Author: Xevinaly

Cheng Yang brought Wang Lu over to the Territory Altar and said, “I hope you don’t mind, but you won’t be getting a choice of what class to become.”

“I won’t have a choice? I’ve heard people say picking the right class for yourself was important.” Wang Lu replied.

Cheng Yang wanted to tell Wang Lu not to ask questions but swallowed his rebuke. “It depends on what class benefits most from a person’s Innate Ability. Let’s test your inclination first.”

Cheng Yang then spent a few Experience Fragments to perform an aptitude test on Wang Lu.

Twenty seconds later, a symbol still hadn’t appeared. This caused Cheng Yang to sigh with relief. Thankfully her Innate Ability hadn’t been changed in this life.

Wang Lu noticed that nothing had happened and worriedly asked, “My Lord, what class am I most suited for?”

“None of them.” Cheng Yang replied bluntly, “Or all of them if you want to look at it that way. It doesn’t matter since the only option you have right now is to become a Summoner.”

Although it sounded terrible, Wang Lu wanted to perform a class change ceremony more than anything else, so she didn’t care. As long as she was able to become a Professional, it didn’t matter which one it was. Since Cheng Yang said her only choice was Summoner, she would choose to become a Summoner.

A moment later, Wang Lu’s class change ceremony was over, and she found a wooden staff in her hands.

---

Wang Lu
Phoenix Village Soldier
Class: Summoner
Level: Low Grade Apprentice (0%)

Age	27	Life Span	110
HP	30	MP	20
Physical Attack	5	Magic Attack	1
Physical Defense	1	Magic Defense	1
Attack Speed	1	Movement Speed	3

Innate Abilities

• Financial Genius (Special Ability): Allows you to become a “Financial Manager” and set up a bank in a safe zone or territory
• Movement speed is increased by 200%

Skills

• Meditation (Low Grade): Meditate to absorb experience fragments and level up
• Summon Wolf (Low Grade): Summons a wolf with stats equal to the summoner | Duration: 10 min | Cost: 10 MP | Cast Time: 45 sec | Proficiency: 0%

Equipment

• Wooden Staff: Status symbol of the summoner | No bonuses

---

After Wang Lu took a look at her stats, she asked: “My Lord, what does it mean by “Financial Genius”?”

“It means you’re valuable to me.” Cheng Yang said, unable to hide the smile on his face.

What Cheng Yang didn’t say is that Wang Lu’s ability was far more than “advantageous.” For a territory, it was like winning the lottery. Not just for the Lord but all the citizens as well. Al because someone with the Financial Genius Innate ability could build a Bank.

As the name suggested, a Bank was a place where you could store and borrow Experience Fragments. According to Cheng Yang’s memories from his past life, there were two types of Banks.

The first was those founded by individuals when they had enough initial capital. The second type were those that were under the control of a territory. Although it was a part of the territory, the money that ran through it wasn’t the Lord’s but rather that of the Territory Altar.

Under normal circumstances, there was no way for the Lord to access the territory’s Experience Fragments, but Banks changed that. The Lord could allocate a portion of the territory’s savings for use by the Bank. This would allow for the citizens of the territory to take out bigger loans and enrich the bank owner faster.

To the extent of Cheng Yang’s knowledge, he knew that people with the Financial Genius Innate ability were pretty rare. Although it wasn’t a unique Innate Ability, there were only about two thousand people that had it. One of those two thousand had set up a Bank in the Cloud City Safe Zone in his past life, but now he was determined to have that Bank in Phoenix Village.

Since Cheng Yang had gone through the trouble of bringing Wang Lu to Phoenix Village, he wouldn’t accept her setting up a Bank somewhere else or in her name. As long as the Bank was founded under the territory’s name, it would vitalize the whole community.

Cheng Yang also more or less understood how Banks functioned under the god’s rules. It would begin as a Low-Grade Bank then have a level cap that is the lower of either the territory level or the Financial Manager.

“Erm, how do I build the Bank it mentioned?” Wang Lu asked while scratching her head.

Cheng Yang smiled, “That’s easy. Just walk over to the Territory Altar and open the system pane. Then apply for a Bank to be built in the territories, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Amitabha Buddha. Why do you feel like a wolf deceiving little red riding hood?” Cheng Yang’s heart cried out to him.

When Wang Lu heard Cheng Yang’s explanation, she didn’t doubt him in the slightest. Without hesitating, she approached the Territory Altar and followed Cheng Yang’s instructions.

