Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 423 Windrise City

At this moment, Li Wei was led into a sealed room made of a special material. The room was covered with magical runes, and a pillar stood in the middle, where an unfamiliar third-tier spellcaster stood.

"Viscount Li Wei, don't be nervous. This assessment will help you resurrect after your death in battle and will also evaluate your true strength. This is a necessary step that no one can avoid. Now, please close your eyes and suppress your senses to avoid hurting yourself."

The other person looked over with a smile, and Li Wei naturally obeyed.

The next moment, he felt a strange force field acting on him, which seemed to be Sequence 4 magic.

The whole process lasted about ten seconds.

"Four-star Farmer Card, Farmer Destiny 78."

"A four-star rare hunter card, with hunter fate 58."

"A rare four-star woodcutter card, with a woodcutter destiny of 57."

"Four-star double rare scout card, scout destiny 45, one real particle."

"Equipped with a five-star enchanted light armor set, base defense +65, one Sequence 4 magic emblem, and one Sequence 3 magic emblem."

"The weapons are a five-star enchanted resonant bow with a base damage of 328, and the equipment includes 20 five-star magic-piercing arrows and 100 four-star enchanted armor-piercing arrows."

"Melee weapons include a four-star enchanted greatsword with a base damage of 518, a five-star enchanted spear with a base damage of 610, a five-star enchanted dagger with a base damage of 399, and ten five-star enchanted javelins with a base damage of 715."

"The defensive weapon is a five-star enchanted steel tower shield, with a maximum single defense of 5000 and a cumulative defense of 10 times."

"The hunting pet has a nest of twelve four-star crows, and wow, a five-star warhorse, tsk tsk!"

"Current codename is Ranger George, Enhancement Level 2."

"Current special title is Viscount of Flames, enhanced to level 2."

"The current killing title is 'Wolf Walks a Thousand Miles,' which cannot be enhanced."

"Current attributes are: Health 680, Stamina 830, Strength 54, Agility 84, Defense 47+65+10, Spirit 45, Perception 9.5."

"All professional cards and weapon equipment registration and evaluation are complete. The overall combat power score is 1578.46, ranking 476th in Vil City and 1928th in the entire Kingdom of Locke. Viscount Li Wei, I suggest you play in the Arena of All Heavens in your spare time. This will help you increase your mercenary fees when you are a mercenary."

"Based on your current overall combat strength score and the difficulty of the target mission world, you should receive 24371 standard gold coins per month as mercenary fees. After deducting assessment fees and taxes, you should receive 22000 standard gold coins. The Windbreak City territory is willing to hire you for three months. During this period, all items dropped by enemies you kill independently will belong to you. However, if it is in a group battle or a siege battle, you will need to give up one-third of the dropped items."

"I hope you understand these points. If you have no objections, please sign here."

"Good luck."

The moment Li Wei stepped out of the room again, a blinding white light flashed before his eyes, and he was teleported away.

The white light disappeared the next second, and he found himself at the entrance of a noisy, bustling tavern.

This is normal, because he is a mercenary recruited by the tavern. Although his other identity is a viscount in the province of Ver, that identity is overshadowed by his identity as a mercenary at this moment.

He is now George the Forest Ranger.

Come to think of it, he used to be the one recruiting mercenaries from the tavern, but now it's his turn to be recruited. It's quite an interesting sight.

"Your Excellency, the Viscount requests your presence."

A guard came over and politely invited Li Wei to come over.

There's nothing to say about it; you take someone's money, so you have to do their bidding.

As Li Wei followed the guard out of the tavern, he saw the lord's fortress behind a rather spacious square. The fortress was built in a magnificent manner, making Li Wei's own territory buildings look rather ashamed.

Moreover, this territory's main city has existed for at least two hundred years, so it is very prosperous in all aspects, but it seems that it has not yet completed its upgrade.

Li Wei observed casually, but relevant information surfaced in his mind; his investigation over the past few months had not been in vain.

Windrise City, a four-star territory, is ruled by Viscount Windrise, an ancient title.

The territory contains a two-star mage tower and six magic mines, all three-star. The legal territory covers 150 square kilometers, while the illegal territory covers 3500 square kilometers. Outside, there are two illegal cities, each guarded by two powerful barons under Viscount Wind's Breath. In addition, there are eight fortresses, one pass, three towns, and twenty-seven villages, with a total population of 100,000. Currently, there are 1500 active-duty soldiers and a Swiftwind Knights Order with twelve Swiftwind Knights.

The background is that ten months ago, a fragment of ancient magic shot out, breaking the peace and bringing a radiation storm. Viscount Windbringer personally led his elite troops to seize it, but not only did they fail to do so, the Moni people took the opportunity to build a bridgehead, and the war began.

Now, all four of Viscount Wind's illegal fortresses have been breached, and the two sides have engaged in several major battles, resulting in a temporary stalemate.

