This run-in with a street vendor who looked like a scamr slightly altered Gauss’s initial impression of Falim’s orderly streets.
On reflection, it made sense.
Even the wealthiest places have poor people; glamorous streets still hide petty thieves and scoundrels. That is the reality of the world.
Overall, though, purely in terms of competence and quality, Gauss felt Falim’s adventurers were easily a level or two above those from Grayrock Town.
Even low-tier adventurers here tended to wear neatly maintained armor.
For rookies just starting out, armor is far more important than weapons, but armor is usually more expensive, so novice adventurers in remote regions often lack decent plates.
This is the subtle, pervasive effect of differing regional economies.
Salaries in prosperous cities are higher. Given two teenagers without family backing working the sa hours, Falim’s reserve adventurers could save up more startup funds to buy better armor, weapons, and a variety of supplies.
Another notable difference was the higher proportion of spellcasters.
In Grayrock Town, among low-tier adventurers, you might not even find one spellcaster among ten or twenty.
In Falim, you could spot a plainly spellcaster-styled adventurer among just a few people.
They wore tidy robes, gripped staves, and so even had those big, wide-brimd mage hats.
Gauss took in the scene of adventurers in the plaza without making it obvious.
On the way to the guild, aside from that opportunistic vendor earlier, nobody bothered them.
As the saying goes, people are judged by their dress, horses by their saddles. Gauss had learned to restrain his aura, but his robe plainly looked very expensive.
Soone like him was either from an exceptional background or possessed outstanding power; either way, he was not an easy mark.
Add the companions behind him who all looked formidable, and it was as if they wore a sign that read I am not to be trifled with.
They entered the Adventurers Guild.
The interior was much like the other guild halls Gauss had visited, but brighter and more spacious, with finer decor.
They followed the signs to the counter.
After a brief wait, it was soon their turn.
“I’m Rebecca, receptionist at Falim Adventurers Guild, Southern District Branch · Gate of Order, Window No. 15.”
“Please present your identity badges.”
Gauss and the others set their badges on the desk. The receptionist rapidly ran through their records, pulling up their identities and past commission history.
While she was busily focused on the screen, Gauss stole a few more glances at her.
Not for any superficial reason — he simply sensed a not-insubstantial magical aura emanating from her, one with a slightly unusual tone.
Of course, by ordinary adventurer standards. Compared to Gauss she was far from exceptional.
A spellcaster working as a counter receptionist? That felt like a waste of talent.
Well, that was Falim for you; even an ordinary receptionist could possess professional-level mana.
Using his knowledge from a past life, he could understand it: city posts in large tropolises were fiercely contested, with selection ratios of tens or even hundreds to one.
The receptionist spots in Falim seed coveted in the sa way.
“Mr. Gauss, you’re from Grayrock Town?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of it. There was a war there not long ago, right?” The female mage receptionist skimd Gauss’s information while chatting idly.
Suddenly she noticed an entry and raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Oh, so it was you, Mr. Gauss, who defended Grayrock Town.”
On Gauss’s record, the most recent entry loudly stated that this adventurer had made outstanding, significant contributions during the defense of Grayrock Town, slaying a monster leader amid tens of thousands of invading creatures.
Reviewing the rest of his record revealed nothing but brilliant achievents.
There was even an entry for killing a Transcendent-level struggler from the Dragon Worshipers.
She rubbed her eyes, doubting whether she’d read correctly.
Especially since the details noted that at the ti of that incident he was only a Professional Level 5.
Level 5 and killing a Transcendent — those labels normally don’t go together.
Though she’d heard similar rumors at the tavern in her spare ti, she had shrugged them off as bardic fabrications.
She hadn’t expected the story to possibly be true.
Despite her puzzlent, professional decorum prevented her from asking out of curiosity. Instead, she discreetly cross-checked the records with the people in front of her, confird their identity, and returned their badges.
Checking badges before providing service was a mandatory step.
The process existed because, at the guild’s beginning, people would steal, pick up, or otherwise acquire others’ badges to cheat the system for gain.
Identity badges tied into money. So adventurers stored funds on their badges for safety and convenience, withdrawing at the nearest guild branch.
Depending on an adventurer’s rank, the guild could provide different services, including loans, book borrowing, research access, and so on.
Those badge-linked funds and benefits could be quite lucrative.
As for concerns that soone might use a transformation spell to mimic a badge owner’s appearance, the guild’s corridors had detection formations to preemptively reveal such effects.
In short, as the Adventurers Guild grew, the loopholes diminished.
“Is there anything I can assist you with, esteed Mr. Gauss?” The receptionist’s deanor instinctively shifted to one of respect.
