Author: Xevinaly

Cheng Yang and his subordinate appeared in a dark forest lit by the soft light of an instance dungeon entrance. They’d spent too long searched for and then clearing Sky God Island.

Still, Cheng Yang wanted to return to Phoenix Village tonight. The main reason was to train in his Meditation Hall, but there were other reasons too. It would be easier to clear the Blood-Soaked Cathedral and visit Joyous River Village. That way, he could find the instance dungeon there as well.

Yesterday, he had been careful not to let Liu Hau hear that an instance dungeon was near his village. If he knew, there was a chance he would go out and find it. If he did that, with Liu Hau’s personality, he was sure to try and beat it on his own.

After having a quick meal at Silkworm Mountain, Cheng Yang and Liu Wei started their journey back to Phoenix Village.

Since the path they took had been used a few times, the undergrowth was still cleanly cut. As such, it didn’t take long to reach Cloud City.

As they crossed the city, Cheng Yang led the duo while Liu Wei walked less than two feet behind him. She’d always been scared of the dark, and the current environment didn’t help. The ruins were filled with bones, mutilated bodies, and the occasional monster.

“My Lord, Have you seen if there’s… if there are ghosts in this new world?” Liu Wei suddenly asked in a timid voice.

Cheng Yang had been paying attention to movement around them, so he was startled by the question. “Liu Wei, even if there are ghosts in this world, who cares? Maybe they were powerful before the apocalypse, but now we can kill them like any other monster if they dare to show themselves. Especially you, remember that when we went through The Forgotten Grave, our priests could kill the skeletons by healing them? I’m sure you would be able to do the same to a ghost.”

Listening to Cheng Yang’s deep voice, Liu Wei started to relax. “Thank you, Cheng Yang.”

Hearing her use his name, Cheng Yang was flustered. “That was nothing to thank me for. It’s normal to be afraid of ghosts, so of course, I comforted you.”

Liu Wei nodded with a smile on her face.

Along the way, the due experienced several battles. Now that Cheng Yang was alone with Liu Wei, he didn’t hold back. All of his most potent attacks were used in conjunction with potions. He was powerful enough that even if a massive horde appeared, he would be able to destroy it quickly.

However, all the fighting slowed down their journey significantly. An hour later, they were only halfway through the city.

“My Lord, what’s that over there?” Liu Wei asked in surprise.

Glancing over to the left, Cheng Yang saw flashing lights somewhere in the ruins. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the familiar flash of a Magic Missile spell cast at night.

“Let’s go check it out.” Cheng Yang whispered before leading Liu Wei over towards the lights.

They jogged over to a shattered wall. Peering through a hole, they were just in time to witness a small scale war.

The area in front of them was a plaza before the apocalypse, so it was relatively clear of debris. The perfect spot for two groups of people to mercilessly kill each other.

“What are they doing?” Liu Wei asked in shock. She had never expected for ordinary humans to start killing each other so quickly. Especially people from the same city.

Cheng Yang, on the other hand, didn’t feel that these eighty individuals were out of place. “They’re fighting each other. After the earthquake, most resources became scarce. These people probably don’t even want to fight each other. Rather, they have too. Take Phoenix Village, for example. If I hadn’t supplied free food to the civilians but instead forced them to find their own, what do you think would happen if two groups of scavengers found the same bag of flour? Would it be divided between them peacefully? Or would they fight until one group gave up on the bag and retreated.”

“This…” Liu Wei hesitated. As much as she wanted to say they would split the food, it wasn’t possible. Even if it were a more accessible food to split like a bag of fruit, she knew the chances of the group with more people charing was low.

“Don’t overthink it. These people aren’t bad, just desperate. Let’s watch this fight first.”

At this point, the entire plaza was in complete chaos. Magic Missiles and arrows flew around haphazardously. Wolves and Warriors chased around the ranged attackers which ran for their lives.

Cheng Yang only had a single word with which to judge their fighting skills: worthless.

Each class had its own set of unique fighting styles. But, if they were thrown into a messy team fight like this, it was impossible to showcase them.

Maybe they were arranged into some kind of formation before the fight started, but right now, no one was working together. If an army were to do something so foolish in a few months, it would mean an instantaneous defeat.

However, since both sides had done so, Cheng Yang couldn’t tell which side was stronger.

As they fought, both sides hurled insults and curses at each other. Cheng Yang listened carefully and was able to gather some clues as to why this fight had started. When he did, he was furious.

“Stay here. Don’t come out.” Cheng Yang whispered to Liu Wei. Without listening for a response, he ran out from behind the wall.

“All of you, kneel before me!” Cheng Yang shouted.

Although the battle was fierce, Cheng Yang’s voice was still clearly heard. Everyone was shocked, and in the brief break between the fighting, they separated into their respective groups.

“Who the fuck are you?” A man with a massive scar on his forehead shouted. “How dare you order me to kneel!”

Cheng Yang glanced at him with indifference. “You better have yourself. Otherwise, I don’t mind turning you into a corpse.”

“You piece of sh-“Before the scarred man could finish his insult, a young man in his twenties held him back.

Realizing that he didn’t know how many people were with Cheng Yang, the scarred man forced himself to swallow his anger. All that was left was a glower. However, he vowed to kill Cheng Yang if the opportunity presented itself.

“You came over here acting all high and mighty, so what do you want, child?” The scarred man asked coldly. “I advise you to leave as soon as possible. There are some rivers you can’t cross. So beware of drowning.”

“You son of a bitch! Having done so many immoral things, aren’t you afraid of thunder?” a middle-aged man on the other side shouted, “Young man, that bastard is insane. He’s no longer human, so please, don’t involve yourself.”

In reality, the middle-aged man wanted Cheng Yang to stay. He was able to tell that Cheng Yang was a Professional, and even one extra person was useful in a fight. However, he didn’t want to drag an innocent person into this. If Cheng Yang were to die, he would be racked with guilt for the rest of his life.

Cheng Yang smiled slightly. The only reward for being moral in this new world was suffering. Although the survival rate of good people like the middle-aged man was low, Cheng Yang liked them.

“I heard what you were arguing about, but some of the details are unclear to me. I’m interested in hearing the rest. Tell me about it.” Cheng Yang said without a hint of nervousness. “I’m not a good person, but I think taking out the trash is quite pleasurable.”

The middle-aged man hesitated, and instead, a woman in her thirties took the initiative. “Young man, you’re not alone, right? No one could be this late at night. Go fetch your companions, and let’s teach that ugly scarred bastard a lesson! They’re utterly devoid of conscience. They’re kidnapped several women and raised them as sex slaves! They’re fucking animals!”

By the time she was done, the woman was gnashing her teeth.

The scarred man leered at the woman, all but outright admitting it. Since what the woman said was true, there was no way Cheng Yang would let those men off.

When the scarred man saw Cheng Yang was unwilling to leave, he smiled. “Hey now, I gave you the chance to go, but since your sticking around, I’ll make sure you stay here forever! Everyone, gang up and-“

“Boss, you can’t kill that guy.” A Ranger interrupted the scarred man” I saw him in the safe zone the other day talking to Commander Jian. They looked pretty close so if Commander Jian finds out-“

“What about Commander Jian? As long as everyone here dies, he’ll never find out! So just kill him! That damn commander is the same level as us, so what would he do even if he knew?”

The scarred man had an evil glint in his eye that shut up the impertinent Ranger. There wasn’t room for words anymore. Since everyone was the same level, the only things that mattered were numbers and shamelessness.

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At the moment, Cheng Yang’s attack didn’t seem to have gone through any changes. However, its strength was far higher than when he first became a Cryomancer. Tel’ Rosh had plenty of Health and high defense, but in a single strike, the Standard-Grade beast collapsed.

Cheng Yang’s attack was like a bowl of water in hot oil. Loud roars shook the prison complex as armored beasts started to rampage. Every monster on the level desperately tried to attack Cheng Yang and the others.

At the same time, the rows of nostrils on their wedge-shaped heads let out a trill hiss. It was as if a swarm of serpents had entered the prison. Cheng Yang’s group couldn’t help but feel their scalps tingle.

A moment later, Yu Kai shot an arrow towards a Low-Grade Tel’ Rosh, accurately hitting it. Instantly, the monster’s Health reached zero, and it fell to the ground.

Liu Wei decided to finally focus on her class’ position. Instead of attacking, she focused on the Health levels of the party members and healed them when they got low. It was her first time actually using her healing skills, and in comparison to other Priests, they were lackluster.

A few minutes later, the battle ended, Cheng Yang looted a Black Iron leather armor, and dozens of bodies surrounded the party.

Since every person here was the cream of the crop, none of them needed the armor at the moment. As such, Cheng Yang stored it in his Spacial Ring for now.

Now that every monster on the level was dead, a thick iron door slid open, revealing a staircase down to the next one.

“Let’s go.” Cheng Yang said, simply.

The same scene repeated itself on the second floor. The monsters died, a piece of Black Iron equipment was looted, and a door opened. The only difference was that this time, a ring dropped that was given to Liu Chengen.

They continued onwards, all the way down to floor eleven. However, only about a third of the floors had monsters on them. The ones that didn’t were trashed beyond recognition and had huge holes everywhere.

In total, four more pieces of equipment were looted. One for each floor with monsters.

Once they reached the eleventh floor, they were able to see the boss room more clearly. Although it was partially obscured by a weird force field, below the current floor was a single massive room. It had the height of four floors, and in the center was a single device that stretched from floor to ceiling. Based on how it looked, it was meant to restrain a gigantic, six-armed humanoid.

Right in front of that contraption, a massive Tel’ Roth, the size of a whale, was sleeping.

“Here we are.” Cheng Yang whispered. He led the group down the long set of stairs into the final floor. When they arrived, Cheng Yang cast Petal Blizzard, enveloping the boss. “I leave the rest to you, Yu Kai.”