However, both sides are currently increasing their troop deployments.

On Viscount Fengxi's side, Duke Kader had already dispatched a legion of 500 men to garrison that crucial pass, while the capital of Locke had also sent a legion of 500 men to garrison an important baronial territory. Together with Viscount Fengxi's main legion of 500 men, they formed a direct confrontation with the three legions of the Neanderthals.

Both sides are currently preparing for the next large-scale battle, and the overall situation is relatively calm, but there are dozens of small-scale clashes every day.

Scouts were particularly active on both sides.

Therefore, when Li Wei, a second-tier ranger who was outstanding in all aspects, was recruited, he received the treatment of being personally received by Viscount Fengxi.

Soon, Li Wei met Viscount Fengxi in the side hall of the fortress. This man looked to be around forty or fifty years old, but was actually two hundred and fifty.

He is a true veteran player and professional.

According to the information Li Wei purchased from Niujiao Alley, this Viscount Fengxi is currently a five-star professional, with all five of his professional cards reaching five stars. It is said that the fate of all five professions has reached 100+, and all attributes are awakened at level four. He is a fourth-tier warrior with extraordinary combat power.

He should have advanced to a six-star professional a hundred years ago, but he never did so in order to avoid the extremely risky exploration missions.

In short, he is a very stable individual with an extraordinary wealth accumulation.

"George the Ranger, I am glad you are fighting for me. A scout of your caliber is exactly what I need. I have an important task for you. Recently, a Necromancer scout squad has been very audacious. They are incredibly elusive and have even ventured deep into the vicinity of my capital, burning down two villages and killing many innocent villagers. Such rampant behavior must be dealt with. I want you to take your courage and your bow and arrows, find them, and kill them."

"Of course, if you find it difficult, I can arrange ten elite mercenaries for you. In any case, even if we can't extinguish their arrogance in the end, as long as we can hold them back and disrupt them, thereby ensuring the smooth passage between Windbreak City and Gale Fortress, that will be a great achievement."

“Your Excellency, I am willing to serve you. However, I am new here and cannot lead troops at the moment. I need to understand the movement of this Neanderthal scout team. Please give me at least three days so that I can make targeted deployments. I will then report back to you.”

Li Wei couldn't possibly make a definitive statement. The duel between scouts wasn't about courage, but about patience and meticulousness.

Fortunately, Viscount Windbringer understood this and immediately said with satisfaction, "Not bad, Ranger George, I have high hopes for you. However, you don't need to come to me to report after three days. Just go to Gale Fortress and find my Grand Knight Teren. From now on, he will be your direct superior. You can receive missions from him and assist him in guarding Gale Fortress. You can ask my captain of the guard for relevant maps."

"As ordered!"

After a brief conversation, Li Wei took his leave, which meant he had accepted the mission, and a text message was also sent to form a mission contract.

[As a mercenary, you have received a scout mission from Viscount Wind's Breath. The mission requires you to find and eliminate a Neanderthal scout squad as much as possible. Of course, Viscount Wind's Breath understands the difficulty of this task, so he is not forcing you to complete it. He simply hopes that you can do your best, even if it's just to stall the scout squad, so that the road between Wind's Breath City and Gale Fortress can be reopened. This is because Viscount Wind's Breath seems to have a batch of important supplies that needs to be transported to Gale Fortress.]

[Mission Reward: Find and hold off the Neanderthal scout squad for at least four days, with a reward of 10,000 gold coins. Upon completion, you will also receive 10 All-Heavens Mercenary Points, which are valid within the All-Heavens Lords Alliance.]

[Second mission reward: Find and eliminate the Neanderthal scout squad. Bounty: 100,000 gold coins. For each Neanderthal scout killed, you will receive 50 All-Heavens Mercenary Points and can keep all the loot, but you will need to pay taxes.]

[The above shall be subject to impartial and fair constraints and supervision by the All-Heavens Mercenary Alliance.]

It looks pretty good.

Li Wei nodded, but he didn't leave immediately. Instead, he wandered around Fengxi City for a while.

Overall, Windrise City is stronger than his Blazing City; even its two-star mage towers are inferior.

However, Windrise City also has a large population, close to 70,000, many of whom are likely refugees who fled due to the war.

Li Wei strolled leisurely through each street, and in less than half a day, he had memorized the names of at least 50,000 people in Fengxi City. He also gained a basic understanding of their identities, approximate strengths, moods, what they were doing, and what had happened recently.

In short, Li Wei can basically walk along a street and sense even the flirtatious dogs and the dazed cats on the street corners.

This is where the advantage of Perception+9.5 lies.

Scouts, sometimes, not only need to search and understand the external situation, but also need to understand the internal situation clearly.

(Happy New Year to everyone)

(End of this chapter)