Chapter 16

"Twenty Goblins and one Hobgoblin, the bounty is 17 gold and 4 silver."

"Mission 701, reward 30 gold coins."

"Adding it up, that's a total of 47 gold and 4 silver coins."

The short-haired girl's emotionless voice reached his ears, and Xia Nan weighed the heavy money bag in his hand.

He only felt an extremely satisfying sense of accomplishment welling up from his heart.

He opened the money bag slightly, glanced at the golden glitter inside, and even the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily.

He did not count the number of gold coins on the spot.

On one hand, the Adventurer Association is spread across the entire Aifala Dalu and is undoubtedly a behemoth; they wouldn't short him of his small change.

And judging by the girl's operating speed just now, the summary and collection of spoils were clearly not done manually, so the probability of error was not high.

On the other hand, with people coming and going in this hall, he also knew that "wealth should not be exposed."

If he really wasn't at ease, it wouldn't be too late to count carefully after he settled down.

And just as Xia Nan was pondering in his heart, the girl's bored voice came again from in front of him:

"Squad badge, do you want to cancel it?"

Xia Nan didn't know the ins and outs, so he asked with some confusion:

"May I ask what impact canceling it would have on me?"

"The captain needs to pay a squad fee of 20 gold every year."

"Cancel it!"

It wasn't that Xia Nan couldn't bear the expense of these 20 gold coins... well, it was indeed a bit expensive.

Mainly because right now the Trash Squad was left with only him, and as a new adventurer, he had absolutely no experience with outside missions, so there was no need to force the squad to continue, and he couldn't recruit anyone either.

What he should really do right now is find a squad suitable for his own development and, as an ordinary teammate, gain an in-depth understanding of everything he needs to know about this world;

Or simply go solo, starting from the lowest danger level and simplest missions, taking it step by step.

Therefore, Xia Nan decisively handed the black iron badge in his hand to the other party.

There were still many things to deal with, so he stuffed the gold coins into his backpack, and just as he was about to leave, he seemed to suddenly remember something and asked:

"Do you know where I should go to buy healing potions?"

Regarding the healing potion that Maji had used during the battle with the Hobgoblin, which was like an immortal elixir, Xia Nan had a deep impression.

Minor injuries were healed instantly, and even dying, severe injuries could be held off with one breath.

Possessing a bottle of healing potion was equivalent to him having an extra trump card and an extra layer of protection for his life.

If he could buy it with money, he naturally wouldn't let it go.

"Turn right, all the way to the back," the short-haired girl replied lazily without lifting her head.

Xia Nan's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he hurriedly thanked her and left.

Sure enough, in the corner of the hall, a small shop with a sign that read "Alchemist Association" was nestled among the crowd.

It still continued the natural style of the association branch that resembled the "Mist Forest," but the shelves were filled with bottles and jars:

【Truth Serum】: 150 gold

【Poison Potion】: 200 gold

【Radiant Resistance Potion】: 300 gold

【...】

Xia Nan just glanced at the price tags of these potions and felt dizzy.

"At this price, the target consumer shouldn't be a bottom-tier adventurer like me."

For a moment, he even became cautious while moving his body through the shelves.

He was terrified that if he accidentally broke a bottle, he would lose his entire net worth.

Then, in the most conspicuous position of the shop, he found his target:

【Healing Potion】: 50 gold

"That's okay."

After the series of visual impacts earlier, the price of the potion was not as expensive as he had imagined.

But if he considered that all the gold coins he had on him right now added up to less than 50.

The price of this bottle of potion was quite substantial.

Seeming to notice Xia Nan's hesitation, the owner of the shop—a bald man in a beige robe—wandered over with his hands behind his back.

"Newbie?" he asked casually.

Seeing Xia Nan nod, the man pointed to the shelf behind him and said:

"Healing potions don't have a high cost-performance ratio, and you guys don't use them often."

"By comparison, I actually recommend this more."

Xia Nan's gaze followed.

He saw that in the corner of the shelf not far ahead, several leather pouches with the classic herb logo were piled up casually.

【Medical Kit】: 5 gold

It contained ten uses of bandages, ointment, and splints.

"I don't have much stock here, and usually no one comes to my shop to buy this stuff; the grocery stores outside are full of it."

"Thanks for the reminder," Xia Nan nodded in thanks, but his gaze shifted back to the healing potion once again.

In his heart, the priority of this kind of life-saving medicine was undoubtedly the highest.

Although it was a bit expensive, there was no rush for now.

After all, he still had many spoils on him that hadn't been dealt with, and he hadn't accepted his next adventure mission yet.

It wouldn't be too late to consider whether to buy it after he sorted out his savings later.

"Are the prices of potions here all this expensive?"

Seeing that the bald man seemed easy to talk to, Xia Nan couldn't help but ask the doubt in his heart.

"You get what you pay for," he waved his hand, "they are all refined by professional alchemists in the association, and the quality is guaranteed."

As he spoke, the bald man looked toward the stairs at the back of the hall:

"Actually, what I have here is just some cheap stuff."

"The real top-tier goods are all upstairs!"

"【Keen Eye Potion】, 【Gaseous Form】, 【Hill Giant Strength】, tsk tsk." He nodded with his hands behind his back, counting them like family treasures, "It's just that the price... is not something people like us can afford."

"Upstairs?" Being new here, Xia Nan was completely ignorant of the ins and outs of the association.

"The second floor of the hall is where those real adventurers with professional levels go to accept missions."

"After all, you can't expect those guys to be like you, struggling for pennies on the outskirts of the forest all day, right?"

Knowing that the man didn't mean to belittle him on purpose and was just stating facts, Xia Nan didn't have any unnecessary emotions.

Just as he wanted to take this opportunity to ask a few more questions, he heard a shout from the direction of the shop entrance:

"Where is everyone? Boss, check out!"

"Coming." The bald man wandered over with his hands behind his back in a composed manner, and before leaving, he even gave Xia Nan a hint.

"There are manuals for sale at the small stall at the entrance of the association. If you're a newbie, you can buy one to read; it should be helpful."

The business had been handled, and Xia Nan, who had intended to leave the association anyway, naturally followed the advice.

He just asked the vendor a couple of questions and found the "manual" the bald man had mentioned.

3 silver coins.

It wasn't particularly expensive, so he gritted his teeth and bought it.

The cover was quite exquisite, with two lines of large characters printed neatly in an unknown font:

【Adventurer's Handbook】

(River Valley Town Branch Special Edition)

Below was a row of small white characters as a supplement:

"21st Day / Month of Flowering (Kythorn) / Arcane Calendar 1019 Revised Edition"

(End of chapter)