Classes followed, including Riva's, who glanced at Maxime without saying anything about what had happened 3 days before.
Finally, the day came to an end and all the students went home.
Maxime found himself alone on the way home, as Samuel had already left a while ago to begin a special training session prepared by his parents.
"Today is Friday May 30, so since Eternity resets every first of the month, I'll have to go back on Sunday," Maxime thought quietly with some excitement.
Having shown some interest in Lisa, Maxime was eager to improve his skills in Eternity.
Of course, he already had a significant desire to improve, but this was taken to a new level with this new objective.
Of course, he was only mildly interested in Lisa - after all, he didn't know her.
But the knowledge that this woman seemed completely unattainable if he didn't work hard enough gave him an irresistible urge to take up the challenge.
The real challenge being not to capture Lisa's heart but to raise her status to his using only the sweat of his brow.
"I can't wait to get back to Eternity already!"
Maxime returned home without a hitch, had a quick chat with his brother and mother, then revised for the academic part of the competition.
The evening passed quickly, and the following day he trained all day to perfect his sword skills.
He also summoned Andrew and the other main mercenaries in his group, including Ernest, to improve their sword skills too.
Indeed, it's an advantage every player enjoys. While time was on pause in the world of Eternity, players could take advantage of every break to train and come back stronger.
This was also the case 3 days before, since the life and death experience of each mercenary had significantly increased. The return to Eternity and future battles will be more likely to be won with fewer losses thanks to this recent experience.
By evening, everyone had improved their swordsmanship by a few points, but it was Maxime who had made the greatest progress.
Indeed, after the recent battles he'd experienced, Maxime had finally broken through the bottleneck between intermediate and advanced rank 2 Sword Mastery.
He had thus officially entered advanced rank 2 mastery.
It was already a level that few 2-star mercenaries could achieve even with a lifetime of fighting.
"System displays my current status"
Ding!
Maxime glanced at his statistics.
Identity: Maxime Valdreuve.
Class:
Peasant level 3. Level MAX! (+3% to physique)
Swordsman level 3 (+5% physics) (0/100)
Unlocked a new class: 0/50
Physique: 1.95 (+0.16)
Qi: 0
Skills :
Swordsmanship level 2 (67/100)
Franc language proficiency level 2 (30/100)
Passive trait :
+5% physicality when wielding a sword
+10% sword training efficiency.
Talent: NOX LIMIT level 1 (rank unknown) (0/1000)
Minor stamina talent
Minor strength talent
Money available: 40 gold coins.
Mercenary:
Andrew: Three-star potential. Physical: 2.1.
Terry: Two-star potential. Physical: 1.4
James: Two star potential. Physical: 1.5
Piedro: Two star potential. Physical: 1.7
Izo: Two star potential. Physics: 1.8
Peter: Two-star potential. Physical: 1.5
Alessandro: Two star potential. Physics: 1.3
Ronny: Two star potential. Physical: 1.2
Romuald: Two star potential and a minor talent in physics. Physical: 2.3
Joe: Two star potential. Physical: 1.2
Tena: Two-star potential and a minor intelligence talent. Physical: 1.9
Rodrigo: Two-star potential and an elemental affinity with the earth. Physical: 1.7
Ernest: Three-star potential. Physics: 2.1
"Romuald's minor talent in physics is as impressive as ever," Maxime commented quietly with some curiosity.
Normally, mercenaries with two-star potential could reach a maximum of 2 points in physics, but Romuald far exceeded this limit and showed little sign of slowing down.
"At this rate, could he reach 3 points? That would be incredible."
High school courses didn't teach any more than that about the talents mercenaries could possess; it was more like a university course. So Maxime didn't know the details of the effects of the different talents or their usefulness.
"By the way, I'm lucky the bar isn't calling me, but should I quit? After all, I've already bought the watch and now I need time to prepare for the competitions" Maxime asked himself hesitantly.
He was very hesitant because the bar's owner had hired him where all the other companies had turned him down because of his youth and lack of experience.
Taking a step back, Maxime found that the environment at the bar was really nice and the work wasn't really hard.
"In any case, I should resign with the competition coming up."
"I think I should just let the boss know, and stay there for a few more weeks, while the boss finds a replacement," Maxime concluded after careful consideration.
