Kevin thought to himself, "My strength is still too low." Despite regular physical training under his father's guidance since he was eight years old, Kevin, who did not obtain the profession of a warrior, is physically weaker than those who did.
Under his father's training, Kevin's theoretical knowledge of combat surpasses that of most people his age. However, the physical enhancements that the profession of a warrior provides are significant and cannot be replaced by regular training. Thus, even after years of training in strength, speed, and other aspects, Kevin is still noticeably weaker than a warrior like Eric.
On the other hand, although Kevin has a good grasp of theoretical combat knowledge, he lacks practical experience. This was evident in his last battle against a goblin warrior. Despite the importance of holding back Robert, exposing his back to the enemy was a very foolish and dangerous move. As a result, Kevin paid a heavy price, his life. Kevin knew that he only survived due to good luck and was resurrected.
However, it was clear that he would not suddenly gain the power of a secondary profession like last time, and that power would allow him to resurrect himself. Thus, it is essential to improve his combat ability realistically, which is currently the most critical thing.
It is challenging to make significant progress in physical abilities in a short time. To obtain a second profession, one must reach the fourth rank. Kevin does not regret choosing the profession of a priest.
Although the physical enhancement of the warrior profession is impressive in combat, the main reason Kevin wants to improve his combat abilities is to stay alive. Therefore, the healing abilities of priests are indispensable, and giving up the priest profession just to gain combat abilities would be shortsighted. Moreover, there is no way to switch professions.
So the only way to improve combat abilities now is to gain experience in battle. Kevin must translate his theoretical knowledge of combat into practical skills. To do this, he must constantly battle monsters outside. Only by honing his skills in combat can he gain experience.
However, to go out and battle, he needs a team, not just himself. Because individual strength is limited and not comprehensive. Except for those with extremely strong personal abilities, other people need companions who are good at different abilities to safely fight and survive outside. Even Kevin's father, Tang, admits that he cannot survive alone outside.
Following his father's advice, Kevin came to the Adventurer's Hall. This is a place where people who have gained professions in their place of residence collect information and where various teams gather information on monsters, terrain, buildings, etc. outside.
The person in charge of affairs here is Howard, who has powerful mental strength, making him a magician. Most importantly, he also has a very rare skill, appraisal. Yesterday, Kevin learned from Tang that Howard has also gained a secondary profession, alchemist, and appraisal is a skill of his alchemist profession.
In the world today, even if people obtain professions and skills as they do in games, this world is not a video game. People cannot see their own status, life state, magic level, or negative status. They also cannot see the status of enemies or monsters. Furthermore, even with teammates, accidental attacks can cause harm.
For a priest, the ability to judge the health status of teammates is a very important skill. Because some injuries may look severe, but are only superficial wounds that can be healed with blood circulation techniques, or even ignored altogether. Magic is precious and can only be absorbed from the surrounding environment through meditation when the mind is calm, which is difficult to achieve during combat.
As for monsters, people have no way of knowing their information. They can only gather relevant information through repeated trials and then summarize.
Among the skills with extraordinary effects, appraisal is a very useful skill for obtaining information. Howard can use this skill to distinguish the types and status of objects.
The adventurer's hall is built above a huge underground cold storage room. This underground cold storage was one of the few storage facilities that did not collapse due to plate movement during the dramatic changes that occurred twenty years ago. It stores a large amount of supplies that not only helped the people who lived here survive, but also allowed the bodies of monsters hunted outside to be preserved.
Of course, people without relevant power facilities rely on the remaining electricity, batteries found elsewhere, and magic users who can use ice magic to maintain the operation of the cold storage.
Howard is a magician who awakened through meditating on an ice block. He helps maintain the refrigeration system here and uses his appraisal magic to appraise the monster corpses and herbs brought back by various teams. Based on their value, he exchanges them for goods here. Weapons made by Kevin's father, Don, are also appraised here for their quality and value.
Appraisal magic can also roughly obtain information about the professions people have obtained, so Howard is also a good place to form a team. Because Howard uses appraisal magic to judge whether someone is hiding or even deceiving their profession when forming a team, team members can trust each other better.
On Don's suggestion, Kevin came to the adventurer's hall.
It is about 10 o'clock in the morning now, and looking at the empty adventurer's hall, Kevin suddenly realizes that he seems to have come too early. He mocks himself in his heart for being too impatient and rushing here without paying attention to the time. After all, at this time, teams hunting monsters near their residence are often still fighting outside and will not return to the adventurer's hall to hand in their loot until around noon.
The old man in his fifties or nearly sixty years old sitting behind the counter sees Kevin standing outside the door and shouts at him, "Hey! Is it Don's boy, Kevin? Come in! What can I do for you?"
Hearing Howard's question, Kevin walks into the adventurer's hall and answers, "Mr. Howard, I came here to look for a new team to join."
"Oh? Have you obtained a profession? What profession is it?" Howard asks.
"I am a priest, sir, a first-order priest," Kevin replies.
"You just awakened, so of course, you are first-order. That goes without saying. But can I take a look, Kevin?" Howard asks, seemingly uttering a sentence with no apparent meaning.
"No problem, sir," Kevin had learned from his father that when Howard said those words, it meant he was going to use his appraisal technique on you.