“I’d like to register an adventuring party. I was told I need to submit the application here.”
Rebecca nodded upon hearing Gauss’s request.
That explained why he had traveled all the way from Grayrock Town to Falim.
“Please wait a mont.”
She turned to the filing cabinet behind her and retrieved a dark-blue bound booklet and a series of accompanying forms.
She flipped through a book titled Falim Guild System · Adventuring Parties · Team Registration and Evaluation Guidelines, then spoke.
“First, the basic requirent to apply for team registration is that the leader and at least one other teammate must be Professional Level 6 or above.”
“That condition is already satisfied by you and your teammates, Mr. Gauss.”
Gauss himself was Level 6, and he had companions at Level 7 and Level 6.
“However, there’s additional information I need to explain…”
“Because annual registration slots are limited and applicants exceed available places, this is only the baseline requirent. Final approval requires additional review by headquarters, taking into account commission history, extra contributions, Professional Levels, developnt potential, and many other factors.”
“I understand.” Gauss nodded.
Sherry had already explained this to him before they set out.
Sherry also said his chance of success was still very high; if he were an ordinary Level 6 adventurer he would likely lose out to veteran Master-level or even Transcendent professionals. But his potential and combat record were exceptional, so the Professional Level criterion would be relaxed for him.
“Also, if the review passes, formal team registration requires a registration fund of 100 gold coins. Is that acceptable, Mr. Gauss?”
“Yes.”
One hundred gold coins ant little to Gauss’s party now.
Their available funds had risen to nearly 2,000 gold coins.
That wealth ca largely from the spoils acquired in the Grayrock Town defense — danger and reward often go hand in hand.
All the equipnt and materials from monsters he’d slain, as well as parts of the legion’s siege equipnt, iron tools, and mounts had been cashed out by the Adventurers Guild.
That was after Gauss kept the Ogre Leader’s retractable black cleaver as a backup weapon for his body-multiplying technique, rather than selling it. Had he sold it, they’d have had even more gains.
“Please fill out the application.”
Seeing Gauss’s calm composure and lack of hesitation — and rembering that this handso man was nearly a decade younger than her — a twinge of envy rose in Rebecca’s chest.
That was a full one hundred gold coins! Not fifty copper or fifty silver.
Even in expensive Falim, it could buy two or three good standalone properties outside the inner city.
Rebecca still lived with her family because she hadn’t purchased her own ho yet. She could scrape together a down paynt but wanted to save more to avoid heavy financial pressure.
Seeing this younger man who could wave away a hundred gold coins as registration seed money made her wonder how such disparities between people could exist.
Adventuring looked lucrative from outside, but she deeply knew the hardships from her own ti in teams.
From her experience as a professional mage in small adventuring parties: a single low-level one-star commission, excluding improbable windfalls, usually brought in one to two gold coins; split among three to four mbers, everyone received only 25 to 70 silver, and that didn’t include item degradation, travel, food, or dicine costs.
If a weapon broke and needed repair or replacent, expenses mounted.
On average, even in good cases, net gain per person might be just thirty silver per commission.
After accounting for ti spent on cultivation, rest, travel, and failed commissions, twenty completed jobs per year was considered very industrious. That yielded roughly six gold per year saved.
Sounds like a lot, but to advance in this field you must constantly invest in skillbooks and other resources, or you fall behind.
So over several years, apparent earnings compared to ordinary people might look greater, but tangible liquid savings were often small. Even bringing out a few gold coins on the spot could be difficult.
Rebecca’s situation fit that pattern.
One ordinary afternoon she did the math and sadly realized that after several years of knife-edge adventuring, she’d invested most of her gains into herself, yet her power had stagnated.
She left the supposedly high-profit adventuring life, studied and passed the exams after a year of preparation, and beca a receptionist at a Falim sub-branch.
As an ex-adventurer, living at ho allowed her to save about five gold coins a year steadily, which she took pride in.
Until she t the young man in front of her, and her composure wavered. For a mont she doubted if her decision had been right.
But she didn’t dwell; she soon realized Gauss was no ordinary adventurer. Ordinary ones could rarely reach his level.
People always tend to romanticize paths not taken, but she had real adventuring experience.
Gauss finished the form and handed the docunts back to the slightly stunned receptionist.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Gauss. Please await further notice.”
As Gauss glanced at the receptionist’s face, he sensed she had been mulling over sothing rather serious.
“All right, our turn now, human brat.”
A commotion rose from behind them.
Albenia turned instinctively, but saw no one.
“Hey, giantess, we’re here — what are you looking at?”
