Lin Xinghai almost thought he had misheard. 500,000... and not Points, but Merit Points.

’What does that even mean?’

Merit Points were worth at least three times as much as regular Points. By that logic, modifying one mecha would cost 1.5 million Points.

That was enough to buy seven and a half prototype mechas.

Of course, their Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps had a Merit Medal, which allowed them to pay with Points instead of Merit Points.

But that would still cost 500,000 Points! That was enough to buy two and a half prototype mechas.

And the effect was merely a one-third performance boost for the Speed Mecha over its original stats. No matter how he sliced it, the deal looked like a massive loss.

Although the enhanced overload resistance would be quite useful for him, it clearly wasn’t worth the price.

"I have at most one month left with the Mercenary Corps. After that, even if I leave the mecha behind, no one else will be able to unleash its true potential. Is it really worth such an exorbitant price for just one month of use?" Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but ask.

Yes, that was the biggest problem.

Otherwise, if he were going to use the mecha long-term, he wouldn’t care much about 500,000-some Points. He could even pay for it out of his own pocket. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Of course it’s worth it. Putting everything else aside, just look at today. If you hadn’t stepped in and killed those four Mutated Zombies, how could our First Division possibly have achieved such a brilliant victory?"

"But what if five or more Mutated Zombies had shown up instead of four? If your mecha had been damaged in the fight, we would have been in big trouble," Fang Tianhe said seriously.

Lin Xinghai nodded. He understood that, of course, but the price was so high he felt a little bad about it. However, since Fang Tianhe was the one to bring it up, he wouldn’t refuse anymore.

"500,000 Points... Our earnings from this mission won’t be enough, right? I can cover the shortfall myself," Lin Xinghai said after a moment’s thought.

"Actually, as long as you forgo your 50% cut of the earnings this time, we’ll have enough. We’ll even have some to spare!" Fang Tianhe said with a smile.

"Hm?" Lin Xinghai was surprised and a little confused.

"This time, President Jin Canlan fought for our interests. Our mission rewards will be paid entirely in Merit Points—about 120,000 of them. But we don’t really need Merit Points, so we can exchange them all. That will get us 360,000 Points."

"On top of that, selling the Elemental Crystals we collected should bring in another 180,000 Points. All together, our earnings from this mission will be around 540,000 Points."

"And don’t forget, we also get a 10% cut of the earnings from the other Mercenary Corps that our members guided."

"This time, the average earnings for each of those corps were around 40,000 Points. Besides us and the Mountain and Sea Mercenary Corps, there are 18 other corps in the First Division. Their combined earnings total 720,000 Points, and our 10% cut comes to 72,000."

"So, our total income is 612,000 Points. After we finish modifying your mecha, we’ll still have enough left over to purchase some more weapons and equipment," Fang Tianhe said.

Lin Xinghai was stunned. He hadn’t bothered to calculate the numbers himself. Hearing the figures from Fang Tianhe, even he was staggered.

Over 600,000 Points in earnings from a single mission.

If the Mercenary Guild had a leaderboard for mission earnings, this would be an unbeatable record.

"Alright, in that case, let’s do the upgrade," Lin Xinghai nodded. After a moment, he asked, "By the way, have you drawn up the post-modification performance specs?"

"We have. These are the estimated specs for the modified mecha. The final numbers might vary slightly, but not by much," Fang Tianhe said, handing a data sheet to Lin Xinghai.

Lin Xinghai didn’t linger on the detailed parameters for the various components and systems. He quickly flipped to the overall assessment page.

Physique: 1100

Power: 1100

Speed: 1300

After reviewing the three estimated core stats, Lin Xinghai nodded in satisfaction.

A standard military Type-I combat mecha only had base stats of 800.

Even with modifications, a single stat could only be pushed to 1000 at most.

But now, modified with military-grade components, all its stats exceeded 1000. The Speed stat, in particular, reached 1300, which was extremely useful for Lin Xinghai.

With these specs, if he used his Superpower to get the additional 300% speed boost, the mecha’s top Speed could reach a terrifying 5200.

His previous top Speed of 4000 had already made him practically unbeatable. Now, it had been boosted by a solid 1200, which would allow him to face Mutated Zombies with even greater ease and confidence.

If his mecha had been this fast before, he wouldn’t have had such a hard time fighting "Giant Arm." He would only need to feint twice during an attack before it would be unable to keep up and expose an opening.

And at such high speeds, the threat from those Blood-colored Beetles would also be greatly reduced.

"Good. Let’s go with this plan," Lin Xinghai nodded, satisfied.

...

Time passed quickly. Hour by hour, the other Mercenary Corps from the first deployment wave began to trickle back in.

And as people started asking around, news of these divisions’ earnings quickly spread.

For the First Level Mercenary Corps, a net income of three to four thousand Points was considered pretty good.

The Second Level Mercenary Corps averaged around 8,000 Points.

As for the Third Level Mercenary Corps, they topped out at around 15,000 Points.

Such earnings were quite good compared to a typical mission, but they paled in comparison to the corps in the First Division.

Moreover, aside from their earnings, their casualty rates were also extremely high, with at least 50 casualties each. One division’s casualties even surpassed 100, a loss rate of 10%.

And that was from a single mission. If they kept taking casualties at this rate, their entire teams could be wiped out by the time the Guanghan City cleanup operation was over.

Normally, this would have been a huge blow to morale. But surprisingly, perhaps because of the shining example set by the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps, the plight of these other corps didn’t cause much of a stir back at base camp.

Even the returning Mercenary Corps, after being left dumbfounded by the news about the First Division, flocked over to ask questions.

Soon, the commanders of the other divisions personally sought out the Mercenary Corps of the First Division to ask how they had managed it.

They all knew the First Division was led by Lin Xinghai, but it was an undeniable fact that the rest of the corps in that division were essentially the leftovers that no one else wanted.

The First Division’s overall strength couldn’t possibly be greater than theirs. So, for the First Division to achieve such results, even if the other divisions were inferior, the gap shouldn’t have been nearly this wide.

After making inquiries, they all learned about Lin Xinghai’s command methods. It all boiled down to two things: the Array and coordination.

Anyone could learn the Array.

But the coordination was the difficult part. The First Division had an absolute core in Lin Xinghai, whose word was law.

However, while they couldn’t replicate his coordination perfectly, they realized that if they negotiated with their subordinate Mercenary Corps and managed to emulate even 70 or 80 percent of the strategy, their casualty rates would drop dramatically.

Lin Xinghai was oblivious to all of this. He was currently resting, recovering his heavily drained Spiritual Power.

It was already evening when he received the next notice: it was the First Division’s turn to head out and clear Zombies again.