He had no doubt that in the presence of this man, he wouldn’t last a single breath, and might not even be able to take out the Teleportation Scroll, let alone unleash any magic power.
Also... how many levels does he actually have?
After about ten minutes, the short explanation ended. Afterwards, Shirley and the lady scribe provided more detailed information and left some time for questions.
During others’ questioning, Gauss gained a basic understanding of this year’s winter hunting event.
As for the schedule.
The winter hunt is set to commence in a month, but the exact time has yet to be determined since further scouting of the demon movements outside the Jade Forest is required. However, the timeframe will not differ much, and teams will be notified one week in advance.
Therefore, for the coming month, everyone doesn’t necessarily need to stay in Gray Rock Town. They just have to make sure they can return within a week of receiving the notification and try not to venture too far.
The winter hunt usually lasts for a week.
Secondly, there’s the welfare policy of the winter hunt.
Every day, participants can receive a fixed stipend. Adventurers like Gauss, who are One-star bronze, can earn a daily reward of 50 Silver Coins. However, this requires him to be on duty with the winter hunt team. If he stays in town and doesn’t go out, he won’t receive this enticing reward.
Another significant aspect is the monster bounty table.
During this winter hunt event, monsters are priced differently based on their race and combat power.
Gauss focused on a few targets he was particularly interested in. The bounty for goblins is 1 Silver Coin and 30 Copper Coins each, which is 30 to 40 Copper Coins more than usual tasks.
Kobolds are slightly cheaper, at 1 Silver Coin and 15 Copper Coins.
Slime, 1 Silver Coin and 10 Copper Coins.
If it’s the young ones, the bounty is halved.
For stronger monsters, the bounties are quite high. For instance, a challenge-level 1 Mantis Person has a bounty of 3 gold coins.
And for a challenge-level 1 Big Goblin, the bounty is 2.5 gold coins.
Of course, encountering these elite monsters comes with greater risks.
The risk isn’t just from the battle itself, but also from other layers of risk.
For example, these monsters often have higher intelligence compared to other low-level creatures, which means that when encountered, they are usually surrounded by lowly minions they command, adding difficulty to the fight.
Also, they are prone to escape when things aren’t going well.
Especially some more mobile demons, even if they are at a disadvantage, without adequate preparation, it’s possible they could escape, requiring the team to collaborate.
This hunting operation will be carried out collectively in a certain area by the large team, but individual battles will be conducted in a more flexible small team format.
It can be said that, as long as the teamwork is done well, the annual winter hunt is a major festival for bronzes, and some people even call these days the Winter Hunting Festival.
In a few days, general bronze adventurers can easily earn about ten Gold Coins.
Those with a bit of strength and diligence might double that, earning a dozen or twenty Gold Coins.
Yet for Gauss, he wanted more.
With a debt of 20 gold coins, he needed to set aside some gold for purchasing spells, and though the price of mounts remained unclear, they likely aren’t cheap either. The more expensive the mount, the more exceptional its abilities, not just in load-bearing and long-range galloping, but some are also capable of participating in battles, carrying their rider to provide superior mobility and evade enemy attacks.
Besides repaying debts, he also wanted to save some money for spells and a mount.
Gauss silently pondered in his heart.
To achieve this goal, simply killing small monsters wouldn’t be sufficient.
He must find an opportunity to take on elite demons.
Or rather, the main objective of this operation is precisely the presence of these elite demons.
Without these leaders, the low-level monsters would quickly fall apart themselves, and at that point, they wouldn’t be able to band together to raid human villages and towns. Monsters of different races might end up fighting among themselves.
One must know, competition amongst the various monsters within the forest exists naturally and isn’t marked by friendly coexistence.
Recently, Gauss had increased his Intelligence Attribute by one point, and his combat power had significantly risen, feeling that he was getting very close to the level of a Level 2 Professional.
With his current strength, taking down an elite monster head-on shouldn’t be too much of a problem, though the concern was their potential to escape. It would be hard to track them down in the forest, but with Aaliyah and the Gray Wolf Ulfen helping to provide containment and control, it should be enough.
One challenge-level 1 demon could yield about 2-4 gold coins, with each subsequently divided up to 1-2 gold coins.
Killing two a day shouldn’t be difficult, resulting in roughly twenty gold coins in a week.
Of course, that’s just the bounty for elite monsters themselves.
The guild will further assist in the centralized processing of various monster corpses, and after deducting some handling and labor fees, distribute the proceeds to the corresponding adventurer teams.
Given a conversion ratio of approximately 1:1 between loot and bounty amounts, selling these spoils could also yield nearly twenty coins.
Not to mention the additional gains from other incidental kills of small monsters.
