Second World

When Jack came out of the North Gate, he could see rows of soldiers in a neat formation covering the empty field outside. He had heard of ancient armies with millions of soldiers strong, still, seeing three-thousand strong army was already mightily impressive to him. There were NPC soldiers everywhere he looked at.

Most of them were around level 25 to 35. Several more elite squads had level 35 to 45, with each squad leader possessing a level of 45 to 50.

Amongst the leaders organizing the army there, Jack recognized Captain Salem and Lieutenant Bailey. He could also see his friends flocking together at one side of the army. They looked completely out of place.

Many of the other players who stood in the distance were watching this unusual event. They were especially stumped when they saw a group of players next to the army. Some of them thought that it was a special event that they could exploit and tried to approach as well. But the soldiers chased them away. Some even tried to protest that there were players over there, only to get additional scoldings from the soldiers.

”Your Grace, I will go there to coordinate with my friends first,” Jack said to the Duke.

”All right. Donʼt take too long. Take them to me when you are ready, we will be at the center of the army.”

Jack nodded. He then steered his mount to head over to where his friends were at. He was marching at a steady pace all this time following the troopsʼ slow march, when he urged the stallion to go faster, its sudden increase in galloping speed almost threw him off. Luckily, this was not the first time he rode a horse in a VR game, hence he was not flustered. Still, the sudden spike in speed caught him slightly off guard. So an uncommon steed could produce such speed, he thought in his mind.

When he arrived at his friendsʼ place, he could see the awe in the glints of their eyes.

”Damn, boss! You looked like a general when you come out of that gate with the troops,” The Man exclaimed.

”Ah… such a shame. Why is there no camera function? I would have taken a picture of you then and post it on the forum,” Bowler said.

”What forum?” Flame asked.

”Iʼm just saying,” Bowler replied.

”Thatʼs a cool steed, boss. Where do you get it?” The Man asked.

Before Jack could answer, John had spoken first, ”such uninformed lots.” He then revealed a whistle and blew at it. A white horse materialized beside him.

”You can buy mounts at the stable nearby the city gate. There is even one not far from here. You people need to explore more all the facilities available in the city. You guys are seriously lacking if compared to me and Storm Wind here.”

”Uh, actually, my steed was given by the leader of the army here,” Jack said.

”Well, ainʼt you lucky,” John commented.

”As a matter of fact, all of you will be provided with one for this expedition,” Jack added.

”Hahahaha!” Bowler was laughing as hard as possible after hearing it. ”Look at you acting so smart. Who is the fool now for wasting his coins to get a steed when they can get one for free?”

”Um, I probably need to clarify. The mounts given to you for this expedition are only temporary, you need to return them once the expedition is over.”

”Hahaha,” John laughed back at Bowler.

”Hey, we are a few people short,” Jack said after looking at Jeannyʼs group.

”Iʼm sorry, please wait a few more minutes,” Jeanny said. ”They are still settling things at the bank.”

”Bank?”

”Yeah, bank. Itʼs a place where we can safely store things,” John explained. ”You never go to one?”

”Why need one? We have our personal inventory bag which is safe enough for storage.”

”Friend, we are going on a long expedition. There might be a lot of things we will acquire. How much can a 5 cubic of volume hold? By emptying our storage bag, we can make sure to have the maximum space to store our finds.”

”Oh,” he muttered as he came to a realization. He never had to worry because he had that Large Bag which provided an additional 100 cubic of space. No wonder Peniel never bothered to inform him about this Bank function.

”Speaking of the devils,” Jeanny said as she looked behind Jack. Jack turned over and saw the missing members approaching.

Jack made another headcount, there were twenty-three of them not including himself. He then sent them a party invite.

”You wonʼt be able to fit them all,” he heard Penielʼs voice in his mind.

ʼOh? What do you mean?ʼ He asked, but he got his answer soon, from a system voice when everyone was clicking the accept button, ”party limit reached, cannot add additional members.”

”Party limit?” Jack was puzzled.

”What is your leadership level?” Jeanny seemed to understand whatʼs wrong, she was amongst the one that could not join the party as it was already full.

”Um, basic apprentice,” Jack answered. He never paid attention to that auxiliary skill.

”What? You still dare to act like a leader with such low leadership level? Hand over the leadership to sister Jeanny here, stop embarrassing yourself!” Swellgoing uttered.

Jack looked at the man sharply, he had the urge to kick him again.

”Stop your rudeness,” Jeanny reprimanded him. This rebuke had in fact saved the fellow from another ass-kicking. ”Mister Storm Wind was the one who invited us, it is only natural that he is our appointed leader.”

Then to Jack, she said, ”however, it is still a fact that your leadership level is terribly low. Do you not know that the limit for a leader with the most basic leadership level to form a party is twenty members?”

”Uh, I donʼt,” Jack replied.

”Then how about this, we have a player with the highest leadership member to be the system party leader. This is just a formality due to the system. We will still follow your order naturally,” Jeanny offered.

”I never care too much about who is the party leader anyway,” Jack uttered. ”Okay, everyone! Say out your leadership level.”

Everyone started to state the leadership level. Interestingly, there seemed to be a distinct divide between the group. Bowler, Flame, John, and his two friends were all still at Basic apprentice, same as Jack. The Man and his underlings were at Intermediate Apprentice. While the lots under Jeanny had some at Intermediate Apprentice and a few at Advanced Apprentice. Jeanny had the highest grade amongst them all, at Basic Expert.

”How did you get such a high leadership skill level?” Bowler asked with awe.

”Heh, now you see how great our big sis is, right?” Viral Cora exclaimed with pride.

”What are you so proud of? You are still at Intermediate Apprentice,” Bowler said.

”I am still at a higher leadership level than you!” Viral Cora retorted.

”Cora, donʼt fight,” Jeanny said. She then explained to the others, ”from my experience, the leadership skill increases in proficiency if you are in a party. The amount of proficiency increased is higher when you are the leader of the party. I have always been questing with the others in a party all this time, and I was thankfully always been appointed as the leader of the party, so my advancement of this auxiliary skill is faster than the others. At my current Basic Expert level, I can form a party with a maximum of fifty members.”

”Fifty? Wow! Thatʼs a sharp increase from the pitiful twenty members,” Bowler commented. ”Guess I will have to spend more time in a party from now on.”

”No one will want you to be the party leader even if you have a high leadership level,” John said.

”Why do you always trying to pick a fight with me?!” Bowler yelled out.

Jack ignored them, he instead asked Peniel in his mind, ʼIs that so?ʼ

”Thatʼs about right,” Peniel answered.

ʼWhat is the maximum member allowed if we reached the highest Advanced Grandmaster leadership level?ʼ

”Two hundred members.”

Jack could not imagine taking command of a party of two hundred members. It would be such a mess. It was precisely that worry that had caused him to look for player friends for this expedition, the troops he was in charge of were three-hundred in number.

”I am not getting commanded by a woman!” The Man shouted out.

”You got a problem with women?” Flame asked him with a glare.

”Uh, sister… You are different,” The Man said.

”Dude, be more flexible, will you. As she said, she is the leader only because of system requirements. Big bro Storm will still be the one that gives out orders,” Bowler said.

Yep, itʼs a chore to ask a bunch of twenty-something people to work together, much less two hundred, Jack thought.

😉