I Am Not Goblin Slayer Chapter 25: The Lower-Tier Ecosystem

"Little Gauss, would you like so breakfast today?"

"Next ti, Sophia. I'm heading out first!"

Gauss stepped through the inn's doorway.

Having made so progress with his Magic Missile practice, he planned to visit the Adventurers Guild.

After reaching Level 2, the speed of gaining proficiency through regular practice had significantly decreased.

Compared to hard training, practicing skills in actual combat yielded better results.

Moreover, the numbers in his Monster Encyclopedia had remained stagnant for so ti.

Total monsters slain: 12

"Next stage: Reach cumulative total of 50 monsters killed."

Practicing Magic Missile was like sharpening his axe before chopping wood - now that his axe was sharpened, it was ti to test its edge.

Most crucially, during these days of practicing spells near town, his small savings had been depleting rapidly. He needed to take on so commissions to replenish them.

Current funds: 26 silver coins 15 copper coins

In just a few days, over 2 silver coins had quietly vanished.

The vast majority of this money had been spent on food and drink.

And this was with him consciously restraining himself, avoiding extravagant spending at taverns.

"What's going on? I just ate a bit more at, didn't I?"

Gauss shook his head.

During these days, he had deliberately chosen relatively "cheap" street vendors or small eateries, none of which were particularly high-end establishnts.

Even though he ate at with almost every al, how could the expenses be this exaggerated?

Gauss felt this problem wasn't his fault.

The bla lay with this world's exorbitant at prices. This world should examine itself - after all these years, has technology and productivity developed at all? Why couldn't at transition from luxury item to common consur good?

Shaking his head again.

His craving for at probably wouldn't diminish anyti soon.

His continuously increasing mana reserves made him like a teenager going through puberty, expending enormous amounts of energy daily. A vegetarian diet simply couldn't sustain him - his body would quickly develop problems.

Moreover, he had no intention of restricting his culinary desires.

Cultivation was already arduous enough - what was wrong with enjoying so proper als? Living like an ascetic had never been his life's pursuit.

Entering the Adventurers Guild hall.

The crowd was as large as ever.

This was the norm for the Adventurers Guild, especially during mornings and evenings when adventurers would swarm in like housewives rushing for supermarket discounts in his previous life, constantly milling about the hall, probably checking for suitable missions.

Having visited several tis now, Gauss had completely dispelled any mystique about this place.

Through careful observation, he'd noticed so adventurers who dressed the part but rely lingered around notice boards, browsing commission information while nodding repeatedly, yet showed no signs of taking action even after long periods.

There were even a few figures he vaguely felt he saw every ti he ca.

He reasonably suspected that among the vast adventurer population were so extras, possibly even hired by the Adventurers Guild itself to make the hall appear more bustling and stimulate adventurers' "mission-grabbing" enthusiasm.

Shaking off these random thoughts, Gauss also approached the mission board to browse available tasks.

First, he ruled out gathering missions - collecting materials often required spending large amounts of ti searching aimlessly through forests, wasting ti. Moreover, he lacked the techniques, tools, and experience for proper herb-gathering and preservation.

So escort missions were quickly eliminated too.

The fixed monster extermination commissions were also just for browsing.

Those were long-term missions issued by Grayrock Town's municipal office, but precisely because of this, those areas had long been swept clean by adventurers, making monsters scarce there now.

Gauss primarily focused on monster-slaying commissions posted by civilians.

In this world, many lower-tier monsters like goblins had little intrinsic value, producing no usable materials.

Thus, villagers or civilian settlents would often pool money to post commissions at the Adventurers Guild.

One might wonder - for minor nuisances like goblins, even a dozen shouldn't be match for a village of several dozen people. Why wouldn't villagers handle them themselves rather than hiring adventurers?

Gauss had similar doubts initially.

But after talking with villagers in Birch Village, he understood the reasons.

First, groups of minor monsters fought differently - their strength couldn't be asured by simple nurical comparisons. Many weaker monsters, through constant battles with beasts and other creatures in the wild, developed rich group combat experience.

Second, unfavorable terrain like jungles, dens or other wilderness environnts disadvantaged human combatants.

Most crucially, combat inevitably carried risks of injury and death. Villagers engaged in long-term farming work rarely possessed proper fighting spirit. Even if one or two exceptions existed, they couldn't motivate the rest.

While Gauss found goblins easy to kill, this was entirely because his original hunter physique was already superior among ordinary people, his above-average intelligence granting him a low-grade bullet-ti ability in combat, plus the advantages of magic, weapons and teammates, making him seem like a "war god."

Ordinary villagers lacked such conditions - any fight would rarely conclude without injuries, often accompanied by villager deaths.

Rather than risking themselves, timid villagers preferred pooling money to hire the Adventurers Guild.

Over ti, this beca conventional wisdom across the continent - monster-related troubles were best handled by adventurers.

Gauss suspected the Adventurers Guild had subtly promoted this notion - if no one posted commissions, how could the guild operate?

After browsing the corkboard for so ti, he still hadn't found a satisfactory commission.

He hoped to find commissions involving fewer than five weak monsters.

Such tasks weren't nonexistent, but were relatively rare, as villagers wouldn't spend money on guild commissions unless the monster threat beca serious.

Moreover, while many lower-tier monsters had low intelligence and combat power, survival instincts drove them to band together, continuously expanding their numbers.

Thus, in monster ecology, there existed a situation similar to "predators hunt alone while prey gather in herds."

"Besides, I probably couldn't get them anyway. Those safer missions likely get snatched up by lower-tier adventurer teams the mont they're posted," Gauss shook his head.

In any field, competition was fiercest at the bottom tiers.

"Maybe... check over there?"

His gaze drifted toward the hall's corner where the crowd was densest.

If he wasn't mistaken, that was probably where adventurers ford impromptu teams. Not every adventurer had fixed teammates, yet many missions couldn't be completed alone, necessitating temporary recruitnt at the guild hall.

Just like how he'd previously volunteered to join Hayley's team.