It was precisely because most mages performed so sluggishly that—
Despite appearing almost absurdly versatile, the mage class actually wasn't chosen by that many people.
At the moment, Kanzaki Rei was still standing at the guild counter, slightly rising onto his toes as he spoke with Sherry.
Before long, Rei returned.
In his hand were four commission slips.
"Sherry said the last commission for a second-tier dungeon was just taken."
A single commission could not be issued to two teams at the same time.
Otherwise, when it came time to settle the reward, things would become impossible to determine.
For example, imagine one team explored the dungeon first but returned halfway through to restock supplies.
Then another team happened to enter during that window and defeated the final Boss.
In that case, there would be no way to fairly decide who deserved the reward.
So commissions were only issued to one team at a time. Whoever accepted the task was the one who received the reward.
Even if someone else cleared the dungeon first, as long as the commission was in your hands, the reward still belonged to you.
When something like that happened, most adventurers were actually quite pleased.
After all, it was basically the same as receiving a payment for doing absolutely nothing.
"Huh?"
At that moment, Jade, Joel, and Galen were sitting together.
They were waiting for Rei to bring back the next job.
They had already agreed on the way back that they would run another commission with him.
If there were no second-tier dungeon commissions available, that would be troublesome.
After all, among Level 2 adventurers, they were considered part of the lower-middle tier in strength.
A job that earned money this easily was something they absolutely didn't want to give up.
Rei said,
"Sherry asked whether I wanted to take a third-tier dungeon mission."
"Or try hunting some bounty monsters in the wild."
Galen hummed thoughtfully.
"If it's a third-tier dungeon… we probably wouldn't be able to help much."
That was true.
If Rei were going to explore a third-tier dungeon, he would probably recruit Level 3 adventurers instead.
The reason he had hired these three was primarily out of caution.
For Rei, the monsters inside a second-tier dungeon truly posed no real threat. The previous run had already proven that.
Calling those monsters utterly powerless would hardly be an exaggeration.
The reason Rei hired them was simply insurance.
What worried him was encountering some unknown danger—or falling into a trap before he had time to react.
This was another world, after all. There were still many things he didn't understand.
Even Izparut had told him that when exploring dungeons, monsters weren't the only things to watch out for.
There were also traps, ambushes, and even certain objects that absolutely must not be touched—even in low-tier dungeons.
It wasn't uncommon for powerful adventurers to die inside low-level dungeons.
There were even rumors of a powerful elven saintess who had met her downfall inside a goblin nest.
Rei did not consider himself an experienced adventurer yet.
He couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't someday stumble into disaster.
No matter how one looked at it…
Hiring three teammates for 60 silver coins significantly increased his margin for error.
It was essentially the same as buying a safety rope for 60 silver.
But if it were a third-tier dungeon—
Then the three of them truly wouldn't have the strength required.
Rei hired them to secure his safety, not simply to bring along a few extra mouths to feed.
Could a Level 2 defender block attacks from third-tier monsters?
In Rei's opinion… unlikely.
"I also think we should proceed step by step," Rei said.
"So I accepted bounty subjugation missions for monsters in the wilderness."
"There are four targets in total."
Wild bounty monsters…
Monsters didn't only exist in dungeons. They also appeared outside cities and towns.
When someone discovered such a monster, they would report it to the guild, and the guild would issue an Investigation Mission.
Once the investigation confirmed the threat, a Subjugation Mission would be released.
Of course, if the adventurer performing the investigation believed they could defeat the monster themselves, they could simply complete the subjugation on the spot.
However, sometimes the adventurer conducting the investigation was alone and unable to defeat the monster.
In those cases, the subjugation mission would be posted at the guild for other adventurers to accept.
Not every monster received a subjugation request.
Only monsters considered at least a second-tier threat would be officially placed under guild bounty.
If it was something like a slime wandering beside the road…
There was no need to make such a big fuss about it.
