Things progressed smoothly. After Lize was returned from the Mercenary Association, she was stunned after noticing the new stronghold. She stood anxiously in front of the entrance while holding the supplies that she had just bought, not daring to come in. If it were not for Rhode, who found her rooted to the ground in a daze, Lize would've probably stood there until night came.
Seeing the changes, naturally, she had some doubts. Although Rhode said that he would tidy up things, just by common sense, anyone would have assumed that he'd just cleaned up the broken furniture, and not deliver a complete makeover. Clearly, Rhode did not want to explain much, so she did not ask further. After she went through a lot of things, she began to trust him unconditionally. Even though what he did was odd, but since Rhode was a very mysterious person, so there was nothing strange.
And Lize believed that one day he would tell her everything.
Rhode heard from her about the situation in the Mercenary Association. That old man was left speechless once she recounted the story that happened. It was apparent that he did not expect the both of them to conquer the haunted house. On the other hand, Sereck took their side. He even gave some advice to Rhode, reminding him that he should be more careful to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Rhode's heart felt warm about Sereck's kind and genuine reminder. While Haunted House had a bad reputation, Deep Stone City still did not send its top-tier fighters to conquer it. For a Master Swordsman like Sereck, he could easily subdue the undead. But the reason he did not do so was not that the enemy was stronger than him, but instead, it was because of some other external factors.
In the end, this place was situated at the highest district and belonged to the nobles, which would certainly spell trouble for them if they interceded needlessly. Once the greedy nobles discovered that the haunted house was no longer cursed, matters would become incredibly troublesome. After all, 500 gold coins for a large mansion was utterly absurd, even calling it a bargain was an understatement. Naturally, some people would have sinister intentions to take the house back. As the saying goes, there was no free lunch in this world.
Rhode knew about this matter, but he was curious as to why Sereck would remind him of such things since both of them was not even close... Was it because of the battle from before that made Sereck fond of him?
But these were matters that weren't of a high priority now. The current challenge was how to further develop his mercenary group.
Rhode highlighted the first problem: Manpower.
A mercenary group consisting of only two people was certainly impossible. Indeed, by relying on Rhode's familiarity with this area, he would be able to complete the mission easily. But if there weren't enough members, then it was no way for him to make a competent team. Based on his current strength, he could only kill undead creatures efficiently. If he fought against living creatures, it would be much more troublesome. As for the usual mercenary commission such as escorting, transporting, and others, with his current member count, no one would dare to entrust these jobs to him.
However, what kind of men he should hire? At least the price must be reasonable... With this amount of money currently, he should be able to employ about one or two mercenaries. As the saying goes, use the best steel to make the knife's edge. If he chose the wrong personnel, then it would be too late for him to cry.
He creased his brows as he sat in the study room quietly. The room had plenty of open spaces. Other than a desk, few chairs and a bookshelf, there was nothing else. Although it looked quite shabby, right now, he could only accept it.
After closing the book on his hand, Rhode fell into deep into thought.
8th Month, the year of glory ——— was half a year later. The Country of Light, after investigating some matters, they declared that the Country of Darkness was the perpetrator behind the floating ship attack on the border. Then they quickly sent their troops and occupied Mount Solacen. There, they controlled the inhabitants, claiming that those men were the culprits behind the ambush. After that, they were promptly arrested and executed.
Two months later, the Country of Darkness's army made a response and took back Mount Solacen, and the Country of Light's army was annihilated.
An all-out war broke out.
The Munn Kingdom was the first line of defense against the Country of Darkness, and also the place that Rhode resided. In truth, the calamity could be avoided, but the Country of Light issued a decree, preventing them from surrendering.
That battle was the very first time that players suffered many casualties. When besieging the Munn Kingdom, the Country of Darkness sent powerful military forces. Vampires, skeleton mages, and other terrifying creatures that reached level 80. The average level of players were only level 40 to 50. Thus, the outcome was disastrous. Although some players organized various parties to try to and defend their land, it was useless in the face of the sheer level difference of the Darkness army. At that moment, the Country of Light's council made a very shocking decision ——— They declared that the Munn Kingdom was in treacherous collusion with the enemy country and sent troops to invade the Munn Kingdom.