A few dwarves called again, feeling oddly slighted by the lack of attention.
“Please, go ahead.”
Though their tone was crude, the dwarves didn’t make a scene. Since Gauss had indeed delayed a while, and since dwarves were straightforward, he simply signaled for them to proceed.
“Thanks, kid.”
Gauss sat on a nearby bench and read the little pamphlet the receptionist had given him about adventuring parties.
The dwarves at the counter chattered excitedly up front.
Gauss didn’t pay special attention but overheard words like partner, missing, rescue, and heavy reward, so he guessed they’d co to post a commission.
Thud!
“Can we settle the reward with this?”
A muffled tallic sound ca from the counter.
Albenia, especially sensitive to tallic sounds, looked up.
Soon, a flash of glaring bright silver caught her eye.
“What’s wrong?”
Gauss noticed Albenia tugging at his robe and glanced over.
“Lord Gauss, it’s Mithril!” Albenia’s tone held so excitent.
Mithril?
Gauss followed her gaze to the counter.
“Oh?”
Lately Albenia had been planning to forge a set of light armor for every teammate, especially for Gauss.
But forging required raw materials, not just skill.
Ordinary iron gear would be lackluster for Gauss, so they needed to incorporate precious high-grade ores like Dark Iron, Mithril, Mithril, Adamantine to improve quality.
These rare materials were often priceless on the market and, once released, snapped up imdiately by master smith dwarves and high-ranking human nobles who monopolized them.
“Is this silver?”
“Take another look, girl.”
A separate conversation continued at the counter.
“According to guild procedure, I need to submit this to a professional appraiser for assessnt.”
“Even if it’s a precious tal, you’ll still need to pay a commission posting fee, Mr. Bruno.”
“Hurry it up, I have money to spare.”
The bearded dwarf Bruno urged, confident in his wealth.
“Excuse , friends.” Gauss closed his booklet, rose, and approached the counter.
“I overheard you need strong adventurers to rescue missing companions. Is this tal the reward?”
Gauss stepped forward because Mithril was exactly the resource they needed and was hard to purchase with gold alone.
More importantly, it was a chance to make contact with these seemingly wealthy dwarves.
“Hmph? That’s right.” Bruno nodded.
“If that’s the case, perhaps I can lend you a hand.”
“You?” The dwarves craned their necks and sized him up. He looked young, which instinctively made them doubt his capability.
Rebecca behind the counter hesitated. Protocol said she should guide the commission posting and team connection, and Gauss should not directly contact the client beyond the guild. But hearing the dwarves question his strength and rembering her earlier impression, she vouched for him.
“Rest assured, Mr. Gauss’s ability is more than sufficient.”
“He recently saved Grayrock Town from a monstrous invasion of tens of thousands.”
“Not only that, he also slew a Transcendent-level adversary.”
“Oh?”
At the receptionist’s endorsents, the dwarves’ expressions shifted; their eyes lit up.
Dwarves revered strength and didn’t hide disdain or admiration.
“All right, all right!”
“If you’re willing, that’s perfect!”
“Shall we set off now?”
Rebecca’s expression beca complicated.
“Ahem, Mr. Bruno, please post the commission here at the counter first, and then I will accept it. No problem, Miss Rebecca?” Gauss turned to the desk.
He wasn’t going to make things difficult for the guild. For legitimacy and security, posting through the guild protected both sides.
“No problem.” Rebecca breathed out.
Soon after Bruno submitted the data and commission details, Gauss accepted the commission on the spot.
He needed ti anyway while awaiting registration review, and the caravan with their family’s wagons would still take ti to arrive in Falim. It made sense to complete this commission in the anti and secure the much-needed rare resource.
The party strode out through the guild doors.
Bruno, the core among the four dwarves, seed especially anxious.
As they walked, he recounted the events to Gauss.
The missing dwarf was his fiancée, Toga, the strongest fighter among their team.
They’d had an argunt en route. When he cald down and returned with others to search, they found only familiar great-sword chop marks and pooled blood left by monsters.
After searching the surroundings with no results, they reached a terrifying conclusion: Toga had been kidnapped.
They were skilled smiths but poor at clue-tracing and careful tracking, so they detoured to Falim to post a commission and hire capable people with a large reward.
Luckily, many monster tribes covet dwarven smithing skills; when they encounter a lone dwarf, they tend to capture rather than kill.
“We’ve waited too long. We must act imdiately.”
In the short term Toga likely wasn’t in mortal danger, but the longer ti dragged on, the worse it could beco.
“Mr. Bruno, don’t worry. Lead us to where Toga fought; let us have a look.” Gauss soothed.
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