The training routine went as planned. The main reason why Kyle wanted that many prisoners were due to the ntal trauma inflicted on each prisoner after combat training. No prisoner could remain sane after being beaten up by twenty gang mbers in a row, continuously being healed.
“JUST LET DIE!” One of the Red Lion prisoners shook the pig iron bars of his temporary jail violently. They were segregated into separate cages, ensuring they couldn’t help each other to break out.
“Shut up, idiot; they can’t even hear you from inside this room,” Lionel grumbled. It’s only been a day since they got imprisoned, but already a few of the mbers’ ntal states were at an all-ti low.
But there was soone else in the room who clearly had it much worse than anybody else, judging by the continuous groaning, moaning and clattering of teeth. Lionel glanced over at the cage of Riker, who was lying on the floor, breaking out in a cold sweat and shivering.
Lionel wasn’t particularly surprised to see Riker here after they were captured. Kyle was that strong, after all, so he didn’t expect Riker to escape either.
“Fucking hell, what did they do to you? Potion overdose?” Lionel asked, but Riker barely registered the question, only turning and tossing about on the cold tal surface.
At this mont, the room’s main door opened, revealing Kyle flanked by Damian.
Imdiately the other Red Lions mbers started cursing and swearing at Kyle, blasting them. Damian was lugging a sack of Stamina Recovery Potions, giving them one each.
Lionel grabbed the dark yellow potion flask, still slightly astonished at how many the Seven Snakes had. This was the third one they’d received since they arrived here. Going by Haui’s price, it ant Kyle had spent more than a thousand eight hundred on each prisoner. Is this guy loaded or what?
He noticed Damian didn’t give Riker any Stamina Recovery Potions, but the mont Riker’s eyes t Lionel’s and saw the potion in his hand, Riker turned into so sort of feral beast, lunging at the potion. The bars barely restrained him as Riker forced his arm through, trying to reach for Lionel.
“How many days has it been?” Kyle asked Damian.
“About three full days since we stopped, sir.”
“Hmm, he still seems a bit too feisty. Open the cage.”
Damian carried out the order, imdiately opening the cage. Riker pounced on Kyle, but Kyle imdiately parried his attacks and flipped him onto the ground, slamming him down hard.
Riker gagged, a slight froth coming out from his mouth, but he was far too weak to sit up. Lionel could tell Riker had not eaten for maybe a day or so. The food platter was still filled in the cage, with Riker barely touching it at all.
Kyle dragged Riker away from the room, with Damian, shutting the door behind them. A cold shiver ran down Lionel’s spine. What in the world are they attempting to do?
Riker was tossed into a spare empty room and tied onto a wooden chair, with only Kyle being the other person inside.
“How are you feeling?”
“f…fuck you…” Riker was still in a cold sweat, his eyes bloodshot as he tried to keep his head up facing Kyle.
Kyle placed his hands on Riker’s shoulder, who began to struggle but was unable to break free of the ropes and Kyle’s iron grip.
“Inspect. Analyze. Identify.”
Nothing appeared.
“Interesting.” Kyle thought he might have been able to see a statistical table of Riker or at least a status effect of so sort, but it did not exist. He tried a few more words, but nothing happened. Hmm…
Kyle began to examine Riker carefully, checking his eye reactions, heartbeat, pulse and so on. If only I had a full dical wing here. A side project for the future.
Noted symptoms: Increased sweating, heart rate, hot and cold flashes, slight hallucinations and perhaps loss of vision, not unlike dehydration.
“Riker.” Kyle stood in front of him, snapping his fingers to catch Riker’s attention.
“If you defeat now, I’ll let you go and give you this potion.” Kyle pulled out a Stamina Recovery Potion from his suit’s inner pocket.
Riker’s eyes were suddenly rejuvenated with life, his head nodding vigorously. Just as Kyle removed the ropes, tying him down to the chair, Riker imdiately attacked without hesitation.
