Chapter 69: First Class Mercenary
Throughout the Tian Yuan continent, in each city of every country, the Mercenary Union would always be in the core of the city. And right next to the Mercenary Union would always be a few small banks.
White Cloud City was only a Second Class City, but it covered a large area of land. Jian Chen had walked for an entire 30 minutes before finally arriving at a bustling street at the center of the city. Right in front of him was a 20 meter tall building that towered over the other buildings; this was the Mercenary Union.
The Mercenary Union’s building was rather large and was constructed to resemble a giant magical beast. At the entrance of the building, a constant flow of all sorts of mercenaries went in and out.
Jian Chen entered the Mercenary Union, and although this was the first time he had been to a place like this. However, since he had wanted to become an experienced mercenary. he had read up on about stuff like this in the academy library.
The Mercenary Union had many people inside, and the business window had a long queuing line. All of the sales windows were filled with people trying to hand in their missions. Yet in the deepest part of the building, there was a mercenary enrollment window with a cold and desolate ambience.
Jian Chen walked up to that window and said, “Hello, I would like to enlist as a mercenary.”
The person in charge of this window was an old man who looked to be around 60 years old. Although he was old, his entire face was red and his eyes shined brightly with emotion.
The elderly man indifferently looked at Jian Chen and flatly said, “To become a mercenary, one first must be a Saint. Have you reached that level yet?”
“I have already reached the Saint level.” Jian Chen answered.
The elder sized Jian Chen up before handing over a piece of paper and asking, “What’s your name?”
“Jian Chen!” Jian Chen obviously didn’t want to use the name Changyang Xiang Tian when he was trying to hide himself, so he instead used his original name from his previous life as his new moniker.
“How old are you this year?” The man asked.
Hearing this, Jian Chen gave the question some thought, “20 years old.” Jian Chen couldn’t possibly state his true age since a Saint at the age of 15 was a very rare sight in the Tian Yuan continent. If he had stated his true age it might have brought forth trouble later that he did not need. Although many people knew how talented Jian Chen was in Kargath Academy, only a few people like the headmaster and the vice headmaster knew his true age.
A 20 year old was the normal age for one to be a Saint, and since his physical growth had long since outstripped the others, no one would think otherwise if he said he was 20. With his current appearance, there was almost no difference between a regular 20 year old and himself.
“What degree of strength have you reached?” The man began to write on the piece of paper with a pen.
“Primary Saint.” Jian Chen said.
The rest of the process to become a mercenary was rather simple. After paying the tax of one Silver Coin, Jian Chen had officially become a mercenary. He took his mercenary badge, which was that of the lowest rank since he was only a Primary Saint.
After collecting his badge, Jian Chen didn’t bother to stay behind at the Mercenary Union, he instead quickly left the building, and asked for directions to a medicine shop.
Although the Tian Yuan continent had Radiant Saint Masters who could heal a wide variety of injuries, their numbers were incredibly small. Because of this, the status of any single Radiant Saint Master was very high, especially for mercenaries, who would be hard pressed to be able to invite a Radiant Saint Master into their group. Only the biggest and strongest groups could successfully invite one; those who were alone or weren’t strong enough would find it impossible to enjoy the benefits a Radiant Saint Master would bring unless they paid extensive amounts of money.
With an uncountable amount of mercenaries on the Tian Yuan continent, there were also an equally uncountable amount of injured people every day. Since the supply of Radiant Saint Masters did not meet the demand of those who needed them, a new method of using drugs and herbs was created to combat injuries. Using these medicines was vastly inferior to the healing capabilities of a Radiant Saint Master, but it was widely accepted by mercenaries. This was because aside from the high grade drugs, the normal medicines were very cheap.
The medicine store wasn’t small and was crowded inside. It was not at all like the Mercenary Union which had soundproofed walls all around. While in the Mercenary Union, all of the mercenaries there would loudly shout amongst each other to be heard, in the medicine store, people could easily converse with each other.
The medicine store had many long lines of people. After sweeping a glance around the shop, Jian Chen finally found a line with relatively few people and waited.
“Might I ask what you want to order?”
Finally it was Jian Chen’s turn. He was enthusiastically greeted by the person behind the counter.
“I’ll need a few herbs, do you have them in stock?” Jian Chen asked.
The assistant looked at Jian Chen with an odd stare. This was the first time he had seen a person not come in to buy medicine for their wounds; instead, this person was buying herbs. Despite the curiosity he had towards Jian Chen, the assistant replied, “Of course we sell them. I don’t know what the honored customer wants, but whatever is in the store is for sale.”
“I need some Qilin Grass, Rubbing Grass, Sweet Grass, Skeleton Grass, Sawtooth Grass, Antelope Flower, Root Flower, Lilies and Turtle Tubers…do you have these?” Jian Chen named almost 10 different types of herbs.
