The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 35: She’s in the mercenary guild

Chapter 35: She’s in the mercenary guild

Zaid fled the training center when he found himself surrounded by two members of that boxing department.

He figured they either wanted to kick him out or recruit him. They used some rather harsh words, so he leaned more toward the former. That’s why, after trying once more to shift his breathing to land a powerful blow, he left.

As he returned to the main hall of the Guild, the bustle of the mercenaries and contractors reached his ears once more.

He looked at the mission board, intending to take on a mission.

"Hey, did you see that beautiful woman? Apparently, she’s a student at the academy!"

"A student came to sign up as a mercenary? That’s strange. She must be from the lower classes."

"Nobody cares what class she’s from—she’s beautiful! If she’d just look my way, I’d keep her for the rest of my life."

Three mercenaries were whispering nearby, and their murmurs caught Zaid’s attention.

’A student?’ he thought.

At that moment, the third of the three spoke up: "She didn’t come to sign up. Apparently, she’s looking for mercenaries to hire."

"Huh? Really?" His friends immediately turned to look at him, intrigued.

"Forget it. She’s a beautiful woman and apparently very talented—her mission description says she can level up easily—but I think she’s a lesbian. She avoids men and says she’s looking for women."

The three of them’s spirits plummeted when they heard him say that.

However, Zaid was immediately drawn to those words.

They sounded a little... familiar.

He turned toward the stairs they had come up and looked. In one of the corners beneath the stairs, there was the woman they were talking about.

And she was, indeed, the one he had been expecting.

Alice.

’What’s she doing here?’ Zaid wondered. But then he remembered that she had told him the night before that she’d be busy today. Maybe this was what she was going to do.

He figured she was looking for a mercenary to help her level up on the outskirts of the city. It was common for students to hire mercenaries for that purpose.

The mercenary is responsible for seriously wounding the beast, and the student delivers the final blow. As a result, the PE belongs exclusively to her, although the ME is split equally.

It was a good tactic for trying to level up and gain some stats.

Zaid looked at the bulletin board, thinking he’d find Alice’s mission... and he was right. She’d been so careless that she’d posted it under her real name.

’This girl.’ Zaid laughed.

The mission was simple:

[F-Rank Mission: Level up on the outskirts of the city; in the Wasteland Portals Zone or the Undead Forest.

Objective: Level up 2 times (I can level up easily).

Open to negotiation.

Payment: $1,000 per level.]

$1,000 per level for an F-Rank mission was a payment commensurate with the danger. Most of those who take on these kinds of missions would prefer a slightly higher pay rate—at least $1,500 per level—but that amount wasn’t bad. Still, it wasn’t enough to sustain the lifestyle of many mercenaries.

However, if the person said they could level up easily, everything changes, and it becomes a highly lucrative venture for the time invested.

Many leveling missions accepted by mercenaries usually take a week to gain a single level—sometimes even longer! It can take a whole month, or worse, months!

A mission that lasts months just to level up a couple of levels is absurd!

But it has happened. This is because the contractors looking for mercenaries to help them are usually people whose Soul Talent rank is E or even F.

The PE you earn is not determined by the rank of the beast you kill, but by the rank of your Soul Talent. A person with an F-Rank Soul Talent will inevitably earn 0.5 PE for each beast, even if the beast is 20 levels stronger than him.

An F-Rank would need to kill 400 beasts just to gain a single level among the first 10 levels.

That’s absurd!

At an average of 20 beasts per day—which is a very good rate for Mercenaries who hunt outdoors—it would take 20 days to gain a single level.

20 days!

If they were inside a portal, things might work out. Because they could spend weeks there, hunting nonstop, while only a few hours would have passed outside. But out in the open... that’s why everyone gave up on trying to help an F-Rank.

An E-Rank still had it a little easier. 1 PE for every beast killed.

That’s a substantial improvement, but they’d still need 10 days per level, in an ideal scenario.

Starting at Rank D, things start looking up for mercenaries who take on these kinds of missions. 5 PE for every beast in that rank!

And at Rank C, 10 PE!

That’s why the first criterion used to determine whether someone is a genius is their Soul Talent Rank.

And Rank B is twice as high as Rank C. Meanwhile, Rank A is twice as high as Rank B. And the amazing thing about Rank S is that it’s twice as high as Rank A!

Levels higher than that are legendary and have never been seen in Toluria, but it’s believed that the Nine Monarchs of the First Generation were capable of reaching them.

That’s why Alice listed "Open to negotiation" in her Mission—so that interested mercenaries can contact her to find out how quickly they can level up.

In any case, she turned down all the men who tried to take on the mission.

It was open only to women.

’Her trauma with men runs deep. But wouldn’t it be good for her to use it to her advantage? Although I don’t exactly know how her talent works.’ Zaid let out a sigh and decided to stay close by.

For an hour, he kept glancing at the bulletin board. But the truth is, he spent most of that time secretly watching Alice.

’There aren’t many female mercenaries, Alice... I don’t know how many hours you plan to wait there.’ Zaid shook his head.

He waited another hour.

Nothing happened.

Alice only moved to take a sip of water, but she already looked noticeably exhausted. Zaid didn’t understand why she didn’t just go somewhere else to wait, but then again, there weren’t many female mercenaries.

The female mercenaries who were there were, in fact, quite powerful, or they were simply registering here to join the Departments as preliminary training before seeking to join a major guild.

Zaid shook his head for the fifth time in the last two hours and decided that, at least, he would give it a try.