The swarm of players got bigger as time went on, the previous 15000 easily reached 20000 after more players joined in. Both the players and NPCs discussed the charisma and strength of the Commander in Chief, especially after the display of might he showed in his speech.

After enough players gathered, the army marched forwards towards the goblin village. The town and village were separated by a dense forest, 45 kilometers wide. With the speed of the average soldier, it would take around 3 hours to cross that distance. Considering that there will be many fights along the way, this 3 hour time frame can easily be stretched to a whole day.

The showdown was at the slight advantage of the goblins, as they were the masters of the forest the war was taking place in. The green creatures may seem dumb at first glance, but after centuries of evolution and adaptation, they have perfected their guerilla warfare. With their bows and magic, they held a massive range advantage in an environment only known to them. They developed many tactics using their natural green skin for camouflage in the forest, and booby traps. All in all, they were a frightening enemy to go against.

However, while they have developed many tactics that could help them in combat against stronger species, they still lacked many other necessary skills to win a war. One of the crucial missing pieces is their lack of good reconnaissance teams. With their attributes that focused on either Strength and Vitality or Wisdom and Intelligence, they lacked individuals with the necessary speed and dexterity to perform spying missions.

The world of Ashes of Gods, while many times bigger than Earth, had the same season cycle as it. So now that it was summer on the Northern Hemisphere on Earth, it was the same for Pliyx Stal and the many kingdoms and empires of the northern hemisphere on Ashes of Gods. This ensured that players did not feel at a loss when switching between worlds.

The tens of thousands soldiers and players marched forward on this sunny day. The temperature reaching 38-degree Celsius didn’t help with their traveling endeavor as everyone became sweaty. Coupled with the high humidity in the forest, the soldiers and the less resilient players quickly showed a sign of tiredness.

Barely 2 hours in, the Commander issued for the army to stop and rest.

Most of the soldiers immediately fell on the ground while letting out a breath they didn’t know they held. Looking at the scene in front of him, Shesmu couldn’t help but cringe a little.

The training these soldiers underwent didn’t contain stamina components at all. Town soldiers weren’t supposed to invade other territories. The situations they had to deal with consisted mostly of small skirmishes with monsters or bandits or defending the town from attacks. Both of these actions didn’t require high stamina, but good coordination and a minimum mastery of their weapon.

Shesmu knew this, but most importantly, the Commander did too. This sparked some suspicion on why did the latter make the decision to invade the goblins when such an action will undoubtedly result in many casualties.

Once this thought surfaced on Shesmu’s mind, he sat down and started thinking of all the possible reasons for this action and what kind of future would each possibility result in.

After around 20 minutes of brainstorming, Shesmu felt that he had a sufficient understanding of the situation. Now, only the future actions and decisions of the Commander will tell him which of the possibilities in his mind is the real one, so he can only wait.

At this point, the soldiers were doing much better and were no longer panting like dogs. However, even though they had an unsightly and weak appearance, Shesmu didn’t feel any disdain towards them. Even though he himself had all of his attributes reach the 100s and above, the normal players and soldiers only had around 10 to 20, even while considering the stat boost from their equipment. The army has been running at close to their max speed for a long period of time, none of them had any breathing technique training so it was obvious that they would end up in such a miserable state.

However, there were some people who didn’t need to recuperate and had a calm expression throughout the whole ordeal. These people either had high vitality attribute or were proficient and disciplined enough to keep a certain pace and a breathing technique without breaking it. Seth was one of these few people, but this didn’t come as a surprise to anyone as the latter experienced such hardships countless times on his gaming career. Other than Seth, Shesmu kept track of the close to hundred players that passed this test. He will keep an eye on them and see how they would fare in a fight. If someone shows great potential, he will personally recruit him to Black Moon.

Seeing that everyone regained their vigor, the Commander shouted.

“Soldiers, on your feet!”

Hearing his command, the several tens of thousands of players and soldiers rose up, took a salutation position and said in unison.

“Sir, yes sir!”

“As planned before, each team of 10 is lead by a team leader. 10 teams make a platoon. We will invade 5 platoons at a time. Blend with the forest, keep discreteness, and kill those maggots. For Pliyx Stal!”

“For Pliyx Stal!”

The whole cheered after the short speech from the Commander. Almost immediately, the army split itself into teams of 10. It seems that they were already informed about this composition and that the teams were arranged beforehand.

Looking at the soldiers that almost immediately responded to the call, the players were at a loss at what to do. They didn’t prepare for this scenario before, so they were left dumbstruck when the Commander just told them to form teams.

Seeing this, Shesmu gestured at the Commander with his hand signaling him the problem at hand. With his identity as a high noble descent, Shesmu had enough of a leverage to keep the Commander from doing something stupid in public.

Noticing Shesmu’s signal, the Commander coughed and said.

“Friends of the golden generation. You who answered the call of duty and with honor joined this campaign are truly the most righteous. Your sword, your wands, and your spear are the thunderous lightning smiting all evil! I have personally witnessed your prowess.” After hyping up the crowd with his speech, he looked at Shesmu.

Understanding the signal, Shesmu came forth.

“This man, Shesmu, of the noblest descent- golden eyes from the golden generation- truly didn't disappoint his ancestor. His power is something that I can personally confirm. While the rest of his brethren was fighting the beasts of the forest, he was facing the treacherous goblins alone. Truly, a hero between men.” As the Commander breathed out after his long-winded speech, all players were shocked.

Most of the players that accepted the event quest were newbies that didn’t know much about the gaming world. The only reason they’re here is that Ashes of Gods truly made a sensation through the whole earth. In actuality, even the more senior between them that did know of the name “God Speed Shesmu” still couldn’t believe that he was capable of such a feat. Only a few minorities that played the beta heard this name and sucked a deep breath. They were the only one to wholeheartedly believe that Shesmu was able to do such a thing, as he already proved himself to be able of more miraculous stuff in the beta.

Whispers were heard throughout the mob of players as they shot cold glances at Shesmu.

“There is no way this could be true, right? He had to have bribed the Commander so that he tell this bullshit story.”

“How could he bribe the Commander? How much money do you think the Commander receives as a salary? At least 10 golds a month. If you want to bribe him, you need to give him at least 10 times that. Who has that amount of money? I’m pretty sure that even if you gather gold from everyone in the kingdom, you would barely reach that amount. As I see it, it’s not the Commander that is lying, but that guy that is cheating. Probably some aim assist and scripts for dodging. Really, it’s been just a day and this type of scum is already rotting the game.”

As players started to throw accusations left and right, it became pretty clear that Shesmu took his spot as public enemy #1. Without reporting, asking for gm verification or even talking to the guy, Shesmu was already deemed as a cheater on most people’s mind.

However, those who knew the truth quickly spoke up.

“If you don’t know anything, don’t blabber too much. Your mouths stink! This man has dominated PvP and PvE since the beta. While everyone was struggling against level 40 monsters, he was already swaggering in level 60 zones. Reports to check for his legitimacy had already been issued thousands of times in the beta. Result: he is 100% legit. He ended up as the highest leveled player while being miles ahead of the curve. Please, don’t defame a legend with your mouth when the only thing that should spout shit is your ass.”