Chapter 1 The Strongest Mercenary Groups

The Little Thunder Tavern gathered the more formidable mercenary groups in Cloudend City. Perhaps many of these groups were previously unknown, but this competition was like a process of separating the wheat from the chaff. Whether these mercenary groups won or lost in the competition, any special qualities or experts within the group would be revealed.

Take the mercenary groups currently in the tavern as an example. The Young Master Elite Group went without saying. Besides them, the Silver Moon Society was naturally here because of his "King's Order." Battle formation skills were obviously essential in group battles, but these skills were said to be possessed only by high-level Holy Knights. Silver Moon had one now, and he immediately became an avant-garde figure, naturally sought after by large guilds.

Aside from him, there was the ladies' Amethyst Mercenary Group. They didn't actually have much strength, but with just the existence of the Brawny Tiny Waist Dance, they immediately became worth inviting. Then there was the Sakura Mound Moon Child's mercenary group, which Gu Fei later learned was called "Great Hunt." Its members were also from their guild, a special mercenary group specializing in traps. All sorts of mercenary groups with special qualities like these were on the guest list of Zongheng Sihai today. But what exactly was the reason? No one from Zongheng Sihai had shown up yet, and everyone could only speculate.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait too long. After a few more mercenary groups arrived, Unsworn Sword of Zongheng Sihai, along with Reflection of Time and Gale, two core members, came to the tavern.

With the guild winning the championship, Zongheng Sihai's position as the number one in Cloudend City was unshakable. Guild Leader Unsworn Sword was beaming with pride, his presence commanding attention as he entered. Guild leaders like Yun Zhong Mu Di and Upstream Swim were also presidents of large guilds in Cloudend City. Everyone had been fighting openly and secretly since the guilds were founded. Now that Zongheng Sihai finally reigned supreme, they couldn't help but feel triumphant when they saw these figures.

"Haha, Old Yun! Long time no see!"

"Ah, Upstream, how have you been lately?"

Unsworn Sword's voice was deafening, and everyone in the room frowned. Everyone despised this nouveau riche demeanor, deeply feeling that it was a tragedy for all Cloudend City players that such a person was leading the largest guild in Cloudend City.

Then, Unsworn Sword greeted the other mercenary groups one by one, his attitude instantly becoming much more humble, especially when greeting the ladies of Rebirth Amethyst. His deference made everyone in the room want to vomit. Usually, the finale was the main event. After Unsworn Sword finished his round of greetings, he finally arrived at the Young Master Elite Group's table. He greeted each person present, even Yu Tian Shen Ming, who was originally an ordinary member of his Zongheng Sihai, received his solemn courtesy. This was a treatment that no other mercenary group had enjoyed.

As the main event of the main event, Gu Fei was left to the very last. Unsworn Sword held Gu Fei's hand and offered a long string of condolences. The expressions of Reflection of Time and Gale beside him were somewhat unnatural, one very angry and the other very dazed. Unsworn Sword offered condolences for a long time, and finally said, "You've brought glory to the players of our Cloudend City. I'm so proud!"

Everyone in the room finally couldn't bear it any longer. A person at a table over there slammed the table, stood up, and glared with wide eyes: "Unsworn, if you have something to say, say it quickly! Stop dawdling around! Look at your smug look!"

Unsworn Sword finally released Gu Fei, glanced back, and laughed: "Haha, let's talk business, let's talk business!"

"This woman is fierce! Who is she?" Gu Fei asked in surprise. Even if everyone in the room was dissatisfied, it was too impolite to speak so directly. This woman was very assertive!

Brother Righteous immediately leaned over to introduce her: "This is Gu Xiao Shang, the leader of the Seven Colors Clouds, the fourth-place finisher in this mercenary group competition, and also the president of the third-level guild Colorful Clouds. Before Tiny Waist Dance came along, she was probably the most awesome woman in Cloudend City. I heard Unsworn Sword has been pursuing her for a long time!"

"Wow, Unsworn Sword has such unique taste!" War Without Wounds and Yu Tian Shen Ming exclaimed.

This Gu Xiao Shang was also above average in appearance, but she was just too assertive, making people unconsciously think she was a man. This was different from June Rain. June Rain was just sloppy, haphazardly wearing equipment, and had a somewhat androgynous voice, which was why Gu Fei had mistaken her for a man. Since she changed into that warrior armor designed specifically for women in Moonlit Night City, such misunderstandings no longer occurred.

But this Gu Xiao Shang was purely a matter of temperament. Even if you knew she was a woman, you couldn't help but think: "Wow, this girl is such a tomboy..."

It was this tomboyish girl who yelled at Unsworn Sword, finally stopping his condolences. He walked to the center of the tavern, cleared his throat, and said: "Everyone here is an elite in the Cloudend City mercenary world. The reason I invited everyone here today is to ask you to cooperate on a mission."

