Chapter 23 Mercenary Guild (Thanks to Book Otaku for the monthly ticket!)

The Mercenary Guild is a large organization spread across all human regions in Gaia World, and its scale surpasses that of the Assassin Guild and Warrior Guild among other civilian organizations.

However, what sets it apart from other organizations is that although there is a consistent system for categorizing mercenary levels and classifying tasks across Mercenary Guilds in various countries, other administrative systems are not uniform. The Mercenary Guilds of each country do not have a subordinate relationship; they only pledge allegiance to the ruler of the kingdom they are in.

This is exactly what each country's ruler hopes to see, as after all, mercenaries form a large and powerful group within the nation, and no ruler would feel comfortable leaving them uncontrolled.

In the past life's game, for most players, the first power they joined was the Mercenary Guild, by completing various commissioned tasks to receive rewards of Experience Points, money, and other Extraordinary Items.

Today, Lis's purpose for visiting the Mercenary Guild was simple.

First, he was there to learn the last Intermediate Weapon proficiency required by his "All Martial Arts Mastery."

The second reason was to register as a mercenary and complete commissions and demon exterminations to acquire the substantial amount of Experience Points needed for his level-up.

Just relying on the Experience gained from meditation seemed unrealistic to breakthrough to Intermediate Mage before the Sacrificial Festival, not to mention the endless pit of leveling up skills waiting for him. He needed to find a way to broaden his sources of Experience.

For mercenaries in this world, the purpose of completing commissions is to earn the reward, but it was different for him; he had a game system, which allowed him to gain Experience Points while completing commissions.

The most straightforward and direct source of Experience in the game system is monster hunting, right!

Completing some commissioned tasks was also something that could be done along the way.

Lis was nearly unable to restrain his eagerness to start monster hunting!

The Mercenary Guild in Bright City was not located in the eastern part of the city but in the busiest Gedo Street in the West District. After all, most mercenaries belonged to the poorer strata of society and, before gaining Extraordinary Power and advancing to Professional status, could only earn money by laboring through various piecemeal commissions in the city.

Moving things, cleaning, finding lost pets… such ordinary commissions were the daily life of most regular mercenaries.

To call these people mercenaries was really just another way of saying they were desperately trying to make a living.

As for more important commissions like guard duties and clearing demons, those were only accessible to those who had become Extraordinary Professionals.

Lis remembered when the servers first went live in his past life, players swept through all the Mercenary Guild's tasks like a tornado, not rejecting even tasks such as unclogging sewers or moving trash.

The enthusiasm and efficiency of the players' work led to a humorous rumor among the mercenaries that a group of tireless Demon Statues disguised as mercenaries.

With their incredibly efficient work ethos and around-the-clock hours, the players took over a large portion of the regular mercenaries' jobs, leading to discontent among many mercenaries who relied on these tasks for their livelihood, and even caused some minor conflicts.

However, once the players had accumulated enough points to advance to Professional status, such incidents ceased to occur.

After all, as far as grinding went, hunting monsters and clearing dungeons was obviously more appealing than scrubbing toilets (*σ´∀`)σ.

Although Lis's agility attribute value had not yet received a numerical adjustment, it was still far superior to that of an ordinary person, and he soon arrived at Gedo Street.

Gedo Street, known for its proximity to Gedo River that flowed through the West District of Bright City, is the capital's largest hub for merchandise distribution and human traffic.

The Mercenary Guild was situated at the head of Gedo Street, in the most conspicuous five-story gray building—the core of the Kingdom's Mercenary Guild.

Standing in front of the Mercenary Guild building, looking at the brown wooden door filled with the patina of age, even as evening drew near, a diverse array of mercenaries continuously entered and exited, stirring up Lis's blood for adventure, grueling effort, and expenditure.

Walking into the grand hall of the Mercenary Guild, the right side served as a resting and interacting area for the mercenaries.

Returning mercenaries gathered two or three friends around a round table, drinking barley beer, bragging, venting about the day's hard work, or relaxing their minds tensed from fighting demons.

"Old Mac, quit your bragging, as if you could beat a Tusked Wild Boar. You'd likely roll away in fright just hearing it!"

"Exactly, the Tusked Wild Boar might not be an Extraordinary Magical Beast, but it's even stronger than the weakest Magic Beast, the Shadow Rabbit. Those tusks, tsk tsk, they'd run you right through."

"I heard Mr. Tony's plantation just outside the city was ravaged by a magic beast, and he's hiring Silver Level mercenaries to handle it. Any of you guys interested?"

"You don't know, man. When I was adventuring in the great desert to the west, I chopped an ogre into several pieces with a single sword strike—but the meat was tough, got stuck in my teeth! What are a few goblins today? Just a piece of cake!"

...

Enduring the noisy clamor of the mercenaries, Lis squeezed his way to the left side of the hall, where the guild managed mission postings, commission acceptances, mercenary registrations, and reviews.

Right next to it was probably a bar counter for collecting mercenaries' salaries.

In his past life, Lis had spent quite some money here, mainly because the game experience was so well executed: he could drink without getting drunk, which gave Lis, who was usually a lightweight, a chance to show off.

"Hello, are you here to upgrade your mercenary level or to register as a mercenary?"

The young lady behind the counter, who had been busy all day and looked soul-crushed, immediately perked up upon seeing Lis, after all, who doesn't love a handsome young man?

"Hello, please register me as a mercenary," Lis nodded as he spoke.

"Name?"

"Moriarty."

"Age?"

"18."

"Profession?"

"None."

Registering as a mercenary was simple, but Lis didn't want to reveal his mage identity just yet.

After all, he still wanted to learn new weapons, and having the rare mage identity among professionals drew too much attention.

"Here's your ID card; you are currently the lowest rank of mercenary. Completing mission commissions can earn you mercenary points, which will elevate your mercenary level." The uniformed young lady handed him a gray card, intricately engraved with Lis's information using magic patterns, making it difficult to forge.

"You can take on some simple tasks that can be completed within the city or team up with others for higher-level missions to hunt demons, but..."

The young lady hesitated for a moment before offering her advice:

"It's best not to try those risky missions before you become an official professional. Surviving is the most important thing!"

After all, having worked in the Mercenary Guild for so many years, she had seen too many young people who registered as mercenaries and, driven by passion, participated in extremely dangerous missions, leaving not even a trace behind.

"Thank you for your advice, I understand," Lis replied with a smile.

In this world, he didn't know if he could have resurrection abilities like in his previous life's game, so naturally, he wouldn't act recklessly, shouting "Beastmen will never be slaves!" or "Demacia!" as he rushed headfirst into danger like some foolish players.

He was just a no-rank mercenary, which meant doing simple but time-consuming tasks like most ordinary mercenaries, possibly never getting the chance to be promoted to an official mercenary.

Official mercenaries from lowest to highest are ranked as Bronze, Silver, Gold, Mithril, and Gemstone Level.

The rankings aren't directly tied to professionals' ranks; it purely depends on the level and number of missions accomplished by the mercenary.

Lis toyed with his freshly acquired, still warm mercenary ID card and asked the uniformed young lady:

"Um, I also wanted to know, does the guild have a professional tutor available now?"