Congratulations!

For dying in a suitably amusing manner at the right time and place, the Guild has decided that you're the best candidate to host the Warlord System, the latest Gaming System, handcrafted by our youngest Guild Member, Perry!

So, what exactly is the Warlord System? Well, in short, the Warlord System allows you to take on the role of the Warlord/General/Commander Archetype. By gaining Warlord Points or by completing quests, you can procure various Military Units such as fortifications, troops, heroes, and commanders with various skills and buffs and specialties from all across the Omniverse, through the Unit Shop!

Note: Summoned Entities require no upkeep and do not degrade over time. Summoned Soldiers require no food, sleep, or payment, but they do require rest from time to time.

Doesn't that sound fun?!

So, by now, I'm sure you're wondering how you're supposed to earn Warlord Points!

Well, in essence, you earn Warlord Points by achieving military victories using your troops! It can be with summoned troops or real ones! Alternatively, you could accomplish random and hidden quests thrown your way, which would either earn you a bunch of Warlord Points or earn you a random unit. Skills and perks can only be gained through finishing specific quest-lines. That said, you do have a bunch of starting perks and skills:

Warlord Skill/s Received!
- [Command View] – Gain a bird's eye view perspective of the battlefield. It also allows you to issue mental commands to your summoned units.

Warlord Perk/s Received!
- [Warlord's Body] – You will no longer age or fall prey to any natural disease.

Since you can't be a Warlord without warriors to lead, you've been granted a single Class 1 Regiment of [Yari Ashigaru (Spearmen)].

Once again, congratulations for being the lucky chosen! Make use of your newfound ability however you see fit. You're also extra lucky, since Perry made it clear that interference from other Guild Members is strictly forbidden; hence, you are free to do whatever you want, though you should expect a few non-negotiable quests every now and then.

Have fun!

My eyes snapped open. And I found myself staring at the open sky, gray and ashen clouds looming overhead, faint trails of smoke at the edges of my sight. The sun was up and about, but it wasn't quite up there just yet. It was morning then, I figured, probably close to noon. I breathed in. How long was I asleep? Where am I? How did I get here? And what in the bloody hell just happened? Was that all real or was I dreaming?

Knowledge filled my head and I knew, deep in my bones, that I now had... power. So, all of that... the dark voice that reverberated in my thoughts, telling me that I now possessed godlike abilities... it was all real.

I'd... test it later, somewhere no one could see or hear me – far from prying eyes. I knew a few places, deep in the woods, where my only audience would be rabbits and hares and deer.

And then came the scent of death and decay, and I was suddenly reminded of the fact that I should be dead. My memories returned and I cringed as soon as I saw the pale hand right beside me, a featureless ring upon one of its fingers. Ah, right, this one had been a lordling or some such, come to butcher my village, simply because we hadn't been able to gather enough sacks of grain and wheels of cheese to pay our taxes. A few of the boys and I decided that we weren't going to die without a fight. So, we ambushed the little lordling on his way back to the lord's castle. And then, I died.

Seeing the ring told me the other lads must've succeeded in killing the lordling... and likely died for it. The young little shit was accompanied by warriors of his house – not knights, but properly experienced, and armed and armored all the same; though heavily outnumbered, it made all the difference in combat. I had been the one to charge first, taking a war hammer to the head and falling unconscious soon after. There had been at least twenty of us, while the lordling only had about eight guards. We should've won easily, even only armed with clubs and pitchforks and quarter staffs as we were.

What happened instead was mutual destruction. A few of the boys might've escaped to return to the village, but I couldn't be sure.

I should be dead.

I reached up to touch the place on my skill where the war hammer had landed and found... nothing – not even the slightest wound to tell of the tale of my death. A dark and foreign god, calling itself... Perry, had chosen me to carry this power... I've been chosen, though at random, to be the champion of a god! My eyes widened as I realized what this meant. From what I understood, I would, in time, be able to summon entire armies and even castles. Such a thing would make me the most powerful man in all of Westeros, such that even the King, whoever the king happened to be at the moment, would bow at my feet.

