Prelude to War

After arriving at the quartermaster's office, Lin Maoxian found that it was enormous. For a moment, he had no idea who he was supposed to ask.

After a moment's thought, Lin Maoxian went straight up to a soldier on guard and asked, "Excuse me, we're new here. Where do we go to collect our equipment?"

The soldier pointed to a place and said, "New recruits usually collect their equipment over there. Once you get there, someone will be assigned to issue it to you."

Lin Maoxian thanked the soldier, then led the others toward the place he had indicated. When they arrived, they saw that many people were busy inside. Lin Maoxian stopped someone walking past and asked, "We're new soldiers. Who do we ask for our equipment?"

The man he had stopped shook his hand vigorously. When he realized he couldn't get away, he could only say helplessly, "Just go inside. There's a place set aside for new recruits to collect their equipment. There's a sign next to it, so you can't miss it."

After hearing this, Lin Maoxian let go of the man and led the others inside. Sure enough, there was a place for new recruits to collect their equipment. Several soldiers were standing there.

Lin Maoxian went up to them first and said, "Hello, we're new recruits here to collect our equipment."

One of them glanced at Lin Maoxian, straightened the roster in his hands, and said, "You're their Squad Leader, right? Show me your token."

Lin Maoxian immediately handed over his token.

The soldier took it, examined it carefully, then tossed it back to Lin Maoxian. "The token's genuine. Each new recruit can collect two swords and one piece of light armor. One sword is for combat, and the other is a spare in case of an emergency. The armor is for protection. It's not much, but it's better than nothing. As for you, Squad Leader, you can collect one refined weapon or a piece of defensive armor. Which would you like?"

Lin Maoxian heard him out, then asked, "Do you have any weapons like iron rods, besides swords?"

"Iron rods? Who goes into battle to kill people without a sword? What would you need one of those for? Swords are the standard equipment in the army. If you want something better, you'll have to wait until you're promoted to Centurion." The soldier didn't know why the man had asked, but he told him what he knew.

Knowing there was no way to get an iron rod or anything similar, Lin Maoxian said, "Then can you give me a bow and some arrows?"

"We do have those. All right, wait here while I go with them to fetch your equipment." As he spoke, the soldier called over a few others and headed to the storeroom.

After the soldiers left, Eel, standing to one side, asked, "Captain, why do you want a bow and arrows? You'd be better off asking for a better weapon."

Lin Maoxian shook his head without answering. He couldn't tell them everything; it was better to keep some things to himself. "I have my reasons for wanting a bow and arrows. As for you, you'll have to fight with swords. If any of you aren't used to them, I'd rather you just use your fists."

Shasha said helplessly, "It's not like we have a choice if we're not used to them. A sword's still better than a fist."

The others nodded in agreement. As far as they were concerned, having a weapon was better than not having one.

Lin Maoxian could guess what they were thinking. Against ordinary soldiers, he also found a sword more convenient. But against experts on the level of a Centurion, his current skills meant that carrying a sword would only leave him more vulnerable. He was better off using his fists.

After thinking it over, Lin Maoxian said to them, "I won't ask what happened earlier. You're only my temporary subordinates in this world, after all, so I won't say too much. But I want you to understand this: when we're fighting, no matter what happens, don't cause trouble. Work together. If anyone starts something, I'll send him straight to Yama. Got it?" His tone grew icy as he spoke. He didn't want to have to watch his back during a battle. That would be a real pain in the ass.

Seeing the cold look on their captain's face, Scar quickly said, "Don't worry, Captain. Earlier, I just spoke in the wrong tone. We didn't actually argue. We're just not that familiar with each other yet, so things felt a little awkward."

Hearing Scar's words, Lin Maoxian's expression softened. It was good that they hadn't argued. He was worried they'd fall out, which would be difficult to deal with. "If things happened the way you said, then good. We're all just trying to complete the mission as easily as possible. I hope you won't get into conflicts. And even if you do, I want you to put up with it for the duration of this mission world. Once we're back in the space, you can fight all you want. I won't interfere."

While they were talking, the soldiers returned carrying swords and armor.

