Adventurer of Many Professions

As the adventurers discussed, outside in the square in front of the Adventurer's Guild, a number of caravan employers were calling out with their "letters of authorization":

"Caravan recruitment! Caravan recruitment! Heading to Wittes Town! We need ten Bronze adventurers and ten to fifteen Black Iron adventurers! Black Iron adventurers will be paid thirty silver coins, and Bronze adventurers will earn sixty silver coins! Adventure groups and fixed teams get priority!"

"Caravan recruitment! Caravan recruitment! Heading to Coras City! We need three to five Silver Level adventurers, over ten Bronze Level adventurers, and ten Black Iron Level adventurers! The reward for Black Iron Level adventurers is sixty silver coins, Bronze Level adventurers get one plus twenty gold coins, and Silver Level adventurers will earn three gold coins plus fifty silver coins! Adventure groups and fixed teams get priority!"

"Caravan recruitment! Caravan recruitment! Heading to Lockmars Town! We need ten Bronze Level adventurers, ten to fifteen Black Iron Level adventurers, and five White Porcelain Level adventurers! White Porcelain adventurers will get five silver coins, Black Iron adventurers thirty-five silver coins, and Bronze Level adventurers will earn seventy silver coins!"

It's worth noting that adventurers don't need to seek out these caravan commissions directly. Instead, the caravan bosses or employers first go to the Adventurer's Guild, where they issue the official commission. Then they take that commission and recruit adventurers in the square.

This process is necessary because caravans often require many more adventurers than a single adventurer team can provide. Posting the commission on the "Commission Board" and letting individual adventurers recruit their own teams could waste too much time. Most importantly, it leaves the door open for biased selections, where adventurers might choose teammates based on personal preferences, potentially rejecting those with more strength or the skills needed for the job.

This issue had been common before caravans started handling their own recruitment: adventurers who snatched the caravan commission would often attract many applicants, but in the end, there would be constant infighting. One adventurer would look down on another, wasting a lot of the caravan's time and making the entire process inefficient.

Eventually, caravans reported this problem to the Adventurer's Guild, and it was decided that the caravans would directly handle their own recruitment after the Guild issued the official commission.

With this new process, as long as an adventurer met the caravan's strength requirements and had no history of bad behavior, they would usually be accepted to join the caravan to help ship the goods.

This system worked especially well when caravans were transporting valuable goods. Some adventurers, despite accepting the commission to protect the caravan, acted independently and disregarded orders. In the future, if such adventurers applied again, they could be immediately rejected and added to the caravan's blacklist.

The blacklist was shared with other caravans, so they would be aware and avoid such adventurers, reducing the risk of traps or trouble. Since caravans generally avoided provoking adventurers, handling recruitment directly was considered the safest and most efficient method.

The person in charge of the caravan would write down the adventurers' names on the letter of authorization. When the caravan reached its destination, this letter would be handed over to the local Adventurer's Guild, who would review the adventurer's performance.

In the square outside the Adventurer's Guild, numerous caravan recruiters were shouting out their needs:

"Caravan recruitment! Caravan recruitment! Heading to Coras City! We need three to five Silver Level adventurers, more than ten Bronze Level adventurers, and ten Black Iron Level adventurers! Black Iron Level adventurers will receive sixty silver coins, Bronze Level adventurers will earn one plus twenty gold coins, and Silver Level adventurers will receive three gold coins plus fifty silver coins! Adventure groups and fixed teams get priority!"

"Caravan recruitment! Caravan recruitment! Heading to Wittes Town! We need ten Bronze adventurers and ten to fifteen Black Iron adventurers! Black Iron Level adventurers will be paid thirty silver coins, and Bronze Level adventurers will earn sixty silver coins! Adventure groups and fixed teams get priority!"

"Caravan recruitment! Caravan recruitment! Heading to Lockmars Town! We need ten Bronze Level adventurers, ten to fifteen Black Iron Level adventurers, and five White Porcelain Level adventurers! White Porcelain Level adventurers will be rewarded five to six silver coins, Black Iron Level adventurers thirty-five silver coins, and Bronze Level adventurers seventy silver coins!"

Some White Porcelain Level adventurers often wondered why the rewards for Silver Level adventurers were about three times those of Bronze Level adventurers, while Bronze Level adventurers earned twice what Black Iron Level adventurers did, and Black Iron Level adventurers earned five or six times more than White Porcelain Level adventurers.

Why the gap?

