18: A veteran adventurer

Chapter 18: A Seasoned Adventurer

After pressing his fingerprint, the assessment officially began.

Although there were still three days until the mission departure time, from now on, Ulla would follow Dick's side, observing and recording his every move.

After the mission ended, Ulla would send the report to the Guild Headquarters to finally determine if Dick had the qualifications of an Elite.

As the most special title for adventurers, every Elite needed to undergo extremely strict assessments and reviews, making it incredibly valuable.

“Alright, candidate Dick, from now on I will not provide you with any form of assistance, including but not limited to verbal or facial cues...”

“But if, during the mission, you encounter life-threatening danger due to a decision error, I will intervene in time to help, but this also means your assessment has failed!”

Ulla explained the rules and precautions once, then said nothing more.

Alice was extremely excited; it was her first time witnessing an Elite's practical assessment.

And most importantly, she was a participant!

“Di, Dick! What should we do now?”

Looking at the eager Alice, Dick didn't waste any more words, but directly pushed the door open and left.

Although there were three days of preparation time, there were too many things to do, so they had to start acting now.

Immediately, Dick first found the merchant who commissioned the task and carefully confirmed the goods to be escorted.

These were three carts of expensive medicinal herbs, with a total value exceeding a thousand gold coins, temporarily stored in a warehouse in the southern part of the outer district.

This was cargo that was enough to make bandits risk their lives, and at the same time, the scent emitted by this medicinal herb would also attract many Beasts.

It could be said that this batch of goods attracted both bandits and Beasts; it was definitely a hot potato!

“Hehe, here are the warehouse keys and the city exit approval documents. I'll leave this batch of goods to you...”

A bald middle-aged man with a face full of smiles handed over the relevant items to Dick, then patted his butt and left.

He wasn't worried about his goods having problems, not because he trusted Dick, but because Ulla was accompanying this escort mission!

After learning that the mission he posted was chosen by the Guild as an Elite assessment mission, the middle-aged man was happy all night.

You know, the President of the Adventurers Guild would personally accompany them! With Ulla as the backup, could anything be more secure than this?

Whether Dick could pass the Elite assessment, he didn't know.

But without a doubt, his goods would definitely be safely delivered to their destination!

After confirming the goods again, Dick immediately took Mina to the market to purchase relevant items, while Alice stayed behind in the warehouse to guard the goods.

“Dick, I want to go shopping too! This young lady doesn't want to guard the goods...”

Alice complained, she didn't understand why Dick wanted her to do such chores. Weren't there guards on duty at the warehouse?

Dick was originally too lazy to explain. After all, with the soul contract, he could just directly order Alice.

But glancing at Ulla on the side, in order to improve his assessment score, Dick still patiently explained:

“From the moment we accept the mission, we are responsible for the safety of the goods.”

“Not only do we have to guard the goods now, but after buying things later, the three of us will also live directly in the warehouse until we depart.”

Although normally it wouldn't be that troublesome, Dick was meticulous in his work and wanted to complete the mission perfectly, so that his assessment report would not have a single flaw!

Alice suddenly understood upon hearing this, but still couldn't help but ask in confusion, “Why isn't Mina staying here, and you and I go shopping... *cough*, go purchase supplies?”

“Because your strength is high, your vigilance is high, and you are more capable of handling this job than Mina. My expectations for you are very high.”

After some praise, Alice felt a bit lightheaded. She awkwardly folded her arms across her chest and turned to the side, saying, “Well, well, that is true. You guys go quickly and come back quickly. With this young lady watching, the goods will definitely be safe.”

After leaving the warehouse, Dick did not go to the usual commoner market, but instead turned to some shops frequently visited by adventurers to purchase some extremely professional items.

Odor-isolating waterproof cloth, perception-blocking magic stones, rune stones for constructing barriers...

Everything Dick bought was specifically for this mission, almost considering all unexpected situations, making it outrageously secure.

By evening, Dick had already bought hundreds of gold coins worth of supplies, far exceeding the reward for this escort mission.

This seemed a bit like putting the cart before the horse. After all, adventurers did missions to make money, and Dick's actions were truly a losing business.

But all of this was for the Elite assessment, not to earn that small mission reward.

Besides, this purchase was also reimbursed by Alice, so Dick didn't feel any heartache at all.

Ulla followed Dick the entire time, not saying a single word, but the look of approval in his eyes never disappeared.

Dick was very professional when buying things. Every item of supply had a purpose; he didn't buy the most expensive, only the most suitable.

Not only that, Dick went back and forth through hundreds of shops, purchasing in batches, so that no one could see his purpose.

Dick had the Bison Family backing him, clearly not lacking money, but he insisted on bargaining with people every time he bought something, arguing with the bosses until his face was red, like an apprentice who was short on money.

Was this a nineteen-year-old youth?

Was this a rookie adventurer who had just started out?

No, this was clearly an old hand who had struggled for decades, every gesture and movement exuding a calm maturity.

People like Dick were most welcomed by adventurer teams. You could practically assign all sorts of trivial matters to him, and he would handle them perfectly for you.

Afterward, Dick indeed moved into the warehouse, and even set up many barriers to prevent fire, theft, and perverts.

In the following days, Dick also didn't stay idle, but personally walked the delivery route of over three hundred miles.

Along the way, he marked road sections, checked road conditions, predicted the weather, and investigated the distribution of nearby Beasts.

Ulla was stunned. Dick's approach was simply textbook-level; not a single fault could be found.

He, a dignified Guild President, had at least decades of adventuring experience, but in front of Dick, he seemed like a babbling child.

Many details that even Ulla himself hadn't thought of, Dick was able to cover comprehensively.

The most outrageous thing was that Dick even took the time to figure out the bandit branch in the southern suburbs.

The day before departure, the Byson Knights set off grandly.

They thoroughly swept the southern suburban forest. The bandits were caught off guard, their cries of misery filled the fields, and they were all wiped out.

They wouldn't have thought that they faced this devastating disaster because of an Elite assessment.

Ulla felt that Dick using the power of the Bison Family was a bit of a foul.

But regarding this, Dick's explanation was.

“Since I discovered the bandits in advance, out of my duty as a territory resident, I reported the situation to the Byson Knights immediately. Isn't that a very normal thing?”

“And just coincidentally, the Knights were extremely efficient and set off to suppress the bandits that very day, sweeping the southern suburbs clean.”

Everything seemed reasonable and logical.

With such an explanation, Ulla also had no choice. He couldn't possibly make Dick discover bandits and not report it.

As for why the Knights were so efficient...

Does that even need asking? The young master of the Bison Family was a member of the team, how could they not be efficient...

At the same time, because Alice had just been attacked by a Beast tide not long ago, the Knights also proactively cleaned up the southern suburbs.

Any threatening Beasts were all eliminated.

Just like this, until the day Dick and his group departed, the area within three hundred miles south of Bison Territory had become extremely safe.

Not to mention bandits and Beasts, even slightly uneven roads were leveled. The Bison Family was afraid that Alice would experience even a little bump.

Ulla, who witnessed all of this, knew that even before setting off, Dick was already secure.

After this, if nothing unexpected happened, it would just be a formality to deliver the goods to the destination.

But in order to test Dick's adaptability, Ulla had already arranged for people from the Guild to lie in ambush along the way to create incidents of bandit attacks and Beast charges.

Just like this, a dangerous assessment full of uncertain factors was forcibly turned into a safe and comfortable simulation exercise.