In the verdant sea of trees.
Gauss, hanging on a big tree, carefully sliced a piece of lush green moss with his dagger.
The thick moss, like a sponge, was full of small, full spherical beads.
[Berry Moss]
This is an edible ingredient, incredibly sweet in taste, and when simply stewed or grilled with meat, it imbues the meat with a delightful fruity sweetness.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to preserve; once peeled off, it quickly decomposes, needing to be consumed swiftly during the adventure.
Today’s lunch was sorted.
Gauss wasn’t greedy, he took just enough, taking more would be a waste.
Better to leave it for the next lucky adventurer.
He untied the knot and slowly slid down the trunk of the thick tree.
Once his feet touched the ground, he secured the rope and threw it into his pack.
Ever since that extremely sumptuous dinner at Firefly Kitchen with Andri, he felt like he had opened the doors to a new world, and the usual adventure staples had become increasingly unpalatable.
Furthermore, in the forest, especially after departing from the regular domains of Medicine Gatherers and Hunters, there are actually many ingredients easy to pick up.
He simply hadn’t been aware before.
Luckily, he purchased a book titled "The Complete Guide to Ingredients Around Jade Forest," thus learning about the precious wild ingredients nearby.
Some could even be sold to herbal merchants in town for a decent price.
This was crucial for someone lacking funds like him.
Just focusing on saving can’t get things done; it’s necessary to create sources for increasing income.
"This isn’t even Jade Forest, just a secondary wooded area, the danger level isn’t that high, starting a fire for cooking shouldn’t be a problem right?"
Gauss looked around.
What a coincidence, there’s just a clearing nearby with plenty of dry firewood under the trees.
He also had a freshly hunted grouse in his backpack, bled, plucked, and packed.
Everything aligned perfectly, as if heaven was urging him to start a cookout.
After checking the surrounding areas to confirm there was no danger,
He lit the wood, setting up a campfire.
The crackling sounds emerged from the pile.
He retrieved the clean tarpaulin-wrapped grouse from his pack.
This plump grouse was shot with a One-Handed Crossbow about an hour ago, weighing around 4 pounds, barely enough for him alone.
When he passed by a creek, he carried out bleeding, plucking, and gutting procedures for it.
Now, it’s ready for cooking straight away.
He washed the berry moss he had just collected and filled it into the grouse’s belly.
Coating the chicken surface with rock salt, and the wild onions picked along the way, drizzling their juice, then wrapping with banana leaves in two layers.
Cover it with mud on the outside, and throw it into the campfire.
About half an hour later.
Gauss cracked open the mud casing, the clay fell off, peeling back the charred banana leaves, revealing the tender chicken as if it were steamed.
Alongside, a refreshing fruity aroma enveloped him, the distinctive scent of Berry Moss.
Gauss swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
A bit unbelievable that such a delicious dish came from his own hands.
"Could it be that I have some talent as a chef?" he mused to himself.
He eagerly took a bite.
The chicken, mixed with the unique fruity aroma, released its sweet juice the moment it entered the mouth.
Gauss chewed a few bites, a blissful expression appeared on his face.
Perhaps it was just an illusion, but he felt the chicken dematerialized in his stomach, digesting faster than normal dry provisions.
It seemed like his body’s Rapid Digestion ability also welcomed this gourmet meal.
"Delicious, delicious!"
Gauss gulped down the chicken with large bites.
While steaming off the heat with each bite, his mouth kept watering.
The warmth surged through his body, feeling his depleted stamina rapidly recovering.
Could it be that such high-nutrition delicacies, paired with Rapid Digestion ability, form the best combination?
After devouring the grouse until it lost its shape, with bones bitten and spit aside, Gauss patted his belly, still somewhat wanting more.
If only the chicken had an extra pound or two of meat, that would have been better, too bad.
After eating and drinking to satisfaction, he lay down for a bit.
Once done dealing with the site, he shouldered his backpack.
After indulging in this simple culinary pleasure, he didn’t forget the mission at hand.
This is the third assessment task he’s undertaking; the target remains goblins.
