Lin Mo's gaze unconsciously fell on the tail behind her.
Lena instinctively tried to hide it with her hand, but seeing that Lin Mo showed no trace of disgust in his eyes, she confidently displayed it again.
"That's right, she's also a half-orc, but much more capable than me!"
Generally speaking, half-orcs, especially males, tend to have slightly higher innate talent in physical-based professions compared to humans, though it also depends on the specific race.
For example, bear clan and tiger clan half-orcs have natural advantages as knights or warriors - not only higher talent but also better base attributes, stronger early combat power, and easier progression into professional ranks.
Other races like fox clan and cat clan excel more in speed, making them suitable for rangers or assassins.
But these aren't absolute rules. Some half-orcs show no talent in either area and aren't much different from ordinary humans.
Lena was , which was why she couldn't become an adventurer and could only work as a receptionist at the Adventurers' Association.
When risking your life out in the wild, nobody cares about looks - combat capability is what truly matters.
Since half-orcs have significantly higher base combat power than humans, they're more welcomed in lower-tier adventuring parties.
While this didn't mean parties with half-orcs were necessarily low-tier, and Lin Mo meant no offense, he still felt some doubt about the strength of the party Lena mentioned.
"Could you tell me a bit about your friend's party?"
"Okay... Their party currently has five members: one assassin, one ranger, one knight, and two warriors."
"One of the warriors is their party leader, already promoted to professional rank. The other warrior is my friend Ellie, who has ice wolf clan bloodline. The other members are also quite experienced adventurers..."
As she spoke, Lena's enthusiasm gradually cooled.
Ellie had told her that their party already had two warriors, so they were currently hoping to recruit another ranger to bolster their damage output. Moreover, Ellie's party was at least mid-tier in this small town, while Lin Mo had just become an adventurer less than ten days ago.
Although he had shown decent ability when taking the slime mission from her before, he probably didn't meet Ellie's party's standards...
But since she had already brought it up, she couldn't back out now and had to continue: "If Mr. Lin Mo is confident in your abilities and interested, perhaps you could give it a try."
This was actually a subtle hint to Lin Mo.
Lena was an honest girl who couldn't hide her thoughts, and Lin Mo immediately noticed her concern. He deliberately put on a serious expression and said: "Then please contact your friend for me. This is very important to me."
"Well... I... okay, meow..."
The cat girl couldn't bring herself to openly question Lin Mo's capabilities, so she just drooped her head and agreed.
Seeing Lena looking increasingly guilty and ashamed, as if she had done something wrong, Lin Mo couldn't help but laugh and patted her shoulder: "Don't worry, I'm actually quite strong."
He leaned closer and whispered: "Let me tell you a secret - I'm already a professional."
Lena looked up in surprise, her eyes wide open.
Based on their interactions during this period, she believed Lin Mo wasn't the type to make empty boasts, but...
She still clearly remembered when Lin Mo first walked into the association and asked her to register as an adventurer - that was only about ten days ago.
As a receptionist at the Adventurers' Association, Lena might lack combat ability, but she had plenty of experience. The idea of someone advancing from a complete novice to a professional in just over ten days was something she'd never heard of, not even in bards' stories.
If any bard dared to include such a plot in their story, they would definitely be harshly criticized by listeners for being illogical and unrealistic.
Some might even accuse: "Have you ever been an adventurer? Stop writing nonsense based on assumptions."
But reality sometimes defied all logic.
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Coming back to her senses, the cat girl's first reaction was to offer congratulations and feel relieved about her earlier suggestion.
Although their party wanted to recruit a ranger, expectations were one thing - if a professional wanted to join, only a fool would refuse.
"They send someone to the association every morning to check for applicants. You can sit and wait for a while - it shouldn't take too long..."
Lin Mo nodded and glanced at the noisy hall behind him. There didn't seem to be any empty seats available.
Rather than sitting with strangers, he preferred chatting with the cat girl before him.
"Talking a bit longer shouldn't affect your work, right?"
Lena paused for a moment, then shook her head repeatedly: "No, no... as long as you don't mind. It's not like any adventurers come to me to accept missions anyway."
Her expression showed more helplessness and confusion than disappointment.
"I didn't see you here yesterday - was it your day off?"
Lena nodded, "That's right, we get one day off each week."
Actually, it was those with poor performance who got rotated shifts. The counters with the most customers could work continuously.
And it wasn't just one day - her weekly days off had increased to two, sometimes even three.
For receptionists, days off weren't a good thing...
Not because they loved working so much, but because they didn't get paid on rest days.
Being a receptionist at the Adventurers' Association was excellent work, a job envied by commoners, but it couldn't be maintained for many years.
Starting from age fifteen or sixteen when they could begin working, they would be replaced by newcomers within six or seven years at most.
Adventurers preferred young, pretty girls - nobody wanted to accept missions from an older woman.
If everything went smoothly, they could earn considerable money during these years. With these savings, they could marry into a good family and live a stable life.
Some lucky ones might even catch the eye of powerful adventurers and never worry about food or clothing again.
But for those like Lena who were unpopular and performed poorly, things were more difficult.
They couldn't save much money, sometimes even struggling with daily expenses. After being dismissed, they wouldn't know how to survive...
As the saying went, if not for the association's consideration of diversity, she would have been eliminated long ago based on her performance alone.