The assistant immediately nodded, “We do, these herbs are very common and are not pricy at all. We have them all, but I don’t know how much the honored customer wants?”
Jian Chen had a happy smile on his face. He took out a gold coin and placed it onto the counter as he said, “Give me a few of every item!” These herbs were all extremely common goods; a single gold coin was enough to buy a cartful of them.
Seeing the gold coin on the counter, the man smiled brightly, “Okay, please wait for one moment, honored guest. I’ll bring them to you in a moment!” With that said, he entered the backroom to gather the materials.
After paying for the herbs he needed, Jian Chen left the store and headed outside of the city. He arrived 10 miles outside of the city walls, and entered into the small forest. There, he dug a few mounds of earth and plucked some tree leaves. He then stored them within his Space Belt and walked back to White Cloud City.
After returning to White Cloud City, Jian Chen purchased a new set of ordinary clothes and ducked into an uninhabited alleyway that was hidden by the general populace. After looking left and right to check if the coast was clear, he took out a small bunch of each herb he had bought earlier.
He first grinded the herbs up into a fine powder using his hands and feet, before mixing it with the water he collected. Adding to the mixture some of the soft mud and leaves, he grinded it into powder as well. He continued to mix it before squeezing out some of the residual juice. Jian Chen took the result of this juice and immediately smeared it onto his face.
Quickly, Jian Chen lifted his head; the complete transformation of his face could clearly be seen. At this moment, Jian Chen’s looked entirely differed. Even a person who was familiar with his appearance wouldn’t be able to recognize him now. For all intents and purposes, Jian Chen was now a completely different person; his previously handsome looks had become average, and even his eyebrows and eyelashes had been altered to become shorter. The only features that hadn’t changed were his pair of alluring eyes and his weak-looking figure.
Jian Chen didn’t stop there, the silver Light Wind Sword appeared in his hands. He suddenly placed the sword on the back of his waist as his waist-length hair blowing slightly into the air.
With a silver flash of light, the Light Wind Sword quickly cut through his long hair with a speed that was almost hard to see with the naked eye. His hair was now at his shoulders. He changed into a new set of clothes from his previously luxurious set of clothes made from handspun silk; it was quite the change going from the finest silk to coarse leather.
By this point, there was nothing about Jian Chen that would remind even those who knew him best of the original Jian Chen.
Jian Chen took another few moments to ensure he hadn’t overlooked anything to perfect his new appearance. Satisfied, he immediately burned his old clothes in a fire and exited the alley.
Once again entering the Mercenary Union, Jian Chen walked towards the mission place. The mission hall in the Mercenary Union split its missions into 5 grades: S, A, B, C, and D. The highest grade was S, and the lowest was D. At the same time, the mercenaries were also split into these same 5 categories. At the moment, Jian Chen was only a D ranked mercenary, and so he could only take on D ranked missions.
A mercenary’s rank was determined by the amount of missions accomplished, their honor and strength. A D ranked mercenaries had to be at least Saints, while C ranked mercenaries had the power of Great Saints at the very minimum. With this system, S ranked mercenaries had to reach the strength and honor of Earth Saint Masters.
Even if one had the same strength as an Earth Saint Master, if they didn’t have the same amount of reputation, then they wouldn’t be considered an S ranked mercenary. Therefore, this mercenary grading system had no shortcuts.
D ranked missions were bountiful, but the majority of them were very boring. The majority of them were about finding lost items, or to help a store buy and deliver their items to another store. None of the missions were of any interest to Jian Chen.
Right now, Jian Chen only wanted a mission that would let him leave the Gesun Kingdom because he knew the Hua Yun Sect was a major power in the kingdom. Although he had completely changed his looks, there was no guarantee that a person wouldn’t discover his real identity and set off the Hua Yun Sect’s pursuit to capture him. Just in case he accidentally revealed himself to the Hua Yun Sect by mistake, it would be best for him to leave the Gesun Kingdom to a place where the Hua Yun Sect had no power.
Unfortunately, very few D ranked missions allowed a mercenary to travel in between countries. Most missions like that were for the higher ranked mercenaries and were usually never distributed to a D ranker. So when Jian Chen had looked at the entire mission list for D ranking mercenaries, he didn’t see a single mission that would take him outside the country.
Inwardly sighing, Jian Chen left the Mercenary Union. If he wanted to leave the Gesun Kingdom, he would need to rely on the cover of caravans. Otherwise, if he were to travel alone, he would be assaulted by a group of robbers that even he would most likely have trouble with. But even if he didn’t meet any robbers, the border fortress was a place Jian Chen wouldn’t be able to bypass with ease.