Author: Xevinaly

Regardless of the specifics of its effects, Cheng Yang planned to use the Statue Lifting Stone to increase the number of people who could perform a class change ceremony.

Cheng Yang was somewhat unwilling to leave the instance. Although the Statue Lifting Stone was a great item, it didn’t live up to his expectations for obtaining the first clear of the Nightmare Difficulty. Of course, that was only when he compared to getting a secondary class from the Normal Difficulty.

After joining up with his group, Cheng Yang left the instance.

Since it would be a good source of equipment, Cheng Yang intended to send members of the Imperial Guard into the Nightmare Difficulty every day. It would also speed up the rate at which the territory accrued Experience Fragments significantly.

Since they would be able to run the dungeon ten times a day, it would increase the daily income of the village by at least fifteen thousand Experience Fragments.

After organizing that, Cheng Yang used the Statue Lifting Stone on the Preist class change statue.

A moment later, the number of people who could become Priests increased to thirty. This total was the combined effect of the Statue Lifting Stone and Old Lee’s Innate Ability.

Since there were fifteen new slots open, Cheng Yang needed to find suitable candidates to fill them. Even with nearly a hundred thousand civilians, it would be a difficult task to find that many people who were fit to become Priests.

This time, however, Cheng Yang would pass the responsibility to Old Lee since he also had the authority to check people’s aptitude.

By now, the various army units in Phoenix Village had gradually entered a combat groove, and the division of labor among the Professionals had become apparent. Every day the soldiers were able to earn up to sixty Experience Fragments. Then, to double their training speed, the army personnel would save some of their earnings.

The only impediment to their progress was the increased number of Standard-Grade monsters. The only hordes left nearby were those with hundreds of members which acted as a barrier for the village’s growth.

One way to fix the problem was for Cheng Yang to go out and cull hordes to an acceptable size. The only other solution would be to increase the number of Standard-Grade soldiers. That way, the five brigades would be able to defeat the hordes without Cheng Yang’s help.

The group that performed their class change ceremonies on the day of the apocalypse was on the verge of reaching Standard Grade. Liu As for the rest of the soldiers, they would level up a few days later. In particular, thanks to Cheng Yang’s investments, his best friends and Old Lee would level up by tomorrow. Since there wasn’t a way for Cheng Yang to affect how fast the majority of the army leveled up, so whenever he had the chance, he’d try and thin the hordes surrounding the village.

Cheng Yang’s schedule for today included claiming the Territory Altar North of the Cloud City. It was the last territory near Cloud City, so if Cheng Yang wanted more satellite villages, he would have to explore the farther away areas.

This time, Cheng Yang would only bring Yu Kai and his soldiers. Even though they would miss their designated training time slot, no one complained. After seeing what happened to Liu Hau, everyone could tell Cheng Yang intended to make Yu Kai the Governor of the new village.

Before leaving, Cheng Yang filled his Spacial Ring with potions, leaving him with just over a hundred thousand Experience Fragments. Although he had earned quite a few yesterday, buying a Spacial Ring had negated his effort.

Shortly after that, the group departed from the North Gate towards Cloud City.

As they passed through the city, the group stopped to clear The Forgotten Grave since it was nearby. Since Cheng Yang’s strength had improved by leaps and bounds, it was a short detour.

As the group continued their journey North, they began to encounter refugees. Although there were still a lot of refugees around, their numbers, in general, had decreased.

Their situation had experienced a slight change.

Monsters started forming hordes a few days ago, and since newly spawned monsters weren’t killed fast enough, Cloud City had reached its limit for the number of monsters in a single area. This meant that the spawn rate had decreased, making it easier for the refugees to move around.

Also, ordinary people could obtain Experience Fragments when they killed monsters now. So, as long as a refugee was able to get ten, they could perform a class change ceremony in the safe zone.

Thus, some of the braver or more desperate refugees were banding together to hunt monsters. Unfortunately, their only option was to use numbers to beat a single monster to death with their bare hands, so casualties were unavoidable. It was a dangerous process, but the rewards were more than worth it.

Moreover, Yuan Jianzhe tacitly approved of these people performing class change ceremonies. At the very least, by ignoring the people who did it, he was telling civilians that as long as they were brave enough, the military would allow them to obtain power. People who were able to accomplish the task of earning ten Experience Fragments were even fought over by the various militias in the safe zone.

It was hard for most to refuse an olive branch from established powers, but there would always be people who refused to be controlled by others. Those few ambitious people would form teams with each other to hunt monsters.

These independent teams would eventually grow in size by accumulating Experience Fragments among them and then pooling them to allow a new member to perform a class change ceremony.

Soon, the number of Professionals in Cloud City would reach unimaginable levels.

As always, when Cheng Yang met a group of refugees, he told them to wait where they were. Once he finished his business in the North, he would come back for them.

When the group arrived at the northern bridge, they found a massive horde of monsters guarding it. But this time, the main monster wasn’t something tricky like the Skull Spotted Spiders. Instead, it was just a group of Mephits.

This made Cheng Yang happy. Without warning the others, he dashed into the horde. He was facing hundreds of monsters on his own, but his Petal Blizzard skill made it seem like he was harvesting wheat.

A little over ten minutes later, the battle was over. All that remained was a pile of bloody corpses and a pristine scroll.

When Cheng Yang opened the scroll’s system pane, he realized it was a potion recipe.

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Magic Amplification Potion (Recipe)
With just a few simple ingredients and a disregard for the side effects of taking too many, even novice mages can be useful in a war!

Requirements: High-Grade Alchemist
Effect: Increase Magic Attack by 2 for five minutes

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It was a good recipe. Someone else had obtained it in Cheng Yang’s past life, and the potion itself went on to become one of the most sought after items in the area around Cloud City.

Now that Cheng Yang had it, the potion would reach even greater heights! Which idiot allowed him to get so overpowered? If he combined his Alchemy Talent and Perfect Medicinal Body, each potion would increase his Magic Attack by eight points! That was more than a Purple Silver stave!

Cheng Yang started laughing. With this as a hidden ace, even if he ran into a Mature monster, he’d be able to win.

Once he calmed down, Cheng Yang tried to learn the recipe, but he failed.

Cheng Yang slapped his forehead. In his excitement, he had overlooked the fact that he didn’t meet the requirements to learn the recipe.

What a shame, if it just needed him to become a Standard-Grade Alchemist, he would be able to learn the recipe in four or five days. As for reaching the High-Grade level, Cheng Yang would need to wait at least another week or two after that. He would have to wait quite some time before he would be able to use Magic Amplification Potions.

Cheng Yang put the scroll into his Spacial Ring and order the group to keep moving. As they walked through the forest, the same scene from the day before played on repeat. Every couple hundred meters, Cheng Yang’s group would encounter a horde with a few hundred monsters.

The general procedure would be for Cheng Yang to use Sacrificial Blood Cloud. Then, the five lucky individuals would decimate the monsters. If the horde was too big, Cheng Yang would deal with it on his own. Although it slowed them down, it was far safer.

Two hours later, with the help of knowledge from his previous life, Cheng Yang arrived at the approximate location of the Territory Altar. Once he did, Cheng Yang separated from the group and approached the guardian horde alone.

A few minutes later, Cheng Yang stared down the monsters surrounding the Territory Altar. Since the horde wasn’t any stronger than the one guarding the other territory, Cheng Yang didn’t bother thinking up a plan. He was able to use the same tactic as yesterday without even feeling pressured.

An hour later, Cheng Yang placed his hand on the Territory Altar and claimed it.

Watching the class change statues force their way out of the ground, Cheng Yang’s was filled with pride. The world was vast, but who else was capable of capturing three Territory Altars before the end of the second week of the apocalypse.

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Watching Xue Yu and the Boss enter a deadlock again, the rest of the party sighed in relief.

The battle after that was very smooth. Every time Xue Yu’s Health dropped to a low point, Zheng Yue healed her. Everything was proceeding in the direction Cheng Yang had predicted.

Ahn Sumin decided against summoning another dire wolf earlier since the Boss’s aggro would be disrupted, which could affect the battle. Now, however, was the perfect time for his summons to enter the fray.

A short time later, Cheng Yang reduced the Boss’s Health to below seven hundred. In just three more rounds of attacks, it would be dead.

Suddenly, the Boss’s eyes turned red and filled with an insatiable madness.

Cheng Yang’s eyes widened as his body instinctively moved between the Boss and Zheng Yue. “Back off! Get ready to heal!”

The rest of the group responded swiftly, especially Xue Yu. The moment she heard Cheng Yang’s voice, she sprang backward.

“Die…” The Boss croaked. Cracks appeared all over its body and out of those cracks, leaked pulsing, blood-red clouds which spread out in all directions.

It blew forwards, eroding the very ground beneath it. The first to be engulfed was Ahn Sumin’s dire wolf. It’s skin melted away instantly, and before it could scream, the bloody clouds turned its vocal cords to dust. A moment later, it was dead.

Although Xue Yu was fast, the clouds were faster. She only escaped a few meters before the clouds engulfed her as well. She cried out in pain but continued to stagger forwards as the clouds dissolved her flesh.

Cheng Yang and the others weren’t spared. The bloody clouds swept past them, slowly eroding their bodies but at a much slower pace than the dire wolf or Xue Yu.

At the time, Xue Yu had taken at least five hundred points of damage. Although she’d chugged a Health Recovery potions when she started retreating, it wasn’t enough. Now she only had a few tens of Health points left before she became a corpse.

“Heal Xue Yu!” Cheng Yang shouted. Zheng Yue popped out from behind him and sent a ray of healing light towards Xue Yu.

The healing spell and the potion took effect at the same time that the bloody clouds started to dissipate. This allowed Xue Yu’s Health to increase to enter a safe range. Now, even if the Boss attacked her, she would survive the first couple hits.

After being healed, Xue Yu powered through the pain and rushed the Boss with her sword. After driving them back, the Boss had finally stepped outside the doors of the cathedral. If Xue Yu wasn’t able to stop it, the Boss would start attacking Cheng Yang and Zheng Yue.

