It's so painful! So hard! So difficult!

According to school regulations, students can enter and leave the school freely on weekends, but if they do not return to the dormitory, they need to apply for leave. So according to Bai Lin's plan, he will come back as much as possible to spend time with Katie on weekends.

"I'm leaving first." After staying in the dormitory for a while, Bai Lin looked at Katie and said so.

After being together for so long, the tacit understanding between Katie and Bai Lin has long been extraordinary. As soon as these words came out, Katie nodded obediently.

"Be careful. If you do anything stupid when I'm not around, I'll be very angry."

Bai Lin covered up the embarrassment with a smile and waved his hand, "No, no, but you too, you should study hard. Goodbye."

"See you."

There was no need for excessive farewells. They had both already experienced life and death, so why would they be afraid of this? This was a true friendship, a life-and-death relationship. No matter how much they talked, there would always be a time to finish. What they should be looking forward to was a reunion.

"Hey, Bai Lin won't stay for a while? Is she going to check into the knight dormitory?"

Looking at the figures of Andel and Bai Lin leaving, Yue Lingluo asked. Katie shook her head and explained for Bai Lin,

"I told you, she's not my knight. Just like I'm learning here, she also has her struggles."

-

"What are your plans next? Are you going to form a team of adventurers?"

On the way back, Andel asked this, and Bai Lin asked with some doubt,

"I'm actually not very clear about the team formation aspect. What are the requirements?"

Andel seemed to be accustomed to Bai Lin asking these questions, so she explained with relative patience.

"Generally speaking, there will be some job-seeking information from adventurers in the tavern. Most adventurers will come in and out there frequently, so if you screen them, it won't be difficult to form a normal team."

Bai Lin nodded thoughtfully, "Then it seems there are no rules. Can we form teams freely?"

Andel affirmed, "Yes. If you have connections, you can just go to someone's house and capture them. By the way, I don't have a team right now. If I want to form one..."

"I understand. You're definitely one of them. I don't have much experience in team operations, so you'll have to give me some advice when the time comes."

Seeing Andel hinting at this, Bai Lin spoke naturally. After all, she had some friendship with Andel, so having another trustworthy person was always better than slowly screening them all by herself. Zork's traitorous behavior still resonated in Bai Lin's mind. She knew how terrifying an unreliable teammate could be.

After bidding farewell to Andel, Bai Lin headed straight for the mysterious White Hair Magic Office. Before forming a team, she needed to first know the mission. Rather than accepting the mission from the commission board, she preferred to hear what Sora had to say.

Pushing open the door, Kong was holding a cup of black tea and preparing to drink it. Seeing Bai Lin coming in, she put down the teacup in her hand, showed her smile, looked at Bai Lin and said,

"Looks like there's a maid available today."

Bai Lin waved his hands repeatedly, "No, no, I'm here to listen to the commission. As for the maid's share... I'll owe her a little later."

Sora's smile remained undimmed. It seemed like what she had just said was meant to tease Bai Lin. "You've come at the right time. I do have a mission suitable for you. It's a bit difficult, but a team of four or five can probably handle it easily. Would you like to hear the details?"

Bai Lin nodded thoughtfully, "Sounds good, let's go with this one."

Sora then elaborated on the mission. This mission was a phased mission, meaning rewards would be paid based on the phases.

According to intelligence, a settlement exists in a valley far away from the mountains to the west of the city. Traces of the subhuman cat spirits have been spotted, and they appear to be in conflict with another race. The client hopes to gain more intelligence. If they can directly resolve the conflict, they will receive an additional reward. If they can establish a friendly relationship with them, they could receive the highest reward from the city officials.

"Communicate with other tribes?" Bai Lin asked.

"Yes, it's mainly because there are many monsters on the road, and the journey is quite long. Also, if you want the highest level of reward, it is indeed quite difficult. But with your level, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Bai Lin suddenly felt confused. She asked doubtfully, "Is there an official reward for this mission? Does that mean it's also announced officially?"

Sora nodded. "Yes, so you should also put some thought into assembling your teammates and aim for the highest difficulty level of the mission."

As for the rest, Kong also talked about the reward, and that was all the mission information.

Chapter 202 Private Visit

"By the way, although there will be a large number of magical beasts on the road, most adventurers know how to prepare their meat. However, regarding water, it is recommended to bring plenty. The ecological conditions in those mountains and forests are constantly changing, and unpurified water sources can easily cause problems."