Obviously, Cheng Yang had a better way of dealing with the boss. He could freeze it, cast Sacrificial Blood Cloud, and the boss would be dead by the time the CC wore off.

However, he wanted to let Yu Kai learn as much as possible about the boss’ attack patterns. If he killed it in the faster way, there wasn’t a chance for Yu Kai to learn anything. Wouldn’t that be a waste? Especially if the boss had some kind of skill.

The boss had started to attack before Cheng Yang finished speaking. Once it was hit, it woke up and charged towards Cheng Yang.

Yu Kai didn’t miss the opportunity. An arrow flew out and struck the beast between its eight eyes.

The arrow dealt at least twenty damage, but, its Health was still at least five times that. Even after being attacked by Yu Kai, it continued to focus on Cheng Yang.

Seeing this, Cheng Yang ordered Liu Wei and the others to retreat to the eleventh floor. At the same time, he rapidly retreated to a faraway corner of the room.

Yu Kai felt quite sad. Wasn’t that boss a bully? There was a living person right there attacking it, but it chose to ignore me!

“Patient… patient…” Yu Kai muttered to himself, readying another arrow. The next shot finally caused the boss to focus on Yu Kai.

When he saw this, Yu Kai sneered. Aren’t you a little too late? At this distance, you’ll never reach me before I kill you. At the same time, Yu Kai launched an arrow right into one of the beast’s eyes.

“Last arrow blockhead!” Yu Kai shouted. Even though the boss was only ten feet away, it would be dead before it reached Yu Kai. It was just too slow.

Even so, the Tel’ Rosh continued to charge, as if it didn’t know it was dying.

“Die!” Once the Tel’ Rosh got within three meters, Yu Kai released a held shot that was guaranteed to hit.

However, the rocks on the Tel’ Rosh’s back took on an icy metallic sheen. Once the arrow hit, it bounced right off. Instead of dying, the boss charged forwards with renewed vigor.

Yu Kai was shocked, and for a moment, he hesitated.

In the blink of an eye, the boss collided with Yu Kai, using its wedge-shaped head to send him into the sky. It dealt only a single point of damage with the charge alone, but it wasn’t done! A deafening hiss emitted from its nostrils as the rocky tip of its head shot off like a volcano. Like a homing missile, it hit Yu Kai out of the air, dealing sixty-point of damage.

Cheng Yang was startled. Who knew this boss would have two hidden aces in a Normal Difficulty instance! Thankfully, Yu Kai had over a hundred points of Health and twelve Physical Defense. However, that combo would have been more than enough to kill a Low-Grade Apprentice. This would be an essential lesson for Yu Kai.

After hitting the ground, Yu Kai sprung up. Even with a fist-sized hole in his chest, he drew an arrow and released it.

Having used its trump card, the Tel’ Rosh seemed dazed. The tip of its head didn’t regrow and unable to react, it was hit. Once it was, a soft hiss was released from its nostrils as it fell to the ground, never to rise again.

“Finally, …dead.” Yu Kai sighed, sitting down.

“You need to be more careful next time.” Cheng Yang said as he ran over. “How could you let yourself get distracted at such a critical moment? If that ranged attack had some kind of special property, there was a chance you would have died.”

Yu Kai smiled weakly. “I’m sorry, Yoko. I thought I had him, but he was suddenly able to block my arrow. Fortunately, it wore off after it attacked me. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to deal with it.”

“It would, and it still might. Remember, this is just the Normal Difficulty instance. In higher difficulties, this boss will be even more challenging.” Cheng Yang paused his lecture for a moment. “Anyways, we’ve beaten the instance, so let’s loot it and leave.”

Saying this, Cheng Yang began to search the room. Near the left foot of the massive restraints, he found a chest, which he looted.

This was, without a doubt, the reward for the first clear of the instance.

It was a rock, and if Cheng Yang hadn’t seen a similar one before, he would have cursed the heavens. Right now, though, he regarded it as a top-level treasure.

---

Statue Lifting Stone (Warrior)

Double any one attribute of the Warrior class change statue.

---

Sure enough, it was a Statue Lifting Stone. The benefits of finding it was self-evident. The last time he used one, he doubled the number of Priests in the village. If he upgraded the same attribute this time, wouldn’t the number of Warrior slots increase from 560 to 1,120?

Some people might have been disappointed with this reward, thinking it wasn’t worthy of being considered top-grade loot. However, the drop rates for these stones were abysmal. In that sense, wasn’t it nice?

Yu Kai walked up to Cheng Yang and handed him the loot dropped by the boss. It was a Black Iron bow that instantly found itself inside Cheng Yang’s Spacial Ring.

Watching the equipment disappear, Yu Kai couldn’t help but feel envious. “My Lord, when will I be able to get a ring like that? It’s a must-have for a family trip or robbery.”

Cheng Yang chuckled. “When you have enough Experience Fragments to buy one.”

Yu Kai looked like he’d licked a lemon. “How long is that going to take?”

“Soon, if you work hard. With your current strength, earning Experience Fragments is easy.”

Yu Kai just frowned. He knew that even though he was earning more, most of it went towards increasing his training speed. It was hard to say when he would be able to get a Spacial Ring.

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Liu Wei knew about the existence of roads since there was one in Phoenix Village. It would be hard to find someone from Phoenix Village that didn’t know about roads.

Knowing how difficult it was to build a road, Liu Wei stopped asking questions. If building a road between Silkworm Mountain and Phoenix Village was as hard as people made it seem, there was no use mentioning a city to city or cross-province road.

Two hours later, Cheng Yang had run into over a dozen hordes. As usual, he slaughtered them all. However, this time he had the added duty of protecting Liu Wei.

Despite that, Cheng Yang earned a lot. However, he hadn’t even found a hint of a sign of the instance dungeon.

“Come on! Go a little further. You’re less than four kilometers from the village.” Cheng Yang softly murmured to himself.

Just as Cheng Yang resumed merrily battling the bushes, Liu Wei pointed to the left and cried out: “My Lord, is that it?”

Cheng Yang stopped and looked in the direction Liu Wei pointed. In between the leaves, he caught a glimpse of white light eighty meters away.

“That’s it!” Cheng Yang shouted with joy. Although he couldn’t be entirely sure, what else could it be? Even if it was something different, it was probably a treasure.

“Let’s go and see!” Cheng Yang said, leading Liu Wei towards the light.

After traveling around half the distance, Cheng Yang confirmed his suspicions. It was, indeed, an instance dungeon.

“Which instance dungeon is this?” Liu Wei asked in a low voice, her face flushed with excitement.

“I don’t know.” Cheng Yang replied with a sad smile.

“But… didn’t you say you saw this instance dungeon in your vision?”

“I did indeed but not the inside of it. My visions are incomplete and usually hard to interpret. Moreover, the world is so big that I doubt even the gods know every detail.”

“So that was it. What should we do now? Go back and inform Yu Kai, or just go in?”

“If this is the first clear, we might run into something unexpected. Even if Yu Kai’s strength can’t help us, I need allies to use my Sacrificial Blood Cloud trump card. Let’s call him first before we enter the instance. Even if we don’t need help, he can make it easier to clean up the mobs.” Cheng Yang replied.

Naturally, Liu Wei agreed. Then, they turned and walked back to Silkworm Mountain.

The search had been an arduous journey, but returning was easy. Even with Liu Wei’s speed, it took them less than twenty minutes.

When they got back, they found out that Yu Kai was still out searching for the instance dungeon.

As such, Cheng Yang had to find him personally. It shouldn’t be hard. He was traveling with his soldiers, after all. In the pursuit of speed, Cheng Yang decided not to bring Liu Wei along.

Tracking the soldiers was easier than Cheng Yang thought it would be. They had carved wide paths from the forest, cutting away bushes and trampling down the grass. Even though Yu Kai had separated the army into three groups, it didn’t take long for Cheng Yang to find him. When he arrived, Yu Kai was fighting a horde of several hundred monsters.

Yu Kai was now a High-Grade Ranger, and although he hadn’t learned any of the new skills, his power shouldn’t be underestimated. Even when facing a Standard-Grade monster, he was able to slay it quickly.

Since there were more than six hundred left, Cheng Yang didn’t sit by idly. He immediately joined the fight.

Cheng Yang decided against using Sacrificial Blood Cloud since the situation was under control and instead chose to maximize his income by using Petal Blizzard.

The scene of Cheng Yang enveloping a group of monsters with deadly petals opened the eyes of Yu Kai’s new soldiers. Most of them hadn’t seen Cheng Yang fighting before, so his image as a powerful Mage was burned into their retinas.

A few minutes later, when the battle was over, Yu Kai walked over to Cheng Yang while wiping blood off his armor. “My Lord, did you find the entrance?”

Cheng Yang sneered without answering Yu Kai’s question. “Buddy, you need to improve your fighting skills. As a Ranger, if you’re covered in blood after a fight, that’s just pathetic. You have a ranged class, why are playing around with monsters in melee range?”

“I learned that maneuver from you, my Lord.” Yu Kai retorted, “Now that my Physical Defense is 6.9, why would I be afraid to fight on the front lines?”

Cheng Yang coughed awkwardly. “Anyways, I found the portal and wanted to inform you. Grab two of your soldiers, and let’s go. It will help you get familiar with the instance dungeon so that you can clear it on your own later.”

Yu Kai grinned. “I’ll be right back.”

Yu Kai walked over to his soldiers and picked two of them from the group.

Cheng Yang recognized the people Yu Kai chose. The first was Liu Chengen, the Vice Governor of Silkworm Mountain. The other was Huang Mu, a Summoner with an A-Rank Innate Ability.

After the two soldiers greeted Cheng Yang, the four of them returned to Silkworm Mountain.