Before Xue Yu could reach the Boss, an icicle flew past her head and hit the Boss in the chest. The menacing creature stopped moving, and it fell flat on its back.

Everyone in the group other than Cheng Yang was stunned. Didn’t that guy have a seven hundred Health left? Even if they’re estimates were off, it still should have had a few hundred Health points. How did Cheng Yang’s Icicle Blast kill it?

Cheng Yang lowered his stave with a smile. “Yall may not know, but the Boss just made a gamble with its life on the line. It used a powerful area of effect attack that dealt damage proportional to the amount of Health it sacrifices. This damage is cumulative among multiple people, so luckily, Xue Yu didn’t die since the dire wolf did. It went all-in on this move, foolishly hoping to kill all of use but only leaving itself with a single Health point. Thus, I sealed its fate with one attack.”

Zheng Yue suddenly understood why Cheng Yang leaped in front of her when the Boss attacked. She didn’t have a large Health pool, so if the Boss’s attack was more potent than Cheng Yang expected, there was a chance she would have died. After all, Cheng Yang lost nearly a hundred Health even after the attack hit two people.

“My Lord, isn’t that skill overpowered?” Xue Yu asked, her heart still beating quickly, “If the Boss used that skill at the start of the fight, we all would have died in an instant.”

“Thankfully, that’s not possible.” Cheng Yang said, “The prerequisite for using that skill is having less than ten percent of your total Health. More importantly, a Boss in the Nightmare Difficulty shouldn’t even have that skill. I must be because we’re doing the first clear.”

Cheng Yang was lucky that he had heard of this skill before. Although he never tried to clear the Hell Difficulty, he’d heard about the Boss’s trump card from others who had. So, when he saw the Boss’s eyes turn red, he reacted instinctively.

If not for his timely warning, Xue Yu would have been in front of the dire wolf and taken more than enough damage to die without leaving a corpse.

Now that the battle was over, even though there were some tight spots, everyone felt that the result was satisfactory. They had successfully obtained the first clear of the Nightmare Difficulty.

Of course, in return for the difficulty, the rewards for the Nightmare Difficulty first clear were incomparable to those for the Normal Difficulty one. Although Cheng Yang had no way of knowing what grade of equipment the Boss dropped, there were rumors in his past life that it was Red Gold quality.

Looking at the silvery-white staff that the Boss dropped. Cheng Yang smiled. It seemed like his bone stave would finally be replaced with something better.

Although Cheng Yang thought like that, he’d only had his current stave for seven days or so. If anyone from his past life saw the rate at which his equipment quality increased, their eyes would be red with envy.

Cheng Yang picked up the loot and checked its system pane.

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Mithral Stave of the Future Archmage
Forged from the magical metal Mithral, this stave was gifted to a talented young mage who later reached the pinnacle of magic.

Grade: Red Gold
Class: Mage
Requirements: High Grade Apprentice
Durability: 120/120
Effect: Increase Magic Attack by 10
Effect: Increases the level of the Magic Missile skill by 1

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It was a god-like piece of equipment!

Cheng Yang wasn’t impressed by the bonus to his Magic Attack attribute since a plus ten was to be expected from equipment of this grade. But the other effect it had was incredible. Raising the level of the Magic Missile skill was the same thing as adding a 10% damage increase.

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t benefit Cheng Yang in the slightest. Since he was a Cryomancer, he didn’t have the Magic Missile skill. Although Icicle Blast was a better skill, it meant he wouldn’t be able to utilize the stave’s best effect.

Even unique subclasses had their downsides! The dungeons probably only dropped generic equipment, so the only way he could find equipment suitable for his class would be to find materials and have a Blacksmith make it for him.

Even with that depressing disadvantage, the stave Cheng Yang picked up was still a weapon worthy of his use. If a ranked list of all the equipment on Earth existed, it would be at the very top.

Cheng Yang put his old stave into his Spacial Ring, then equipped his new one. Once he left the instance, he would give his old one away to one of the Mages in his territory.

“My Lord, since we’ve vanquished our foe, should we return?” Xue Yu jubilantly said as she finished healing her wounds.

“Not yet. There’s no way someone else cleared this difficulty before us, so there should be something good inside the cathedral. Wait here. I’ll go fetch it.”

Cheng Yang entered the cathedral on his own. It looked more or less the same as it did in the lower difficulties. The only significant change was that the walls were painted with blood.

There was a chest on the pulpit, and inside was an ordinary-looking object. Rather than something valuable, it seemed to be just a cracked piece of stone.

Cheng Yang knew what the rewards were for getting the first clear on the lower level difficulties of the Blood-Soaked Cathedral, but he had no clue what the object in front of him was.

When he picked it up, Cheng Yang immediately checked the objects system pane.

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Statue Lifting Stone (Priest)

Double any one attribute of a Priest class change statue.

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After reading the description, Cheng Yang’s mind was filled with questions. When he used the stone, would it double the current attribute value? Or would it double the base attribute value? What would happen after the statue leveled up again?

If it was the former, it would be better to wait since the bonus would be more valuable later. But if it was the latter, it wouldn’t matter when he used it.

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The strength of Cheng Yang’s party was incomparable to a typical group. Without even considering their levels, every member had a full set of Black Iron equipment and one or two pieces of Green Bronze equipment. If the Imperial Guard were able to leave Phoenix Village, Cheng Yang had absolute confidence that his current party would be able to raze Cloud City.

“Get rid of the other Mephits first. Then we can make a plan for the Boss.” Cheng Yang ordered.

No one objected since the strongest monsters in the area – Pinnacle-Grade Immature monsters – didn’t pose a challenge for them. When they were still High-Grade Apprentices, they were able to defeat monsters at that level on their own.

The ensuing battles confirmed that fact. Cheng Yang’s group efficiently resolved each fight. Even Pinnacle-Grade monsters were killed in a single round of attacks.

In less than ten minutes, they cleared all of the courtyards. Along the way, they picked up two pieces of Purple Silver equipment.

First clears were the best for loot, and the Nightmare Difficulty was no exception.

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Necklace of the Unknown Sage
The sage sat quietly as the world burned around her, her knowledge useless and dry. Even up until the moment she was murdered, the sage remained silent.

Grade: Purple Silver
Class: Unrestricted
Requirements: Low Grade Apprentice
Durability: 100/100
Effect: Increase Magic Attack by 4

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Nessaf’s Bow
The bow of a Wood Elf assassin. It was designed to fire off powerful arrows one after another into a target’s back.

Grade: Purple Silver
Class: Ranger
Requirements: Low Grade Apprentice
Durability: 100/100
Effect: Increase Physical Attack by 6

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Naturally, Cheng Yang took the Necklace of the Unknown Sage so that he could increase his damage by two points. As for the bow, it went to Hayashi Airi, the only Ranger in the group. The bonus it granted was three points better than her Black Iron equipment, so it was a powerful piece of equipment.

Cheng Yang gazed up at the cathedral in front of him and felt his heart freeze.

In his previous life, Cheng Yang had the opportunity to enter the Nightmare Difficulty. Although he was just a helper at the time, he fully understood the power of a Mature Greater Mephit. What’s more, the Greater Mephit was a Boss.

“Xue Yu, will you be able to withstand the Boss’s attacks?” Cheng Yang asked quietly.

“I have a base Physical Defense of twenty-nine, and when Zheng Yue uses Shield of Faith, it will raise to thirty points five. If I add in my armor, my Physical Defense is thirty-two point five, so the Boss can deal a maximum of forty-eight point five damage with each attack. With my Health, I’ll be able to tank twelve attacks, but that’s only when I get hit. Even though the Boss is a Mature monster, with my fighting skills, it’ll be hard for it to get past my shield. So, if we also consider our healing options, I’ll be fine.” Xue Yu said.

Cheng Yang listened and nodded his head. If Xue Yu said so, he trusted her.

Alright, in that case, after Ahn Sumin lures the Boss out with his dire wolf, use Shield Bash to stun it. I’ll keep Hibernation Chill in reserve in case something happens. This is going to be a hard battle.” Cheng Yang commanded, “Ahn Sumin, summon your wolf now and then wait for the skill’s cooldown to finish. Only then should we start the fight.”

Ahn Sumin nodded, then swung his staff into the air, summoning a dire wolf. The powerful Pinnacle-Grade beast appeared out of thin air. It was bigger than the wolves other Summoners had.

At the same time, Zheng Yue cast Angelic Inspiration on Ahn Sumin. As for Cheng Yang and the others, Zheng Yue buffed them in previous battles. Since the spell lasted for ten minutes, there was still some time left before the effects expired.

A minute after the dire wolf was summoned, Ahn Sumin directed it to open the door of the cathedral. Once it did, a furious cry could be heard from within as tremors shook the area.

“Get ready to fight!” Cheng Yang shouted. As he said that, a three meter tall Greater Mephit charged out of the cathedral.

Xue Yu dashed forwards, lifted her shield above her head, and hurtled towards the Boss like a meteor.

Although the Greater Mephit was formidable, it couldn’t react to Xue Yu’s boosted speed and was bashed. It’s powerful movements dulled as if it had fallen into a deep sleep.

Everyone sprang into action, including the dire wolf that was bait, and attacked the Boss. At the same time, a glowing yellow film covered Xue Yu as Zheng Yue cast Shield of Faith.

That round of attack reduced the Boss’s Health by over two hundred points.

Once the stun effect was lifted, the Boss was furious. Ignoring the other targets around it, it raised its spear to skewer Xue Yu.

Xue Yu was ready for the blow and thrust her shield forwards at an angle. Once the spear made contact, she swayed, peculiarly rolling her shield. With a grating screech, Xue Yu deflected the spear into the ground while keeping her stance firm.

What she did wasn’t a skill. It was a pure combat technique. The future of shields in combat revolved around dispersing the force behind an enemy’s blows. Without that technique, it would be impossible to tank for a party. Unskilled Warriors would end up flying through the air if powerful attacks hit them. A Warrior like that was useless in a fight.