Yes, for his bronze rank adventurer promotion assessment, the target all three times was goblin tribes.
The scale of the second goblin clan was similar to the first, though the leader was slightly weaker compared to the Red Hat Goblin from the first encounter.
And when taking on the task for the third time, the receptionist gave him a peculiar look, likely thinking he must have some deep-seated animosity against goblins, otherwise he wouldn’t be so focused on them.
This third time, and also the final assessment task, he needed to face around 60 adult goblins.
Gauss glanced at the current number in the Monster Atlas.
"Total monster kills: 302"
"Already killed 175 goblins."
"For an initial task, the monster killing efficiency is indeed remarkable."
Although the number of goblins being killed was increasing, and his actions were becoming more fluid when slashing goblins, he did not let down his guard.
On the contrary, due to his repeated encounters with them.
He valued the situation more and more.
The individual combat power of goblins seemed weak to him now, but their reproductive ability was terrifying, as long as there were woods, they wouldn’t be absent, like some kind of stubborn infectious disease.
However, strictly speaking, rampant goblins weren’t a bad thing for him, because due to their migratory fluidity, even without going deep into the monster’s base he can obtain a sufficient kill count from them.
"According to task information, this time the goblin settlement has a large number of archer goblins, very dangerous." Gauss reviewed the task intel.
Actually, whether for bottom-level monsters or bottom adventurers, the importance of weapons cannot be underestimated.
For example, archer goblins are more dangerous compared to other melee goblins, their presence means his advantage of pulling away goblins with faster speed was diminished.
Moreover, arrows may not have eyes, but if shot enough, they can surely hit him.
This is why Gauss prioritized using Magic to kill remote archer goblins during his first assessment task.
"Time to test the Armor."
Gauss patted his body.
Other new Professionals might not dare to take such assessment tasks, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t dare.
"1 gold and 30 Silver Coins, quite a generous commission reward."
"At that time, the bows, and arrowheads that are seized should sell for some money too."
Walking in the woods, Gauss estimated in his heart.
After walking another hour or two.
An open area, the goblin village’s appearance suddenly disclosed itself before his eyes.
Gauss climbed up a big tree, gazing far.
"Hmm?"
While looking, he suddenly uttered a sound of surprise and uncertainty.
Near the campfire pile in the goblin village, he discovered several men stripped of their clothes.
Have some been captured by goblins?
This was the second time Gauss, in his few months of adventuring career, personally witnessed living people being captured by goblins.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that such situations are rare, it’s just that goblins often quickly handle captured humans, and don’t especially keep them.
"Looks like I need to act quickly."
Gauss noticed that the number of goblins in the village seemed fewer than in the task intel, perhaps they went into the woods to gather firewood and supplementary food for these captured humans.
At this moment, because of the upcoming celebration in the goblin village, the defensive forces within were in an unusual state of emptiness.
This was also a good opportunity.
Gauss’s eyes gleamed with an idea.
Originally he planned to continue with the operation of administering laxatives as in the first two times, but now it seemed better to launch a raid when other goblins leave the village.
Gauss carefully observed the goblin village’s layout.
After imprinting the internal layout in his mind.
He didn’t continue to waste time and got down from the tree.
The equipment on him had already been neatly prepared before getting close to the goblin village.
Taking a deep breath.
He quietly made his way to the wooden fence of the goblin village.
And then at a certain moment.
He suddenly exerted force from beneath his legs.
[Enhanced Jump] activated.
His foot stepped on the ground, his sturdy thigh like a spring charged with power exploded with great force, propelling his body high! Leaping over the fence!
The nearest goblin to him was just walking out of the warehouse, embracing a banana leaf of berry, looking at the humans by the campfire, a face full of happy expression.
The next moment, a shadow enveloped its small figure.
It instinctively turned to look.
What entered its line of sight, was the cold flash of a sword!
"Swish!"
In an incredibly short time, the world spun, and the goblin in its final moments finally saw clearly the person coming, a tall man gazing at it with indifferent eyes.
"Thud!"