adventurers in the sewers

Chapter 1 Adventurers, High Risk 3, No Class!

Blackrock City, a border fortress.

This rock-solid city has entered the rainy season, and the drizzling rain has soaked every corner of the city.

For Louis's family, rainy days were a disaster.

Louis placed the wooden basin under the leaky roof, listening to the dripping sound of water hitting the bottom of the basin, and longed for the rainy season to end soon.

The cold, damp weather made the bedding at home both damp and musty.

Every night, Louis would feel cold all over due to the dampness.

It seems that rheumatism and other age-related diseases are about to strike him.

"Sigh, how did I, a model citizen of China, end up in this godforsaken place?"

Louis sighed deeply in his heart.

A week ago, he was honored for saving a child from being hit by an out-of-control truck and was transported to another world in the body of a sixteen-year-old boy.

The original owner shared the same name as him, also called Louis.

His parents worked for a small business, and thanks to this connection, the original owner became an apprentice to the manager of the business, where he learned to read and do arithmetic.

However, just two months ago, the guild's team was robbed by monsters while on an outing, resulting in the death of the original owner's parents in the accident.

Then the chamber of commerce went bankrupt, pensions were not paid, and people's lives plummeted.

Then, because of the original owner's failed suicide, Louis from Earth inherited everything from him.

After absorbing the original owner's memories, Louis discovered that the level of civilization in this world was similar to that of the Western Renaissance in his previous life, but it also contained extraordinary powers and extraordinary races.

Demons, alien species, dragons, elves, dwarves, goblins... all truly exist in this world.

The profession of adventurer was created to fight against the roaming alien races.

When he first transmigrated, Louis was also eager to become an adventurer, to team up with elves and dwarves, defeat enemies, earn bounties, and reach the pinnacle of life.

But reality cruelly poured cold water on him.

Registering as an adventurer is simple; all you need to do is submit proof of identity and ten copper coins.

However, the mortality rate for novice adventurers is an astonishing 70%!

Furthermore, most of them do not die in battles with monsters, but rather from infected wounds, poverty, and hunger (this is not a multiple-choice question, but a ranking question), making it a truly high-risk profession with no income, no job security, and no job security.

Ultimately, if they weren't desperate to survive, who would be willing to do such a dangerous job?

Only one in a hundred adventurers can master extraordinary power and become an extraordinary professional through rigorous training.

Every year, countless young people with dreams come to this border metropolis, step out of the city walls, form teams to go on adventures, but ultimately die at the hands of monsters or silently in some corner of the city for various reasons.

Such situations are especially common in Blackrock City, almost like the execution line of a certain great power in my previous life.

Therefore, Louis eventually gave up the idea of becoming an adventurer and prepared to find an ordinary job to make a living.

"Brother, dinner's ready."

Louis was lost in thought, gazing at the rain outside the window, when a childish voice suddenly came from behind him.

Turning my head, I saw a thin, petite figure carrying two plates out of the kitchen and placing them on the old wooden table.

The boy was eleven or twelve years old, but only a little over 1.2 meters tall. He was wearing a linen shirt that he inherited from his father, which was so big that it covered his knees.

The little one looked pale, but her exceptionally fair skin and delicate features suggested she would grow up to be a beauty.

"Merry, thank you for your hard work."

Louis sat down at the dining table, gently ruffled the little guy's soft, silver hair, and said softly.

Merry is the original owner's younger brother, an abandoned baby adopted by the original owner's parents.

Yes, it's not a younger sister, it's a younger brother.

A cute boy.

After his parents passed away, he supported the family with his small body, taking on all the housework such as grocery shopping, cooking, and laundry. He even made matchboxes to earn a meager living. Otherwise, the original owner, who knew nothing but studying, would have starved to death long ago.

Little Merry smiled sweetly after receiving the praise, her light gray eyes curving into a pair of beautiful crescent moons.

Louis lowered his head, looked at the food on his plate, and his face immediately turned bitter.

It was a piece of black bread and a plate of bright green vegetable soup made from some unknown ingredient.

The only consolation is that even the hardest black bread softens during this humid and hot rainy season—though it's still hard to swallow and prone to mold.

Louis ate this stuff for a whole week.

But he couldn't find fault with it.

The family's financial situation was already precarious; even with such cheap food, Merry's portion was half that of his.

Louis sighed again, tore the black bread into pieces and threw it into the soup. Holding his breath, as if drinking Chinese medicine, he quickly devoured the food in front of him.

Merry finished eating quickly, her small hands, still bearing marks and glue, clutching the hem of her clothes, and cautiously asked:

"Brother, could you please find a job?"

After quickly finishing speaking, the little guy, seemingly afraid of being scolded, quickly lowered his head and began to explain:

"We...we don't have much money left. We're a week behind on rent, and we've sold everything we could. I can only earn five copper coins a day by pasting matchboxes..."

Hearing little Merry's voice growing softer and softer, Louis smiled and said:

"Don't worry, I've already scheduled an interview with a chamber of commerce. I'll be going for the interview later, and if all goes well, I should get a bookkeeping job."

Upon hearing this, Merry was slightly taken aback.

In his memory, his older brother had become indifferent to everything after their parents passed away, and if he said anything, his brother would yell and scream in a self-destructive manner.

My brother has become gentler lately.

"Um!"

Little Merry smiled sweetly and nodded vigorously.

Louis washed his face to make himself look more presentable. Seeing that the rain had temporarily stopped outside, he put on his only decent coat and went out.

He had only walked a few steps outside when a short, stout man waved at him from a distance.

"Louis, aren't you busy? Come and lend a hand. Another adventurer has died here. What bad luck."

Are you moving a corpse?

Louis frowned, somewhat reluctant to go; he didn't want to accidentally get his coat dirty.

But in order not to damage neighborly relations, he eventually nodded.

Following the short, stout man's directions, Louis soon spotted a corpse curled up in a corner.

It was a young man dressed in tattered clothes, with a festering, foul-smelling wound on his leg, and his exposed skin had an unnatural bluish-gray tinge.

Several neighbors were pointing at the body.

"Another out-of-town adventurer who can't afford medical treatment."

"Injuries during the rainy season are more likely to get infected. I saw a dead person on the roadside yesterday, just as tragic as this young man."

"They call themselves adventurers, but what's the difference between them and vagrants?"

The short, stout man beckoned to the men present, and together they lifted the body.

Louis also grabbed one of the corpse's feet.

Just then, a soft "ding-dong" sound suddenly appeared in his mind.

[A pickable attribute has been detected. Pick it up?]

Louis paused for a moment, then a thought struck him, and he responded in his mind without hesitation:

"Pick it up!"

The next second, a new notification sound rang out.

[You have picked up the corpse of the 'Blacksmith Apprentice Adventurer'. Attributes: Strength +1, Forging +1]

Before the notification tone even ended, Louis felt a warm current flow through his body, and at the same time, a wealth of knowledge about forging flooded his mind.

[Successfully acquired; personal panel unlocked]

[Forging skill unlocked]

Name: Louis

[Extraordinary Profession: Unawakened (0/10)]

[Life Skills: Blacksmithing LV1 (1/10)]

Ability Stats: [Health: 5]

Concentration: 5

[Endurance: 4]

Strength: 5 (+1)

Dexterity: 6

【Intelligence: 6】

[Faith: 0]