But, that wouldn't be possible for a while. I wasn't going to waste this chance by... doing exactly what I'd done to attain it, which was charge in and die.

Grinning, I pushed myself up on my arse. Around me was death, the corpses of my friends and neighbors, cut apart half-buried in blood-soaked mud, alongside the corpses of the lordling's entourage. The lordling himself had been torn to bits, his stupid face half-crushed and mouth frozen in a perpetual scream, shattered teeth on his tongue. I stood up and wobbled for a moment, bits of crusted blood and mud slopping off my back and shoulders into the ground, and then, I pulled down my trousers and took a piss on the lordling's mouth. "How'd you like them taxes, you piece of shit?! Huh? Was this how it felt when you pissed on us from your castle?!"

"You would kill us over some cheese..." I whispered to the wind and spat down the lordling's mouth.

After that, I pried a nearby war hammer from some poor sod's cold fingers, probably the same one that killed me earlier, held it high, and drove it right into the lordling's head. Blood splattered all over me, but I didn't care. I raised the hammer high and brought down again and again and again and again, until the lordling's head vanished into a puddle of blood, torn flesh, and shattered bones. My hands shook and my grip slackened, the hammer falling from my grasp as I fell to my knees, gasping for air. "I hope you end up somewhere in the Seven Hells, you... parasite."

Breathing in, I forced myself up and briefly surveyed the remnants of the ambush. Everyone here was dead. And, as much as I wished to, I couldn't waste time giving my friends and neighbors the proper burials they deserved. This patch of the road wasn't too far away from the Lord's Castle and someone must've already seen this... slaughter and told the lord of it. No doubt, a small army was already on its way here. But... I didn't want to leave my friends out to rot in the cold, either, or to be devoured by wolves and carrion; they deserved more than that, at least, and so did my neighbors – for their bravery.

Still, I had to leave. Going back to the village was the first thing that came to mind, but... there was nothing waiting for me there. At ten and nine, both my parents were dead and I remained unwed, poaching the lord's woods to make a living. If I went back, what would I be going back to?

Absolutely nothing. The other villagers didn't even like me all that much, the ones still alive, at least. Though, to be fair to them, I didn't like them either. I... the lordling and his retinue surely had some coin in their pockets and their purses, right?

Just like that, I spent the next half hour or so digging through pockets, purses, and saddlebags. The lordling and his retinue did not bring much wealth with them, unfortunately, but that was to be expected; anyone to brought along bags of coin out on the road was just expecting to be robbed by highwaymen, lord or no. Still, I managed to find three dragons and about twenty stags – more coin than I've ever had in my entire life, thus far. I had a feeling my fortunes were about to change very soon.

I placed all the coins in a fancy leather purse that I'd taken off of the lordling's pocket. His guards carried no swords, but they did have spears, which were of greater quality than any spear I've ever seen. So, I took one, alongside a fancy-looking knife that was carried by one of the guards. I also took a nice pair of boots and gloves. I wanted to take some armor, but I had no interest in wearing anything that proudly displayed the lord's heraldry – some queer thing with flowers and swords and other things.

Once I had all that I could take, I turned and walked back several paces from the scene of carnage, the blood-soaked road. I couldn't bury all the bodies by myself and I certainly did not have the time to do so. However, was it possible for me to summon these... Yari Ashigaru to do so in my stead?

There was a small, open field right beside the road, and beyond it was the forest's treeline. It was spacious enough, I thought, to host a large group of warriors. And so, with that in mind, I turned my thoughts inward and called my power forth.

A list of sorts appeared in my mind's eye, like a page in a tome, which would gradually be filled in as I earned or bought more and more units. As it was, there was only a single unit listed there, which was the [Yari Ashigaru]. There were other things I could view in my thoughts, I noted, things like the [Unit Store] and the [Warlord Perks] and [Warlord Skills] lists, both of which had only a single entry. I couldn't open the [Unit Store] just yet, however, but that was probably because I currently had 0 Warlord Points.

