Naming

Ultimately, that Salted Fish King still managed to bring someone over for them.

That person was a big-axe bro. Aside from the long-handled, wooden-shafted battle axe slung across his back, the most eye-catching thing about him was probably the pointy hat on his head—or rather, a helmet.

This helmet looked like it was made of iron, at least from the outside. Apart from the dark iron shell, its most distinctive feature was the protruding spire on top, much like the caps worn by ancient soldiers.

Aside from that, this player with a terribly cliché ID had not a single extra item on his person.

No matter how free-form a virtual game the Free World was, some things simply couldn't be done—such as running around naked in public. Therefore, no matter how much a character stripped, the game would always retain a basic scrap of modesty cloth. As a male, most people wouldn't mind displaying their masculine physique in this manner, except that doing so would leave you completely devoid of any defensive capability, allowing even a rat to scratch you.

Yet, this kind of school of thought still persisted.

According to current research by players, character avatars had a weight-load mechanic. This mechanics not only determined how much a person could carry during wild adventures, but also affected combat mobility. Because of this, a player clad in full metal armor would certainly move slower, swing weapons slower, and cast skills slower during combat compared to a player wearing nothing at all—which was a perk given to players with low weight loads.

As for whether to wear anything or not, or whether to go into battle in heavy armor or light gear, that was entirely up the players' own choice.

The player named Smiling Red Dust before them apparently belonged to the light-gear-only category, and had already gone so light that only his helmet remained. When he first met Tie Cui and the others, he was just as shirtless as before, wearing a casual, hearty expression. "Hello there! I am Smiling Red Dust, and from now on we are teammates. Hahahaha..."

"Is this guy really okay..."

The little girl tugged at Tie Cui's hand, pulled him aside, and asked quietly, only to receive an eye-roll in return.

"How would I know? It's my first time meeting him too... Let's just wait and see."

Tie Cui spread his hands. "Anyway, he was recommended by someone else. Worst case scenario, you can just treat him as a nominal member..."

The five of them could be considered gathered, but the real work was just beginning. Tie Cui and Meng Zhu took the adventurer team establishment certificate given to them by Richard, and had everyone sign their names on that thin sheet of paper. With this initial step, things were basically done.

Of course, the procedures weren't fully completed yet.

Since the tavern receptionist still had work to do, the remaining four individuals came over to the two-story building on Flower Dance Street to finish the final step of the process. However, Richard glanced at the certificate submitted by Meng Zhu, looked it over briefly, and spotted a problem.

"You guys move really fast... Let me see, five people, all signed, yeah... Huh? Where are the names?"

"Ah..."

"Where is the name of your adventure group?" The slovenly uncle placed the paper aside and said somewhat listlessly, "You at least have to let people know what to call you... You found people so fast, yet you didn't even pick a name, but it's fine..."

The bearded uncle broke into a hearty smile. "It's still not too late to pick one now, so... hurry up and think of an overbearing name."

He gave a thumbs-up. Ahead of him, the four players stared at each other in blank dismay, not saying a word for a long time.

"What's wrong?" Richard didn't quite understand the situation before him.

"Uh... Please wait a moment," the little girl said hurriedly, then looked at Tie Cui, who waved his hands repeatedly.

"Don't look at me. I'm the worst at naming things. Look..." He pointed at the top of his head. "You'll understand just by looking at my name."

"Brother's name is quite well-chosen, though." Smiling Red Dust patted him on the shoulder from the side. "It truly captures the dashing style of people in our martial arts world..."

Tie Cui felt he had rolled his eyes a bit too many times today, so he decided to ignore him.

With no help from that quarter, the little girl looked at the smiling uncle next to her. Smiling Butcher scratched his head awkwardly, and just as he was about to speak, Meng Zhu cut him off. "Never mind, I understand..."

"Oh, come on, it's just picking a name, do you have to agonize over it so much? I think we should call it... Hey, hey, what are you doing, don't pull me, my helmet's going to fall off, it's going to fall off..."

With an ID as pretentious as yours, if I let you name the group, God knows what would happen... Tie Cui pulled Smiling Red Dust aside with a dark face.

"Alright, I think we need to have a discussion... Mr. Administrator, please wait a moment."

