Chapter 6: Trouble for Irritable Rabbit, World Invasion!
“Brother, brother, wake up!”
Early the next morning, Qin Fang, still half-asleep, heard Qin Xiaoyou knocking on his door.
He rubbed his somewhat drowsy eyes, opened them, and bright daylight streamed in from outside the window.
He was dazed for a moment before he finally came to his senses.
...Yesterday, he had been thinking about recruiting employees and didn't know when he had fallen asleep...
He subconsciously yawned.
But then he suddenly jolted, his gaze snapping to what was in front of him.
After a long moment, Qin Fang finally let out a long breath, relaxed his entire body, and smiled...
The panel was still there.
It wasn't a dream.
He had truly acquired an unimaginably powerful profession!
Without further hesitation, Qin Fang perked up, got dressed, and got out of bed.
Today, he was going to a dungeon!
...
Stepping out of his room, he found that Qin Xiaoyou was already fully prepared.
“Brother, you’re so slow!”
Qin Xiaoyou had already changed her clothes.
Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail, and she wore a black combat suit, which made her small figure appear very trim and capable.
...This black combat suit was, of course, a second-hand item that Qin Fang had modified for her after they bought it.
It was summer now, and she wore black shorts, with a dagger sheath strapped to her smooth right thigh, holding a dagger.
A typical female assassin’s summer skin.
...Hmm, this dagger was, of course, just an ordinary dagger, not even a white-grade item.
A ‘white-grade’ dagger would be a dungeon drop.
And weapons with attack attributes dropped from dungeons... they couldn't afford them.
...Of course, now, they didn't need them either.
The strength of an Epic Professional had already been verified by yesterday's Irritable Rabbit.
Even a Level 9 Irritable Rabbit was instantly killed, so ordinary dungeons held no difficulty for them.
“Breakfast is ready, hurry and eat so we can leave!”
Qin Xiaoyou was a bit impatient.
Qin Fang saw that breakfast was indeed ready.
It was just two simple bowls of noodles, without any toppings.
“Okay, let me wash up first.”
Qin Fang said, heading to the bathroom to wash up. After he came out, the siblings sat at the table and began to eat.
“Brother, which dungeon are we going to later?”
Qin Xiaoyou asked eagerly.
Qin Fang thought for a moment and then said, “Yesterday, the Irritable Rabbit caused us trouble... so today, we’ll go cause trouble for the Irritable Rabbit.”
“Irritable Rabbit?” Qin Xiaoyou’s eyes lit up: “Good!”
There were a total of five dungeons near Iron Tooth City, and the Irritable Rabbit’s dungeon was called ‘Rabbit Paradise’, a 0-tier dungeon, perfect for them as 0-tier Professionals.
The two quickly finished breakfast. Qin Xiaoyou went to wash the dishes, while Qin Fang rummaged through the pile of junk in the room for a moment, finally pulling out a small dagger.
He held it in his hand and swung it a few times, feeling it wasn't very handy.
But he couldn't find anything better, so he would just make do for now.
...He didn't plan to expose his Boss profession for the time being.
But he was also a Professional now, and naturally needed to level up, which meant he needed a profession to cover for him.
Assassin, without a doubt, was his best cover at the moment.
...Anyway, he didn't plan to team up with anyone, and without teaming up, his profession information would be very difficult for others to know.
Unless the other party possessed some high-level appraisal or detection skills.
However, he was going to a 0-tier dungeon this time, so it was unlikely he would encounter anyone with such skills.
After getting ready, the siblings left the house.
Pushing open the front door, a street like a shantytown came into view.
Collapsed houses, cracked streets everywhere, haphazardly built shanties... it was like a war-torn country from his previous life.
This was the slum area of the Ironfang Base City.
Over thirty years ago, the World Invasion occurred, and human civilization at the time suffered devastating blows. After a series of chaos, especially with the emergence of Professionals, humanity was able to rebuild their homes from the ruins.
However, due to various reasons, it was difficult to rebuild the once brilliant and livable human civilization.
