Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

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The young man continued to follow the old lady, talking with her and trying to get information about the place, including the other outsider that came in before him.

But surprisingly, mid-questioning, the old lady's name went from Green to Yellow, making the young man freeze in shock!

It was something if it went from Green to Gray, but it jumped straight to Yellow!

"Young traveler, this is enough." Tina said as she stopped in front of a crossroad

"If you take that road, you will arrive at the Mercenary Guild, and if you take that road over there, you can find the Village's sole Inn, although the current owner isn't there."

"Our village is small and in dire need of a helping hand, so you won't lack work here... Stay as long as you'd like." She said as she chuckled

"Though slackers won't be given a third chance."

"I-I see, thank you for the directions! That casket seems rather heavy can I…"

"No, I'm fine... You wouldn't even be able to help me anyway." Tina said as she shook her head, leaving the young man behind

"Welp... Looks like I fucked up chat, people in this place don't seem friendly."

"Well, since that is the case, how about we check this Mercenary Guild out?"

'Not like I have much else to do... But I should be able to complete the simplest of Missions for now.'

'My Level may only be 5, but my total Stat count is the same as a Level 30 player.'

'Thanks to the fact I started with a random character I started with high starting Stats and an extra slot for a Skill.'

'Not to say the items I have and the consumables I took.'

'I even went ahead and bought one of those sought-after sets! Increasing my total stat count by 25 if I enter a ruin!'

'Even if I am not in ruin, it still gives me a considerable stat increase. The only reason I am not wearing it now is that it's a bit bothersome to walk around in.'

'It cost me several favors and a lot of money but hey, I got one, besides, all of this is just an investment.'

'Besides, I'm a Vanguard for the Clan, they invested quite a bit in me.'

'It's time for me to earn some bread and spread our influence in this Top Level Zone, even if I can't become a Ranker player in the future, succeeding in maintaining control over the area should grant me enough 'bread' for me to go by in the future...'

'If I had chosen to become a Hardcore player, I would've been even stronger… But it's a shame it's not viable to start the game as a HardCore character yet.'

'When death is so common in these games, how is someone supposed to play the game with only one life? I almost died several times in the Tutorial area, if I were a HardCore player, I would've died several times over due to the Systems reworks.'

"So far, so good chat, we got in and learned a bit of the village's situation through that NPC even if it cost us a bad first impression..."

"So how about we get some Quests and Level up?"

'No competitors means extra quests… And this means I'm first towards any of the special ones... Hehe.'

'Also, if I can prove this is a good area for starting players, the Clan will send more manpower to assist me.'

'But I'll need to get ready for competition too...'

He followed the road and arrived at the old building of the Mercenary Guild, instantly noticing the difference.

"Look chat, this must be the branch, and did you guys notice it? Different from the other houses we saw so far, this one is built on the ground while the other ones are a meter above it."

He crouched and touched the dirt marks on the walls.

"These marks… Does the village gets flooded frequently? Why?"

"It doesn't make much sense… What do you all think?"

'We are between a thick forest and a desert so it may be something related to that...'

The man shook his head in deep thought before he entered the Guild…

"Oh? Looks quite… Common. The usual I would expect to see in a Mercenary Guild."

'Its design is pretty simple yet complex, its rather good looking and I could even say its cozy.'

'I read about it on the internet, this organization called the Mercenary Guild and how it stretches all around the Kingdom, I did not expect it to be here as well… Wait...'

'This size and that Symbol hanging on the ceiling... This is a Main Branch!'

'Main Branch only appears... Things are getting interesting.'

'The developers made this world feel as if it was alive before we came here, and that it works with or without our presence and interference, and it's up to the players to cause a wave on this lake...'

"..."

'But this place… It has a certain air to it… I don't know how to explain it.'

He started to look around the place, observing the furniture and the things around it.

'Two floors, nothing much I can see from the second floor, at least from this angle… Only a set of stairs leading to a corridor.'

His gaze turned back to the first floor.

'And that must be the counter where the receptionist should've been, and behind it next to the back wall is a bar… Albeit without any drinks available.'

'There is no one here, no... This place seems closed… Oh, that?! It's a quest board…'

The young man turned to the side and approached the board, reading the quests one by one.

The quests were pretty simple and organized, their requirements to perform them and what to do were all clearly stated in them.

Including the overall rank, a mercenary would need to perform them.

'Look at all these quests!... Although they are mostly miscellaneous ones.'

'The experience they give is a bit on the low side, but the sheer quantity of it… But they seem a bit boring to do, mainly hard labor.'

'However, from everything I've seen so far, it indicates something, that this village is in dire need of repairs, and this itself points to a possible Development route.'

'My Level is lower than the recommended for the area, so it's too risky for me to hunt outside and do these kill quests, so having a source of XP is already a blessing.'

'I shouldn't have that much of a problem to Level up to 10 or even higher just from these, and if I can find more in the village, going to 20 without even leaving this place is not a farfetched idea.'

'Though I'll likely die of boredom before that...'

'Regardless, once I reach Level 20, I should be strong enough to hunt outside.'

'The problem is making all of this process entertaining to watch, people are only going to stay curious about this place for so long…'

But as he thought about his future, a voice echoed in the room:

"Dale? You're back already? I told you… Who are you now?" Asked Mirgurd

"!"

