"Brother, brother, wake up!" Early the next morning, Vincent heard Thalia knocking on his door. He rubbed his drowsy eyes. Bright daylight flooded his room. For a moment, he was disoriented, remembering he had spent all night pondering his new profession. He yawned, then jolted, his gaze snapping to the empty space in front of him. After a long moment, he let out a long, slow breath. The panel was still there. It wasn't a dream. He had truly acquired an unimaginably powerful profession.
Vincent perked up, got dressed, and headed out. He found Thalia already prepared.
"Brother, you're so slow!" she said.
Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail, and her small figure looked trim and capable in a second-hand black combat suit Vincent had modified for her. She wore black shorts with a dagger sheath strapped to her right thigh, holding a simple dagger. It was an ordinary dagger, not even a white-grade item, which they couldn't afford. Of course, now they didn't need it. The strength of an Epic Professional had been proven by yesterday's Irritable Rabbit.
"Breakfast is ready, hurry and eat so we can leave!" Thalia said impatiently.
Vincent saw two simple bowls of noodles with no toppings. "Okay, let me wash up first."
After he came out, the siblings sat at the table and began to eat.
"Brother, which dungeon are we going to later?" Thalia asked eagerly.
"Yesterday, the Irritable Rabbit caused us trouble," Vincent said with a small smile. "Today, we'll go cause trouble for the Irritable Rabbit."
Thalia's eyes lit up. "Good!"
The two quickly finished breakfast. Thalia went to wash the dishes, while Vincent rummaged through the pile of junk in the room, pulling out a small dagger. It wasn't very handy, but he had nothing better.
He didn't plan to expose his Boss' profession, so he needed a cover. Assassin, without a doubt, was his best choice. He didn't plan to team up with anyone, which would make his information very difficult for others to find, unless they had high-level appraisal skills. Given that they were going to a Tier 0 dungeon, that was unlikely.
Ready, the siblings left the house. Pushing open the front door, a shantytown came into view. Collapsed houses, cracked streets, and haphazardly built shanties stretched out before them, like a war-torn country from his previous life. This was the slum area of IronFang Base City.
Thirty years ago, humanity suffered a devastating blow from the World Invasion. The emergence of Professionals allowed them to rebuild, but the once-brilliant civilization was difficult to restore. Of course, the authorities and combat professionals had good lives, but as orphans, Vincent and Thalia had no such privileged conditions.
They walked through the crowded streets. Vincent even saw people relieving themselves on the street, a stark sign of how far civilization had regressed.
Vincent suddenly had a thought. He remembered that the more employees he had, the stronger he became. He might as well check out the situation.
He focused his mind, a passing woman becoming his target.
"Target for Investigation!"
A panel appeared.
[Failed to awaken a profession, no potential, cannot be recruited.]
So non-professionals can't be recruited, Vincent pondered. He tried a few more times, his mana barely affected. Each time, the result was the same. He was truly experiencing how rare professionals were.
He muttered, "I refuse to believe it."
Finally, he found a professional.
[Name: XX]
[Profession: Gardener]
[Strength...]
[Target's potential is not Epic, recruitment is not recommended.]
Vincent was stunned. He tried again. The result was the same. Was he limited to recruiting people with Epic potential or higher? Epic professionals… a one-in-a-hundred-thousand existence.
His face twitched. He had planned to recruit as many employees as possible, even ordinary ones. He could have become an unassuming stat monster. But this prompt had crushed that idea. He was speechless. Unwilling to give up, he continued his investigations, but the results proved it: they were truly hard to come by. He hadn't even encountered anyone with Elite potential.
Was he really going to be a lone commander for a long, long time? Vincent's mood suddenly turned sour.
In his frustration, he and Thalia arrived at the city center's bus station. Rabbit Paradise was over twenty kilometers away. A direct bus from the city would get them there faster than an hour's walk. They found a bus heading to Rabbit Town and approached the ticket seller.
"How much is the ticket?" Vincent asked.
"Twenty silver coins," the seller said casually.
