After a quick rinse, Haus carried Lilim in a washbasin and discreetly returned to his room.
Because professions such as druids existed, the town didn’t shun monsters, though certain specific places still strictly prohibited them from entering freely.
Haus wasn’t sure if the Aion Tavern was one of those places, but given the owner Elio’s attitude toward adventurers, it probably was forbidden.
Tossing Lilim onto the bed and mentally warning her not to leave it arbitrarily, Haus retrieved two small pouches containing some of his coins from his pack.
He poured out all his coins onto the table and began counting them carefully.
Among them were the rewards from today’s adventure mission in the Misty Forest, as well as leftover scattered copper and silver coins from before.
Total assets: 5 silver and 91 copper coins.
Honestly, it wasn’t much.
In Windchime Town, housing prices generally ranged from 90 silver coins to 1 gold coin.
The living area was around 60 square meters.
With all his savings, Haus could at most afford a cramped corner of less than four square meters.
He was still far from being able to settle down in the town.
“Maybe after another ten or twenty adventures, it’ll be enough.” Whether in his past life or this one, Haus held a deep-seated desire to own a home.
It wasn’t about dowries or worldly matters; he simply wanted a small space entirely his own.
A place that remains steadfast and waiting, a home uniquely one’s own, no matter how far one travels or how many storms one weathers.
Obsession aside, Haus would not let it disrupt his judgment, foolishly venturing out unprepared.
Every adventure involved life-or-death battles.
Winning was certainly good.
But losing meant death.
This was why, despite the lucrative nature of adventure work, few were willing to become adventurers.
Without proper equipment or mastery of solid skills, recklessly facing monsters was akin to walking the edge of life and death; every exploration was a gamble with one’s life.
After tallying his possessions, Haus began inspecting and cleaning his gear.
The armor still needed to be washed clean; otherwise, the stench would be unbearable.
With everything in order, an exhausted Haus lay down on the bed, embracing the soft and cool Lilim, and slowly drifted into sleep.
In the sweltering heat of midsummer, holding such a cool, soft bundle in his arms was truly comfortable.
…
Around noon the next day, following Captain Garp’s instructions from the previous day, Haus arrived at the adventurer’s guild hall dressed in casual clothes and the “Lilim vest.” After scanning the room, Haus quickly noticed Garp sitting in a corner.
To Haus’s curiosity, across from Garp sat a middle-aged man with a resolute face and a scar.
The two were engaged in conversation.
Perhaps sensing Haus’s gaze, the man chatting with Garp suddenly turned his head, his eyes locking directly onto Haus.
Their eyes met, and Haus inexplicably felt a chill run down his spine.
In the man’s deep, sharp gaze, Haus seemed like prey caught in sight.
The feeling came and went quickly.
Perhaps prompted by Garp, the man’s eyes lost their sharp edge.
By then, Garp had already turned and waved kindly at Haus.
Approaching the two, Haus first greeted Garp, then introduced himself to the man.
The man responded.
“Marcus.” A simple and plain self-introduction.
It seemed this was a cold and aloof individual.
Having roughly gauged the person’s character, Haus wasted no time and took a seat, asking Garp about the reason for his invitation the previous night.
“Want to learn a skill, Haus?” Garp’s words instantly unsettled Haus.
Skills were one of the core requirements to become a formal Professional.
Mastering a skill meant stepping onto the path of a profession and earning the identity of an apprentice professional.
There were many ways to learn skills, such as studying skill books, enrolling in royal academies, hiring high-level Professionals as instructors…
or even undergoing trials in lost Dungeons.
However, no matter the method, the threshold was extremely high, far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Haus, born a farmer and always part of the common class, was naturally included among them.
As a transmigrator, Haus had also sought information about adventurers, delved into their world, and attempted to learn skills.
But no matter what he tried, Haus never managed to access skills.
Wealth, status, position, strength; Haus had none of the conditions necessary.
Left with no other choice, he could only spend a hefty sum to hire adventurers to venture out together, attempting to make contact with monsters and form contracts to acquire skills.
Now, upon hearing there was a chance to learn skills, Haus felt a surge of excitement deep down.
Although he possessed a cheat ability that allowed him to share the skills of monsters by forming contracts with them, using this cheat was not simple and came with significant danger.
The targets Haus could pursue were not gentle, cute, aloof, or secretly passionate…
harmless beauties, but rather monster girls, each possessing formidable power capable of threatening his life.
A single careless moment could easily trigger a death scene.
For this very reason, when he first awakened his cheat ability, Haus did not rush out recklessly on an adventure.
He spent an entire month gathering information, understanding the rules and dangers of this otherworld, and making thorough preparations before finally setting out on his adventure.
Yet, even on his first adventure, he nearly met with disaster.
Fortunately, the beginner protection mechanism was still in effect, and relying on the world’s dynamic difficulty balancing rules, he barely managed to survive.
Haus always felt that he was still too weak.
Even after contracting Lilim, it remained the same.
While [Slow Regeneration] was a decent skill, its ceiling was only so high.
Now, upon hearing that there was still an opportunity to actively learn skills, Haus’s eyes lit up, and he felt a slight surge of excitement.
This was truly a good thing!
Compared to risking his life and relying on contracting monster girls to gamble for skills, this incredibly safe and reliable method before him was clearly far better.
Moreover, after acquiring new skills and improving his own strength, he would have more confidence and assurance when dealing with monster girls in the future.
Reading the desire to obtain skills in Haus’s eyes, Garp didn’t hesitate and immediately introduced the identity of Marcus beside him.
“This is the guild’s training master, specifically responsible for guiding new adventurers and teaching basic combat and common skills.” With Garp’s help, Haus, as an ordinary person, gained the qualification to cross the “threshold.” For just 10 silver coins, Haus could receive guidance from Marcus, the training master, to learn and attempt to master the skill [Slash].
However, 10 silver coins were still too expensive for Haus at the moment.