Chapter 188: Combat Technique Catalog

As a super-large neutral organization on the Aifala Continent, the Adventurer Association gathered countless adventurers through branches located in magic beast gathering places.

On one hand, it supplied the market with a large amount of scarce and useful magic beast materials; on the other hand, to a certain extent, it provided a large number of jobs, allowing many ordinary civilians who might never have left their villages in their entire lives to see a tortuous but sufficiently bright path.

Also because of the Association's simple and clear mission method of "posting commissions - accepting missions - obtaining rewards," and the myths of adventurer income circulating among the world, it attracted batch after batch of fresh blood into this line of work every year.

For these bottom-tier adventurers who made up the foundation of the pyramid, the number of whom was staggering.

The Association was less of an organization with a factional tendency and more like a service agency purely established for adventurers, a platform for mission acceptance.

It didn't actively provide much in the way of benefits; it just used missions of varying difficulty to filter out pieces of unpolished jade covered by dust from the vast base like a funnel.

And whether one could obtain a "professional level" was the first and most difficult threshold among them.

Only after becoming a professional would the Adventurer Association, a behemoth in the true sense, really act like a proper organization and seek benefits for its members.

"Points" were one of them.

Or rather, they were the standard for quantifying how many benefits a member could obtain.

As a currency and consumable that could only be used within the Association, it could be used in almost every aspect where you needed to pay a reward.

According to the ratio, it could be converted into gold coins, exchanged for rare materials, premium potions, and even "professional combat techniques" that couldn't be bought outside at all, all of which could be exchanged with points.

As for where these so-called "points" should come from...

Under normal circumstances, for the vast majority of adventurers in the Association, there was actually only one way.

【Mission Number】: b-7168

【Type】: Bounty

【Reward】:

250,000 gold / 8,300 points

(Or please contact Duke Morton of Nianshu Ling for a face-to-face meeting)

【Mission Brief】:

An adult red dragon named "Kelaogebali" attacked the Duke's castle located in the core area of Nianshu Ling and looted Mr. Morton's family heirloom.

For detailed information, please contact the Association front desk staff.

【Extra Information】:

"Whoever can bring back the Morton family's heirloom and the head of that beast will become the husband of my lovely daughter and the heir to the territory."

— "Sticky Tree Duke" Morton

【Mission Number】: e-20279

【Type】: Investigation

【Reward】:

30-300 gold / 1-10 points / 200g Corrosive Pattern Steel

【Mission Brief】:

According to adventurer reports, traces of Beastman activity have appeared in the Mist Forest near the inner area on the east side.

Interested adventurers are requested to go and investigate; after verification, the Association will provide mission rewards based on the completeness and accuracy of the information obtained.

(Limited to squads of four or more)

【Time Limit】: 180 days

Xia Nan stood in front of the mission wall on the second floor, his gaze sweeping over it.

Unlike the first-floor lobby of the Association, which was crowded with adventurers every moment, where one had to endure foul sweat and blood smells and stand on tiptoe for half a day just to find a suitable mission, the experience was terrible.

The area around the mission board on the second floor was exceptionally quiet, with only a few seemingly quite senior adventurers gathered in twos and threes, discussing in low voices.

And the commissions on the mission wall were also very different from those downstairs.

First, most obviously, missions like clearing out goblin lairs or gathering ordinary herbs, although still visible, were much fewer in number.

Replacing them were professional-level commissions where the numbers following the rewards had a few more zeros and looked even more dangerous.

Clearly, for adventurers who had already obtained a professional level and whose strength and expenses had increased significantly, the Association had also adjusted the types of missions released.

But on the other hand, the top few commissions had overlaps.

Just like the bounty on the "Spore Druid" that had been at the top of the first-floor mission wall when he first crossed over, and the tracking mission for the blonde elf "Fengxian" he had just seen before.

At this moment, they were also posted on the commission board before his eyes.

It was just that some of the content inside had changed slightly compared to downstairs, with additions in terms of 【Mission Number】 and 【Mission Reward】.

Beside him, Moli introduced it to him at the right time.

