Chapter 2: Adventures Also Need Diplomas

  Jony had a long sword hanging from his waist and a purse tucked into his bosom as he arrived at the nearby armor shop.

  Just like Smith's iron shop, the armor stores in this area don't have any high-end goods. The leather armor is made from water buffalo hide and stitched together, the chain mail is woven tightly enough, but the materials are somewhat suspicious. As for plate armor, if you really want to buy some, the boss can still bring some out, it's just that... well, calling it iron skin isn't unjustified, one punch with some force and it'll make a dent.

  It's okay, though, with those ten gold coins on Johnny's body, I can just afford this equipment.

  "Uncle Tom!" Johnny greeted the cashier, pulling out his wallet and flipping it up and down in his hand.

  "Ah, it's you again, Joanie... Today too..." As he spoke, an old man sitting behind the counter slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping to the money bag floating in mid-air. "What, finally decided to buy?"

  "Ah, yes." Jony nodded, "How much for a better inlaid scabbard?"

  Inlaid armor is iron plates inlaid at key points on leather armor. It's considered a relatively high-end thing.

  "Inlaid tortoiseshell, one piece, six guineas." Uncle Tom reported the price with great interest.

  "Why don't you go and grab it!"

  "It's because the lord of the city won't allow it." The old man smiled and said, "You said you wanted something better, come take a look at this one's quality."

  As he spoke, he got up and went to the storage room in the back to fetch a suit of armor covered in dust. Ignoring Johnny's astonished gaze, the old man blew hard, stirring up a cloud of dust, then slapped it twice, shook it out, and returned to the counter, handing the armor to Johnny.

  "Is this a relic left over from the War of the Gods?" Jonyi asked with a cold smile, holding up what was in his hand.

  "Don't underestimate it." The old man didn't continue the conversation, "First take a look at this leather, do you think it's ordinary water buffalo skin? This is rhinoceros skin! Feel the lining again, feel the weight, do you think it's ordinary iron? Top-grade steel! Look at the workmanship, the shape, the quality..."

  "Why is it like this now?"

  "Alas, the cost is too high and the selling price is also high. The people who come here are all poor devils, so it's been left to me."

  "This armor is really tragic." Jony nodded, taking a closer look at the inlaid armor in his hand, "It must be lonely."

  "Huh?"

  "Not much. Four gold."

  Uncle Tom snatched the armor from Johnny's hand and walked towards the storage room without looking back.

  "Hey, hey, give me a price, don't be so absolute! How can you do business like this?"

  Uncle Tom stopped in his tracks and turned around, "Five copper coins, five silver coins, if you don't want it, I'll just consider it a collectible for myself."

  When Joanie came out wearing this armor, she was heartbroken. Five gold and five silver, how can it be so expensive? But thinking about it, life is more important after all. Looking at that old guy struggling to help her clean the thing, it's quite relieving. Forget it, money is just external wealth, it can still be earned back.

  Where to make money? Mercenary Union.

  Doing quests, exchanging gold coins, this is the difficult start of all low-level fighters. Some people have been doing tasks for a lifetime, barely making ends meet, but it's still better than being killed by monsters. Looking back on a hero's life, it's always incredibly romantic, but reality is so cruel. Countless young people are passionate about the heroic words in the mouths of bards, some succeed and become new legends, some fail and become new extras. Of course, more people die. However, in this chaotic era, being a farmer will be exploited by the lord; being an artisan, without learning that skill, how? Then let's go to war!

  Of course, people like Qiao Ni who have skills but are still struggling to find a place for themselves do exist.

  "Name."

  "Johnny Smith."

  "Professional."

  "Warrior."

  "Degree Certificate."

  "Huh?"

  "Warrior's Guild, turn left when you exit, look for the sign yourself. Next."

  The receptionist was not surprised at all. Every month, there would be a few young people who were stimulated by the legend of heroes and came here to find their future, she was used to it. These naive kids, is being a hero that easy?

  Go get a certificate of rank first.

  Jony asked many people and finally understood that this was also a world where academic qualifications were required.

  The reason is actually very simple. As a large intermediary organization, the Mercenary Alliance has many people coming to receive tasks and many people coming to set up tasks every day. From the simplest "I was robbed by goblins, I couldn't swallow my breath, who can help me bring back five goblin heads and I'll give you a silver coin!" to relatively difficult ones like "Merchant caravan recruiting strong fighters, escorting to Jiamusi Fortress, passing through barbarian territory and the largest dark forest in the area, those with confidence come, requiring five people, each rewarded with ten gold coins!" And then to the most difficult ones like "Dragon Slaying, recruiting five people, prepaid 100 gold coins, after completion can choose two treasures from the dragon's lair." These tasks are prepared for people of different levels.

