Gauss was seeing such a scene for the first time.
Were they generating revenue for the local guild?
He walked through the noisy crowd and headed up the stairs to the second floor.
Arriving at the true office area of the Adventurer’s Guild, the environment finally became much quieter.
Some adventurers were sitting in the corners, wiping their weapons while talking in low voices. Their sidelong glances caught Gauss and his squad coming up, quickly returning their gaze.
A well-equipped, extraordinary adventurer squad like Gauss’s was quite conspicuous in such a rundown little town.
Yellowing commission slips were hanging on the walls.
Gauss quickly scanned them with his peripheral vision, but didn’t see any suitable commission.
He then walked to a table.
"Hello."
The attendant, who had been dozing at the counter, was startled by his voice, lifting his head and rubbing his eyes.
"Welcome, are you here to take a commission, submit a task, or need some other assistance?"
The attendant yawned, looking incredibly lazy.
"We want to collect part of a commission reward."
"Hm?" The attendant blinked, why only part?
Seeing his confusion, Gauss took out the document for this special commission from his storage pouch.
At first glance at the document, the attendant was puzzled because the format was different from the common task paperwork, but the next moment, he seemed to realize something.
He hurriedly straightened his back.
He instantly woke up, retrieving all the fatigue from his face.
It turned out to be the guild’s internal commission.
Usually, those who could take such commissions were not ordinary adventurers, often easily making connections with higher-ups.
"Please wait a moment."
The attendant operated something under the counter, seemingly summoning some information about this commission.
"Is it 15 gold coins per person per week? Currently, you and your squad have been engaged for a total of 4 weeks."
"That amounts to 60 gold coins per person."
The attendant gasped.
This reward was indeed rather generous.
It was hard to imagine what background this squad had.
"Do you wish to collect the reward from all four weeks?"
"Yes."
Gauss nodded decisively.
Money only brings peace of mind when it’s in the pouch.
"Please hold on."
Due to the considerable amount, according to procedure, he had to go and confirm with the higher-ups.
Gauss and his squad patiently waited for a moment.
Collecting the reward went smoothly, without any disruption.
Soon, they were led to a VIP room where the local guild president personally awarded them 60 gold coins each, totaling 240 gold coins.
The guild president was a middle-aged man named Jon.
Although he was the president of a town guild, ranked similarly to Abelhard from Gray Rock Town, he was quite courteous to Gauss and his squad, giving a subtle impression of peer-level interaction.
"Brother Gauss, how many days are you planning to stay in our Gold and Silver Town this time?"
"I’ll see, maybe just two or three days before we hit the road again."
"Here, have some tea first, this is my treasured black tea, it’s rare leaves grown at the foot of the famous Beiqiong Volcano."
Gauss politely thanked him and accepted the tea.
He couldn’t help but feel a bit nostalgic.
From being a bottom-level adventurer picked from the roadside to now having a high-ranked guild president personally receiving them.
The disparity was somewhat surreal to him.
Moreover, he didn’t sense any pressure from the president.
This indicated that the president’s strength might be similar to his, or even lesser.
Clearly, Abelhard from Gray Rock Town possessed a level-9 or stronger power, while President Jon was likely only at level 6.
Even at the same rank, the disparity in strength was significant.
Was this related to the town’s scale?
Theoretically, upon reaching level 6 and passing the Adventurer’s Guild recruitment assessment, one has the chance to become an important cadre candidate.
Then, just wait for the higher-ups to assign suitable posts.
But according to Gauss’s understanding, the number of level 6 and levels 9, 10 guild presidents was relatively low.
The former was weak, while the latter often applied in advance to leave their posts to break into higher stages.
Gauss casually chatted with Jon.
After learning he was also interested in taking some nearby commissions, wanting to kill more ordinary monsters to practice spells.
Jon recommended checking out a certain abandoned large mine.
"After sealing those mines, the pits have become extensive, turning into a natural breeding ground for many monsters. If brother Gauss is lacking targets for spell practice, why not take a look and help us clear some threats in Gold and Silver Town in advance?"
According to Jon, every year they organized manpower to clear the mine pits at fixed times, regularly issuing commissions to attract adventurers to kill monsters.
But overall, limited by the relatively small number of adventurers in Gold and Silver Town, many were even retired adventurers living leisurely, the response to the calls was always average.
Fortunately, the monsters in those pits weren’t keen on venturing out, and they often engaged in wars among themselves. Adding to that, since Gold and Silver Town had long closed its mining operations, the impact wasn’t severe.
But if someone could help clear some monsters, Jon would naturally be pleased.
After carefully gathering information about the mine.
In the afternoon.
The organized Gauss squad left the desolate town.
Perhaps due to the past mining industry leaving an indelible destructive impact on the surrounding environment, the vegetation on the way towards the large mine was very sparse.
The surrounding soil was seriously sand-eroded.
Particles continuously flew by with the wind, giving Gauss the illusion of being in a desert.
With hot wind blowing in their faces, they traveled another hour across the barren land.
Finally, Gauss and the others arrived at Brenan Mine mentioned by Jon.
This place was once contracted by a noble knight named Brenan, hence the name.
They stopped by the mine, overlooking the empty area.
The desolate scene made the surroundings exceptionally quiet.
Only the sound of the wind whistled through the abandoned mining frames and collapsed sheds, stirring dust clouds.
So desolate...
"Gauss, do you think we might dig up gold?" Aaliyah looked at the hard land, her eyes sparkling uncontrollably.
She had been thinking about it since Jon suggested in the afternoon.
"Maybe we could find a large nugget of native gold."
"Maybe." Gauss shook his head.
Amused, they had just gained a hefty reward.
And so quickly she’s contemplating the outdoor gold mines.
But he didn’t have high hopes for it.
After so many years, if there were any native gold, it surely would’ve been mined by the workers, and unlikely left for them.
They came here to kill monsters, he needed to accumulate more kills and types of ordinary monsters.
"There should be quite a few kobolds here," Serdur observed the surroundings and spoke.
He mentioned it not because of some intrinsic connection between mines and kobolds, but because he directly found traces of kobold activity.
"Kobolds are good....," Gauss nodded.
Kobolds are small monsters that are not too hard to kill.
And with a greater number of kobolds, there could be quite a few elite kobold individuals emerging.
For now, he hadn’t killed a single elite kobold, which was a bit regrettable.
"Ying, I’ll leave it to you first."
"Okay."
Ying’s figure blended into the ground, swiftly heading towards the surrounding mine pits.
As soon as she entered the mine, the light quickly disappeared.
Ying silently wandered forward.
She was accustomed to the darkness.
In fact, she felt particularly comfortable and at ease surrounded by shadows.
The situation inside the mine was more complicated than it appeared from the outside.
The internal passages were intertwined, winding and branching extensively, resembling a giant ant nest.
Many sections had clearly been newly developed.
She wandered on the ground, passing by several small monster camps but merely noted them without taking action, proceeding further downwards.
As she moved deeper, the surrounding passages became increasingly complex.
Suddenly, at a certain moment, as she left a branch tunnel, the ground beneath her vanished, causing her body to swiftly plummet downwards.
Fortunately, she reacted swiftly, stabilizing her body mid-air upon losing contact with the ground and blending back into the adjacent rock wall.
Settled on the rock wall, she looked down at everything below.
She saw numerous "entrances" like hers, with countless branches converging into the space of this small underground city.