After Bai Lin finished listening to the task, Kong kindly explained. Bai Lin nodded, said "thank you for the reminder", and then asked,

"As for forming a team, does Kong have any ideas? Do you have any recommendations?"

Seeing Bai Lin ask this, Kong leaned over his desk with great interest, holding his chin with one hand and said, "Yes, but before asking me for this kind of information, you'd better prepare some money, okay?"

As he spoke, Kong, who was already quite close to Bai Lin, blew his hot air onto her cheek. Bai Lin immediately turned away embarrassedly and waved his hand, "Forget it, I still owe you money."

"Then go and cheer yourself up, and have a safe trip." Kong raised his body, and Bai Lin also stood up tactfully and said goodbye to Kong.

I didn't expect that not long after saying goodbye to Andel, I'd have to go look for her again. Bai Lin scratched his head awkwardly, feeling that Andel wasn't home right now. Why not go to the downstairs of the hotel where I'm staying and check the job board to see if I can find someone suitable? Reserving a spot for Andel should be enough, right?

Although, Bai Lin's understanding of the classes in this world didn't seem to be entirely accurate. Just like Andel, while seemingly an assassin, she was actually more of a juggler than a backline-slashing assassin. She knew things like blasting, targeting medicine, and presumably, she also had some poison. After all, this was reality; how could a small dagger have higher damage output than a greatsword?

Anyway, let's go check it out. Aside from the necessary priests, she tried to pick people who could outfight her. One archer, one magician. She felt a little uneasy about being the only one to take on the guard duties, so she prioritized teammates with stronger melee abilities.

As he was thinking, Bai Lin had already walked into the tavern and saw a bulletin board filled with recruitment notices. Fortunately, the tasks and job applications were posted separately. Bai Lin quickly frowned and read the words on it.

Time flew by, and several hours passed. Bai Lin collapsed on a bench in the pub, as if she had been working all day and all night. Even when the boss handed her the beer she ordered, she didn't react at all.

"Hey, I seem to remember you. You are a new adventurer, right? What's wrong? Are you in trouble?" The boss asked when he saw Bai Lin's outfit.

"Ah? Yeah, it's so hard to select a group of teammates. I've been looking at the recruitment for a long time, but I always feel that it's a bit unsatisfactory." Bai Lin shook her head. She was wearing a helmet now. It seemed that the boss recognized her armor.

The store manager, a somewhat rugged man, asked with a puzzled look, "Really? If you select carefully, you should be able to choose someone who is really good."

Bai Lin was slightly confused, unsure of his boss's definition of "powerful." At least the archers from Longyu City's team could reach him from hundreds of yards away. If it weren't for his proficiency, they would have likely been able to capture him.

While she hadn't set her sights on a higher level, the job boards showed only a handful of people who could even reach a hundred yards. As for magicians, there weren't even any job postings, and the majority of them were melee classes. But Bai Lin didn't believe warriors without magic could defeat her.

Bai Lin ignored the boss's words about carefully selecting. After all, she had already done most of the selection. She stood up and asked politely, "Boss, do you know where I can recruit magicians?"

"Oh? New here, you have big ambitions." The boss laughed and sat down in the empty seat opposite Bai Lin without any hesitation. Bai Lin didn't mind at all and waited for the boss's second half of the sentence.

"Magicians are highly sought after among adventurers, just like knights. These two types of people rarely leave their information on recruitment boards, and even if they do, they're very rare, so running into one is purely a matter of luck."

"So you want to ask the magician to tell me, are you very powerful or very rich?" The boss stared at Bai Lin and asked.

Oh, so that's how it is. I accidentally overlooked the rarity of magic in this world. Bai Lin slapped his knight medal on the table and said,

"It should be considered. He's strong, right?"

The boss took a closer look at the medal and gave it a thumbs-up. "Very good, young man, you have great talent. You're a knight, no wonder you dared to want a magician."

"I want a team that's strong enough to match my level, so the players should be around my level as well. What do you think, boss? Do you have any tips? Let me know."

Seeing that the boss seemed to understand, Bai Lin did not want to miss this opportunity and asked directly. The boss leisurely pushed the medal back to Bai Lin and said,

"We do serve people like you, but they're generally like you. They're either newcomers or have flaws. Like, they have quirky personalities, or they've killed a teammate. With their consent, we'll keep their information private."

"Although they have some flaws, if their behavior isn't too egregious, they'll likely be wanted due to their strength. As it happens, I have this vacant information..."

After receiving the boss's message, Bai Lin came to the door of a room. She stood at the door, thinking for a while how to speak. The boss's voice still echoed in her mind.

