Chapter 72: Chapter 68: Lena’s Troubles
"Your friend?"
Lin Mo’s gaze couldn’t help but fall on the tail behind her.
Lena subconsciously tried to hide it with her hands, but when she saw no hint of disgust in Lin Mo’s eyes, she let it show again freely.
"That’s right. She’s also a Half-Beastman, but she’s much stronger than I am!"
Generally speaking, Half-Beastmen, especially males, have a slightly higher aptitude for Physical Professions than humans, but it also depends on their specific race.
For example, Half-Beastmen of the Bear Race or Tiger Race have a natural advantage as Knights or Warriors. Not only is their aptitude high, but their Basic Attributes are also superior, giving them strong early-stage Combat Power and making it easier for them to become Professionals.
Other races, like the Fox Race and Cat Race, are more gifted in speed, making them suitable to be Rangers or Assassins.
But none of this is absolute. Some Half-Beastmen have no talent in either of these areas and are no different from ordinary people.
Lena was one such case. That was why she couldn’t become an Adventurer and could only work as a receptionist at the Adventurer’s Association.
Lin Mo had learned before that although the appearance of Half-Beastmen, both male and female, didn’t align with human beauty standards, it didn’t matter at all if they were teammates in an Adventurer Squad.
When you’re out risking your life on an adventure, you don’t care about looks. Combat Power is the only thing that’s real.
And since the base Combat Power of Half-Beastmen was significantly higher than that of humans, they were more popular in lower-tier Adventurer Squads.
Although this didn’t mean that any squad with a Half-Beastman was low-tier, and Lin Mo meant no offense, he couldn’t help but feel a little skeptical about the strength of the squad Lena was describing.
"Could you tell me a little about your friend’s squad?"
"Okay... Their squad currently has five members in total: one Assassin, one Ranger, one Knight, and two Warriors."
"One of the Warriors is their squad leader, who is already an advanced Professional. The other Warrior is my friend, Ali, who has the blood of the Ice Wolf Race. The others in the squad are all very experienced Adventurers..."
As she spoke, Lena’s enthusiasm gradually faded.
Ali had told her that their squad already had two Warriors, so they were hoping to recruit another Ranger to boost their damage output, rather than a Warrior or a Knight. Besides, Ali’s squad was at least mid-tier in this town, whereas Lin Mo had only been an Adventurer for less than ten days.
’Even though he showed impressive strength when he took that Slime quest from me, compared to the standards of Ali’s squad, he probably...’
But she had already brought it up and couldn’t take it back now. She could only bite the bullet and continue, "If Mr. Lin Mo is confident in his strength and is interested, perhaps you could give it a try."
This sentence was, in fact, a subtle warning to Lin Mo.
Lena was an honest girl who couldn’t hide her feelings. Lin Mo immediately saw her concern and deliberately put on a solemn expression. "Then I’ll have to ask you to contact your friend for me. This is very important to me."
"Um... I... Okay, meow..."
In the end, Miss Cat Lady couldn’t bring herself to voice her doubts about Lin Mo’s strength. She could only hang her head and agree.
"Haha~"
Seeing Lena look increasingly guilty and ashamed, as if she’d done something wrong, Lin Mo couldn’t hold back his laughter. He patted her shoulder. "Don’t worry. I’m very strong, you know."
He leaned in closer and whispered, "I’ll let you in on a secret. I’m already a Professional."
"Eh?!"
Lena looked up in surprise, her eyes wide as saucers.
Based on their interactions, she believed Lin Mo wasn’t the type to make things up, but...
’A Professional?’
She still clearly remembered the scene when Lin Mo first walked into the Association to register as an Adventurer with her. That was only a little over ten days ago.
As a receptionist for the Adventurer’s Association, Lena might not have much strength, but she was certainly well-informed. Yet, the idea of a complete rookie becoming a Professional in just over ten days was something unheard of, not just in reality, but even in the tales of Minstrels.
If any Minstrel dared to write such a plot into their story, they would surely be harshly criticized by their audience for being illogical and unrealistic.
Someone might even rebuke them like this: "Have you ever even been an Adventurer? You’re just making things up as you go."
But sometimes, reality was just that unreasonable.
"Congratulations! If that’s the case, then there’s definitely no problem!"
Snapping back to reality, Miss Cat Lady’s first reaction was to offer her congratulations, breathing a sigh of relief for her earlier suggestion.
Although their squad wanted to recruit a Ranger, a wish was just a wish. If a Professional wanted to join, only a fool would refuse.
"Someone from their squad comes to the Association every morning to see if anyone has applied. You can sit and wait for a bit; it shouldn’t be too long..."
Lin Mo nodded and glanced at the noisy hall behind him. It seemed there were no empty tables.
’Rather than sharing a table with strangers, I might as well chat with the cat lady in front of me.’
"Chatting a little longer won’t affect your work, will it?"
Lena paused for a moment, then shook her head repeatedly. "Not at all... As long as you don’t mind. It’s not like any Adventurers come to my counter to accept quests anyway."
More than disappointed, the girl’s expression was one of helplessness and bewilderment.
"I don’t think I saw you when I came by yesterday. Was it your day off?"
"Ah... um."
Lena nodded. "Yes, we get one day off a week."
In reality, only those with poor performance were put on a rotation. The counters with the most customers could work all the time.
And it wasn’t just one day. Her days off per week had already increased to two, sometimes even three.
For the receptionists, getting a day off wasn’t a good thing...
It wasn’t that they loved their jobs so much, but that they didn’t get paid for their days off.
Being a receptionist at the Adventurer’s Association was a great job, a good living that every commoner envied, but you couldn’t do it for more than a few years.
Starting from fifteen or sixteen years old, after six or seven years at most, they would be replaced by newcomers.
Adventurers all preferred young, pretty girls. No one would be happy about getting a quest from some old woman.
If everything went smoothly, they could earn a good amount of money in those few years. With those savings, it was enough to marry into a good family and live a stable life.
Some lucky ones might even be noticed by a powerful Adventurer and be set for life.
But for someone like Lena, who was unpopular and had terrible performance, the situation was much more difficult.
She couldn’t save any money, and even her daily life was a struggle. After she was eventually let go, she wouldn’t even know how to survive...
It was as said before: if not for the Association’s considerations for diversity, she would have been eliminated long ago based on her performance.
