Mercenary Guild (Thanks to Shu Zhai Gou for the monthly ticket)

Mercenary Guild (Thanks to Shu Zhai Gou for the monthly ticket!)

The Mercenary Guild was a large organization spread throughout every human region of Gaia World, larger in scale than civilian organizations such as the Assassin Guild and Warrior Guild.

However, unlike other organizations, Mercenary Guilds in different countries shared only the same mercenary rank system and task classification system. Their other management systems varied, and Mercenary Guilds from different countries had no subordinate relationship with one another, pledging loyalty only to the rulers of their respective kingdoms.

This was also what every nation's rulers wanted. After all, mercenaries were a large group within a country, and one with considerable strength. No ruler would feel at ease if they were not under his control.

In the game of his previous life, the Mercenary Guild was the first faction most players joined during the early stages. By completing all sorts of commissioned tasks, they earned experience, money, and other Extraordinary item rewards.

Li Si's purpose in coming to the Mercenary Guild today was simple as well.

First, he wanted to learn the final Intermediate weapon proficiency required for his Proficiency in All Weapons.

Second, he wanted to register as a mercenary and complete commissions and monster-hunting tasks to obtain the large amount of experience he needed to level up.

The experience he gained from meditation alone was nowhere near enough to realistically let him break through to Intermediate Mage before the Sacred Festival. Not to mention the bottomless pit of raising skill levels waiting for him—he had to find ways to broaden his sources of experience.

For mercenaries in this world, the purpose of completing commissions was to earn task rewards. But Li Si was different. He had the Game System, which allowed him to gain corresponding experience while completing commissions.

Wasn't the simplest and most direct source of experience for the Game System grinding monsters?

Completing a few commission tasks along the way was only natural.

Li Si could barely suppress his urge to start grinding monsters!

Can Guang City's Mercenary Guild was not in the eastern district, but on Ge Duo Street, the busiest street in the western district. After all, most mercenaries came from the impoverished lower class. Before gaining Extraordinary power and advancing into Professionals, they could only make a living through physical labor and scattered commissions within the city.

Moving goods, cleaning houses, searching for lost pets—ordinary commissions like these made up the daily lives of most common mercenaries.

Calling them mercenaries was perhaps just a nicer way of describing miserable people struggling to make a living.

As for important commissions such as guard work and monster extermination, only Extraordinary Professionals could get involved in those.

Li Si recalled how, when the game had first launched in his previous life, players had swept through every Mercenary Guild task like a whirlwind. They accepted everything without exception, even jobs like unclogging sewers and hauling garbage.

The players' enthusiasm and efficiency were so extreme that a rumor circulated among the mercenaries at the time: a group of tireless construct golems had disguised themselves as mercenaries.

With their terrifying work efficiency and 24/7 schedules, players had taken up more than half the tasks available to ordinary mercenaries, causing quite a few who relied on such work for a living to grow dissatisfied. It had even led to several minor conflicts.

But once players had accumulated enough to advance into Professionals, that stopped happening.

After all, if you were grinding anyway, grinding monsters and dungeons was obviously more appealing than grinding toilets (*σ`)σ.

Although Li Si's Agility attribute had not yet received a numerical adjustment, it still far surpassed that of ordinary people. Before long, he arrived on Ge Duo Street.

Ge Duo Street was famous for bordering the Gedo River, which ran through Can Guang City's western district. It was the capital's largest hub for goods distribution and the movement of people.

The Mercenary Guild stood at the head of Ge Duo Street. Its striking five-story gray building was the core of the kingdom's entire Mercenary Guild.

Standing before the Mercenary Guild building and looking at the weathered brown wooden doors before him, Li Si saw mercenaries in all kinds of clothing constantly coming and going despite it being near evening. He could feel his blood for adventuring, all-nighters, and spending money beginning to boil again.

As he entered the Mercenary Guild, the right side of the exceptionally spacious hall was where mercenaries rested and socialized.

Returning mercenaries gathered with two or three friends around round tables, drinking ale and bragging to vent the exhaustion of a busy day, or to ease the tension that had remained tightly wound while fighting monsters.

"Old Mike, stop bragging. You think you can take on a Tusked Boar? You'd probably piss yourself the moment you heard it!"

"Exactly. Though a Tusked Boar isn't an Extraordinary magical beast, it's even stronger than the weakest magical beast, a Shadow Rabbit. Those tusks—tsk, tsk—they'd skewer you right through."

"I heard Lord Tony's plantation outside the city was wrecked by magical beasts. He's looking to hire Silver-level mercenaries to deal with it. Any of you interested?"

"You don't know this, but when I was adventuring in the great western desert, I chopped an ogre into several pieces with one swing of my sword. The meat wasn't very good, though—it got stuck in my teeth! What are a few goblins today? Easy pickings!"

Enduring the mercenaries' noisy chatter, Li Si squeezed his way to the left side of the hall. This was where the guild posted tasks, accepted commissions, and handled mercenary registration and assessment.

Though there was also a liquor cabinet and bar counter nearby, presumably to take back the mercenaries' hard-earned pay.

Li Si had spent plenty of money here in his previous life, mainly because the game's immersion had been so good. He could drink without getting drunk, giving a lightweight like him the chance to show off.

"Hello, are you here to raise your mercenary rank or register as a mercenary?"

The young woman behind the counter had looked dead inside after a busy day, but the moment she saw Li Si, she immediately perked up. After all, who didn't like a handsome young man?

"Hello, please help me register as a mercenary," Li Si said with a nod.

"Name?"

"Moriarty."

"Age?"

"Eighteen."

"Profession?"

"None."

Registering as a mercenary was simple, but Li Si did not want to reveal his identity as a mage just yet.

After all, he still wanted to learn new weapons, and being a mage—a rare profession among Professionals—would draw too much attention.

"Here is your identity card. You're currently only the lowest-ranked mercenary. Completing commissioned tasks will earn you corresponding mercenary points, which can be used to raise your mercenary rank." The uniformed young woman handed him a gray card, with Li Si's information engraved in magical patterns that were extremely difficult to forge.

"You can take on ordinary tasks that can be completed within the city, or form a team with others to accept higher-level monster-hunting tasks. But..."

The young woman hesitated for a moment before offering her advice.

"Before you become an official Professional, it's best not to attempt such risky tasks. Staying alive is the most important thing!"

After all, during her many years working at the Mercenary Guild, she had seen too many young people get fired up after registering as mercenaries and take on extremely dangerous tasks, only to leave behind not even a single relic.

"Thank you for the advice. I understand," Li Si replied with a smile.

He did not know whether he would have resurrection abilities in this life like he had in the game of his previous life. Naturally, he would not charge to his death like those foolish players, yelling, "Orcs will never be slaves!" or "Demacia!"

He was only an unranked mercenary now. In truth, he was just like most ordinary mercenaries, completing simple but time-consuming and labor-intensive commissions, perhaps never having the chance to advance into an official mercenary in his entire life.

Official mercenary ranks, from lowest to highest, were Bronze-level, Silver-level, Gold-level, Mithril-level, and Gem-level.

These ranks did not correspond one-to-one with Professional tiers. They depended entirely on the level and number of tasks a mercenary completed.

Li Si played with the still-warm mercenary identity card in his hand and asked the uniformed young woman, "Um, I'd also like to know—does the guild currently have any professional instructors?"

Please, please, please keep reading! This is really important to me!