Kyle did not counter-attack this ti, rely dodging left and right as he observed Riker’s muscle movents and reaction timing. Too slow, too weak, lack of awareness. A shadow of his forr self. Perfect.
“I’ve seen enough.”
“n-no wait ple-ase!” His hands tried to grab onto Kyle, missing completely as he collapsed onto the floor. Kyle tied him up back with ease, returning him back to his cage.
Damian and Keith waited for him in the office. “Continue to feed Riker, but do not give him any more Euria-infused Stamina Recovery Potions. Moving forward, for the remainder of the prisoners, we will split them into three groups.
Non-Euria Infused Stamina Recovery Potions Euria Infused Stamina Recovery Potions non-stop Euria Infused Stamina Recovery Potions, stopping after the first day.
Each gang mber will rotate and defeat one of each group every day in combat. At the end of the day, I will heal all of them. Got it?”
Damian nodded, leaving the room to pass down the modified training regi.
“Sir, a few people have shown up at the entrance, wanting to join the Seven Snakes,” Keith inford.
Faster than I expected. “Have them all gather in my office as soon as possible.”
Ten young n were lined up, their eyes eager and glancing around at the office, as well as staring at Kyle. Niko was among them, having quit his factory job after witnessing his performance of Kyle first-hand, completely enamoured by the prospect of gang life.
Kyle recognized most of them to be onlookers for the skirmish when he fought the Red Lions. He got up from his chair and inspected them for any irregularities. As he returned to the first of them, he suddenly launched a high kick towards the first’s face, only stopping re millitres away from his face. The man barely had ti to react at all, only stumbling slightly backwards a few monts later in a panic.
“If you’re here, you know what you’re signing up for. Death is a real possibility.” Kyle returned to his standing position. “I am not looking for mbers who simply want to ‘take it easy’ or ‘boss others’ around. Mutual loyalty is an integral part of how I run the gang – do right by , and I’ll do the sa for you no matter what happens.”
Niko’s heart swelled with happiness, his fist clenching as he praised himself for making the right choice here. His prior factory job was soulless, with the manager barely caring if anyone died or was missing. They were just numbers to be replaced. Kyle’s words had struck a chord with Niko, causing him and a few others among them to nod their heads vigorously. It was right to co here!
Kyle’s modus operandi for the Seven Snakes was vastly different from the Red Lions. His forr life as a galactic cri lord has taught him an important lesson in fostering loyalty among even the lowest of mbers.
He did not do it because he was nice. Conversely, he has identified this thod to be the most secure in preventing betrayals. Sothing he did not do very well in his forr life before he was killed by his own friend.
Performing a small beneficial action that is ultimately aningless to will an a great deal to the recipient and will build loyalty over ti. Kyle smiled gently as he noticed the happy expressions on their faces.
“There is a war with the Red Lions coming soon in about ten to thirteen days. If anyone wants to back out now, this is your last chance.” Kyle said with a stern, serious expression.
None of them backed out, standing firmly.
“Good. Keith will now perform an induction program for all of you today. At the end of it, I will present each of you with your armband as ‘associates’.” Kyle showed the Seven Snakes Armband, which had an elaborate crest on it.
A clear wave of excitent rippled through the ten n. Formal ceremonies to make them feel important are another critical key to retaining loyalty.
The ten n left the office with Keith in the lead, giving them a tour of the base. Kyle headed to the kitchen again, this ti staring at the strength potion that now had its full description.
[SYSTEM SSAGE]
Item
[Strength Potion (Basic)]
Boost muscle strength for a short duration. Good for quick short battles.
Recomnded Usage: Drink entire flask in one go
Active for five minutes
Ingredients: Greis Powder, Olio Roots, Yul’s Tears, Water
Cooldown: Thirty seconds
Consuming another within a day will result in diminishing effects
May experience side effects after main effect wears off
He sent for two gang mbers to collect the required materials of Olio Roots and Yul’s Tears, which ca in a sack and pot separately.