After it failed to hit Xue Yu, the Boss lifted the spear in its other hand and thrust it towards Xue Yu’s other shoulder. It would seem that Xue Yu’s Shield Bash had angered the Boss since it even ignored the aggro ability of the summoned dire wolf. As for the ones doing damage, the Boss completely ignored them.

Xue Yu was slower than the Boss, and her shield didn’t entirely cover her shoulder. Although the attack looked easy to block, Xue Yu’s current stance didn’t allow her arm to move correctly. She was powerless to escape the spear’s tip.

Xue Yu grit her teeth in pain as the spear pierced her flesh. Although the spear was wickedly sharp, the god’s rules prevented Xue Yu’s arm from breaking.

At the same time, the rest of the group’s attacks hit the Boss. Xue Yu also counterattacked despite the pain, snaking her sword under the Boss’s ribcage. This four-way pincer attack dealt almost three hundred damage.

Hitting Xue Yu appeased the Boss’s anger, so its next set of attacks rained down on Ahn Sumin’s dire wolf.

Taking advantage of the opening, Zheng Yue healed Xue Yu then spent his time re-applying Angelic Inspiration on the rest of the party.

At the same time that the party reduced the Boss’s Heath by a quarter, it’s furious flurry of attacks killed the dire wolf. With the summon’s death, the Boss switched to target the next highest source of aggro: Cheng Yang.

Xue Yu’s combat experience allowed her to notice the Boss’s intention the moment it looked at Cheng Yang. Dashed in front of the Boss, she drew a bloody line across its waist with her sword.

Even after suffering that attack, the Boss’s intention didn’t change. Leaning forward, it prepared to bypass Xue Yu and attack Cheng Yang.

How could Xue Yu just let the Boss run past her? As someone summoned from the Imperial Guard Pavilion, she was naturally a combat prodigy. Every time the Greater Mephit tried to move forward, she would block it with her body and sword.

Taking advantage of her brilliant entanglement, Cheng Yang and the others attacked.

Unable to escape Xue Yu, the Boss understood one thing: “Unless I deal with this tenacious bastard, I won’t be able to deal with those annoying flies in the back.”

This time, when it lifted its spear, it seemed to gain an indescribable amount of weight and was covered with a golden sheen. It silently shot forwards, ready to split Xue Yu’s forehead.

As soon as Xue Yu saw the attack, she realized the Boss was using a skill, and although she wanted to dodge it completely, she was too deeply intertwined with the Boss to do so. All she could do was use her shield to cover her head and prepare to receive the blow.

When the spear met the shield, it rang out with the sound of a majestic gong that rang in the party’s ears for a long time.

At the same time, Xue Yu’s muscles froze up, and her eyes glazed over. The Boss’s attack was a special one that carried a stun effect!

The Greater Mephit sneered down at Xue Yu. Then, it used its other spear to bat her across the pavilion, as if it were sweeping away garbage.

Without Xue Yu holding the line, the Boss would be able to leave the restrictive doorway to the cathedral. The collapse of their defensive line didn’t mean they were defeated, but it would be much harder to stop the Boss from attacking the squishier members of the party.

It was at that moment that Cheng Yang finished casting a spell. With a chilling crack, the Boss was enveloped in an ice-cold blast of air; it’s sneer freezing onto its face.

During those two precious seconds when the Boss was frozen, every member of the party used their most lethal attacks.

Xue Yu woke up and used Shield Bash to reach the Boss before it was able to wake up. Although she wasn’t close enough to land the skill, she reestablished the defensive line.

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Cheng Yang put the ring on his finger and used his consciousness to probe it. Suddenly, he felt an independent space open up inside the ring. It was rather small, so it couldn’t fit bulky items, but it was suitable for storing potions.

Since Space Rings didn’t provide any Attribute bonuses, it wasn’t considered equipment. As such, it wouldn’t take up one of Cheng Yang’s ring equipment slots.

Seeing Cheng Yang put on the ring and prepare to leave, the Grocery manager couldn’t help but say: “My Lord, are you sure you don’t need anything else? My store has-“

“Not at the moment. The next time I have the opportunity to visit your shop, I will.” Cheng Yang smiled backward at the manager before walking out.

Then, Cheng Yang began training.

The thirty-two times training speed Cheng Yang unlocked earlier was gratifying for him. It was the highest training bonus he could obtain for a long time to come since the next level up required a million Experience Fragments to unlock.

Once Cheng Yang finished training, his experience bar was 13.1% full. As long as he was able to maintain this speed, Cheng Yang would level up in forty days.

In his previous life, the highest level human was still an Apprentice, but in under two months, Cheng Yang would surpass that and reach the second stage of evolution. Progressing that quickly gave him an advantage you can only imagine.

Once the sun rose, Cheng Yang left his house and started new research for the Mage statue. For the four primary class change statues, there was only one research topic remaining. Once that research finished, the statues would reach Pinnacle Grade, and there would be explosive growth in the number of Professionals in Phoenix Village. Cheng Yang didn’t forget to start new research for the Priest statue as well.

When he was done, Cheng Yang prepared to enter the Blood-Soaked Cathedral.

With his current combat strength, Cheng Yang no longer felt pressured by the Hard Difficulty instance, so he set his sights on the Nightmare Difficulty. Obtaining the prizes from the first clear of the Nightmare Difficulty was one of the fundamental reasons Cheng Yang chose to use Divine Grace instead of waiting to level up.

Someone in his past life had managed to clear Nightmare Difficulty of the Blood-Soaked Cathedral before, so Cheng Yang knew that the Boss at the end was a Low-Grade Mature monster.

Although the Boss was a Mature monster, that wasn’t why Nightmare Difficulty used the word “nightmare.” Although Cheng Yang had been referring to the strongest monster in an instance dungeon as a Boss, only those at the end of Nightmare Difficulty instances or higher were truly Boss monsters. In other words, in a Nightmare Difficulty instance, Boss wasn’t just a title; it was a rank similar to Elite.

According to the divisions created in his past life, the Boss title granted to the boss of a Nightmare Difficulty instance was only the lowest rank possible. Even so, the title raised the monsters Health by 1000% and both defense attributes by 100%. Although its damage didn’t increase, its survivability truly warranted calling it a boss monster.

To defeat a Boss, a party would need sustainable damage output instead of high damage output, putting a focus on defense and healing. Having a Priest was especially useful since the Boss would eventually kill the Warriors if they relied on potions for healing unless that Warrior could carry hundreds of potions.

A normal Low-Grade Mature monster would have a Health of 480, so a Boss would have 4,800, and its Physical and Mental Defense would be raised from 16 to 32.

In Cheng Yang’s past life, the hardest difficulty anyone had cleared was Nightmare. As for the Hell Difficulty, although people attempted it, no one had beaten it. Almost everyone was hunted down by the Boss, with the rare few being able to escape by hiding until the timer ran out.

If it was just the Health that increased, a party could still torture the Boss to death, but since the defense doubled as well, High-Grade humans wouldn’t even deal damage. Even normal Pinnacle-Grade humans would only deal single digit damage to the Boss. Killing it would be nearly impossible.

Cheng Yang started thinking about clearing the Nightmare Difficulty a long time ago, but he wasn’t strong enough, and no one in the village was able to help him. Now that he was Pinnacle-Grade, the situation changed.

Cheng Yang now dealt a staggering 130 damage, so the amount of damage the Boss would take would be considerable. As long as there were two people at his level in the dungeon, they would only need twenty-five rounds of attacking to kill the Boss.

However, during those rounds, the party would have to withstand the attacks of a monster that dealt 80 damage. Even Pinnacle-Grade Warriors equipped with Purple Silver equipment would find it hard to survive more than eight direct attacks.

To survive the fight, everyone involved would need to drink a Standard Grade Health Recovery potion after every attack.

Buying enough potions for a whole part would be expensive but acceptable as long as they cleared the instance. However, that was only assuming the fight went exactly as planned. Once a Boss started using skills, even the most prepared party would quickly crumble.

So, Cheng Yang planned to bring a Priest. Not only would this increase their damage output, but it would also secure their lives in a crisis.

Cheng Yang summoned the head Priest in the Imperial Guard, someone with an SS-Rank Innate Ability and the obvious choice. At the same time, Xue Yu and the other Elite Imperial Guards were summoned to make clearing the instance as smooth as possible.

Cheng Yang summoned the Elite Imperial Guard a few days ago and gave them some Experience Fragments yesterday, so they already knew their class’ advanced skills. Now Cheng Yang just needed to pay for the advanced Priest skill.

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• Shield Bash (Low-Grade): Triples the users speed and stuns a target with less than twice the user’s Physical Attack | Range: 25 m | Stun Time: 1 sec| Cooldown: 1 min | Level Needed: Standard Grade Apprentice | Price: 100 Experience Fragments

• Spectral Arrows (Low-Grade): Increases damage by condensing the users will onto each arrow, adding a second, spectral arrowhead | Buff: 10% | Duration: 1 min | Cost: 30 MP | Cooldown: 90 sec | Level Needed: Standard Grade Apprentice | Price: 100 Experience Fragments

• Shield of Faith (Low-Grade): Call upon the gods to defend an ally by increasing their defense attributes | Buff: 5% | Duration: 1 min | Cost: 20 MP | Cooldown: 30 sec | Level Needed: Standard Grade Apprentice | Price: 100 Experience Fragments

• Dire Wolves (Low-Grade): All summoned wolves are now Dire Wolves with a 10% stat increase compared to normal Wolves | Passive Skill | Level Needed: Standard Grade Apprentice | Price: 100 Experience Fragments

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Without a doubt, those four skills were incredibly useful and would play a key role in enhancing the combat effectiveness of their party.

The only dissatisfying skill was the Priest’s Shield of Faith. Of course, the unhappy person would be the Priest, not the rest of the team. Not being able to do damage would continue to be every Priest’s sore spot and a source of apprehension.

On the other hand, Priests would be in even higher demand, especially the ones from Phoenix Village. They would be able to buff damage, buff defense, and heal. What more could you need? Priests with high-level skills would become the core of every party.

Cheng Yang didn’t care about Priests being unable to attack since he only cared about their ability to strengthen a team. That was definitely better than just dealing damage. After all, there were only a few Priests in the village, so even if they could do damage, it wouldn’t help much.

