Chapter 69: First-Class Mercenary

In the Tianyuan Continent, no matter which country or city, the Mercenary Guild is always established in the city center. Next to the Mercenary Guild, there is always a money house that is not much smaller in scale.

Although Baiyun City is only a second-tier city, its area is still very large. Jianchen walked on the street for half an hour before finally arriving at the most bustling and lively street in the center of Baiyun City. In front of him, a massive building, about twenty meters high, stood quietly like a deep-sea monster. This was the Mercenary Guild.

The Mercenary Guild is very large, and the shape of the building looks more like a magical beast. At the entrance, mercenaries dressed in various outfits were coming and going continuously.

Jianchen directly entered the Mercenary Guild. Although this was his first time coming to such a place, he had already read the procedures to become a mercenary clearly in the library of the academy.

There were many people in the Mercenary Guild, and the line for those who needed to handle procedures was very long. There were more than a dozen windows at the counter, all crowded with people. However, most of them were there to hand in or receive tasks, while the window for registering as a mercenary was very quiet.

Jianchen came to the window for registering as a mercenary and said, "Hello, I want to register as a mercenary."

The person responsible for registering mercenaries was an old man who looked to be in his fifties. Despite his age, he had a ruddy complexion and sharp eyes.

The old man glanced at Jianchen indifferently and said in a calm tone, "To register as a mercenary, you must have the strength of a Saint. Have you reached that level?"

"I have reached that standard," Jianchen replied.

The old man carefully examined Jianchen, then took out a piece of paper and asked, "What is your name?"

"Jianchen!" Jianchen, who wanted to remain anonymous, naturally would not use his real name, Changyang Xiangtian, so he directly used the name from his previous life.

"How old are you this year?" the old man continued to ask.

After a moment of thought, Jianchen replied, "Twenty years old." Jianchen could not reveal his true age because a fifteen-year-old Saint was extremely rare in the Tianyuan Continent. If this news spread, it would likely bring him unnecessary trouble. Although many people at Kagas Academy knew about Jianchen's extraordinary talent, only the dean and vice-dean knew his true age.

A twenty-year-old Saint was relatively common in the Tianyuan Continent. Moreover, his physical development had always been far beyond that of ordinary people, so even if he said he was twenty, no one would doubt it. His appearance now looked no different from that of a twenty-year-old young man.

"What is your current strength?" the old man asked while writing on the paper.

"初级圣者." Jianchen said.

The process of registering as a mercenary was very simple. After paying a silver coin, Jianchen officially became a mercenary and received his mercenary badge. However, with his current strength, he could only get the lowest-level mercenary badge.

After receiving the mercenary badge, Jianchen did not stay in the Mercenary Guild for long and left directly. After asking around, he came to a shop selling medicines.

Although there are Holy Masters of Light who can heal all injuries in the Tianyuan Continent, the number of Holy Masters of Light is very scarce, which makes them highly revered. In the mercenary community, very few can afford to hire a Holy Master of Light. Only large mercenary groups can afford to hire them, and smaller mercenary groups or individual mercenaries can hardly enjoy the services of a Holy Master of Light without paying a high price.

The number of mercenaries in the Tianyuan Continent is countless, and there are countless casualties every day. In the face of the shortage of Holy Masters of Light, the use of medicines to treat injuries naturally became a common method. Although the effect of treating injuries with medicines is far inferior to that of a Holy Master of Light, it is widely accepted by most mercenaries because, except for high-grade medicines, ordinary healing medicines are very cheap.

Although the scale of this pharmacy was not small, it was still crowded with people. Unlike the Mercenary Guild, the soundproofing in the pharmacy was very good, and the loud voices of the mercenaries made the entire pharmacy very noisy.

There were many people buying medicine, and the queue was already very long. Jianchen scanned the surroundings and then joined a shorter queue.

"May I ask what you need?"

It was soon Jianchen's turn, and the clerk behind the counter greeted him warmly.

"I need some herbs. Do you sell herbs here?" Jianchen asked.

The clerk looked at Jianchen curiously. It was the first time he had encountered someone who came to buy herbs instead of healing medicines. Despite his curiosity, the clerk replied, "Of course, we sell herbs. What herbs do you need? We can provide any that we have in stock."

