This morning, I walk out of the hospital with all payments covered by the mercenary guild.With a sense of dread, I decide to walk into the mercenary guild, knowing that Joana is manning the reception desk today.My feelings really turn bad.Joana, wearing glasses, has a sweet voice and a pretty face, but beneath that exterior lies a temperament not many can stand.If you are ranked C or above, she treats you like royalty, sweet as honey. But if you're below that, prepare for a nightmare.Her gaze is condescending, and her words, venomous, wound every time she speaks.She always treats me like a burden, a dead weight at rank F.I choose to evade her and wait for other receptionist for my mental health and as I'm about to leave, her voice cuts through the air, taunting, “What a poor, useless guy here. Are you waiting for Lily? Sadly, she started her long vacation yesterday. You'll need to wait two weeks if you want her help.”I sigh, knowing I can’t wait that long. In a sour mood, I ap
When I return to the Mercenary Guild with five cores of the hyena beast, Joana’s beautiful eyes look at me in shock and disbelief.She asks, “I got the customer review over the application; you got five stars. Did you call someone else to help you? Because that’s illegal, and you're not allowed to do that.”“You can ask the customer. They were watching when I did the killing,” I respond confidently.Joana's eyes narrow, trying to maintain her calm, but she's clearly suspicious. It is no way the weakest F rank could kill the E rank hyena beasts in no more than half day.I decide to take another E-rank quest. This one is similar, involving hyena beasts, but this time it's in the northern part of Greentown.I employ the same strategy, luring the beasts rather than chasing them, which would take far too long.As soon as I kill each beast, the system sends a notification: [You absorb the darkness energy and convert it into light fuel, gaining 0.05 free attributes.]I've come to understand
I look over at the Black Dragon team. If I were still in my prime, I could wipe them out—all twenty of them—in a mere second, cleaning out all their arrogant smiles with their blood.But now is not a good time to confront them.I turn to Joana, “You will keep the secret of me taking the D-rank quest, right?”She gazes back to me and give a cruel smile, “Depend on who’s asking.”In the Mercenary Guild, members are not able to inquire about others' quests. It’s the rule.But it is different if Joana sells me out.Suddenly, one of the Black Dragon members strides over and grabs my shoulder. "Leader, I saw this man take the D-rank quest to kill 10 Rhino types. He’s taking it on alone."The entire guild, usually abuzz with murmurs and chatter of mercenaries, falls into stunned silence.The Black Dragon leader's face turns red, and a wave of laughter erupts around us. "The weakest member taking a D-rank and facing 10 Rhino types alone?" someone scoffs."What a great joke."I have to cover m
The other mercenaries are not warned about the fireworks; they only realize there are sudden fireworks hitting the horde, causing a slight delay to the beasts.“Keep attacking them!” the mercenary leader yells, his voice cutting through the chaos as he sees the opportunity from the beast’s chaos.The long-range attackers hurl everything they can—earth stones, fireballs, electric balls—while the melee attackers, endowed with strength abilities and iron bodies, move to the front.I myself am sprinting towards the horde of monkey monsters. They are numerous, around 400 strong.With a quick snap of my fingers, I throw the fruits out from my spatial storage. Bananas, apples, berries scatter across the ground.Some monkey beasts, eyeing the fruit, quickly grab the treats and rush away from the horde. The leader of the monkey beasts yells, but his commands are drowned out by the booming fireworks, his voice lost in the explosions.More and more beasts retreat to where they came from, fruits
One of the members of the Black Dragon team, who uses a bow as her weapon, shamelessly raises her hand.The Black Dragon team boasts a diverse array of ranged attackers, and indeed, the bow is among their arsenal."Are you sure this arrow is yours?" the leader asks, skepticism coloring his tone. "You are using a bow, and this is a bolt for a crossbow."She pulls out a crossbow from her side. "I use this to shoot the B-rank monsters," she asserts confidently.Roman the Mercenary leader looks at her suspiciously, there is no way a D-rank mercenary could shot at B-rank beast in one shot.The woman declares, "Since I am the one who killed the B-rank monster, I can claim its corpse, right?"It turns out that claiming the monster's corpse, worth about 500 gold coins, is her intention. Everyone knows that such a prize would drive anyone to kill.Roman, like any shrewd mercenary, quickly senses something amiss and finally states, "No, since it was a collective effort, the beast's corpse will
Under the morning sun, from the moment the forty mercenary movement reacts to the attack by about 35 E-rank hyenas beasts, my overthinking ability kicks into overdrive.Observing their movements and abilities, in killing the Hyena beast I deduce there are four B-rank mercenaries, fifteen C-rank, and the majority are D-rank.Alongside me are Igor and two other E-rank mercenaries. It's clear that they are dead serious about taking control of Kirov City Yet, I can't help but think it won't be enough to conquer such a sprawling urban expanse.Once the hyenas are killed, we, the E-rank mercenaries, are tasked with retrieving the cores.After a grueling five hours journeying and battling other beasts, we stop at a five-story hotel on the Kirov city's outskirts."Get off!" our team leader bellows. "We will clear this hotel apartment and set it up as our temporary base. Clear out all the beasts and secure the area. Anyone with earth abilities, create the earth wall, make sure the defenses ar
In the late afternoon, as the sun dips closer to the horizon, the air fills with the distinct rumble of trucks and the air thickens with dust.The mercenaries, having completed their perimeter checks, are returning for rest.Igor and his friend haul an assortment of beast carcasses they've discovered in the area for me to inspect on the kitchen—whether they're edible or not is my call.From the rabbit-like creatures to the majestic deer and even the formidable lion-type beasts ranked B, their collection is diverse.They are visibly stunned to discover that both electricity and water supply have been restored to the hotel base.The air is ripe with their surprise.“How did you manage to get the electric and hot water back online?” Anton, the B-rank team leader, inquires. His rugged face, usually stern and unreadable, lights up with a rare spark of relief.He and the others had braced themselves for another night of roughing it without basic amenities.“It was Alex, the chef,” the butle
Day by day, time creeps by at the Kirov hotel. It's mainly me, the butler, and Natasha holding down the main base, while the other mercenaries methodically clear the perimeter, steadily gaining ground.My tasks include cooking and doing system quests on top of the building.Recently, I've discovered a new ability of the system. When I practice the mana cultivation technique, a new skill status appears:[Military Mana Cultivation Rank F]It starts at Rank F, and the more I practice, the better the results; my rank gradually increases. For instance, after I swing my sword about 1000 times, a new skill pops up:[Sword swing Rank F]Any skill I practice, whether it's a fist jab, sword movement, footwork, shooting an arrow, or even a Charming skill, appears as I try to make my face more appealing in front of the mirror after 100 attempts.I learn that the system tries to upgrade my skills to improve them. With my military mana cultivation, the speed of cultivation was normal at Rank F, 1 t