The Newcomers

"That's cool… I guess."

Gorden seemed to be a little bit disappointed; he had most likely hoped for a shield.

Elo, on the other hand, was overjoyed. If a very rare item could have such significant effects, there would be no boundaries to the power of really high tier equipment.

Even though the possibilities were exciting, there was still something better—the ring in his hand.

-"That's great, with this ring I can double the effectiveness of "Rulers Authority". Therefore, my team will become more powerful, and it will become easier for me to attract new teammates."

His train of thoughts was disturbed when Ella started speaking.

"Ok, let's start going back home now, I don't want to sleep under the sky again, and I am sure that I'm not the only one." She looked at Elo.

She was right, Elo didn't want to freeze to death while sleeping tonight. When they had all agreed, they started walking under Lara's guidance.

Gorden walked besides Lara, while Elo and Ella walked carefully behind them.

The sunset painted the entire forest in red light. Because of this brilliant beauty and the silence of the forest, nobody dared to talk.

When they had walked for a while, Elo took out his new ring and put him on his ring finger.

"Ding"

"You equipped the small silver ring.

You may choose one skill; its power will be doubled."

When his teammates heard the noise, they looked annoyed at Elo, but when they realised that he was just equipping the ring, they lost interest fast and walked on silently.

-"I want to double the power of "Rulers Authority"."-

"Are you sure you want to use the ring to double the effectiveness of "Rulers Authority"?

Effect:

[ if you are the leader of your team:

-Followers: +10% for every stat (at least +1)]



[ if you are the leader of your team:

-Followers: +20% for every stat (at least +2)]"

-"Yes, I'm sure."-

"Ding"

The others were amazed when a screen suddenly popped up in front of them. Elo was interested, so he looked at Ella's screen.

"You received a new bonus from your team leader.

Effect:

+20% for every stat (at least +2)"

When the team member saw this, they were immediately very excited. Ella looked at Elo with big eyes.

"Wow, this is amazing. It's as if we would have levelled up ten times! Elo, if you would get more skills like this, we would be unstoppable.

Elo inwardly smirked.

-"When they think like this it will be easier for me to get to a higher level faster because they will know that it helps them too. At least if we get new skills by levelling up."-

When he was about to sink into his thoughts again, he suddenly felt that new Power Stones had arrived.

He put his hand into his poked and took out the red crystals. It felt very relaxing to be able to do that in front of everyone.

"Ding"

"You received:

-16 Power Stones, gifted by Ethan132 and others"

They walked on for another hour before reaching the camp.

But on the clearing that they had started calling home, a big surprise awaited them. When they stepped on the clearing, it had already gotten dark, but the clearing was illuminated by fire. Four strangers were sitting around this fire.

As soon as one of them saw the approaching team, he hastily jumped up and pointed at them. When Elo's group had arrived near the fire, the other group's members had already stood up, and big wooden clubs had appeared in their hands.

When Elo was near enough to be heard, he started speaking.

"This is our camp, what are you doing here? We…"

But before he could proceed to talk, he got interrupted by a tall blonde man, which looked at their team with an arrogant smile.

"This is now the camp of the Carlson's trading company. If you want to live here, you will have to pay one soul gem per day for each hut. Of course, you will, therefore, be protected by this force of elite warriors, that can ensure your safety day and night." He looked at them with a winning smile while pointing at his companions.

Elo knew the Carson's trading company. They had been an influential company in his old world, that had specialised in trading goods.

But before he could even say a word, Ella had already dashed forward. When her fist hit the young man's chest, it sounded like a car crash was happening right in front of them. Streams of blood came out of the young man's mouth and nose, and he dropped to the ground.

When he didn't stand up again, his teammates' eyes opened widely, and they started trembling in fear. Elo could see the sweat on their foreheads when Ella began talking in a could voice.

"Nobody speaks to our boss like that. The next time one of you tries something funny, I won't hold back."

Ella gazed at them furiously, so no one in the other team dared to say a word. They hastily left the fire for the newcomers and took their wounded friend with them.

Only when they had escaped the gaze of the crazy woman, they dared to speak again.

"No way, that woman one-hitted our leader, and she didn't even use all of her power. How can she already be this strong??"

A boy that was sitting in the dirt next to their leader to heal him answered.

"I have no idea. They must be cheating or something. They should have come here at the same time we did, right?"

The first man spoke again; he still hadn't stopped trembling.

"Yes, I think so. So far, everybody in this team came here at about the same time."

The woman who was standing beside him inhaled audibly.

"This crazy woman called the man in front of their leader, how good must his attack power be if such a monster is willing to call him a leader?"

Lara, who had eavesdropped their conversation, started giggling silently.