"Next stage: Total monster kills accumulated reaches 1,000."

Gauss’s brain buzzed like it was overclocked.

Like rusty gears being oiled, stiff strings recalibrated, his thoughts and spirit grew increasingly fluid.

His consciousness felt lifted by a gentle yet powerful force, temporarily detaching from his body’s shell to become a calm observer.

Watching the changes in his mind, he sensed his mental power and internal mana surging turbulently.

After a while,

his consciousness lightly settled back into the depths of his body like a bird returning to its nest.

He opened his eyes.

His pupils shone with incredible brightness, the mental power filling his gaze nearly overflowing. If an ordinary person met his sharp, almost tangible stare, they would likely be scorched by it.

“Intelligence: 9!”

The cold number flashed in his mind, yet it barely described the transformation in his spiritual world.

In truth, even a slight increase in intelligence brought all-around improvements.

First, his memory and logic became sharper, aiding his study and spell model construction.

The confusing, fog-like passages from the Meditation Method he read a few nights ago suddenly became crystal clear in his mind, and the previously vexing obstacles opened up with ease.

An unprecedented enlightenment blossomed within him.

He felt a strange confidence that if he found a quiet place and picked up the Meditation Method again, he could master its essence.

After all, the Meditation Method was originally a cultivation technique for spellcasters entering their profession.

Other spellcasters might grasp it through repeated reading, copying, or spending a large amount of time memorizing. Gauss could do the same;

he had only been dealing with the book for a short time and had relatively little magical knowledge stored, which had trapped him in some difficulties.

But now, the simple truth of “strength causes bricks to fly” applied even on the spiritual level. With intelligence at 9 points, he was no comparison to when he had 8 points.

The changes were not limited to comprehension alone.

The mana flowing within him now ran more smoothly, like a polished river channel.

The “Ranked Cup” floating deep in his consciousness shone with unprecedented brilliance, the runes on its walls flowing in details now clearer than ever.

He realized he had taken a huge step toward level 2 of his professional rank, even though not much time had passed since he reached level 1.

Moreover, Gauss vaguely sensed his intelligence had already surpassed the usual theoretical limit of pure humans at level 1 spellcaster stage. This remarkable “strength” was invisibly driving the entire system’s improvement.

Mana control, spellcasting precision, rank strength, the maximum number of spells he could learn, and even the efficiency of meditation practice… all were like seedlings nourished with extra care and growth!

His mental power surged again, stirring a heroic spirit in his heart!

Right now, within level 1, he should have no rivals, right?

Even those ferocious level 1 challenge monsters would definitely lose if he fought them one-on-one.

He even speculated whether he had the capital to contend with level 2 professionals or even lower-level professionals.

Of course, that arrogant thought flashed only briefly in his mind.

Soon after, reason took back control.

Grow steadily, don’t be reckless!

Just like when he leveled up to 1, he still painstakingly “bullied” low-level monsters to accumulate strength. This safe and efficient growth path was the right rhythm for him to get stronger.

Not far away, Aria keenly noticed the unusual change in Gauss.

Although she could not feel that intangible transformation, her druid intuition told her he was at a strange critical state, so it was best not to disturb him.

She silently signaled her excited gray wolf Ulfen, pulling him quietly a little distance away.

Then she turned and silently began collecting the spoils from the Rust Frogs on the ground—the frog tongues as task proof, and the thigh meat Gauss needed.

When Gauss slowly reined in his spirit and refocused on the real world, Aria, who had been quietly watching him, came closer.

Beside her lay a small pile of processed frog legs, pale pink frog meat wrapped in oiled cloth, and rolled frog skins packed up.

“How... do you feel?”

She could sense Gauss’s aura had become more concentrated and profound, like a polished blade—its sharpness restrained but even more piercing.

She had heard before that some prodigious professionals could absorb nourishment from battle itself to grow stronger,

but this was her first time seeing someone actually get stronger directly from fighting.

He truly was a one-in-a-million genius.

“Thanks, I’m good. I’d say I gained a little,” Gauss smiled with excitement, feeling a twinge of guilt seeing her busy so long. “Thanks for your hard work. Leave the rest to me. You should rest.”

