Volume 1: The Nobles Who Lost Their Territory Chapter 2: The New Ranger (Part 2)
Marvin left the Wild Horse Inn with brisk steps. Although there was a slightly depressing atmosphere in the River Beach City in the evening, Marvin still felt like a fish in water.
As he walked into an alley and stepped into the shadows, he even instinctively made a stealthy move.
Those are some good habits that can help a rogue be more stealthy when sneaking around.
However, Marvin is not only physically weak now, but also not a professional, so he naturally cannot activate stealth skills.
Turning a corner, two young faces were paying today's earnings to a burly man - Marvin recognized one of them, he was a second-level thief. These young thieves stole in the city, but all their earnings had to be handed over to the gang that managed them.
The sturdy man glanced at Marvin, and seemed to have noticed the noble badge on Marvin's sleeve, and said something while cursing.
Marvin lowered his head and walked away quickly.
He is not in a position to cause trouble now.
…
River Beach City is a city-state ruled by the Southern Wizard Alliance. Like other cities, the Church of the Gods has a hard time developing here. But in recent years, the Silver Church is an outlier. They have not only established a firm foothold in River Beach City, but have also become the third largest force in River Beach City. This has something to do with the priesthood of the Silver God. Although the arrogant wizards only believe in the greatest wizard god Lance and never pay attention to other gods, even the most arrogant wizards need money.
Since the fall of the God of Wealth, the God of Silver, as a god with weak divine power, has also been sought after by businessmen, and the wizards who have ruled Fernando for an era are naturally no exception.
Marvin knows the nature of the Silver God priests very well. These guys are greedy for money. As long as you pay them enough, they will use their few divine spells in a day on you.
The priests of this church are also one of the few who can purchase divine healing with just silver coins.
It turned out that the boy was not unaware of these ways, but he just wanted to save some money, and ended up saving himself to death. Marvin did not want to repeat the same mistake.
There is a pawnshop deep in the alley. It’s in a very remote location, but as far as I can remember it has a good reputation.
The pawnshop owner was an old goblin who wore a pair of pince-nez and looked cunning and sly. He grinned at Marvin, obviously a regular customer.
Thanks to Marvin's efforts, a string of fine pearl necklace was exchanged for 150 silver coins. In fact, according to his accounting skills, this necklace was worth at least 300 silver coins on the market. If Marvin wanted to redeem the necklace, he would need at least 330 silver coins.
The pawnshop was a highly profitable business. But Marvin had no objection to this. He was not strong enough now, and his negotiation skill was only a pitiful 19 points. He could not activate the additional effect to ask the old goblin to give more silver coins.
Hide a small purse close to your body. The silver coins in this world are actually about the size of the little finger nail. One hundred and fifty coins may sound like a lot, but they can be put in a small purse.
After leaving the pawn shop, Marvin found the priest on duty at the Silver Temple before his fever got worse.
After paying 80 silver coins, this seemingly honest middle-aged priest was finally willing to show Marvin the "Glory of the Silver God".
A simple [Disease Removal] and [Weak Life Treatment] made Marvin's fever disappear, and his health points were restored to full.
"Your body is recovering under the divine art of disease removal!"
"The 70% weakening of all attributes due to weakness penalty has been lifted!"
"Health recovery: 26/26!"
As the heat of divine power flowed and the data flashed before his eyes, Marvin couldn't help but feel excited.
That damn weakness penalty is finally gone!
When his 26 health points were restored to full, he felt much stronger.
"You look very healthy now, young man." The priest of the Silver God showed a trace of fatigue and ordered him to leave.
He is now only a lowest-level priest and can only cast three divine spells a day. Using each spell will greatly drain his mind.
Marvin left quickly, but he did not return to the Wild Horse Inn. Instead, he started his own plan!
I want to survive in this world!
You must have your own power. The invasion of the gods and the abyss is imminent, but the most urgent thing is the territory.
There was no way to get rid of hundreds of gnolls without mobilizing the Lord's Guards of River Beach City, and in this inexplicable gnoll attack, Marvin smelled a conspiracy.
In particular, his task panel clearly recorded such a soul-bound task:
【Take Back the Territory·Gnoll Invasion】
[Mission Description: In the summer of the 297th year of the Fourth Epoch of the Wizarding Calendar, your territory was invaded by gnolls. You narrowly escaped death and wanted to ask the Lord of River Beach for help, but the officials of the City Hall kept shirking their responsibilities, which made people suspicious. Perhaps your experience in the city should make you more alert. You can't rely on others, you can only rely on yourself.]
