The serious business begins
Next day.
"50 gold coins I thought was way too expensive, but in the end it's worth it," said Alessandro.
"Haha yes, it's pretty good," commented Maxime, laughing.
In front of them was a huge portal, and behind it was a glimpse of a majestic mansion.
"Come on, guys, let's discover our new home," Maxime announced cheerfully, pushing the door open with his hand.
"Yeahhhhh."
"Haha how do we decide on the rooms?"
"Let's settle it with a Juji tournament!"
"No, that's clearly too boring. Let's arm wrestle instead!"
"Haha I agree, mercenaries are all about strength, not intelligence!"
"Tch bande macaque."
...
Maxime shook his head wryly as he watched them enjoying themselves.
"Juji, a card game consisting of 120 cards with 60 different copies."
"You draw 7 cards at the beginning, then each turn 3 cards will be drawn randomly."
"Each player had 20 energy points to use for each round, but if they didn't use them, 50% of them would be saved for the next round."
"Each card cost a certain number of energy points to use."
"Several battlefields appear randomly over time."
"At the end of the 10th round, whoever has the most battlefields wins."
As he recalled the lessons taught on Eternity, he crossed the luxurious gardens and went directly behind the mansion.
"So big, it took me 10 minutes just to get there," Maxime marveled.
"So this is the training ground." he said aloud as he looked at the simple vacant lot and the few mannequins laid out on the ground.
"I guess I'll just be shadowboxing today," he sighed.
"But really this terrain is gigantic, enough to train a small private army."
"Let's see where my swordsmanship is right now."
Identity : Maxime Valdreuve
Class:
Peasant level 3. MAX level! (+3% physical)
Swordsman level 2 (+5% physics) (0/20)
Unlocked a new class: 0/50
Physique: 1.95 (+0.16)
Qi: 0
Skills :
Swordsmanship level 1 (62/100)
Franc language proficiency level 2 (25/100)
Passive trait :
+5% physicality when wielding a sword
+10% sword training efficiency.
Talent: NOX LIMIT level 1 (rank unknown) (0/1000)
Money available: 115 gold coins.
Mercenaries :
...
"Still at the same level as expected.
"Still, I really don't have much money left after paying the rent."
"Rent of 35 gold coins after the 30% reduction, which is really not expensive for a place like this."
"But at this rate we'll only be able to last three months, and with recruitment if we last two months that's already not bad."
"After all, there's food and wages to pay too."
Maxime felt a headache coming on as he thought about all these details.
"Fortunately there's no bail in this world and mercenaries in this world buy and maintain their equipment themselves."
"But with Brotherhood house it's more like my life they'll take if something's broken." sighed Maxime sarcastically.
"At least I'm glad the guards gave us back our weapons."
"Thanks to Romuald, otherwise they would certainly have been more reluctant to do so," Maxime thought happily.
"This is the first step towards a group that will possess both status, power and relationships."
"Succeeding in Baron Barthon's mission will be the first step towards becoming world-famous, whether in Eternity or reality," Maxime said aloud as he swung his sword in front of him.
"No, there's no point in swinging like that."
"Calm down."
"Take a deep breath."
"Contemplate what you want to do with that sword.
"Visualize your opponent."
"Anticipate his reactions."
"Diagram the solutions."
"Breathe out and make it happen!
"Then repeat!"
...
3 hours later.
Maxime wiped the sweat from his forehead with his left arm.
"System, display my status page."
Identity: Maxime Valdreuve
Class:
Peasant level 3. MAX level! (+3% physics)
Swordsman level 2 (+5% physics) (0/20)
Unlocked a new class: 0/50
Physique: 1.95 (+0.16)
Qi: 0
Skills :
Swordsmanship level 1 (63/100)
Franc language proficiency level 2 (25/100)
Passive trait :
+5% physicality when wielding a sword
+10% sword training efficiency.
Talent: NOX LIMIT level 1 (rank unknown) (0/1000)
Money available: 115 gold coins.
Mercenaries :
...
"It's gone up 2 points in just 3 hours," Maxime analyzed happily.
"The month of training I did last month, I was only able to increase by 20 points, or less than a point a day."
"I knew that physical strength influenced the speed of learning martial arts, but I didn't think it was that much!"
"This way in 2 months I should be able to reach level 2 beginner sword!"
Generally from 0 to 33 points was the beginner level, from 34 to 66 the intermediate level, from 67 to 90 the advanced level and from 91 to 99 the expert level.
"As Professor Yvan used to say, it's completely unnecessary to put gold into martial arts mastery. You just need to train while investing in the classes."
"Well at the same time such a pace of training is normal since I'm already physically comparable to a 2-star mercenary who has exploited most of his potential."
"Normally these people have an intermediate or advanced level 2 sword mastery."
While Maxime was deep in thought, a couple of well-built men came up behind him.
"Chief, we've gone to submit a recruitment request to the mercenary guild. They'll be advertising for us," said Andrew, followed by Peter and Izo.
"Already? Didn't you want to play juji with the others?" commented Maxime curiously.
"They'll leave the best room to you and the second best to me. And if they dare not, I'll take them by force" Andrew justified in a slightly arrogant tone, although his face remained normal.
"What about you two?" asked Maxime.
"I don't care."
"I'm so lame."
Izo and Peter replied respectively. The former with a cold tone and the latter slightly embarrassed as he put his hand on the back of his head and looked away.
"Haha either, did it cost you money?"
"Yes 2 gold coins for the basic recruitment ad and 3 gold coins for the communication." replied Andrew.
Maxime reached into his cotton and wool pocket and pulled out 5 gold coins, then handed them to Andrew.
"When and where will the recruitment take place?"
"As you told us, we've set the date for 3 days from now," replied Andrew.
"We've arranged to meet in front of our gate," he continued.
"Okay, thanks. Go and have fun in town or buy some new equipment with that." said Maxime, handing over an extra gold coin.
[Remaining balance: 109 gold coins].
"What do you recommend for armor?" asked Andrew, while Izo and Peter were equally intrigued.
They had no knowledge of the subject since they were still normal peasants a month ago.
"There are two types of armor," Maxime began to explain calmly, sheathing his sword.
"Heavy, made of iron, steel, brass or bronze."
"Light, they're chainmail or gambisons. Gambisons are essentially padded garments made of linen or cotton."
"Generally speaking, mercenaries use leather armor, which is stronger than chainmail and easier to carry than heavy armor."
"Even in terms of maintenance it's cheaper."
"You can also buy a gambison to put under your leather armor, but only when the battle is close, otherwise you'll get too hot." finished Maxime his explanation.
The 3 mercenaries were surprised that their leader knew such a thing and at such a precise point.
"It would seem that his past is not a simple one. Son of a nobleman? Or a well-known mercenary? Come to think of it, his origins must be complex to have obtained such talent," Andrew mused with renewed respect for Maxime.
"Can't we just buy the two suits of armor, the light one for travel and have the heavy one transported by horses, mules or donkeys?" asked Peter curiously.
"Too expensive and complicated," replied Maxime simply.
"If you really want to increase your chances of survival, get stronger."
"Because no matter how good your armor is, you'll eventually die facing someone stronger."
"On the contrary, having light armor allows you to be faster and be able to flee in case you're ambushed."
"Remember Peter, we're mercenaries. We offer our services in exchange for payment. But if you want to keep making money you have to stay alive."
"That's the most important thing."
Peter nodded solemnly as Andrew pondered Maxime's words.
"It's just kill or be killed. Why talk so much?" thought Izo boredly.