The current currency—copper, silver, and gold coins—all came from dungeons. A hundred copper coins equaled one silver. A single ticket costs twenty silver coins. That was two thousand copper coins—half a month's earnings for them at the junkyard. The hardship of ordinary people's lives was plain to see. Fortunately, as professionals now, earning money would be much easier.
Thalia's eyes were pained. At Vincent's signal, she reluctantly produced forty silver coins. The seller took them with a flick of her hand, and the coins disappeared.
Onboard, most of the passengers were young, just like them. They were recently awakened professionals—mostly students from city schools, headed to the dungeons to level up.
Vincent and Thalia were orphans; they had only received basic education from the orphanage and couldn't afford school.
"John, did your attack power really break a hundred? What level are you now?" a student next to them asked.
"I'm Level 6. With a full set of equipment, I barely break a hundred," came the reply.
"That's too strong, isn't it? I'm Level 5, and my attack is only over 40…"
"My heart hurts… I'm only over 30, and I die and revive just clearing a normal dungeon…"
The students sighed repeatedly. "It's a shame we're just ordinary professionals. This batch only produced a few dozen Elite Professionals. I heard that once they reach Level 5, their attack power almost automatically breaks a hundred."
"The professional coefficient for Elite Professionals is 10, a full double that of ordinary professionals. Isn't it normal for them to break a hundred?"
"Plus their professional skills… sigh, the gap between people is sometimes greater than the gap between people and dogs…"
Thalia's excitement was palpable. She had seen the gap. Level 5 and 6 students struggled to break 100 attack power, while she, at Level 0, had 695. The gap was far greater than between people and dogs. But Vincent was low-key, and they were still Tier 0. A Tier 1 professional with good equipment and skills might be a serious threat due to rank suppression. They were still weak. It was better to lie low and develop first.
The bus filled up and started. It left Iron Fang and headed into the wilderness, a dangerous place where monsters respawned if their dungeons weren't cleared. The road was jolting, but the journey was smooth. No monsters appeared, likely because this was a frequently traveled route for professionals.
"I should have just come by myself," Thalia muttered, feeling bad about the forty silver coins. For an assassin with 30 agility, a twenty-kilometer walk was nothing.
"It's fine," Vincent said with a smile. "There will be many opportunities to earn money in the future. Don't worry about such a small amount."
Twenty minutes later, they saw a small town with a huge sign: Rabbit Town. The Rabbit Paradise dungeon was here.
As they got off the bus, they were met by a cacophony of shouts.
"Third High School team, students from Third High School, come here! We're missing one physical damage dealer!"
"Level 9 Warrior carrying, 80J per run! No professional limit, no level limit!"
"Level 9 Mage leading, guaranteed safety! Quick clear of hard mode dungeon! Need two tanks!"
The shouts made Vincent's expression strange, as if he had traveled to a large online game world. Thalia, equally excited, looked left and right. The town square was a bazaar of professionals: tanks, physical damage dealers, mages, ranged damage dealers, and supports. Stalls sold a dazzling array of equipment, materials, and other items.
"Brother, should we buy some equipment?" Thalia asked.
"How much money do we still have?"
Thalia's eyes glazed over. "A little over 74 silver coins…"
"Then what can we buy? A single white-grade dagger would be one or two hundred silver coins. Let's just go to the dungeon and fight. I'll open a party." Vincent said, operating on his panel. He quickly found the team-up option and mentally added Thalia's name.
Thalia's panel lit up with a prompt: ['Vincent' requests to team up with you. Do you accept?] She chose to accept.
Immediately, two small avatars appeared on her panel, hers and Vincent's, along with basic information. Next to his, the two bright characters 'Boss' were written. Vincent glanced at it and decided he wouldn't easily team up with anyone in the future.
"Let's go."
They headed toward the dungeon. Halfway there, Thalia suddenly noticed something.
"Brother, look, it's the Centaur Clan…"
Vincent paused, looking over. Not far away, several tall figures—their upper bodies human and their lower bodies horses—were visible. His eyes narrowed slightly.