As soon as he said this, the room immediately buzzed with exclamations.

Why? Everyone here was a mercenary group, and no one knew more about the various missions in the game than they did. Although these mercenary groups often had dozens of people, frankly speaking, there wasn't a single mission currently released by the system that required such an exaggerated number of people.

And Zongheng Sihai now wanted to hire mercenaries for a mission. This mission was obviously not a private dispute mission between players. With their strength of 750 people, were there any private player disputes they couldn't handle? So it could only be a system mission. A system mission that 750 people couldn't complete, and they actually needed to borrow the strength of mercenary groups, and they had even called all the top groups in Cloudend City. What kind of mission was so difficult?

Unsworn Sword gave everyone plenty of time to exclaim, mainly because he also enjoyed the feeling of the audience being shocked after he announced the reason. After it quieted down and everyone looked at him again, he continued: "This mission is the reward we Zongheng Sihai received in the guild war. To be honest, this mission looks like a quest chain."

Another uproar.

All along, players had thought that the high-reward form of single-player missions was the quest chain; while the more difficult form of guild group missions was the two-way mission. No one had ever heard of a guild mission being able to receive a quest chain.

The guys from the Young Master Elite Group all looked at Gu Fei. The quest chain had been rumored for a long time, but among those present, probably only Gu Fei had completed one.

It wasn't that the others were unlucky and hadn't encountered one, but when they did, they always failed halfway through the mission, or they got halfway and couldn't continue, so they temporarily shelved it. Anyway, as far as they knew, Gu Fei was the only one who had completed a quest chain in order.

Unsworn Sword once again enjoyed everyone's surprise before continuing to introduce: "The content of this mission is very simple: escort the goods!"

"Escort the goods?" Everyone was stunned. This martial arts-filled term felt somewhat awkward in this Western fantasy-style game.

"That's what it means," Unsworn Sword said. "Protect the goods and deliver them straight to the destination. According to the route shown in the mission, we have to cross five main cities, and the one-way journey will probably take dozens of hours. And since we're escorting goods, we'll probably encounter countless attacks and robberies along the way."

Everyone listened and understood a little. Someone couldn't help but say: "In that case, the difficulty of the battles along the way is also unknown. Are you sure your 750 people can't handle it and you need to find mercenary groups to help?"

Unsworn Sword glanced at this person and said seriously: "Because there are also special rules. Guild members only have one chance to survive in this mission. That is to say, if they die, it will immediately be judged as a mission failure, and the mission reward will be forfeited."

"Uh..." While everyone was still thinking about the details of this rule, Unsworn Sword was already talking about another rule: "Also, during the mission, guild members cannot change the main city recording points. What does this mean? Everyone should understand, right?"

Without waiting for others to answer, Unsworn Sword explained on his own: "This means that in the early stages, when the journey is still short, even if guild members are sacrificed, they can continue to join the battle to help. But when they have already traveled for several hours, all the sacrificed guild members will be resurrected in Cloudend City and will no longer be able to provide us with help."

"So, you want to hire some outsiders to help because we are not restricted by the rules? Even if we travel for several hours, we can make recording points in the nearby main cities, and after death, we can be resurrected nearby and continue to work for you, right?" Someone suddenly said coldly.

Unsworn Sword said lightly: "Everyone is an expert, so of course you are not as easy to kill as our ordinary guild members; but compared to our members who can't continue to help after they die, your advantages are indeed what we need. Therefore, you can mention the mission reward as much as you want, and the compensation for those who sacrifice themselves in the mission can also be discussed slowly. In addition..." Unsworn Sword paused intentionally before continuing: "The equipment and items that are dropped along the way during the battles will be completely shared by everyone, how about it?"

This condition was indeed extremely generous. According to the usual rules of mercenaries on missions, the equipment dropped from killing monsters for the employer is completely owned by the employer. Even if there is a prior agreement, it would probably only be a drop in the bucket. But Unsworn Sword proposed complete sharing, which means that whoever drops it gets it. The players were now preoccupied with their own thoughts, and the Little Thunder Tavern was silent.

Unsworn Sword already had a victorious smile on his face: "That's roughly it. Everyone can think about it carefully. If you have made up your mind, send me a message. If you don't understand anything or have any requirements, just whisper me. Well then, we'll take our leave first."

After Unsworn Sword finished speaking, he left with Gale and Reflection of Time. The players left in the Little Thunder Tavern were all pondering the same question: "To do it, or not to do it."

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To do it or not to do it, that is the question. Which is more worthwhile? To endure working for the nouveau riche Unsworn Sword, or to ignore the temptation and live a peaceful Cloudend life... In short, vote...