Chapter 43

Finally, it was done.

Rod heaved a sigh of relief. At this moment, his whole body felt weak, and his legs could barely support him. After all, the continuous summoning had consumed a large amount of his soul power, leaving him extremely exhausted. He first leaned against the wall to rest for a moment, then walked to the sculpture that had turned into a pile of powder, and picked up the longsword lying on the ground. Next, Rod's gaze fell on a fist-sized crystal in the powder, an egg-shaped stone that looked dull and lifeless. At first glance, it seemed no different from the pebbles by the roadside. But only Rod knew that this unremarkable stone was the root cause of the tragedy here.

This is a Soul-Binding Stone, a very rare mineral that grows in hell. It can absorb the souls of living beings and influence their thoughts. It is a must-have item for devils to deceive mortals and obtain their souls, whether for travel, murder, or other nefarious purposes. Under normal circumstances, it is very difficult to find such things on the surface. Even the most learned mages rarely have access to similar samples, making it a rare and valuable dangerous item.

For Rod, this stone had another very important function: to bind souls.

This is also the main reason why the Soul-Binding Stone can fetch a sky-high price in the later stages of the game. It can bind the soul of an entity killed by the player and convert it into its most primitive state. To put it more simply, it is a treasure that can artificially create a soul core.

In the earlier eras, the Soul-Binding Stone was even rarer than a soul core, so it did not cause a craze. It wasn't until the last expansion pack, "Invasion of Hell," that players began to encounter the Soul-Binding Stone. Soon, this gem became popular across the continent, becoming an essential item for many mages and summoner swordsmen.

Now, thinking back, Deepstone City was indeed one of the first front-line bases occupied by the hellish devil army during the "Invasion of Hell" expansion. At the time, it didn't seem strange, but now, holding the Soul-Binding Stone, Rod had more thoughts. Clearly, this might have been the result of someone accidentally digging up this stone, leading to all these events. It also seemed to subtly hint to players that the bottomless mine pit in Deepstone City was the gateway to hell.

However, it was not yet time to worry about such things. The "Invasion of Hell" was due to the damage of the dragon soul power covering the continent. Currently, the continent was still peaceful, and the dragon soul power had not shown any problems. Worrying about the "Invasion of Hell" now was like worrying about the sky falling. With this thought, Rod did not dwell on it further. He bent down, picked up the stone, and put it in his bag, then began to search for other loot.

The only thing that was a bit disappointing was that Rod's luck didn't seem to be very good, as the short dagger "Sigh of Sorrow" that Master Seril had carried did not drop. That was a semi-legendary magical item, with high attack power and additional effects of poison and curses, making it a small divine artifact for swordsmen and thieves. Unfortunately, his luck didn't seem to be that good. Rod turned the entire pile of bones upside down, but found nothing except a faintly glowing magic necklace.

Rod didn't say much about this, just shrugged and sighed, not taking it too seriously. After all, his profession, the summoner swordsman, was the most dependent on luck. The randomness in looting corpses and obtaining equipment was much higher than in other professions. Because of this, Rod had long become indifferent to the random probabilities. In the game, he generally only focused on the equipment that would definitely drop from completing quests or defeating bosses. As for the rare and valuable items that might or might not drop, it was best to have them as a pleasant surprise, but not to worry too much if they didn't drop. After all, the game still had to be played, right?

There is a saying on the forums that "there are no useless spells, only useless mages." In Rod's view, this applies to other professions as well: there are no useless items, only useless players. Ultimately, awareness determines skill. RMB players just take a shortcut to their goal, but in the end, they still need to learn to walk on their own.

At this point, Lige, who had been standing guard at the door, also felt her whole body go weak and sat down on the ground against the wall.

She was not new to intense battles, but this one left a deep impression on her. It was the first time she had truly faced an enemy and won.

In the final moments, facing the attack of the sea of bones, Lige had almost completely burst out. She almost continuously replenished her shield's energy and quickly destroyed the arms reaching out to her one by one. This was the first time the young girl had engaged in such intense offense—though it seemed more like an instinctive reaction under pressure. Even after the battle was over, Lige could not recover from her excited state. Even when she first stepped onto the battlefield as a member of a mercenary group, she had never been so tense and excited.

The young girl raised her hands and looked at her palms, which were almost powerless and trembling from the excessive tension. But beyond this deep fatigue, Lige felt a sense of satisfaction.

She had succeeded.

A new day had arrived.