"He's a bit reserved, and you can't even tell his emotions. He has almost no chemistry or coordination with the team... So just give it a try. Don't get too discouraged if you fail."

A socially anxious otaku, right? Bai Lin took a deep breath. She had never expected that she would have to ask her teammates to persuade her socially anxious self. However, she still had some sympathy for people who didn't like to communicate with others.

After all, Bai Lin was once a nerd who didn't like to communicate with others. Although she knew that not everyone was like her, becoming autistic due to some setbacks, but such people were more or less suffering from some psychological trauma, which made them unwilling to communicate.

If he could persuade her properly, there should still be some chance. After all, since the other person was a rare resource like a magician, Bai Lin had no choice but to bite the bullet.

Chapter 203 Autistic Girl

"Knock, knock, knock," Bai Lin, who had adjusted her mentality, knocked on the wooden door of the hotel, but there was no response from inside the room. If the boss hadn't said that no one had left, she would definitely have doubted whether there was anyone else in the room.

The second time she knocked on the door, she didn't increase the force of her hand, but she also shouted, "Hello, is anyone there? I'm here to recruit adventurers!"

There were no footsteps, and still no response. Just as Bai Lin was about to ask again, the door suddenly opened. It was opened by a mysterious, hunched figure in a black robe, whose gender was difficult to discern. If it weren't for the door opening, Bai Lin wouldn't even have noticed his presence.

"Come in." A hoarse, unpleasant voice rang out, and the mysterious man walked into the room with a slightly hunched back. No matter how you looked at him, he looked like an old, frail man, not a magician at all. Bai Lin swallowed and followed him in.

After all, it is better to avoid making subjective judgments before things come to light.

Bai Lin closed the door, but noticed that the person walking in front of him had suddenly grown taller, and his hunchback wasn't as severe as before. The room was a little messy, but there was no strange smell. However, there was...

Some women's underwear was scattered on the ground.

"Hiss...it's a woman!" Bai Lin concluded. The mysterious black-robed figure sat down on his bed, paying no attention to Bai Lin. He simply sat silently beside the bed. Seeing this, Bai Lin walked further into the room and examined the mysterious figure.

If you look closely, you can easily see the long, light blue hair peeking out from under the brim of the man's hat, seemingly unconcealed. The nearly white color looks a bit cold, lifeless. And the face hidden beneath the hood is also covered by a black mask, the lower half of which is obscured.

Silence fell between the two of them. The mysterious woman seemed to be observing Bai Lin unintentionally, but her deep blue eyes looked like a bottomless pool, revealing no emotional fluctuations. However, her gaze only met Bai Lin's for a brief moment.

When Bai Lin realized that the silence was really long, she suddenly remembered that the other party was not good at communication, so she took the initiative to remove her helmet, closed the distance, and said with a smile,

"Nice to meet you. I'm a Holy Light Knight. I've accepted a lucrative mission and want to build a stronger team. Are you interested?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the curtains in the room suddenly drew shut, and the light suddenly vanished. Then, Bai Lin, through her divine sense, sensed the construction of the technique. She quickly took a step back. An icicle, causing the temperature to plummet and emitting a crackling sound, emerged from the ground in front of her.

"What do you mean?" Bai Lin's face suddenly turned cold. No matter what, if they wanted to kill her, how could she possibly show a good face to them? Bai Lin instantly entered combat mode, ready to draw her weapon at any time.

At that moment, the other person stood up in a strange manner. Bai Lin felt as if she saw a shadow moving in the darkness. If it weren't for her special ability, she would have been unable to detect the other person's movements. In a mere moment, she was in front of Bai Lin and reached out her hand to Bai Lin's neck. Bai Lin grabbed her arm in an instant, frowning at the same time, but did not attack.

Seeing this, the mysterious person still did not give up. She was about to put her other hand under her body, but was controlled by Bai Lin. At the same time, Bai Lin said,

"Stop it. Although I don't know why you want to attack me, I have no intention of doing anything to you." Bai Lin stopped him.

The mysterious man's expression darkened, and another flash of cold light flashed past. Bai Lin easily dodged the wind blade that brushed past her ear, but a large amount of ice powder exploded with the wind blade, forcing Bai Lin to release her hands to protect her face. The mysterious man took the opportunity to retreat, but before she could get far, her body froze in place.

Some say that when faced with a ferocious beast like a tiger, ordinary people become so frightened that their legs go weak and they can't move. This is because the sense of crisis created by fear triggers a physiological reaction in the human body. In other words, when humans face a sudden and major crisis, situations like the mysterious man will appear.