Of course, the authorities and combat Professionals still had very good living conditions.
But as orphans, where would they have such privileged conditions?
Qin Fang and Qin Xiaoyou walked through the shantytown. There were many people, and it wasn't as orderly and restrained as in his previous life.
Qin Fang even saw people relieving themselves on the street...
The regression of civilization to such an extent was unavoidable.
Qin Fang suddenly had a thought, remembering something.
Just as Qin Xiaoyou said, his Professional characteristic was that the more employees he had, the stronger he became.
He might as well check out the situation.
Thinking this, he focused his mind and casually looked at a woman passing by.
“Target for Investigation!”
Swish!
The panel appeared.
A line of text emerged.
【Failed to awaken a profession, no potential, cannot be recruited.】
“So non-Professionals can’t be recruited, huh...”
Qin Fang pondered.
He switched to another target.
“Target for Investigation!”
【Failed to awaken a profession, no potential, cannot be recruited.】
...
Ten or so in a row, all were unrecruitable.
Qin Fang looked speechless.
...He was truly experiencing how rare Professionals were.
“I refuse to believe it...”
He muttered.
Anyway, the mana cost for ‘Target for Investigation’ was very low; with his current mental power of 30, he could use it continuously without issue.
Finally, he found a Professional.
【Name: XX】
【Profession: Gardener】
【Strength...】
...
【Target’s potential is not Epic, recruitment is not recommended.】
(PS: A large enterprise still needs some entry requirements.)
...
Seeing this text description, Qin Fang was stunned for a moment.
Did this mean... he could only recruit people with ‘Epic Potential’ or higher?
Epic Professionals...
One in a hundred thousand?
“...Could it be that this Boss of mine... will only have Qin Xiaoyou as an employee for a long, long time?”
Qin Fang’s face twitched.
The more employees he had, the stronger he became!
Originally, his idea was to recruit as many employees as possible.
Even ordinary white-grade professions would be fine... after all, he perfectly shared his employees' attributes.
With many ordinary Professional employees, the stacked attributes would also be terrifying.
...Being an unremarkable stat monster would also work.
But now, the appearance of this prompt had effectively crushed Qin Fang’s idea.
Qin Fang was speechless.
Still unwilling to give up, he continued his investigations.
The result proved... they were truly hard to come by.
Let alone Epic-grade.
He hadn't even encountered anyone with ‘Elite’ potential!
...Was he really going to be a lone commander for a long time?
Qin Fang’s mood suddenly turned sour.
...
In his frustration, he and Qin Xiaoyou had unknowingly arrived at the bus station in the city center of Ironfang Base City.
From Ironfang to Rabbit Paradise, it was a full twenty-odd kilometers, which would take over an hour to walk.
Fortunately, there was a small town outside the dungeon, and there were direct buses from the city.
The two entered the station and quickly found a bus heading to ‘Rabbit Town’.
A female ticket seller was selling tickets at the bus door, and the siblings walked over.
“How much is the ticket?”
Qin Fang asked the ticket seller.
“20 silver coins.”
The ticket seller glanced at the two and said casually.
This world’s currency system had long since collapsed; the current currency system appeared after the cataclysm.
Copper coins, silver coins, gold coins... etc.
And these monies all came from the dungeon worlds.
They were not just currency; in some places related to dungeons, professions, and so on, they had other uses.
Therefore, they successfully replaced the currency system previously issued by nations.
Hearing it cost 20 silver coins, Qin Fang’s teeth ached.
Between copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins, it was all a hundred-based system.
One hundred copper coins equaled 1 silver coin.
2000 copper coins...
Previously, he and Qin Xiaoyou would have to work for half a month at the junkyard or ecological park to earn that.
And now, a single bus ticket to a dungeon cost so much!
...The hardship of ordinary people’s lives could be seen from this point.
Fortunately, both of them were now Professionals.
Earning money would be much easier in the future.
