Club

Club

"Have you heard? That strange merchant guild called the Penguin Merchant Guild has started offering food that can boost specific attributes!"

"And it tastes absolutely delicious."

"Yeah, yeah. It’s been spreading like crazy lately. The only reason people knew about that group before was because of the incident where the Mermaid Legion was wiped out."

"Who would’ve thought this group had so much going for it?"

"And their operating model is really flexible. Joining the merchant guild doesn’t affect your original legion at all. It’s purely benefits with no obligations."

"It’s a bit like the membership system Rothschild France Bank runs, but it seems more comprehensive and has its own unique advantages."

"I heard Rothschild France Bank’s membership system was actually copied from them."

"…"

As Xu Yue walked across the Saint Hill Military Academy training field, he overheard the students nearby discussing it and was fairly satisfied with how quickly the news was spreading.

He had not actively promoted the Penguin Merchant Guild and had always maintained a harmless image. Yet once the foods with exclusive sales rights appeared and their influence gradually spread, everything exploded after a period of buildup.

You might not believe it, but they were the ones begging to become our members. We weren’t the ones stealing business.

And at this critical moment, the future heir of Rothschild France Bank also sent a telegram to Rothschild Family headquarters. Its general meaning was as follows:

Based on preliminary evaluations and projections, although Rothschild France Bank’s membership system had achieved decent results, those results had all been achieved through losses and subsidies. It lacked any distinctive advantage of its own, and in the long run, it might be difficult to achieve the expected results.

That would be fine if there were no competitors. But with competitors present, it would be better for us to cooperate more comprehensively with the Penguin Merchant Guild, which possesses its own unique advantages, and directly use their platform to post our demands on it.

They were, after all, a group from China and one of our own partners. In Europe, they could only rely on the Family’s power, so there was no need to worry about them slipping out of our control.

Moreover, they had operational experience in the Huaxia Zone. The Family should consider offering them more benefits and favorable terms to strengthen the close relationship between both sides, lest other local European groups find an opportunity to poach them…

It had to be said that someone capable of becoming the heir to a national branch did have real ability. His data and deductions were thorough, logical, and convincing.

If the Penguin Merchant Guild had been a local force, the Rothschild Family would indeed have been wary. But it came from weak China. Even if it possessed decent strength, it could not escape the Family’s grasp.

Furthermore, most of the Family’s energy was currently focused on exploiting Germany. They even wanted to monopolize Germany’s mecha production sites, so they truly did not have much attention to spare for a membership system that could not produce short-term results.

In that case, using someone else’s platform without having to pay much of a price themselves was indeed highly feasible…

Clearly, they had never seen how IBM would later be dragged off its pedestal by Microsoft and Intel, nor had they seen how a certain penguin platform would bleed the game studios attached to it dry…

Once the user base expanded and became dependent on the platform, that dependency itself became the strongest form of capital.

"I found a few senior members from the legion. Although this Promotion Mission is overseas, we’ll at least have some support. Wow~ I never expected you to have this skill. What exactly did you add to it?"

In the cafeteria, Sun Lin chewed the food in her mouth, her eyes narrowing into crescents.

Having grown accustomed to gourmet food in Food Wars!, Xu Yue found even the Saint Hill Military Academy cafeteria meals, which were originally considered fairly good, as bland as wax. So he casually gave them some secondary processing with spices.

He had merely improved the flavor a little. There were no attribute bonuses.

However, Sun Lin, the young lady who liked to pretend to be aloof but whose image had been utterly ruined in Xu Yue’s eyes, had come to discuss the upcoming Promotion Mission with him. In order to assert her authority as captain, she directly snatched away the untouched plate he had prepared.

"Also, your Punishment mission didn’t deduct too many points, right? Your strength didn’t drop too much, right?"

Sun Lin asked vaguely with her mouth stuffed full.

"I’m fine. It went a little better than I originally expected."

Information about Punishment missions was forbidden by the Space from being disclosed, so Xu Yue merely gave a vague answer.

Since he had already "adjusted" the number of missions to the same level, he did not mind doing this Promotion Mission with Sun Lin. They could each do their own thing anyway. Giving them a Wood Clone would even let them "witness" his growth, perfectly rationalizing his current identity.

Moreover, their team binding had been activated before the Punishment mission, so this time they had been assigned the same Promotion Mission.

He simply had not expected her to find some "seniors" from the Beiyang Army at Saint Hill.

That was somewhat unexpected.