Her greatest danger was Bai Lin's fist, which rested on her forehead. The wind from the fist blew away the mysterious figure's hood, revealing her slightly messy short, medium-length hair. She dared not move again, and Bai Lin, in the icy mist, revealed his face unscathed.

"Why?"

The mysterious man's voice, in just these three words, changed from its original hoarse and unpleasant tone to a slightly more pleasant female voice. There were many powerful people, but it was the first time she had seen a strong person like Bai Lin, who would hold back in such a situation and personally come to recruit a defective strong person like her.

"I know what you're asking. Why did you stop? It's a simple question, because you didn't kill me."

Bai Lin retracted his fist and pointed at the mysterious woman's lower body.

"I'm particularly sensitive to weapons, especially sharp energy. When you cast the spell just now, I felt a hint of sharp energy coming from your legs due to resonance. That must be your weapon, right?"

"Since you have the ability to approach others silently, there must be a chance for you to find it. So you don't want to take my life, right? But I don't know why you want to attack me. Let me guess..."

Bai Lin lifted his chin and pondered, then seemed to have thought of something and asked tentatively,

"You don't think I came here with other intentions towards you, rather than to recruit you, do you?"

The mysterious woman didn't answer, but her eyes and acquiescence had already given Bai Lin the answer. With her hood off, she looked like a kitten, a little shorter than before, curled up in bed with a wronged look on her face.

After getting the answer he wanted, Bai Lin exhaled, put his hands down naturally on both sides of his body, and then continued,

"Although I don't know what you're thinking, I really want to complete a mission and want your assistance, that's all."

Bai Lin's words were simple and true. The girl slightly raised her cheek hidden under her knees, glanced at Bai Lin, and asked in a mosquito-like voice,

"How many people are in the team?"

Chapter 204 Recruitment Success

"If you're asking about the number of teammates, about four to five people?" Bai Lin thought about the meaning of the other party's words and replied.

"Then...then, then..." The other party's words suddenly became a little confused, and it seemed that he was stuttering because of excessive nervousness. Bai Lin hurriedly stepped forward, leaned down slightly, and then comforted him,

"Don't be nervous, you can talk slowly if you have something to say."

After a while of "Aba Aba", the mysterious woman gasped for breath and gradually regained her composure. She continued to ask in a low voice,

"Can't it be just you and me?"

Bai Lin was truly speechless, feeling a bit helpless. In her opinion, regardless of the quality of team ties, communication and collaboration were essential. What she meant was that she couldn't handle too many people, and that she might have to deal with a few more mishaps, just like the meeting with Bai Lin.

But there is no way, who made them short of magicians? Bai Lin said he was a Holy Light Knight, but he only knew how to emit a little holy light that was not as good as a candle. A magician is too important in a good team. Bai Lin gritted his teeth, then said patiently and gently,

"Actually, our mission is a bit difficult, so it won't work just between the two of us. If you really don't mind communicating with others, you can just communicate with me."

"I can guarantee that there won't be anyone in the team looking for trouble. I can't stand that kind of person either."

Even after Bai Lin's assurance, the mysterious woman still seemed hesitant. It wasn't that she didn't believe Bai Lin, but she simply wanted to establish relationships with as few people as possible. Whether they were trusted partners or just work relationships, it was all the same trouble to her; there wasn't much difference.

...To be honest, there are some differences.

Seeing that the woman in front of him was still wavering, Bai Lin sighed helplessly, and then said, "The task is a bit difficult, but the reward is also quite generous. I still hope you can consider it. Our team needs someone as capable as you."

Bai Lin's words revealed a good reward. At the same time, she also expressed her deep need for the mysterious woman before her. This was a recognition of her strength, and it also made the mysterious woman accept Bai Lin's affection.

She holds a very high position in Bai Lin's heart! She is needed, and Bai Lin did not choose her out of helplessness.

Just as Bai Lin was about to give up and say a few more words, the girl's weak voice sounded again in the quiet room, clear and distinct.

"Name…name."

Hearing this, Bai Lin immediately picked up his enthusiasm with joy and said, "My name is Bai Lin Ershlivitan, what's yours?"

"Fei'er...that's good." The girl who called herself Fei'er put down her knees and looked at Bai Lin. Her eyes told Bai Lin that she agreed.

Seeing this, Bai Lin couldn't help but smile happily. She stretched out a hand and said, "Well, I'll let you know when I have assembled a team. I'll live in the first room on the right across from you. If you have any trouble, feel free to come find me."