Respect

"I'll depend on you then," Maxime said with a smile.

After a good night's sleep, Maxime went to the river not far from the village to wash himself, then went directly to the entrance of the village.

In this world food was far too precious for everyone to enjoy the luxury of three meals a day.

A small wooden gate less than 2 meters high and 4 meters wide was the entrance to the village.

All around were simple wooden posts connected to each other. The bare minimum to ensure the security of this poor village.

If the defense had been slightly improved, and if the villagers had had some bows or crossbows at their disposal, the thieves of the previous day would never have dared to be so arrogant.

The wooden door was wide open, as 8 young men carrying various tools talked among themselves.

The sound of Maxim's footsteps caught their attention, so they focused their eyes on him.

Through their postures and their eyes, Maxime could see a certain degree of impatience, excitement, stress or even...provocation.

A few seconds later, Maxime arrived at their level.

"I see that you are in good shape. I welcome you to my mercenary group, "The Saber-toothed Tigers", Maxime announced calmly.

He only got a simple nod in response.

However, this did not bother him particularly, the discipline will be taught in time.

Ding!

This little sound made Maxime smile. This was what he had been waiting for.

[Detected that 8 members have joined the host's mercenary group].

[Among them are 7 mercenaries with an innate potential of one star as well as a 2-star mercenary].

[Host's talent activated].

[All the new mercenaries have their potential increased by one star.]

"Haha, that really worked!" exclaimed Maxime mentally, overjoyed.

Even he knew from his limited information how important potential was.

In Eternity, every individual had mercenary potential, without exception. They ranged from one star to five stars. Two star mercenaries were the elite of the elite, while three star mercenaries were as rare as phoenix feathers.

So rare, in fact, that there were less than a hundred of them in the entire Kingdom of the Frost Eagle, the kingdom where Maxime was currently located and whose population was counted in the tens of millions.

This potential limited the physical to a certain threshold, a threshold almost impossible to cross without various unique methods.

For example, 1-star mercenaries could only achieve a level 2 swordplay and a physique of 1.5 in their lifetime. A physique of 0.8 was the average physique of an ordinary adult male who had never trained.

Of course there were exceptions to everything, but this represented the vast majority of the population of the Frost Eagle Kingdom.

However, 2-star mercenaries could reach level 3 in sword skills, and had a maximum physical limit set at about 2.

The difference was not so great, but enough that individuals with 1-star potential could only admire the prowess of those with 2-star potential from afar.

Of course, there were legends of one-star mercenaries who had defied the sky's the limit, mastering countless skills at the one- and two-star levels, and breaking their physical limits countless times by risking their lives. Allowing them to obtain a fighting ability close to a 3 star potential mercenary at their peak.

In any case, these were legends, and therefore almost impossible, hence the importance of having a good potential.

And Maxime's talent allowed to increase not only this one, but also to increase the speed of training by 6 times.

It deserved to be a talent that could not be ranked.

"It's even more surprising that this talent can be upgraded, but it requires 100,000 gold coins..."

"I also need to upgrade and maintain my mercenary group. The day I gather that much money will be the year of the monkey..."

Indeed, the players were not subject to Eternity's innate potential, however to improve, they had to spend huge amounts of money.

Just like Maxime had had to spend 10 gold coins, the income of about 3-4 years of hard work of an ordinary family to just unlock a new class.

"In the meantime, I'll be able to rely on them to build the reputation of my mercenary group," thought Maxime as he carefully observed the different expressions of his new colleagues.

Indeed, they are only colleagues. Although there is a leader, the mercenaries are free to leave the group whenever they want. Individuals come together and form what are called mercenary groups, simply because their interests and goals are in the same direction.

On the other hand, Andrew was deep in thought:

"What is this, why do I have the impression that everything around me suddenly becomes more alive, more beautiful? As if my being had transcended, and had passed to a higher form of life" he asked himself with excitement but also curiosity while looking around him.

"Could it be because of this man?" he thought as he fixed his gaze on the young man with blonde hair in front of him.

"I would ask you to pay attention to my new young mercenaries", said Maxime softly.

But seeing 5 of the 8 mercenaries still focused on acquiring their new power, he finally decided to use the big guns.

With a quick step, he rushed towards the closest of the 5 mercenaries who were still unfocused, then with one hand he grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up.

A heavy silence followed.

"I'm a tolerant person, naturally, but it becomes quite different when it comes to the mercenaries of the Saber-toothed Tigers," said Maxime in a cold tone while tightening his grip, making the new mercenary choke.

All of them suddenly remembered that this young man with blond hair had decapitated several thieves in a row without any hesitation the day before, while on their side, the simple scene had been enough to make them want to take out all their guts.

"From now on you are already new members of the group, although temporary, and so you will have to respect some rules common to all mercenary groups. The first being respect for the leader of the group, that is me."

Seeing the man he was holding by the throat began to turn his eyes to the sky, Maxime decided to release him.

The young man collapsed as he gasped for fresh air, while his eyes looked down and hid immeasurable fear.

Seeing the result, even Andrew took a small breath to ease his tension at the scene.

"What you experienced just before is called the baptism of the saber-toothed tiger. It allowed you to increase your innate potential by one star as well as increase your advancement speed by six times."

"But keep in mind that what I gave you, I can take back at any time." threatened Maxime sharply.

"I knew that there were mercenary group leaders with extraordinary talent, allowing for example to increase the combat power of all their members, but it only goes from 3 to 5% normally. Maybe 20% maximum for the most monstrous of them. But this guy's talent is just in another dimension..." mentally analyzed Andrew as a wave of excitement washed over him.

"This is the best time to prove himself and make sure he gets a good place in the future in the mercenary group. For surely, this guy will become a heavyweight in the kingdom...No even in the world!"

This was the collective thought of all the new mercenaries.

"Now let's not waste time, and let's start training" said Maxime smiling, and thus changing his face of intonation again.

But the reaction of the new members was quite different:

"Yes boss!" answered in unison the new members of the mercenary group, except for one, because he was still suffocating on the ground. However, he raised his thumb in the air to show his agreement, which made Maxim laugh slightly.