After leaving the office, Gauss let out a sigh of relief.
The Warlock named Shirley had exerted quite a bit of pressure on him.
It felt as if his entire aura was being suppressed.
Suddenly encountering such a mysterious powerhouse had also somewhat tempered his pride after advancing to a Professional.
There is always someone stronger, and a sky beyond a sky.
There are many more powerful beings in this world; advancing to a Professional is just a starting point.
He walked down the corridor a bit further.
Petra led him to the VIP room.
This was a VIP room that was mostly not open to the public, primarily used for entertaining adventurers of the Professional Level.
Although most bronze adventurers, after getting used to the intensity of basic tasks, greatly reduce their visits to the first floor to take regular tasks, there are occasionally some exceptions.
Sometimes, even Black Iron Level or stronger adventurers come to pick up regular tasks. Perhaps for them, it’s a way to cultivate their mood and relax.
Gauss was guided into the room, and the ceiling lights lit up automatically.
The exquisite interior decoration unfolded before Gauss’s eyes. Unlike the rough decorative style of the hall, this small room was arranged very elegantly, giving one a sense of tranquillity upon entering.
Though it was an enclosed space, the air felt remarkably fresh, rather than stuffy.
Gauss looked around curiously. He had been to the Adventurer’s Guild many times but had never known there was such a good place.
"Master Shirley actually has a good temper. Among the few masters in the guild, her attitude towards us regular receptionists is the most friendly," Petra said a few good words for Shirley after bringing Gauss into the room.
Gauss found a high-back armchair and sat down.
"I understand. It’s just that her aura is a bit too strong, somewhat..."
"Hehe, once you interact with Master Shirley a few more times, you won’t feel that way. Just rest a bit while I write a registration report."
"Alright, you go ahead."
Gauss nodded, turning to appraise the layout of the VIP room.
A gentle golden glow flowed from crystal lamps embedded in the pure white ceiling, evidently designed with care to provide just the right amount of light without being dim or glaring, illuminating every corner perfectly.
The walls were covered with deep olive-green velvet wallpaper, faintly embroidered with the Adventurer’s Guild emblem in silver thread, subtle yet noble.
In the center of the room stood a sturdy oak round table with a mirror-like smooth surface, its edges intricately carved with intertwining vines and peculiar runes. A few glasses of clean water and some food were neatly arranged on the table.
In the corner stood a brass-trimmed grandfather clock, its pendulum swinging rhythmically with a ticking sound; on the other side of the wall hung a large parchment map depicting the entire kingdom and surrounding dangerous zones.
Gray Rock Town was just the most insignificant dot on the map, even Jade Forest was only the size of a palm. Gauss suspected that if this map were not hung in the Adventurer’s Guild of Gray Rock Town, the town wouldn’t have been specially marked at all.
The most evident proof was that Bitter Wormwood Town was not distinctly marked on the map, with only cities shown.
Gauss looked at it for a while before letting out a long breath, relaxing back into the chair.
The backrest of the chair, made of dark brown tanned leather, was filled with soft yet supportive material, making it very comfortable—so much so that it was almost sleep-inducing.
Truly wonderful.
Having been in this world for some time now, he wasn’t sure why the memories of his past life were becoming vague and distant, as if they were events from long ago.
The décor of this VIP lounge was undoubtedly the best he had seen in this world, even surpassing many high-end décors from his past life in style.
Inhaling the subtle and elegant fragrance lingering in the air.
Scenes of the bustling Adventurer’s Hall during peak hours involuntarily surfaced in Gauss’s mind.
The crowd jostling shoulder to shoulder, babbling loudly, added to the clamour that reached his ears; the sweaty odor emanating from leather-armored adventurers who hadn’t bathed for days; the flooring tiles a bit faded from the friction of countless footfalls...
Looking at the luxurious room with only him and Petra, he had a deeper realization that Professionals and non-Professionals indeed lived in two different worlds.
The resources of this world would be even more freely concentrated around that small group of Professional wielding great power.
In fact, Gauss didn’t mind the bustling atmosphere in the hall, but it was also nice to have some peace occasionally.
While he was musing over these thoughts.
Petra finally finished her report.
"Alright, done." Petra placed the report aside and set a large and a small crystal stone on the oak table.
"Gauss, hold this large Blue Crystal. This is the Task Crystal, and as a Professional, you should be able to read the task information from it."
"Even within basic tasks, some are more challenging than others. You are currently able to take on One-star tasks among the basic ones, which are the relatively less dangerous ones."
"Okay, thank you."
Gauss reached out and picked up the large crystal.
Upon touching the diamond-shaped crystal, a strange wave emanated from within it.
Gauss felt as if his profession tier was slightly stirred within him, with a slight cool sensation across his scalp. The next moment, he seemed able to see through the Task Crystal before him, accessing the vast information stored inside.
