Lin Xinghai’s large party headed toward the Mercenary Guild.

Here in the Middle Level District, craters and the scars of explosions were everywhere. However, to their surprise, the closer they got to the Mercenary Guild, the fewer traces of battle remained.

The streets nearest to the Guild, in particular, were like some sort of restricted zone. There wasn’t even a single sign of an explosion.

This surprised the group, but they soon figured out why.

They saw that many of the Mercenaries going in and out of the Mercenary Guild were injured.

Evidently, these Mercenaries had put up a fierce fight during the battle, clashing with the Morgan Conglomerate’s forces and successfully protecting the area around the Mercenary Guild.

"Looks like no one had it easy," Lin Xinghai remarked with a sigh.

Hearing this, the others all nodded with solemn expressions. Everyone was a hero; their contributions simply differed, but they were all equally worthy of respect.

Soon, the party entered the Mercenary Guild. They discovered it was much livelier than usual, with many people fervently discussing matters related to Merit.

Lin Xinghai looked up and saw that a new leaderboard had appeared on the large, floor-to-ceiling screen in the Mercenary Guild’s hall: the Merit Rankings.

It displayed Merit rankings for Mercenary Corps as a whole, as well as for individuals.

The Mercenary Corps with the most Merit was a Third Level Mercenary Corps named Demon Flame, which had acquired a total of 57,362 Merit Points.

The individual with the most Merit was also from the Demon Flame Mercenary Corps—its captain, Nanyan, who had acquired 18,532 Merit Points.

Many of the passing Mercenaries looked at the names on the Merit leaderboard with envy.

"He Jianbo, I see you’re running all over the place. What are you so busy with? Come over and tell me, how do you get this Merit? And what’s it used for?" Song Yao waved over the captain of a Second Level Mercenary Corps he was acquainted with and asked.

"Captain Song, you’re back! This Merit is awarded for killing armed personnel from the Morgan Conglomerate. Its function is basically the same as Points, except our Points can only be used to buy weapons here at places like the Mercenary Guild."

"But with Merit, you can go directly to the Military Department to purchase military-grade weapons. The Military Department released a procurement list, and I’m just shy of the Merit needed for a military radar. I’m trying to find someone to trade for some Merit right now."

"In private trades, the exchange rate between Points and Merit has already reached 5-to-1. If I wait any longer, it might even climb to 6-to-1."

As He Jianbo spoke, something suddenly occurred to him, and he couldn’t help but ask, "Captain Song Yao, your Holy Light Mercenary Corps was summoned by the Military Department. You must have been on an important mission! In that case, I wonder if you have any..."

He trailed off, hesitating, unsure if he should press the question. He wanted to trade for some Merit with Song Yao.

Logically, Mercenary Corps like Song Yao’s, which had been invited to carry out special missions, should have earned far more Merit than he did.

The problem was, none of those Mercenary Corps were on the Merit leaderboard. He had no idea if something had gone wrong during their mission, causing them to receive no rewards at all.

If he asked the wrong question and touched a raw nerve, offending one of the top Third Level Mercenary Corps would be no laughing matter.

However, before he could finish wrestling with his dilemma, he saw the Merit leaderboard suddenly change.

After all, the board’s content hadn’t changed once since the war ended.

What shocked him even more was that the scale of the update was unprecedented.

First, on the Mercenary Corps leaderboard, the Demon Flame Mercenary Corps—originally ranked first—slid all the way down to seventh place. In their place, the names of six Third Level Mercenary Corps appeared above them.

These were the Mercenary Corps that had been summoned for the special mission.

According to the display, the lowest of them had earned over 100,000 Points. The new first-place holder, the Cyan Eagle Mercenary Corps, had a staggering 300,000 Points.

The individual leaderboard was even more outrageous. All ten people originally on the list were completely knocked off, with Nanyan, the captain of the Demon Flame Mercenary Corps, being no exception.

Taking their places, of course, were members of these six new Mercenary Corps.

Now, ranking first on the individual Merit leaderboard was Zhong Cang, captain of the Cyan Eagle Mercenary Corps, with 41,827 Merit Points—more than double Nanyan’s previous score.

Such a drastic change, of course, drew gasps of shock from the crowd of Mercenaries.

Then, before their exclamations had even died down, the Merit leaderboard changed once more.

Three more Mercenary Corps suddenly appeared in the top three spots: the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps, the Holy Light Mercenary Corps, and the Soaring Dragon Merc.

As for the Demon Flame Mercenary Corps, which had originally held the top spot, they had plummeted from first to tenth place in just a dozen seconds.

Of course, the most astonishing thing about the three newest Mercenary Corps was what was displayed after their names. It wasn’t a score, but the words: "Third Level Merit Medal." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Heavens! Merit Medals! A Mercenary Corps actually managed to earn Merit Medals! Even soldiers can’t dream of getting one of those unless they perform some miraculous deed!" a Mercenary immediately cried out.

In the entire history of the Mercenary Guild, this was the first time such a thing had ever happened.

Moreover, besides the overall Mercenary Corps board, the individual Merit board updated right after. Taking the top spot was none other than Lin Xinghai, with a whopping 1,000,000 Merit Points.

WHOA!

Seeing the news on the leaderboard, the Mercenary Guild immediately erupted into a clamorous uproar.

Lin Xinghai’s Merit Points alone surpassed the combined total of the top ten Mercenary Corps from before the board was updated.

How could the Mercenaries who saw this not cry out in shock and disbelief?

Meanwhile, He Jianbo, who had just been agonizing over what to say, was now frozen in place, completely stunned. His gaze subconsciously shifted to Song Yao.

But it quickly shifted to Lin Xinghai, who stood beside Song Yao.

He hadn’t paid much attention to Lin Xinghai before, but seeing his name at the top of the individual Merit leaderboard, he was suddenly struck by the realization that this was the Gun God who had recently shot to fame.

However, before he could speak, he heard Lin Xinghai ask in confusion, "Wait, that’s not right. The reward the Military Department gave us was clearly Points, so why is it displayed as Merit here? Doesn’t that mean we can’t buy weapons from the Military Department?"

"Actually, for us, Points and Merit are the same thing," Song Yao explained. "Our Three Major Mercenary Corps have Merit Medals, which sets us apart from other Mercenary Corps. With these, we can use our Points to directly purchase military-grade weapons."

"So, you can think of the Points we have as Merit, and the kind that’s valid for life," Song Yao said, giving an answer that made He Jianbo practically drool with envy.