Sad reality

"I can afford to open a new class!"

"Open the statistics page!"

Identity: Maxime Valdreuve

Class: Peasant level 1 (+3% in physics) (0/10)

Unlocked a new class : 0/10

Physique : 1,15 (+0,0345)

Qi : 0

Skills:

Sword Mastery level 1 (32/100)

Mastery of the Frankish language level 2 (21/100)

Talent : NOX LIMIT level 1 (unknown rank) (0/1000)

Money available: 20 gold coins.

"Unlocked a new class!"

Maxime mentally exclaimed.

[Are you sure you want to spend 10 gold coins to unlock a new class?]

"Yes!"

Ding!

[Based on your skills, talents, physique and qi, you can choose from these classes: Swordsman, Commander].

"How fortunate that the Commander class appears from the beginning, it's probably due to my talent."

"It's a class that doesn't bring anything to the physical, but it does bring passive traits that help increase the morale and combat power of the mercenary group."

"But this is a world where only the strong are respected, plus I have to increase my survivability or I'll lose 3 years of life expectancy if I die in this world, plus I'll have to rebuild everything."

"System, I choose the swordsman class!"

Ding!

[Swordsman class add to stats page!]

[+0.2 points add to physique!]

[10 skill points add in sword mastery!]

[Passive trait added: +5% physics when wielding a sword!]

[Passive trait added: +10% efficiency in training with a sword!]

Simultaneously, a current of heat flowed through his body as a wave of cool air passed through his mind.

This lasted only a few seconds, and then it disappeared.

But Maxim knew that he had become much stronger than before.

"Andrew, James, Peter, Terry, Izo, Piedro, Alessandro, Ronny, come over here!"

Several seconds later, 8 young men of all sizes and builds arrived next to Maxime and the old man.

"This young man wishes to form his own mercenary group, 4 of you will have the opportunity to join him."

The eyes of all the young men suddenly brightened as shivers ran through their bodies.

All their youth had been lulled by the stories of famous mercenary groups. So their biggest dream was to become famous mercenaries and enjoy a thrilling life.

Indeed, in this world, as in the real world, mercenaries were an extremely lucrative career but the risks were also much higher than those of ordinary soldiers.

Unlike soldiers who would only go into battle a few times in their lives, mercenaries went out into the field at least once a month.

This also meant that mercenaries were much more powerful and elite than regular army soldiers.

And this was reflected in the legends that were passed on in these small villages.

However, they were generally much less equipped in Eternity because the maintenance was too expensive, it also posed costs in logistics and it also affected the speed of movement of the group because the armor was heavy.

So face to face, the mercenaries didn't have much of an advantage. Where the mercenaries had a big advantage was in their flexibility and ability to react in any situation.

"Hello everyone, my name is Maxime. If you want to join my mercenary group, you can, only the first month will be a trial period. At the end of it, if you can't meet my requirements then I will kick you out myself."

Seeing the anticipation in the eyes of these young villagers, Maxime nodded with satisfaction.

"Meet me tomorrow at sunrise outside the village gate. Oh, and also bring something to chop wood with and some strong rope."

Most nodded in response, but one stepped forward and looked intensely at Maxime with a trace of hostility.

This one had hair as red as fire, and a physique already worthy of a mercenary.

"Do you have a question?" asked Maxime with a smile, pretending to ignore the other party's provocation.

"I also always wanted to start my own mercenary group, unfortunately I never had the money for it."

"So what?"

"Upon completion of this training, and if I am able to defeat you in a duel, would you let me be the leader as per the customs?"

"Of course," replied Maxime with an even more intense smile.

"Well, my name is Andrew."

"Nice to meet you Andrew, my name is Maxime, but you will call me chief until the end of the training."

"I wouldn't call you by that name for long, Chief," Andrew said defiantly as he extended his handshake to Maxime.

"I look forward to this day then Andrew." replied Maxime still smiling as he took his hand and shook it firmly.

The two looked at each other intensely for a few seconds as if they were going to fight in the next second, making the other 7 apprentices break out in a cold sweat.

But finally they separated as if nothing had happened.

Andrew quickly left, followed by the other 7 apprentices as they helped the other villagers carry the dead bodies and clean up the village entrance.

"I really did the right thing by taking the swordsman class, otherwise I could have really lost this duel of physical strength, not to mention the one to come" thought Maxime silently.

Indeed, their first confrontation began with the handshake, and Maxime had a slight advantage for the moment.

"Ohohoh, how exciting youth is!" exclaimed the old man still there.

Maxime shook his head wryly and also went to help the other villagers. He had no choice, after all there was no hotel here, so he could only win the favor of the villagers, and hope to be able to sleep at one of them tonight.

Time passed quickly, and the sun gave way to the moon.

In the center of the village, all the corpses were gathered in a single pile.

All around were the villagers, men, women and children. Most of them had a torch in their hands, lighting up scowling faces.

The mood was at its lowest, as Maxim stood among them.

"The report is catastrophic. Of the 103 men who took part in the battle, 32 were killed on the spot, 21 were seriously wounded. Life and death are still unknown," thought Maxime, frowning.

"Obviously what led to this result was the difference in mentality between the thieves and the villagers, but mostly due to the teamwork of the thieves as well as the overwhelming difference in equipment. What were these people even thinking with just a pot in their hands?" sighed Maxim discreetly.

But no one imagined that it would really end in a bloodbath, after all it had been years since the thieves had come to claim their "protection tax".

Soon the old man arrived near the corpses with a torch in his hand.

He was not a priest or a good mayor, he was simply a retired soldier.

So he didn't say anything, he just left his torch burning the first corpse.

Soon an hour passed, and the whole of the little mountain was on fire.

In boredom, Maxim observed the expressions of each other.

To his surprise, he could see Andrew with his fists closed but his head still straight. Other of his future mercenary apprentices also had their fists closed, others had their heads down, while small drops of water could be seen from time to time falling to the ground, others had their heads straight with eyes filled with hatred.

These made Maxime frown. As much as these hate-filled people did not lack courage and motivation, they were uncontrollable factors.

According to his own research, these were elements that needed to be handled with extreme care.

He could have known exactly how to deal with them by having additional classes on Eternity by experts, but unfortunately he didn't have the money to take those classes which were outside the curriculum.

Another hour passed quickly, the corpses being almost completely incinerated, the place was deserted little by little which made Maxime panic slightly.

He wanted to approach some villagers to ask them to take him in temporarily, but the gloomy atmosphere blocked him mentally.

But his savior arrived quickly.

"Maxime is it? Don't you have anywhere to sleep?" the old man asked kindly.

"Well, that's the situation now," replied Maxim, slightly embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it, this old man's house has been stained by loneliness for far too long, a little human warmth won't hurt him" said the old man with a little sorrow.

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