When they arrived, they picked up Liu Wei and left to challenge the instance dungeon.

Once they arrived, the group entered without hesitation.

Cheng Yang and the others were somewhat relaxed. The instance dungeon they found was only a Low-Grade one at best with a pseudo-boss at the High-Grade level. Cheng Yang could mop it up all on his own, but even if it turned out to be stronger than expected, the Sacrificial Blood Cloud skill would annihilate it.

As the scene around they warped, the group found themselves on an island. It was around ten thousand square meters and utterly devoid of trees or tall buildings, allowing Cheng Yang to see the entire area. The most intriguing part was that the island was floating in the sky. It was like the flipped over top of a mountain.

In other copies, it was easy to see that the space inside was finite. However, this one didn’t appear to have any boundaries. The endless sky stretched out all around them. Cheng Yang couldn’t see an edge or a bottom.

However, they now knew the instance dungeons name: Sky God Island.

Since they knew the name, no one was worried about trying to explore the bounds of the instance dungeon. If the name was honest, they wouldn’t have to go any further than the island they were on right now.

Cheng Yang remembered an instance dungeon by the same name in his past life. Unfortunately, since he didn’t believe there to be one near Cloud City, he didn’t look into it too deeply. As such, he wasn’t sure as to the exact nature of the instance.

Looking around, Cheng yang couldn’t see a single monster on the island. If there weren’t monsters, what was the clearance goal?

“I’m going to take a look around. Stay safe.” Cheng Yang whispered before walking towards the center of the island. In his opinion, if there was anything weird about this island, it would be near the center. This suspicious was at least partially correct already since there was a ring of hills there.

Cheng Yang walked over the hill and found a deep hole at the center of the ring. There was a faint light coming from the inside.

Cheng Yang walked down and looked inside. A few feet down, there was a narrow passage which seemed to be a part of an underground palace.

“Hey! Come over here!” Cheng Yang shouted to attract the other’s attention.

“We need to go down there. I’ll go first. Yu Kai will bring up the rear. Since we don’t know what to expect, stay on guard.” Cheng Yang said once the others arrived.

Yu Kai nodded. Then, they walked inside.

They walked through the hallway without running into any surprises, but when they reached the end, they saw something that shocked them. They were at the top of a massive underground prison complex. Most of it was in ruins, but it stretched down over a dozen floors.

There were easily hundreds of cells, and each one was littered with bones. Most of them were from animals, but others were human in origin.

The most shocking sight was the innumerable monsters that roamed the halls. They were the size of a bull and had a stocky build supported by four thick legs. Stone outgrowths covered their bodies, and additional metal armor was strapped onto them.

“What kind of monster is that?” Yu Kai asked Cheng Yang in a low voice.

“Tel’ Rosh. They have a high Physical Defense, and the added armor means that Low-Grade Apprentices can’t deal more than a point of damage. Other than that, they’re slow and docile unless approached. They should be easy to kill.” Cheng Yang reported.

“Should we attack?”

“Yep. Aside from a decent defense, they’re just normal monsters. I can see some Standard-Grade ones hiding around here, so watch out.”

Cheng Yang raised his stave and sent an Icicle Blast towards the nearest Standard-Grade Tel’ Rosh.

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By the time Cheng Yang cleared the instance, his generals had finished expanding the army.

It wasn’t a difficult task. The generals let their various officers pick people, and so long as Cheng Yang hadn’t blacklisted them, they were allowed to perform a class change ceremony.

Of course, people like Hu Jun that were banned pleaded with anyone that would listen to let them become a soldier. Zhao Chuan, in particular, got a lot of attention from Hu Jun. As a former high school teacher from Huimin, although the mayor didn’t know him, Hu Jun at least knew his name.

Despite Hu Jun’s pleading, Zhao Chuan never spared him a second glance. Not only was Hu Jun blacklisted, but he was meant to be an example for everyone else. In that case, how could he be forgiven?

This made Hu Jun miserable. He was hungry, and his clothes were torn to the point that he was naked. Moreover, all of his former friends and relatives had abandoned him. Hu Jun never treated them with sincerity, so why would they want to associate with someone that tried to seize power from the Lord?

Of course, Cheng Yang never regarded Hu Jun as anything more than a clown. Even if people continued to associate with him, Cheng Yang wouldn’t care.

Now, the scenario that Cheng Yang discussed with his generals had arrived. More than four hundred soldiers served in every battalion.

The total number of soldiers in Phoenix Village exceeded two thousand. Perhaps, compared to Cloud City, the army in Phoenix Village was lacking. In terms of quality, however, Cloud City couldn’t even compare.

After the newly enlisted soldiers were organized, the generals chose officers from among them. However, most of the generals already had a few outstanding soldiers that they appointed instead of new soldiers. Having already proven their skill and loyalty, they were first in line for a promotion.

After the battalions expanded, the generals finally insisted that they be named. According to them, it didn’t make sense for an army division with hundreds of members not to have a name.

Being tasked with naming something gave Cheng Yang a headache. So, he just threw the problem back at them and asked the battalions to call themselves.

At that time, the crowd proposed dozens of names. Some of which were too weird to repeat.

Ten minutes later, the naming issue was finally settled. Of course, Cheng Yang vetoed any names that would bring shame to Phoenix Village.

The names were as follows: Yu Kai’s Fox Hunting Battalion, Liu Hau’s Recalling Wind Battalion, Lau Hui’s Mad Cow Battalion, Old Lee’s Righteous Avenger’s Battalion, and Zhao Chuan’s Snow Leopard Battalion.

“Ahaha, Ox, are you sure your teams not mocking you?” Liu Hau asked ostentatiously.

“At least they didn’t pick something childish like yours did!” Lau Hui fired back.

Before Liu Hau could respond, Cheng Yang cut him off. “Ox, Zhao Chuan, if you two haven’t cleared the instance dungeon yet, go ahead and do that now. Koko and Old Lee, you’re free to do the same, but I’d rather you followed me to visit The Forgotten Grave.”

“My Lord, can I run The Forgotten Grave with just my battalion? I’m a High-Grade Warrior now, so the boss is as good as dead.” Liu Hau said.

Cheng Yang shook his head disapprovingly. “If you only focus on the final boss, your battalion will suffer heavy casualties. Wait until you’ve got enough Standard-Grade soldiers to hold back the low-level mobs.

Liu Hau was annoyed, but he knew better than to ignore Cheng Yang’s advice. Besides, it would only be a couple of days before there was a sizable number of Standard-Grade soldiers.

The rest of the generals were fine with their orders. Thus, everyone went their separate ways.

---

Cheng Yang led an army of nearly six hundred people towards Cloud City. Of which five hundred were soldiers, and the other hundred were civilians.

Along the way, they passed through monsters like clouds. Even without Cheng Yang acting, newly leveled up soldiers killed each beast in an instant.

Pleased with what he saw, Cheng Yang decided not to fight with his soldiers over the meager number of Experience Fragments to be earned.

An hour later, they finally arrived at the entrance to The Forgotten Grave.

Between the two of them, Old Lee and Liu Hau picked forty-seven people and then entered the instance with Cheng Yang.

Despite being strong enough to beat the Hard Difficulty, Cheng Yang decided to stick with the Normal Difficulty instance. As an instance dungeon that fit fifty people, several mini-bosses and bountiful cannon fodder would spawn. As such, with their current strength, the Low-Grade soldiers were bound to suffer.

For safety’s sake, Cheng Yang settled for the Normal Difficulty. However, as soon as his soldiers were able, Cheng Yang planned to claim the first clear of the Hard Difficulty.

In less than ten minutes, they cleared the instance. Although there were several times more monsters in The Forgotten Grave as compared to the Blood-Soaked Cathedral, the killing-efficiency was much higher.

“My Lord, how many times can The Forgotten Grave be cleared on a day?” Lau Hui asked while arranging his subordinates.

“Every instance dungeon is the same. Five clears per day until its upgraded.” Cheng Yang replied.

“Isn’t that too few? There should be a few other instance dungeons nearby, right? Why don’t we go clear them?”

“There’s an instance dungeon near every village so there should be one near each of our new ones. However, I’m not clear on where exactly they are.”

“That’s great! As long as it exists, its only a matter of mobilizing the army to find it. Once we get to Silkworm Mountain, we’ll have Yu Kai help us find it.”

Cheng Yang tried to recall anything he could about the other dungeons, but all he knew was that they existed. The Lords controlling Joyous River Village and Silkworm Mountain in his past life had been pretty tight-lipped. Very little had been revealed.

The gods standardized the tricks for finding instance dungeons. There would always be a Party-Size instance dungeon between three and five kilometers from a Territory Altar and a Team-Size instance dungeon near the safe zone.

After clearing the instance, Cheng Yang’s group moved North towards Silkworm Mountain. Along the way, they avoided areas in which the soldiers and mercenaries of Cloud City operated. Although Cheng Yang wasn’t afraid of Cloud City, carelessly starting a war between the two parties served no benefit to him.

Cheng Yang arrived at Silkworm Mountain around noon. By then, Yu Kai had already advanced to become a High-Grade Ranger. All of the class change statues had leveled up as well. Hence, the inclusion of civilians in the convoy.

Since Silkworm Mountain was harder to reach than Joyous River Village, Cheng Yang brought some wood so that the essential stores could be built. That way, soldiers wouldn’t have to return to Phoenix Village for necessary supplies.

Once all of the civilians performed a class change ceremony, the level up conditions for the village were met. Then, under Yu Kai’s order, the territory successfully leveled up.

After that, Cheng Yang enlisted Yu Kai soldiers to help him find the nearby instance dungeon. If he could gain the first clear of this dungeon as well, it would be well worth their time.