The group had no choice but to stop talking and go meet them. Lin Maoxian took the only bow from the soldiers. Since he couldn't inspect its stats here, he would have to wait until they were back at the military tent. He turned to Xiao Zhang and said, "Hey, take my arrows back for me. And carry my share, too." Then he turned and headed straight back to the tent.

Once he reached the tent, Lin Maoxian found a place to sit and carefully examined the bow's stats:

Exquisite War Bow (This equipment cannot be taken out of this world)

[Quality]: Fine

[Level]: level1

[Category]: Weapon

[Description]: The bow was made with a hundred-year-old tree for its body and top-grade ox sinew for its string. The army's blacksmiths repeatedly refined it. Ordinary soldiers can't use it; only those with the rank of Squad Leader or higher can.

[Attribute]: Damage +5

Armor-Piercing (Passive)---10% chance to ignore the target's armor and skills, calculating only the defense value provided by the target's stamina.

After looking over the bow's stats, Lin Maoxian saw that it was a good piece of equipment, but if he couldn't take it back to the space, then even the best equipment was worthless. Still, when he remembered that he hadn't had to spend any effort to get it, he stopped worrying about it. It was free, so he couldn't expect too much.

While Lin Maoxian was inspecting the equipment, the others came in one after another. Lin Maoxian took the equipment Xiao Zhang handed him and looked it over. None of it could be taken out of this world, and the stats were very ordinary. The sword's stats weren't even as good as the one he'd given Xiao Zhang, while the armor only added two points of defense. Wearing it would also inevitably affect their reaction speed.

After seeing that the others had put on their armor, Lin Maoxian said, "From now on, a battle could break out at any time. You should all get some rest while you can. If the fighting gets too intense later, it won't be easy to find time to rest."

"Captain, can you tell us how much of a stat boost a Squad Leader gets?" Knife asked. He was very bothered by this. He had been only a little short of becoming a Squad Leader himself.

"There's no reason not to tell you. A Squad Leader's stats are three times those of a foot soldier, so you get three extra points in each of the three attributes. But like a foot soldier's boost, it's only usable during Main Mission Two. To take it back to that place, you need to earn 100 merit points." Lin Maoxian had no intention of hiding this. He wasn't the only one who had earned the boost, after all. The others could ask any Squad Leader and find out. If he didn't tell them now, they might hold it against him.

Hearing this, Eel said sourly, "Captain, that's practically no restriction at all. With your strength, killing a hundred Yellow Turban Soldiers should be no problem. Then you can trade them in and get nine free attribute points."

Lin Maoxian could only smile wryly at Eel's words. "Eel, if only it were as easy as you think. For one thing, those Yellow Turban Soldiers aren't stupid. They won't line up one by one for you to kill. And if there are too many people on the battlefield, just staying alive will be hard enough. Where would you find the time to kill them?"

Seeing that none of them believed him, Lin Maoxian could only add, "I'm confident I can get the boost from this rank, but not the way Eel said. My main targets are the Squad Leaders and the Centurions' guards. Besides, if I killed all those Yellow Turban Soldiers, what would you have left to kill? You'll definitely be able to trade merit points for things on the battlefield."

"Even if we can trade them for items, I still won't be able to get any. My stats are too low." It was Shasha who spoke. She didn't sound happy at the thought that merit points might be exchangeable for items. As the team's healer, she wouldn't get the chance to kill Yellow Turban Soldiers.

After hearing Shasha, Lin Maoxian thought about her situation and said to the others, "Shasha has a point. She'll be healing us, so she won't be able to earn merit points. We should give her fair compensation. What do you think?"

"Sounds right." "No problem." ...

Once he saw that everyone agreed, Lin Maoxian continued, "Here's what I'm thinking. We'll see if merit points can be traded. If they can, we'll each give Shasha some. If they can't, we'll see what we can exchange the merit points for and compensate her accordingly. What do you think?"

Tiger was the first to speak up. "I have no problem with that. Shasha's healing is really important to us. We're bound to get hurt on the battlefield."

After Tiger spoke, the others also agreed that the plan was fine.

"Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Captain." Seeing that no one objected, Shasha thanked them all.

Hearing Shasha thank him, Lin Maoxian waved his hand and said, "There's no need to thank me. You deserve it."