Chapter 42: Occupying the Stronghold

  Finally settled.

  Rod let out a sigh of relief, his body was also weak and his legs were unable to support himself. After all, the continuous summoning had consumed a lot of his spiritual power, making Rod feel extremely exhausted. He leaned against the wall for a moment before walking over to the statue that had turned into a pile of powder, picking up the long sword lying on the ground. Then, Rod's gaze pierced through the powder and landed on a crystal the size of a fist, an oval-shaped stone resembling an egg. It looked dull and gloomy, at first glance it was no different from the pebbles by the roadside. But only Rod knew that this unassuming stone was the root cause of the tragic events that had occurred here.

  This is a Soulstone, a very rare mineral that grows in Hell. It can absorb the souls of living beings and influence their thoughts. Devils use it to deceive mortals and obtain their souls when they travel, kill and silence them. It's usually hard to see this thing on the ground. Even famous scholars rarely get similar samples, which are extremely rare and precious dangerous goods.

  For Rhode, this stone also has a very important function, imprisoning souls.

  And this is also the main reason why Soul Binding Stone can be sold at a sky-high price in the later stage of the game. It allows players to decide whether to seal the soul of an existence killed by the player and transform it into its most primitive state. In other words, this is a treasure that can artificially create the core of the soul.

  While Soulstones were even rarer than Essences in the previous eras, they didn't start a trend until the last data patch opened and the invasion of Hell began. It wasn't until then that players started to formally come into contact with Soulstones, and soon after, these gems became popular across the continent, becoming essential items for many mages and summoners.

  Now that I think about it, in the Hell Invasion data article, Deepstone Castle was indeed one of the first frontline bases occupied by the Hellish Demon Legion. At the time, it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, but now that Rod has the Soulstone in hand, he can't help but have a few more ideas. It's clear that this might be what happened when someone unknowingly dug up this kind of stone and then all sorts of things started happening. This also seems to be subtly hinting to players that the bottomless mine pit in Deepstone Castle is actually the passage leading to Hell.

  But it's not time to worry about that yet, the invasion of hell is because the power of the dragon soul covering the mainland is damaged, and now the mainland is still peaceful, the power of the dragon soul has not appeared any problems, worrying about the invasion of hell is purely a worry. Thinking of this, Luo De also didn't think about it anymore, he bent down, picked up the stone and put it in his bag, starting to look for other spoils of war.

  The only pity is that it seems Rod's character isn't very good, and he didn't even bring out the short sword "Sorrow's Sigh" that Master Seriel had originally equipped him with. That was a half-legendary magic item, not only high in attack power but also carrying poison and curse effects, absolutely a small divine artifact for swordsmen and thieves. Unfortunately, it seems his luck isn't that good. Rod turned the entire pile of bones upside down, and aside from a faintly glowing magic necklace, there was nothing else.

  He didn't say much about it, just shrugged his shoulders and sighed, but he didn't take it to heart. After all, as a summoner swordsman who values character, he has a higher degree of randomness in fusing spirits and equipping equipment than other professions. Because of this, Rod had long since become indifferent to those random probabilities. Therefore, in the game, he generally only pays attention to equipment that will definitely be dropped by completing tasks or defeating bosses, as for rare and unusual equipment that may or may not drop, it's nice if they do, but no big deal if they don't, after all, the game is still meant to be played.

  There's a saying that's been repeated many times on the forums: "There are no useless spells, only useless spellcasters." But in Luo De's opinion, this saying can also be applied to other professions - there's no such thing as useless equipment, only useless players. In the end, it all comes down to mindset determining skill. RMB players may have taken a shortcut elevator to their goal, but eventually they still need to learn how to walk on their own.

  And at this time, Lijie, who had been guarding the door all along, also felt her whole body go soft and sat down on the ground against the wall.

  It wasn't her first intense battle, but it was still a memorable one for the girl because it was the first time she truly faced an enemy's attack and emerged victorious.

  In the final moment, facing the attack of the White Bone Sea, Lijie almost completely burst out. She was almost continuously replenishing energy for her shield and then destroying those arms that stretched towards her at the fastest speed one after another. This was still the girl's first time making such a fierce attack——although it looked more like an instinctive counterattack under pressure. Even until the battle was thoroughly over, Lijie still had no way to recover from this excited state. Not even when she first truly stepped onto the battlefield as a member of the mercenary group did she feel so tense and excited.

  The girl raised her hands, gazing at her palms because of the excessive consumption caused by tension, her hands almost had no strength left, and even began to tremble unconsciously. But apart from this deep fatigue, Lijie also felt a thread of satisfaction.

  She succeeded.

  A new day has arrived.

  When the sun rises again, the bright sunlight pours through the dilapidated old mansion and into it. This mansion, which originally gave people a gloomy and dark feeling, has completely lost its evil and terrifying atmosphere of the previous day. Even in the overgrown garden outside, there is no longer the danger of the night, but instead reveals a few signs of vitality.