Kyle’s face slightly baulked at the price of the Yul’s Tears reported. A pot with five kilograms of Yul’s Tears was more than ten thousand rakels. I only hope that the recipe is not too intensive on the percentage of Yul’s Tears used…
He internally cursed the Alchemist Guild and Haui for not providing the recipe. However, Kyle was cognizant that he would have done the sa thing as well. Recipes and thods of production were far too precious to be freely distributed in this kind of city.
The sa brute force thod was employed as the last ti, albeit with more than four ingredients in the mix, the number of potential combinations was a lot higher. Kyle brought in a few helpers to speed up the process, utilizing the nurous arcite stoves to iterate continually.
At one point, he had more than ten flasks going, writing down on parchnt and crossing out combinations he had failed.
Keith soon popped his head in. “Sir, they are ready for the ceremony.”
“Good.” Instead of being irritated at being interrupted during the process, he put everything down and moved to the common area, where the ten n were already lined up.
The ten n had already seen Kyle working hard, so the action of him imdiately stopping just for them caused them to feel even more valued directly by the gang leader.
The ceremony was a simple oath to the gang while Kyle put on the armband for them individually. “You are all now official mbers of the Seven Snakes, under my protection. I will fight through hell and back to ensure your safety, and I only ask you to do the sa for the gang and .”
The ten n bowed with true respect. “Yes, sir!”
The loyalty will take a few days to truly instil and drive it deeper, but it’s a start.
Keith showed them to their bunks while Kyle continued trying to figure out the recipe.
The process proved to be difficult. There were a huge amount of potential combinations, and Kyle didn’t know when he would complete it. Too many variables were present in the recipe. He now understood why Damian said reverse-engineering alchemy was near impossible without a hint or a guiding book.
As he completed his 60th failed potion, a new title appeared for him
[SYSTEM SSAGE]
Title Obtained
[Potion Crafter (Interdiate)]
This title was supposed to be handed on successful potions, but the failures are pretty hard to watch.
10 INT, Increased description of potions examined, 10% chance to craft an interdiate potion when using basic materials
5% increased chance of discovering basic potion recipes per attempt, stacking
Resets on discovery
Suddenly, it was as though three pieces of information appeared in his head, informing him of what the recipe consisted of partially. It seems that for every twenty attempts I make, one of the variables of the recipe is revealed. Hence, with sixty crafted, I now have three variables revealed.
Kyle quickly drew a new combination table, narrowing it down to between two variables, making it simpler. With ti, he locked down yet another variable after 20 failed attempts. Kyle could already imagine Haui’s face if he knew exactly how Kyle was able to reverse engineer recipes so fast.
A few hours passed through dinnerti before he finally got the recipe down. “15% Greis, 15% Olio Roots, 35% Yul Tears, rest water. Boiled for five minutes.” Kyle nearly raged at the sheer amount of Yul Tears he had wasted, having finished the entire pot with only one Strength Potion to show for it. At least another product has been completed. Infusing it with Euria should be possible too.
He did not try to reverse engineer the health potion just yet. It was far too costly to waste the Yul Tears on it – if the percentage were even higher, he might go bankrupt now.
He sat back in his office, eating his late dinner while Keith reported the daily finances to him.
“Sir, you can’t keep burning through money like this. We don’t have a lot of cash reserves left. Assuming you want to make another set of Strength Potions, it’s going to wipe us out for the rest of the month unless we get so revenue in.” Keith was worried about the expenditure for reverse engineering the potions.
“It’s no problem. The expansion of the brothel will be completed in a few days. Then we will easily make it back. Who are the other rival gangs that are at odds with the Red Lion as well?”
“The Ilysian Punks or the Wretches are the main ones that co to mind, but they have been ignoring us for a long ti.”
“I want the smaller gangs in adjacent districts. Anyone at the sa size as us and lower. Deliver this sealed ssage to them.” Kyle packed a few parchnts into ssage tubes, handing them over to Keith.
“Ah, you want to ask for their help! I’ll send it right away.”
“No, Keith. We’re going to find so custors.”
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