adventurers in the sewers

In the days that followed, Louis truly experienced the saying that when you're poor, no one cares even in the bustling city, but when you're rich, even distant relatives come to visit.

For seven consecutive days, people came to Louis's house through various channels, bringing a pile of gifts to visit.

They initially visited Louis personally, but upon discovering that Déna was also there, they immediately brought double the gifts.

When these people learned that Merry was the genius with innate full magic adaptability who had become famous more than half a month ago, the gifts suddenly increased to three.

The visitors included presidents of small business associations, businessmen in the city, and gang leaders who presented themselves as legitimate merchants.

Louis' landlord generously waived three years' rent, hoping Louis could stay longer and not move out too soon.

Even ordinary families from the neighborhood came to visit Louis, hoping to try their luck.

In short, Louis, Dana, and Merry have been through a lot this week.

But they just couldn't bear to close their doors to visitors.

After all, the gifts they're giving are made of real money, and accepting them doesn't require us to do anything for them; it's just about making a good connection.

Without a powerful force with professionals in charge, no matter how many gifts are given, they cannot command professionals to do their work, unless the professionals themselves are willing to do it.

This is a blatant class gap resulting from a disparity in strength.

Why would wealthy people rush to do something that offers no benefit?

Obviously... important figures may not remember who gave gifts, but they will remember very clearly who didn't.

This is a matter of attitude.

Over the course of a week, Louis alone received gifts worth more than 10 gold coins, and Merry and Dinah would receive no less than that.

Louis's savings had grown to 17 gold, 5 silver, and 15 bronze.

As for everyday items such as clothing, food, furniture, and toiletries, all parties provided a complete set.

Even regarding transportation, several car dealership owners stated that Louis and his associates always pay half price for their vehicles and will never raise prices.

For a short time, Louis will not have to worry about food, clothing, shelter, or transportation.

However, Louis also understood that these people's goodwill stemmed entirely from his power.

Strength is fundamental. If you become complacent because of the praise from a group of small vendors and slow down your progress, you will eventually suffer the consequences.

After receiving gifts for a week, Louis decided to stop receiving gift-givers and instead focus all his energy on his cultivation.

Time flies, and another half month has passed.

Over the past two weeks, Louis's intelligence and concentration attributes have each increased by 1 point. The other attributes, which were raised too high by looting corpses, have improved relatively slowly and are still a bit short of increasing by one point.

As for magic adaptability, he only increased it by a mere 0.5, reaching 14.3 points.

Such progress is hardly fast.

However, this may be the normal rate of progress for professionals. Every bit of ability after changing jobs is earned through arduous training and countless hours of hard work.

In contrast, Dana and Nora, who relied on the hero team talent to gain a high-speed training acceleration, progressed much faster than Louis. Not only did their main attributes increase by an average of 2 points, but their secondary attributes also saw a significant improvement.

Of course, while Louis had been training for the past two weeks, he wasn't completely oblivious to what was happening around him. Just a few days ago, he led his entire team to the opening ceremony of "Milisa's Magic Bakery".

In addition, Louis would also go to the city to stroll around and inquire about information from the Adventurers' Guild when he had free time.

He also learned that Blackrock City had undergone many changes in recent days.

After finishing the autumn harvest, villagers and townspeople from outside the city were systematically brought into the city, making the already densely populated metropolis even more unbearable in terms of living conditions.

The city government had to set up temporary shelters in squares, parks, and undeveloped wastelands for villagers and townspeople to live in.

But how can such living conditions compare to their homes in villages and towns?

Especially as October approached and temperatures gradually turned colder, the discontent among residents from outside the city who were forcibly relocated grew stronger.

Not to mention that after a large influx of people into Blackrock City, prices in the city skyrocketed, causing immense suffering for everyone.

Some already impoverished families also disappeared silently during this mobilization to defend against the demons.

Why do you see it?

This is evident from the surge in sewer-related commissions received by the Adventurers' Guild.

Leaving aside the livelihoods of ordinary people, the environment outside the city is indeed becoming increasingly worse.

Several experienced professional teams, despite accepting simple monster-slaying quests, never returned.

Several manors and villages outside the city have completely lost contact with Blackrock City, whether they were completely destroyed by the rioting monsters or corrupted by the ever-spreading demonic power is unknown.

Even the lowest-ranking adventurers understood that something bad had definitely happened outside the city, and they should stay inside if possible.

A new afternoon.

After returning from gathering information at the Adventurers' Guild, Dina said to Louis as soon as she entered the room:

"It's bad, Louis! A team of professionals who just returned from outside the city said something big has happened there."

"What major event? Has the demonic tide officially arrived?"

Louis asked.

Dina said, "No, but it's close enough."

"The Frostclaw tribe, which has always been neighbors with Blackrock City, has been hit by a demonic tide and suffered a complete defeat. They are retreating towards us."

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Frostclaw tribe will be joining us, otherwise those orcs will be wiped out in the demonic tide sooner or later."

Louis responded with an "oh," not particularly surprised by the news.

He had previously learned about the Frostclaw tribe, a tribe of half-orcs whose main races were cat-men, leopard-men, lion-men, and other feline species.

This tribe used to be one of the barbarians who raided the borders of the Kingdom of Lortheran, but as the kingdom grew stronger, they gradually became friendly.

In particular, the newly appointed tribal chief of the Frostclaw tribe is an enlightened person who advocates suppressing bestiality and embracing humanity.

Unable to withstand the threat of external pressure, it was only a matter of time before they chose to completely side with the Kingdom of Lortheran and become its vassal.

"Speaking of which... is the power of the demonic tide really that strong? The Frostclaw tribe is a large tribe with a population of thirty to forty thousand, yet it was defeated so quickly."

Louis frowned.

No matter how talented the Frostclaw tribe is in singing and dancing, they are still one of the top orc tribes. Even without a level four professional in charge, they must have several powerful level three professionals as leaders.

They collapsed so quickly; the strength of the demonic tide is probably much more serious than the priest had analyzed.

Dina said, "How to resist the demonic tide is a matter for those in power to consider; we don't yet have the ability to make that decision."

"Instead of that, I think we can look forward to the orc market that the Frostclaw tribe will open after they enter the city. Although those orcs are not as good as humans in terms of industrial capabilities, they still have quite a few good things."

"My father used to frequently go to the Frostclaw tribe to barter, and he could make a lot of money from the price difference of the goods."

As she spoke, Dai Na's tone became excited, as if the bloodline of the merchant guild's daughter had awakened.