Chương 4: Obtaining Soldiers

"Join me..."

"Aaaaagh!!"

"Be my..."

"Aaaaagh!!"

"Soldier..."

"Aaaaagh!!" Li Qinwu's face was dark with frustration. There was simply no communicating with this creature; it wouldn't stop screaming its lungs out.

"Shut up!!" Li Qinwu roared, and the other party instantly fell silent from fear. He was satisfied, thinking he could finally explain his recruitment policy, but then the creature began to howl even more miserably.

"For heaven's sake!" Li Qinwu's ears rang from the noise. Losing his patience, he delivered seven or eight sharp slaps across the creature's face, leaving the goblin pup dazed and tumbling to the ground. He grabbed the pup by the throat and stared fiercely into its eyes.

"From today on, I am your boss! You listen to me, or I'll slap the life out of you! Do you understand?!" The pup nodded frantically, his eyes filled with nothing but terror. Li Qinwu let him go and opened the Mount & Blade II Prisoner Management page. He looked at his lone prisoner icon, but the recruitment marker hadn't lit up. His brow furrowed in deep thought. Something's not right, Li Qinwu thought. He's clearly submitted, so why can't I recruit him?

In Mount & Blade II, you have a chance to capture enemy soldiers after a battle. Once they've been prisoners long enough, they eventually choose to submit, allowing you to spend Denars to recruit them into your party. Higher-tier soldiers are harder to recruit, while lower-tier ones are easy. Some low-level militiamen don't even require a waiting period; they can be recruited immediately after capture. In the Mount & Blade II system's terms, this goblin pup was a Level 0 trash mob—not even Level 1.

He was the lowest of the low. A creature like this should have been recruitable the moment he was captured, especially since he had verbally surrendered. Li Qinwu figured the pressure wasn't high enough. He needed to turn up the heat! Shouting a battle cry, he lunged forward and buried a fist into the goblin pup's face. The creature was sent reeling to the ground, his face covered in blood as red as dragon fruit juice.

"War Stomp!" Li Qinwu leaped high and brought his foot down hard on the pup's chest, knocking the wind out of him so effectively he couldn't even manage a whimper.

"Gut Kick!" Li Qinwu delivered a kick straight to the pup's stomach, making the creature heave and vomit bile.

"Oh, oh, oh! Boss! Boss! From now on, you're my boss!" Seeing the creature submit, Li Qinwu stepped back, canceling his attack animation. He thought to himself that a bit of "aggressive persuasion" really did the trick. He happily opened the Prisoner Management system again, but the recruitment option still hadn't appeared on the icon.

"He's submitted, so why can't I recruit him?" Li Qinwu frowned. Was the beating not enough? He looked at the goblin pup sprawling on the ground and managed to catch a flicker of cunning in the creature's eyes.

"Damn! Trying to play mind games with me? I guess the pressure hasn't hit your gut yet!!" Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Infuriated, Li Qinwu pulled some hemp rope from his inventory, looped it around the pup's neck, tossed the end over a tree branch, and yanked hard.

"Mind games? I'll turn you into a kite! Do you submit or not!" The goblin pup was hauled up until his feet left the ground. His neck constricted, cutting off his breath. The primal fear of suffocation made him lose control of his bladder instantly. His legs kicked frantically, and his green eyes looked at Li Qinwu with pure desperation. Li Qinwu ignored the plea. He knew there were only two kinds of goblins in this world: the treacherous and the cunning, and the cunning and the treacherous.

Unless the creature felt a pain that was carved into its soul, it wouldn't truly submit from the bottom of its heart! Li Qinwu kept him hanging for over thirty seconds, only letting go when the pup's eyes began to roll back. As the pup collapsed to the ground, Li Qinwu stepped in with some rough "resuscitation" and brought him back to life.

"Do you submit? If not, we can go for another round!" The goblin pup sat up, his legs scrambling against the dirt as he scrambled backward. His eyes were now devoid of anything except sheer terror.