To put it simply, adventurers like them just need to mindlessly kill, while the Adventurer’s Guild has plenty of other things to handle.
Scouting magic, specialized statistics, contacting trading firms, engaging in extensive loot sales, and disbursing funds.
It’s for this reason that Gauss believes this winter hunt might result in about 50 Gold Coins, achieving sudden wealth.
Gauss exchanged a glance with Aaliyah, and they understood each other’s thoughts.
-----------------
After the briefing session, the "leaders" left the meeting room, leaving the time for the adventurers present.
Temporary team formations and discussions regarding the schedule for the next month were lively across the entire second floor.
Gauss pulled Aaliyah to a corner to discuss.
A month isn’t long, isn’t short, and it might happen earlier than expected.
Considering that this year’s cold wave has arrived earlier than in previous years, an advance occurrence is highly likely.
The timing of the winter hunt doesn’t depend on the adventurers, but rather on the gathering time of the demons at the forest edge.
Therefore, during the earlier meeting, the secretary made a special reminder.
Everyone should try to minimize long-distance travel during this period.
Otherwise, it’s not certain if everyone can be notified in time.
Gauss also felt that this winter hunt was a rather important event and that specific preparations were necessary.
Several skills that are about to break through need to be practiced as soon as possible.
The [Insight Skill] also needs to be given special attention in training.
Additional preparations for some supplies as well. Although there will be merchant caravans following along to ensure basic supplies, we can’t completely rely on outsiders for logistics.
Moreover, Gauss turned his gaze to Aaliyah.
In recent days, he had taken the time to discuss with Aaliyah about the training of her "Divine Berry Technique," and visibly, her progress has shown considerable improvement.
At this pace, it’s possible to master it before the winter hunt arrives.
"Aaliyah, you should also start making some preparations early."
"I understand, I can sense that I should be able to master it soon." Aaliyah nodded.
Perhaps driven by Gauss’s inspiring leadership, ever since formally teaming up with him, she had felt her progress was much faster than before.
"See if you can contract another bird like a hawk or falcon," Gauss suggested after some thought.
He had been meaning to bring up this idea and took the opportunity to mention it during the discussion.
A bird, even if it’s not much help on the battlefield, brings reconnaissance intelligence that is far more significant.
From the meeting earlier, he had gathered more news about the winter hunt.
Intelligence is a crucial part.
Though the monsters operate somewhat densely, their movements are not bunched together in single file.
They are just more closely packed than usual, scattered across the boundless forest.
This time, the winter hunt teams will operate in a similar manner, with the large group conducting activities in a defined area.
However, smaller teams still need to find and discover suitable opponents within the forest.
If they had a hawk or falcon circling in the sky, it would be like having a high-altitude eye amplifying their vision hundreds of times, allowing them to spot monsters’ tracks early on, making Gauss’s team’s actions more targeted, killing monsters more efficiently.
Aaliyah nodded.
"I’ll keep an eye out for that."
While the two of them were speaking quietly,
Gauss, with his excellent hearing, overheard some nearby whispers.
"So young."
"Quite handsome."
"Is his nickname Goblin Slayer? Haha, interesting."
"Yes, I’ve heard, though this is just what I’ve heard, since he started adventuring, most of the monsters he’s killed were goblins..."
"Should we invite them to join our team? Leon is gone, and even though he’s just a Goblin Slayer, we’re short a mage in our team..."
Gauss felt a headache coming on.
Where had they gathered such information about him, and it was clearly just a rumor?
In truth, the goblins he killed only accounted for half of all the monsters he had slain, so how had it become the majority according to others?
Who in the world was spreading these rumors about me?
Ah, well...
Gauss thought about it and realized that he couldn’t control what others said.
After all, it was just a few people sharing little rumors they had heard.
Before long, the team that Gauss considered to be "chirping" approached, led by their captain Pat, who invited him and Aaliyah to join.
Gauss naturally declined. Besides the fact he had overheard them spreading rumors about him, even without that little incident...
He would still have refused.
The more people in a team, the more the bounty needs to be split, and the earnings will most likely not be as good as they are now.
He only needed Aaliyah and the Gray Wolf Ulfen to help with support.
Switching rashly to a new team he wasn’t familiar with, and one that likely had some strange preconceptions about him, didn’t seem like a pleasant idea.
Listening to them walking away, again starting to discuss goblins, Gauss shook his head.
He wouldn’t avoid a subject because of people’s talk; although goblins were seen as ordinary creatures and labeled by other professional adventurers as lacking in challenge, only bullying small creatures—cowardice even—but as long as they could help him become stronger, it was enough for him.
He would continue relentlessly.
Bronze, black iron, silver, gold, and even stronger, he would never abandon his pursuit against goblins.