No matter what, Chinese people were considered a disadvantaged group in the France Zone.

The Laborer Group had been the same in the past. Even these foreign students at military academies were no exception!

Still, compared with the old Laborer Group, these were at least elites sent by Beiyang to study abroad. They were outstanding among those at the same level, and as long as they were not deliberately targeted, completing missions would not be much of a problem.

And because there were relatively few Chinese people in Europe, these seniors also valued sticking together. The farther one was from home, the stronger this cliquishness became, and the more tightly they banded together.

"…We’ve arranged to meet at two this afternoon. We’ll go to the simulation training room to familiarize ourselves with each other’s abilities and coordination. Everyone uses mechas, so gathering to fight as a team at critical moments is important."

After chattering for a while, Sun Lin finally revealed the main reason she had come.

With the Six Paths of Pain handling various other matters separately, Xu Yue himself had quite a lot of free time, so he did not refuse…

At the entrance to the simulation training room, three men in crisp military uniforms waved at Sun Lin when they saw her and Xu Yue approaching.

Xu Yue, who had come along with her, was almost completely ignored.

Well, whether it was the effect of a beautiful woman or the Kengge Clan background, this reaction seemed perfectly natural.

"Lin, let me introduce you…"

A bespectacled man with a scholarly air smiled and waved at Sun Lin. Then, turning slightly and somewhat respectfully toward the square-faced man beside him, whose face carried a faint trace of pride, he said,

"This is one of the most senior upperclassmen from our legion at Saint Hill Military Academy, the vice president of our club, Senior Chen Hang. He has already crossed the threshold into becoming an Elite Reincarnator. His strength even surpasses that of many instructors. This time, he mainly came here to study mecha team command. When he returns to the legion in the future, he will most likely become a commander in the Beiyang Knights."

Sun Lin blinked her large, dark eyes curiously at the square-faced man before politely greeting him.

"Hello, Senior Chen Hang."

Upon seeing Sun Lin, Chen Hang, who had maintained a rather cold and prideful demeanor, softened his expression and revealed a gentle smile.

"Haha, just call me Brother Chen. Come to think of it, your brother and I joined the legion in the same batch, though I’m far inferior to him."

Sun Lin herself was a great beauty, and with her brother’s reputation, even this somewhat arrogant vice president would not put on airs. There was also a hint of heat in his gaze as he looked at her.

She was beautiful, reasonably strong, and most importantly, she had a brother with extraordinary potential. No matter how one looked at it, she was an excellent match. Such prospects were far too rare among Reincarnators.

After the greetings were over, the scholarly man, who was likely the first one to know Sun Lin, introduced the remaining member of the trio—a tall, thin man who occasionally stole glances at Sun Lin while pretending to be serious.

"This is Senior Liu Hongtao, the club assessor responsible for recording and registering your abilities."

Clearly, this assessor’s status was far lower than Chen Hang’s. After introducing him in passing, the man himself did not seem to care much. Without waiting for the two sides to exchange greetings, he opened the door and walked inside, saying at the same time,

"We specially applied to the academy in the club’s name for this time slot today, so there’s no need to line up."

As he spoke, there was a trace of pride in his tone. Normally, people had to wait at least half an hour here. Even local students were no exception, so being able to reserve a slot was indeed quite prestigious.

"Oh, wait a moment, Senior. I haven’t introduced my teammate yet. His name is Xu Yue. He specializes in operating Sunderland mechas, and he also possesses the strength of a genin himself. He’s quite versatile…"

Seeing that the seniors had no intention of waiting any longer, Sun Lin hurriedly tried to introduce Xu Yue. But clearly, they had little interest in him.

They merely gave polite, formulaic smiles and said nothing more. Most of the conversation revolved around Sun Lin and Chen Hang.

Xu Yue naturally had no objections. I’m only tagging along with your team to maintain my presence. As long as you can serve as "proof" of my growth path, that’s enough. It would be best if you didn’t come bother me at all…

To be cannon fodder, one had to have the self-awareness of cannon fodder.

Xu Yue had originally planned to quietly play along and muddle through, but when the group entered the training room, they discovered that the room they had reserved was already full.

The five simulators they had booked were all marked as currently in use.

Near those simulators stood several blond, blue-eyed white men smoking and chatting.

When they noticed the rightful owners arriving, they did not care in the slightest. They flicked away ash, blew smoke rings, and let out several whistles filled with mockery and provocation…