Published at 24th of September 2026 6:50 am

Chapter 1144: Base Wage

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

The man in purple, seeing Kent vanish, sighed as he rose to his feet. He was done for the day, as he had no more new recruits to interview. With that, he walked out of the Verification Centre, his steps calm as he seemed lost in thought.

Asher appeared in yet another area. He looked around, but unlike before, when he had been surrounded by four hundred candidates like himself, this time, there were only a little over a hundred people. It was obvious that the other three hundred had been eliminated.

’The process of elimination is probably by lying or maybe by having negative intentions and such,’ Asher thought to himself as he walked forward. He found a seat and sat down, as the place where he had appeared seemed to be some sort of classroom.

No Soldier came to meet them, which was understandable, as everybody guessed that a Soldier would only arrive when the man in purple was probably done. A few minutes passed before another portal opened, and Acker stepped out. A couple of seconds later, Lyra followed him.

Acker was surprised for a moment. He had thought that he had been rejected since he didn’t have any information to pay with, which was understandable. But to think he had actually passed... he was freaking happy about it.

"Amitabha," he stated as he walked forward. He headed towards Asher and sat beside him with a calm demeanor.

Asher stared at the Buddhist as he spoke. "I didn’t think they would accept you," he said, voicing his honest thoughts. "It’s surprising they didn’t jail you and skin you alive or something along those lines," he stated with a smile.

He wasn’t really joking, as he had genuinely thought that, as a foreigner, Acker would face some higher scrutiny. It wasn’t that there was any form of hatred against citizens of another Empire, but high profile citizens of another Empire had to be treated specially.

"With Buddha guiding my path, all I have to do is walk, and I will reach my destination," Acker replied with an assured tone.

Asher simply nodded at the boy, then turned around to look at Lyra, who was standing behind him instead of sitting. Lyra simply nodded at him and said nothing, implying that she was fine. She hadn’t gone through much questioning.

Asher turned his attention back to the Buddhist as he asked, "So, were you asked if you were a spy?"

Acker nodded as he proceeded to explain how his questioning had gone. Asher simply listened, and after a moment, he began to understand why Acker had been accepted. If Acker had probably gone to another Frontier, they would have either rejected him or jailed him right there and then.

As he and Acker discussed, Asher’s mind couldn’t help but return to a question the man in purple had asked.

’Recruitment Stations,’ Asher thought to himself, his eyes shifting to the recruits who were also discussing other things. He couldn’t help but guess that all these recruits had been recruited from Recruitment Stations, just like how Instructor Jane had gathered the students at the Canestane Territory before teleporting everyone together.

Because if it wasn’t done that way, there was no way these recruits would have reached the Frontier. After all, the forest was filled with Crown-Class Monsters and Beasts that could easily wipe out any of them.

’The average age here is around twenty six or so,’ he thought to himself, as there wasn’t anyone his age here, which was understandable.

As Asher was lost in thought about the Recruitment Stations the man in purple had mentioned, the door to the classroom opened, and a woman entered. On her waist was a whip that had been tied and arranged, clearly her weapon.

She wore a blue uniform with two stars on the left side of her chest. Her blond hair was packed into a ponytail. As she entered, the discussion died out, as her presence commanded attention. Her eyes were red, and the atmosphere around her was dangerous. Clearly, she had seen her own fair share of combat.

"Welcome to the Algorith Frontier. I am Lieutenant Chioma, and I will be taking over from here," she stated, her voice calm, her eyes dancing from one face to the other as though gauging their reactions.

’Hmmm, so different colors mean different ranks within the Frontier,’ Asher thought as he listened. ’A red uniform is for a Corporal with one star, while a blue uniform is for a Lieutenant with two stars. I wonder how many stars there are and how many ranks exist.’

"From this moment on, you will be considered official members of the Algorith Frontier," she continued speaking. "And from this moment on, you are Cadets, which is the lowest Frontier rank. But first, I have to make something clear to all of you present here. Although it’s a known fact that anyone can quit whenever they want after joining a Frontier or Outpost, at the Algorith Frontier, you have to serve a minimum of two years before having the right to even consider quitting," she explained as she stared at everyone present.

At her words, whispers rose as the recruits started to discuss amongst themselves in low tones. Although they were happy to have finally been accepted, the fact that they had to serve a minimum of two years before they could quit was information they would have preferred to receive earlier.

But at the end of the day, they couldn’t complain much. None of them had planned on quitting anyway.

"Now, as you’ve been told at various Recruitment Stations scattered across the Empire," Lieutenant Chioma continued, "the Algorith Frontier provides the best training facilities and also pays the highest monthly wages. For example, those at your level, such as the Cadet Rank, will be paid ten gold coins every single month at base."

At her words, the murmurs rose as happiness coursed through the veins of the gathered cadets. To them, ten gold coins was an insane amount. It was maddening. Even Adventurers and Mercenaries had to risk their lives for such an amount of money, killing Monsters and selling their corpses before they could even remotely make that much.

"Like I said, that is a base wage," Lieutenant Chioma continued without waiting for them to settle down. "The reason being that although two different people might be Cadets, their efficiency, strength, amongst other things, are not the same. Hence, their wages scale to match the work they put in," she stated, remaining expressionless.

"Take Cadet Asher as an example. Although he is a Cadet like everyone here, how many of you are stronger than him?" she asked, using him to get her point across.

At her words, everyone turned towards him, their eyes fixed on him as they remembered how strong he was and the ridiculous power he had displayed.

"But don’t misunderstand me," Lieutenant Chioma continued. "Just because Cadet Asher possesses more combat prowess than everyone here doesn’t mean he would immediately earn more money than everyone else by default. If he doesn’t put in enough work, he would only receive the base wage," she explained.

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