Once the people he summoned arrived, Cheng Yang visited the Alchemy Tower to buy recovery potions. Then, he walked over to the entrance to the Blood-Soaked Cathedral.

Cheng Yang opened the status pane and without hesitation, selected Nightmare Difficulty.

As soon as they entered the instance, everyone felt an indescribable sense of awe. Endless red clouds covered the sky, releasing bloody rain onto the ground below.

The only difference between the Normal and Hard difficulties was that the sky was a little darker, but now the entire atmosphere had changed. Although the name hinted that this would be the case, it was still quite shocking.

Cheng Yang wasn’t surprised since he knew that in the Hell Difficulty, it was even worse. The entire instance was painted red with rivers of blood flowing through the area.

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On the way back, Cheng Yang’s claims were verified. With the horde gather around the Joyous River Territory Altar destroyed, monsters should have started spawning again. However, no matter how long he spent on the road, nothing attacked him.

When he reached the point where the Xiang River intersected the road, to his surprise, Cheng Yang found a bridge.

The single-arch stone bridge stretched right across the kilometer wide river. It could be considered a miracle. With humanity’s current technology level, it was absolutely impossible to make a bridge like that out of stone, but it seemed that the laws of physics didn’t restrict the gods.

Cheng Yang didn’t like to worry about things like that, so he crossed the bridge and continued on his journey.

Compared to the rough forest he had traveled through earlier, Cheng Yang moved much faster across the smoothly paved cobblestone. He was able to run back to Phoenix Village in just a few minutes.

It was about five in the afternoon when Cheng Yang returned. Just in time for a group of soldiers to finish their training and leave the safety of the village gates. It was likely that they were going out to hunt monsters.

Seeing Cheng Yang arrive, Lau Hui ran over to him.

“My Lord, why are you back so soon? Where are the others?” Since Cheng Yang usually didn’t come back until after dark, Lau Hui was concerned.

“We found another Territory Altar and occupied it. Right now, the others are defending the new village until I can bring back wood and human resources. They need to build a fence before they can come back.”

Lau Hui pointed to the road behind Cheng Yang, “Then does that path lead to the new village? We were wondering what that was and assumed the gods created it, but it turns out our Lord was the one to build it.” Lau Hui was overjoyed.

Cheng Yan ignored the question and said: “Don’t go out to farm monsters yet. I need all of the Warriors and Summoners to be wood porters. Try and get some from the other teams too so we can complete the task in one trip.”

Lau Hui nodded and sent some soldiers to fetch the wood. Since there weren’t any materials warehouses in Phoenix Village, the Loggers piled up all the logs next to the Territory Altar.

After the soldiers left, Cheng Yang went to the Outer Village. He needed to find eighty normal people to go with him to Joyous River Village. Since the class change statues in the new village hadn’t been used yet, Cheng Yang was eager to expand the number of forces under his command.

The selection process wasn’t very complicated. Cheng Yang gave priority to young people. Although a person’s age wouldn’t affect their stats after becoming Professionals, experience from his past life proved that the youth was a factor in receiving a good Innate Ability.

Cheng Yang decided not to let the other two people he brought back from Cloud City perform a class change ceremony today. He was going to wait until they could become soldiers for Phoenix Village. Zhou Jie would be a valuable asset, so Cheng Yang wouldn’t allow her to perform a class change ceremony anywhere else. As for Liu Wei, since she was Pang Sun’s best friend, naturally, she would want to stay in Phoenix Village.

Once Cheng Yang gathered eighty civilians, he walked over to the East Gate and found Lau Hui waiting there with a crowd of people. There were at least three hundred soldiers, with every two people carrying a log. The total amount of wood was easily four hundred units — more than enough for Joyous River Village’s early development.

With a shout from Cheng Yang, the procession set off.

Along the way, the soldiers were shocked by the lack of monsters. In their minds, the world outside the walls was a wasteland filled with monsters and danger. Aside from Cheng Yang, no one dares to walk around outside the walls alone. After all, even when they were in large teams, they still needed to be careful.

Right now, though, there wasn’t even a shadow of a monster to be found. It was all very unusual.

Even if they were curious, the soldiers kept their questions to themselves, except for Lau Hui. He didn’t hold back and asked Cheng Yang directly.

After Cheng Yang finished his explanation, Lau Hui was able to understand.

Suddenly, Lau Hui gasped. “My Lord, if we paved the entire world, wouldn’t we defeat the monsters once and for all!”

Cheng Yang glanced over at his friend. His imagination was praiseworthy, but unfortunately, his assumption was wrong. Regardless of whether the gods would allow that to happen after the Professionals realized the benefits of killing monsters, there wouldn’t be a single person willing to eliminate them.

It took the group nearly an hour to reach Joyous River Village.

When they arrived, Liu Hau and the other soldiers Cheng Yang left behind were scattered around the area, killing monsters. With more than thirty experience soldiers defending the village, anything that spawned was immediately ganged up on and slain.

Cheng Yang ordered the soldiers following him to set the wood on the ground next to the Territory Altar. Then, Liu Hau built the village wall.

A moment later, the village was surrounded by a thick, solid wall that gave everyone a strong sense of security. This was especially true for normal people. The uneasiness they felt during the journey to the village went away.

With that, Cheng Yang finished his job. Chen Chao would be able to take care of the rest as long as Cheng Yang left her in charge of the eighty civilians he brought.

Cheng Yang didn’t ask for much from Chen Chao. He left the Vice Governor with a thousand Experience Fragments and the duty to both protect the territory and perform class change ceremonies for the eighty normal people Cheng Yang brought.

Cheng Yang even explicitly forbid Chen Chao from further developing the village since there were bound to be large hordes in the surrounding area. If a horde in the thousands attacked the village right now, the monsters would raze it.

By the time Cheng Yang returned to Phoenix Village, it was already dark. So, he left the soldiers to their own devices and went to alchemize potions on the courtyard in his house. With the help of his new furnace, he was able to concoct thirty-five potions.

He then packed the potions into a bag and sold them to the Alchemy Tower manager at the agreed price, earning 1440 Experience Fragments.

All in all, Cheng Yang’s harvests for today were rich. Without even mentioning the new village or his Purple Silver equipment, he’d earned nearly ten thousand Experience Fragments. It was normal for someone who waged so many wars in one day to be rewarded. Especially the one he waged to captured Joyous River Village, he felt so badass.

Although Cheng Yang had a total of 110,000 Experience Fragments, it didn’t satisfy his greed. As soon as he finished selling the potions, he left Phoenix Village.

Cheng Yang moved with purpose and only fought hordes with five hundred monsters or more. Those hordes didn’t present much of a challenge to Cheng Yang, but the story would be different if a group of ordinary soldiers ran into one. Only after Cheng Yang cleared out the large hordes like this one would the soldiers of Phoenix Village be able to level up safely.

That night, Cheng Yang killed over three thousand monsters. In exchange, he consumed tens of potions. But compared to the number of Experience Fragments he earned, the cost was negligible.

In fact, if Cheng Yang were to distribute his Experience Fragments to others in the territory, it would be enough for ten people to unlock sixteen times training speed. Unfortunately, there weren’t ten people that could afford to pay for sixteen times training speed even if they could use it. Unless Cheng Yang were willing to subsidize their costs, it would be meaningless.

Would Cheng Yang be willing to subsidize anyone? Obviously not. Although Cheng Yang wanted to help people, he would only do so if it wasn’t a detriment to his interests. As it was now, it would be impossible for him to pay for everyone’s training fees even if he used all of the Experience Fragments he had.

Thus, after careful consideration, Cheng Yang decided to splurge a little and spend ten thousand Experience Fragments to buy a Spacial Ring.

The utility of a Spacial Ring went without saying, not having to carry things physically would allow an individual to fight without being weighed down. Not to mention the fact that they would also be able to take far more with them.

Cheng Yang immediately went inside the Grocery, the first time he had done so since he was reborn.

Compared to the other shops in the village, the Grocery was by far the loneliest. Not because the items inside were useless, but instead, they were too good. Except for the food, none of the things inside was something regular soldiers could afford.

“My Lord, what do you need to buy? My humble store has a wide variety of goods, so I’m confident that I can meet your needs.” When the manager saw Cheng Yang walk in, a warm smile filled his face.

“I need a Spacial Ring.”

When the manager heard that, his grin grew wider. “How big of a Spacial Ring do you need my Lord? My store supplies rings with a space as small as a cubic meter and as vast as a hundred cubic meters.”

“Just give me the smallest one.”

For a moment, there was a gleam of disappointment in the manager’s eyes. “My Lord, surely a single cubic meter of space is too little for you. May I recommend you purchase the ten cubic meter version? It’s only a hundred thousand Experience Fragments. Besides, if you buy a smaller ring now, won’t it just go to waste when you get a bigger one in the future?”

Cheng Yang scoffed. “Don’t worry about that. I already know that you can pay to have an existing ring’s space extended instead of buying a new one. So, not only is the smallest one, not a waste, there’s no reason for me to buy a bigger one at the moment. Bring it to me quickly.”

He met someone knowledgeable! Even though the manager’s heart mourned the loss, he still promptly brought out Cheng Yang’s ring. After all, ten thousand Experience Fragments was still something.

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In reality, Cheng Yang wasn’t sure how he would deal with his friends. Right now, they held four of the village’s general positions, but that was only a temporary solution until he found more qualified individuals.

In the future, if they grew into the role, Cheng Yang wouldn’t mind leaving them in their current positions. However, if they proved to be incompetent when it came to war, it was better to make them Governors.

Even so, Cheng Yang was going to make Liu Hau a Governor now. Not because his best friend was talented at managing internal affairs but because Cheng Yang wanted him to level up as quickly as possible. Lau Hui’s Vice-Governor could do the actual work.

Having made his decision, Cheng Yang quickly returned to the place he had left the rest of the group.

Having been forced to wait for two hours, Liu Hau and the others were feeling impatient. If not for their trust in Cheng Yang’s abilities, they would have already tried to follow him.