Cheng Yang, however, didn’t travel with the rest of the soldiers. To maximize the number of Experience Fragments earned, only he and Liu Wei searched the East. Yu Kai and his soldiers searched the west.

The first kilometer or so near Silkworm Mountain was easy to traverse, but the further away they went, the denser the undergrowth was. This forced Cheng Yang to take out a Green Bronze sword from his Spacial Ring and act like a Warrior. Even though he was a Mage, eight points in Physical Attack meant he was more than a match for thornbushes.

Liu Wei’s role was to clear away any of the solitary monsters that attacked them while Cheng Yang was clearing the undergrowth. Since the strongest monsters around were only at the Standard-Grade, she was invincible.

Of course, that was only if she wasn’t under siege.

The duo carefully searched the area, walking in concentric semi-circles.

Three hours later, they still hadn’t found anything. They were even forced to eat lunch in the woods. Even though Liu Wei was born into luxury, her experience before meeting Cheng Yang made her grateful to have a measly picnic meal.

“My Lord, will the woods always be this thick?” Liu Wei asked while watching Cheng Yang struggle with some vines, “It won’t, right? Otherwise, it would be impossible for humans to travel great distances.”

“Just like the trees, all of the other plants are growing fast because of the apocalypse. In a week or two, their growth rate will rapidly decrease. Then, we’ll be able to maintain paths just by cutting back the growth every few weeks.” Cheng Yang replied, “Although it will be far easier to travel if we can build a road.”

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“Right now there are eighty-three Blacksmiths, ninety-six Silversmiths, twenty Carpenters, and thirteen Tailors. However, very few of them have put any effort into their jobs. Most of them focus on hunting monsters since it has a higher payoff.” Zhao Chuan reported.

“That’s not a bad thing.” Cheng Yang said. “It means our soldiers no longer fear monsters and are willing to hunt them more actively. As for their lack of focus on their Profession, there’s nothing else we can do. Even if we wanted to offer low prices for materials, we’d need to spend a long time training civilians to gather them. Still, we need to solve our equipment shortage.”

“The materials aren’t the bottleneck right now, the information is. Buying Alchemy recipes isn’t a problem for someone like you, my Lord, but for ordinary soldiers, they’re too expensive. One thousand Experience Fragments isn’t something they can come up with.”

“That’s not a big problem. What Profession did you all choose? What recipes or blueprints did you need to buy?”

“I’m a Tailor.” Zhao Chuan replied. “I learned the techniques for working with leather. As such, I now know how to make leather armor. In addition, my Skinning skill has leveled up so I can strip the pelt of monsters up to High-Grade.”

“I’m a Blacksmith.” Liu Hau followed up. “I bought the blueprints for forging an iron longsword, but I haven’t been able to find any metal deposits. Its been a real pain since it means I haven’t made any progress with my skills.”

The other three followed suit. Old Lee was a Carpenter, and Lau Hui was a Blacksmith.

Cheng Yang smiled. “You’re pretty evenly divided, which means equipment production will go faster. I foresaw a few locations for finding rare metals and jewels. I’ll write them down so that you can visit them later.”

Liu Hau visibly jolted. His resentment for the hard to find iron ore was so deep that if this world had a game master, he would have harassed them non-stop.

“What about me, my Lord?” Zhao Chuan asked, worried that he had picked a worse Profession.

“Stop wasting materials.” Cheng Yang said with a laugh, “Almost every part of a monster can be used to make equipment. The sinew can be used to make bows, and the bones can make staves and staffs. Even if you can’t use it, save it. One of the Professions will need it eventually. Until then, practice making leather armor.”

“That solves our material needs, but with just the four of us making armor, we’ll never be able to meet the needs of the territory.” Zhao Chuan said.

“Tell the others to pool their money together to buy recipes and blueprints. Individually they’re poor, but together they should be able to afford a few. Then, once one of them learns how to make equipment, that person can pay them back using their finished products. Wouldn’t that work?” Cheng Yang asked.

Zhao Chuan felt a bit foolish. He’d thought Experience Fragments were far too valuable to share, so he overlooked such a simple solution.

Doing that would allow people who didn’t want to practice their Profession to continue hunting but still increase the number of equipment pieces in the territory.

While they were talking, Pang Sun and Liu Wei walked over. Seeing them chatting and laughing almost made Cheng Yang feel like the old world hadn’t been destroyed. Especially Liu Wei. Her cute face and sweet smile made him feel like everything was going to turn out alright.

It was comforting to watch, but Cheng Yang forcibly reminded himself that even someone revered as a goddess would have to fight monsters in this horrible world. Otherwise, she would just become a tool for someone with power.

Alas, such was fate! It was impossible to say whether the world changed for better or for worse. No one, not even Cheng Yang, knew how this world would look in the future.

“My Lord, I can tell you’ve taken good care of Little Liu.” Pang Sun smiled, her eyes turning into cute crescents.

“Of course. Liu Wei is your best friend. If I allowed her to get mistreated, how could I look Lau Hui in the eyes?” Cheng Yang replied with a taut smile.

Pang Sun’s eyes glimmered with a mischievous light. “Is that really the reason?”

Liu Wei couldn’t handle her friends teasing and pinched her friend’s cheeks. “Little Pang, what nonsense are you spewing? Not everyone is so focused on romance like you are!”

“Heh, heh, heh…” Instead of stopping Pang Sun, Liu Wei’s pinches only fueled the fire. “Sorry, Little Liu, I should have kept your crush secret. Don’t worry, from now on I won’t mention it.”

The two women started bickering so fiercely that when Cheng Yang asked Pang Sun’s boyfriend to separate them, Lau Hui only helplessly smiled.

Cheng Yang understood Pang Sun’s words clearly, but how could that be the case? It was obvious that he only cared about Liu Wei because of her Innate Abilities! There was no way he had time for a relationship right now, and even if he did, Liu Wei should be more careful than to start one after a few days.

“All right, knock it off. All of you go finish your preparations for expanding the military.” Cheng Yang ordered.

“What should we do after we finish that?” Liu Hao asked.

“Koko, you’ll go back to Joyous River Village to clear out the nearby monsters. You’re a High-Grade Warrior now, so as long as you bring along some potions, you’ll be able to manage with just the soldiers you have there. Ox and Old Lee will combine their forces and go to Cloud City to rescue civilians. We saved nearly thirty-thousand people so far, but we’ll need more than that if we want to develop all three of our villages. We’ll also find more Territory Altars in the future, so we need to expand our population before that happens.” Cheng Yang explained.

“My Lord, what about me?” Zhao Chuan asked.

“You’re going to stay here and hunt monsters near Phoenix Village. It’s a boring job, but we’ll rotate it between the five battalions.”

Zhao Chuan wanted to protest, but since Cheng Yang said everyone would have to do it at some point, he relented.

“Once you’ve hunted monsters for a few hours, have your soldiers transport some wood to Silkworm Mountain. While you’re there, relay this message to Yu Kai. His job will be to clear the monsters near the village.”

After the generals heard Cheng Yang’s orders, they got to work. Since Pang Sun left with Lau Hui, Liu Wei and Cheng Yang were left alone.

“My Lord, I’m sorry for Pang-“

“No need to explain her actions.” Cheng Yang said, interrupting Liu Wei, “I know she was joking. I’m not even upset. Without people like her around to make us laugh, this post-apocalyptic hellscape would be far too depressing.”

Liu Wei looked at Cheng Yang with grateful eyes and sighed in relief. But, something seemed off to her, something she couldn’t quite name.

Before leaving for Cloud City, Cheng Yang cleared the Nightmare Difficulty of the Blood-Soaked Cathedral with the Imperial Guard. He considered bringing Liu Wei with him, but she was too weak. If an accident happened and she died, Cheng Yang wouldn’t be able to let go of his regrets.

He had already beaten the Nightmare Difficulty once before, so it was rather easy the second time around. In less than half an hour, he had cleared the instance.

This time, the Boss didn’t have any unexpected skills, so it was a smooth process. He even got a nice piece of equipment from the chest at the end.

---

Holy Wooden Mace
This mace was grown using a peculiar technique inspired by the towering wooden homes of the elves. It has one hundred and forty four sister maces grown as branches of the same sacred tree.

Grade: Purple Silver
Class: Priest
Requirements: Low-Grade Apprentice
Durability: 100/100
Effect: Increases Magical Attack by 7
Effect: Increases Physical Attack by 3

---

In addition to that piece of Purple Silver equipment, one other and three Black-Iron pieces were dropped.

Cheng Yang’s first thought when he picked it up was to gift it to Liu Wei, but when he saw how intensely Zheng Yue was staring at it, he gave up on the idea. Besides, even if she got this equipment, Liu Wei wouldn’t be able to kill Pinnacle-Grade monsters with her Innate Abilities.

Zheng Yue, on the other hand, was still using a Green-Bronze scepter and would make much better use of the equipment. Even though she wouldn’t object if Cheng Yang gave the mace to Liu Wei instead, she’d be unhappy.

In the end, he gave the mace to Zheng Yue and passed on her old scepter to Liu Wei. Even without the mace, Liu Wei could kill every Standard-Grade monster and most High-Grade monsters.

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Lau Hui still hesitated a while longer, but with a twisted face, he snapped his teeth and just said it.

“Well, what I said earlier wasn’t a complete lie. My team did end up going a little farther than usual by mistake. About seven or eight kilometers away, we found a mountain ridge. About halfway up the closest one, there was some kind of stone stronghold filled with an odd type of humanoid monsters. They’re really tall at least taller than most humans with hooves for feet, tusks, small noses, and oddly shaped heads with eyes on both sides like a pig. They walk around upright wearing armor and acting as humans do.”

Halfway through Lau Hui’s explanation, Cheng Yang had already realized what he was going to say.