Amidst Richard's understanding smile, Meng Zhu bowed, then hurriedly dragged everyone out the door to hold the adventure group's very first meeting. Agenda: Name the adventure group.

"Emergency meeting starting now! You guys, hurry up and think of a name..."

"Jianghu Wanderers Adventure Group!"

"Rejected!" Smiling Red Dust blurted out a name, which Meng Zhu immediately shot down.

"Um, how about... Zhang's... Butcher Shop...?"

"Oh, Uncle Smiling, do you really love slaughtering pigs that much..."

"Let's name it Athena's Exclamation!" Smiling Red Dust raised his hand again.

"Shut up!"

"How about we take one character from each of our names and combine them into a four-character name?" This time it was Tie Cui's suggestion. "Oh wait, we have five people..."

"Although it lacks creativity, it should be alright..." This time Meng Zhu finally nodded, then sat there deep in thought. "Mmm... Uh..."

"If you need to go to the restroom, just go..."

"I'm thinking of a name!" Meng Zhu snapped angrily, then continued muttering to herself, "Meng Qing... No, better yet, Meng Shang..."

"Let me think..." Tie Cui pondered the names of the five of them, then slammed one fist into his palm with a smack. "Got it! How about... Azure-Red Pig-Slaughtering King? Or Indigenous King works too... Ow!"

"Can you be serious for once! And my character is bamboo, bamboo as in bamboo!" The little girl looked like she was about to go crazy.

"How about the Five Divine-Slaying Mighty Tots!"

"Smiling Red Dust, stop trying to name things! And stop being so chuunibyou..."

Amidst the chaotic discussion, everyone debated back and forth. In the end, these naming-challenged individuals still resorted to a very ordinary name.

"Alright, this is it."

Richard snapped out of his doze and took the adventure group application certificate from Meng Zhu's hands—this time, the contents on the paper were finally complete.

"Hmm... Fools? That's really..." He raised his head to look at the four nonchalant adventurers before him, then spoke, "A strange name."

"It's just a name, as long as it works." Tie Cui shrugged indifferently. "Could it be that another adventure group has already taken it? Can this thing be duplicated?"

"No, no, absolutely not." Richard waved his hands repeatedly. "I've never heard of this name before. I suppose... there shouldn't be any adventure group with this name..."

"That's good." Tie Cui nodded and looked aside—Meng Zhu's face was turning cyan, looking thoroughly traumatized.

"Since that's the case..." Richard looked over the application once more, walked behind the counter, rummaged through some dilapidated box to fish out a stamp, and slammed it down onto the paper. "Then..."

"Congratulations, the 'Fools' Adventure Group has been successfully established!"

"Huh?" Meng Zhu gasped in shock. "What about the test? The trials? The qualification quest to establish the adventure group?"

"Those things? You can owe them for now..." Richard waved his hand casually and slapped the application form onto the counter like a piece of waste paper. "You guys are now the first adventure group established by the Windflower Town branch! Get to work right away!"

"Wh—"

"Now!" Without giving Tie Cui and the others time to react, Richard pulled a massive stack of document-like materials out from a small bookcase behind the counter. "We have a lot of work to do."

All the players widened their eyes.

"I can't wait to hand these out to you, wahahaha..."

"We... seem to have been scammed." Amidst Richard's laughter, Tie Cui and Meng Zhu looked at each other and simultaneously let out a sigh.

*******************

"Help the blacksmith, help the bakery... Hmm, these are all odd-job quests, and there's herb gathering, let me see, it seems to be something called Star-Shining Flower... Huh, isn't that used for making desserts? How is that classified as an herb..."

Stepping out of that two-story building, the members of the nominally established Fools Adventure Group held a large stack of commission briefs, flipping through them one by one.

"Yo, look at this, recruiting volunteers with a daily reward of ten Ebri coins. Do volunteers in this world actually get paid..."

"I looked at that just now. It's being recruited by the town hall."

"Ugh, I'm not going." The little girl curled her lips and tossed it aside.

"Don't the Mage Council or the Warrior's Home need people? Security guards or watchmen would be fine too," Tie Cui grumbled from the side.

"How could such a good thing fall to you? If there were any, wouldn't others have fought tooth and nail for them long ago..."

