Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

It didn't take long for Adam to discover his first monster, a Level 30 Common Spider. As expected, this was going to be easy. Every spider he saw would die with a single blow, boring Adam a little. However, he still took the trouble to search every nook and cranny of this dungeon.

As he was going through the dungeon though, he received an interesting message from King Slayer.

Apparently, a guild called Blue Cemetery was chasing after him. It took Adam a few seconds to recall the man he had called, a certain Tarkhu, who was apparently the guild leader of a Second Tier Guild.

They had been searching for him for more than a day now but because they couldn't find him they had challenged him publicly, advertising their challenge everywhere. Adam looked it up himself and couldn't help but find this man laughable. He had posted everywhere that Adam was a coward for not going against him and his guild.

Tarkhu had of course been insulted quite a lot for challenging a single man with his entire guild, but some others were actually supportive of him, as they wanted to see the demise of the 'Hero of Rosewatch'.

After some debates online, Tarkhu had decided to post the following challenge online. Adam could bring whoever he wanted, but he would have to face 1000 players from Blue Cemetery.

Adam felt like this man was the biggest idiot of all time, any sane person would just ignore him. But Adam felt like this was a good opportunity. He wanted to officially start the recruitment for his guild, and what was better than a big slaughter to show his guild's strength.

So he decided to answer to Tarkhu publicly too. He wrote a message that shocked everyone reading it.

'I will come. But not for you. I will come to show everyone that I am not to be challenged, but I am to be feared. Show me your best, I'll enjoy slaughtering them tomorrow.'

The whole world was shocked by how bold and arrogant he was. In their eyes, Adam was an idiot to even accept this challenge. But this message wasn't just directed at Tarkhu, but at everyone else. Shortly after Adam's message, many influential people scoffed at Adam, making fun of him. He couldn't care less though.

After sending that message, he remembered he had forgot to do something, and that was sending his second disciple an invitation to his guild, so he did as much.

And it looked like Johan was free since he accepted right away. Now, the guild had Adam, Judith, Eddy, Louisa, Vastrik, Vodmir, Baugh, Breyn and Johan in it, with Adam being an SSS Class, and the rest were still unknown for most so he asked in the guild chat 'Has everyone passed their Bronze Promotion?'

Adam was glad to see a unanimous answer of yes, followed by their grade. As expected, all of them were now SS Class. They had been quite fast at that, showing they were quite talented themselves, even without Adam's boost.

Since they all had advanced, he said 'I advanced too, I am a Sovereign. Now that we have all advanced, it's time to recruit some members. I have been challenged by a guild of otherworlders, we will use their slaughter as a show of strength. I can take care of the 1000 men they will send, but I want you to be here in case they hide additional forces nearby. Is everyone free?'

No one talked for a moment, they were quite shocked by what he just said. First, becoming a Sovereign was amazing, yet he talked about it like it was just a normal feat. Then, he talked of killing a thousand man strong army like he was stealing candy from a child?

Something important to know about Sovereigns is that they are so rare that no one really knows how strong they are, apart from those who personally witnesses their grandeur.

Still, they already knew Adam was a man of miracles, so they quickly sent back 'Yes.' But Eddy also added 'I know of adventurers who would be interested in joining a guild, what are the requirements for entering the guild?'

Adam had already thought of this, so he replied 'If they are Iron Rank, they must at least have a shot at becoming B Class. If they are Bronze Rank, then they must be B Classes. Anyone below that is too weak and has no potential.'

Those were harsh requirements, but every member in a guild costs money, be they players from Earth or adventurers in Epoch/

For the guilds in Epoch, one had to either go with the quantity or quality. For the quantity, only big companies are capable of starting out with quantity. However, for most guilds they can only start by recruiting strong experts, earning themselves more money to employ more guild members.

Of course, for any big guild, they needed to have both numbers and strength. On Earth, there were two kinds of guilds: Ranked Guilds, and the rest. The rest weren't really much to talk about, those were casual guilds.

For Ranked Guilds, they are split in Third Tier, Second Tier, First Tier and Super Guilds, going from weakest to strongest. To go from one rank to another, different requirements had to be met, one of which was the number of members.

Only a guild with 1000 active members could be classified as a Third Tier Guild. Then, every tier multiplied that amount by ten, meaning that a Super Guild would have at least 1 million active members.

That was only one of the requirements of course. One also needed to have a stable economy, a good overall strength, and feats and achievements to their name.

But no matter what rank he wants his guild to have, a solid foundation was required, and so he didn't want to accept anyone below B Rank. Anyway, B Rank wasn't that hard to achieve, most veterans gamers on Earths are around this rank.

As for the fight for tomorrow, he would need to prepare, and those additional recruits would be a good addition. His response to Blue Cemetery wasn't a rash decision, but rather a well thought one.

Him fighting against 1000 opponents wasn't that hard to imagine, most players were still Iron Rank, and probably 99% percent of Blue Cemetery would still be Iron Rank. As for the 1% remaining, that is only 10 Bronze Ranks.

As a Sovereign, Adam could dominate SS Ranks with ease and take several ones at a time, and S Ranks would need to form a team with really great teamwork to bring him down.

But Blue Cemetery was only a Second Tier Guild. Even if they brought their best tomorrow, which they probably won't, they would have at most 50 A Rank.

So that's why, Adam was perfectly confidant he could kill them all on his own, which would be th greatest publicity for his guild.

And because he didn't want to take any chance, if Tarkhu were to be more careful than he thought, or if someone were to pull some strings to see him killed, there could very well be the entire Blue Cemetery hiding nearby the fight, that would be 9000 additional men.

If once he finishes the first 1000 those come too, then Eddy and the rest would appear to help him kill them. As SS Ranks themselves, their stamina is incredible thanks to the second Gate, and fighting against groups is easy thanks to the first Gate.

That's why, Adam's response wasn't a fool's response like most people claimed, and Adam would make sure to prove them wrong tomorrow.

And even in case something did go wrong, Adam had one additional life saving measure, one which was easy to prepare and that he could prepare while going through this dungeon.

Of course, even after he destroys Blue Cemetery in this battle, his guild won't become a Second Tier Guild despite being stronger than one, but that will be to his advantage since joining a forming superpower was easier and brought more benefits than joining an already formed one.