Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

What the hell?!

Lance nearly failed to stop himself from cursing out loud.

Just looking at feet could raise the progress?

What exactly was this system’s judgment standard based on? This was way too… that!

He quickly averted his gaze, afraid that if he kept looking, the system would pop up some even stranger notification. If that happened, his reputation in this life would be completely ruined.

“Shopkeeper!”

Lance turned around and shouted toward the counter.

“Get me a pair of thick-soled, non-slip long leather boots in this size—the kind with iron nails hammered into the soles.”

While the shopkeeper searched for the boots, Lance secretly glanced at the new research panel.

Biological Codex: Demi-Human Race · Half-ElfCurrent Research Progress: LV 1 (2/10)

It only needed ten points of progress to level up?

Lance’s heart stirred.

Judging by that absurd growth speed just now, as long as he observed a little more over the next few days…

Maybe before this internship even ended, he would be able to max out this Codex?

By the time Cecilia changed into those heavy but sturdy leather boots, much of her pampered noble-young-lady air was immediately covered up.

After that, Lance took her to the general store next door and bought basic equipment such as a gathering bag, a water flask, insect repellent powder, and the like.

Finally, Lance stuffed the small leather shoes she had taken off into the newly purchased backpack.

“Carry it yourself.”

Once everything was settled—

Cecilia had already completely lost the refined appearance she had before.

She was wrapped in a wide, somewhat worn brown cloak, the hood pulled low, hiding that eye-catching white hair and pointed ears.

On her feet were dust-covered long leather boots, and on her back was a bulging old canvas bag.

Aside from the small half of her pale and delicate face still visible outside the shadows, she already looked like a rookie Adventurer.

This appearance should have been called somewhat shabby, but in Lance’s eyes, the more he looked at it, the more pleasing it became.

After all, in the wilderness, only this kind of inconspicuous outfit let people live longer.

“Let’s go.”

Lance didn’t waste words, and didn’t even give the girl time to get used to the new boots before turning and leading her quickly back to the Adventurers’ Guild.

This time, Lance didn’t hesitate at all and walked straight to the task board covered with low-level commissions.

His gaze swept over the parchments like a hawk, rapidly constructing the optimal route in his mind.

Rip.

With several crisp tearing sounds, he neatly pulled down three commission slips.

Register, stamp, depart.

The entire process flowed smoothly, without a single unnecessary word.

By the time Cecilia clumsily finished signing her name, before she could even catch her breath, Lance was already carrying his pack and striding out the front door.

Cecilia could only clutch her own backpack and stumble after him like a spinning top whipped into motion.

Only after they passed through the gates of Graystone Town and stepped onto the gravel road leading to the forest did Lance’s pace slow slightly.

“Listen carefully. I’ll only say this once.”

Lance spoke without turning his head.

“This time I accepted three tasks: 【Gather Moonlight Moss】, 【Gather Streamglow Stones】, and 【Exterminate Stone Crab Shoals】.”

Cecilia immediately pricked up her pointed ears, afraid of missing even one word.

“The magic power deeper in the forest has recently remained in a state of disorder, which has caused the breeding speed of Stone-Shell River Crabs downstream of Stone Crab Shoals to abnormally surge.”

“Although this kind of monster doesn’t have a strong desire to attack, it possesses an extremely strong sense of territory. Once their numbers grow too large, they block off large stretches of riverways.”

“The explosive population increase has caused various shoal regions to be sealed off, which directly cuts off the collection routes for several nearby symbiotic resources.”

“Therefore, the Guild commissioned us this time to clear out the adult Stone-Shell River Crabs. This time, we only need to deal with 15 of them.”

After all, a full extermination mission would never be handed to a single Adventurer. Each Adventurer who accepted the task was responsible for one portion of it.

Cecilia nodded half-understandingly, doing her best to remember every word.

Lance continued:

“As for the so-called Streamglow Stones, they are an auxiliary material for low-tier light-element alchemical items. They are hidden beneath the pebbles along the stream bank…”

As Lance explained, all that dry textbook knowledge seemed to come alive.

He broke down complicated mineralogical traits and monster ecology into the simplest and most direct survival experience, feeding it into Cecilia’s mind bit by bit.

The girl listened in fascination, and much of her earlier nervousness faded away.

Lance glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

In truth, this combination of three tasks was the result of his careful calculation.

The growing environment of Moonlight Moss was right near the shaded areas around Stone Crab Shoals. The locations of all three tasks perfectly overlapped, so there was no need to make unnecessary detours.

More importantly—

The task of gathering Moonlight Moss was the little welcoming gift he had prepared today for this noble young lady.

The places where that moss grew were notoriously filthy, filled everywhere with rotting leaves and sludge.

It would help her clearly understand the kind of environment Adventurers dealt with every day.

As for the other two tasks, those were Lance’s own personal agenda.

The Stone-Shell River Crab happened to be the next target on his system’s 【Biological Research】 list.

These monsters were numerous and individually low-threat, making them the perfect targets for farming data.

One in front of the other, the two stepped into the territory of Copper Creek Forest.

The familiar translucent light screen appeared before Lance’s eyes.

【Current Area: Calm (Green) Outer Perimeter of Copper Creek Forest】

The Environmental Stability of the outer area had already returned to normal. It seemed the previous large-scale extermination had indeed produced immediate results.

Lance lowered his gaze to the task panel.

Sure enough, the three newly accepted tasks were already hanging in the list.

The two gathering tasks still offered the usual fixed rewards of 【Skill Experience 10, Knowledge Experience 10】.

Then the extermination mission commission appeared, making Lance’s heart leap with joy.

【Current Commission: Exterminate Stone Crab Shoals】

【Reward: For every 1 adult Stone-Shell River Crab killed, reward 6 Skill Experience】

The moment he saw this line, Lance’s footsteps paused almost imperceptibly.

Only Skill Experience?

No Knowledge Experience?

Still, that did fit the nature of extermination missions. Pure killing naturally brought improvement in combat techniques.

6 experience per kill.

That number made Lance’s heart burn.

There were simply too many skills he needed to grind right now. Whether it was the newly learned 【Azure Dragon Ultimate Flow】, or his swordsmanship and archery that still hadn’t reached the cap, all of them required enormous amounts of experience to fill.

Training by himself was too slow, and when he returned, he still had to squeeze out time to brew potions and earn money.

A task like this, which let him rapidly accumulate experience by farming monsters, was practically a time-management miracle tailor-made for him.

Still, Lance kept one trace of doubt in mind.

He didn’t know whether this system had some kind of level-suppression penalty mechanism.

Like in games, where a max-level character received no experience from killing beginner-village mobs—would the returns from these low-level monsters diminish as he grew stronger?

That would require time to verify.