  If there were no level certificates, once a rookie who just came out of the nest and could lose to a single goblin in a one-on-one battle, had his confidence bursting, taking on the next task of hunting down a giant demon would be very troublesome - even if he died it wouldn't matter, but the task would be delayed.

  Then Joanie obediently walked into the entrance of the Warrior's Guild - she should have, as Joanie saw a sword and shield.

  "Join Warrior Guild?"

  "That's right." Indeed, it was.

  A gold coin.

  "What! Why don't you go and loot!"

  The big man in charge of registration looked up, glanced at Joanie and said: "I used to do it before, but the risk is too great. If you don't have money, go raise it yourself. Of course, you can also work here first and deduct it from your salary. You will learn some combat skills from the warriors in the process, but the job is not easy."

  Dahan stared straight into Joanie's eyes: "Life and death are determined by fate, I will not be responsible."

  "Is it very dangerous? What kind of work is it?"

  He leaned back in his chair and replied in a relaxed tone, "Nothing much, for example when our guild needs materials, you have to go collect them. When we need to capture wild beasts, you have to set traps. When we need to plunder, no, I mean defeat other tribes, you have to lead the charge. When we need to slay dragons, you have to... don't worry, not lead the charge, just provide support on the side."

  Jony recalled those pedestrians who were beaten by monsters and flew wildly in the sky when he watched fantasy movies in the past.

  "No need, I have money." He took out a gold coin and handed it over.

  "Alright then. Name."

  "Johnny Smith."

  "Want to attend Warrior School's training? One gold coin tuition, guaranteed to teach up to level 5 graduation, same as the Temple."

  "Why don't you go... cough, never mind. I'll just proceed with the level assessment directly. — It's free, right?"

  "We're not a black shop, of course it's free. Second floor, turn left, testing room. Take this registration form."

  You're definitely a black-hearted shop. Joanie muttered to herself as she walked towards the testing hall on the second floor.

  In the testing hall was a young woman who looked quite robust. Seeing someone coming, the woman came forward: "Hello, I'm Stella from the Warrior's Guild, in charge of professional level assessment. Have you been assessed before?"

  "Oh, no, I'm here for the first time."

  "Alright, let me take a look at your registration form... Alright, the total for the certificate fee and handling fee is five yuan, thank you."

  "What! Why don't you go and loot!"

  "Haha, I heard robbers don't have a good life. Here's your certificate, pay up."

  It's so dark, I can hardly see the way without lighting lanterns! Joanie took out a silver coin and lamented in her heart. Who knows how many young people's hot blood has been spilled into the gutter over the years? However... one gold and five silvers, an ordinary family can still afford it.

  "Thank you, this way please." Stella led Joni to a weapons rack, "Please choose the weapon you are most skilled with."

  Joni picked up a long sword without hesitation.

  "Please chop, split and strike the wooden man in front of you."

  Hehe, heh, haha.

  Stella nodded and made a note on the certificate, then looked up: "You are now a first-level warrior. If you need to take the second-level assessment, please follow me."

  Vomiting blood, this level is really easy. But looking at those guys on the weapon rack, they all have some weight to them. Is this a test of strength?

  Lost in thought, Johnny came to the edge of the hall, along a long straight path.

  "Please make one round trip within the time limit set by the hourglass, start."

  "What...what?!" Johnny was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at the hourglass again. The sand seemed to be falling slowly.

  "Time is limited, you'd better hurry up."

  Damn it. Joanie is running wildly. This hourglass doesn't know what the time limit is, who knows how fast to run, do your best.

  The runway wasn't long, and soon Johnny was back. He looked at the hourglass and saw that more than half of it was still on top. After taking two deep breaths, Johnny calmed down and stared at Stella: "Next time something like this happens, can you please say 'Ready' first?"

  Stella smiled apologetically, made a note on the certificate, and said: "You have completed the second-level warrior assessment with excellent results. If you want to take part in the third-level assessment, please follow me."

  First-class strength, second-class speed, and those with weaker bodies were eliminated? That's quite interesting.