"I need Qilin grass, Mabo, Xiangcao, Skeleton grass, Sawtooth grass, Antelope flower, Digen flower, Lily, Guiling... Do you have these?" Jianchen listed over a dozen herbs.

The clerk nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes, these herbs are very common and not very valuable. We have all of them. How much do you need?"

Jianchen's face showed a hint of joy as he placed a gold coin on the counter and said, "Give me some of each." These herbs were very common, and a gold coin was enough to buy a cartload.

Seeing the gold coin on the counter, the clerk's eyes lit up, and he immediately said, "Sure, please wait a moment, I'll get them for you." With that, the clerk entered the storage room.

After obtaining the herbs he needed, Jianchen left the pharmacy and hurried to the outskirts of the city. He came to a deserted forest ten miles outside the city, dug up some soft mud from deep in the soil, and collected some leaves, which he placed in his spatial belt. He then returned to Baiyun City.

Jianchen bought some ordinary clothes in Baiyun City and then went to a secluded, uninhabited alley. He hid in a secret corner, looked around to make sure no one was there, and then took out a small portion of each herb he had bought from the pharmacy.

He quickly ground the herbs into powder, mixed them with a little water, added a small amount of soft mud from the deep soil, and then ground a few leaves into powder and squeezed out the tiny amount of juice. After doing all this, Jianchen carefully applied the mixture to his face with his hands.

Soon, when Jianchen lifted his head again, his appearance had completely changed. He now looked entirely different from before. Even those who knew him well would not recognize him. His originally handsome and dashing face had become ordinary, and his eyebrows and eyelashes had been shortened. The only things that remained unchanged were his magnetic eyes and his relatively slim figure.

Jianchen did not stop there. The silver-white Lightwind Sword appeared in his hand, and he suddenly turned gracefully, causing his long hair, which reached his waist, to fly up.

At that moment, a silver flash appeared, and the Lightwind Sword cut through his hair at an incredible speed. His long hair, which reached his waist, was neatly severed, leaving only shoulder-length hair. He then quickly changed into the coarse clothes he had bought from the store, replacing the expensive silk clothes he had been wearing.

After dressing, Jianchen looked like a completely different person. Even those who knew him very well would not recognize him now.

Jianchen checked himself again to make sure there were no omissions. After confirming that everything was perfect, he burned his original clothes and left the alley.

When he returned to the Mercenary Guild, Jianchen went directly to the task reception area. The tasks in the Mercenary Guild are divided into ten levels: S, A, B, C, D, with S being the highest and D the lowest. Similarly, the mercenary ranks are also divided into five levels: S, A, B, C, D. Currently, Jianchen was only a D-level mercenary, so he could only accept D-level tasks.

The mercenary rank is determined based on the honor accumulated from completing tasks and one's own strength. D-level mercenaries must have the strength of a Saint, C-level mercenaries must have the strength of a Great Saint, and so on. To reach S-level, one must have the strength of a Great Holy Master and the corresponding honor.

Even if one has the strength of a Great Holy Master, without the corresponding honor, one cannot advance to S-level. Therefore, there are no shortcuts to advancing in mercenary rank.

There were many D-level tasks, and most of them were extremely boring. They involved helping someone in Baiyun City find a lost item or helping a shop buy or transport goods. None of these tasks interested Jianchen.

Jianchen's main goal was to find a task that would allow him to leave the Gesen Kingdom. He knew that the Huayun Sect had a vast influence in the Gesen Kingdom. Although he had completely changed his appearance and was confident that no one would recognize him, there was always a risk of unexpected events that could expose his identity and bring the Huayun Sect's pursuit. The best plan was to leave the Gesen Kingdom. No matter how powerful the Huayun Sect was, its influence was limited to the Gesen Kingdom.

Unfortunately, there were very few international mercenary tasks at the D-level. Generally, tasks that required leaving the country were of a higher level and would not be assigned to D-level tasks. As a result, after reviewing all the D-level tasks, Jianchen did not find a single one that met his needs.

Sighing inwardly, Jianchen left the Mercenary Guild. To leave the Gesen Kingdom, he could only rely on the cover of a merchant caravan to leave easily. Otherwise, he would likely encounter bandits and robbers on the road, which he could not handle. Even if there were no bandits, the border fort of the Gesen Kingdom would be impossible for him to pass through.