solid front-liner like Hulk, a ranged attacker in the ranger, and the warrior and stealth specialist seemingly not weak, they could provide support and clean up.

If there were a Priest, it would be a textbook perfect adventurer team configuration.

However, Priests were rare and a luxury for low-level adventurer teams.

As for dealing with injuries... Healing Potions were expensive; one bottle could cost half their mission reward and was not a consumable item.

Therefore, most of the time, minor injuries relied on cheap Hemostatic Bandages and herbs.

Although the effect was worlds apart from the instant healing of Healing Potions, they were cheap.

And as a heavily protected back-row Mage, He Xi felt he would basically not need to engage in frontal combat, making the probability of getting injured extremely small.

Coupled with the powerful sustained casting from Earth Affinity, he didn't even need to spend money on mana recovery items.

Although he did have a few spare potions, they were reserved as a trump card and would not be used unless absolutely necessary.

Thinking about it this way, he could almost output with zero cost and zero risk, a perfect setup for grinding monsters.

With this thought, He Xi felt it was necessary to demonstrate his value.

"Hello everyone, my name is Galen, and I am an Apprentice Mage. Beside me is my canine contracted monster—Bruce. However, he is still in his juvenile stage and doesn't have much combat power for now. But as a dog, his sense of smell and hearing are relatively keen, and he should be useful for tracking and vigilance."

He paused, feeling he should give his teammates a heads-up, "Also... he can speak some simple human languages, I hope you don't mind."

Just as Hulk, Belt, Laila, and even Zoya looked at him with confused eyes, thinking He Xi was joking--

Bruce raised his front paw at the opportune moment, waving like a human in greeting, then spoke:

"Hello everyone, I'm Bruce. Male, likes females."

Belt, Laila, Zoya: "???"

Hulk's usual composure almost broke. He looked at He Xi, who was acting all serious, then at the dog scratching itself on its hind legs. After a long pause, he managed to say:

"...Galen, your contracted partner is truly extraordinary."

He Xi didn't offer much explanation about Bruce's breed or why it could talk, and Hulk and his teammates tacitly didn't press for details.

In the world of Adventurers, who didn't have a secret?

Although Bruce looked like an ordinary cattle dog, his uniqueness had clearly been quietly accepted by the team members and categorized as "another peculiar trait of this young Mage."

Watching his teammates, especially Laila, whose reaction shifted from doubt to curious investigation, Hulk knew that the new teammate he had hastily recruited had gained initial acceptance.

He cleared his throat and began to explain the main business: "It's like this, Galen. The four of us have recently registered and formed an Adventurer team called 'Dragon Fang'."

"You must have seen the guild's announcement board before. Did you notice any patterns?"

He Xi nodded: "Hmm, there seem to be very few Black Iron and Bronze level extermination requests, and most of them are long-term tasks posted by the official channels, billed by quantity."

"That's right," Hulk nodded approvingly. "The guild's announcement board actually only displays a portion of the requests.

There's another category of requests that offer higher rewards but are often more troublesome, and these are not publicly posted.

The guild, considering the difficulty of the requests, the safety of the Adventurers, and the mission completion rate, usually recommends these requests preferentially to teams with a certain level of strength and reputation."