When leaving the 90th barracks, Sue finally understood the meaning of the Dark Dragoon's servant.

As the Bloody Council's primary external force agency, the Dark Dragoon's combat power is actually the sum of its individual and servants. If you have a large number of servants and the class mix of slaves is reasonable, the combat power of the Dark Dragoon himself is not so important. Of course, everything is relative, and if the dragoon's personal strength exceeds a certain limit, such as reaching the rank of a senior colonel or even a general, then the number of low-ranking servants becomes irrelevant.

In fact, each Dark Dragoon is an independent force, and their loose subordination to each other ensures maximum freedom of movement, mainly to ensure minimal restraint in building up armies and plundering resources. The Dark Dragoon's income is mainly for looting and completing missions for the Council and Headquarters, and most of these tasks are also related to looting and expulsion.

The loose structure also makes it possible for families who are not closely connected, or even hostile to each other, to join the dragoons and fight under the same banner. Civil wars are strictly forbidden, but in the fringe areas where survival is particularly harsh and competition for resources is fiercest, all systems and models can be adapted. If one dragoon is annihilated by another during a battle in the border area, it is likely that headquarters will remain silent about it, if this behavior is seen as a useful form of internal self-elimination and self-renewal.

Beneath the seemingly loose structure of the Dark Dragoon, there is actually an unparalleled aggression hidden. Dragoons led their own tribes from front to front, expanding the territory of the Bloody Council from all directions. Some of them are constantly falling, some are weakened, but others are becoming stronger because of the war. They use the resources they plunder or occupy to exchange more and more advanced weapons and equipment for the headquarters, get more access to core technologies, and hire or plunder more subordinates, and then lead more powerful armies to the unknown distance.

Further, the Dragoons will establish their own territory, and set up private hospitals, research institutes, and arsenals, so that they do not have to exchange low-level technology with the headquarters, and while saving a lot of resources, they can also develop their own exclusive equipment and even various abilities, so as to gain more say in the system.

Most of the time, the facilities and institutions owned by the dragoons are closely related to the family, and most of these institutions are set up by the family, and then transferred to the dragoon's private name, and all the output and technical achievements are shared between the dragoon and the family.

Of course, Su was thousands of miles away from establishing his own facility, and he could not even afford a complete set of private combat equipment now, except for the rifle given by the captain, and the cash on him was at most enough to buy a pistol and corresponding ammunition. Although he had an off-road vehicle that Persephone had delivered, he had no money to buy fuel, let alone hire a driver. Su really didn't have the talent to drive, and he was even thinking about whether he would simply inject a psionic domain driving specialization potion to skip this painful adaptation process.

On the way to the Dark Dragoon headquarters, a thought kept circling in Sue's mind, where was his origin?

A Dragoon's Servant is only considered a true Servant if he is registered at the Headquarters. The Servant must be absolutely loyal to the Dragoon, and be ready to sacrifice for the Dragoon at any time. In return, the cost of the servant's family, equipment, life, and personal ability advancement was borne by the dragoon. However, the servants had no personal freedom, and had to serve the dragoons until they retired or were transferred to another dragoon. In fact, if you deduct the rich and unusual rewards, the status of the so-called servants is similar to that of slaves.

As an important part of the dragoon's combat prowess, and the core of the dragoon system, the betrayal of the servant is absolutely forbidden. In the event of a betrayal, the Dragoon Headquarters may intervene to deal with the betrayer.

And another, more specialized institution for dealing with betrayers is the Inquisition.

There are many sources of servants, the most common being poor children from the side branches of the family, followed by those who need a stable source of livelihood, after all, it is much luckier to become a servant than to be a mercenary. Moreover, the enemies of the mercenaries are often dragoons with a large number of followers. In the end, slaves, plunderers, and even bankrupts can become subordinates.

In the old days, this almost slave-like system of subordination would have been seen as extremely cruel, bloody, and even dehumanizing. But based on Sue's experience in the wilderness, the people who can become servants are undoubtedly living in heaven. They had enough food, clean water and even a bath. As for the danger of dying in battle, it is not really a very important issue, and few people in the wilderness can be sure that they will survive tomorrow. To be able to become the servant of the Dark Dragoon means to leave the wilderness and enter the true civilized world.

Of course, due to the high price paid by raising a servant, no Dark Dragoon would take it lightly and submit it to the headquarters registered servant. The criteria for the selection of servants by the dragoons are mainly potential and skill, of course, in order to maintain the relationship with some special and beautiful women or men, there are occasionally dark dragoons who choose ordinary people as subordinates. Potential needs to be cultivated, especially those who have the potential to develop to high-level abilities, which will consume a lot of resources for Dragoon. Generally speaking, dragoons with strong resources will prefer servants with high potential, while poorer dragoons pay more attention to the reasonable combination of existing skills and professions.