"I think this one is pretty good." Smiling Butcher held up a piece of paper and read aloud: "Please help take care of my child for three days, and there will surely be a generous reward. Parenthesis, my child is very playful, so please discipline them as you see fit. Uncle Bill."

"How about this one?"

"Why does taking care of kids even appear here?!" Meng Zhu was the first to cry out. "What on earth is the Adventurer's Association? A babysitting agency?"

"It seems we'll have plenty of opportunities to experience life..." Tie Cui said leisurely.

"Yeah, I think it's pretty good, and look, it says there will surely be a generous reward," the smiling uncle said.

"How about I give you my family's ancestral medicinal plaster, do you want that..."

"Besides, what's so interesting about this kind of thing?!" Smiling Red Dust roared from the side. "Look at this! Escort quest, escort the merchant Ida and his goods to Gram Fortress! What an exciting quest!"

He swung his palms, slapping his shirtless upper body with loud smacks. "This is a man's quest! There are bound to be plenty of fights along the road..."

"Oh, give it a break." Meng Zhu snatched the paper right out of his hand. "...They're only offering two hundred gold coins! Who's going to go for that!"

"Gram Fortress is on the border of Westwind County, at the foot of the Andacel Mountains," Smiling Butcher explained from the side. "Counting the escort time, conservatively it takes over ten days... The soup will have grown cold by the time we get there."

"And the pay is so low," Tie Cui added. "Ida? You sure he doesn't sell chewing gum..."

"Look at this, look at this," Meng Zhu suddenly shouted. "A missing person from the Mage Council is still being searched for, and they hope the Adventurer's Association can send people to help! This is great! I didn't expect such a major event to happen, and we can even join in..."

"Hold on a second, what's the name of the missing person?" Smiling Red Dust asked.

"Let me check... It's called... Katy. Is it a female..."

"Nope." Smiling Red Dust leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky. "It's a cat kept by Archmage Alice."

"And it's black, too." Smiling Red Dust tilted his head to look at Meng Zhu, unsurprised to see an expression of impending mental breakdown on her face.

"It seems... the status of our Adventurer's Association is a bit low..." While Meng Zhu jumped aside, yelling and venting her frustrations, Tie Cui propped his chin in his hand and said, "The people coming to us for help are either bringing trivial matters or offering cheap labor..."

"You can tell just by looking at this place." Smiling Butcher pointed at the old two-story building. "When we went inside just now, it seemed like we only saw Richard himself. I was wondering..."

"Could the Windflower Town Adventurer's Association consist of only him..."

"Now that you mention it, that seems entirely possible..."

"If he dares to trick us, we're quitting!" A frantic Meng Zhu jumped back over and said viciously.

"He didn't trick us." Tie Cui spread his hands. "He just didn't explain things clearly. And look, he's having a pretty miserable time himself, so let's not hurt each other..."

"Phew..." The little girl let out a heavy breath, calming her agitated state of mind. "Fine..."

"Let's keep looking." She sat back down and picked up a fresh stack of paper.

The midday sunlight wasn't very harsh, accompanied by a rather mild mountain wind. The continuous floating catkins hadn't stopped falling because of it, but lacking the help of strong winds, they couldn't fly into the higher sky and simply drifted down around Tie Cui and the others. At this moment, several people were sitting on the stones by the roadside. Having flipped through the papers for quite a while, some flower petals and catkins had already accumulated on their heads, bodies, and shoulders. Combined with the white papers scattered around them, they occasionally caught the gaze of passersby.

Finally, when everyone started feeling hungry, they roughly finished reading all the accumulated assistance requests at the Adventurer's Association, then gathered together again to discuss their next course of action.

"Anyway, now that it's come to this, doing a few isn't bad either, since we don't have anything else to do anyway..." Tie Cui batted the catkins off his body with a stack of papers and said to the others, "The ones with some value right now... well, things we can call quests, are roughly these. But from my personal perspective, we could consider... this one."

He pulled a sheet from the papers and displayed it to everyone. "I believe you'll be interested as well."

Training Commission: Windflower Town's annual routine training is about to take place. We hope your association can send people to participate and help hone everyone's combat skills.

This was what was written on that piece of paper.