"I believe you're an honest and good kid, Kevin. I'm responsible for helping you join the new team, so accurate information is necessary," Howard said, adjusting his glasses and then focusing his eyes on something in front of Kevin, possibly using his skill appraisal technique to see relevant information on others.
After a few seconds, Howard closed his eyes and then opened them again. "Alright, you really are an honest kid. There was another guy who wanted to join the team like you did. He was a thief, but he claimed to be a warrior. I didn't help him join any other teams because of his lie."
Kevin guessed that the guy Howard referred to as a liar was Robert. Robert had failed to deceive Howard to help him join other teams, but he had used Eric and Kevin's trust, resulting in Eric's death and almost getting Kevin killed. Kevin was determined to make Robert pay for what he had done.
"Mr. Howard, am I here too early? Should I wait here for a while?" Kevin asked.
"In general, you are here too early, but you might have arrived just in time," Howard looked at the clock behind him. "They should be back soon."
"They?" Kevin was confused. Just then, he heard several voices outside and turned to see a middle-aged man with a sword, covered in blood, holding a monster's corpse with his left hand, and two young adults of about his age.
"Owen, you're back so early. Did you get anything?" Howard shouted to the middle-aged man.
"It's all because of these two little guys. They are so careless that they almost got attacked several times, which made me have to divert my attention to protect them," Owen raised his right arm, revealing a deep wound with blood flowing out. "Look, I got injured. Although it's not very serious, it's my dominant hand that got hurt. And in situations like this, it's hard to protect them and keep enough ammunition, so I came back early and brought back a demon wolf."
Owen showed the monster corpse held in his left hand, then looked at Kevin with interest and asked Howard, "What is this kid here for? Has he obtained a profession?"
"Yes, Owen. He's Kevin, Tang's son. He's a priest and wants to join a new team. I think he would be a good fit for you, and you don't have to come back so early," Howard replied.
Upon hearing this, Owen was pleased. "Tang's son? Isn't he only fifteen? He's already obtained a profession at such a young age? Kevin, can you heal me?"
Upon hearing the request, Kevin thought to himself: Death Eye. In his eyes, a rectangular HP bar appeared on Owen's body, with less than one-tenth of the red disappearing. The illusory part inside the red was also very small, indicating that the wound, which looked serious, was not a big deal for Owen's body. So, Kevin raised his right hand and shouted at Owen, "Regeneration spell!"
After a faint green light shone on Owen, the illusory red in Kevin's HP bar turned into solid red, and the short section of the HP bar that was previously empty was filled with new illusory red. Seeing this, Kevin knew that the illusory red represented the person's final physical condition as time passed.
Kevin only used the blood circulation technique instead of the healing technique, and Owen was very pleased to feel his body recover quickly. This meant that Kevin wasn't the kind of priest who used the healing technique for any minor injury, which was advantageous for the team during long battles.
"Very well, I agree. I'll talk to Howard first about the price of the demon wolf, and then come back later. Kevin, you talk to those two young ones. I think you young people will have a lot in common," Owen said as he and Howard walked to the other side.
Meanwhile, Kevin was chatting with two other young people, a boy and a girl.
"Hello, my name is Kevin, a priest. I'm about to join your team and I hope we can get along," Kevin said.
"Hello, Kevin. I'm Alex, a knight. This is Melissa, my girlfriend," the boy, who was about the same height as Kevin, said with a bright smile.
"Who's your girlfriend? Don't talk nonsense. Hi, Kevin. I'm a mage. I'm glad to have a priest join us so that we don't have to come back for minor injuries," the blonde girl patted Alex's back and said to Kevin.
"I'm curious about what you all can do, is it okay if I ask?" Kevin asked sincerely.
"Of course, no problem. I can use 'Charge', 'Block', and 'Taunt'. Charge can increase my speed and damage on the first attack when targeting an enemy. Block can defend against enemy attacks. Taunt can attract enemy attacks. In short, monsters won't attack you as long as I'm there," Alex quickly explained his skills.
"I'm a meditation fire mage. In addition to 'Magic Bullet' which has a bit of attack and impact, I can also use 'Fireball' which has a powerful impact and burning effect. And 'Firewall', which consumes a lot of mana, can form a ten-meter-long and three-meter-high wall of flame, causing high temperature and burning damage to those who are close," Melissa explained her skills and their effects word by word.
"I can use a powerful healing spell that can instantly heal wounds on my body, but it consumes a lot of energy. I also know a blood circulation spell that can accelerate natural healing and restore the body's condition without much energy consumption. Additionally, I know a dispelling spell that can remove toxins and minor curses," Kevin explained his skills to his teammates.
"Hey, having a good time getting to know each other, right? You guys were introducing yourselves, so let me introduce myself too," Owen walked over empty-handed after noting down the available resources from Howard.
"The two kids over there are both first-tier, and I am a second-tier warrior," Owen raised his left arm and flexed his muscles, "And unlike the typical warrior who only knows three skills, I have a super cool skill that you'll see soon, Kevin."
"I'm sure it will be cool," Kevin shrugged in agreement.
"Haha, I think we'll make a great team. But I don't think we'll be heading out today. Let's kill more monsters tomorrow when my arm is fully healed and earn some money here at Howard's," Owen turned his head and playfully twisted Howard's arm, "How about we meet here at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning?"
"I think that's a good plan," Howard agreed.
"No problem."
"Okay."
"I'm in," the other three teammates, including Kevin, responded.