The moment Cheng Yang walked out of the forest, the whole group came to meet him.

“My Lord, you were gone for hours! Did you manage to find it?” Liu Hau asked.

“Everything’s settled. I’ll take you there now.” Cheng Yang walked back into the forest without explaining himself further.

The group looked at each other and then followed.

It only took them a few minutes to reach the corpse-filled clearing three kilometers away.

“My Lord, is that the altar you were talking about?” Liu Hau couldn’t help but ask, “Does that mean this is a village?”

“That’s right, welcome to Joyous River Village. Its Phoenix Village’s first subsidiary village and you, Koko, will be its first Governor. Think of it as being the Lord of a subsidiary village. Are you satisfied with that arrangement?” Cheng Yang asked.

“Me? As the Governor?” Liu Hau asked in disbelief, “Give me a break! I’m not cut out to be some administrator. Keeping track of all those bits of data and organizing chores would drive me insane!”

“You’ll only be a figurehead. ” Cheng Yang had expected Liu Hau to say that and immediately assured him. “In the future, your Vice-Governor will be the one responsible for managing the village. You know who I’m talking about, right?”

Liu Hau turned his head to look at the woman standing behind him, Chen Chao.

“Did you mean me?” Chen Chao looked around and saw that she was the only person Liu Hau had brought from the people he controlled. It wasn’t something Cheng Yang had told Liu Hau to do but rather was a coincidence and a test. After all, if Liu Hau hadn’t trusted Chen Chao enough to ask her to come with him on this mission, the Vice-Governor position would go to someone else.

After seeing Cheng Yang confirm her suspicious with a nod, Chen Chao started to ramble. “My Lord, this is… I managed a small business before the apocalypse, but this is a whole village, and as Phoenix Village’s first subsidiary village it’s very important that its governed properly and I’m afraid-“

“What are you worried about? This is something the Lord arranged for you.” Liu Hau encouraged, “My Lord, since you’ve recognized her talent, why don’t you just give her the position of Governor? I’ve only been with her for a few days, but she’s a very trustworthy person, and although she’s a little less passionate than a young person, she’s the perfect choice for running a village.”

“I won’t be changing my mind, so don’t shy away from the position of Governor.” Cheng Yang replied, “There’s a lot of benefits to being a Governor. As soon as you become the Governor, you’ll be able to level up, and when the village becomes a town, you’ll get another opportunity. Since we don’t have many high-level fighters, this is something I won’t let you refuse.”

Liu Hau listened to Cheng Yang with a solemn expression. He had the chance to get stronger, but he would also become responsible for people’s lives. “…Yoko, why don’t you give the position to Yu Kai? He thinks things through more than I do, and in terms of balance, he’s better than me.”

“Don’t worry about that. All of the generals will get the chance to become a Governor. Right now, it’s about whether you can seize this moment.”

Liu Hau thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll accept it. Is there some kind of inauguration?”

Cheng Yang nodded and then laid his bare hands on the Territory Altar behind him. After a few moments of fiddling around, Liu Hau became the Governor.

At the same time, a voice whispered to Liu Hau’s souls: “Congratulations. Governor Liu Hau has successfully taken office, opening the way to the village’s bright future. As the Governor of the world’s first subsidiary village, the gods have prepared a gift for you. A road will automatically be built, connecting Phoenix Village and Joyous River Village.”

Although Cheng Yang heard a slightly different message than Liu Hau, the general idea was the same.

Shortly after, near the south side of the village, trees began toppling over. When they hit the ground, their bark fell off in strips, and the wood started rotting at a visible pace. Each tree quickly decayed, turning into a mush that sank into the solidifying dirt. The group watched as a road thirty meters wide willed itself into existence.

It was as big as a two-way eight-lane highway!

Cheng Yang could barely hold back his joy. He knew full well that if Phoenix Village had to foot the bill, the price would be unimaginable. Just the raw materials would be enough to make anyone go crazy!

Once road building was unlocked, every three square meters built would cost the Lord a unit of stone. Thus, taking into account that the distance between the two villages was at least thirty kilometers, it took over 300,000 units of stone to create. It would take over a year for a thousand Miners to gather that much.

As for actually building the road, the Lord would need only press a button once the required materials were prepared, and the project would finish in an instant.

“My Lord, I didn’t expect that we’d be the first to get a second village!” Liu Hau said, looking at the new road, “It’s going to be so much easier than I thought for the two villages to keep in touch.”

Cheng Yang was all smiles. “Koko, this road means a lot more than that. Roads like this represent absolute safety for travelers exchanging goods between stations because the god’s rules protect them. Monsters won’t spawn near them, and almost all monsters avoid them.”

“so, in the future, even ordinary people will be able to travel between villages freely?”

“That’s right. Although there’s still some danger, compared to before, it’s a thousand times better. No, ten thousand times better.”

“My Lord, can we build a road to Tianfu City? That way, we can reach the city without any incidents.”

Cheng Yang knew that Tianfu was Liu Hau’s hometown, which meant his mother and sister lived there. Unfortunately, there was no way for Cheng Yang to fulfill his friend’s request.

“You’d better give up on that idea.” Cheng Yang said softly, “If we wanted to build a road that long the amount of stone needed would be astronomical. Even if we used the cheapest ten-meter wide option, the distance between us and Tianfu is over 1,500 kilometers away. It will be faster for us to focus on gathering our strength and then fight our way there.”

“But didn’t we make this road without needing to do much?”

Cheng Yang smiled sadly, “This was a reward from the gods, we wouldn’t be able to build it ourselves even if we tried.”

“Argh! Those damn rules.” Liu Hau sighed.

After that, Cheng Yang appointed Chen Chao to the Vice-Governor position.

When he was finished, Cheng Yang opened the Territory Altar’s system pane. There were two main differences when compared to the one in Phoenix Village: there was a new Permissions tab and the Divine Grace button had been replaced with a Divine Blessing button. Other than that, Joyous River Village was also missing something crucial that Phoenix Village had: an Innate Ability that it could give its soldiers.

The permissions tab would allow Cheng Yang to limit the authority of the Governor and Vice-Governor.

After setting the permissions of Liu Hao and Cai Tiancheng, Cheng Yang stepped onto the road and headed towards Phoenix Village.

Without wood and manpower, Joyous River Village would never develop. So, the first thing Cheng Yang needed to do was send some civilians carrying wood to the village to perform class change ceremonies. After that, the vilalge would become more or less self sufficient.

The rest of his group would have to stay behind and defend the village from any monsters that spawned. Since there wasn’t a wall yet, it was possible for the monsters to destroy the Territory Altar, turning Cheng Yang’s first subsidiary village into a shadow of the past.

As for Liu Hau’s usage of Divine Blessing, he had decided to wait a few days. Since he would reach the Standard Grade soon using his own efforts, he could maximize the value of Divine Blessing if he used it to become a High-Grade Apprentice.

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Cheng Yang had already used half of his Health Recovery Potions, but he managed to keep his Health above 70%.

Even if it wanted to, the bear-like commander wasn’t able to attack Cheng Yang from where it was.

Fortunately, Cheng Yang helped it off the Territory Altar with an Icicle Blast. Once he did, the commander roared angrily and swiped its claws over Cheng Yang’s chest.

The commander was the most intimidating monster Cheng Yang had fought since returning to the past. Its height was overwhelming. Of course, in terms of length, it lost to the Imperator Sarcosucus.

Cheng Yang’s attack speed had doubled recently, so by the time the monster reached him, Cheng Yang launched another icicle into its face. This attack caused its Health to enter a dangerous low.

Even so, the commander continued charging. Its colossal paw slammed into Cheng Yang, throwing him into the air and very nearly ripping his arm clean off.

Facing a situation like this made Cheng Yang struggle. He almost regretted becoming a Mage. He could barely contest with a Warriors a level below him in strength, so how could he deal with this monster’s strength?

Mage’s needed a certain degree of mobility to attack which Warriors and monsters could easily disrupt. If they weren’t careful, they would end up like a Warrior without a shield: a punching bag.

Fortunately, Cheng Yang had a lot of combat experience. After a moment of disorienting flight, he twirled in the air and landed his feet.

Now there was a small problem. He didn’t have any gaps in which to land. So his feet squarely hit the back of a Steel-Haired Bolap. So, once the Bolap realized, it shook Cheng Yang off balance.

If Cheng Yang tried to clear out the surrounding monsters with Petal Blizzard at this time, the commander would be able to catch up. His only option was to jump further into the horde and quickly kill the commander.

Cheng Yang was faster than the commander and escaped before it caught up. At the moment he landed on another monster, Cheng Yang cast Icicle Blast and pierced the commander’s chest.

The bear-like monster howled, and its large body collapsed like a pillar of gold and jade. The falling corpse trapped two hapless monsters, and although they survived, their injuries weren’t shallow.

When their commander died, the entire horde came to a temporary standstill.

How could Cheng Yang miss such a great opportunity? He straightened up and made a record jump onto the top of the Territory Altar.

As he looked down at the frothing monsters, Cheng Yang calmed down. Now that he was up here, only a handful of monsters would even be able to reach him.

Basically, that meant the territory was as good as his. Filled with a renewed vigor, Cheng Yang began to slaughter the rest of the horde.

One by one, icy flowers bloomed, watered by the blood of monsters. Although a few High-Grade monsters tried to climb the Altar, Cheng Yang only needed to take a small break to cast Icicle Blast to solve the problem.

Ten minutes later, the last of Cheng Yang’s potions were drank, covering the clearing in an eerie silence.

Watching the last monster draw its final breath, Cheng Yang took a deep one of his own. This territory was now his.

Jumping down from the Territory Altar, Cheng Yang placed his hand on the base and whispered: “In the name of Cheng Yang! I claim this Territory Altar!”

When he said this, a faint white orb shot out of the Territory Altar and immersed itself into Cheng Yang’s body. It created a connection between Cheng Yang and the territory that ran deeper than even his blood.

At the same time, four beams of light burst out from the ground, forming a set of statues. In less than a minute, they were fully developed. They looked identical to the ones in Phoenix Village except that they were a little smaller.

