The Missing Adventurer Squad

Grand looked at Rain in astonishment too.

Fabian, who had just reached the dummy's back and had yet to use Backstab, froze!

How had Rain been faster than him?

Was that a Combat Technique?

Only Leia, standing at the rear of the squad, had seen every move Rain made.

Her beautiful eyes widened, and her red lips twitched. She didn't know what to make of his performance.

As one of the three responsible for focusing the squad's attacks, Rain had struck their target almost at the same time as her arrow.

His performance could hardly have been better.

The problem was that Rain hadn't cast Freezing Ray. He had attacked in melee!

That...

By comparison, Fabian had been the slowest of the three.

An apprentice Rogue had fallen behind...

Now there was something you didn't hear every day!

Wait. If Rain can use that Combat Technique repeatedly...

"Rain, does that rapid-movement Combat Technique put much strain on your body?" Leia asked, stepping forward while Chris and Fabian crowded around him with questions.

"Not too much."

"Great. Then perhaps we can practice switching targets," Leia said with a smile.

"Switching targets? Wouldn't that be too complicated? And is it useful?" Chris asked, puzzled.

"Of course. Say we run into a large group of Kobolds, and they have a Kobold Priest. What do we do if he casts a protective spell when we focus our attacks on him?"

"We can quickly switch to another threatening Kobold. Once the priest's protective spell wears off, we focus on him again and take him down fast."

Leia explained it readily, then gave another example.

Rain's eyes flickered. He understood what she meant.

He could think of other situations where it would work, too.

Two hours later.

Everyone was drenched in sweat after their joint practice. Some sat, others stood, taking a short break.

"Oh, right. Should we rest another two days, or take another job?" Leia suddenly asked.

"Let's take a job. On that Giant Vampire Bat job, I barely got near a monster before Rain dealt with them all. That was no fun at all," Chris said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Hahaha, exactly!" Fabian nodded at once.

He hadn't gotten much chance to fight last time either.

Both men were working to improve their proficiency with their Combat Techniques, hoping to reach the guided stage as soon as possible.

But if every job was as easy as the last, it might be safe, but it would offer little chance to grow. Who knew when their Combat Techniques would reach the guided stage?

The best jobs were naturally those suited to their level of strength.

Such jobs weren't easy to find, of course. And intelligence wasn't always reliable, so a target's actual strength could differ greatly from what was reported.

That was why Adventurer squads generally took jobs slightly below their own level.

Rain felt a little embarrassed when he heard them, but he agreed.

For one thing, he had spent everything he'd earned from the last job on his new shield. His purse was empty again.

For another, though he had no proficiency panel, he could clearly feel his Combat Techniques improving.

Actual combat brought the fastest progress.

Training with teammates came next.

In other words, if he wanted to improve his Combat Techniques quickly, he also needed to take jobs of suitable difficulty and gain experience.

Besides, he had a special ability that let him acquire monster bloodlines!

Leia glanced around at everyone and smiled. "All right, that's it for today. We'll meet in the association hall tomorrow morning and see if there are any suitable jobs."

Early the next morning.

Rain stopped by Ironforge Workshop to pick up his metal shield, now fitted with three diamond-shaped spikes, then headed to the bustling association hall.

As it happened, Leia and the others arrived at the same time.

"Oh? Rain, is that your new shield? Not bad. You even added spikes!" Chris circled him, eyes widening.

"The new shield suits you." Leia glanced at it, her gaze lingering briefly on the spikes.

"Thanks!"

"Nice shield. Though now that you've changed shields, people will have an even harder time telling you're an Apprentice Mage," Fabian teased.

"Come on, let's check the notice board!"

"Oh, Rain, didn't you say you wanted a job involving Deepmoss Spiders?" Leia asked, turning to him as she remembered.

"You can't be serious, Rain. Bats last time, spiders this time?"

"Trust me, exploring a sticky cave full of webs is not a pleasant experience!" Fabian said with a helpless shrug.

Still, he knew Rain was now the squad's core fighter—and its main melee fighter at that. Leia, as captain, would probably favor Rain's opinion.

"Deepmoss Spiders with a Challenge Rating of one? Damn it, Rain, why do you like fighting things like that?" Chris asked, rubbing his forehead.

"Uh... I've never fought them before. I want some practical experience." Seeing Chris's miserable expression, Rain spread his hands.

He could hardly say he was after the Deepmoss Spiders' bloodline abilities.

"You won't like it, I promise! Fighting hairy spiders the size of washbasins in narrow passages where you can barely stand up straight... Gods, I've got goosebumps just thinking about it."

"Huh? Chris, are you scared of spiders?" Rain noticed that goosebumps really had risen on Chris's exposed hands.

"Yes. He had a terrible experience as a child. A hairy spider the size of a fist climbed onto his bed in the middle of the night. He's been afraid of spiders ever since."

Leia smiled as she shared Chris's embarrassing secret.

"Leia, you wouldn't want people hearing about the embarrassing things you did as a child, would you?" Chris said, his face flushing.

"You wouldn't dare!" Leia glared at him, and Chris promptly fell silent.

Leia turned back to Rain with a teasing smile. "Rain, do you know how unpleasant it is for a tall lady to crawl through tunnels?"

"Uh..." Rain looked at Leia's tall, 175-centimeter frame and gave a rueful smile. "All right, Captain. I think this will be the last time for a while."

"I hope so. You are the core of our squad now, after all." Leia gave him a look.

"Uh... If there isn't one, another job is fine. You decide, Captain," Rain said with a wry smile.

A few minutes later.

"Sorry, Rain. There aren't any Deepmoss Spider jobs. They're fairly rare, and whenever one appears, an Adventurer usually takes it right away."

"Oh?" Rain raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

"Moss Spider Silk is valuable. So even though spider caves are sticky and disgusting, plenty of Adventurers still go looking for them," Leia explained with a smile.

"Great! No spider caves for us after all." Chris waggled his eyebrows at Rain.

Just then, a female receptionist approached the notice board with a grave expression and posted a new job notice.

At the sight of it, quite a few people eagerly moved in for a closer look.

Jobs to kill small groups of Goblins or Kobolds were in high demand. Hesitate, and someone else would take them.

"Huh? An investigation?"

"The reward's that high? Fifty silver coins! It's near Azure Mine. Is it Kobolds?"

"Captain, Rain, let's take this one!" Chris said excitedly after reading the notice.

Kobolds?

Rain hesitated.

To be honest, Kobold bloodlines held little appeal for him now. Even a Kobold Warrior was only about as powerful as a Goblin Warrior.

And he had only four bloodline slots in total.

At that moment, he heard the Adventurers around him murmuring:

"Fifty silver coins is a hefty reward! But it requires a White Porcelain Level Three Adventurer squad or higher. We're only Level Two!"

"Investigate a missing squad? The Simmons Squad is missing?"

"The Simmons Squad? I remember them. I know a young man named Robin who's in that squad! And they weren't exactly weak..."

Rain hadn't paid much attention to the new notice, but at the mention of that name, he stopped dead. The next instant, he snapped his head up toward the notice board.