The answer was simple.

White Porcelain Level adventurers were often new to the profession, with little experience, and more importantly, they usually hadn't mastered any skills yet.

The difference in combat effectiveness between adventurers who had mastered skills and those who had not was huge.

Take Raymond, for example: before he learned the Bone Crusher skill, he was easily struck by the Mutated Rat leader, and his arm was broken in a single blow. But after learning the skill, he was able to defeat the Mutated Rat leader with just one punch.

Adventurers who reach Black Iron Level typically possess one or two skills, which makes them far stronger than White Porcelain Level adventurers who haven't yet acquired any.

However, some White Porcelain Level adventurers who have already mastered skills can perform at a level on par with Black Iron Level adventurers, though they may not have completed enough tasks to be promoted yet. These adventurers are often unfairly undervalued when it comes to rewards.

In the case of the caravan's reward structure, the assumption was that White Porcelain Level adventurers were newcomers who hadn't yet learned any skills, and this was reflected in the lower rewards offered for their level. Essentially, caravans were specifically recruiting White Porcelain Level adventurers who were still in the early stages of their training.

The reason why the reward difference between Black Iron and Bronze adventurers is only double, the smallest gap between any two levels, is simple: despite the strength gap between them, the skills they possess, though they may differ, aren't enough to cause a fundamental shift in their combat capabilities.

On the other hand, the difference between Silver Level and Bronze Level adventurers represents a qualitative leap. Silver Level adventurers have either mastered powerful skills or learned up to four skills. As mentioned before, an adventurer's combat style influences the skills they can acquire. Those without much innate talent can generally master only two or three skills, which is typical for Bronze Level adventurers.

An adventurer's combat strength is directly tied to their skills. If they can learn a fourth skill, they will usually possess combat power at the Silver Level. Of course, some adventurers might be unlucky, and their acquired skills may not provide significant combat benefits. However, these cases are rare. In fact, some skills, despite being less potent on their own, can form powerful synergies with others, making them more useful than purely offensive skills.

As a result, adventurers who can master four skills typically possess the combat power of a Silver Level adventurer, unless they are particularly unfortunate with their skill selection. This scarcity of adventurers able to grasp four skills leads to a sharp drop in the number of Silver Level adventurers, making them much rarer than their Bronze Level counterparts. As a result, Silver Level adventurers are rewarded three times as much as Bronze Level adventurers.

At this point, some adventurers noticed the caravan's recruitment and hurried over to express their willingness to join. After confirming their adventurer levels and checking that they were part of established adventuring teams, the caravan accepted them immediately.

The coordination within fixed teams is far superior to that of random groups. The combat effectiveness of a coordinated team easily outmatches a wild team with no established tactics. In fact, the synergy between adventure groups is often even greater than within fixed teams. Therefore, when a caravan needs protection, they'll almost always prefer an adventure group over individual adventurers.

Some caravans quickly gathered the necessary adventurers, organizing them to leave immediately and head toward their destination. Those caravans that hadn't fully recruited began seeking individual adventurers after securing a couple of adventuring teams.

It's no surprise that caravans are able to recruit adventurers so swiftly. The reason is simple: caravans are rarely attacked by bandits during their travels.

Why are caravans so rarely targeted by bandits? And why do they recruit so many adventurers to protect their goods?

The answer is that the caravans' adventurer guards themselves are a powerful deterrent. Bandits, seeing the strength of the adventurers guarding the caravan, know they can't win without suffering heavy losses. They won't attack unless they're absolutely sure they can capture the caravan while minimizing their own casualties. Otherwise, even if they succeed, the losses will be too great to justify the risk of another raid.

Moreover, if the bandits aren't careful, they risk being overrun or wiped out by rival bandit groups in the area. Bandits don't operate in isolation, when one group sees another weakening, they'll jump at the opportunity to attack.

So, while caravans may rarely face bandit attacks, they still recruit plenty of adventurers because they know the mere presence of these skilled protectors discourages bandits from making a move. The bandits understand that the risk of facing strong adventurers is simply not worth the reward.

Adventurers were often eager to take on business protection commissions, as these usually involved short trips with minimal risk. While the time spent traveling back and forth could be lengthy, and the rewards were significantly less than those for going to the border to hunt monsters, the tasks were much safer, with little danger involved.

As a result, adventurers looking to take a break while still earning some income would frequently opt to escort caravans. This was one of the reasons many caravans could quickly recruit the adventurers they needed.