[Task Reward: 1000 General Experience Points]
[ Task deadline: 29 days remaining]
…
Soul binding means that unless you delete your account and start over, this mission will always be with you. And Marvin obviously can't delete his account and commit suicide now.
I have to admit that the quest rewards are generous. They actually reward 1,000 points of general experience, which is the highest level of experience on the same level as killing experience and can be allocated to any profession. 1,000 points of general experience can upgrade a basic adventure profession from level one to more than level three. In this world where it is quite difficult to gain experience, this is a rocket-like upgrade speed.
The mission description clearly stated that this mission could only be completed by relying on one's own strength. If Marvin was still the weak and incompetent nobleman, he would eventually fail. As he told Anna, he had to make a change.
First of all, he couldn't make a living by relying on the ordinary profession of a noble, he had to have a combat profession.
As a legendary player, Marvin had an idea long before he stepped out of the Wild Horse Inn.
…
River Beach City, commercial district, back door of the Succubus Tavern.
A homeless man curled up in his sleeping bag pitifully, begging passers-by: "Give me some wine, even if it's diluted with water..."
He tried to raise his neck and sniffed wildly, as if it was a very satisfying thing to be able to smell the alcohol on the people passing by.
"Get lost, you old drunkard!"
A hot-tempered hooligan kicked the homeless man, and the poor homeless man rolled several steps holding his sleeping bag.
People who walked through the back door burst into laughter.
They have no sympathy for this. This is the grayest area of the business district, only two streets away from the slums. Various gangs fight fiercely here, and various money-making businesses are also secretly carried out underground: flesh trade, slaves, military weapons trafficking... and so on. There are few good people gathered here.
The homeless man covered his stomach and shrank his head back into his sleeping bag in disappointment.
After a group of people passed by, the alley became a little quieter.
However, when the aroma of pure rum wafted into his nose, he couldn't help but stick his head out of the tattered sleeping bag. It seemed that he wouldn't care even if he suffered another vicious kick like the one just now.
The only thing he had eyes for was the bottle of wine that had just been opened.
"Ten silver coins for a bottle of gold rum." A young voice sounded.
The tramp couldn't take his eyes off the bottle of gold rum. He could only tell from the voice that this was a very young guy.
"Sir, please be kind and give me some reward..." The tramp suddenly jumped up and tried to grab the bottle of rum.
However, Marvin had anticipated his reaction. He took a big step to avoid him, looked at the homeless man with red eyes and said:
“If you want to gain something, you must first give.”
The homeless man climbed out of his sleeping bag, and a foul smell filled the air. He kept swallowing his saliva and asked in a trembling voice, "What do you want?"
Ma Wen smiled and handed over a piece of written letter paper and a piece of bright red ink. These were the props he had prepared in advance.
To be honest, he wasn't sure if this would work, but it was the quickest way to get the job, and he learned about this shortcut from a close friend in the game.
In "Fenan Continent", it is not easy to get a job. First, you must be well-trained (which means you have at least five professional levels of basic occupations [Civilians]), and then you must complete the job-hunting tasks before you can get a job in the relevant occupation.
Given Marvin's current condition, if he were to follow the steps and get a job like an ordinary person, it would be too slow.
He had to try to take some shortcuts.
In order to take this shortcut, he even gave up his favorite and most familiar first-level profession [Thief] and chose another profession that was closer. Fortunately, the final level of this profession also included the final profession [Dark Night Master], otherwise Marvin would never give up the profession he was best at.
The tramp took the piece of letter, looked at it for a long time, and then tremblingly took out a pitch-black object.
"My bet was right! This guy was indeed once a high-level adventurer, at least a second-level adventurer!"
When Marvin saw the professional medal, he knew that his observation was correct. Although the homeless man looked down and out, many of his unintentional actions revealed his former profession.
For example, the movement of him curling up in the sleeping bag looks very much like a very useful professional skill - [Hide].
"I can't do this, my conscience won't allow me to do this!" The tramp struggled.
Marvin smiled and said, "Of course you can."
After that, he handed the bottle of golden rum to the homeless man.
The tramp's breathing suddenly became heavier. He grabbed the black professional badge tightly, pressed the ink pad, and finally left a mark on the letter paper.
On top was a circle of holly leaves and in the middle was a name: Mark Heuven.
Marvin took the letter with great joy. The tramp drank the bottle of rum eagerly, and before he finished it, Marvin quickly left the alley.
The recommendation letter has been received.
The inauguration mission is completed.
Half an hour later, when Marvin walked out of the Ranger Guild, there was a Sika Deer Medal on his chest.
This marked his successful entry into the first-level profession - [Ranger].
At the same time, he also received a title with special effects.
【Newborn Ranger】