This crushed any hope the Munn Kingdom had left. Realizing that it was fighting a futile battle for survival, the kingdom finally began to retreat. And at that time, the King of the kingdom, Lydia Paphield Mila Frederica, made a shocking decision. She sent her personal elite corps, the 'Purple Lily', to escort the players and citizens to retreat to the Trisfia Port.
Rhode still vividly remembered the scene from back then. They stood beside the refugees, and almost every player was gritting their teeth in humiliation while staring at the burning land before them. While being overthrown by some NPCs already made them furiously mad, the betrayal from the Country of Light was the icing on the cake.
The players began hurling insults to quench their resentment. Their wide range of explicit vocabularies began surfacing: 'F*ck GM!! How dare you toy with us?!', 'Die you stupid game company!' and 'I want to kill those group of b*stards from the council!' were common sentences from the players. While the players were cussing their hearts out, the Munn Kingdom's inhabitants departed in a hurry.
But only one person stayed.
As an angel, she singlehandedly withstood the Country of Darkness relentless assault until the last ship from Trisfia Port left, then she finally closed her eyes to rest for eternity. Unto the last moment, she carried her oath to the grave ——— 'I will always stand behind my people and shield them from the storm, whether they were willing or not, was of minor consequence.'
Soon, the players' anger couldn't be contained any longer and broke loose like water bursting out from a dam.
Rhode could distinctly recall the time where hundreds of thousands of players leaving the official game forum in retaliation. Many claimed that this was against the will of the players and used many ways to express their resentment. Some player guilds even began to rebel by taking revenge through sabotaging the Country of Light's army and murdering their NPCs. After these consecutive events, Rhode began to take this game seriously. He gathered the players with similar hatred towards the Country of Light and was able to form the Starlight Guild. Half of the players wanted to regain their dignity as players while the other half wanted to show the developers by boycotting the game. All in all, they wanted to vent their anger and somehow take revenge for their loss.
And they succeeded.
Under Rhode's command, Starlight grew stronger each day. They were able to sweep through the Country of Light and utterly demolish the Country of Light's council. After that, they sharpened their blades and went for the country that started this whole mess—the Country of Darkness. In the end, they succeeded and even conquered one of the Creator Dragons, the Dark Dragon. The Starlight Guild then rose to the fame as the game's most powerful guild.
While everybody was celebrating, Rhode basked in a dull melancholy, and a tiny voice constantly rang within Rhode's heart.
At that time, if I had this power, would I be able to change everything?
He didn't know the answer, but deep inside, he understood—
He understood that time wouldn't rewind itself. It was delusional for him to believe that he could start over.
...That was what he had believed, until he arrived to this world.
Now that Rhode finally found an opportunity to change this fate, he wouldn't waste it by 'playing casually.' He didn't want to experience that feeling of helplessness from before. Whether as a refugee or player, he would never allow himself to suffer from that kind of humiliation once again.
Rhode had thought of visiting the Golden City after leaving Dusk Forest. But after hearing about Lize's plight, he changed his mind. Since he could form a guild powerful enough to contend against Hell's devils and destroy both countries of Light and Darkness, he was confident that he could do it again. Even killing the Void Dragon wasn't an impossible task in the future.
He still had one and a half year of time. While it wasn't a long time, it wasn't short either.
And now, he had already acquired the Mercenary Association acknowledgment and a stronghold. He could finally start to rebuild his glory from before. This time, he wasn't going to feel the shame from before, this was something he absolutely could not tolerate.
Since everything was going on the right track, it was time for him to begin preparations.
Admiring Deep Stone City's scenery from the window, Rhode began to recall those NPCs attributes and skills. Then an idea struck him.
"Lize."
He stood up and knocked on the desk. Soon, the girl who was seemingly engrossed in a book, heard his call and stood up immediately.
"Let's go to the Mercenary Association."
The Mercenary Association was as lively as usual. Mercenaries were sitting in the hall, drinking and chatting at the various tables. More people were queuing in front of the hall to accept and hand in commissions.
Rhode quickly found his mercenary group name on the stone slabs of all the mercenaries group in Paphield area. The total number of mercenary groups on the stone slab was 32, and Starlight was ranked the last with an eye-catching number beside it, 0.
