Chapter 71: Chapter 67: Mission and Teammates
"Here, your gear."
Inside Edgar’s smithy, the young Dwarf Boss handed the repaired weapons and Leather Armor back to Lin Mo with a wide smile.
"Judging by the look on your face, the forging went well yesterday?"
Lin Mo couldn’t help but tease him, seeing his goofy grin.
"It went alright..."
Edgar said, stroking his short beard. The smug look on his face was impossible to hide.
"I made a small breakthrough with my smithing. You’ll see the finished product in a couple of days."
’He must be talking about the dagger made from the Curse Patterned Cat Demon Claw?’
The Minotaur horns were for making a bow and still needed a period of special treatment. As for the two large axes, they were ultimately just made of Ordinary iron. So the only thing that could make Edgar this happy had to be the dagger.
Lin Mo calculated that he also happened to need two better daggers. ’When the time comes, I can squeeze a discount out of this kid and buy them for cheap.’
"I’m really looking forward to it."
After putting on his Leather Armor, Lin Mo didn’t stick around for more small talk. He waved and turned to leave.
"If you go out running quests, remember to bring me back some materials..."
Even after walking several dozen meters, Edgar’s shouts were still clearly audible. Lin Mo glanced back and thought he saw the old woman next door coming out with a broom.
This old woman was no simple lady. Rumor had it she used to be an Adventurer herself, and only opened the general store in town after saving up enough money to retire.
’All I can do is wish Edgar good luck...’
On his way, Lin Mo bought some necessary supplies and also picked up a larger, sturdier backpack. It was made entirely of leather and cost 5 Silver Coins.
With the pack on his back, he looked a bit bulky from a distance, and the workmanship could only be described as subpar.
But most Adventurers couldn’t care less about such things; practicality was what mattered most. If he’d had this backpack earlier, Lin Mo could have even skinned both Minotaurs and carried the hides back with him.
While not nearly as valuable as the horns, the hides could have sold for ten-odd Silver Coins—enough to cover lodging and daily supplies.
He had two important things to do today.
Lin Mo headed straight for the Adventurer’s Association. The moment he walked through the door, he habitually glanced toward the corner.
The cat-girl in the beret was waving at him.
Lin Mo smiled and went over to the quest board first.
’Time to pick the next quest.’
Now that his strength had increased, F Level tasks were hardly worth his consideration. After a quick scan confirmed there were no special cases like the 100 Gold Coins rescue mission from before, Lin Mo turned his attention to the section for E Level Tasks.
Theoretically, now that he was a Professional, he could start considering D Level Tasks. However, unless you had a full squad of Professionals, the difficulty of a D Level Task was still quite high, even for a Professional.
Lin Mo had no intention of rushing to challenge himself. He much preferred to grow at a steady pace.
’At the end of the day, it’s because I don’t have any reliable teammates...’
Condensate! Condensate!
Quest Number: E983
Type: Hunt/Material Collection
Client: Richard
Reward: 13 Gold
Description:
Go to Loran Forest, find and kill one Large Slime, and collect its Condensate.
Note: The quest objective is needed for alchemy research. Please handle it with extreme care to avoid damage!
Richard... Lin Mo remembered that name. He had previously taken a quest to hunt Ordinary Slimes posted by the very same person.
A Large Slime is a special variant of Slime, much like a Mutated Goblin or a Cursed Cat Demon. It’s an Elite Level Demon.
In theory, this type of Demon was easier to deal with than a Cursed Cat Demon. Its overall difficulty was comparable to a Mutated Goblin, but Lin Mo was reluctant to accept the task.
He really didn’t like creatures like Slimes. Not only did they damage weapons, requiring a special coating, but the process of collecting their Condensate after killing one was also truly disgusting.
If he had any other choice, Lin Mo would definitely not take this quest.
Bear’s Strength
Quest Number: E673
Type: Hunt/Material Collection
Client: Edgar
Reward: 25-40 Gold
Description:
Go to Loran Forest and hunt an adult Earth Bear. Bring back the hide. Minimize damage to the pelt during combat, and ensure the hide is kept completely intact when skinning!
’So this quest was posted by that kid Edgar.’
’Looks like he plans on using the Earth Bear’s pelt to make a suit of Leather Armor?’
The Leather Armor Lin Mo was currently wearing had been made by Edgar from the hide of a Black Swamp Crocodile. Its quality was decent, but an Earth Bear pelt would undoubtedly offer much higher Defense Power. Once Edgar finished making the new armor, perhaps he could consider upgrading.
’I’ll keep this one as an option...’
Lin Mo continued scanning the board, finally narrowing his choices down to two quests.
One was Edgar’s Earth Bear quest; the other was a caravan escort mission.
The recent situation in Roland Town was indeed dire, preventing most small merchant guilds from conducting normal trade. For the larger guilds with deeper pockets and higher profit margins, however, there were always solutions.
For instance, spending a bit of money to hire powerful Adventurers as guards.
The destination for this escort quest was Lania City, the main city to which Roland Town was subordinate. The distance was a bit far, but acceptable. ’And I could take the opportunity to look around the city...’
Shaking his head, still unable to decide, Lin Mo walked up to the counter and greeted Lena.
"Hello, Mr. Lin Mo. Are you here to accept a quest, meow?"
Lin Mo nodded. "I’ll get to the quest in a minute. Before that, I wanted to ask, can the Association post a notice for recruiting teammates?"
"You want to recruit teammates?"
"Yes. My previous... friends were injured during our last quest, so they have to rest for a while..."
"It’s possible, but if you’re planning to form an Adventurer Squad from scratch, it could take a very long time."
Lena explained a little, and Lin Mo quickly understood the difficulties.
The reason was actually quite simple: most freelance Adventurers preferred to join established squads. Since Lin Mo was on his own and not well-known, the idea of building a team from the ground up held no appeal for them.
Unless he threw around his status as a Professional, but that would just attract a lot of unmotivated freeloaders, and screening them one by one would be a pain.
In short, it would take several days at least.
Lin Mo didn’t want to wait that long, nor was he dead-set on forming his own team, so he asked, "In that case, are there any reliable Adventurer Squads recruiting lately?"
"There are, of course. You can find some information on the recruitment board over there. You can also leave your details with me, and I’ll post them up for you. If a squad leader is interested, they’ll contact you."
’That sounds time-consuming, too. Maybe I’m just being too impatient.’
He shook his head helplessly. ’If there’s no better way, then I guess this is it.’
Just as Lin Mo was about to fill out his information, Lena suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right!" she said excitedly. "I have a friend, and her squad is also recruiting right now. If you’re interested..."
