Chapter 1 The Ridiculous Name

A group of people sat dejectedly in the mercenary association's lounge, waiting for Becky to return from completing the final formalities. After a long silence, Nangong Wuyue couldn't help but nudge Hao Ren's arm. "Landlord, I think we can still change the name."

Hao Ren looked at the documents in his hand with a bitter face. He had been mentally wrestling with these registration forms for the past hour, and now he didn't want to move at all. "If you want to change it, go ahead. I really can't think of a name. We can't use pure numbers, no special symbols, no names of Holletta Kingdom's dignitaries, royal names, administrative agencies, real place names. Even 'Oh my god, is this okay?' is taken. What kind of name do you think we can come up with?"

Vivian held her head. "We can't really call ourselves 'All the Good Names Were Taken By Dogs,' can we? I'd be so embarrassed."

The vampire girl, who had always prided herself on her noble bloodline, now felt she was experiencing the biggest stain (one of them) in her life. From today onwards, she would be the chief combat mage of the "All the Good Names Were Taken By Dogs Mercenary Group." This gave her the urge to dig a hole and bury Hao Ren: this damn name was his idea.

"But the amazing thing is that this name can actually be used," Lily was the only one present who felt no psychological pressure. She even felt a sense of inexplicable honor from the name. "I thought they would definitely reject it because it was an obscure term, but they actually registered it. Actually, this name is quite good. It means we have a good name. I feel like I've become the leader..."

"Nonsense, you know you're a canine," Vivian glared at Lily. "People who don't know better will think you came up with the name."

That's right, as many people have already guessed, this group of unreliable guys ended up giving their team an art performance-like name - of course, there were reasons for this. In addition to not being able to think of a good name, the temporary nature of this mercenary group was also an important reason. Moreover, Hao Ren saw the "Pink Bunny Mercenary Group" that successfully slayed a dragon and the "Get Rich Together" mercenary group that had conquered a demon king in the mercenary association's booklet. This strengthened his mentality that "a cheap name is easy to raise."

I don't know what the dragon and the demon king who were killed back then felt before they died. Perhaps the most fatal blow they suffered was when the two mercenary groups announced their names.

"Yo, long time no see!" Becky's voice startled everyone out of their thoughts. The mercenary girl ran excitedly to Hao Ren and the others. "Everything's registered. Now we can... Hey, why are you so depressed?"

"Nonsense, don't you think the name 'All the Good Names Were Taken By Dogs' is weird?" Nangong Wuyue looked at Becky, not understanding how this local girl could still be so happy: after all, she was the consultant of the new mercenary group.

"Hey, it's just a name. These days, people come up with all sorts of names. If you really come up with a 'Silver Hand', people will laugh at you for being uncreative," Becky waved her hand. "Come on, we can go to the mission inquiry office to find out about the Beinz Blood Lake. There have been accidents there recently, and only teams can go."

It seems that the locals in this world really don't care about the names of mercenary groups...

Hao Ren and the others perked up and went to the mission inquiry office. Their curiosity about the Beinz Blood Lake finally made them temporarily stop thinking about the damn name. The clerk at the mission inquiry office was a dead-eyed, rigid woman who didn't seem to like talking. When she heard that another team had come to inquire about the Beinz Blood Lake, she couldn't help but show an impatient expression. "Another bunch thinking of hitting the jackpot... Don't even look to see if you have the life to come back."

Hao Ren didn't care what she said. He just smiled and handed the other party his newly registered certificate, but he heard an unexpected message. "Newly registered primary team? No, you can't go. I won't issue a pass."

"Why can't we go?!" Becky was the first to shout. "Didn't a lot of mercenaries temporarily form teams to explore a few days ago?"

"It's because there are too many of these situations that the higher-ups urgently issued an order prohibiting primary teams from messing around," the dead-eyed woman said in a stiff voice. "These days, there are a lot of idle mercenaries who think about hitting the jackpot, and they dare to go to the Blood Lake after temporarily registering a team. Some of them haven't even arrived at the scene and have been beaten back by monsters on the way. This is for your own good. The area around the Blood Lake is full of dangerous zones, and passing through those areas is different from your usual casual work on the periphery. Without teamwork and team experience, going in is death."