"The commissions posted on the mission wall are all types where the time and regions involved are relatively suitable; we update them every week."

"But after all, space is limited; posting too many at once looks too messy and is hard to distinguish."

"So, if you don't find a suitable mission on the wall, or want to go on a long trip, or look at those 'old missions' that have been there for many years and still haven't been completed by anyone..."

"You can come find me, or any receptionist on the second floor; we all have detailed commission lists in our hands."

Hearing this, Xia Nan pondered for a moment before asking:

"So I won't be able to accept those commissions on the first floor in the future?"

Seemingly not expecting this question from the cold-tempered professional before her, Moli was stunned for a moment before reacting, shaking her head repeatedly:

"No, of course not!"

"You have already obtained a professional level and completed the promotion mission, so whether it's upstairs or downstairs, as long as you want, you can come to me to register for any commission that doesn't have restrictions on acceptance conditions."

"But..." Moli hesitated, carefully glancing at Xia Nan's expression, and said in a low voice, "No offense intended, but you should know."

"The vast majority of missions on the first floor, although relatively simple in terms of difficulty, accordingly, the mission rewards won't be too much."

"After one trip, the gold coins earned might not be enough for you to maintain your equipment."

Nodding slightly, Xia Nan didn't speak, and there was no extra expression on his face.

But his heart eased slightly.

It wasn't that he feared danger, or had an obsession with certain bottom-tier magic beasts like "Green Blood" Adeline.

The reason Xia Nan asked this.

Was mainly from the perspective of exercising his combat technique proficiency.

Having crossed over for so long, he had figured out the general pattern of this golden finger.

Simply put, if he wanted to improve the proficiency of a certain combat technique, especially when at lv1 or lv2.

Actual combat improved much faster than daily training.

In this case, he naturally hoped he could fight more to maximize the proficiency of each combat technique and improve his actual combat power.

But if the intensity of the missions accepted was too high, the extremely dangerous environment and high-pressure psychology during the adventure would make it impossible for him to spare any mind to practice combat techniques.

And after every mission of this intensity, in order to relax his body and mind, he would always have to rest for a period of time, only being able to train against the air in town, which affected efficiency.

Therefore, the method he thought of was to slightly widen the gap between two missions.

Using this time to go into the forest to find Green-skinned Goblins to practice combat techniques and improve proficiency.

On one hand, normal goblins could no longer pose much of a threat to him now; no matter how many there were, with his mobility and endurance, he could easily escape.

Even if he encountered the elite individual "Hobgoblin," for the current Xia Nan, it was just a good object for training combat techniques, with moderate intensity.

On the other hand, although he never thought there was anything wrong with his psychological level.

But... he had to admit.

During the nearly two months of traveling back and forth to Niumu City, he really missed the wonderful feeling of the sword handle when the blade tore through the goblin's paper-thin skin, split its firewood-like thin and fragile bones, and chopped it in two.

With this as a premise, the Association's relevant missions could not only provide the general location of goblin lairs but also yield a considerable gold coin reward after clearing them (as far as a lone traveler was concerned).

Naturally, he had to ask if he could still accept those missions on the first floor.

Standing in place, looking at the mission board in front, his gaze swept over the commissions one by one.

Noticing something confusing, Xia Nan frowned slightly.

Organizing his language slightly in his heart, he asked directly:

"Two questions."

"First, regarding mission rewards, compared to the first floor, the concept of points has now appeared."

"But at the same time, looking at the marks on the missions, gold coins still exist as rewards, and there are choices of other materials and props; are there more detailed rules for this that you need to introduce to me?"

"Second, the numbers of these missions upstairs seem to have been changed, forming a fixed format of 'letter' plus 'number'; what does this represent?"

Hearing this, Moli, who was already a bit nervous because of Xia Nan's professional status and his sharp, serious temperament, had her body tense up subconsciously.

Standing straight, she recalled the knowledge she had accumulated over the past few years as much as possible and replied meticulously:

"Okay, first regarding the first question you raised, the details of mission rewards."