The young man looked at the man as he walked on the stairs from the second floor.

It may have been the red name or his muscular frame, but he could feel some sort of 'pressure' emanating from his body.

The bald and strong man with a scar on his arm approached the young man and asked:

"And who might you be?"

"I'm eh… Massimiliano Rodi… I just arrived."

[Muscular Old man (Red)]

'Why is this damn NPC hostile too?! What did I do?'

"Masi… Mami… Masili… Whatever your name is."

"What is your purpose in coming to the Mercenary Branch?"

"I… Would like to know if I can join…"

/FWUSH!/

/STAB!/

Before Rodi could finish talking, Misgurd took out his sword and stabbed forward in the blink of an eye, successfully puncturing his shoulder!

"ARG?!"

He tried to react, but by the time he moved, Misgurd's blade was already back in its scabbard.

And the pain soon hit...

[-687!]

[You have taken Massive damage at once!]

[Your HP has reached Critical status!]

[You are bleeding severely!]

[You are suffering from Confusion, Shock, Pain, Fear…]

/Thud!/

Rodi immediately fell to the ground, he raised his hand and grasped a potion in his inventory, gulping it down.

In desperation, he used several items to try and stabilize his condition. All under the gaze of Misgurd, who gazed at him with a cold gaze.

After he finally managed to recover his HP, he let out a sigh of relief as he raised his head to look at Misgurd.

"He, you didn't die from that, at least you aren't a lost cause… But you can't become a Mercenary of Resko with that measly Level of strength…"

He was about to shoo him away when someone approached him from behind.

"But it's true that we are low on manpower." Said a voice from behind Rodi

"?"

The two of them turned their heads to the side to see a man standing by the door with a toolbox in his right hand.

His clothes were a bit stained and his expression was fierce, he was tall and also muscular.

"..."

'How long has he been there?' Rodi thought as he sat on the ground, recovering from his previous plight

"Oh Dale, you came back earlier than I thought…" Misgurd said with a smile

"..."

'Look at the difference in treatment...'

"I heard a bit of what is going on, and everything you said is true, he can't become a mercenary of Resko. But we can't just throw him away."

"There is still a lot that can be done inside the Village, and there is no need for someone to be a warrior for that, right?"

"..."

'Who is this guy? Is he the other outsider?'

He checked Dale's name, and it said:

[Young Mercenary (Yellow)]

'Is he an NPC as well? He doesn't seem to be a player, the reaction between me and him is too diverse and they seem to know each other for a while...'

'But thank you NPC! If I died there I would lose a level and perhaps even an item... And coming back here to get it back would be suicide...'

'Worse, doing it live would be quite the embarrassment...'

"... You are right Dale, we do need people."

"But in any case, I had no intention of throwing him away." Said Misgurd as he turned around and picked a stack of papers from underneath the counter

"He is decent enough to work around the place. So I planned to allow him to do some of these minor tasks and in the future, perhaps I can allow him to take the test to become a proper mercenary."

"What do you think?" He asked as he turned to Dale

"..."

Dale looked at Rodi, thinking…

...

/POV change/

'A player huh… Normally, I would want all of them out of this place and claim a monopoly, but… I can't do everything alone.'

'I tailed him a bit across the village and I noticed he seems to be a streamer. And this means he is showing Resko to the rest of the world, so even if I wanted to remain as the sole player of Resko, this may not be possible anymore.'

'I even checked his stream for more information...'

'If I violently push him away, it may backlash and make people even more curious about this place, someone will always take the challenge of starting at an impossible place.'

'But I can use him… To control the influx of players towards this place, and the first step in this is locking him onto the village, forcing him to do the most useless quests available as I think of something else.'

'The sort of quests that have lower-ranked rewards and are a bother to do, even I were ignoring those...'

'Compared to me he can't stay multiple hours doing hard labor, probably one or two may be the limit of a player of his Level before he starts receiving debuffs from overwork.'

"I think it's ok." He said as he nodded at Misgurd

Misgurd smiled.

"You heard him, from now on, you'll be a Squire, prove your worth, and only then, we'll hear your story."

"Yes sir!" Said the young man as he checked his game notification

"..."

Dale heard their conversation, but he frowned a bit.

'Why is everyone so hostile to him?'

'It's completely different from how they reacted to me... A perk from being the first?'

'Hum… Perhaps not, they did act with suspicion towards me at first, but that quickly changed after I passed a few tests.'

'I passed Tina's test, and I also passed Misgurd's test, while he failed both, judging by the iron apple on his hand when he entered the village.'

'Not long after, I recovered the lost Icon, and my reputation was already rather high at that time...'

'So it was a difference of impressions…'

"Dale! I imagine you completed another batch of Quests?"

"Just a few, I stopped halfway to see what you were going to do with this guy."

"Buwahahaha!"

His words shocked Rodi, this guy was actually tailing him? He didn't notice it at all!

"Since I'm here, take these ones and give me a few more." Dale said as he dropped a few papers on the table

'To make use of my Privilege, I've been doing these Miscenaleous Quests as fast as I can.'

'They are my only source of Reputation right now, and everything I get is doubled.'

"I'll be back for more later then... See you later." Dale replied as he turned around

'I'm almost Level 20 anyway, no time to waste.'

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Notes