In Feinan, Dragons were one of the top creatures; they were an existence at the top of the food chain, wielding immense destructive power. For anyone lower than Legendary, they couldn’t even injure a Dragon, no matter how many people were thrown at it--a Legendary would struggle.

 

So, even if the Dragon’s Strength Potion didn’t actually contain the strength of a real Dragon, it was named after the Monsters from legends--so it shouldn’t be ordinary.

 

This was usually a Potion Descriptor which was fairly generic in the Ranking system of Potions; they were among the highest-level Potions that could be bought outside the Military or special organizations.

 

Taking this Potion would temporarily increase his Attributes.

 

He got the Potion’s name and description from the Master Appraiser Cole, and his Apprentice Wizard friend.

 

Dragon’s Strength

 

Description: Strength +2, Stamina +2. Attack Speed Increase (35%), All attacks +30 Fire Damage.

Lasts for 10 minutes.

 

That’s 4 levels of Strength and Stamina, plus increased damage. Gnolls had a weakness to the Fire Element, which was very lucky for Kade.

 

The Potion was quite expensive. For a drop in the early areas of the Scarlet Monastery--this Potion was good.

 

He had chosen to get the Potion Appraised at the Fighter’s Guild, because they were a large company and were unlikely to attack him for it.

 

This was the reason why he didn’t go to Bane, he didn’t trust the Goblin, because Black Market Dealers almost always make stupid decisions once they see any items worth money.

 

 

***

Back at the Black Horn Eagle Inn.

 

Anna handed a list of names to Kade.

 

“Only fifteen people?” Kade was quite surprised.

 

He had give Anna instructions to recruit about 20 people.

 

“The cost of high-level Adventurers was too much, and most of the lower-level would try and cheat us out of our money, so we don’t need them.” Anna said.

 

“So, these fifteen are more or less what we need?”

 

“Moreover, the idea that the more the better doesn’t really apply to Adventurers,” Anna added, “Even if they all signed a contract, if we are weaker than they are, they may suddenly turn on us.”

 

Kade nodded.

 

Most Adventurers would be fine, but if they happened to get a bad one or more, the Adventurers could go back on the deal and take White River Valley from Kade and Anna.

 

Anna had thoroughly thought about the situation.

 

“The Gnolls have a Sorcerer.” Kade said.

 

“What?” Anna was shocked, “How could they have a Sorcerer?” She muttered her last words, pressing her hand to her forehead.

 

“I saw it myself. He almost discovered Kylie and I.” Kade sighed, “They also have Mutated Direwolves, which are extremely difficult to deal with. As for the normal Gnoll Combat-Class holders, they won’t be much of an issue.”

 

A hundred and fifty Gnoll troops sounded like quite a few, but Human Adventurers were much stronger and smarter than the Animalistic Gnolls.

 

As long as they could get rid of the leader, the Gnolls would lose moral, and it was possible that the Mutated Direwolves would turn against them.

 

“About those Direwolves, when they raided us, I managed to kill one.” Anna frowned and spoke in a serious tone, “They seem very strange--I stabbed one through the left side of the chest, where the heart usually is, but they didn’t die from that--I had to wear it down.”

 

Kade hadn’t fought with Mutated Direwolves, so he knew very little about them; well, he had fought with some, but each Mutation was usually different. The ones he fought when playing the game just had higher health, and their bites ignored armour--but they were the higher-level variations.

 

As Kade was thinking, he grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote something down.

 

Anna stood by the side, at first she was calm, but became more and more surprised as Kade wrote.

 

‘Young Master Kade, is a genius! He seems to have thought up three potential ways of possibly restraining the Direwolves.’

 

Anna was deep in thought.

 

“For now, let’s go with this. We will set off in three days.” Kade looked over the list again and spoke with determination burning in his eyes.

 

“Yes, Young Master. But what about the Sorcerer?” Anna asked, worried.

 

Even if Sorcerers weren’t as powerful as Wizards, they had much more variability in their Spells; not being limited by a memorized number--they could cast for as long as their Magic, and Mental Power.

 

“I’ll take care of it?” Kade said, quickly smiling at Anna, before rereading the list of Adventurers.

 

 

***

There were fifteen Adventurers who were separated into two small teams of six, and three solo guys. The fifteen were all 1^st Rank, so they could handle most of the enemies, but the Gnoll Sorcerer would decimate them with ease.

 

What surprised Kade was that one of the six-man teams was relatively well-known in Rivershore City.

 

“Bramble is a team that has quite a bit of fame in the circle of low-level Adventurers, their leader is a level 5 Fighter.” Anna said, “It seems that we have good luck. Normally, based on Bramble’s strength, they would cost more for us to hire.”

 

“But, it turns out that their boss’ daughter has contracted some kind of strange illness and they need a high-level Priest to save her. They were in urgent need of money, and hadn’t found any large contracts lately. So, as a result, they accepted ours.”

 

“Good, so it means that they are likely to be trustworthy.” Kade nodded.

 

Anna’s careful consideration could be seen in the chosen Adventurers.

 

The other six-man team also had sufficient strength and reasonable equipment. Although they are a relatively new team, according to the records on their Mission Completion Rate was very high.

 

As for the three solo guys, they were fairly strong.

 

One was a level 4 Ranger who was proficient with a bow.

 

One was a level 5 Druid who could shape-shift into a brown bear.

 

The last was a rarely-seen Class, a Pugilist; the 1^st Rank version of a Martial Artist.

 

All of them were known a little in Rivershore City.

 

“Alright, there doesn’t seem to be any issues, notify Andre and the other Young Guard.”

 

“Where should they regroup?” Anna asked.

 

“The Night Tide Inn.” Kade replied, “When I came back to the edges of White River Valley territory, I found that they had reopened the Inn.”

 

The location he suggested was surprising, because it was right at the edge of Gnoll occupied territory--yet they were operating just fine, without any Gnoll attacks.

 

“You command this operation, I won’t go.”

 

“You won’t go?” Anna was surprised.

 

Kade grinned cheekily, “I definitely couldn’t go on such a difficult, life-threaten mission, I’m  a weak and powerless noble--but the Masked Warrior would.”

 

Anna relaxed and showed a pleased smile.

 

Her Young Master didn’t hide this from her, which meant that he trusted her--it was one of the happiest things that had happened to her…something which was rare, ever since the fall of her Lord’s territory.

 

***

Three days after the organizing of this plan, in an area just outside White River Valley’s territory, the Night Tide Inn.

 

This small family inn was actually created by an old, crippled, farmer who built a specialized house to provide rest. After the fall of the White River Valley at the hands of the Gnolls, almost no one used that road, but the Inn was getting enough business from people who were patrolling the edges of the fallen territory.

 

Tonight, the Night Tide Inn welcomed a lot of guests.

 

The could comfortably fit 20 people, but there were 36. One of them was the famous Head Maid, the Half-Elf helper of the true lord of the territory.

 

The owner of the Inn felt happy entertaining so many guests.

 

However, the guests suddenly started making a lot of noise causing the old crippled Inn owner to rust back into the main room. It was a group of undisciplined Adventurers, and he knew that something must have occurred.

 

In the living room, thirty or so people had split into multiple factions and were facing off against each other.

 

They seemed ready to fight.