At about the same time, a familiar voice echoed through Cheng Yang’s soul: “Respected Lord. There is a pending construction application in your territory, “Phoenix Village.” Please deal with it promptly.”

It was the first time Cheng Yang had heard the god’s messenger give someone a hint. It seems the gods were fond of the human Lords.

Cheng Yang immediately opened the Territory Altar system pane and opened the domain management page. Sure enough, there was an unread message from Wang Lu.

Once Cheng Yang opened the message, he navigated through several options.

“Will you approve of Wang Lu’s request to establish a bank in your territory?”

“Yes.”

“Please select a Bank model.”

“Full Possession.”

“Since you have selected “Full Possession,” all material and Experience Fragment costs will be covered by your territory. In addition, 10% of the bank’s profits will be paid to the territory’s Financial Manager. Do you agree to these terms?”

“Yes.”

“Please input a name for the Bank.”

“Phoenix Village Money Farm.”

Cheng Yang felt uneasy when he finished the process. This was the king of all money makers, and he was forced to give up 10% of the profits. Even so, how could he disagree? He already felt bad about taking advantage of Wang Lu, and ninety percent was already an astronomical amount of Experience Fragments. Besides, Wang Lu deserved to get something out of this.

Now, the Bank was available to build in the system pane.　

---

• Bank (Low-Grade): Allows for a portion of the territories savings to be allocated for wealth generation | Cost: 500 units of wood and 50 units of stone

---

Checking the costs, Cheng Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Although five hundred units of wood was a lot, the territory could stay pay that much. It would also only take a day or so for fifty units of stone to be collected.

“Is that everything, my Lord?” Wang Lu asked when nothing appeared.

“For now.” Cheng Yang replied, “We need to wait for some raw materials to be gathered, but by tomorrow you’ll be the manager of Phoenix Village’s Bank.”

“I was a financial manager before the apocalypse, so with the Bank in my hands, you can rest easy, my Lord.” Wang Lu earnestly declared.

Cheng Yang nodded the resumed the day’s activities. The first up was to start new researches. Although it should have been done last night to minimize the time it would take to upgrade the statues fully, he had no choice but to wait since there weren’t any Experience Fragments available.

This time Cheng Yang researched the Physical Defense boost for each of the four primary statues and the Magic Defense boost for the Priest statue. Right now, all of the Priest attributes directly related to healing had been upgraded, so he had to focus on the less essential parts. Since the statue was a level lower than the other four, the Priest statue could start another research before the others finished.

When he was finished, Cheng Yang brought Wang Lu back to the small pavilion in front of his house.

None of the people who had visited earlier had left yet. Upon seeing Cheng Yang return, they stared at him with curious expressions that seemed to say: “We won’t be satisfied until you explain yourself.”

“When Wang Lu performed her class change ceremony, she obtained a special Innate Ability called “Financial Genius,” which allowed her to establish a bank in the territory. In the future, all of the territory’s excess Experience Fragments will be put into the bank to be loaned out. We’ll also be able to put our excess Experience Fragments in the bank.” Cheng Yang said.

None of the people in the pavilions were fools, they knew how important a bank was. In an instant, their confusion disappeared.

“Ox, Wang Lu is going to be working with you for today. Teach her the basics of combat. Although she’ll be spending most of her time managing the bank in the future, she can’t put aside learning to fight. After all, in this world, fighting for your life every day is the new normal.”

Lau Hui agreed at once.

After that, Liu Hau and the other generals left the Meditation Hall to gather a few soldiers like Cheng Yang had asked them to earlier.

They were all looking forward to hunting with Cheng Yang. After all, their farming efficiency would shoot through the roof when Cheng Yang used his Sacrificial Blood Cloud skill.

Ten minutes later, the generals returned to the pavilion with their soldiers. Then, they followed Cheng Yang out of the village.

“Where are we going today, my Lord? Are we going to go find a large monster horde?” Liu Hau asked as he walked side by side with Cheng Yang.

“Is that all you want to do? Do you spend all day thinking about finding trouble with monsters?” Cheng Yang asked.

“My Lord, who are you to say that?” Liu Hau pouted, “You’re already a Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice while all of us are stuck at the Low-Grade level. How could we not think about how to kill a few more monsters? Especially since it seems like monsters are the only thing left in this world. With our difference in strength, I would say its less that we’re looking for trouble with monsters, but rather they’re looking for trouble with us.”

“All I can say is that you just want to kill monsters, but I want the treasures those hordes guard.” Cheng Yang replied with a snort.

“You found something good again?” Liu Hau was stunned by his friends luck.

