Chapter 178: The first task

Veninza City, the Glerian Kingdom.

During these days, Azaroth had been living with Laura and Noah. Azaroth checked out the warriors the two had recruited.

Azaroth was slightly unsatisfied with their number but not by their talent. Laura and Noah had been quite strict in their trials and requirements.

Thus, the two had only chosen the best possible talents for their respective groups.

The people they had chosen were in urgent need of money. Thus, even though Laura and Noah's training was so strict, they worked as hard as possible.

Today, it was the first time the two groups had gathered. However, the two groups were familiar with Laura and Noah.

However, today, there was an unfamiliar man with them. This man gave them a very dangerous feeling.

Half of Laura's subordinates were women. They swooned in delight when they saw Azaroth's handsome appearance.

Abel, one of Laura's subordinates, asked her while pointing his finger at Azaroth, "Chief, who is this man?"

Laura scowled as she saw her subordinate pointing at Azaroth. She immediately replied, "Don't point your finger at him. He is my master."

This surprised Laura's subordinates greatly. They didn't think that this handsome guy was Laura's master.

"He is my master as well." Noah briefly spoke while he stared at his own subordinates, "Does anyone have a question?"

When Noah's subordinates saw him give them that look, they immediately gulped down a mouthful of saliva. They didn't have fond memories of when Noah gave them that stare.

They didn't even dare to breathe loudly, let alone ask a question.

Unlike Laura's group that had been kindly trained by Laura, Noah was training his group by beating the heck out of them.

Noah could beat them all even when they attacked him together. It was as if it made no difference to him whether they were fighting as a group or attacking him individually.

Even though Noah's training method was quite unconventional, it was quite useful. Those men who couldn't even follow Noah's movements were now atleast capable of moving their bodies to dodge or block Noah's attacks.

Despite their lack of success in countering his attacks, no one could deny their progress.

Azaroth just needed to take a look to understand how Noah had trained them and how much they had grown.

They all wore solemn expressions on their faces. Their willpower had grown stronger as they were continually beaten by Noah.

At the very least, a loss wouldn't affect their mentality in the future.

However, this had presented a critical problem. The mentality of these warriors had been molded to such an extent that they had gotten used to losing.

If this continued, they would never be able to squeeze out all their potential and fight with all their might.

Azaroth then began to think of a plan to completely reverse their mentality.

Meanwhile, he turned his head and focused on the subordinates trained by Laura.

They all had diverse emotions.

Some warriors gazed at Laura with a respectful gaze, some were looking at her with a gentle gaze, some warriors glared at Azaroth with an envious gaze. As for the women, they were sneaking glances at Azaroth.

This indicated that Laura hadn't managed to properly discipline these warriors yet.

A smile appeared on Azaroth's face as he thought of a plan. It would solve both of these issues.

It had been dozens of seconds since Azaroth began to observe them. It was time for him to say something to these warriors.

"As you might have heard from these two, I am their Master. My name is Azaroth. I am the one who gave them the task to gather warriors and create their personal groups." Azaroth spoke loudly.

His voice covered the entire field. All the warriors who heard his voice felt forced to pay complete attention to him.

"All of you might be aware that within the Glerian Kingdom, all the resources are hoarded by the Sects. The Royal Family controls the Red Crown Sect, and all the resources possessed by the Royal Family are either used in War or to develop their talents within the Red Crown Sect. The other sects are private sects set up by strong cultivators hundreds of years ago. These sects gather all the resources from the area nearby and use them to develop their disciples."

"You are independent cultivators who failed to join the sects and opted to become loose cultivators. However, I am sure many of you must be realizing the difference between yourself and the sect disciples."

"The sect disciples cultivate in a place with right Spiritual Aura. Moreover, that rich Spiritual Aura is further enhanced by multiple arrays. The sect also provides its disciples with important pills and rare techniques as well as mystic weapons. As time passes, the gap between you and the sect disciples will continue to widen."

Azaroth paused after saying so much. He was observing the reaction of these warriors.

All of Noah's subordinates remained calm ever after hearing this information. They had terrific control over their emotions, or they had already realized the difference between them and a sect disciple as they were beaten by Noah.

Azaroth then focused on Laura's subordinates. Just as he had expected, they appeared to be quite angry, envious, and even sad after hearing this.

Once he had observed them for some time, he asked with a clear tone, "I only have one question for all of you. Do you want to be stronger? So strong that even those sect disciples can only look up to you!"

His words were met with surprised expressions. Even Noah's subordinates showed surprised expressions when they heard Azaroth's question.

Noah's subordinates answered collectively, "Yes! We want to be stronger!"

Once Noah's subordinates had answered, Laura's subordinates also spoke out, "We also want to be stronger!"

Azaroth stared at Laura's subordinates and could see that they were slightly scared. They were scared that Azaroth was planning something dangerous.

They only decided to respond to Azaroth after seeing Noah's subordinates instantly answer him.

"Great. That's what I want to hear. I will provide you everything that a sect would have provided you. I will give you all the resources to become strong."

A sly smile appeared on Azaroth's face as he continued, "However, I feel that rather than giving resources out for free, you should earn them."

Confused expressions appeared on these warriors' faces as they failed to get what Azaroth meant.

"I will provide you resources, but they will be distributed according to your contributions," Azaroth spoke.

Laura's subordinates immediately nodded their heads in satisfaction. One of them spoke out aloud, "That's fair. At the least, no one will be able to get my share of resources by doing nothing."

His voice was filled with pride, and Azaroth deduced that this guy was probably arrogant because of his young age and ability with the bow.

Although his cultivation was lacking, his skill as an Archer was truly good.

Azaroth even nodded his head, "That's correct. You will receive the resources for the effort you put in and the results you obtain."

"Thus, I have the first task ready for you," Azaroth spoke seriously.

He took a short pause before speaking, "You are part of either of the two groups formed by retainers. Your two groups have been trained differently."

"I want to find out which group is stronger. So fight each other! Your task is to beat the other party until they admit their defeat!" Azaroth declared.

His words astounded both groups, as well as Laura. Noah was the only one who remained unfazed.

He wasn't calm because he expected Azaroth to do something like this. In reality, he had no clue Azaroth would pit their factions against one another.

Noah's lack of surprise was because he didn't try to foresee Azaroth's actions. He didn't even want to think what Azaroth would do next. In his opinion, all he had to do was perfectly carry out the commands given to him by Azaroth.