"From now on, I am your boss! You do what I say! Or I'll give you a gut-kicking service every single day!" Li Qinwu threatened viciously. Although the goblin pup didn't understand the specific words he used, he certainly understood the pain. He nodded his head like a maniac. Li Qinwu opened the Prisoner Management page once more. This time, the recruitment option appeared over the icon. Clearly, the pup had finally submitted in his heart of hearts.

Li Qinwu exhaled in relief; the afternoon's work hadn't been in vain. He clicked recruit immediately, spending 5 Denars to turn the pup into his soldier. His remaining Denars dropped to 18. Then, a new line appeared on his interface: Party Wage: 1 Denar/Day. The dwindling funds gave Li Qinwu a sense of crisis. In Mount & Blade II, soldiers require a salary. If your cash flow dries up and you fail to pay them, your troops will begin to desert you. Of course, they wouldn't just leave immediately.

Instead, their Morale would plummet. Morale ranged from 0 to 100; once it dropped to the 20s or 30s, you'd face large-scale desertions. Li Qinwu noted his party's Morale was at 60—a "sub-healthy" level. To raise it, he needed to pay wages on time and increase the variety of food in his inventory. Currently, he only had grain. He needed to find a way to get more food types. Pulling himself back to the present, Li Qinwu untied the goblin pup's hands and had him stand in front of him. He studied the creature closely.

Now, the pup's eyes held nothing but fear and a strange, deep sense of "gratitude," as if dedicating his life to Li Qinwu wouldn't be enough to repay him. The cunning was gone—perhaps the System's influence was at work. Satisfied, Li Qinwu pointed at him and commanded: "Crouch!" The pup obeyed instantly.

"Roll over!" The pup rolled on the ground as ordered.

"Slap yourself twice!" The pup hesitated slightly, then delivered two loud slaps to his own face.

"Build me a cold fusion reactor!" The pup stared at Li Qinwu with a face full of total confusion. Li Qinwu understood now. The soldier would execute any command he understood and was physically capable of doing; anything else just resulted in a blank stare. Li Qinwu was extremely pleased with the recruitment system. This wasn't just recruiting; it was hiring fanatics! He still had 18 recruitment slots left. If he could fill his party, he would have 19 death-sworn soldiers.

Even if they were just goblins with the physical stats of human children, he could use them to achieve great things! What's more, once they gained enough experience, they could upgrade into more powerful goblin troop types! Next, Li Qinwu ordered the pup to find a wooden stick, then handed him a sharpened boar tusk.

"From today on, your name is Gob-Spear. Watch closely. Do exactly as I do!" Li Qinwu took a boar tusk and a relatively straight, sturdy wooden pole. He fitted them together, then scraped some resin from a nearby tree to apply to the joint. During the earlier fight, he had been scanning his surroundings and noticed a tree with claw marks from a large animal, with plenty of resin leaking out. He'd thought of this as a way to reinforce the spear.

He sealed the joint with resin until it was airtight, then held it near the dying campfire. Before long, the resin was roasted black and hard. Li Qinwu tried to pry the boar tusk with his hand; it didn't budge. The connection was solid. While still a primitive and crude weapon, it was far better than the one tied with simple hemp rope—at least it wouldn't fall off easily. Gob-Spear watched Li Qinwu's every move intently and followed along. By the time Li Qinwu's spear was done, the pup had finished his own as well.

"Let me see." Li Qinwu took the spear from Gob-Spear to inspect it and was surprised to find the quality was actually quite decent. He recalled descriptions of goblins from the media in his past life: a bunch of cowardly, despicable monsters, like the psoriasis of the world—killing one crop only for another to grow. They were usually seen as trash that any adult man could slaughter. But when a goblin tribe's population reached a certain point, powerful goblins would mysteriously emerge.

They would become leaders and cause massive trouble for the civilized races. If the other races couldn't wipe out a goblin tribe in one go, the goblins would progress rapidly. Much like the Greenskins in Warhammer 40k, they might start like primitive cavemen who don't even know how to use fire, but as the war progressed, they would develop wooden weapons, stone weapons, then iron, and eventually magical ones!

Looking at Gob-Spear excitedly tinkering with his weapon, Li Qinwu felt that these creatures might be more than they seemed!