After the apocalypse, humans called the vicious creatures that appeared “monsters,” which was just a term used to satisfy their fears. In reality, they were just animals from other places, other worlds. Although, the word had some truth to it since most were man-eating mindless beasts.

However, there were exceptions. Some monsters are as different from the rest as humans are from monkeys. Just like humans, those “monsters” were sentient and intelligent. Indistinguishable except for appearance. The creatures Lau Hui encountered belonged to that category.

Monsters like the ones in the stronghold were civilized to an extent, even if their morals and values were alien to humanity. Their social hierarchies were recognizable, and communication between them and humans wasn’t impossible. Although many people still called them monsters, most people referred to them by a different name. These one sin specific were called orcs due to a general similarity between them and the staple fantasy race.

Orcs were different from monsters, but running into them would usually be the same result. Even if they didn’t kill a human, they found that human would be captured and never seen again. Although, any orc that was outnumbered would share the same fate.

Still, they weren’t unreasonable like monsters were. They limited their range to a small area around their settlements and didn’t attack human villages.

This general hostility, in addition to a language barrier, meant that the two communities learned very little about each other. Such that even the most basic knowledge of orc society was a general mystery. Although, Cheng Yang heard rumors of some humans that were trying to grow relations with nearby orc settlements.

There weren’t a lot of orc communities in the world, and humanity had very little to do with them in the time Cheng Yang experienced.

An unspoken rule developed between the two species, and a noninterference stance was adopted. As such, humanity gradually adapted to the presence of the orcs and before long began to treat them like air. Because of that, Cheng Yang had forgotten about them until now.

But, now that Lau Hui had reminded him of their presence, Cheng Yang berated himself for not being more vigilant. Just because they generally ignored each other didn’t mean the orcs weren’t powerful. On the contrary, the reason they could rebuff humanity’s expansion attempts was that humanity didn’t know the limits of their strength.

As a regular mercenary, the far-away orc stronghold meant very little in Cheng Yang’s past life. Now, however, he was the Lord of Phoenix Village. If he didn’t pay attention to a threat a few short kilometers away, he would truly be a foolish leader.

Why were the orcs brought to Earth? Were they restricted by the gods’ rules or their morality? At some point, would they try to attack human settlements?

The longer Cheng Yang thought about the issue, the worse his complexion became.

There wasn’t a way for Cheng Yang to do anything about the problem. He, and the village, were just too weak right now.

“Ox, do you have any idea how dangerous that rea is?”

Lau Hui had been watching Cheng Yang’s facial journey and naturally realized the answer. “I do Yoko, but what in this world isn’t? Still, just to be sure, we only observed the stronghold from a distance while hidden in the trees.”

“You should be happy. If those monsters had noticed you, there’s a high chance that we would never have seen each other again. Those creatures aren’t monsters. They’re called orcs, and I think you can imagine the danger posed by a group of enemies that can fight intelligently in the same ways we do.”

“My Lord… what should we do about them? There were hundreds of orcs there. Even if they’re Low-Grade, I don’t think our soldiers will be able to defeat them.” Lau Hui was quite worried after hearing Cheng Yang’s warning.

“For now, don’t worry about them. The orcs won’t attack us as long as we keep our distance. I need you to go around the village and let everyone know. The mountains near the orc stockade is a forbidden zone.”

Lau Hui shivered, hearing Cheng Yang’s serious tone, but immediately agreed to spread the news.

“Was that all you wanted to talk to be about, my Lord?” Lau Hui asked.

“Oh right, do you remember the buildings that I created yesterday? Right now, Old Lee, Liu Hau, and Yu Kai all have official positions. Only you and Zhao Chuan don’t. After thinking about it, I have decided to make you the Chief Administrative Officer.”

“My Lord, are you joking? I’m flattered that you think I’m a good choice, but if I were placed in charge of the entire army, it would be a mess. There are nearly a thousand soldiers!”

“You’re overthinking this Ox. It’s an important-sounding title, but it’s just a logistics position. The gods’ system mostly handles the recruitment and promotion of soldiers, so it isn’t a particularly demanding position. Then again, if you’re not good at management, would it help to make Pang Sun your second-in-command?”

“Well…” Ox hesitated. “If its that simple, I’ll accept.”

“Cheng Yang stated at him angrily. “Stop acting like this is some kind of burden. The Chief Administrative Officer is a luxurious job.”

Lau Hui smiled wany but didn’t offer any excuses.

Then, Cheng Yang opened up the Territory Altar system pane and finalized the decision.

At this time, Liu Hau and the other generals had returned to the territory.

“Ox! You’re finally back! Where the hell were you? I was going to wait for you before visiting my village.” Liu Hau asked as soon as he caught sight of Lau hui.

Lau Hui glanced at Cheng Yang for confirmation, then shared his discovery with the other generals. After that, Cheng Yang gave them all a strict order not to approach within five hundred meters of the orc stronghold.

After listening to them, Old Lee had a dignified expression. “My Lord, I’m afraid that stronghold is a cancer. We must cut it out as soon as possible.”

“I understand your concern.” Cheng Yang said, “But we’re still too weak. Wait until the village grows.”

“Should we send some scouts? Maybe they’re weaker than they appear?”

Cheng Yang shook his head. He had never been to the stronghold in person, but dozens of genius fighters in his past life died there. It was a risk Cheng Yang wasn’t willing to take.

Old Lee saw that Cheng Yang wasn’t going to budge, so he accepted the situation and changed the topic.

“My Lord, what is our plan for today then?”

“The class change statues leveled up last night, so there’s a lot of space for your teams to expand. So today, you’ll each be choosing around four hundred new soldiers.” Cheng Yang replied.

The generals were ecstatic. Increasing the number of soldiers under their command meant they would be able to defeat far more massive hordes. For the last few days, unless Cheng Yang was with them, they had to avoid clearing new areas. Now that their ranks had expanded, in addition to several soldiers leveling up, they would have a much higher hunting efficiency.

“My Lord, although this is certainly a good thing, I’m worried about the equipment gap. We weren’t even able to give every soldier a piece of equipment before, and now our teams have more than doubled in size. Should we buy some equipment from the stores?” Old Lee said.

Cheng Yang shook his head. “Those managers will just rip you off. Buying a complete set will cost anywhere from six hundred to eight hundred Experience Fragments. With that cost, it’s more efficient to unlock higher training bonuses.”

“What about just buying weapons? A top-notch weapon only costs around seventy Experience Fragments. New soldiers can bear that cost easily, and it will increase our attack power considerably. This will allow us to increase our hunting range at a faster pace.”

Cheng Yang hesitated, then asked: “How many people have taking up crafting Professions?”

Old Lee then turned to look at Zhao Chuan. He had been working together with Yu-Kai on getting every soldier a Profession.

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Among the hundred and twenty new soldiers in Joyous River Village, there wasn’t even a single S-Rank Innate Ability, not to mention people with Special Innate Abilities.

Cheng Yang finding someone like Liu Wei could be considered to be a miracle. Although Liu Wei’s Innate Ability couldn’t be ranked on the traditional scale, it clearly eclipsed even his SS-Rank Innate Ability.

After everyone had performed a class change ceremony, Liu Hau leveled up the village.

Once he did, several new building options appeared. Fortunately, there was a road between this village and Phoenix Village. Otherwise, the human resources needed to transport all the materials required for expanding the village would outnumber those that gathered them.

---

When Cheng Yang finally left his room, Liu Wei was waiting for him in the courtyard.

Liu Wei was definitely an abnormally lucky person. Thanks to her status, she was able to practice at six-times speed in Cheng Yang’s house from the very first day she became a Professional. As such, she had already filled up 14% of her experience bar.

In other words, she would level up in just eight days.

“Good morning Liu Wei. How was your training last night? Most people find it hard to sit still for four hours when they first try to train. Were you able to manage all right?” Cheng Yang asked with a smile.

After yesterday’s events, Cheng Yang felt that Liu Wei was still reserved around him. Although he didn’t expect them to become close, as his first bodyguard, they at least shouldn’t be strangers.

She’d gone through a lot over the last few days. Perhaps once they’d spent more time together, she’d be less defensive towards him. But for now, she still treated their relationship as a formal one.

“Thank you for your concern, my Lord. In my opinion, even though it’s difficult, I should still be grateful for the opportunity to train. There are millions around the world hoping to have this opportunity but can’t get it. In that sense, this servant of yours is quite lucky.”

Cheng Yang smiled. “What a bleak point of view. Although, that could be considered a good thing. We’re going to visit Cloud City again today. Wash up and eat some breakfast, then we’ll go.”

“Yes, my Lord.” Liu Wei responded, following him outside.

Washing up in Phoenix Village amounted to splashing yourself with water from the river that ran through the walls. You could even wash your mouth with the river water. After the gods transformed the world, the water quality skyrocketed so that even dirty river water was drinkable. The only pity was that there wasn’t a single fish in sight.

While Liu Wei was bathing, Cheng Yang visited the Territory Altar as, by now, all of the primary class change statues should have been upgraded.

---

Mage Statue
Phoenix Village
Pinnacle-Grade
260/650

Research

• Body Strengthening Mana Flow (Pinnacle-Grade): Increase HP by 20% | Cost: 2000 | Time: 72 hours
• Extra Mana Node (Pinnacle-Grade): Increase Mana by 20% | Cost: 2000 | Time: 72 hours
• Ambient Mana Gathering (Pinnacle-Grade): Increase Magic Attack by 20% | Cost: 2000 | Time: 72 hours
• Passive Ironskin (Pinnacle-Grade): Increase Physical Defense by 20% | Cost: 2000 | Time: 72 hours
• Mental State Training (Pinnacle-Grade): Increase Magic Defense by 20% | Cost: 2000 | Time: 72 hours

Skills

• Wind Bondage (Low-Grade): Binds a target for a set amount of time | Duration: 2 sec | Cost: 25 MP | Cast Time: 3 sec | Level Needed: Standard Grade Apprentice | Price: 100 Experience Fragments
• Stone-Skin (Low-Grade): Use Mana to turn a target’s skin to stone, reducing damage taken by 40% | Duration: 1 minute | Cost: 50 Mana | Level Needed: Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice | Price: 600 Experience Fragments

Unique Subclasses

• Cryomancer [Cheng Yang]

---

Pinnacle-Grade class change statues were something of a road mark for territory development. The four-fold increase in research costs broke several struggling villages that were never able to reach the Pinnacle-Grade.

