The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

Lorraine followed him to the mannequin and stood still. He took a deep breath, clearing his mind of all the jumbled thoughts, and then raised the rusty throat horizontally.

"Drink!"

He let out a low shout, and the long sword in his hand instantly transformed into several afterimages, slashing at the dummy at an extremely fast speed.

The old leather armor finally completed its mission. Faced with the sharp, rusty throat, it was cleaved open with several long gashes, almost hanging off the dummy.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

Lorraine took a couple of breaths; that was the fastest he could swing without using parrying or counter-attacking.

It even recovered its energy more quickly than the rock-chopping salamander did.

"Very fast speed, skillful technique."

Glenn crossed his arms and carefully observed every detail of his sword swing, then casually commented:

"It's just that the power of the last sword strike was a bit off. It's fine for cutting the dummy, but in actual combat, if the ground isn't ideal, it's easy to slip."

"However, you have already reached the standard of proficiency. Congratulations on passing the formal-rank warrior test."

He pulled a bronze badge engraved with a longsword from his pocket and said, "Just give this to the front desk."

Lorraine excitedly accepted the badge and gently stroked its cool surface.

He thought to himself, "I've finally become a 'formal' professional. All my hard work these past few days has finally paid off."

Wait a minute... his evaluation just now seemed quite professional?

"Mr. Glenn," he tentatively suggested, "would you be willing to impart some of your warrior experience? I can offer gold coins as payment."

Why should I teach you?

"I want to become stronger, and your assessment is very accurate. I need someone to help me correct it," Lorraine said.

Glenn looked him up and down, as if assessing his financial resources, and then asked, "How much are you willing to pay in exchange for guidance?"

"What a swindler..." Lorraine muttered to herself as she looked at him.

"I'm sure I'm not the only one who's asked this question; I just need to go out and ask other people..."

He can accept a high price, but he absolutely cannot accept being the only one with a "high price".

Glenn was silent for a few seconds before speaking:

"If you just want some combat experience guidance, it's ten silver coins per session. If you want to learn combat skills, it's five gold coins per session, both for one hour."

This is a very fair price. What you'll get from me won't be the most basic things, but the secrets you can only learn through life and death.

He pulled a silver badge from his pocket, showed it to Lorraine, and continued:

"I am an 'Elite' level warrior. I don't know where you learned your combo attacks, but you can't even sheathe your sword..."

Glenn offered a technique he'd never heard of before, continuing to entice him: "I can teach you all of these, how about it?"

Five gold coins per hour—this price was almost perfectly within Lorraine's acceptable range; it wasn't too expensive for him, but it certainly didn't break his heart.

Lorraine considered for a few seconds and decided there was no rush. Glenn was still there, and he could look for alternative solutions.

"This is not a small amount; I need to think about it."

"OK."

Lorraine put away the badge, turned around and went back to the hall, where the little dwarf was chatting animatedly with Vanessa, making her giggle.

"How is it? How is it?" Upon seeing him come out, the short man immediately jumped off the chair.

"Passed."

He smiled and handed over the bronze badge.

Vanessa happily accepted the badge, made a note in the register, and then handed it back to him, saying, "Congratulations on becoming a full-fledged soldier! At your age, becoming an 'elite' soldier is just around the corner!"

Lorraine nodded, put the badge into her pouch, glanced at the notice board on the wall, and said, "We'd like to take on some missions. Do you have any recommendations?"

"Okay, please wait a moment... How many team members do you have here? What are their professions and levels?"

"Just the two of us."

"Alright, a 'formal' warrior, a barbarian..."

"Plus, a 'formal' mage."

Eileen had followed them without them noticing. She had changed back into her burgundy robes and stood expressionless behind the two of them.

Vanessa was taken aback when she saw the woman's magnificent robes and staff. She then looked at Lorraine and cautiously asked, "Excuse me, sir, is this your companion?"

Lorraine hadn't expected her to come. He glanced at Eileen in surprise, but seeing that she didn't say anything more, he could only swallow back the question that was on the tip of his tongue.

"Yes," he said.

Eileen slightly raised her chin, looked at the notice board behind the counter, and said calmly:

"Anya doesn't need any help for now, and she's just sitting around doing nothing anyway. Come over and keep an eye on you so you don't mess things up."

Lorraine nodded readily and said, "Thank you for your help."

Eileen's lips curled up slightly as she took out a bronze badge that was similar in style to Lorraine's, except that the design on it was a staff.

"To make it easier for adventurers to choose tasks that suit their abilities, the guild has categorized the tasks in advance."

Vanessa took the badge and pointed to the bulletin board, explaining to them:

"Each tier of task is divided into upper, middle, and lower levels, which represent the appropriate level for one, three, or five professionals of the same tier to accept."

Since you two are "official" professionals, and you've just formed a team, I suggest starting with lower-level quests to test your skills. The rewards aren't high, but they're reliable.

"Okay, let's see for ourselves."

Lorraine moved closer to the bulletin board and looked up at it from top to bottom.

The area with the most posts is for "no level" tasks, which are mostly tasks like finding items, clearing rats, and escorting caravans. The rewards are mostly in silver coins, and gold coins are relatively rare.

His gaze shifted to the side.

There are significantly fewer "formal" level missions.

Many of these are long-pending tasks from higher-ups. Even in a big city like Frost Valley, it's quite difficult to assemble five ranked professionals.

Lorraine looked at the tasks marked with "subordinate".

Clearing out the goblin camp: a dozen or so goblins plus one bear goblin, 40 gold coins. The bear goblin seems to be a bit stronger than the giant goblin? Consider it an alternative.

An old cemetery outside the city is suspected of being haunted. A request has been made to clean up the cemetery and surrounding area to confirm that there are no remaining threats. 75 gold coins is a reward of that much. The difficulty level is probably almost as high as that of the Rock Salamander. Who rated this?

Searching for a missing patrol team. A four-man patrol team has disappeared in the city. 50 gold coins. There's no time or place to look for them. Where are they supposed to find them?

Cleaning the sewers in the upper city has been causing a foul stench lately, and the guild suspects monsters are lurking there. 55 gold coins.

Lorraine glanced at the red-haired mage, then decided against it...

"Pip thinks clearing out the goblin camp is a good idea. Anyway, we know them very well. I just don't know how difficult it is to deal with the bear goblins," the little guy said.