When the sun rose again, the bright sunlight shone through the dilapidated old house, and the once dark and sinister place was now free of the evil and terror of the previous day. Even the overgrown garden outside no longer felt menacing, but rather showed signs of vitality.

Although both were very tired, Rod still rallied his spirits and told Lige to return to the Mercenary Guild to rest and handle the procedures for the mercenary group's base. Lige did not hesitate and quickly followed his orders.

After Lige left, Rod finally breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall, opening the mercenary group construction system.

After confirming that Rod had become the actual owner of the place, the mercenary group construction system finally revealed the complete layout of the old house. Apart from the basement, the old house had three floors, with the main building forming an inverted T-shape. The main building included a hall, guest rooms, a study, and bedrooms, while the annex housed the servants' rooms.

Rod, of course, did not plan to follow this design standard. After all, he was building a mercenary group, not a noble's residence. Most mercenaries were from the lower class and had some resentment towards the rich. If he built the mercenary group as luxurious as a noble's house, it would create a sense of alienation, which would be very detrimental to development. So Rod naturally had his own construction plan.

However, before that, Rod needed to test how much the real-world mercenary group construction system differed from the game.

After the chaos of the previous night, the damage rate of the base was as high as 35%. Most of the areas in the 3D diagram in front of Rod were displayed in a worrying yellow, and some collapsed floors were even marked in red, indicating a critical situation. Therefore, the first priority was to repair everything thoroughly.

Rod quickly chose the "Repair" option, and a system prompt immediately appeared.

[Do you want to repair the base?]

Yes.

[Complete repair of the base requires 15,000 gold coins. Do you want to proceed?]

Seeing this, Rod frowned and then chose "No" without hesitation. Soon, another system prompt appeared.

[Please choose the repair type—repair building, repair furniture, complete repair.]

Repair building.

[Repairing the building requires 500 gold coins. Do you want to continue?]

Continue.

As Rod's thoughts flashed, the system prompt in front of him immediately disappeared.

A golden light flashed from Rod's palm, then quickly expanded, forming a grid that covered the floor, walls, and ceiling. Then, everything changed.

The old, damaged walls were instantly repaired, and the long-rotten furniture disappeared as the light grid advanced. In just a blink, the hall, which was once filled with debris and garbage, was completely renewed. The ground was no longer pitted but covered with large, smooth stone slabs. The decorations and furniture that had been placed around had disappeared, leaving only the shields and swords on the walls, which were now renewed.

The deep red curtains and carpets, which were riddled with holes from insect damage, were gone, and sunlight shone through the new glass windows, bringing a warm spring feeling to the room.

In less than five minutes, the once dilapidated old house had completely transformed. The solid walls no longer had any cracks, and the floor was free of the weeds and stones that had tried to grow through the gaps. The wooden stairs, which had been almost broken and ready to collapse during the previous battle, were now replaced by stone stairs that spiraled up against the wall, spreading out like wings on both sides. Looking around, the entire base no longer had the appearance of decay and rot but instead exuded a sense of majesty and grandeur.

On the wall in front of the hall, a black flag hung down, with a cross-shaped star in the center, the emblem of the mercenary group.

Starlight.

Very good!

Rod nodded in satisfaction. It seemed that this system was working the same way as in the game, which was enough for him—though the only regret was the significant cost. Just repairing the entire building had already made his once sturdy wallet show signs of shrinking.

However, Rod did not care about the money. After understanding the functions and rules of the construction system, he quickly started again, building the hall, study, and bedroom. Although the mercenary group was too small to build higher-level rooms, 7,800 gold coins still flowed out of Rod's fingers like water. By the time he finished all the arrangements, the 2,500 gold coins he originally had were reduced to 370.

As the saying goes, money flows like water, indeed.

However, looking at the completely renewed base information, Rod was very satisfied.

Name: Starlight

Scale: Small

Leader: Rod Elantris

Members: 1 person

Base: 1 (Medium)

Level: 1

Reputation: Unknown

Facilities: Hall (Lv 1, Mood +5%), Study (Lv 1, Can investigate some information about members), Bedroom (Lv 1, Stamina recovery +5%).

Done.

After checking all the information, Rod sighed deeply, closed his eyes, and sat on a wooden chair nearby. His right index finger lightly tapped the armrest, and after several minutes, he opened his eyes, his expression becoming firm and resolute.

From now on, things were finally on the track Rod hoped for.

c

<><> provides the fastest and latest novels.