It also took far longer for the research to complete. Each one took three days, so it would be a minimum of fifteen days before the class change statues could be leveled up again.

With the time and Experience Fragment cost increasing every level led some people to speculate that a different fee would be added later. They reasoned that since the top-level villages never had problems with getting Experience Fragments, the gods would add another condition to make it harder on them.

Their proof was that once a village reached High-Grade, a lot of the restrictions around who could pay for improvements were lifted. It became possible for the Experience Fragments ordinary soldiers had to be used directly instead of laundering them all through the Lord. With the encouragement of built-in benefits, more and more people donated their money to the territory.

However, this was only an inference that was never proven.

Cheng Yang checked the number of available slots and was astounded to find that the total number of possible soldiers had been raised to 2240. And that was without counting Priests.

Over the next few days, Phoenix Village would experience a significant increase in personnel.

When they performed their class change ceremonies, Cheng Yang would have to decide whether to absorb them into the army or allow them to be mercenaries.

Mercenaries were a low maintenance way to bolster a territory’s combat capabilities, but they had too much freedom for Cheng Yang’s liking. Although mercenaries would inherently care about the prosperity of the territory, it would never be their primary goal. Cheng Yang decided that, at least for now, he wouldn’t allow anyone to be a mercenary.

His goal was simple: maintain absolute control over Phoenix Village and then gain control over the entire area, establishing the Phoenix Empire.

Having finished ruminating, Cheng Yang opened up the system pane for the Cryomancer so that he could learn the new skill he had unlocked.

---

• Frost Aegis (Low-Grade): Create a floating hoplon out of ice with a durability equal to 80% of the caster’s Magic Attack which automatically blocks one attack every second | Max Shields: 1 | Cost: 25 Mana | Duration: 1 minute | Level Needed: Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice | Price: 1200 Experience Fragments

---

As expected, it was better than the new skill for normal mages, but it was far more expensive. However, Cheng Yang used almost that many Experience Fragments everyday training, so he didn’t even blink when he saw the price.

In an instant, he learned the skill.

Reaching the level of Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice made most mages into decent all-rounders. They had an offensive spell, a defensive spell, and a crowd control spell. As someone with a unique subclass, Cheng Yang also received an area of effect offensive spell.

Although Cheng Yang had completed one of the territory’s level up requirements, there was still a long way to go before he’d meet the rest of them. After all, it was harsh enough to require powerful soldiers in addition to vast wealth.

In the entire territory, Cheng Yang was the only one even close to reaching the Specialist level. And even he would need around forty days without a fortuitous opportunity.

Cheng Yang then upgraded the main damage attribute for each class. A decision that cost the territory a whopping eight thousand Experience Fragments. Fortunately, clearing the Blood-Soaked Church so many times in the past two days provided the village with ample funds. Otherwise, there was no way Cheng Yang could afford the expense.

After handling that, Cheng Yang asked a nearby Imperial Guard member is Lau Hui had returned yet. Not too long later, the guard relayed the message, and Lau Hui came to find him.

“You wanted to see me, my Lord?”

Cheng Yang glared at him. “Where did you go yesterday? I’ve been told no one saw you for over ten hours.”

Lau Hui averted his eyes and fidgeted under Cheng Yang’s harsh gaze. “Well, I was just a little careless and went too far from the village while hunting.”

Cheng Yang snorted. “Next time you lie to me, at least look me in the eyes. If you don’t, it makes it too obvious. Now, tell me. What’s actually happening?”

Lau Hui broke. “I’m sorry, Yoko! I was worried about what my soldiers would say if they knew I found something weird again. They suffered so much last time that I wanted to forget I found anything.”

Hearing that, Cheng Yang forgave his friend. Although he had gained a lot from the Mystery Gate, one of Lau Hui’s soldiers had discovered it at the price of their life.

But, what had Lau Hui found this time? It couldn’t be another Mystery Gate, right? They weren’t particularly rare phenomena, but that was just too lucky! Moreover, they both would have been found by Lau Hui.

“What happened last time was unfortunate, but it ended up benefitting the territory greatly. If you don’t tell me what happened and I miss out on something good, I’ll hold you accountable.” Cheng Yang started to pressure Lau Hui.

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After leaving the Barracks, Cheng Yang brought Liu Wei into the forest to hunt monsters.

As time passed, Liu Wei’s grasp on the rhythm of battle tightened. Now, her only weakness was that her Innate Abilities couldn’t save her if there were more than one monster since they had a two-second cooldown.

Cheng Yang intended to find Liu Wei some equipment that would boost her healing skills. A few pieces of jewelry should do the trick. Once he became a High-Grade Alchemist, Liu Wei would then be able to increase her healing to the point where she could even kill people at the same level with S-Rank Innate Abilities.

After a long night, Liu Wei earned over five hundred Experience Fragments. It wasn’t much compared to Cheng Yang, who had gotten triple that but, most soldiers would receive less than sixty each day.

When they returned, Cheng Yang lent Liu Wei one hundred thousand Experience Fragments. With her abilities, the training costs for thirty-two times speed were within reach.

Since Yu Kai and Liu Hau wouldn’t be able to stay in Phoenix Village anymore, Yu Kai’s spot in Cheng Yang’s Meditation Hall was given to Liu Wei. It would be a waste otherwise, and Liu Wei needed the 39% bonus more than anyone else.

---

By the time Cheng Yang had finished training, Liu Hau had upgraded all of the class change statues in Joyous River Village to Standard-Grade. As such, Liu Hau had returned to Phoenix Village to select a batch of new recruits.

Of course, it was impossible for the soldiers Liu Hau had to escort them to the village on their own, so Liu Hau was waiting for a few of the generals to get back.

Originally Liu Hau was going to wait until all three generals still in Phoneix Village to get back from hunting, but in the end, he couldn’t wait long enough for Lau Hui to get back.

Liu Hau was anxious to return. While training in Phoenix Village, he had finally leveled up! And once he returned to Joyous River Village, he would be able to level up again!

“Old Lee, should I find a time to bug our Lord to find a few more Territory Altars? That way, you, too, can level up as I will. Otherwise, you’ll always be stuck at the same level as the normal soldiers.”

Despite Liu Hau’s taunting, Old Lee remained calm. “General Liu, I’m sure out Lord has foreseen these things. There’s no need for us to ruin his arrangements. If there are more Territory Altars near here, our Lord will go out and conquer them. If there aren’t, pestering him wouldn’t make new ones appear, it would just lower his opinion of us.”

“Well, aren’t you shrewd.” Liu Hau scolded.

Old Lee smiled bitterly. “Shrewd? For noticing what? That everything we have right now is thanks to our Lord? That he reunited me with my family? I have no regrets and wish to serve our Lord for the rest of my life. I trust him to ask for help if he needs it. Otherwise, it is my place to follow.”

Old Lee’s words touched Zhao Chuan and Liu Hau. Especially Zhao Chuan. After all, Cheng Yang had personally rescued him from the ruins of Huimin.

However, as Cheng Yang’s best friend, Liu Hau didn’t want Old Lee to idolize Cheng Yang too much.

“Old Lee, there’s no need to be so serious. I’m sure our Lord would agree. By the way, please don’t call me General Liu anymore. You’re older than me, so it’s a little awkward. Just call me Young Liu.”

Old Lee paused for a moment before smiling. “Of course, if I’m too formal all the time, I’ll make the atmosphere awkward.”

Liu Hau laughed when he heard that. “Hey, hey, hey. After I become a High-Grade Warrior tonight, want me to go clear the Hard Difficulty and get you two some nice equipment?”

Zhao Chuan looked at Liu Hau with scorn. “Stop bragging. Are you saying you’ll be able to clear the Hard Difficulty alone? What’s more, our Lord is already clearing the Nightmare Difficulty. Even the guards are, and any extra equipment they get is passed on to us generals. Are you saying you can find something better?”

“Damn, there’s no way to please you, huh? How the hell am I supposed to compare to those inhuman machines?”

When Liu Hau had learned that the Imperial Guards leveled up alongside Cheng Yang, he had been incomparably jealous. He knew very well that no matter how hard he trained, he couldn’t catch up to his best friend. But, now, there was a whole squadron of soldiers that would always be stronger than him.

Ignoring Liu Hau’s outburst, Zhao Chuan continued talking. “Do you think the Lord knows where other instance dungeon entrances are? There’s only the single entrance to the Blood-Soaked Cathedral, and the number of runs each day is too few.”

“There have to be, right? Like the instance dungeon in Cloud City?” Liu Hau said.

“It has a high drop rate, but without our Lord there, we’d get crushed.” Zhao Chuan retorted.

“Don’t worry about that. After tomorrow, me and Yu Kai will both be High-Grade Apprentices. There’ll also be a handful of Standard-Grade Apprentices, so it should be fine.” Liu Hau declared confidently. “And if that’s not enough, we’ll only have to wait a few more days for a whole legion of Standard-Grade soldiers to appear. I refuse to believe we won’t be able to conquer the instance dungeon by then. We would probably be able to send out several teams even.”

“That might work, but one thing is certain.” Old Lee suddenly interjected. “It won’t be long before the forces controlling Cloud City find The Forgotten Grave, and once they do, a conflict between them and us is inevitable.”

