Above The Patch [Tank LitRPG-Evolution]

"I'm sorry," said Boran, responding to Marcus's curious gaze. "But there's no need for that right now."

Marcus nodded understandingly, though the curiosity hadn't left his eyes. "As you wish."

Boran and Noemi made their way to the main hall. The hall was quite spacious and filled with adventurer groups sitting in different corners. There was an atmosphere of excitement and energy.

"Here it is," said Noemi, approaching a large board. The Team Board was truly impressive — dozens of colorful notices were posted on it. Each notice had crystals of different colors on its edges, indicating the type of notice.

"Look at this," said Boran, pointing to a notice with a blue crystal. "A group looking for a healer, just like us."

"Not just healers, most of these notices are looking for adventurers of different classes," said Boran, examining the board carefully. "Healers are especially in demand, but there's also a huge need for DPS classes."

"Look look!" Noemi exclaimed. "A level 36 healer left their adventurer ID. Let's talk to them!"

"We write this adventurer ID in the friends list, right?"

"Yes, once you write the ID, it'll show up. Then you can send a message."

Boran wrote the ID in his friends list: #HK7391. After a few seconds, the message sending screen opened.

"Hello!" Boran wrote. "We saw your notice. Would you like to form a team together?"

Soon after, a notification sound was heard.

"Hello! I'm Kaine. I've worked with many groups as a healer. What are your levels?"

Boran quickly replied: "I'm a level 30 tank, and my friend is a level 30 mage."

There was silence for a while. Then a long message came from Kaine:

"Look, to be honest, things would be difficult with this composition. A tank and a mage is good for basic coordination, but the DPS output would be too low. In my opinion, you need minimum two DPS classes to form an effective team. With single DPS, not only do battles take too long, but it also increases the risk of making mistakes. Plus, having two different DPS types gives you more flexibility in different situations. It's especially important to have both magical and physical damage dealers to deal with different enemy types and resistances. Most experienced teams I've worked with, including some higher level than me, always maintain at least two dedicated damage dealers with different damage types."

Boran continued writing anyway: "Maybe we could try? Our coordination is good and..."

Kaine's response came quickly: "Sorry, but I can't work with this composition. My advice is to find at least one more DPS. Preferably a ranger or assassin. Physical DPS would be ideal to balance the mage's magical damage. You can find another healer too, of course, but most healers will tell you the same thing. Good luck!"

Boran stared at the screen. Then he told Noemi about the conversation. Noemi put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay," she said in a gentle voice. "We can post our own notice looking for both a healer and DPS."

"Yes..." said Boran thoughtfully. "You're right. Actually, that makes more sense. One notice for two missing positions..."

"And think about it," Noemi continued, with slight excitement in her voice. "Maybe we'll find a healer-DPS duo who are used to working together. That would be even better."

Boran smiled. "Okay, let's prepare our own notice."

Noemi started preparing a new notice on her screen, thinking out loud: "Hmm... how should I write it to make it more eye-catching?"

After carefully reviewing her wording one final time, Noemi took a deep breath and pressed the 'Send' button. Within moments, their newly crafted notice materialized on the Team Board, prominently displaying both blue and red crystals along its edges.

"Level 30 Tank and Mage seeking Healer and DPS! Regular dungeon runs and strong team coordination. Contact ID: #BN5492"

"That turned out well," said Boran after reading the notice. "Short and to the point. States exactly what we're looking for."

"Now we wait and see," said Noemi. "But in the meantime... since we don't have a healer yet, I think we should buy some health potions. What do you think?"

"Good idea," said Boran, nodding. "Especially after seeing how quickly they ran out in the last battle."

Boran and Noemi left the Guild building and stepped into Hub's crowded streets. It was filled with colorful stalls, shouting vendors, and shopping adventurers.

They stopped in front of a stall. Behind the stall stood a young girl. She had long, light brown hair and wore a purple apron. Her stall was neatly arranged with health potions — the red liquid inside the bottles gleamed in the light.

"Welcome!" said the girl in a cheerful voice. "How can I help you?"

"Could we learn the price of your health potions?" asked Noemi.

"Of course," said the girl, pointing to the bottles in front of her. "These are standard quality health potions. They're 13 gold each."

Boran stepped forward, his expression earnest. "Look," he said carefully, "we're in the process of forming a new adventure group and we're still getting everything set up. Since I'm serving as the team's tank and we haven't secured a healer position yet, we're in a situation where we'll need to rely heavily on health potions for our survival. Given how frequently we'll need to replenish our supplies during battles and dungeon runs, we'll definitely need a steady supply of these potions to maintain our combat effectiveness."

A look of understanding dawned on the girl's face as she listened attentively. Her expression softened, showing she was carefully considering what Boran was saying. After a thoughtful pause, Boran continued with his proposal: "If you would consider offering these potions to us at 10 gold each, I can assure you we'll become loyal, regular customers. Given our team's current situation and ongoing needs, we'll need to make frequent purchases, which means we'll be returning to restock our supplies consistently. This arrangement could be beneficial for both of us in the long term."

The merchant girl thought for a moment, her eyes moving between Boran and Noemi. "Hmm... We don't usually give discounts but..." She paused. "Okay, since you'll be regular customers. I can give them to you for 11 gold special price. That's still a good discount."

Boran and Noemi looked at each other. "Could you go down to 10?" asked Boran, making one last attempt at bargaining.

The girl laughed. "11 gold is the final price."

Noemi nodded. "Okay, deal. We'll take them for 11 gold."

"How many would you like?" asked the merchant girl, starting to prepare the bottles.

"Let's take 10 for now," said Noemi. "That should last us a while."

The merchant girl carefully selected 10 bottles and handed them over. "Here you go," she said. "Total is 110 gold."

While Noemi was transferring the gold, the girl continued talking: "By the way, I'm Luna. I'm here every day. Whenever you need potions, you can come by."

"Thanks Luna," said Noemi with a smile. "We'll definitely be back."

After getting the potions, Boran and Noemi walked away from the stall. "We made a good deal," said Noemi. "2 gold discount isn't small."

"Why didn't we buy health potions from the shop we went to before?"

"I thought we might find a healer soon enough, and I wanted to save our gold for better equipment. But now that we've posted our notice and still need potions for safety, it makes sense to stock up. We can always sell extras later if we find a healer quickly."

"If we manage to find both a healer and a reliable DPS, our team will be so much more effective in dungeons. I really hope someone sees our notice and decides to join us. It would make such a difference to have a complete, well-rounded team."

Just then, Boran heard his notification sound. His interface lit up with a guild notification – making his heart skip a beat. He quickly opened it, his eyes widening as he read the contents.

"Noemi!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement. "Someone's applying to join New Dawn!"

Noemi rushed to his side, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Really? What does it say?"

The application message read: "Hello! I saw your guild New Dawn is recruiting and noticed your post on the Team Board. I'm Aria, a level 4 Ranger, and my friend Maya is a level 4 Cleric. We're both new and looking for a friendly guild to learn and grow with. We don't have much experience, but we're eager to learn and improve together."