  Although both of them were already extremely exhausted, Rode still mustered up the energy to let Lize return to the Mercenary Association first to rest and also take care of the procedures regarding the mercenary group's base. As for Rode's orders, the girl didn't think much about it and quickly accepted and left.

  And it wasn't until Lisha left that Rode finally let out a sigh of relief, then he leaned against the wall and opened up the Mercenary Guild Construction System.

  After confirming that Rode had essentially become the master of this place, the mercenary team's construction system finally revealed the complete picture of this old mansion. Except for the basement, the old mansion has three floors, and the entire building is in the shape of an inverted T. The main building has a hall, guest rooms, study, bedroom, etc., while the back annex is the servants' quarters.

  Rode certainly did not intend to continue with such a design standard, after all, he was currently building a mercenary corps and not a noble's house. Moreover, most mercenaries were from the lower classes and had some kind of resentment towards the wealthy. If the mercenary corps were built in the same luxurious style as the nobles' houses, it would definitely give people a sense of incongruity and rejection, which was extremely unfavorable for development. Therefore, Rode naturally also had his own construction plan.

  But before that, Luo De still wants to try out the mercenary team building system in reality and see how big the difference is with the game.

  After last night's ordeal, the damage rate of the nodes has reached as high as 35%, and most of the 3D indicators floating in front of Luo De's eyes are showing a rather unpleasant yellow color, with some even displaying red alert situations. Therefore, the top priority is to thoroughly repair this place first.

  Soon, Luo De chose the "repair" option, and then the system prompt jumped out immediately.

  Is the outpost repaired?

  Yes.

  "Fully repairing the outpost requires 15,000 gold coins, would you like to repair it?"

  Upon seeing this message, Luo De furrowed his brow and chose "No" without hesitation. Soon after, another system prompt popped up.

  [Select repair type - Repair house, Repair furniture, Complete repair.]

  Repair the house.

  Repairing the house requires 500 gold coins, do you want to continue?

  Continue.

  Along with Luo De's mind flashing, the system prompt floating in front of his eyes immediately disappeared.

  A golden light flashed from Rod's palm, then it quickly expanded and transformed into a grid covering the ground, walls and ceiling. After that, everything changed.

  The dilapidated and damaged walls were instantly repaired, the long-rotten furniture disappeared in the advancement of this light net. In just a blink of an eye, the originally cluttered and trash-filled great hall was thoroughly renovated, with no potholes visible on the ground, only large smooth stone slabs placed on top. The decorations and furniture that were originally placed around also disappeared, leaving only the shields and swords on the walls, which had been used for decoration, looking brand new.

  The crimson curtains and carpet, which were full of holes made by insects, had disappeared without a trace. The warm sunlight streamed in through the brand new glass windows, bringing with it a hint of spring warmth.

  In less than five minutes, the originally dilapidated old mansion had undergone a thorough transformation. The solid walls no longer showed even half a crack, and the floor was free of the weeds and gravel that had tried to crawl out from the gaps. The circular wooden staircase, which had been on the verge of collapse in the previous battle, had been transformed into a stone staircase that spiralled up against the wall, spreading out like wings on both sides. As one looked around, the entire stronghold no longer showed any signs of its former decay and rot, replaced instead by an air of majesty and grandeur.

  On the wall directly in front of the hall, a black flag hung down from the middle, with a cross-shaped star emblem in the center. This was the current flag of the mercenary group.

  Stardust.

  Excellent!

  Rod nodded in satisfaction, it seemed that at least this system was working here just like in the game, which was enough for him - but the only regret was that the cost was indeed not small, and Rod's originally somewhat sturdy wallet now had signs of shrinkage.

  However, Rode didn't care about the money. After figuring out the construction system's functions and rules, he quickly restarted, building a hall, study, and bedroom. Although the mercenary corps' scale was too small to build anything beyond level one rooms, 7,800 gold coins still flowed from Rode's fingers like water. By the time Rode had everything set up, his original 2,500 gold coins were reduced to just 370.

  As the saying goes, money slips away like flowing water, and indeed it's true.

  But looking at the brand new base information in front of him, Rode was already very satisfied.

  Name: Starlight

  Scale: Small

  Squad Leader: Rod Ailante

  Team member: 1 person

  Difficulty: 1 (Medium)

  Level: 1

  Obscurity: unknown and unheard of

  Facilities: Hall (LV: 1 Boosts mood by 5), Study Room (LV: 1 Allows investigation of some team members' information), Bedroom (LV: 1 Increases physical strength recovery by 5).

  It's done.

  After reviewing all the information, Rod sighed heavily and closed his eyes, sitting in the wooden chair beside him. His right index finger lightly tapped on the armrest for several minutes before he opened his eyes, his expression becoming firm and resolute.

  From now on, things have finally gone on the track that Luo De hopes for.