Lize felt somewhat helpless when she saw the ranking. Although she had already seen it yesterday, but to think that her mercenary group which was previously around the middle, fell to the bottom of the list overnight, wasn't a pleasant thought to have.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down and said, "Sir, we are now ranked last. 0 points... Even other mercenary groups have five points at the very least. We must think of some way."
"I know."
Rhode nodded in response and looked up. Then he saw another name —— Red Hawk. If he remembered correctly, the Red Hawk leader was a friend of Lize. It seemed like they were doing quite well, ranked at the 21st. They belong to the standard level, without any merit, which was not too low and not too high.
The reason Rhode arrived here today was not because of them. He glanced at the other side of the hall.
The arrangement of the Mercenary Association was distinct. The left side of the hall was the place occupied by mercenary groups, and the right was the place for those idle and unorganized mercenaries to hang out. These people do not have a mercenary group and could only wait here while taking on some common missions, or wait for a mercenary group to recruit them. Because of that, this place was much quieter than the left side.
Rhode and Lize's appearance caused a lot of heads to turn. A group of rowdy mercenaries whistled loudly and greeted the both of them uncouthly. Rhode ignored the idiots who couldn't even recognize his gender, whereas, for Lize, it was just another day for her. She gave a smile as a courtesy, and did not respond. She knew that these mercenaries were actually bored, and wanted to find some fun. Whether she met their greetings with anger or happiness, they still accomplished their goal. Thus, it was better to just ignore them, lest attracting unnecessary trouble.
Rhode turned his head towards the corner and walked over...
The cup of wine was as sweet as usual...
The old man put down the glass in his hand while forcefully holding his slightly trembling right hand. He leaned against the chair, looking at the ground. He was once the member of Wind Glory mercenary group. At that time he was very confident, brave, and energized. For countless of times, he dreamed that someday he was going to be a mercenary group leader. To lead his men to go on an adventure was his hope and his dream.
But after this injury, everything changed for the worse.
He had lost the strength from before, and those who had worshiped him before, also abandoned him. And what was he now? The youngster who had a limitless future, was now a poor old man who could not do anything besides drinking alcohol. Thinking about this, he could not help but sigh again. He looked up and glanced at the group of youngsters around him. They were too young and still dreaming. Adventure, beauty, money, fame... what were those? Everything was meaningless once they lost something to rely on, then what would become of them?
The old man reached out his hand and touched his right eye that was covered by an eye patch. Then he raised his glass signaling the bartender for another cup.
At this time. he noticed two people sitting beside him.
"Mr. Walker? Mr. Didar Walker?"
s.
Seeing the changes, she naturally has some doubts. After all, although Rhode said that he would tidy up these things. But thinking with common sense, he supposed to just clean it and would not be able to change everything completely. Clearly, Rhode did not want to explain much and she was not able to ask about it. After she went through a lot of things, she began to trust him unconditionally. Even though what he did was strange, but since Rhode himself was a very mysterious person, so there was nothing strange.
And Lize believe, that one day he would tell her everything.
From her, Rhode has heard about the situation in the mercenary association. Clearly, that old man was very surprised that he was able to conquer this haunted house. Could be seen that he was not able to believe that both of them has the ability to conquer this famous haunted house in Deep Stone City. On the other hand, Sereck was taking their side. He even gave some advice to Rhode, saying that he should be more careful in order to avoid unnecessary trouble.
About Sereck advice, Rhode really appreciated it. He was very clear that although Cyril's Haunted House has a bad reputation, but Deep Stone City did not lack strong warrior. For Master Swordsman like Sereck, he could easily conquer it. But the reason he did not do so, was not because the enemy was stronger than him, and because of some other external factors.
In the end, this place was located in the top area and this place belong to the noble, which certainly would bring them trouble. For a while, people would not look for their trouble because he has just entered this city and this house was still the renowned haunted house. But after some times had passed, when people have realized that the haunted house was no longer 'haunted', things would turn out very troublesome. Using 500 gold coins to buy such a big house, even though there was no problem in the procedure but some people would have other ideas. After all, as the saying goes, there was no free lunch in this world.
Rhode naturally knew about this matter, but he was curious as to why Sereck would remind him about such things since both of them was not really close... Was it because of the battle from before has made Sereck become fond of him?
But these were things that would happen later. The current problem that he must face was how to develop the mercenary group.
The first problem was, manpower.