  Third-level is spear and halberd target, testing the accuracy of the strike. Fourth-level is obstacle running, testing physical fitness under complex conditions. Fifth-level is actual combat, against a wild wolf that has been starving for three days, and being lightly injured means failure. However, with Joanie's strength, all these were easily settled.

  "Congratulations on completing the assessment for 5th-level warrior. You are now a 5th-level warrior. Would you like to proceed with the next assessment?"

  "How did you suddenly ask? Didn't we just bring it over? 'What's the content of the next level?'"

  "After level 6, you need to challenge the person in charge of the corresponding level to get promoted. Or you can accumulate experience by completing mercenary alliance tasks of the corresponding level to get promoted. If you choose to challenge, only skipping levels is supported, that is, the opponent you will face must be at least two levels higher than your current certified level."

  That's level 7, Jony thought. When Jony was at home, he also sparred with the warriors who came to buy weapons and seemed to be around level 7 as well, leaving Jony completely helpless. He could only choose to do quests then. Quests... my god, what exactly is the Mercenary Alliance, it seems like a large-scale monopoly industry?

  "As for the task..."

  "Complete ten ninth-level tasks or above to be promoted to sixth-level warrior."

  "A ninth-level mission?" Johnny's head hurt a bit.

  "You don't know? Alright, here's 'The Mercenary's Guide to the Mainland', one silver coin for five copies. Read it and you'll understand."

  It doesn't seem expensive, does it? But that's a joke! In this world, 100 coppers equal 1 silver coin, and 10 silvers equal 1 gold coin. For an ordinary family of three to eat their fill every day, 10 copper coins would be enough. To eat well, it would only take 30 copper coins. Going to the tavern to drink ale, even drinking until you drop wouldn't cost more than a few dozen coppers. Of course, lodging wouldn't be that cheap. But five silver coins for one book? Jony glared at the booklet in front of him, which was roughly bound with a few sheets of papyrus, and cursed inwardly.

  "This paper is too rotten, and besides, I'm illiterate..." The truth was that the blacksmith Smith was indeed illiterate, and this book wasn't even written in Chinese.

  "Parchment costs five gold coins per copy... but I don't think you need it. You look like a promising young man, so I'll teach you myself. By the way, our Warrior's Guild has a literacy class that teaches simple writing for two gold coins, guaranteed to learn, are you interested?"

  "Can you learn?" Johnny showed some interest. Isn't it just for churches?

  "That's not it, just teaching you to recite the Mercenary Guide."

  "Thanks. That's it......" Johnny was full of vertical lines, roughly calculated, and the two gold coins were actually just reciting?

  Through Stella's explanation, Johnny finally knew what kind of industry he would be engaged in.

  The Mercenary Alliance is a monopolistic organization of international civilian military services, with close cooperation with various professional guilds. It also provides a series of supporting services such as spoils of war procurement, high-level weapon maintenance, personnel rescue and treatment. The background of the Mercenary Alliance is the War God Tamperas and the Business Goddess Charlotte.

  The Mercenary Union evaluates tasks when taking orders, divided into nine levels, with nine being the lowest and one being the highest. If a client posts a task that requires unrestricted hunting of witches or extermination of red-robed mages, it's not impossible, but the difficulty level will be listed separately. There have indeed been such examples, but because those clients quickly died miserably, no one has ever completed similar tasks.

  In this chaotic era, such situations will also arise. For example, a level 7 task says to go to a certain place to retrieve goods from the Goblin tribe, but after the mercenaries return covered in blood, they report that there is actually a bear-like Goblin tribe there! After investigating and gathering evidence, the Mercenary Alliance will reassess the task and require the task publisher to add additional rewards.

  Tampas? Joanie recalled the games he played in his past life. Wasn't it the Northern War God of the Forgotten Realm? Am I currently in that time and space? But it doesn't seem like it, Crister didn't take the warrior exam, not to mention he's also a part-time wandering knight. What a coincidence! It must be a coincidence!

  But soon Jony was relieved. Even if it's a world he's familiar with, what does that matter? Everything is unknown, and just because someone has a curved knife, black leopard-like eyes, and dark skin doesn't mean they're good (Note: This image refers to Crichton, a weirdo among the Dark Elves, whose most unusual trait is his kindness). Relying on his own memories of playing games, having them or not made no difference. Past experiences were meaningless for Jony, who had come to this strange world; everything still depended on himself.

  Then took over the warrior level certificate, as well as the fifth-level warrior badge, Joanie once again walked into the Mercenary Union.