The two at least had some savings, all with Qin Xiaoyou. After Qin Xiaoyou awakened her panel yesterday, all that money was put into the panel’s ‘wallet’.
Qin Xiaoyou looked pained, but at Qin Fang’s signal, she reluctantly, with a flick of her hand, produced forty silver coins and handed them to the ticket seller with great reluctance.
The ticket seller took them, and with a flick of her hand, the silver coins disappeared. Then she looked at the siblings and let them board the bus.
There were already quite a few passengers on the vehicle, chatting idly. When Qin Xiaoyou and Qin Fang got on, they subconsciously looked over.
When they saw Qin Fang, a few young ladies' eyes visibly brightened...
After all, Qin Fang's good looks were quite striking.
Qin Fang even saw the look of astonishment in their eyes.
...Having lived with such a face for several years, he was already used to such gazes.
Unmoved, he found an empty seat with Qin Xiaoyou and sat down.
He roughly scanned his surroundings and found that most of the passengers on the vehicle were quite young, similar in age to them.
After all, this was a vehicle heading to Rabbit Town, and most of those getting on were 0-rank Professionals.
That is, those who had just awakened recently.
Naturally, their ages were also relatively young.
Most of them were chatting idly. Listening to their conversations, Qin Fang gradually understood...
These were all students from the city's schools. They seemed to have just awakened recently and were now going to dungeons to level up.
In the world of Professionals, schools were naturally linked to Professionals.
He heard that the academy awakened a batch of students every month.
But unfortunately, Qin Fang and Qin Xiaoyou were orphans; it was already good enough that they managed to grow up, so they had no chance to attend school.
They only completed some basic knowledge learning in the orphanage, barely enough to not be illiterate.
But anything more was out of the question.
Going to school required tuition fees.
And it wasn't cheap.
The orphanage itself struggled to operate; where would they have spare money to send them to school?
...Compulsory education had long been abolished under the impact of the world's great changes.
He did hear that some people had been repeatedly bringing up the matter of compulsory education.
But it seemed to be held back by some people.
...There were bad people among the masses, indeed.
"Chen Yu, did your attack power really break a hundred? What level are you now?"
"I'm Level 6. With a full set of equipment, I barely break a hundred."
"That's too strong, isn't it? I'm Level 5, and my attack is only over 40..."
"Don't even mention it, my heart hurts... I'm only over 30, and I die and revive just clearing a normal dungeon..."
The students next to them were talking, not deliberately lowering their voices, and their topic naturally revolved around Professional matters.
Most of them were complaining.
For ordinary Professionals, dungeons were not places that could be easily cleared.
Someone mentioned attack power, which resonated with them, and they complained endlessly about how difficult it was to increase attack power.
"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..."
They sighed repeatedly.
Qin Xiaoyou blinked her eyes, unable to resist looking at Qin Fang.
Qin Fang winked at her.
Qin Xiaoyou's small bottom on the seat wiggled non-stop; she was clearly very excited.
But she still held back from saying much.
Indeed, without comparison, the feeling of happiness wouldn't be as strong.
These people were all Level 5 or 6, yet their attack power hadn't broken a hundred?
And she, Level 0, had an attack of 695!
...Wasn't this gap even greater than between people and dogs?
However, her older brother was low-key, so Qin Xiaoyou couldn't be too high-profile either.
They were only 0-rank after all, and currently seemed very powerful.
But in reality, if a 1-rank Professional came along, especially with good equipment and skills, she might not necessarily be an opponent.
After all... rank suppression was no joke.
A difference of one rank meant a direct 20% absolute damage reduction and absolute damage increase... It wasn't just talk.
They were still very weak now; it was better to lie low and develop first.
Listening to the people next to them chat, the vehicle soon filled up and started.
The vehicle left Iron Tooth City and headed towards the wilderness.
The wilderness was very dangerous now, after all... dungeon monsters that hadn't been perfectly cleared would respawn outside.
They couldn't be killed off completely; even if cleared, they would respawn in a couple of days.