“Congratulations on successfully capturing Joyous River Village. Since you are already the Lord of Phoenix Village, please select one of them to become the Central Village.” The god’s messenger whispered into Cheng Yang’s soul. “Warning: The Central Village is the core of your empire, and all other villages are subsidiaries. Once you select a Central Village, you cannot change your decision. If the Central Village is captured or seventy percent of your subsidiary villages declare independence, your empire will be dissolved, and your lordship over subsidiary stations will be removed.”

Cheng Yang had heard of Central Villages before. Basically, they were the executive head of a group of territories. Equivalent to the capital of an old-world country. For now, however, it was hard to think of Phoenix Village as a city worthy of that title.

“Set Phoenix Village as the Central Village.” Cheng Yang made his decision without hesitation. He didn’t have a reason not to. After all, Phoenix Village was a higher level than Joyous River Village and granted its soldiers an Innate Ability. Something that not every territory did.

“The Central Village has been set. Joyous River Village will become a subsidiary of Phoenix Village. Please appoint a Governor and Vice Governor within the hour and set up their permissions. If no one is selected within the allotted time, the closest citizens of Phoenix Village will automatically be appointed and given full administrative rights.”

Cheng Yang swore. Fortunately, he was prepared for something like this. Otherwise, this automatic appointment feature would have caused him quite a headache.

In Cheng Yang’s past life, several Lord had been screwed over by this feature since the two Governor positions couldn’t be changed. The Lord wouldn’t even be able to change the permissions they had. The only way to change anything would be to murder the Governor and Vice-Governor.

What were the benefits of being a Governor? Cheng Yang wasn’t sure, but he knew that they were able to use an ability usually exclusive to Lords: Divine Grace. Although it was a slightly different and weaker ability, it still did the same thing.

---

Divine Blessing
Every time the territory levels up three times, the Governor and Vice-Governor will be leveled up.

---

Compared to Divine Grace, the Divine Blessing was far inferior. If Cheng Yang had let one of his generals become an independent Lord, he’d be able to nurture a powerful ally. However, Cheng Yang had no intention of doing so. Call him selfish or reckless, but it was something he couldn’t allow.

In his past life, he hadn’t been able to control a single aspect of how he lived. In this life, he wouldn’t allow any blindspots to exist. Even if that meant controlling the people around him.

Some people might think it would be smarter to make one of his generals an independent Lord until the Village reached the High-Grade level. Then, once the general was High-Grade as well, transfer the territory to himself. However, how could the gods have left such a massive loophole? If they did, the title of god wouldn’t be very fitting.

The advantages that came with being a Lord had severe restrictions. Although in terms of personal strength, the Divine Grace ability would ensure that a Lord was the strongest person in their territory, that power was conditional.

This was because, when a Lord loses their territory, they also lose every benefit they ever received from the territory. The most obvious one was any levels gained using Divine Grace.

It was a cruel rule that could directly send a dethroned Lord into the pits of hell. For example, let’s say there is a Lord that used Divine Grace twice, then leveled up to High-Grade and finally Pinnacle-Grade on their own. If that Lord lost their territory, the god’s rules would directly demote them to the Standard-Grade Apprentice level with an empty experience bar.

It was better to be a Lord, but it wasn’t all benefits. Being a Lord tied you to your land and every risk associated with it.

Thus, it was useless for Cheng Yang to try and take the territory later since the Lord would lose everything.

The Governor and Vice-Governor positions, on the other hand, were unrelated to the actual owner of the territory. Even if another Lord took control of Joyous River village in the future, the Governor and Vice-Governor positions would remain the same. The only way to lose your power in one of those positions was to have your Territory Altar destroyed by monsters.

These rules had been proven to be correct in his past life, so Cheng Yang’s decision was a prudent one.

Cheng Yang had also decided who would be the Governor of his first subsidiary village a long time ago.

For months Cheng Yang had to live with the guilt of ruining his friend’s life. Although his past life was ephemeral, Cheng Yang couldn’t just forget what Liu Hau had done for him. Although Yu Kai and Lau Hui were also his friends, Liu Hau was a true brother.

Of course, Cheng Yang wouldn’t say that to them. Joyous Village was just the first subsidiary village of many he planned to conquer, so his other friends would become Governors as well soon enough.

Since Liu Hau was going to become the Governor, it was only natural that the Vice-Governor would be Liu Hau’s second in command Chen Chao.

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As Cheng Yang’s group explored the East and battle monster hordes, their equipment’s durability rapidly decreased.

“My Lord, how much farther are we going?” Liu Hau asked, “Some of the Warrior’s shields are about to break.”

“We’re going to turn around soon, so don’t worry.” Cheng Yang replied, “We also won’t run into any monsters on the way back, so it’ll be fine.”

Liu Hau didn’t argue since he assumed Cheng Yang would be taking them back the same way they came. This wasn’t his first hunt, so he understood that an area that was cleared generally didn’t have hordes.

They walked another kilometer or so before Cheng Yang finally stopped the group.

Ever since they left the city, Cheng Yang’s group had been approaching a cluster of five mountains reaching at least a kilometer into the sky. They were extremely steep. So much so that the group had only reached the beginning of the incline five hundred meters ago. In the center of the five mountains was a flat plains area a few hundred meters high and covering ten square kilometers. A river created from water flowing off the peaks into a lake wound down from the plains into the distance.

It was a new river formed after the apocalypse, the Joyous River. In fact, the river running through Phoenix Village was a tributary of the Joyous River.

“We’re here.” Cheng Yang declared.

Old Lee looked around. “My Lord, are you sure this is our destination? There’s nothing around here but trees.”

Cheng Yang smiled faintly. “That’s precisely why you can’t see anything. There are too many trees around here. However, it is somewhere around here.”

Old Lee nodded, it would seem that Cheng Yang was searching for something in this area of the woods.

Sure enough, Cheng Yang led the group through the forest, following the path of the river.

After walking nearly two hundred meters without seeing a single monster, Cheng Yang stopped the group. “Wait here, everyone. I think we’re close.”

Without waiting for an answer, Cheng Yang ran North.

Cheng Yang took careful and deliberate steps, moving at a slow pace. However, it didn’t matter since there wasn’t a single monster to be found even after five hundred meters. To Cheng Yang, this wasn’t a surprise, since this meant what he was looking for was nearby.

According to the god’s rules, monsters would find themselves irresistibly drawn to Territory Altars. Thus, every monster within a kilometer or so of a Territory Altar would gather around it.

Although Cheng Yang had never visited the territory hidden in these mountains, he knew more or less where it was, so he had resolved himself to find a second Territory Altar today.

For the better part of an hour, Cheng Yang carefully searched the forest around him. Then, at last, he heard something.

A little over two hundred meters in front of him, Cheng Yang could hear the occasional hiss. This meant one of two things. Either he had left the range at which monsters were drawn towards the Territory Altar, or he had found it.

Cheng Yang snuck through the gaps between the trees until he was greeted by a frightening scene.

What a spectacular sight! Dozens of different monster species were coexisting in a flat, grassy square kilometer of land. Almost five thousand of them.

A black and grey stone statue imposingly sat in the middle. It looked just like the Phoenix Village Territory Altar.

Next to the Territory Altar, there was a massive bear-like monster. Just from a glance, Cheng Yang knew it would be tricky to deal with.

While its countless minions danced and raved, the bear-like commander stood upon the Territory Altar. Like a general overseeing their troops.

Cheng Yang wasn’t able to identify the commander’s species, but, generally speaking, monsters based on alpha predators pushed the limits of what a monster of their level could achieve.

Monsters like that didn’t naturally spawn this close to the city. So it was either created to guard the Territory Altar or was drawn in from far away.

In his past life, the commander of the horde guarding the Phoenix Village was also an apex predator monster species. Having seen both in person, Cheng Yang would have to say the bear-like one was more imposing.

However, the commander should still be a High-Grade monster. There wasn’t enough time for it to reach the Pinnacle-Grade level.

Thus, the commander wasn’t a problem for Cheng Yang. The size of its horde, however, gave him quite a headache. Killing that many monsters without incurring significant losses would be difficult.

Suddenly, Cheng Yang had an idea, and his eyes fixed themselves onto the commander.

The Territory Altar was around three meters tall, which wasn’t an obstacle for a High-Grade monster, but most Standard-Grade monsters wouldn’t be able to reach something that high above them. As for Low-Grade monsters, they had no chance at all.

If he were able to reach the Territory Altar, kill the commander, and climb up to where it was sitting. Wouldn’t it become trivial to slaughter the horde?

As soon as that thought appeared in Cheng Yang’s head, he became incapable of forgetting it. He quickly counted the number of potions he had and made a decision.

He had to do it! In a direct battle against five thousand monsters, even if he brought the entire Phoenix Village Army, there would be severe casualties. It would make it easier for Cheng Yang, but there would be far too many deaths.

At this time, the Phoenix Village army was still in its infancy. For the soldiers to play a more prominent role, they needed to have time to grow. As much as Cheng Yang hated being a nanny, what kind of support could he get from a bunch of Low-Grade soldiers?

Having made up his mind, Cheng Yang calculated the distance to the Territory Altar. If there weren’t any monsters, he could run that distance in less than twenty seconds. However, since there wasn’t a straight path, it was hard to say how long it would take him.

Cheng Yang was done hesitating. Even if there was a small problem, he had four Health Recovery Potions and twenty Mana Recovery Potions. He would be able to do this.

Cheng Yang began casting Petal Blizzard and charged forwards.

Only after he had nearly reached the horde did they realize he was there. When they did, they rioted.

In the blink of an eye, Cheng Yang plunged into the horde, but before the monsters could react, he jumped. He had leveled up again, doubling his strength and speed, allowing him to shoot eight meters forwards.

The moment Cheng Yang hit the ground, monsters tried to tear him apart. All kinds of Low-Grade monsters hit him with everything they had.

Cheng Yang sneered. He’d been hit, but these attacks didn’t even amount to scratches on him. He didn’t lose a single point of Health.

