Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king - Chapter 275: Reporting

From quiet grind to legacy brew.Jun had nothing—no café, no followers, not even a bed. Just a secondhand kettle and a broken dream.Then came the Barista System.No shortcuts. No instant success. Just slow, intentional tasks... and a promise:Brew. Grow. Endure.Every pour sharpens his skill. Every cup deepens his path.From street corners to pop-ups, from whispered praise to a space of his own—Jun’s grind is just beginning.This is a story of stillness, patience, and the quiet pursuit of mastery.Because greatness isn’t given.It’s brewed—one cup at a time.

The light is here because the darkness exists. Just like that, the human realm exists because the demon realm is here. And in the great palace of the Blade Empire, a crown touches the peak of its glory before it falls from its grace. Lush Von Blade was the royal crown prince of one of the greatest empires on the southern continent. He is loyal but betrayed.On the other hand, where even the Gods fear to set a foot on, a demon lord abides. His grace and cruelty have been unseen for centuries. He is the supremacy in the three realms. While Lush is the light, he is the darkness. Each exists because the other is here.

All humans transmigrated to a parallel world, where every one of them was a king with the territory.

They participated in a game called The Ranking of Kings and fought to become the best nation.

The rankings were determined based on various aspects such as military, technology, commerce, culture, and religion.

In the game, the kings would awaken different attributes of the land.

Someone exclaimed, “My Renewable Resources attribute allows me to enhance raw materials such as timber and minerals. I want to build the strongest empire of commerce!”

Another king challenged, “My King of the Undead attribute allows me to summon dead souls to fight for me. Who dares to stand in the way of my troops of one million undead?”

The third king declared, “My Integrated Production attribute will ensure that technology is being implemented efficiently. You foolish barbarians, watch as my nation advances a few centuries ahead of yours.”

The fourth king said, “My Miracle Summon attribute can increase the efficiency of evangelism by 1000%. I look forward to the day when my nation becomes the top religion in the world.”

…

Li Xiang revealed a pondering look as he looked at his attributes shown on the virtual data panel.

[Attribute 1: Devils’ Den (SSS rank, unique)]

[You acquired the original birthplace of the Dragon Clan. All the legendary dragons are now under your command.]

[Attribute 2: Devouring Lands (currently A rank, evolvable)]

[When you annex the territory of other kings, you seize their attributes as well. Furthermore, you can level up these attributes to even higher ranks.]

Jobs, hobbies, lifestyles—the world has advanced to a point where nothing can be separated from VR anymore. And now, a VR game was released using the most cutting-edge technologies; its name was “Boot Hour, Shoot Curse.” Our protagonist had no choice but to play solo during the closed beta test, but once the game officially launched, she made lots of friends (but not necessarily with the players), formed a huge clan (but not a clan of players), and matured as an individual.