He immersed himself in the information stream of the Task Crystal Stone.
Soon, he felt the presence of numerous one-star beginner tasks recorded within.
The monsters involved included many familiar to Gauss, such as goblins and slimes, as well as those he hadn’t yet encountered, like jackal-wolf people, fish people, rust monsters, and fire salamanders, among others.
To Gauss’s surprise, most of the monsters involved in the one-star beginner tasks were without a challenge level.
It’s just that their numbers were higher than in ordinary tasks, generally exceeding forty, and a few were noted to have information about mutant individuals, for example.
As for the tasks involving monsters with challenge levels, only a small portion existed, each marked with a warning for individuals to accept it cautiously.
Evidently, in the information system of the Adventurer’s Guild, even a level 1 newcomer advancing to a professional is not at an advantage in a one-on-one situation against a level 1 challenge monster.
However, does this mean my strength is far greater than others of the same tier? Gauss felt a bit happy inside.
During his apprenticeship, he killed a mantis person, a feat difficult for other new professionals, despite using some tricks. The fact remained that he accomplished it, so after advancing to a professional, his strength would be unmatched by other new professionals.
After glancing at a few tasks involving challenge-level monsters, he decisively moved his gaze away and continued looking at those involving ordinary lower-tier monsters.
Even though he realized he might be able to kill 1-star elite monsters that other novice professionals couldn’t handle, he didn’t have any desire to challenge himself.
To be honest, he’d rather first focus on dealing with smaller creatures.
Especially since these tasks almost all involved dozens of lower-tier creatures, which felt quite satisfactory to him.
One such task could cover several ordinary tasks, exponentially increasing in efficiency.
The only thing to be cautious of was not getting overwhelmed by dozens of lower-tier creatures, but that possibility was pretty low since he had powerful armor skills. A little caution should prevent any major mishaps.
His gaze lingered in the task list for quite a while.
In the end, he chose a certain monster subjugation task.
[Red Hat Goblin Tribe Elimination]
Task Details: Eliminate a medium-sized goblin tribe and kill all targets.
Task Location: Refer to the map.
Task Deadline: Within two weeks.
Task Note: This is a medium-sized tribe with more than 50 adult goblins, led by a red hat goblin (though without a challenge level, its combat power is superior to that of ordinary goblins). Please act cautiously.
Task Reward: 90 Silver Coins.
Indeed, even though he had begun taking on beginner tasks, he still resolutely chose goblins.
He couldn’t help it; goblins were simply more numerous.
Moreover, his racial talent — Rapid Digestion required him to hunt a large number of goblins to enhance it.
After comparing it with his own combat capability, he felt confident that completing this task shouldn’t be a big problem.
Besides, he didn’t need to confront the goblin tribe head-on; he could employ methods like burning, poisoning, and ambushing. Weren’t there many ways to do it?
"Total Monsters Killed: 179"
If everything went smoothly, completing this task should allow him to easily surpass the stage goal of 200 kills.
And since beginner tasks had more monsters, Gauss felt his efficiency in killing them would be higher than before.
The only downside was that the task required him to enter the Jade Forest and travel inward from the perimeter, which increased the danger level.
But then again, a goblin tribe with more than fifty members near human activity areas would have been cleared out by other professional adventurers long ago, leaving no chance for him to take action.
"I’ve made my choice," Gauss said, looking at Petra. "How do I confirm it?"
"Concentrate on the specific task for a few seconds, and you’ll be able to accept it," Petra replied.
Following Petra’s instructions, the corresponding goblin task disappeared from the Task Crystal Stone shortly after.
"Since you’re still a Levelless Adventurer, your Identity Badge isn’t directly bound to the Task Crystal Stone yet. I need to manually register it for you. Give me your Identity Badge, and wait here for a moment while I handle it. I’ll be back soon."
"By the way, this small one is your task’s Recording Crystal Stone. You need to carry it with you for the duration of the task; otherwise, the assessment results will be invalid."
"Understood."
After reminding him, Petra took the Task Crystal Stone and quickly went to another room to register it.
Gauss picked up the transparent crystal stone and curiously examined it.
He could sense a special magic fluctuation inside, although it was very faint.
It felt lightweight, giving him the initial impression that it wasn’t of significant value, almost cheap.
This is probably why, with such a recording tool in place, the Adventurer’s Guild could confidently allow assessors to complete tasks independently.
Anyway, when submitting the task, they only needed to check the information within the Recording Crystal Stone to know whether the assessor completed it alone or with other help or special methods.
Gauss put away the crystal stone.
Before officially setting out to eliminate the goblins, he decided he needed to rest for two days, replenish his supplies, and purchase new equipment.