Chapter 103: Flame Mercenaries

“Little brother, the seats here are all occupied already. Could I possibly sit here with you?”

At that moment, a deep sounding voice came from behind Jian Chen. Turning his head to look at the source, Jian Chen saw a middle aged man with a big smile on his face. He stood across on the opposite side of Jian Chen and stared at him with a good natured look.

The middle aged man looked to be around 40 years old and wore a cyan colored robe. However, to Jian Chen’s sharp eyes, this robe was made of coa.r.s.e material and so was categorized as a cheap cloth. With his short black hair, there was nothing about him that stood out–even his good natured smile wasn’t a fake one.

Jian Chen nodded his head with a smile, “Since the restaurant has suddenly filled up, I can’t possibly use up all this room by myself, come and sit with me!”

“Then, many thanks little brother.” The other man laughed as he cupped his hands together. Then he pulled out the stool and sat down on it.

“Miss, a cup of wine and a pound of your finest horse meat!” The man called out.

“Okay, please wait a moment honored customer!” The waitress called back.

Jian Chen stared at the middle aged man in front of him for a while before finally tearing his eyes off of him and looking back at his own meal.

The middle aged man looked at Jian Chen and chuckled, “And what should I call this younger brother?”

“Jian Chen!” He responded with a mouthful of meat, so the words did not come out as audibly.

“Jian Chen, heh, what a pleasant name.” The middle aged man sized up Jian Chen with his eyes and then opened his mouth to ask, “Brother Jian Chen, I’m a.s.suming you are a mercenary as well.”

He nodded his head, “Correct, but because my strength is quite low, I am only one of the lowest of D ranked mercenaries.”

A mercenary’s rank corresponded with their strength and their merits from missions done. The lowest of the D ranked mercenaries were generally newbie Saints, however, there were a few cultivators that did not yet condense their Saint Weapons amongst the D ranked mercenaries. Even though the middle aged man looked to be quite well natured, Jian Chen didn’t dare to reveal his precise strength to him.

The man laughed with no ill intentions, “Little brother, you can’t be any older than 20 years old. Once you’ve successfully condensed your Saint Force into a Saint Weapon, then your potential will be unlimited.” The man’s words were sincere, but after he spoke, he gave a long sigh. “Thinking back, I was 25 years old when I first condensed my Saint Weapon and broke through to become a Saint. To think little brother here is only 20 years old and is a Saint. I don’t think it’ll be too far off until there will be another gifted Earth Saint Master in the future.” When the three words ‘Earth Saint Master’ were said, the man’s face had looked almost expectant.

Hearing that, Jian Chen couldn’t help but look at the middle aged man once more. While he had a better impression of this man, it was still nothing more than just that.

Condensing a Saint Weapon at the age of 25 could be said to be quite mediocre within the Tian Yuan Continent. This type of person would be limited to being a Great Saint Master at the best, and without coming across an opportunity, they would never be able to break through to become an Earth Saint Master.

After all, in the s.p.a.ce between a Great Saint Master and an Earth Saint Master was an unbelievably difficult threshold. This threshold is so difficult that condensing a Saint Weapon was easier by a hundred thousand times. This is because from the breakthrough to an Earth Saint Master from a Great Saint Master, if one was not careful, they would fall in a land without redemption. In a less severe case, they would suffer a serious injury and lose their entire cultivation, thus becoming a cripple. In the worst case scenario, they would forfeit their lives to the Yellow Springs.

TL Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diyu

The Chinese version of h.e.l.l, equivalent to Yomi of j.a.panese mythology.

The threshold separating the Earth Saint Master from the Great Saint Master was one dividing life from death. There were many people with mediocre talent that reached the Great Saint Master but were unable to break through to become an Earth Saint Master, many more had even died trying to make the breakthrough.

The success rate of breaking through to become an Earth Saint Master was only one percent.

Regarding this bit of information, Jian Chen had known about it. Whether or not it was in the Kargath Library or the Changyang Mansion Library, Jian Chen had read about it.

“Little brother, I am guessing you haven’t joined a mercenary group yet.” The middle aged man asked Jian Chen with a small smile.

Hearing this, Jian Chen’s heart jumped as he realized what the man was about to say, but he nodded his head in response, “That is correct!”

“Little brother, why don’t you join my Flame Mercenaries? Although the amount of people within our group isn’t large, the mercenaries in here are quite good natured.” He said eagerly.

Jian Chen became silent as he listened to the man. He had never thought about joining a mercenary group before, since in his mind, joining a mercenary group was only a burden that would limit his free roaming spirit. It would also bring his cultivation rate to a standstill since the only way he could cultivate rapidly was to use monster cores. Monster cores were absolutely necessary, and so the amount needed was also enormous. If he were to go into the Magical Beast Mountain Range by himself, the profits he earned would naturally be his and keep up with his consumption rate.

However if he were to join the mercenary group, it would be easier to kill magical beasts at the cost of splitting up the amount of monster cores with the entire group, which would be a problem. If Jian Chen were to join a mercenary group, he needed to go solo. Otherwise, the monster core distribution would be given to other people as well.

Seeing Jian Chen’s silence, the middle aged man didn’t give up. “Brother Jian Chen, my Flame Mercenaries is only a small sized group that doesn’t restrict the actions of anyone like they do in the larger groups. With so many different types of rules and restrictions that makes one’s head want to explode, our group is not like that. Joining my mercenary group is merely helping the group have an easier way to earn money. You must know that the Magical Beast Mountain Range is a profitable way of earning money and that monster cores sell for a high price while helping us cultivate our Saint Force which is extremely essential. Even the parts of a magical beast can be sold for a high price to any of the restaurants.

“As our numbers increase, then so does our strength. Even if we come across a high leveled magical beast, we would be able to kill it. Just think! If we are able to kill a high leveled magical beast, imagine how large our profits would be, even your heart would consider this I bet.” The man stopped momentarily to breath before continuing, “If you are by yourself, even if you can deal with a few low leveled magical beasts, then it would not sell for much money I’m sure. Even if you spend so much energy killing it, the amount of money earned would not even cover your healing costs. And if you come across an ambush from a few high leveled magical beasts–how long do you think a single person could run away from a dozen high leveled magical beasts? This is definitely impossible, and in the end, that person would only be throwing his life away.”

Seeing how Jian Chen was still silent, the man gave it another try, “Brother Jian Chen, if it’s concerning the matter of distribution of benefits, you don’t have to worry. While our Flame Mercenaries was recently established a few years ago, the brothers within the group are made of steel who care for the bonds of friends.h.i.+p over the metal of money. In the case that our group has a profit, then no matter if you worked hard or not, the group will not treat you unfairly.”