Ivan was a russian mercenary who had formerly worked for the speznas/ russian elite combat unit.

Half of his face had been burnt during war, additionally to his tall frame of 2,1 meters he looked quite frightening.

He and some fellow mercenaries had established a guild and took over a city, where they brought villagers forcefully afterwards.

They forced players to join them as well by threatening their lifes. They made sure no one leveled up to Level 5 while they continuously trained their own strength. This way they could make sure no one would rebel and attack them.

" They treat their people like slaves. The women get raped on a daily basis! His core group includes ten Level 5 players and Ivan who is already Level 7! They are too strong for us, we survived until now only because of the walls surrounding us." One of the women said.

The big man continued " This man is a real devil, from killing innocent people to raping children, this guy does everything. One of their farmers escaped when he worked outside the city. He luckily made his way into our city and told us about life and the cruel methods used in 'Blood Haven' , that's what they call their city."

The group of five players continued with other facts and Sam kept listening.

He thought about it and started to talk " Your situation is troubling, sooner or later Ivan and his men will find a way into your city. If you fight them face to face the five of you will surely die! They will force your people under their banner and overtake this city.

They will surely knock at our door in the future, causing trouble for us too.

I think we only have one choice and that is to fight together! You can't fight them alone, our people can't fight them alone as well.

We should stand a chance if we combine our forces, what do you guys think?"

The other players looked at each other and started to discuss.

The leader spoke afterwards " I will give you two options because I believe in what you said. You can either leave right now and we will all go our separate ways, or you stay here for one day, while a scout of us takes a look at your city to prove what you said right. If the scout verifies your story you are free to go and we can talk about an alliance! But if we can't find the city you are talking we will assume you are spies and you will be killed!"

Sam and Kain looked at each other before Sam nodded and went inside the city together with the others. He gave the scout simple directions to Blackstone city before following the five people together with Kain.

The big guy, who introduced himself as Bobo offered to show them the city, which they thankfully accepted.

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Bobo said " If you guys lied to me you will die anyways, but if what you said is the truth I don't have to show you around anymore."

Bobo told them about the past of his group and how they conquered the city. They lead the city together dividing the work and helping out wherever they could.

Bobo and his friends were all older than 30, they wanted to live peaceful after the last weeks that had ruined their ordinary life's. They weren't training to get stronger, instead they focused on the economy of their new city, to ensure their future survival.

The three men had leveled to Level 5 only because they met three boss monsters until they conquered the city. One woman was Level 4 the other Level 3. They had two Level 5 NPC's, one of them the scout from earlier who had received the 'Night Vision' skill.

All in all they thought the walls would protect them from danger, that's why they concentrated more on economy and less on their military strength.

Sam listened to everything Bobo said while thinking ' They were to naive, thinking that they wouldn't run in some enemy who could threaten them. We concentrated on multiple things after we had conquered the city, the most important our military strength.'

After they were done sight seeing Bobo took Sam and Kain to a small stone building. It had no windows and only one door, which was quarded by four guards, who made sure the two of them didn't flee.

Two beds had been arranged and placed inside the house. Sam and Kain ate a previously prepared meal and slept thereafter.

They got woken up early the next morning and were brought into a large building. Sam had noticed the day before that this city didn't have a keep, just a big meeting hall in the city center.

Around ten people waited inside, the five players, the scout and four other people. They looked at Sam and Kain when they entered.

Bobo stood up with a big smile " I knew you guys were telling the truth! Our scout found your Blackstone City after following your directions. Our council discussed and decided to send someone with you, so he can witness what's going on inside the walls and if you people are trustworthy!"

Sam had expected this and said " No problem with that, who wants to come with us?"

"Hahahahaha, who else than me,Bobo! I was the first to trust you, I want to meet your leaders and see what the situation is in your city."

Sam smiled and left together with Kain and Bobo after some more discussions.

When they left the city Sam said " Guys let's take a little detour, I want to explore a bit more of the surroundings. It's still early, I think we have plenty of time!"

The other two nodded and so they took a different route back to Blackstone city.

The first enemies they met were a group of zombies. It were 30 of them walking over the plains. Their group of three ran into different directions dividing the zombie group. They hit and ran all over the plains, killing the zombies. At some point Sam saved Bobos life. Sam had stabbed a zombie, trying to attack Bobo from behind with a shield throw. Bobo thanked him and continued to hack the enemies into pieces with his greatsword.

After they killed another group of goblins Sam reached Level 7.

Bobo was quite experienced in fights but after seeing Sam he said " I have to say your fighting style is really unique! Fighting with two shields, one for defense and one for offense looks interesting. Also that shield throw earlier looked like you practice it a lot. But I don't really understand why you use no weapons like swords or the like even though you are a knight class.

Sam smiled but didn't answer. They entered a big forest next. It was silent, no bird or insect noises, only silence.

They continued for 30 minutes until they could hear the first sounds inside the forest since entering. A loud cracking noise could be heard. It didn't sound like a branch but more like a tree breaking.

Similar sounds echoed through the forest coming closer to Sam's group. Sam signaled his comrades to crouch behind a tree while he looked ahead, waiting for the thing breaking the trees to come into sight.