Mercenary group consisting only two people certainly impossible. Indeed, by relying on Rhode familiarity with this area, he would be able to complete the mission easily. But if the manpower was not enough, then it was no way for him to make an effective team. Based on his current member, he could only kill undead creatures, because facing living creatures would be troublesome. As for the normal mercenary commission such as escorting, transporting, and others. With his current mercenary group member, no one would dare to entrust these jobs to him.
However, what kind of men he should hire? At least the the price must be reasonable... With the money on his hands, he should be able to hire about one or two people. As the saying goes, use the best steel to make the knife's edge. If he chose the wrong person then it would be too late for him to cry.
Sitting in the study room, he frowned. The room has some open spaces. Beside a desk, few chairs and a bookshelf there was nothing else. Although it looked quite shabby, but right now he could only put up with it.
After closing the book on his hand, Rhode fell into a deep thought.
8th Month, the year of glory ——— was half year later. The Country of Light, after they went through some investigation, they were stating that the Country of Darkness was the one behind the floating ship attack in the border. Then they quickly sent their troops and occupied Solacan Mountain. There, they controlled the inhabitants, claiming that those men were the culprit behind the Country of Light merchant ships attack. After that, they were arrested and executed.
Two months later, the Country of Darkness army made a response and took back Solacan Mountain, and the army from Country of Light was destroyed.
Then, an all out war broke out.
The first place that was attacked by the Country of Darkness was Munn Kingdom, the place that Rhode currently reside. In fact, this could be avoided, but the Country of Light has issued an order that made Munn Kingdom had to face the wrath of Country of Darkness.
That time was the time when the players had to face the most serious casualties. When attacking Munn Kingdom, the Country of Darkness has sent strong military forces of vampire, skeleton mage, and others same level creature that has reached almost level 80. To the players who were only level 40 to 50, it was very disastrous. Although some players has organized themselves to try to defend their land, but it was useless in the face of Country of Darkness army. At that moment, the Country of Light's council has made a very shocking decision ——— They declared that the Munn Kingdom was in treacherous collusion with the enemy country and send a troops to attack the Munn Kingdom.
This has crumbled one last hope of Munn Kingdom that has already crumbling in the storm. After facing the attack from both sides, it finally began to retreat and at that time the King of the Nation, Lydia Paphield Mila Frederica finally made a decision. She sent her own elite corps 'Purple Lily' to escort the players and people to retreat to Trisfia Port.
Rhode still remembered the scene from back then, they stood beside the refugees and almost every players were clenching their teeth while looking at the land before them. They were not only angry because as a player they were actually being humiliated by some NPC, but also because they were angry with the Country of Light stupidity,
Munn Kingdom inhabitants began to leave, they were dressed in tattered clothes and leaving in hurry.
Munn Kingdom players began to leave, they were angry and shouted 'Creator team, you toyed with us!' 'Die you game company!' 'I want to kill those group of XX from the council!', unwilling to lose and left.
Only one person stayed.
As a angel, she blocked the Country of Darkness attack one by one and wait until the last ship from Trisfia Port left, she finally closed her eyes. Until the last moment, she still carry out her oath ——— 'I will always stand behind my people and cover the storm for them, whether they were willing or not'.
After that, the players anger finally broke out.
Rhode still clearly remember that this was the largest outbreak in Dragon Soul Continent. In less than a week, hundred thousands players almost the game official forum. Many people said that this was the ... against the players will. A lot of players used their own mean to express their resentment. Then guild players appeared one by one and they took a revenge on Country of Light army and NPC. After that happened, Rhode finally was starting to play seriously. When gathering the players with the same hatred towards Country of Light, he was able to build Starlight. It was because they wanted to regain their dignity as a player, and also a boycott towards game system. They want to vent their anger and take a revenge towards them.
And they succeeded.
Under Rhode's command, Starlight grew stronger. They were able to swept the Country of Light and completely destroy the Country of Light's council. After that, they wiped their knife edge and sharpening it to attack another enemy country which was the Country of Darkness. In the end, they also succeeded and even personally conquered one of the Creator Dragon which was the Dark Dragon. After this battle, the Starlight became the game's most powerful guild.
It could be said that they succeeded and became glorious. But there has been a small voice resounding at Rhode's heart.
When they were destroying the council and conquering the Dark Dragon, he has been thinking about something.
