60

Once he got to the Territory Altar, Cheng Yang placed the unfurled scroll at the base. A few seconds later the scroll spontaneously combusted and the Imperial Guard Pavilion appeared on the Territory Altar system pane.

Imperial Guard Pavilion (Standard Grade): Allows the Lord to create an Imperial Guard | Cost: 500 units of wood

For such a powerful building, the construction cost of the Imperial Guard Pavilion was actually fairly low. Right now Phoenix Village had just over five hundred units of wood. This could either be used to build the remaining shops the village needed or the Imperial Guard Pavilion. Since no one would be able to effectively utilize shops right now, making a decision was trivial.

Without hesitation, Cheng Yang built the Imperial Guard Pavilion.

Immediately, a curtain of multi-color light descended not far from the center of the village. When it finally dissipated, a five pointed two-story pavilion stood in its place. Surrounded by a five-pointed stone wall, the building was magnificent.

The residents of the Inner Village stared on in wonder but compared to the light show yesterday when the walls were built, it was somewhat lacking.

Cheng Yang strode through the gate and entered the pavilion. As soon as he entered, the gate slammed shut, blocking the civilians from entering. This was the resting place of the Imperial Guard, thus only the Lord could gain entry.

Inside the walls was a variety of training materials. There were archery targets, training dummies and even an altar. The entire area was empty except for five people in strange clothing.

Each one stood at a point of the pavilion, dressed in a manner that made it seem like they had stepped right out of a fantasy novel. More importantly, every item on their body was a piece of equipment with extraordinary quality!

"My Lord, welcome to the Imperial Guard Pavilion! Is there any way in which we may make ourselves of use to you?" A woman covered from head to toe in armor called out to Cheng Yang. Considering what she was wearing, the woman was probably a Warrior.

"Greeting respected warrior." Cheng Yang replied, hoping to satisfy his curiosity. "What is your name?"

"I am known as the Dragon of War." She replied with a bow.

Cheng Yang nodded to acknowledge her. "I've come today in order to create my own Imperial Guard. What do I need to do?"

"My Lord, the process is very simple. You only need to pay a small fee and you will be able to hire skilled personnel to become your Imperial Guard. I can provide a list of the finest Warriors available. The others here can provide candidates that are Mages, Summoners, Rangers and Priests. If you wish to hire individuals with a different class than those five, I request that you built the corresponding class change statue."

What an amazing opportunity! If he hired twenty High Grade Priests, wouldn't he be invincible?

Suddenly, Cheng Yang thought of a question. "Is there a limit to the number of people from each class I can hire?"

"I am afraid there is my Lord." the Warrior replied, "That limit is one tenth the limit the corresponding class change statue has."

Although it was disappointing, it made sense. What special class wasn't overpowered compared to the normal ones? At the very least, he could get a few powerful Priests.

"What do I need to do after hiring people to join the Imperial Guard?" Cheng Yang asked.

"The Imperial Guard doesn't require payment but all of their needs must be met by you, my Lord. Their equipment will be supplied by you and the Experience Fragments needed to learn skill must be provided by you." The Dragon of War replied.

Cheng Yang was startled. "Wait, will I need to give them the Experience Fragments needed for training too?!"

"Don't worry my Lord. That would be unnecessary. Your Imperial Guard will grow with you. Every time you level up, so too will every member of the Imperial Guard."

Hearing this Cheng Yang was overjoyed. The Experience Fragments they would need to learn skill was negligible and they just take any leftover equipment.

No wonder the military backed Phoenix Village from his past life wasn't able to conquer the territory that had built the Imperial Guard Pavilion. These soldiers were just too useful!

"When I hire people to serve in the Imperial Guard they'll be the same level as me, right?" Cheng Yang asked.

"My Lord that's not entirely correct. Since you are the first Lord to build the Imperial Guard Pavilion god has allowed you to designate three members of the Imperial Guards as Elites with strength greater than that of the ordinary members."

Although that was certainly good news, Cheng Yang thought it was just icing on the cake. After all, if in the future the Imperial Guard had hundreds of members, what would three Elites mean?

"In that case, does that mean the hiring cost is different for Elites and regular soldiers?"

"How perceptive my Lord. That is indeed the case. The cost of hiring members of the Imperial Guard is tied to their strength. The lowest quality Warrior you can hire from me costs four hundred Experience Fragments. This price will increase every time you level up."

Luckily, he had built the Imperial Guard Pavilion now. If he had waited until leveling up the village who knows how much it would have cost him. Although, there would be no way to avoid the increased price when he expanded the Imperial Guard later.

"In that case, can I see the list of Warriors for hire?"

The Dragon of War nodded and a system pane appeared in front of Cheng Yang. On it a list of names was presented along with a small amount of information and a photo.

There were at least a hundred people listed and this just the first page of a thousand. That is to say, there were 100,000 people to choose from just for the Warriors!

Randomly jumping from page to page, Cheng Yang saw that each Warrior cost four hundred Experience Fragments. The only small difference between them was whether their Innate Ability increased Health or Physical Attack by 10%.

"Respected warrior, do you have any recommendations for who to hire?" Cheng Yang asked, unable to make a choice.

"I would recommend that you sort the available Warriors by hiring price my Lord." The Dragon of War advised. "This will show you the higher quality Warriors first. Also, if you wish to make any of your hires Elites, just select that option and the price will be increased by fifty percent."

After sorting, Cheng Yang finally saw some variation in the Warrior prices. The highest price was one thousand Experience Fragments and even the one at the bottom of the page cost six hundred Experience Fragments.

"Why are these prices so high?" Cheng Yang muttered.

"How could a Warrior with an SS-Rank Innate Ability be cheap?" The Dragon of War asked with a laugh. "Even A-Rank Innate Abilities are rare and expensive so the few SS-Rank and S-Rank Warriors available for hire have incredibly high prices."

"What is the highest rank Innate Ability that I can hire?" Cheng Yang immediately asked.

"The individuals available for hire cannot have an Innate Ability that is better than the most talented person here on Earth. As for what level your people can reach, I cannot say." The Dragon of War replied casually.

Cheng Yang suddenly felt quite small. The Dragon of War made it sound like his own unheard of SS-Rank Innate Ability was barely passable. It seemed he knew very little about this new world.

"I understand." Cheng Yang said after a moment, "I just didn't want to hire anyone now if people with better Innate Abilities were going to appear."

"A wise decision my Lord." The Dragon of War said respectfully. "The list I have provided will change from day to day. Every day at least one S-Rank Warrior will be added to the list and at least once a month an SS-Rank Warrior will appear. However, be warned. This is not a list exclusive to you. Every Lord that has constructed an Imperial Guard Pavilion will be have access. That is to say, if you aren't quick, all the talented Warriors will be hired before you get any."