Star Gate

After some conversation, Mu Lin and Li Hao made their way past the plaza and entered the living quarters to the rear. There were some mundanes here—not martial masters or supernaturals, just regular people in charge of support, cleaning, and other tasks. There were people who cooked and washed clothes. Martial masters were a busy bunch and didn’t have time for these chores. If they were tasked with living quarter upkeep, the place would soon stink like a pig sty.

Li Hao was never in a poor state since he always changed into a new uniform whenever his clothes were dirty. The Night Watchers had their own changing rooms and plenty of fresh uniforms to choose from. The young man was in the habit of randomly choosing one off the rack.

There was also personnel at the Inspectorate’s family accommodations unit in charge of handling these affairs. The Silver Moon Guards had a fair number of minor buildings requiring upkeep. They weren’t tall, most of them topping out at three floors.

“There are one hundred of these small buildings,” Mu Lin introduced. “With six rooms on each floor, each building holds a capacity of eighteen. We can house eighteen hundred martial masters at most in a building. The rooms are spacious at nearly one hundred square meters—we can also bunk six to eight people if there’s a need for it. That means more than ten thousand can squeeze into the living quarters if we have to!

“But martial masters all require some privacy, not to mention that our accommodations aren’t full. The officers live further back, each person has one building to themselves.”

Every one of the buildings occupied a large lot as they all possessed large yards, resulting in each building claiming nearly one thousand square meters of space. One hundred buildings meant one hundred thousand square meters of space. When empty space factored in, that meant the entire living quarters area was at least two hundred thousand square meters. It amounted to only three acres of land, which wasn’t much at all.

“There’s a cafeteria and shops over there, and another big building up front that’s a hotel for family. Families can visit, but only veteran soldiers with over three years of experience. The background check for visiting family is very strict. We normally don’t recommend families to visit. You can go back home yourself as you get a month off every year.”

Li Hao nodded and looked around as he followed Mu Lin. When others saw the deputy coming their way, they avoided him like the plague. Those who couldn’t evade in time snapped off crisp salutes. Mundanes were no different; this second-in-command was more like the boss around here as Golden Spear was often absent.

Although the centurions didn’t like him and called him by his given name, they obediently followed his orders in critical moments.

......

The two reached another patch of small buildings after walking for a bit. Li Hao counted roughly thirty buildings in a quick sweep. They were placed further apart from each other and appeared nicer than the buildings up front. This was a quieter area.

“We live here!” Mu Lin pointed inwards. “There’s fourteen people in residence at the moment and sixteen empty buildings. You can pick whichever one you want.”

“Fourteen people?”

Nine centurions plus Mu Lin and Golden Spear only made for eleven!

“Boss Golden Spear has a disciple who’s also a Dominator.” Mu Lin smiled at Li Hao’s confusion. “So he has a building to himself. The captain of the boss’ bodyguards is another Dominator, so he has one too.”

Li Hao raised a brow. So there were two more Dominators present! That was true, how could Golden Spear’s bodyguards not be strong?

“What about the fourteenth one?”

“That one belongs to Director Hou, but he doesn’t come often.”

Li Hao understood. He looked around again and wasn’t in a hurry to choose his residence. He could take his time. “What should I do now?”

“Build your team!” Mu Lin answered swiftly. “Additionally, give your team an impressive name! The Chen Jin that you beat in two punches, for example, calls his team the Mountain Openers!”

“......” How is one hundred people opening any mountains?? And he’s the heir of Mountain Ax, is this supposed to be an outstanding name? How about I make a Five Styles Army? The heck?

“I have to prepare all of this myself?” Li Hao frowned. “Apart from the ones here, the martial masters that I know don’t even amount to one hundred!”

“It’s not all up to you, of course. The boss said before he left that if Liu Long—we thought Liu Long was coming to us then—came, he could take ten people from his bodyguards to form his team.

“It’s best not to transfer anyone from the other teams because they’re used to their training regime and working with each other. However, you can if you really want to. You can choose three from each team at most, and centurions are not counted among this number. You can select anyone you want, they cannot refuse!

“If you utilize all those slots, that gives you thirty-seven personnel. The rest is up to you!”

More than one-third could come from preexisting teams and the rest was up to him. That significantly lowered the level of difficulty and made it easier to assimilate into his new surroundings.

Li Hao nodded, that was more like it.

“What about the Silver Moon Guards compensation package? I need to talk about pay and benefits if I’m to recruit people, right?”

“The compensation is great.” Mu Lin grinned. “It goes without saying that money is on the table. Dominators receive one mysterious power stone a month! They can choose one treasure every three months and study it for a day—perceiving the aura, in other words. Although Dominators have grasped the aura, perceiving the same kind of aura again is still extremely helpful!”

Mysterious power stones!

Holy fuck! Damn these guys are swimming in money, one of these things is worth hundreds, if not a thousand cubes! A direct faction under Hou Xiaochen is a direct faction alright!

Li Hao and the others earned one cube of mysterious power a month in Silver City. It was just a thousandth of Guard pay—it couldn’t compare at all. The young man was green-eyed with envy. The Night Watchers were so poorly off!