"After you complete a mission, you can freely choose from the several rewards listed in the commission."

"Take the bounty mission with mission number 'b-7168' as an example; after helping Duke Morton find the family heirloom, you can choose either 250,000 gold coins or 8,300 points."

"But considering that the vast majority of adventurers have a large demand for both points and gold coins, the Association also allows for flexible adjustments to the ratio of gold coins and points while ensuring the total amount remains unchanged."

"For example, exchange the 8,300 points as a mission reward for 4,000 points and 129,000 gold coins."

"If you are in urgent need of money, you can also exchange points for gold coins in the Association at a ratio of '1:30'."

"Please note that this process is one-way; points can be exchanged for gold coins, but the reverse is not possible."

"And the exchange ratio also fluctuates depending on the geographical location of each branch."

"As for the mission number..."

No one had ever asked her such a question before.

One could see Moli's lips moving and her eyes turning, as if she were trying hard to recall something.

But she probably couldn't remember, and a look of embarrassment immediately appeared on her face.

Even though Xia Nan didn't mean to urge or blame her, under the gaze of his calm eyes, a layer of fine sweat still broke out on the girl's forehead.

"Please, please wait a moment."

He didn't know if it was the influence of the +1 charm or because Xia Nan's temperament was too cold.

It made Moli's voice tremble; those who didn't know would think she was undergoing some kind of interrogation.

Taking a small booklet filled with dense text from her pocket, she flipped through it hurriedly, her gaze sweeping over line after line of characters.

Having finally found the relevant content recorded during training, she didn't have time to relax and hurriedly read:

"Regarding 【Mission Number】, for temporary commissions posted in the first-floor lobby facing all adventurers, they are compiled by the branch itself and have no requirements."

"After obtaining approval from headquarters and registering as an official mission, an official number composed of 'mission difficulty' plus 'number' must be added, and it is displayed on the second floor facing professionals."

"Among them, 'mission difficulty' is represented by letters from 'f' to 's' from low to high..."

"No, sorry, Mr. Xia Nan, I only know this much; the teacher responsible for explaining the relevant information at the time didn't expand on it in detail for us."

Xia Nan had only noticed the pattern of the characters after the 【Mission Number】 and asked casually.

He didn't expect there to be a real explanation.

In this way...

He looked at the two advanced commissions he had seen before on the mission board—the targets were the Spore Druid and the blonde elf.

These two bounties had clearly also been approved by the Association headquarters and obtained official numbers.

Both started with the letter "b".

Were they in the same tier of difficulty as that adult red dragon that attacked the human territory?

Xia Nan pondered in his heart.

Seemingly noticing his gaze, Moli, the receptionist beside him who had clearly breathed a sigh of relief and just stuffed the booklet back into her pocket, hurriedly added:

"Sir, as far as I know, the letter before the number is not always fixed and will change at times."

"For example, after investigation, it is found that the target's strength far exceeds expectations, or after verification, it is learned that the target's state is poor."

He understood.

Xia Nan nodded.

His gaze swept over the mission wall twice more, having a slight impression of each mission in his heart, and then he withdrew his gaze.

Having just returned to Hegu Town, not to mention resting for two days, there were still many affairs to handle, so he wasn't in a hurry to set off again.

Turning his head, he looked at the blonde girl Moli, who was paying attention to him at all times.

"I've heard many people say before that there are combat techniques that can be exchanged on the second floor, right? Is it also with points?"

"Yes, Mr. Xia Nan."

"Take me there."

Moli didn't take Xia Nan to some small, heavily guarded room where all kinds of combat techniques were stored as he had imagined.

Moli just led him to sit in a quiet corner of the lobby.

Then she asked the front desk receptionist on the other side of the lobby for a book of medium thickness.

Taking small steps, she walked back and handed it to Xia Nan.

His fingertips felt a rough and tough touch, and what met his eyes were a few lines of small print on the book cover.

"Adventurer Association Combat Technique Catalog (Hegu Town Branch)"

— 1018th Year of Arcane Calendar Revised Edition

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 189 =====