The dead-eyed woman's tone was not polite, but that was because she had been repeating these words constantly these days, which led to her irritability. Hao Ren knew that what she said was probably the truth, but he didn't want to give up. "Then how can we..."

"You are now a level five team, individual levels don't count. At least upgrade to level four."

In other words: professional qualifications are not up to standard, no work permit will be issued!

Hao Ren didn't expect to encounter this situation of a third-level fitter not being able to pay a second-level salary in another world. "Reality" is indeed a bad game that makes things difficult everywhere. He whispered to Becky, "How are these level four and level five mercenaries calculated? By the way, just explain all the levels. I'm confused about this."

"It's divided into individual and team levels. Both grading methods have level five as the lowest and level one as the highest. Above that are honorary titles that are only awarded by the royal family or the church for special contributions. For teams, it's easier to upgrade from level five to level four, just do twenty missions. The requirements for upgrading from level four to level three are much higher. Upgrading from level three to level two not only requires mission assessment, but also professional skill qualification re-examination and political review organized by the governments of various countries. Upgrading from level two to level one also requires passing three general foreign language and military strategy written tests, knight doctrine written tests, and personal cultivation and moral character interviews. In short, in addition to being able to fight, you must also reach the point of being a top talent in terms of ideological outlook to be called a trump card mercenary. Individual assessments are similar, with slight differences in the details. I passed the political review back then, but I didn't pass the knight doctrine written test and the personal cultivation interview, so I'm still stuck at level two."

Hao Ren's expression froze, and he slandered in his heart: Reality is indeed a bad game. Mercenary upgrades are actually like taking professional titles! You're already in another world, can't you just honestly tell me where to kill how many? Taking the civil service exam might be easier than getting this title!

"What would happen if we went directly to the Blood Lake without that pass?" Hao Ren tried to ask. He wasn't someone who wouldn't be flexible. At this time, he naturally thought of loopholes.

"You better not have any crooked ideas. Other places are fine, but the Beinz Blood Lake is a sacred place - although it hasn't reached the level of a forbidden zone, the situation there is special now, and there are definitely a lot of church knights and kingdom knights there," Becky glanced at Hao Ren. "Not having a pass will cause a lot of trouble, and it would be even more of a disaster if you are mistaken for heretical saboteurs."

"Twenty missions... Completing twenty missions will get us out of the novice stage, right?" Hao Ren asked the dead-eyed woman behind the counter, and received an affirmative answer.

"Then how do we post missions? What's the process?"

"It's done here. For simple missions, you can submit the mission requirements on the spot and deposit the rewards here in advance. The minimum reward is one Gina, and there's no upper limit. A commission of one-tenth of the association's fee is charged for mission rewards exceeding ten Gina, while all rewards below ten Gina will be paid to the mercenaries without handling fees. Of course, don't expect anyone to accept missions with too low rewards. Weigh it yourself. Do you want to post a mission?"

Hao Ren turned to Becky. "Lend me a Gina."

"One? That's fine..." Becky took out a coin and handed it to Hao Ren, puzzled.

Hao Ren slapped the small piece of metal on the counter. "Post a mission, find someone, reward one Gina, find a girl named Nangong Wuyue."

Then everyone behind him was dumbfounded.

The dead-eyed clerk didn't know what was going on. She quickly filled out a simple form, and then Hao Ren directly pushed Nangong Wuyue forward. "The 'All the Good Names Were Taken By Dogs' mercenary group accepts the mission in your hand - the person has been found."

A few tens of minutes later, at the gate of the mercenary association.

Hao Ren led four "bodyguards" with wonderful expressions and squatted on the steps to watch the people coming and going on the street. Becky stood next to them, still in a daze. The mercenary girl spent a long time before squeezing out a sentence. "...It is estimated that new regulations will be urgently issued everywhere tomorrow."

Hao Ren turned to look at the closed gate of the mercenary association. "Do you think I'll get beaten to death if I go in again next time?"

"Yes."