Whatever the case, I turned my attention to the [Yari Ashigaru].

Unit Name: Yari Ashigaru
Type: Spear Infantry (No Shield)
Size: 100
Physical Grade: F
Offense Grade: F-
Defense Grade: E-
Weapon Grade: E
Armor Grade: F+
Special Skill/s: Yari Wall

I understood, immediately, that the [Yari Ashigaru] were essentially some of the weakest units I could field. But the strength of a hundred men was not to be underestimated. And these ones apparently wielded spears and wore armor, which meant they were far from weak in terms of practical usage. By the seven, even if these were little more than angry small folk, armed with cudgels and staves, and wearing no armor, I still wouldn't think of them as weak.

And so, with the barest exertion of my will, I summoned the [Yari Ashigaru] right on the open area. They appeared in a blink – no flourishes or fancy flashing powders as mummers often sued for their magic tricks – all one hundred of them, in a square formation of ten rows and ten columns. I walked a few steps towards them. They did not move, I noted. These men had strange faces, slanted eyes, pale skin, and jet-black hair. Some were bearded and others were not. All of them had the same height and shape. They each wore metal hats of some sort, that extended outwards like fancy circular dishes. And they wore armor of some sort, black and segmented. They carried smooth, long spears whose blades glimmered softly in the morning sun.

And they were all under my command.

"Half of you," I said, pointing at a suitably spacious patch of earth beside their formation. I wasn't sure how they'd go about this, since there were no shovels nearby, but I suppose they could use their spears or, at the very least, the farming implements my neighbors and friends brought with them. Did I have to tell them that or were our minds somehow connected? I didn't know, but that was one thing I had to figure out. "Start digging a hole large enough for twenty people, over there."

"The rest of you will gather the bodies," I said. Briefly, I wondered if I should offer proper burials to the others, before I ultimately decided against it. Those pigs did not deserve proper burials. Though, considering the lord was likely on his way here, they'd get it anyway. "But only the bodies of my friends and neighbors; leave the rest for the crows."

And then, they moved. Without further input from myself, fifty of the [Yari Ashigaru] began gathering the pitchforks, hoes, and staves from the dead, taking what they could, before proceeding to the patch of land I'd designated. There, they began digging. And that confirmed, at least, two things: they could either understand my thoughts somewhat or they possessed some degree of creativity with how they executed the tasks I gave them Those who found no suitable implement simply used their spears to break apart the earth, before using their hands to dig out the dirt. They did so without a word, without complaint.

The rest began gathering the bodies of the fallen. And, specifically according to my command, they gathered only the people who fought and died with me – not the lordling or his retinue of guards. This didn't take them long at all. My eyes widened when the other fifty, those I'd designated to gather the corpses, began helping the others dig. I hadn't given them that command, but it also made sense for them to do so, since it'd make progress much faster than if they just stood there afterwards. So, it seems that they did possess a minor form of agency and creativity, but only as was necessary to complete my command. That was... interesting to know. Still, I figured, such a thing could only benefit me.

It didn't take them very long to dig a deep-enough hole in the ground, the [Yari Ashigaru] now covered in mud and dirt as they marched back into the same square formation they'd appeared in. Nodding at them, I pointed at the corpses. "Place them inside the hole and cover them with dirt."

As they did before, the [Yari Ashigaru] followed my orders immediately and without question; they did not speak or make any sort of noise as they moved about. Their perfect synchronization meant the task was finished quickly and efficiently, leaving a small mound that marked the burial place of the dead. It stuck out, but I didn't think anyone would bother digging it up just to desecrate a bunch of dead small folk. Nodding to myself, I willed the [Yari Ashigaru] away and they all disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only the imprints of their boots on the soft earth.

My ears perked. I turned northward, against the wind. There were distant horses, making their way here.