He didn't want to leave like a thief after getting the boss's generosity.
"I'll call him on Monday and check in with him.
Maxime continued to train with his mercenaries in spite of everything, and the day passed quickly.
Sunday morning came quickly.
Ding!
[Military pay received!]
[6 gold coins have been sent to your system pay!]
Simultaneously another notification arrived, and this one more than made Maxime smile as he lay in bed.
[An opportunity to go to Eternity has been unlocked!]
[It has been detected that you possess the authorization to go into Eternity once!]
[Do you want to use it now?]
"Yes!"
In response to his answer, his body entered a vegetative state as his mind was projected into Eternity at high speed.
Soon he opened his eyes and found himself with various familiar faces around him.
Maxime smiled slightly, then exclaimed:
"How do we find each other, guys!"
The saber-toothed tiger mercenaries seemed surprised by his return. They remembered everything that had happened in the real world.
"Welcome back to our world, Chief!" exclaimed some of the mercenaries, laughing.
After the laughter, some of the mercenaries began to worry about the future.
Ernest, who was standing next to Maxime, reflected slightly, then asked:
"Chief, you said we hadn't realized our true purpose just before we left for your world, but what exactly is our true purpose?"
This drew stares and stopped the mercenary group talking.
As about thirty pairs of eyes landed on him, Maxime smiled, then looked at everyone around him.
"The main objective of our mission on the way out was indeed to eliminate the bandit group that attacked Quessoi. But bandit groups usually have a base where they can gather and store their stolen goods.
"These bases also serve as their resting places, since they can't sleep peacefully in most cities."
"And they usually have a few hiding places where many gold coins can be found."
"The bandits who ambushed us did belong to the group that destroyed Quessoi and killed the family and friends of some members of the saber-toothed tigers."
On hearing this, the members in question wore various reactions.
Andrew crossed his arms, but a real demonic fire could be imagined in the gleam of his eyes.
Terry, James and Peter had similar but less controlled reactions as they clenched their fists in anger but also sadness in retrospect.
James, in particular, seemed close to tears.
Piedro and Izo didn't react in any particular way; no one could guess their thoughts.
Ernest, Rodrigo, Romuald, Riva, Ronny, Joe, Alessandro and other mercenaries seemed particularly serious as they listened to their leader.
Maxime ignored their reaction and continued his speech:
"Although we've eliminated them, these bandits are bound to have other companions still alive and at large!"
This came as a shock to many mercenaries, especially those from outside Quessoi.
A group of 50 organized bandits with a particularly strong leader and even 3 elite soldiers was already very strong.
"There are several reasons for this, but the most important is that I haven't seen the bandits who demanded ransom last time in Quessoi."
"So to come to your question Ernest, our main objective is to find their base, eradicate the remaining bandits and take for our mercenary group all their gold and possessions!"
"And then we'll return triumphant before Baron Barthon, go to our base and party for 3 days!"
Ernest was the first to react and shouted:
"In any case Baron Barthon will be able to do absolutely nothing to us, otherwise the mercenaries of this world will turn against him haha!"
Most of the mercenaries became completely revitalized after hearing Maxime and Ernest's words.
"Hahaha our leader knows how to talk to us!"
"Yoo-hoo, can't wait to take these bastards out and get back to the party!"
"After fighting those damned Pirans it'll be a piece of cake to take care of some bandits!"
...
The small crowd was very excited after Maxime's announcement.
Mercenaries were people who walked on a thin rope every day that they could fall on at any moment, so they were enjoying life to the full!
In the crowd, an ordinary mercenary from the saber-toothed group shouted in excitement to a comrade who was already close to him before the saber-toothed tigers.
"I wonder how much gold we'll be able to make!?"
"I hope a lot! At least enough to replace my old sword and light armor, which dates back to my grandfather!" replied his friend with equal enthusiasm.
Hearing their discussion, Andrew, who was nearby, was amused.
"Haha guys be ambitious, these thieves love to have lots of gold coins, and on top of that these thieves are backed by the baron and therefore go completely mad and unscrupulous!" he laughed, temporarily forgetting his rage.
"Haha that's true, they owe a lot more money than you'd think!" said the first mercenary.
The second also laughed and asked Andrew:
"What would you like to have then if not a good sword or armor?"