“Look at you.” Aria was about to habitually rub her forehead, but seeing the dark red stains on her hand, she reluctantly put it down. Her tone carried an unshakable insistence. “Say that again, and I remind you, we’re teammates.”

Gauss smiled upon hearing this, said no more, and joined the gathering.

After killing monsters, cleaning the battlefield was often far more troublesome than the fight itself.

When the two finally finished handling the spoils from fifty-two Rust Frogs,

the sun was nearly setting.

The sunset glow had dyed the sky a warm orange-red.

Gauss had obtained over two hundred pounds of precious frog leg meat this trip;

combined with before, the total was nearly four hundred pounds.

However, his Storage Bag’s capacity was 500 pounds (about 227 kilograms). Adding these meats to his existing items obviously exceeded the limit.

Yet he could not bear to discard them. This pile of frog meat was extremely energy-dense, enough to sustain him for a long time.

Besides, he always felt it tasted richer and more flavorful than ordinary meat.

After weighing options, he chose to remove some packages from the Storage Bag and packed all the giant frog meat inside. As for the freed-up luggage, he and the gray wolf Ulfen split the load.

For this, Gauss gave some raw meat as a reward to Ulfen.

That night, the two stayed in a nearby village.

They prepared to rest and recover energy before returning to Grayrock Town the next day.

“Aria.” After dinner, Gauss brought up a question he had been thinking about for a while. “Do you think... we should consider buying mounts?”

“I was just about to discuss that with you,” Aria said, feeling their thoughts aligned. “We could hitch a ride with the caravan when we left, but on the way back or future tasks, we can’t always rely on meeting a passing group.”

Gauss agreed wholeheartedly.

Before, he hadn’t bought mounts partly because of a tight budget, partly because learning to ride required time and effort, and partly because he worried that if he acted alone and got into a fight, his mount might be lost or endangered.

But now, with Aria, a druid who could communicate with animals, mastering riding would be much easier. Although top-tier mounts were still out of reach, at least there were options.

A reliable mount meant a qualitative leap in load capacity, mobility, and overall team efficiency.

Before discovering a more magical mode of transportation, mounts were undoubtedly the most practical solution for low-level professionals.

“There aren’t many choices in Grayrock Town.” Aria had clearly done her homework and analyzed seriously. “Talking about mount trading, we must mention the Forest Capital, Barry. It has the largest nearby trade market. If you decide, we can find an opportunity to take a mission heading near Barry. After completing it, we can stop by to pick one.”

“Among mounts, horses are the most common. Small horses suit forests, giant hoofed goats can climb mountains and carry heavy loads, tamed ground lizards are drought-resistant, land birds are fast, there are also mountain goats, wild oxen... quite a few choices. But I haven’t inquired about real prices.”

Her giant wolf Ulfen was strong but had a spine structure unsuited for long rides carrying heavy loads on long raids. Once or twice was okay, but forcing it to be a mount long-term was a heavy burden.

As for using druid powers to tame wild animals in the field? Also not very realistic. A druid’s animal affinity was not absolute control.

Convincing wild, unruly beasts to willingly leave their homes and serve as beasts of burden long-term was no easy feat.

Meanwhile, on the other side,

Barry...

Hearing this familiar name, Gauss’s thoughts involuntarily drifted away.

The first time he heard of Barry, he was still a complete rookie who hadn’t even completed a single mission…

He still kept the commission from that first mission, the part belonging to the whole team but not yet handed over.

He wondered how the others were doing.

After their preliminary discussion on mounts, the two returned to their rooms to rest.

Gauss lay on the hard wooden bed but couldn’t sleep.

The excitement from his intelligence breakthrough still faintly stirred inside him.

He got up and opened the window.

Silvery, gauzy moonlight flowed quietly into the room like water, softly spilling onto the table.

The clear moonlight and the flickering oil lamp’s glow intertwined, illuminating the yellowed pages of the old book.

A rare opportunity.

He wanted to use this energetic mental state from reaching intelligence 9 to conquer the last barrier of the Meditation Method.

Once he mastered meditation, the growth of his mana pool would have a more stable daily cultivation path.

More importantly, this was a key step to pushing his “Ranked Cup” to upgrade further and unlock deeper powers!