Everyone leaned over the table to look at the commission slips Rei had spread out.
Joel examined them carefully.
"Three D-rank subjugation missions—all second-tier lord-class monsters."
"And one C-rank subjugation mission… a third-tier lord."
"All of them are lord-class, huh."
Well, considering Rei's overwhelming strength, only taking on lord-level monsters was understandable.
For a Level 2 adventurer party, challenging a second-tier lord carried real risk.
Not necessarily fatal—but certainly not safe.
Hunting three in a single day would also raise issues with recovery and supplies.
Most adventurers didn't recover from injuries within half a day.
That depended entirely on how strong the party's healing specialist was.
Rei's youthful voice didn't sound like someone preparing to hunt monster lords.
"Yeah," Rei said calmly. "I want to give it a try."
"What do you think? Compared to dungeon lords, how strong are the lords outside?"
Joel, the most experienced among them, answered.
"In terms of strength… dungeon lords are usually a little stronger."
"But if you really compare them, the difference isn't that big."
Rei nodded after hearing his answer.
"Alright."
"Then let's finish these remaining missions today."
"The loot will belong to me, and the three of you will split 48% of the commission rewards. How does that sound?"
Money wasn't really the issue.
Giving them 10 more silver or 10 less silver didn't matter much to him.
The four commissions together totaled 4 gold in rewards.
The largest portion came from the third-tier monster, which accounted for half of the total.
Rei could earn several gold from a single dungeon run anyway.
A difference of a few dozen silver coins… wasn't even worth thinking about.
What Rei really wanted was to understand the strength of different monsters.
Especially…
That third-tier monster lord.
If he could defeat it, it would prove that he had the strength necessary to explore third-tier dungeons.
Rei wasn't the kind of reckless fool who believed that just because he possessed two God-Tier Talents, he could charge blindly into unfamiliar dungeons.
Safety always came first.
Moving only after careful preparation—that was Rei's guiding principle.
"I… don't have any problem with that," Jade said.
After witnessing Rei's strength earlier, she was completely convinced that he could defeat a third-tier lord.
Even though she herself had never fought one before.
Beside her, the chubby defender Galen nodded as well.
Collector Joel scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah… with the captain's strength, there shouldn't be any problem."
"Actually…"
He glanced at the commission slips.
"Ah, never mind."
Originally, he had wanted to say that the reward they were being offered might be too generous.
But after thinking about it—
Who complains about being paid too much?
Better to just accept it.
Seeing that the plan was settled, Rei smiled.
"Oh, right. Everyone…"
"I'm from a rather distant country, so I'm not very familiar with the local environment."
"If I ask some questions about things I don't quite understand, I hope I can rely on you older brothers and sisters for guidance."
Rei revealed an innocent childlike smile.
The collector couldn't help but pause for a moment.
Right…
This incredibly powerful prodigy was still just a child.
After witnessing Rei's overwhelming strength, he had almost forgotten that fact.
…
The expedition to subjugate the Serpentwood Forest had taken less than two hours round-trip.
They had departed at 8:00 AM.
Even after returning and setting out again, it was only around 10:30 AM.
Everyone present had to admit—
They had never experienced dungeon-clearing efficiency like this before.
The four of them set out again.
Inside the carriage, Rei subtly brought up several questions he had encountered while reading a book of common knowledge, but hadn't fully understood.
Each of them gave their own unique answers.
Sure enough—
There was quite a gap between the knowledge written in books and real-world experience.
The book Rei had read was already twenty years old.
Over the past two decades, dungeons had become far more dangerous.
The mortality rate for adventurers entering dungeons of their own tier had now reached 1%.
At first glance, 1% didn't sound like much.
But when you considered that most adventurers earned only 20–30 silver coins from a second-tier dungeon…
Converting that roughly into Earth's economic terms—
It was like risking a 1% chance of death just to earn about $6,000.
It really was…
An incredibly dangerous profession.