adventurers in the sewers

Nora: "..."

The hooded girl seemed to have run out of energy to speak. After a long pause, she finally whispered:

"Through regular assessments by the association... if you have a referrer, you can take the exam at any time."

Louis nodded.

Do you know any members of a professional association?

He flipped through his memories and found that apart from Miss Nora, whom he had only met today, there seemed to be no others.

Daina might be one, but the original owner didn't know whether she had joined the Professionals Association.

He couldn't very well ask Nora, whom he had only just met, to be his introducer.

Even the most honest person would be angry if they were taken advantage of like this.

Moreover, becoming a mage is not a good choice for me.

As everyone knows, mages are rare and noble, which means it's very difficult to even touch a mage's corpse.

In contrast to mages, there are many warrior-type adventurers. An adventurer party may have several of them. With such a large number of adventurers, the probability of encountering warrior corpses is naturally higher.

Choosing the most common profession will maximize the effect of your cheat code.

Not to mention that the profession of mage sounds expensive. Nora's staff is inlaid with such a large gem. The value of the gem alone is probably more expensive than a mansion.

The two remained silent all the way back to the Adventurers' Guild.

"Miss Nora, thank you for your contributions to the guild. Here is your reward; please accept it."

The receptionist pushed fifteen gleaming silver coins in front of Nora.

The hooded girl swept the silver coins into her sleeve, nodded to Louis, and then carried the corpse away.

"Mr. Louis, based on the value of the monster core and the recycled equipment, the guild has awarded a bounty of two silver coins. Please accept this reward."

The red-haired receptionist took out two more silver coins and handed them to Louis.

This surprised Louis, who thought he would be lucky to earn a hundred copper coins; it seemed the guild was quite generous.

Of course, it's also possible that the monster cores and the recycled equipment are worth far more than seventeen silver coins.

In short, his current wealth has reached three silver coins and eighteen copper coins, which is much better than when he first transmigrated.

"When we get home, let's buy a piece of fatty beef and some potatoes. Let's have Merry make some beef and potato stew. Of course, we also need to buy some salt and spices, otherwise it won't taste good."

Louis thought to himself that he regretted never having cooked in his previous life, otherwise he would have had a promising future as the first Chinese chef in this other world.

It was only close to noon, but he had made a lot of progress today, so he decided to take half a day off.

Of course, he didn't do nothing in the afternoon; he planned to go and check out the Warriors' Association.

After asking the receptionist for directions to the Warriors' Guild, Louis stored his equipment and headed towards his destination.

As a city of adventurers, every extraordinary profession guild in Blackrock City is very impressive.

The main building of the Warriors' Association headquarters is made of marble and is twenty meters high.

Louis stood before the dauntingly long steps, and looking up, he could see the coat of arms composed of crossed swords.

There were very few pedestrians around, and every person who entered or left the area had a rather extraordinary air about them.

Louis even met a professional.

Although the other person had no markings indicating that he was a professional, Louis felt a sense of unease, as if he were being crushed on a life-level scale, just from a glance at him from afar.

A powerful aura is more convincing proof of identity than any identification badge.

As Louis walked up the steps, he was stopped by the guards at the entrance before he could even enter the Warriors' Association.

The guard's attitude wasn't bad; he just reminded him that the membership assessment would be held in a little over two months, and then asked him to leave.

I learned from the guards that the Warriors Association of Blackrock City holds a membership assessment every three months, and the last assessment was half a month ago.

This is already considered fast. If it were a branch in a small city, the assessment might only be held once every six months or even once a year.

Louis left with regret and some unease.

He didn't believe that something as valuable as the Professional's Manual was given away for free upon joining the association; there must be strict redemption criteria, such as contributing to the association or finding a mentor.

Joining a day later means preparing to exchange for the Professional's Manual a day later.

We'll have to wait until Daina comes back to find out if she's a member of the association.

After wandering around the streets for a while to get rid of the sewer smell on his clothes, Louis returned home with meat, vegetables, and bread.

"Brother, welcome back..."

When Merry opened the door and was greeting him warmly, she noticed the brown paper bag Louis was holding, and a look of confusion appeared in her silver-grey eyes.

Louis smiled and explained:

"I got an advance on a week's salary, and to celebrate payday, I bought some delicious food."

The little guy glanced longingly at the piece of beef, about a pound in weight, that was half sticking out of the paper bag, but then quickly remembered something and said nervously:

"This must cost a lot of money."

Louis handed the bag to Merry and said:

"These ingredients cost a total of twenty copper coins, which is not cheap, and we certainly can't eat them every day."

"But it's okay to eat it once in a while. My weekly salary is 165 coppers, and it will increase after the probation period."

Merry was surprised, both by the extravagance of the ingredients and by the high salary of her brother.

Although he was only eleven years old, he knew that it wasn't easy for an adult to earn more than 500 copper coins a month. How come his older brother's monthly salary was already 660 copper coins after just starting work?!

Amazing!

The little guy's eyes were filled with admiration.

Louis then handed Méli a small bag containing what he called an "advance pay," which amounted to one silver and forty-five coppers.

"I remember we owed sixty copper coins in rent. Go pay the landlord tomorrow. Use the rest to buy groceries. If we can get through the first half of the month, our living conditions will get better and better."

Mei nodded vigorously and solemnly accepted the "financial power".

He emptied the coins from his pocket and counted them carefully, silently estimating their value in his mind.

After deducting the rent, there would be 85 coppers left. As long as he didn't buy expensive ingredients like fresh beef and white bread, this money would actually last a long time. Merry was confident that he could turn it into ten days' living expenses and ensure that there would be meat on the table occasionally.

With their meager savings and the small amount of money he earned doing odd jobs at home, the family could easily make ends meet until Louis's next payday.

Life is slowly getting better.

After carefully putting away the money pouch, Merry looked at the ingredients inside.

Although he felt bad about the twenty copper coins that were spent like water, he wouldn't say anything since it was his brother's decision.

"I'm going to cook now. Brother, you've worked hard, please go and rest."

Merry pulled Louis down to sit and ran to the stove to get busy.

Louis watched the little guy's busy figure with gentle eyes, while pondering in his mind where he would get his "salary" every week.

Based on the purchasing power of copper coins, a monthly salary of 660 copper coins is roughly equivalent to "a monthly income of 3,000" in the previous life, which is enough for a family's monthly daily expenses without considering buying a house or purchasing large items.

This is considered an upper-middle-class income among low-income workers; the original owner's parents earned a slightly higher income.

Louis currently has 158 copper coins. He doesn't have much to spend on a regular basis, and he can easily earn another week's salary by picking up corpses in the sewers. But what about after that?

You can't earn 165 copper coins a week just by taking orders to find corpses in the sewers.

Louis decided to check the Adventurers' Guild's Requests section tomorrow; if there were any other requests related to the sewers, he could try taking them.

With hard skills far exceeding those of the average adult, as long as they are willing to find ways, they can always earn more money than the average person.