Chapter 12: Creating the Dragon and Phoenix Mercenary
Lucien and Seraphina walked to the receptionist counter, where a young Volkin woman stood. She had brown rabbit ears and a twitching tail.
She nodded. "Welcome to the Haewun City Mercenary Association branch. My name is Selena. How may I help?"
"We’re here to sign up as a mercenary team."
"Oh, okay. Is it only the two of you?" She raised her eyebrows, clearly baffled.
"Yes," Lucien replied.
She glanced at them twice. Their relationship wasn’t ordinary—Seraphina rested her head on his shoulder. Not wanting to offend, she looked away and brought out two documents. Unlike on Earth, the material was Volkoid skin.
"Please fill these out." She placed them on the counter with a feathered pen and ink.
Lucien scanned the form. The information requested was simple: names, affiliation, cultivation rank, and the name of the mercenary team.
"Husband, don’t put your family name. Just your name. We don’t want unwanted trouble."
Seraphina’s voice sounded directly in his head. Lucien startled, then looked around. No one else had heard.
His eyes glowed.
"Don’t worry, no one can hear us. This is mental communication." Her giggling echoed in his mind.
His eyes glowed brighter. He had read about this in novels. He’d always been curious.
He whispered into her ear, "Can you teach me?"
"Of course, darling." She chuckled.
Before he could say more, the receptionist’s voice cut in. "It seems you two are lovers."
Lucien coughed. Seraphina held his hand and rested her head on his shoulder again.
"We’re a couple," she said, flashing a smile.
"Oh..." Selena nodded.
Lucien picked up the feather pen, then glanced at Seraphina, who was already filling her form.
"Wifey, why don’t I help you fill mine?" He gave her a smile.
Her face flushed.
"Wifey..." she muttered, clearly delighted by the name.
Ding!
[Seraphina Drax’s Obsession Link has deepened. Obsession increased by 10%. Resonance increased by 15%. The bond tightens.]
Lucien smiled. This felt awesome.
He watched her as she wrote. Light fell across her face, outlining her features. He was entranced for several moments before shaking his head.
Is this what they call love?
"Husband, what should be the name of our mercenary team?" Seraphina turned to ask him.
Lucien fell into thought. From now on, every action he took wasn’t just for himself. It was for his wife. He had to make her more obsessed with him.
"Dragon and Phoenix Mercenary." He paused, then added, "And our motto... ’One hoard. One flame. One eternal bond.’"
Seraphina’s breath caught. Her eyes glistened.
Ding!
[Seraphina Drax’s Obsession Link has deepened. Obsession increased by 15%. The bond tightens.]
She submitted the form to the receptionist, who glanced at them curiously as she read it.
"15 years!" Selena didn’t know when she shouted.
She didn’t shout only because of his age but because of his stature. Lucien looked like someone in his twenties, yet he was this young. As she continued to read, she frowned. Someone at the Awakened Realm was signing up for a mercenary team.
She shook her head. What concern was it of hers? Her job was just to guide them.
Her shout startled the mercenaries in the hall.
Selena composed herself. "Okay, all you need is to stamp this with a drop of your blood," she said.
With the form in front of them, they let a drop of blood fall onto it. Surprisingly, the blood was absorbed into the form, and the Mercenary Association’s stamp appeared beside their names.
"You are now a registered mercenary team," Selena said, rolling up the form. Then, oddly, it vanished from her hands.
"As a new team, you start at the lowest rank. Our ranks go from F to SS-Rank. Your rank isn’t determined by your cultivation, but by how many missions you complete."
"For more information, here’s a guide that will help you." She handed each of them an orb of light.
Lucien’s eyes glowed. He recognized it—a knowledge orb. Only cultivators could use it, shattering it with Originat to absorb the information.
They shattered the orbs instantly and absorbed the knowledge. Lucien held his chin, understanding more about the Association.
It was an unrestricted organization. The only obligation: if the Association is in danger, members are expected to help defend it. Branches spread across Aethelgard, but there was no information about the headquarters. As for missions, they could be taken from the mission list in the hall.
And for the missions, if a mercenary dies when accepting a mission, it’s none of the Association’s problem. You have to take missions you can handle.
With this, they headed to the mission list, thanking Selena.
Lucien looked at the mission list. There were a lot, and rewards varied according to difficulty.
There were missions of escorting, killing, collecting rare materials, or Volkoid parts. Missions were graded from F to SS.
For the S and SS missions, he just glanced through them. Even if completing missions could raise his rank, strength was needed to back it up.
In a cultivation world, strength and luck were everything – or you would just become among the bones stepped on by others.
He looked at the E and F ranked missions. You could accept a mission of your rank or one above.
"Which mission do you think we should take?" Lucien asked Seraphina.
She had more experience than him. She was stronger.
"You want me to pick? Hmm, it wouldn’t be easy." Seraphina grinned.
Lucien chuckled.
"Hey, what are you two doing there? You want some beating?"
The noisy mercenary hall fell silent as the shout resounded.
Lucien and Seraphina slowly glanced behind them. A burly man stood there, followed by several minions.
Lucien knew what was coming.
"It seems Shea has started his usual routine. Bullying. Hehehe."
"I wonder how these newbies will escape from his clutches."
"Escape? You’re kidding... Pffft, they can’t."
"Well, their background doesn’t seem ordinary."
The crowd murmured while watching the scene. Lucien shook his head. Where were there not fools in a cultivation world?
Didn’t cultivation increase one’s intelligence? Well, thinking about it, if everyone were intelligent, the world wouldn’t be any fun.
The burly man saw Lucien shaking his head and snorted angrily, "Toddler, why are you shaking your head? You should still be home sucking milk."
He laughed with his minions.
But Lucien and Seraphina’s expressions remained unchanged.
"If you’re looking for trouble, be prepared to lose your head," Lucien said plainly, but his words sent chills.
Then he and Seraphina turned and walked away from the mission board.
The burly man felt his face burn as he watched them leave. The crowd was surprised by his words – direct and cold.