Sue is an exception, probably the poorest ever to ride a new dragoon, and it looks like the record won't be broken for a long time.

The Dark Dragoon Headquarters had already appeared in sight, and Su was still thinking about the source of his subordinates, and it seemed that he had gained nothing for the time being. Besides, no matter what kind of subordinates, he can't afford to pay the registration fee of 10,000 people alone.

Whatever! Let's start with one or two small tasks and get together the equipment funds. Sue's personality is actually very sunny, he is used to keeping things that he has not been able to solve in his heart, and only focusing on what can be done in front of him. And the first thing to do right now is to familiarize yourself with the mission system of the Dark Dragoon and earn some start-up capital first.

The Dragoon's mission hall is set up in a separate building next to the headquarters, with thirty separate rooms, each with a mission distribution and acceptance system. The privacy of the rooms is guaranteed, and the number of these rooms is sufficient for the Dark Dragoon, whose members are not more than a thousand people. In fact, only the Dark Dragoons of the soldier level will use this place, and all Dragoons above the rank of lieutenant have their own private system, which can directly connect to the network of the headquarters, where they can accept or issue missions. Of course, a private system that costs more than 100,000 is very expensive for the second lieutenant rank, but under normal circumstances it is by no means unaffordable.

When Sue arrived at the mission hall, it was just getting dark. It wasn't until lunchtime that he came out of it. Dragoon's central network is like a vast sea, and there is so much knowledge in it. In the face of this ocean of knowledge, Sue is like a pilgrim believer, looking up to this miracle of civilization with a heart of devotion and awe.

There are not many things that the ensign's authority can see, but for Su, who has never been exposed to the high-end technology and civilization of the real new era, it is already too much. The first thing he understood was what the current state of the world really was.

On the map, the area controlled by the Dark Dragoon Core is just over 200 kilometers around Dragon City, and this area has been effectively developed and rebuilt, and some of the old human beings have been restored. Further afield is the so-called Grey Zone, an area where dark dragoons are active and supply points have been set up. Outside of the Grey Domain, there is the Red Domain, which represents an area where there is fierce resistance, or where there are very dangerous mutated creatures, or where dragoons have died for some undisclosed reason. Outside of red, there is the black ** domain, which only knows the topography and landform, and there is no other information, and it is still an unknown area.

The dragoon's area is not circular, but expands irregularly outward, with some places reaching more than 500 kilometers deep into the continent, while in other directions, almost out of the core of the area, is a black unknown zone. This is also understandable, for less than a thousand dragoons, it is really difficult to control a vast area of more than hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. Moreover, the pace of expansion is constrained by the amount of resources, the supply of fuel, energy, food and water is very limited, and the farther it is transported, the more expensive it becomes.

As for the various families, the main industries were almost always concentrated in the core control area, and in the wilderness they appeared more as agents and companies. After all, safety is the primary consideration for important plants and research facilities. Not only is the core control area safeguarded, but it is also much easier to trade and obtain all kinds of resources.

To Su's surprise, the area where 958 was located, including the large grasslands in the south, was actually a black unknown area. From a distance, it's not too far from Dragon City. Saratoga is marked, but still in the Black ** domain. There is a small note below that this is to hunt down Sue, and Lieutenant Luthor has led dragoons to survey the area, but no supply points have been established there.

To the north of 958, there should be a large number of small towns and cities scattered from the topography, but it is a vast darkness, and for some reason, the Dark Dragoon has never explored in that direction. In the last decade, the focus of Dragoon has been to move southeast along the coastline, without considering the northwest direction at all.

Su, who had traveled through the grasslands, knew that there were many native mutant creatures there, many of which were not recorded in the dragon riding number jù library. These biological samples can fetch a good price, with initial prices ranging from 3,000 to tens of thousands, with additional prices depending on the value of the study. Hardly any dragoon would fancy this small amount of money, but for Sue, it was a huge amount of money.

In a sense, Su is actually richer than many dragoons now, at least there are still 27 evolution points in his body, and the basic element of his body has increased by about thirty percent. If measured solely by the strength indicator, Sue originally bench press was 150 kilograms without using any strength bonuses, and now it is at least 220 kilograms.

Su decides to go to 958 once and collect some samples of mutated creatures along the way. 958, a base that goes deep into the black ** domain, can be described as infinitely valuable. Last time, Su only had a cursory understanding of some of the operating principles and basic functions of the base, and this time he planned to carefully study the use of the base, the functions it could play, and the resources needed to maintain the minimum operation.

Sue decided to leave tonight. Through the basic course, he now knows that there is something called interest, and that no matter what level of interest it is, if you multiply it by the huge base of his debt, it will be a breathless number, so time means money.