What if at that time I had this kind of power, will I be able to change everything?
Rhode did not know, but he clearly knew that it was just a dream. The game could not rewind and it was impossible for him to start over. He used to think so, until he came to this world... Rhode finally found that he has the opportunity to change this fate.
He did not want to taste that kind of feeling from before. Whether as refugee or player, he would not allow himself to suffer that kind of humiliation once again.
But before that, Rhode has also thought about going to the Golden City after leaving the Dusk Forest. However, after he heard about what would happen to Lize, he changed his mind. Since he could create a guild strong enough to completely destroy Country of Light and Country of Darkness, and could even compete with the Hell's devil. He could even created a guild strong enough to kill the Void Dragon, then why wouldn't he start over?
He still has one and a half year. Not a long time, but not short either.
And now, he already got the Mercenary Association acknowledgement and a stronghold. He could finally start to rebuild his glory from before. This time, he was not going to feel the shame from before once again, this was something he absolutely could not tolerate.
Everything was going on the right track, it's time for him to start a preparation.
Looking at Deep Stone City scenery from the window, Rhode began to recall those NPC attributes and skills. Soon he got an idea.
"Lize."
He stood up and knocked on the desk. Soon, the girl who was reading beside the window heard his call and immediately stood up.
"Let's go to the Mercenary Association."
The Mercenary Association was as lively as usual, there was no difference from few days ago. Bored mercenaries were sitting on the hall while drinking and chatting in the table. More people were standing in front of the hall to take commission or turnover commission.
Rhode quickly found his mercenary name on the stone slabs of all the mercenaries group in Paphield area. The total mercenaries group in the stone slab was 32, and Starlight was ranked the last and the eye catching number beside it, which was 0.
Seeing it, Lize felt somewhat helpless. Although she had seen it yesterday, but thinking about her mercenary group has fell from the middle to the bottom, she still somewhat felt bad about it. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, and said.
"Sir, we are now ranked last, no points... Even other mercenary group at least has five points. We must think of some way."
"I know."
Rhode nodded to respond and looked up. Then he saw another name —— Red Hawk. If he remembered correctly, Red Hawk leader was a friend of Lize. It seemed like, they were quite good, ranked 21st. They belong to the standard level without merit, which was not too low and not too high.
The reason Rhode came here today was not because of these small matter. He glanced at the other side of the hall.
The distribution of Mercenary Association was very clear. The left side of the hall was the place occupied by mercenary group, and the right was the place for those idle and unorganized mercenaries. These people for various reason did not enter a mercenary group and could only wait here while taking some ordinary mission or waiting for any mercenary group to recruit them. Because of that, this place was much more quiet that the left side, the mercenaries sitting there was not chatting casually, instead their expressions were cold as if someone owe them something, sitting in the corner motionless.
Rhode and Lize appearance caused a lot of people's attention. They loudly whistled while greeting the both of them. But Rhode did not seem to care about those idiot who could not even differentiate his gender, and Lize has long been accustomed about it. She only smiled with courtesy from afar, and did not intend to respond. She knew that these mercenaries were actually bored and wanted to find some fun. Whether she responded it with anger or happiness, they still reached their goal and it would be more troublesome after that. It's better to act like nothing happened, then they would not bother them anymore.
Throwing them aside, Rhode turned his head looking at the corner and walked over...
The cup of wine was as sweet as usual...
The old man put down the glass on his hand while forcefully holding his slightly trembling right hand. He leaned against the chair, looking at the ground. He was once the member of Wind Glory mercenary group. At that time he was very confident, brave, and energized. He thought that someday he was going to be a mercenary group leader for countless time. To lead his men to go on adventure was his hope and his dream.
But after this injury, everything changed.
He has lost the strength from before, those who have worshiped him also abandoned him, and now? The youngster that future was limitless has become a poor old man who could not do anything beside drinking alcohol. Thinking until here, he could not help became sad again. He looked up and glanced at the group of youngster around him. They were too young and still dreaming. Adventure, beauty, money, fame, what were those? Everything was meaningles once they have lost something to rely on, then what would become of them?
The old man reached out his hand and touched his right eye that was covered by eye patch. Then he raised his glass trying to call the bartender for another cup.
At this time. he found that two people has sat beside him.
"Mr. Walker? Mr. Didar Walker?"