“Petal Blizzard…” Cheng Yang refused to go easy on them and cast the spell he had prepared. An icy flower bloomed around him, killing every monster in the area.

In the space he opened up, Cheng Yang took a few steps then jumped. Once he landed, the process repeated itself.

When Cheng Yang was hunting Imperial Sarcosucus and got outflanked by a group of Graveseekers, he had been forced to use the same technique he was using now.

At that time, Cheng Yang was far weaker than he was now, and mere Low-Grade monsters caused him to fear for his life. Now, however, he didn’t even need to think about such low-level monsters. Even Standard-Grade monsters couldn’t deal enough damage to worry him.

Cheng Yang continuously rushed forwards as the monsters fearlessly intercepted him…

Two minutes later, Cheng Yang had advanced two hundred meters. During that time, he had used two Mana Recovery Potions, but the results were brilliant. Cheng Yang’s powerful attacks killed at least four or five hundred Low-Grade monsters. There were dead Graveseekers, dead Venom-Fanged Grey Wolves, dead Hell Pigs, dead Raykac, and many more. There were also a few dead Standard-Grade monsters.

Cheng Yang hadn’t paid attention to the actual number he killed. He only had one goal in mind: reach the Territory Altar.

The commander had been lazily watching Cheng Yang advance since the beginning, and when its prey reached the two hundred meter mark, it wasn’t able to ignore that transgression. It howled in shock, ordering every single one of the five thousand monsters in the area to converge on Cheng Yang’s location.

The density of the crowd surrounding Cheng Yang increased significantly. Before this, he was able to clear enough space to jump, but now he needed to step on the heads on incoming monsters to gain enough momentum.

Fortunately, no matter how many monsters were packing into an area, Petal Blizzard would prevent Cheng Yang from getting buried.

On the other hand, this could be considered a good thing for Cheng Yang since the ratio of monsters killed to Mana used would increase.

As Cheng Yang got closer and closer to the Territory Altar, the monsters around him attacked all the more fervently.

By the time Cheng Yang has used his tenth Mana Recovery Potions, he was only a hundred meters from the Territory Altar. So close that he could see every vein on the commander’s angry face.

The fight was getting harder. The number of Standard-Grade monsters was increasing, and there were a few High-Grade monsters as well. Although every attack was weak, injuries piled up, and the total amount of Health lost was worrying.

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TL Note: World record long jumps are nearly 9 meters so this feels really short lol.

The Alchemy Furnace was about the diameter of a washbasin and forty centimeters deep. Far too large to be carried in Cheng Yang’s rucksack.

Thinking that Cheng Yang might be troubled, Zhao Chuan ran over to Cheng Yang. Seeing the Alchemy Furnace, he couldn’t help but ask: “My Lord, what is that? It kind of looks like an ancient furnace?”

“You’re right. It is one.” Cheng Yang replied.

“Aren’t potions the only thing sold in the Alchemy Tower? Why would you need a furnace?” Zhao Chuan asked in confusion.

“You don’t need to use a furnace to brew potions, but you can use one. Besides, potions are just lower end alchemical products. Soon I’ll be able to refine pills which are far better than potions, so having a furnace is necessary.” Cheng Yang paused for a moment, “Anyways. This thing is too big for me to carry, so get some people to take turns carrying it. It’s nice, so make sure not to break it.”

“Yes, my Lord.” Zhao Chuan said, flashing a bitter smile at Cheng Yang.

Zhao Chaun quickly picked three soldiers from his battalion that would carry Cheng Yang’s new furnace. Although the item was bulky, it wasn’t that heavy for superhumans like them, so it was an easy task.

Then, the group left the city using the bridge and found themselves on an old-world road. However, this road got worse and worse as they delved deeper into the forest.

According to their memories, this road out of town wasn’t a big one, but it was well paved. Now, however, it was hard to find a narrow path through the trees, much less a smooth surface. The only thing left was a crushed mixture of gravel and asphalt poking out from between massive trees.

A weird idea suddenly emerged from the depths of Zhao Chuan’s mind. “My Lord, if these trees continue to grow at the pace they have been, won’t they all fuse together into a single block of wood? A single massive tree would cover the entire planet.”

“Thankfully, that won’t happen.” Cheng Yang replied, “After they reach a certain size, the trees will stop growing. Well, there might be a few exceptions, but I’m not sure.”

Zhao Chuan sighed in relief. If that scenario really happened, then they’d have to change the planet’s name from “dirt” to “wood.”

Although they were tall, the trees surrounding the group grew sparsely. The real problem was the dense, thorny brambles that grew in between the trees. They weren’t able to deal damage, but they still hurt and were tough to move through.

The group would have the Warriors stand at the front and slash at the bushes. With every swing of their swords, leaves would fly, and a small opening would be created.

This forest was filled with more than plants, though. It had been almost two weeks since the apocalypse started, and not a single person had set foot in this forest since then. Thus, the monster hordes here had grown tremendously.

Of course, Cheng Yang already knew that so the group was moving cautiously.

After moving through the forest for a while, they suddenly heard the loud, rasping croak of a frog. It made the group feel like they were in the country.

“Are there still frogs left in this world, my Lord? What do they eat? Are there even normal bugs left?” Liu Hau asked, his voice brimming with disgust.

Cheng Yang shook his head. “Remember this, ordinary animals no longer exist in this world. They either became Ascendants or monsters killed them. The powerful monsters were moved into the deep wilderness while the weaker ones were sent to assault us here in the cities. That croak you just heard was made by a monster.”

Liu Hau used to be a lore fanatic before the apocalypse, so when he heard Cheng Yang’s explanation, he excitedly asked: “Yoko, what’s an Ascendant.”

“You can think of them as incomplete monsters that aren’t subjected to the god’s rules born from an old-world animal. We could meet an Ascendant more than a half dozen levels above me, and it wouldn’t be considered strange. In general, though, don’t appear near the cities, so we don’t have to worry about them. However, they’re more common in areas far from human habitation.”

“Damn, are there really that many?” Liu Hau’s face suddenly lit up. “Doesn’t that mean there are thousands in the bottom of the ocean?”

“This…” Cheng Yang’s calm demeanor disappeared. His friend had said the exact same thing in his past life. He also turned out to be right. Approaching the shore was considered suicidal, and even lakes would give most people nightmares since they were serene yet filled to the brim with dangerous enemies. There was nothing humanity feared more during the apocalypse than a large body of water.

Once he gathered his composure, Cheng Yang said: “We don’t need to worry about that right now since we’re so far inland. We just need to focus on getting stronger, then, even if you’re right, we’ll be able to survive. The gods gave us this chance even though they could kill us instantly, so we need to grasp the opportunity.”

When he said this, Cheng Yang exposed his deepest fears to his best friend.

Naturally, Liu Hau noticed his friend’s concern and gave him a comforting pat on the back. He also decided not to share such a scary thought with the other soldiers so their mood wouldn’t be affected.

While they were chatting, something leaped out of the undergrowth towards the Warriors at the front. It was like a bolt of lightning, shooting forwards with speed no less than that of a High-Grade monster.

“Watch out!” Cheng Yang shouted as he started to cast Icicle Blast.

When Cheng Yang shouted, everyone sprang into action. Just barely reacting in time, the Warriors at the front created a unified shield wall.

As fast as Cheng Yang was, he still needed to cast. Luckily, the Warriors were able to block the speeding object.

Right after that, Cheng Yang’s icicle pinned a blue, yellow, and red spotted object to the ground. It was a frog. One that was about a foot long and brightly colored.

When Cheng Yang first heard the croak, he wasn’t entirely sure what species of monster it was since there were over a dozen different frog-like monsters. Now, however, he knew, and it was terrible news.

Suddenly, another monster shot of out the grass towards the group, only to meet a similar fate to the first one.

“Guard every side! We absolutely can’t let any of these through!” Cheng Yang shouted, a red cloud of blood bursting out of his body.

Then, Cheng Yang used Petal Blizzard right in front of the group. Within the few moments the skill was active, five more frogs tried to jump towards the group but died in the icy terrain.

“These monsters are known as Raykac.” Cheng Yang shouted in between attacks. “Health and Damage are low, but they have a particular skill that allows them to inflict a Poisoned status when they land an attack. Once they do, that person will rapidly lose HealthHealth for the next ten seconds. Also, this effect can stack if you’re hit by multiple Raykac! So, watch out!”

Cheng Yang’s words caused everyone’s vigilance to be raised to the max. Especially the Warriors at the front who gripped their shields with a desperate fervor.

Even so, the Raykac’s Leap skill was far too powerful for everyone to resist. Dozens of them shot forwards all at once, relying on their mass to push the Warriors off-balance. This first attack of theirs was comparable to that of a High-Grade monster in terms of impact. So it made sense that during that first wave, most of the soldiers failed to black every attack. Some even got hit several times.

For the hapless soldiers that were poisoned, their HealthHealth steadily declined. Even though it was just a point and a half per second, the psychological pressure was enormous.

Thankfully, the Raykac were glass cannons. Without the momentum from their Leap skill, they were far less threatening. Their only remaining attack was a slow bite while they waddled on the ground, leaving them as easy targets.

Cheng Yang’s group killed around ten every second since the Raykac only had ten Health. This was something they were able to achieve even without Cheng Yang using Petal Blizzard.

Aside from that one powerful charge, the Raykac weren’t able to do anything during this battle, allowing the soldiers to prevail.

After the two dozen or so Raykac were dead, Liu Hau wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Whew, that was pretty nerve-wracking. Fortunately their not very strong except for that poison ability. Otherwise, we probably would have lost someone.”

Liu Hau was right. After all, getting hit three times was enough to kill any person in their group other than Cheng Yang. To survive, you’d have to quickly drink a Health Recovery potion and sit out the rest of the fight. Since they only had thirty people, once a few of them stepped aside to heal, they would reveal a significant gap in their formation. The ensuing battle would be anything but easy.

“I’m thankful the horde we ran into was a small one.” Cheng Yang said, “If there were a couple hundred even I could have died.”