The only regret is that before leaving Dragon City, she can't meet Persephone, the creditor who is difficult for Sue to evaluate.

Just as Sue was about to leave, a message flashed on the screen: Please come to my office in ten minutes. The signature is Persephone.

Sue's heart gradually overflowed with joy, like a thin foam on the calm sea. He took out the Dragoon badge with a built-in identification chip, and with a touch of it on the screen, he closed his account. He then sat quietly for a moment before leaving the mission center and walking towards the headquarters building.

At this time, Persephone was not in her office, but was sitting on the seventh floor. In front of General Morgan's desk, his posture is dignified and elegant, just right. She gently shook the coffee cup in her hand, causing the satin-shimmering liquid to swirl softly, shallowly, like dimples on her cheeks.

The old man behind the desk put down the coffee cup in his hand, sighed with satisfaction, and completely relaxed his body leaning on the back of the chair. He looked at Persephone, with a gentle smile on her eagle-like face, and said, "If you want to apologize for the hacking of my account a few days ago, it seems that the sincerity is not enough. ”

Persephone raised her face, smiled a little wickedly, and then put on a surprised expression, and deliberately said in a shrill and bright voice like that of a little girl: "Ah! Has your account been compromised? That's a big deal! That guy's technology looks so good that I didn't even notice anyone hacked into our system! ”

General Morgan was stunned at first, then shrugged his shoulders helplessly, and smiled wryly. It wasn't that he hadn't expected Persephone to pretend she didn't know anything, and in fact, she would. The problem is that she still has such an obvious evil smile when she pretends to be innocent, and she is obviously the most undedicated actor. The old man knows very well that Persephone's acting skills are definitely masterful.

This only shows that Persephone has no respect for him at all.

The old man only felt a little headache, and in front of Persephone, who clearly wanted to play a scoundrel, all his follow-up blackmail plans could not be implemented. The old man actually enjoys his current life very much, he doesn't need to use his brain at all, he just needs to enjoy coffee and the occasional sunshine with peace of mind, and find some after-entertainment programs. Recently, there have been more and more things that the old man thinks are worth paying attention to, and he is happily feeling that life is full of fun. However, it is not good to live too freely, that is, the old man has not prepared any backup plans, so he does not know how to deal with Persephone for a while, although she is notoriously difficult.

The old man didn't want to admit defeat yet, he squinted a pair of eagle eyes slightly, and looked at Persephone who was sitting across from her, looking for her flaws.

Persephone sat steadily, staring at the old man without letting go, and even smiled, blending with the dignified and elegant demeanor, and in an instant, the old man's female assistant had already been compared to the radiation clouds.

In the old man's opinion, Persephone was in a state of extreme fatigue and a very bleak life reaction, indicating that her secret injuries were still deteriorating. And the old man is very aware of her current financial situation, and also knows that her private hospital is on the verge of closure due to lack of funds. But she was more beautiful than ever, full of energy, and her face was covered with a faint glow. Every time Persephone smiles, it is a joy from the heart.

The old man made himself sit more comfortably, smiled and said, "You have become more beautiful lately, and it is a miracle of the Creator." ”

Persephone smiled charmingly again, and then replied very cheekily, "When have I not been beautiful?" ”

Suddenly a ray of sunlight shone in from the window, falling on Persephone's body, gilding the ends of her pale gray hair with layers of dazzling gold. A reflection flashed on her right hand, and the old man noticed that the right hand, which was holding the coffee cup steadily, was wearing a very familiar ring.

"You look like you have an extra ring." The old man said with a smile.

Persephone immediately placed the coffee cup on the tray in her left hand, and the five fingers of her right hand bloomed, and she posed several times in front of the old man in succession, not so much to show off the old man from all angles of the ring, but to show off her flawless right hand.

"This is the best gift I've ever received!" Persephone's demeanor was like a little girl showing off a rag doll, "How's that, yes, yes!" ”

Persephone's instantaneous change in expression and demeanor could give a headache to anyone sitting in front of her, looking at her seriously and seriously, and the old man was no exception.

"Okay, that's good." The old man was very helpless to respond. If she didn't get a satisfactory answer, it was hard to guarantee that the next moment, the beautiful five fingers would not come to the tip of his nose.

Satisfied, Persephone stood up, smiled and said, "I have one more person to see, and the time is almost up." ”

"Persephone!" Before she left the office, the old man stopped her and said seriously, "This gift is really good." ”

Persephone smiled brightly, bowed gracefully to the old man, and walked away.

After she left, the old man's chair turned in a different direction and looked out the window. From the thick radiant clouds, fine rays of sunlight shine through, casting large patches of gold on the sea and ruins, looking warm. Although there is already a biting chill in the wind blowing outside the window, reminding people that winter is coming, it is still a warm autumn.