“Conflict? Who here is afraid of a little conflict?” Liu Hau said with passion. “Once we level up, if the Phoenix Village army decided to raze the city, it would be as easy as taking a shit.”

Old Lee just shook his head. “Young Liu, if our Lord wanted to destroy the leaders of Cloud City, he would have just done it by now. He’s powerful enough to do so on his own.”

Hearing that, Liu Hau calmed down. It was impossible to refute Old Lee’s words, so he decided to trust his best friend’s judgment.

They walked as they talked and killed any monster they encountered. Although the road between the two villages was safe, occasionally, a monster would rush out of the forest.

An hour later, they arrived at their destination.

Joyous River village was serenely quiet. Only the occasional twang of a bowstring or crackling Magic Missile reminded the citizens that the peaceful world they used to live in was gone.

Most of the soldiers were training in Meditation Halls, so only Chen Chao was there to greet Liu Hau’s group.

After briefing Liu Hau on the general state of the village since he had left, Chen Chao took the newly selected civilians to perform their class change ceremonies.

Liu Hau approached the Territory Altar as well, but with a different purpose. After taking a few minutes to calm himself down, Liu Hau activated Divine Blessing.

After a few seconds, Liu Hau leveled up and became the second person in the Phoenix Village metropolitan area to become a High-Grade Apprentice. Not counting the Imperial Guard, of course.

Liu Hau brandished his weapon with renewed vigor. Even if a tiger appeared right in front of him, Liu Hau was confident that he could cleave it to pieces in a single strike! Although, if there were still any tigers hiding around here after the apocalypse, who knew what kind of crazy monster it had become.

“Zhao Chuan, since you still haven’t leveled up, why don’t you let me tour you around the mountains so you can get some Experience Fragments?” Liu Hau asked.

“No thank you.” Zhao Chaun said without hesitation. “You might be a few levels higher than me, but you’ll be just as useless if a big horde attacks us. Since its dark out right now, there’s a higher chance of you messing up, so I’m going to play it safe. I’ll hunt during the day with my soldiers tomorrow.”

Liu Hau clicked his tongue but didn’t press the issue.

Around the same time as those two were arguing, the last civilian had officially become a soldier.

Since ordinary people were able to receive Experience Fragments now, the process had become far more streamlined. Instead of the village official personally overseeing each ceremony, the soldiers that had leveled up yesterday passed on their debt to the new ones who conducted the ceremony on their own.

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During the journey, Cheng Yang focused on helping Liu Wei grow. Whenever a monster slipped through the soldiers, he directed her to use Smite on it.

Liu Wei’s skill was surprisingly lowkey and well suited to assassination. The only sign was a twitch of her lips and the sudden creation of a corpse.

Although she was still a Low-Grade Apprentice, the benefits of Liu Wei’s Innate Abilities were beginning to show themselves. If it were any other person, it would be considered impressive if they were able to get even three kills during their first fight. However, even an outstanding genius would lose some Health in the process. Liu Wei, on the other hand, was completely different. Her fighting style could be described as passing through a thousand flowers without the petals touching her skin. [1]

Fortunately, it wasn’t an area of effect skill. Otherwise, Cheng Yang would have no choice but to believe it was a bug.

Cheng Yang felt that if the growth of a Priests healing power increased at higher levels, Liu Wei would be unmatched on Earth. Thankfully, although it was an absurd ability, it had its limits. After all, so long as Liu Wei wasn’t a match for her opponent, she was an F-Rank super-trash.

Since Liu Wei and Cheng Yang were at the rear of the procession, no one noticed that the large number of monsters that suddenly died were killed by Liu Wei.

Liu Hau and Old Lee were a short distance ahead of them, walking side by side.

“General Lee, doesn’t it look like our Lord is trying to seduce Liu Wei? I’ve never seen him so close to a woman before. What are your thoughts?” Liu Hau glanced at Cheng Yang and snickered.

Old Lee just shook his head, “Maybe if you weren’t gossiping so much, you’d already have leveled up! You ask me this nearly every day, and what is the result every time? Stop thinking so much and work harder to kill monsters.”

“Wouldn’t they be an interesting couple? The school idol gets together with a geeky loser turned superhero?” Liu Hau asked, ignoring Old Lee’s complaints.

Liu Hau wasn’t the only one gossiping about Cheng Yang’s relationship status. Most of the soldiers couldn’t help but notice how quickly their usually cold and stoic leader had warmed up to Liu Wei. Had her stunning looks conquered the Ice King?

Cheng Yang couldn’t hear any of that, but even if he knew, he would laugh it off. A leader’s public image mattered in the old world, but in a world where leadership was decided by strength, what harm would a little gossip do?

Since Cheng Yang had cleared the path they were taking earlier, the group didn’t run into any sizeable hordes.

The journey was a smooth one, and they covered the thirty-kilometer distance in five hours. If the soldiers didn’t need to worry about protecting civilians while also carrying wood, their journey would have ended even sooner. Without the fear of monsters keeping them moving, most of the civilians that were in the convoy wouldn’t have been able to handle the pace.

When they arrived at Silkworm Mountain, it was dusk. Cheng Yang immediately ordered for Yu Kai to build the wooden wall and had everyone else settle themselves.

Cheng Yang had brought over nearly four hundred units of wood, so, once the wall was built, Yu Kai constructed several Low-Grade Meditation Halls.

Once the process of creating an army for Silkworm Mountain started, Cheng Yang took the rest of the procession with him and left the village.

Silkworm Mountain was in a far inferior position in comparison to Joyous River Village. Without the convenience of a road, it would take several hours for Yu Kai to receive help in the case of an emergency. For a long time to come, Silkworm Mountain wouldn’t be able to develop independently. It would have to rely on daily deliveries of vital supplies from Phoenix Village.

Back in Phoenix Village, Cheng Yang left the army to its own devices and surveyed the loot he’d gained that day.

Cheng Yang earned nearly 7,000 Experience Fragments from his Imperial Guard clearing the Blood-Soaked Cathedral, so he wouldn’t have to worry about money any time soon. As for raw resources, Cheng Yang was worried about the inflow of wood and stone.

Wood was comparatively easier to get after Cheng Yang raised the price at which the village would buy it. Once he did, dozens of soldiers purchased logging tools and began cutting down trees with great enthusiasm.

Yesterday, the village purchased seven hundred cubic meters of wood but needed to send four hundred to Joyous River Village. Today, Phoenix Village purchased nine hundred units of wood. Even after deducting the wood shipped to Silkworm Mountain, the total remaining amount exceeded eight hundred units.

Stone, on the other hand, was exceedingly scarce. Unlike lumber, which could be found everywhere in the post-apocalyptic landscape, stone could only be mined from quarries. Of which, only two had been found in the vicinity of Phoenix Village so far. Each site was only big enough for ten or so people to work comfortably at a time, so the stone Phoenix Village purchased over the last two days barely amounted to four hundred units. Although this rate of production would be enough to create buildings, it was only a drop in the bucket for the real use of stone: roads.

Cheng Yang approached the Territory Altar so as to build the Barracks. The Trial Hall was, without question, the most useful of the new buildings but, without an official position in the military, it couldn’t be used. As such, Cheng Yang needed to follow the rules of this world and build the Barracks first.

A moment later, the Inner Village was flooded with light as a massive building was conjured into existence. The Barracks were an imposing collection of buildings enclosed by a wall some distance south of the Territory Altar built in the ancient Chinese style.

Similar to the Imperial Guard Pavilion, the Barracks was considered a restricted zone. Only officials of a certain rank and members of the military were allowed to enter.

Cheng Yang walked through the gate and took a closer look around the Barracks.

This was his first time actually going into a Barracks pavilion. In his previous life, Cheng Yang was an adventurer, so he denied entry. He only knew the general layout because soldiers would often brag about the facilities.

The Barracks were Low-Grade, so they only covered an area of 40,000 square meters. Although the several football fields worth of space seemed like a lot, it would be split between Phoenix Village’s hundreds of soldiers.

On the left were rows of large lodges, dining facilities, and a bathhouse. In total, there were fifteen lodges in three rows. Each one had two floors and could fit a hundred people.

On the right were training grounds for all five classes. Their appearance was radically different from a modern training ground. Strength and stamina training wouldn’t affect someone anymore, so there weren’t any areas for exercising or a track to run on. Instead, everything was geared towards increasing an individual’s combat skills.

There was a target range to practice ranged attacks and a sparring arena where it was impossible to kill someone, but the true jewel of the training grounds were the automated training dummies. They took the forms of several different types of opponents and could be used to hone one’s reaction time in mock battles.

In the center of the Barracks was an administrative office. It was the core of the facility and was the tallest building in Phoenix Village to date, standing three stories tall. It contained offices and living quarters for military officials. The first floor was dominated by a massive war room where soldiers could raise their ranks, and officers could induct new soldiers into the military.

Surrounding the whole area was a wall made from a low stone base with a wooden fence built on top.

As the Lord of the village, Cheng Yang couldn’t enlist as a soldier, so, unfortunately, the only building he could use was the administrative one in the center.

Unlike a certain Ming emperor, Cheng Yang couldn’t just declare himself general and enter the army. Now, in both lives, Cheng Yang was forbidden to use the state of the art training facilities. In Cheng Yang’s opinion, it was bullshit.

The administrative center was empty when Cheng Yang arrived but, once Lau Hui returned from hunting, Cheng Yang intended to appoint him as Chief Administrative Officer. As a person with a straightforward and down to earth personality, Lau Hui was well suited to the position.

Cheng Yang entered the war room and opened the Barracks’ status pane.

