Respect
After a good night's sleep, Maxime went to the river not far from the village to wash up, then went straight to the village entrance.
In this world, food was far too precious for anyone to enjoy the luxury of 3 meals a day.
A small wooden gate less than 2 meters high and 4 meters wide formed the entrance to the village.
Surrounding it were a series of interconnected wooden posts. The bare minimum to ensure the safety of this poor village.
Had the defense been slightly improved, and had the villagers had a few 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 chatted amongst themselves.
The sound of Maxime's footsteps caught their attention, so they focused their gaze on him.
Through their postures and eyes, Maxime could see a certain degree of impatience, excitement, stress or even...provocation.
A few seconds later, Maxime reached them.
"I see you're in good form. I'd like to welcome you to my mercenary group, 'Les Tigres à dents de sabres'", Maxime announced calmly.
His only response was a simple nod.
However, he didn't particularly mind, as discipline would be taught in due course.
Ding!
This little sound made Maxime smile. This was what he'd been waiting for.
[Detected that 8 members have joined the host's mercenary group].
[Among them are 7 mercenaries with one-star innate potential and one 2-star mercenary].
Host's Talent activated] [All new mercenaries are given a new look.
[All new mercenaries have their potential increased by one star].
"Haha, it really worked!" exclaimed Maxime mentally, ecstatic.
Even he knew from his limited information just how important potential was.
In Eternity, every individual had mercenary potential, without exception. They ranged from one star to 5 stars. 2-star mercenaries were the elite of the elite, while 3-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, Maxime's current home, whose population numbered 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 level 2 swordplay and a physique of 1.5 in their lifetime. A physique of 0.8 corresponds to the average physique of an ordinary adult man who has never trained.
Obviously, there were exceptions to everything, but this represented the vast majority of the population of the Kingdom of the Frost Eagle.
However, 2-star mercenaries could reach level 3 in sword skills, and had a maximum physical limit set at around 2.
The difference wasn't all that great, but it was enough to ensure 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 mercenaries with 1-star potential who had defied the sky's the limit, mastering countless skills at levels 1 and 2, and crossing their physical limits countless times by risking their lives. Allowing them to achieve a fighting ability close to that of a mercenary with 3-star potential at their peak.
In any case, they remained legends, and therefore virtually impossible, hence the importance of having good potential.
And Maxime's talent made it possible not only to increase potential, but also to increase training speed by 6 times.
It deserved to be a talent that couldn't be ranked.
"It's even more surprising that this talent can be improved, but that requires 100,000 gold coins..."
"I also need to improve and maintain my mercenary group. The day I raise that kind of money will be the year of the monkey..."
Indeed, players were not subject to Eternity's innate potential, yet to improve, they had to spend huge sums of money.
Just as Maxime had had to do, spending 10 gold coins - the income of around 3-4 years of hard work by an ordinary family - just to unlock a new class.
"In the meantime, I'll be able to rely on them to build up the reputation of my mercenary group," Maxime thought, carefully observing the different expressions of his new colleagues.
After all, they're just colleagues. Although there is a leader, mercenaries are free to leave the group whenever they wish. Individuals come together and form what are known as mercenary groups, simply because their interests and objectives point in the same direction.
On the other hand, Andrew was deep in thought:
"What is this, why do I feel as if everything around me suddenly becomes more alive, more beautiful? It's as if my being has transcended into a higher form of life", he asked himself with excitement and curiosity, looking around him.
"Could it be because of this man?" he thought, fixing his gaze on the blond-haired young man in front of him.
"I'd ask you to pay a little attention, my new young mercenaries," Maxime declared softly.
But seeing 5 of the 8 mercenaries still concentrating on acquiring their new power, he finally decided to use the big guns.
With a quick step, he rushed towards the nearest of the 5 mercenaries, still unfocused, then grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up with one hand.
A heavy silence followed.
"I'm a rather tolerant person, naturally, but it's a different matter when it comes to the mercenaries of the Saber-toothed Tigers," Maxime declared in a cold tone as he tightened his grip, causing the new mercenary to choke.
They all suddenly remembered that this blond-haired young man had decapitated several thieves in a row without hesitation the day before, while for their part, the mere scene had been enough to make them want to pull out all their guts.
"From now on you're already new members of the group, albeit temporary, and so you'll have to abide by a few rules common to all mercenary groups. The first being respect for the leader of the group, i.e. me."
Seeing that the man he was holding by the throat was beginning to turn his eyes skyward, Maxime decided to release him.
The young man collapsed as he gasped for fresh air, his eyes looking down to hide his 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 enabled you to increase your innate potential by one star, as well as increasing your speed of progression by six times."
"But keep in mind that, what I've given you, I can take back at any time," Maxime threatened 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 that 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 waste no time and start training," said Maxime with a smile, and another change of face and intonation.
But the reaction of the new members was quite different:
"Oui chef!" replied the new members of the mercenary group in unison, with the exception of one, as he was still suffocating on the ground. However, he gave a thumbs-up to show his agreement, which made Maxime laugh slightly.