Unless the dungeon they spawned from was perfectly cleared.
The vehicle jolted, as the roads outside the city were severely damaged due to the dungeon monsters. Although they had been patched up afterward, they were constantly being destroyed.
He had expected to encounter some monsters or something along the way. But the journey was unexpectedly smooth...
They didn't encounter any dungeon monsters.
He understood with a moment's thought.
After all, this was the way to the dungeon area; Professionals frequently passed through here, so any monsters would have been killed long ago.
"I should have just come by myself, it's only about an hour."
Qin Xiaoyou muttered softly.
In fact, it would be even faster.
After all, that 1 hour here was based on them being ordinary people.
But now, were they still ordinary people?
Qin Xiaoyou's agility of 30, and Qin Fang's even higher agility of 50... were not just for show.
Agility was related to many things; for assassins, it affected attack power, critical hit chance, critical damage, attack speed... and naturally, movement speed.
In fact, 20 kilometers was not far for most Professionals.
After all, Professionals' bodies were energy-based, and their stamina was astonishing.
Qin Fang knew she was feeling bad about the forty silver coins.
"It's fine, there will be many opportunities to earn money in the future, don't worry about such a small amount."
He said with a smile.
...
About twenty minutes later, Qin Fang and Qin Xiaoyou saw a small town.
The huge sign with the words 'Rabbit Town' could be seen from afar.
The Rabbit Paradise dungeon was located here.
The vehicle stopped, and as the two got out, they heard a series of shouts.
"Third High School team, students from Third High School, come here! We're missing one physical damage dealer, the vehicle is departing!"
"Level 9 Warrior carrying, 80J per run, no Professional limit, no level limit. Hurry up if you want to get on!"
"Level 9 Mage leading, guaranteed safety, quick clear of hard mode dungeon! Need two tanks, requiring dual resistance above 25!"
...
These shouts made Qin Fang's expression a little strange for a moment... as if he had traveled to a large online game world.
Qin Xiaoyou was also visiting such a gathering place for Professionals for the first time, and she was equally excited and curious, looking left and right.
The professions in this world were diverse, but generally, they could be divided into five main categories: tanks, physical damage dealers, magic damage dealers, ranged damage dealers, and supports.
Besides those forming teams, there were also people selling equipment, materials, and other items.
Stalls were set up everywhere, filled with a dazzling array of goods, making it hard for people to take everything in.
"Brother, should we buy some equipment?"
Qin Xiaoyou suddenly asked Qin Fang.
"How much money do we still have?"
Qin Xiaoyou's eyes glazed over.
"Still a little over 74 silver coins..."
"Then what can we buy? Even a random white-grade dagger would be one or two hundred silver coins, wouldn't it?"
"Uh..."
"Let's just go to the dungeon and fight; I'll open a party."
Qin Fang said, operating on his panel.
Professionals could form teams, and when in a team, teammates' damage would not harm other teammates.
...He had spent most of last night looking at the panel, and it wasn't for nothing.
He quickly found the team-up option and mentally wrote Qin Xiaoyou's name.
Qin Xiaoyou's eyes immediately glazed over as she saw the prompt on her panel.
【'Qin Fang' requests to team up with you. Do you accept?】
She naturally chose to accept.
Immediately, two small avatars appeared on her panel, belonging to her and Qin Fang.
Basic information such as name, profession, level, and health were also displayed.
For example, next to Qin Fang's avatar, the two bright large characters 'Boss' were written.
Qin Fang glanced at it and decided he wouldn't easily team up with anyone in the future.
"Let's go."
Once they formed a team, they could enter the same dungeon, so they immediately headed towards the dungeon.
Halfway there.
"Brother, look, it's the Centaur Clan..."
Qin Xiaoyou suddenly noticed something.
Qin Fang paused, subconsciously looking over.
Not far away, several tall figures, whose upper bodies were indistinguishable from humans but whose lower bodies resembled horses, were visible.
Qin Fang's eyes narrowed slightly.