Deputy Director Hao earned a couple dozen cubes a month, but here, Dominators were paid one entire stone! Of course, that was just Hao Lianchuan’s salary. If he needed to, he could also utilize mysterious power stones in emergencies. Just that stone alone was enough to tempt a Dominator, to say nothing of that chance every three months to perceive the aura.

“What about Sunderers?”

“Mid Sunderers receive ten cubes of unattributed mysterious power a month. Late Sunderers receive the same, but they can perceive the aura once every six months. Initial Sunderers have no need for this treatment. Half step Dominators can perceive the aura once every four months. Their compensation is second only to Dominators, but they don’t receive mysterious power stones.”

Li Hao nodded. This meant that the greatest allure of the Guards was the chance to comprehend and improve the aura! Therefore, the treasures that contained lingering aura and will were the Guards’ most precious objects. As for mysterious power stones, there weren’t that many Dominators in the Guards. It was roughly a dozen stones a month at most and a hundred a year. These guys had explored so many ruins that they could afford to spare this sum of stones.

“How are the gains from the expeditions divvied up?” This was another point that the young man highly cared about.

“I knew you’d ask about that,” Mu Lin chuckled. “It depends on the situation! For instance, discovering the ruins and exploring them by yourself is one type. Exploring ruins that we give you is another. Seizing ruins first discovered by the enemy is a third.

“The rules as set by Director Hou are that for ruins supplied by upstairs, it’s a fifty-fifty split. Ones that you discover and explore yourself are seventy to you and thirty percent to upstairs. If you seize a ruin from the enemy, it’s all yours!”

“We still need to give thirty percent to upstairs for ones we discover ourselves?” Li Hao raised a brow. He had no objection to a fifty-fifty split for ruins supplied by above. Ruins taken from the enemy meant risking one’s life for, so it was normal that the martial master took all of the gains as well. But still having to offer thirty percent from ruins that he’d discovered and explored himself...

“Ole brother, to put it frankly, there’s a lot of people here that wield their current strength only because Director Hou threw his support behind them,” Mu Lin explained. “Would you be able to claim so many goods if you didn’t have that strength? Not to mention, upstairs needs money too. They pay us a salary in return for Director Hou compensating them. Can he continuously compensate us out of his own pocket? Ancestors plant trees so that their descendants can enjoy the cool shade. The Silver Moon Guards are an army unit, after all. Striking out too much on our own as individuals makes it hard to operate sometimes!”

Li Hao considered the notion, then nodded without further word. Perhaps! The key thing was that he’d never experienced any of this before. He’d taken everything he found when he explored the ruins with Hao Lianchuan and the others, so he wasn’t familiar with this mentality. When he was in the Demon Hunters, it was Liu Long dividing all of the goods.

“These are the official guidelines from upstairs, but you can decide what you do with your share. Do you want to split it with those beneath you? If they helped you, you should. You don’t have to, but they won’t work for you if time goes on. They can’t be blamed for running off to another team then, that’s all because of your incompetence!”

“I see!” Li Hao nodded. “So this means that the Guards can also headhunt from the other teams?”

“Of course!” Mu Lin chuckled merrily. “But that normally doesn’t happen because the centurions keep themselves in check. The Guards are more like a private army. Your troops are your brothers. This is what the royal family used to do and there are many drawbacks to this system, but martial masters and supernaturals are not suited for too many restrictions. Director Hou is willing to give everyone the greatest degree of freedom possible!

“But remember, there is only one rule that must be followed in the Guards. When the director gives his order, it must be executed no matter how dangerous it is! If you defy orders, you will be executed!”

Li Hao arched a brow. That was more like it! It was too lax otherwise, with benefits to be had as soon as one joined. That was too comfortable for martial masters. Hou Xiaochen was plainly a man who only cared about results and not much about the process. So long as everyone was willing to listen, he didn’t care how they got there.

Having familiarized himself with the compensation package, received a full tour, and understood the particulars, Li Hao asked a final question. “How often do we go out on a mission, typically speaking?”

“Not that often, about once a month! Once every three months is also normal if it’s slow. Ruins aren’t everywhere, after all, and pirates don’t attack everyday.”

“I understand!” Li Hao breathed out. “The benefits are good, the mission schedule is appropriate, the split is acceptable... I accept this role!”

“These are irresistible terms under ordinary circumstances!” Mu Lin roared with laughter. He lowered his voice with secrecy, “There’s another benefit that seems ordinary, but it’s actually quite good. There’s a library here, built by Director Hou, that contains a lot of books on secret arts and methods. There’s even breathing methods!

“It’s left over from when the Skystar Guards cleared out the remnants of scoundrel martial types. Your teacher dug up a lot of graves back in the day, but he also destroyed most of what he found. The director managed to save some, as well as some of the later findings from working with your teacher. We’ve also collected a bit ourselves too.”

Li Hao’s eyes widened, now this was real treasure! It seemed worthless, but knowledge was priceless!

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l