Taking advantage of the Adventurer’s Guild still being open, Gauss hurried to the premises ahead of time to inquire about the matters related to profession upgrade.
To advance from bronze 1-star to 2-star, besides needing to become a Level 2 Professional, one must also accumulate enough tasks.
Gauss consulted the front desk and confirmed that after completing a winter hunting expedition, his task requirements were met, and he scheduled the level assessment for the next day.
After completing the level assessment, the Adventurer’s Badge in front of him would gain an additional hexagram star.
He would shed the identity of the lowest tier adventurer.
A Level 2 Professional isn’t particularly significant, just a tad stronger than a Level 1 Professional, but it doesn’t reach a transformative stage.
However, advancing to Level 2 quickly, as opposed to taking decades to do so, carries completely different meanings.
For the former, Level 2 is just a resting point on their journey to a higher stage, but for the latter, their career might end at Level 2.
In this world, there may be exceptions of late bloomers, but they are exceptionally rare.
True strong individuals often showcase their brilliance early on.
After having dinner on the street, nightfall enveloped the city.
Gauss returned home and rested for the night.
The next day.
Adventurer’s Guild premises.
Aaliyah watched as Gauss stepped into the closed test room, her eyes filled with envy.
She became a Professional earlier than Gauss, yet his pace to Level 2 surpassed hers.
Though genuinely happy for Gauss, a slight feeling of loss quietly crept into her heart.
Realizing this emotion, she quickly took deep breaths to adjust her mindset.
She could noticeably feel that her speed of improvement had been much faster lately; as long as she compared herself to her past, she was progressing every day, walking on an upward path.
"Creak—"
The door opened.
"How was it?" Aaliyah stepped forward.
"Passed smoothly." Gauss smiled and carefully hung the badge back around his neck.
On the indigo metal surface, two small and exquisite hexagram stars were inlaid side by side, refracting a phosphorescent green glow under the light.
"Congratulations!" Aaliyah sincerely said.
Being a 2-star Professional indicated breaking free from the status of a novice adventurer and beginning to advance toward a higher stage.
Even if one were to join other small teams, it would be less difficult than for a 1-star Professional, a direct proof of strength.
Even for the current small team, Gauss’s upgrade was beneficial. At least when encountering unfamiliar teams in the wild, others seeing the 2-star badge in front of Gauss might at least hesitate to have any ill intentions.
"Keep it up, too," Gauss encouraged in return.
The two walked shoulder to shoulder towards the shop area.
In addition to the level assessment, they also needed to make some purchases today.
First stop was the Skill Store.
After mastering the Feather Fall Technique, Aaliyah had some free time and planned to buy another Trick. As for 1st-level Spells, unless she advanced to Level 2, she probably couldn’t learn any more for now.
Gauss’s target was clearly the 1st-level Spell section.
Arriving at the shelf for 1st-level Spells, there weren’t too few but not too many spellbooks.
Each had a few scrolls on display.
His gaze lingered on them, noticing that compared to last time, there were a few fewer types of spells on the shelves, but a few new ones as well.
[Shadow Weave] allows you to weave a layer of translucent shadow over your body, gaining the following benefits.
The light around you distorts and refracts, making it more difficult for enemies to lock onto you with ranged attacks.
In dim or dark environments, staying still or moving slowly can achieve temporary invisibility.
...
[Comprehend Languages]
After casting the spell, during its duration, you can understand the surface information of speech or texts, but cannot decode the hidden information or profound knowledge behind the words or symbols.
...
[Feather Fall Technique]
After casting the spell, the selected target falls from a high place with a slowed falling speed and won’t take fall damage; the spell ends after landing.
...
Mist Technique, Identification Technique, Grease Spell, Cleanse Spell, Witchcraft Arrow, Deadly Ray...
Each of these spells has its value, and Gauss wants to learn them all.
For example, with Comprehend Languages, he could read more books and understand the conveyed meanings in the words of other races when activating the spell.
Cleanse Spell is also needed. Although using Magic Tricks more frequently can achieve a cleaning effect, they’re merely Tricks and not specifically designed for cleanliness, making Cleanse Spell more effective.
The Identification Technique could help him recognize specific information when encountering unknown flora, fauna, or items in the wild, preventing him from missing valuable materials.
And so on...
In short, each 1st-level Spell has its purpose.
Unfortunately, Gauss cannot afford them all for now.
Over forty gold coins seem like a lot, but if used to buy 1st-level Spells, it would suffice for about four spells.
Moreover, buying too many leaves no time for practice.
Therefore, it’s best to exclude spells that are not urgently needed or can be replaced by Tricks for now.
Gauss set his sights on the Identification Technique, and after thinking it through, chose this spell.
For now, he also has enough attack spells.
He has many offensive skills waiting for practice to further improve proficiency.
For example, the newly arrived lv3 Burning Hand, an attack spell, needs the proficiency raised to a level where it’s skillfully used in practice.
The skill [Might Enhancing] also requires training. Lately, being busy with winter hunting and accumulating enough experience to reach Level 2 Professional, it has been left unattended.
Next, it’s time to add this skill, which he had acquired for some time but rarely practiced, to his training schedule.
The functionality of the Adventurer’s Handbook dictates that Gauss’s attributes must be higher than other professionals of the same tier, making it a waste not to utilize his superior physical capabilities.
Moreover, perhaps upgrading the non-caster skill [Might Enhancing] to a certain level could trigger a secondary profession?
Gauss had inquired about multi-class information.
Theoretically, everyone has multi-class potential, but practically it’s extremely challenging.
The difficulty lies in that once a primary profession is determined, training in other professional skills becomes significantly harder.
Moreover, even if much time is spent honing other professional skills, there’s a possibility of not triggering profession tier introduction.
Even crossing these hurdles, different professions would scatter one’s limited focus.
Therefore, there are very few multi-class individuals, and most professionals focus on their primary profession.
Gauss considered an additional profession just because he inherently had the advantage of a panel, which made his speed at improving other skills considerably decent.
However, he isn’t fixated on it; relying on his physical attributes and corresponding skills like [Basic Swordsmanship] [Might Enhancing] [Enhanced Jump], his combat prowess is already quite notable.
——
After careful consideration, Gauss chose the [Identification Technique], at least to avoid missing any materials while doing field commissions.
The Identification Technique costs 11 gold coins.
After paying at the counter, Gauss’s savings stood at 32 gold coins.