Even though Kiros had a bright future ahead of him, according to Lyra, his newly acquired loyal squire, he was still in a deplorable situation. This was something he could change now that he had a considerable amount of power. Fools would say, "But he only has one level of power, how can he do anything?" That one level of power equates to the strength of ten men, with each subsequent level doubling the number. Thus, when he reaches 100 levels of power, he will have the strength of a thousand men.
And in this city of the republic, known as Gastros, with 250,000 inhabitants, 60,000 are evolved, with their various forms of combat, some aided by runic muskets, others by armor and swords. Starting their young lives with diverse training and different methods of martial cultivation, before reaching the limits of their bodies and becoming evolved, they are martial artists, also known as mortal warriors.
In the region where Kiros lived in the city, the local population was tormented by a gang of societal rats (literally, as they were rat-men). Weak but extremely numerous, they accumulated ties with powerful people throughout the city. Kiros knew that only he and his elf couldn't do much for the people or themselves, so he decided to start accumulating monetary resources through guard and escort services, as many more opportunities existed for him as an evolved.
Lyra was not an evolved, but she was a martial artist on the verge of evolution, only needing the epiphany that would take her to the top. Along with this, Kiros was being trained by Lyra and had purchased a method of martial cultivation (the twelve steps of a colossus) to increase his power level as quickly as possible.
The currency used in the republic was the Marx Dollar, and through the services provided by Kiros and Lyra, they had accumulated ten thousand Marx Dollars, which would be used to invest in firearms and recruit men to create the anti-rat combat force.
Society was so skewed in favor of the powerful that it was strange. While Kiros made this money relatively easily, a mortal would take a lifetime to make such an amount, with a martial artist having a bit more ease, obtaining micro-contracts of up to a maximum of 1000 dollars.
Considering this, with ten thousand dollars, Kiros could assemble and equip a battalion of 500 men and still have about 2,000 left.