---

Barracks (Low-Grade)
A facility for the residence and training of an army. While housed here, soldiers gain a bonus to their training speed and the speed at which skills level up increases when using the training facilities. These bonuses increase proportionally with the operating rate up to a maximum of twice the standard bonuses.

Accommodations: 1500 soldiers
Training Bonus: 13%
Skill Proficiency Bonus: 130%
Operation Bonus: 0%

---

Cheng Yang knew the actual properties of the Barracks already from his past life. What he was really interested in was the operating rate.

Right now, High-Grade Meditation Halls were superior to training in the Barracks. However, as the number and quality of the soldiers increased, the operating rate would increase. Once it reached its peak, the Barracks would be on equal footing with Standard-Grade Meditation Halls.

And that was only as a Low-Grade Barracks. Once you add in the numbers factor, the Barracks was perhaps the single most significant investment Cheng Yang could make in regards to raising the army’s strength.

[1] Apparently this idiom usually means “a man who sleeps around but doesn’t get tied down” so I’m not sure if this is an innuendo or not

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Similar to Joyous River Village, the newly founded Silkworm Mountain didn’t bestow its soldiers with an Innate Ability.

It wasn’t that rare for a territory to do so if it was a Territory Altar deep in the wilderness. But, if it was one of the starting territories near the safe zones, finding a territory that bestowed an Innate Ability was nearly impossible.

Cheng Yang sighed when he looked at the brambly clearing around the Territory Altar. When he claimed Joyous River Village, the gods had kindly built a road for him, but they weren’t so generous this time. Getting civilians and materials to the village was going to be a massive logistics problem.

Without a road, Silkworm Mountain’s development would lag behind the other two territories under Cheng Yang’s control.

Cheng Yang forced himself to stop dwelling on the issue. It was enough to have three territories! Be content!

Cheng Yang then went back and brought Yu Kai and the others to the clearing.

Just like everyone had expected, Cheng Yang made Yu Kai the Governer of the village. As for the Vice-Governor, it was one of Yu Kai’s former Vice-Captains, Liu Chengen, a Warrior with an S-Rank Innate Ability.

Cheng Yang directed Yu Kai and his soldiers to guard the village while he returned to Phoenix Village alone.

In the future, Cheng Yang would need to send another group of soldiers to Silkworm Mountain to deliver wood and civilians. Without both, Yu Kai’s group would constantly be on edge without a wall, and the army wouldn’t expand. But, even if Cheng Yang mobilized the entire Phoenix Village army, he wasn’t sure that there would be enough soldiers for a successful journey.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a better option, so Cheng Yang would have to rely on the Imperial Guard to protect the village until the army returned.

Cheng Yang’s journey home went smoothly, and he only needed forty minutes to traverse the thirty-kilometer distance.

It was noon when Cheng Yang arrived.

At the moment, most of the soldiers had gathered in the Inner Village for lunch, which saved Cheng Yang from the trouble of trying to gather his forces.

Just as Cheng Yang was about to call out to them, Old Lee ran up and grabbed Cheng Yang’s arms. “You’ve really picked up a treasure this time, my Lord!” He said while laughing excitedly.

“What treasure?” Cheng Yang asked.

“That young lady you brought back from Cloud City. This morning when I was looking for people that had an aptitude for the Priest class, Pang Sun asked me to examine her friend. When I did, I found that she was suitable for the class, so since she was your guest, I immediately performed her class change ceremony.”

Cheng Yang cut him off, “I’m busy right now, so get to the point.”

Old Lee smiled. “My Lord, that girl’s Innate Abilities are heaven-defying. There’s no point in me explaining them. You need to check them for yourself.”

Cheng Yang doubted it was important enough to delay his plans, but he trusted Old Lee enough to check anyways. As such, he immediately walked over to the Territory Altar and checked Liu Wei’s status pane.

---

Liu Wei
Phoenix Village Soldier
Class: Priest
Level: Low-Grade Apprentice (0%)

Age	19	Life Span	110
HP	34.6	MP	43.2
Physical Attack	1	Magic Attack	8.6
Physical Defense	1.7	Magic Defense	1.4
Attack Speed	1	Movement Speed	3

Innate Abilities

• Gods Apostle (Special Ability): As the Gods Apostle you have access to the unique skill Smite. This skill allows you to target an individual with the higher of the Physical Attack or Magic Attack that is lower than the amount healed by your Healing Light skill with the Gods’ wrath. There is a percentage chance based on the difference to instantly kill the individual.
• Absolute Luck (Special Ability): All effects have a 100% activation rate
• Movement speed is increased by 200%

Skills

• Meditation (Low Grade): Meditate to absorb experience fragments and level up
• Healing Light (Low Grade): Send a ray of holy light down to heal a target| Heal: 22.9 | Cost: 5 MP | Cast Time: 1 sec | Proficiency: 0%
• Smite (Unique): Call upon the gods to kill your enemies | Cost: 10 MP | Cooldown: 2 sec

Equipment

• Infinite Knot Pendant: Status symbol of the priest | Used to cast healing spells

---

“What the fuck is this!” Cheng Yang couldn’t help but swear after seeing Liu Wei’s Innate Abilities.

In terms of her actual attributes, Liu Wei was weak, but she did have two Special Innate Abilities. Although Special Innate Abilities are always versatile, neither of Liu Wei’s Innate Abilities were particularly well suited to the Priest class.

Although Absolute Luck was powerful, Priests didn’t have many skills with optional effects. As for the Smite skill, it was an instant death skill, so its chances of activating were probably low. Since that was the case, as a Priest, her Mana would be better spent healing others.

However, since she had both skills, it created a shameless combination.

A scene played out in Cheng Yang’s mind. A powerful warlord confronted a beautiful woman on a field, then she said, “It is the gods’ will that you die.” and the warlord’s heart stopped. How fucking cool would that be!?

As long as Liu Wei raised her level high enough, she would be unstoppable! She would become Phoenix Village’s secret weapon! If she stayed in Phoenix Village, of course.

“My Lord, isn’t Miss Liu special?” Old Lee asked with a knowing smile after watching Cheng Yang’s reaction.

After hearing the question, Cheng Yang sunk into deep contemplation before giving his opinion. “I don’t think this combo is as good as it looks. Since Smite only works on enemies at the same level as you, if she runs into someone even a single level higher than her, she’ll be powerless, especially since she doesn’t have a single normal Innate Ability. In the end, she’s nothing but the world’s only person with an F-Rank Innate Ability.”

Old Lee was stunned, and although he wanted to refute Cheng Yang’s words, he couldn’t.

“Of course,” Cheng Yang continued, “that would only be if she didn’t have Phoenix Village backing her. As long as we’re willing to invest everything we can into power leveling her, she’ll become a powerful card we can play. She’ll also be able to attack some higher level monsters thanks to the research bonuses applied by Priest statue. By the way, how many people know about her Innate Abilities?”

“Just me, Liu Wei, and maybe Pang Sun. When I saw her status pane, I decided to keep it a secret until you came back and asked Liu Wei to do the same.” Old Lee replied.

Cheng Yang nodded with satisfaction. “That’s good. We need to handle this carefully since she won’t be useful to us until she levels up a few times. If an enemy of the village finds out about her abilities, she’ll definitely become a target for assassination.”

“Don’t worry. Even if someone held a knife to my neck, I wouldn’t tell them a thing.”

“That’s good to hear, but you’re my right-hand man. In the future, which bastard would dare to threaten you like that.”

Old Lee gently smiled when he realized how much Cheng Yang trusted him.

“By the way, which brigade did you assign Liu Wei to?” Cheng Yang asked.

“I haven’t given her an assignment yet.” Old Lee sighed, “I was hoping you would be willing to make her a part of your elite guards. That would allow you to accelerate her growth and protect her secrets. If we allow ordinary soldiers to get to close to her, there’s no guarantee someone won’t find out.”

He had the same idea, so Cheng Yang agreed to follow through with Old Lee’s proposal.

“Shall I call Miss Liu over?” Old Lee asked.

During the expedition to Silkworm Mountain, there were bound to be several large scale battles. If Liu Wei participated, she would be able to adapt to the life of a soldier quickly. As such, Cheng Yang ordered Old Lee to bring Liu Wei before him.

Shortly after, Liu Wei’s charming voice caressed Cheng Yang’s ears. “What can I do for you, my Lord?”

Cheng Yang smiled. “There’s no need to be nervous. You’re one of my soldiers now. I’ve called you here because the army is going to be transporting supplies to the newest village I’ve captured, and I want you by my side. I want you to become a powerful fighter as soon as possible.”

“I am at your disposal, my Lord.” Liu Wei was vividly aware of her situation. Since Cheng Yang was willing to treat her well, she was determined not to become a simple tool.

Cheng Yang nodded. Then, without drawing attention to Liu Wei, he organized the army to prepare for the journey.

After the expedition was underway, Cheng Yang summoned Liu Wei to his side. “Liu Wei, are you aware of what your Innate Abilities represent?”

“I do, my Lord. I actually used to play games like this in the old world. My Innate Abilities have incredible potential, but if I can’t level up fast enough, the only use will be clearing out cannon fodder.” Liu Wei answered.

Cheng Yang was impressed. It seemed like Liu Wei wasn’t a delicate flower. If she hadn’t died so early on in his past life, she would undoubtedly have become a prominent figure in the area.

“From now on, stick close by my side, okay?” Cheng Yang said directly.

If Cheng Yang had said this before the apocalypse, a mob of Liu Wei’s admirers would have rushed forward to beat him to a pulp. Even Liu Wei would have ridiculed him. But now, Liu Wei didn’t even laugh. She even found his words somewhat endearing.

Although Liu Wei wasn’t sure if this was a proposal from Cheng Yang, she didn’t think he was the kind of person to abuse his power to take advantage of women. Everything she had witnessed since entering Phoenix Village indicated that he was a morally upright person.

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