I'm not a Witcher anymore.

The next day.

As dawn broke, the first rays of sunlight barely touched the rooftops of the border town.

Meanwhile, Sieg had already arrived at the gates of the Adventurers' Guild.

Lia had just pushed open the heavy guild door, yawning as she picked up a broom to sweep the porch. She was taken aback to see Sieg arrive so early.

"Mr. Zieg...why are you here so early?"

"After sunrise, this place will be packed with adventurers queuing to hand over their commissions. I don't like noise, and I don't want to waste time waiting," Sieg said calmly.

Leah tilted her head, somewhat puzzled. "Then why didn't you set the team's assembly time for the morning as well?"

Zig answered without hesitation, "They were all exhausted yesterday. Meeting at noon will allow them to rest a bit more."

Hearing this, Leah's eyes immediately crinkled into two crescent moons with laughter: "As expected of Mr. Sieg, you've thought of everything so thoroughly... Then please come in."

Following Lia to the counter, Sieg took out yesterday's spoils one by one from the Book of Adventure.

First, there were the left ears of forty goblin minions, then the left ears of a large goblin and a goblin shaman.

Zieg had carefully washed all the cut-off pieces of evidence with clean water beforehand.

Furthermore, time is frozen in the "Storage Page" of the Book of Adventure, so even though a night has passed in reality, these ears show no signs of decay or stench.

Then, Zieg pulled out a heavy money bag.

The bag was open, filled with silver and copper coins, with a few gold coins mixed in, making a crisp rustling sound.

Next came a pile of somber belongings—

The iron sword with its blade chipped and rusted, the wooden shield dented and on the verge of falling apart, the longbow broken in two, the leather armor riddled with knife marks and arrow holes and long since rendered useless, and the filthy, smelly, and tattered clothes stained with dried blood.

Finally, there was the bone staff used by the goblin shaman.

Looking at the mountain of items piled up on the counter, Leah began to skillfully count them one by one.

"The bounty for the left ears of forty goblin minions is 2 silver each; the bounty for each large goblin and goblin shaman, as high-ranking individuals, is 4 gold. The bounty for the left ears alone is 16 gold in total."

Then she poured the pile of dirty coins into the counting plate.

"Although there are quite a few of these coins, they are mainly small-denomination silver and copper coins. If we convert them into gold coins for you here at the guild, the total will be 5 gold."

Next, Leah put on her specially made gloves and carefully picked up the skeletal staff.

She examined it carefully for a moment, then shook her head with some regret:

"The craftsmanship of this staff is extremely rough, and the way the bones are joined is full of impurities. Although there is still a very weak amount of magic power remaining inside, adventurers cannot use it safely at all. If magic power is forcibly injected, the bones will shatter at any time."

"Therefore, its only fate is to be treated as low-quality magical waste and sent to the alchemy workshop to be broken down..."

"The guild can only offer you a maximum of... 3 gold coins for this staff."

Zieg nodded slightly, his expression calm, indicating that he accepted the price.

Leah carefully placed the bone staff into the collection box beside her.

Finally, her gaze fell upon the blood-stained, tattered leather armor and weapons.

Seeing this, her eyes dimmed slightly.

"These things...are almost useless now."

She sighed, her voice tinged with sorrow for her fellow travelers who had perished:

"However, the guild can recycle it for 5 silver coins and treat it as scrap. If we can find any clues from it, we will try our best to notify the families of the adventurers who did not return."

After a brief pause, Leah concealed the sadness in her eyes and picked up a small linen bag from the side, from which came the faint clinking of coins.

"In addition, this is the commission fee collected by the villagers of Green Village, totaling 3 gold and 5 silver. When the village chief sent it over, he repeatedly instructed that we must express our deepest gratitude to the adventurers who accepted the commission."

Zieg nodded slightly, taking it all in.

To many newcomers or ordinary people who are unaware of the inside story, the Adventurers' Guild appears to be nothing more than a informal intermediary platform that posts quests and collects commissions.

But it is actually a semi-official organization disguised as a non-governmental organization.

Behind the guild stood the kingdom's high-ranking officials, several retired platinum-level adventurers, and behemoths such as the Church of the Earth Mother, the Supreme Temple, the Church of the Goddess of War, the Great Library of the God of Knowledge, and the Treasury of the God of Trade.

They inject an astonishing amount of hidden funds into the guild every year.

After all, for the most dangerous and deadliest low-level jobs like goblin hunting, the employers are often impoverished villagers in remote areas.

If they rely solely on the meager commission fees scraped together by these impoverished people who have to sell their possessions, even if low-level adventurers manage to survive their adventures, it will be difficult for them to persevere.

Only through this covert subsidy mechanism, maintaining the basic survival rate of lower-level adventurers, can a continuous process of natural selection be conducted to cultivate a core force for the Order faction to fight against the Chaos faction.

This is the true foundation upon which the guild has been able to develop healthily.

After calming herself down, Leah skillfully counted out the corresponding amount of money from the cash box under the counter.

The spoils of war, along with the hefty commission, were stuffed into a brand-new purse, which she respectfully handed to Zieg with both hands.

"All the bounties and commissions are here. Here you go, a total of 28 gold coins."

After handing over the hefty bounty, Leah did not sit down immediately. Instead, she turned around and solemnly took out a brand-new obsidian nameplate from a locked drawer behind her.

"In addition, given the number of monsters you have killed over the years, as well as the successful defeat of mid-level monsters including goblins and shamans, you have fully met the guild's promotion standards."

Leah looked up, a professional yet extremely sincere smile spreading across her face:

"Congratulations, Mr. Sieg. From this day forward, you are an Obsidian-class adventurer."

In the guild's rating system, low-level adventurers are divided into three levels from low to high: Porcelain, Obsidian, and Steel.

Bai Ci is the newest of the new.

In this cruel world, they are like grains of sand in a great wave, always on the verge of collapsing under the weight of life and death, or dying silently in some dark cave.

But as long as one can cross this threshold alive and advance to the Obsidian level, it means that the adventurer has shed his naivety, truly adapted to the life of risking his life, and is qualified to strive for a higher rank.

Leah handed the obsidian plaque representing seniority to Sieg and patiently explained the privileges of the new rank to him:

"Starting from the Obsidian tier, you can enjoy various conveniences and subsidies provided by the guild. For example, you can enjoy a 10% discount when staying at the guild-affiliated inn; if you stay for more than a week, you can get an additional 20% discount."

"In addition, Obsidian-class adventurers can get more favorable prices when buying supplies or selling unwanted items in the guild shop."

Leah bowed slightly, her tone conveying a hint of respect:

"These benefits may seem insignificant, but over a long career of adventure, they can save you a considerable amount of money."

"Congratulations again, Mr. Sieg. I hope you go far on your adventurer's path."