CHAPTER 609: CHAPTER 478: THE FATE OF NEWCOMERS

Just like that, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er arrived at Mercenary City on their first day and became members of "Emperor’s Slaughter," starting their "cohabitation," um, I mean "staying at the same inn" phase.

However, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er soon discovered a problem.

Unlike other places, in Mercenary City, you can only use the gold and silver common across the mainland for the first three days.

But once those three days are up, the so-called "Newbie Period," mercenaries staying in Mercenary City must use something called "points" for all transactions.

From eating, drinking, defecating, and peeing, to buying stuff, staying at inns, and even acquiring information, it’s all the same.

Apparently, this rule was established by a Great Power who founded the Mercenary Alliance, and for hundreds of years, every mercenary seeking a living in Mercenary City had to adhere to it.

Unfortunately, the team leaders of "Emperor’s Slaughter," which Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er had joined, were both extremely particular about the quality of life. The inn they chose, Qingyun Building, was the most expensive one in the city.

One room’s worth of points cost ten per day, and a meal cost five points.

Ye Lingyue could manage with some help from Hong Meng Heaven, but Lan Cai’er was in trouble.

For the first three days, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er could handle stuff with real gold and silver, but after that, they were broke, or more precisely, out of points.

On the morning of the fourth day, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er were faced with a problem. During the newbie period of three days, they hadn’t accepted a single task, and now they had no points to stay at the inn.

"It’s all that smiling weirdo’s fault, claiming ’Emperor’s Slaughter’ only takes on advanced tasks. How often do those come around? Now we’re three days in and haven’t even started," Lan Cai’er’s face twisted with anger.

She and the deputy team leader seemed fundamentally mismatched. In just a few days, they had huge fights three times a day and bickered constantly.

"This can’t go on; let’s talk to them," Ye Lingyue suggested, noticing that "Emperor" and "Slaughter" seemed to idle around all day doing nothing. Didn’t they worry about points?

A quarter of an hour later, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er showed up at Qingyun Building with gloomy faces.

"Points? You’re short on those? Oh, I forgot to tell you, the team leader and I accumulated about millions of points here in Mercenary City about five or six years ago," recalled the deputy team leader Slaughter as he sipped tea and enjoyed delicacies, which made Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er want to strangle him.

That’s the difference between veterans and newbies.

"Someday, I’m gonna earn a ton of points and crush that smiling fox," Lan Cai’er cursed loudly, her momentum sapped as she grimaced slightly, "Lil’ bro—er, no, Team Leader, what are you doing here?"

"Before you take on advanced tasks, you can accept private ones. But according to the rules, all points accumulated count towards the team, and the distribution is split equally among the four of us." The usually reserved Captain Di glanced at Ye Lingyue and then walked back into Qingyun Building.

Could it be that this cool captain, who seemed as immovable as an Ice Mountain, specifically came out just to tell them this?

After joining the team, individual points count towards team points, and they’re fairly distributed, which Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er were aware of. Similarly, the points from tasks completed by "Emperor" and "Slaughter" would also be split equally. By that calculation, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er weren’t at a disadvantage.

Considering that they would have nowhere to sleep tonight, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er did not dare to dally and went to the Mercenary Alliance once again.

Upon seeing Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er, especially Ye Lingyue, receptionist Little Li greeted them with a beaming smile.

"You two are still newbies, taking on some low-level and intermediate tasks is good too. Not everyone is like those few from Blood Drink and Emperor’s Slaughter who are abnormally strong, only taking on advanced tasks." Hearing Little Li’s words, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er came to know that both the "Blood Drink" Mercenary Team and "Emperor’s Slaughter" have recently only been taking on advanced tasks.

When Lan Cai’er heard the name "Blood Drink," she spaced out for a moment, a flicker of an unusual color passing through her eyes.

Ye Lingyue knew that she must be recalling her past relationship with Dao Ge.

Ye Lingyue had asked Lan Cai’er about her affair with Dao Ge after the fact, only to learn that back then, Lan Cai’er had accompanied her mother to visit Lan Yingwu, who was the garrison general at the frontier. That was when she encountered Dao Ge.

Dao Ge’s sect was on par with the Jueqing Sect, one of the top Demon Sects of the Central Plains called Thousand Demon Cave.

At that time, Lan Yingwu, following the court’s orders, was responsible for eradicating the influence of Thousand Demon Cave ravaging the Daxia frontier and had captured some Demon Cave disciples.

Dao Ge disguised himself and infiltrated the army camp, becoming one of Lan Yingwu’s guards.

Young and naive, Lan Cai’er fell in love with Dao Ge, who took the opportunity to elope with her under deceit. Lan Cai’er did not realize she had been tricked until she was captured and brought to the Thousand Demon Cave.

In the end, Dao Ge used Lan Cai’er to exchange for his own Demon Cave disciples, while Lan Yingwu fell victim to an Evil Technique amidst a joint effort by several Demon Sects.

In despair, Lan Cai’er sought out Dao Ge, wanting to know if he had ever loved her.

But instead, what awaited her was the sight of Dao Ge and his childhood sweetheart fiancée, Song Jingyun, sharing a passionate kiss.

Dao Ge’s love was always only for Song Jingyun.

Memories like smoke, Lan Cai’er forced a bitter smile, but her expression quickly returned to normal.

Beside her, Little Li was explaining the various tasks available at the Mercenary Alliance.

"Have a look, these are the recently published low-level and intermediate tasks. Low-level tasks typically range from ten to fifty points, and intermediate tasks two hundred to five hundred points. The corresponding difficulty also varies. Since you two are newbies, it’s best to start with low-level tasks like searching for Medicinal Grass or hunting Spiritual Beasts," Little Li recommended earnestly.

The tasks published by the Mercenary Alliance come from all over the country, and most of the low-level tasks can be completed nearby.

However, some intermediate tasks require leaving Mercenary City and may take up to ten days or half a month to complete.

High-level tasks, involving up to five thousand or even tens of thousands of points, may even require going abroad and sometimes several months to complete, mostly needing a team to complete.

Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er, considering they also had team tasks to handle, decided to start with basic tasks.

"By the way, one more thing, if possible, try to accumulate more points. Mercenary City and Tongtian Pavilion have an alliance relationship. Every six months, Tongtian Pavilion holds an Inquiry Conference at Mercenary City. During this conference, you can use points to exchange for any information you want," Little Li thought for a moment then reminded Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er.