After taking some time to rest and Meditate, the group continued moving. Throughout the next kilometer and a half, they ran into five more hordes, the largest of which had one thousand monsters. They also didn’t meet with a difficult to fight monster like the Raykac again, which made Cheng Yang happy. Thanks to his Sacrificial Blood Cloud skill, every other horde became easy pickings.

Although their battles were fierce, every soldier benefited greatly. Especially those that Cheng Yang used Sacrificial Blood Cloud on. As long as Cheng Yang chose them, they’d easily gain a hundred Experience Fragments in a single battle.

This meant that the three generals in the group had earned nearly the same amount as Cheng Yang since he always used one of the slots from Sacrificial Blood Cloud on them. As for the other two slots, Cheng Yang let the remaining soldiers rotate in.

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Monsters all over the world underwent the first mass evolution yesterday, so Standard-Grade Immature monsters were all over the place. However, compared to Cheng Yang and his group, they were still too weak.

Every time they ran into a monster horde, Cheng Yang would immediately use Sacrificial Blood Cloud, and a human artillery squad would annihilate the horde. It didn’t matter if the enemy was a Low-Grade monster, Standard-Grade monster, or even a High-Grade monster. They were blasted into oblivion all the same.

Stepping over countless corpses, the group journeyed to the Easternmost edge of the city. There they found a bridge teeming with monsters.

Cheng Yang visited this bridge five days ago. At that time, he decided to retreat rather than fight a type of monster that could use ranged attacks.

Now, however, things were different. Cheng Yang’s natural Physical Defense was 17.3, and the amount of damage he dealt was absurd. He was confident that even if he were to get trapped in the middle of the horde, he’d still be able to fight his way out.

“My Lord, what our plan? Are you going to use Sacrificial Blood Cloud?” Liu Hau asked from behind a wall.

Cheng Yang shook his head, “Not this time. I’ll handle it alone while you guys watch.”

“Are you going to be okay? You’re strong, but there are at least two thousand monsters over there…”

“I’m a Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice while the strongest monster is at the Elite High-Grade level. There’s also only one of them, so this horde can’t pressure me.”

Liu Hau and the other were only able to listen without replying. Cheng Yang showed them a portion of his power when he used Sacrificial Blood Cloud on the way here, so they knew that at the very least, he wouldn’t die instantly.

Cheng Yang waited until his subordinates had hidden among the ruins, then, he moved to engage the horde.

A few seconds later, Cheng Yang found himself a mere fifty meters from the first few monsters. At the same time, the monsters noticed him. Led by the Skull Spotted Spiders, whose eight long legs were in constant motion, the horde began to charge.

Cheng Yang continued moving. His only reaction was a casual flick of his staff. Moments later, a large number of icy petals tore through the bodies of seven spiders.

Since none of the monsters were at the Standard-Grade level or above, the whole group died instantly.

At the same time, a vast mass of sticky webbing flew towards Cheng Yang. Even if he hadn’t provoked the horde with his attack, the Skull Spotted Spiders wouldn’t let juicy prey like him go free.

Cheng Yang’s eyes were sharp, so when a Standard-Grade monster tried to sneak up on him, he noticed immediately. Although it was unlikely, that squat blue beast was capable of hurting him.

While Petal Blizzard was on cooldown, Cheng Yang cast Icicle Blast, hitting the blue monster squarely on the head. With over a hundred points of damage, there wasn’t a single Standard-Grade monster capable of surviving Cheng Yang’s attack. It pierced the monster’s skull, killing it.

At that time, the web strands of over ten spiders reached Cheng Yang. However, he just stood there like nothing was happening. Relying on his incredibly high natural Physical Defense, Cheng Yang watched as each of the sticky threads bounced off of him as if they had hit a wall.

Then, the Skull Spotted Spiders were greeted by another wave of razor-sharp petals…

Without a doubt, this was a slaughter. Every single Low-Grade monster near Cheng Yang died without leaving an intact corpse.

After a few minutes of kiting, Cheng Yang spotted the commander of the horde hiding behind a wall of bodies. It would seem that this battle wouldn’t end quickly. Once the commander realized it was being watched, it ordered the rest of the horde to attack even more ferociously.

Cheng Yang sneered. “Aren’t you smart?” He thought, “Don’t you know that unless you can get behind me, you’re doomed to fail?”

Cheng Yang had been slowly drawing the horde through the nearby ruins, taking care not to double back and get trapped.

Sometime after killing his hundredth monster, Cheng Yang felt a strong draft from above him. Dodging on instinct, Cheng Yang avoided being hit in the head by the body of a giant creature.

Wasn’t that a Skull Spotted Spider? Why did it just fall out of the sky?

Before Cheng Yang figured out what was going on, several more Skull Spotted Spiders fell out of the sky on top of him. If not for his quick reactions, he would have been buried under their flesh.

“Fuck! How did I miss those webs?” Above him, Cheng Yang noticed several strands of web that the spiders had been crawling on. He had assumed the spiders were just missing, but they’d actually been setting up a vicious trap.

Although the spiders trying to land on him weren’t really a threat, Cheng Yang wasn’t able to just ignore them. However, if he put all of his energy into dodging the spiders, he wouldn’t be able to deal with the rest of the horde. Right now, it was just a few spiders trying to jump him, but what if it became hundreds? It would be enough to bury him completely. Even if he killed them, he’d still be trapped. No matter how strong he was, that was a perilous position.

Cheng Yang jumped backward and at the same time, used Petal Blizzard. He was entering a full-scale assault.

Cheng Yang started to plunge through the horde aggressively. Carefully weaving through the ruins, he avoided both the places with webs set up and the location where his subordinates were hiding. If they were found by the horde, the only ending possible was a tragic one.

After a long fight, Cheng Yang had finally killed half of the monsters in the horde. In doing so, he had used up eight Mana Recovery Potions.

Cheng Yang wasn’t sure if it was because he killed so many of its minions or if the commander thought he was weak, but the battle entered its final stage. With an entourage consisting of three other High-Grade monsters and more than twenty Standard-Grade ones, the commander went on the attack!

For this stage of the apocalypse, such a team could be considered nearly unbeatable. If it weren’t for Cheng Yang’s level, he wouldn’t dare to face that ensemble of monsters even if all of Phoenix Village’s soldiers were with him.

As the other side approached, Cheng Yang sent an icicle flying straight towards the commander. At the same time, a thick wad of webbing flew towards him.

Both sides had a hit-rate of nearly 100%. Cheng Yang had perfected his shooting during his half-year in the apocalypse. The Skull Spotted Spiders, on the other hand, were born with innate accuracy. In fact, the commander was even more accurate than Cheng Yang.

The reason both sides were able to achieve such a high degree of accuracy was that the god’s rules made dodging nearly impossible at the first stage of evolution. To avoid an attack, you needed to have a Movement Speed at least ten times higher than the attacker’s Attack Speed. For example, since Cheng Yang had 25 Movement Speed, he had a decent chance to dodge the attacks of a Low-Grade Monster.

In comparison, raising one’s Physical Defense was much more manageable. Still, being able to dodge an attack had its benefits. For instance, if you were using a Health Recovery Potion, even if you didn’t take damage, getting hit would always stop the passive regeneration.

After that first round of attacks, Cheng Yang took thirty damage, but the commander was far worse off. An ordinary High-Grade Skull Spotted Spider would have died in a single hit, so it was on its last few points of Health.

It was Cheng Yang’s win from the moment the commander showed itself. Raising his stave, Cheng Yang cast Icicle Blast a second time. With a sickening splurt, the spider’s lower carapace was torn open, and Cheng Yang sent the commander to an early death.

With that, any previous suspense the battle had was gone. Even after killing the remaining high-level monsters, Cheng Yang was only thirty Health lower than before killing the commander.

Cheng Yang had thoroughly slaughtered every single monster that posed a threat to him in a horde two thousand strong.

In just seven and a half minutes, he had turned a mighty horde into a few scattered groups with only a hundred or so monsters each.

At this point, Liu Hau and the other grew tired of sitting on the sidelines. With a loud battle cry, all of Cheng Yang subordinates charged out of their hiding spots. Although their battles were just as hard as Cheng Yang’s, they were just cleaning up the abandoned soldiers of a defeated army.

Seeing this, Cheng Yang had no choice but to shake his head. They must really be passionate about gathering Experience Fragments. With the number of monsters left here, they would only get nine or ten each. Which Cheng Yang supposed was a decent amount at their level.

Ignoring his treacherous subordinates that were stealing the results of his victory, Cheng Yang walked off in search of treasure.

Cheng Yang walked towards the center of the bridge, oblivious to the massive crevices to either side of him. His eyes were intently focused on the ground.

Just like he had expected, there was an item sitting in the exact center, and it was a big one too. Cheng Yang couldn’t tell what it was, but he bent down to pick it up anyways.

“Fuck! Isn’t that dishonest?” When Cheng Yang got a good look at the thing in his hands, he realized why he wasn’t able to recognize it. The item was caked in a thick layer of dirt. It would have been stranger if he had been able to know what it was.

Cheng Yang carefully peeled away the layer of dirt and reveled the item’s true form.

It turned out to be an Alchemy Furnace.

When Cheng Yang read the furnaces system pane, he was taken aback.

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Panacea Furnace
This ordinary furnace transcended its limits when an alchemy master used it to brew the legendary medicine, panacea.

Grade: Purple Silver
Profession: Alchemist
Effect: Make potions 30% faster
Effect: Increase the level of all Alchemist skills by 1

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It was a great item! A piece of Purple Silver Profession equipment. Profession equipment was incredibly rare, so even a Green Bronze item would sell for hundreds of Experience Fragments in a store, let alone a Purple Silver one.

Most importantly, even up until he died, there wasn’t a single person in Cheng Yang’s last life who had managed to craft an Alchemy Furnace. It wasn’t just that item, no one had managed to craft any of the Profession equipment pieces.

For combat-oriented equipment, as long as you were able to gather high-level materials, you could buy the blueprints for high-quality equipment to make it. Profession equipment, on the other hand, was only available in the stores, as treasures in the wild and as random drops in instance dungeons.

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