Cheng Yang smirked. “It’s a secret. You’ll have to wait until we get there to find out.”

Liu Hau grunted in disapproval but ran to catch up to Cheng Yang none the less once he realized what direction they were going in. The other generals caught on just as quickly and started running. Cheng Yang was leading them to Cloud City.

At the moment, most of the area between Cloud City and Phoenix Village was considered part of the territory. Thus, there were very few monsters to fight on the way there. This was something that only changed once they entered the city proper.

This time, Cheng Yang found a new path instead of following one they had used before.

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

“That’s too easy.” Lau Hui laughed, “I’m a Logger myself, so I just need to cut down a day’s worth of trees to get my house.”

Pang Sun cringed when she heard her boyfriend laugh and pinched him in the side, causing the man to yelp.

This heartwarming scene caused those gathered to laugh, but Lau Hui was too happy to care.

“My Lord, do you think Liu Wei could perform a class change ceremony tonight?” Pang Sun asked after giggling a little.

When Cheng Yang turned his gaze towards Liu Wei, she couldn’t help but flinch.

After a long time, Cheng Yang finally said: “She can but not today. Right now, there aren’t any open slots, so she’ll have to wait until the class change statues level up again. It’ll take two days at most.”

Liu Wei’s heart fluttered with surprise. “Thank you… Lord.” Truth be told, Liu Wei was incredibly uncomfortable addressing a classmate as “Lord.”

“No problem. Everyone here will become a Professional eventually.” Cheng Yang said with a shrug.

“My Lord, what about us?” Zhou Jie asked. Although Cheng Yang had just said all of them would become Professionals, he never said when. This made them uneasy.

“You’ll get your chance at the same time.” Cheng Yang said.

“Thank you, my Lord!” Zhou Jie smiled brightly.

“Now, I’m sure there’s a real reason so many of you came to see me this morning.” Cheng Yang asked the group.

“You’re right. Those other topics were incidental. there was a fairly important reason we came to talk to you.” Liu Hau immediately responded, “General Lee, can you explain it in depth.”

Since Liu Hau didn’t have the confidence to report the issue, Cheng Yang figured it had something to do with territory management. Brimming with curiosity, he turned to Old Lee.

Old Lee stepped forward, “My Lord, the situation is like this. The number of civilians in the village has grown to nearly twenty thousand, but we only have eight hundred soldiers to manage them. Even worse, most of us don’t have time to settle disputes between civilians. No matter how we look at it, there are significant problems in the way we distribute resources to them and their management. We got together last night and have a few ideas to share with you.”

“Say it. Don’t be polite.”

“There were two main parts of the plan we developed.” Old Lee began, “The first is to find a large number of people who used to specialize in resource distribution and dispute mediation. We would provide these people the authority to manage the civilians, and when we have the opportunity, allow them to become Professionals. The second point would be developing a way to allow both the civilians and soldiers to own their own houses. As you know, to the people, the word home is something they hold dear. So, a house that belongs exclusively to them is an essential goal to work towards.”

“That’s a good plan.” Cheng Yang complimented Old Lee, “I want you to start implementing your plan by finding people who fit your requirements. Then, once the class change statues level up, they will perform class change ceremonies. However, be careful who you select. People who used to be bureaucrats aren’t a good idea. Ideally, we will pick people who have more practical experience instead.”

“Yes, my Lord!”

“As for the second part, I already have some things arranged that will achieve that goal. When I upgraded the village, I unlocked the ability to track individual contributions to the territory through donations of materials and Experience Fragments. It will allow us to reward people who contribute enough. Naturally, we can use it as a way to identify who deserves to have a personal residence built for them.”

“My Lord, if it only tracks donations, isn’t that a bit shallow?”

“We can also award Contribution Points for the completion of quests from the Quest Hall, but I understand what you’re trying to say. Most of the actions people can take that would benefit the territory don’t have a way of being qualified by the god’s rules. Our only choice is to reward those kinds of actions on our own. We’ll give them Experience Fragments equal to the number of Contribution Points we think they deserve. Then, they can choose to keep them or donate them to receive Contribution Points.”

“Oh! That’s pretty smart, Yoko.” Liu Hau chimed in.

“I think it’s a fine idea, my Lord, but there are too many details left out. It will take some time for me to turn that idea into a concrete policy.” Old Lee said.

“We can take our time. There’s no reason to rush this.” Cheng Yang said with a smile, “We’ll just leave it as a big framework for now and fill in the details as we go.”

Old Lee sighed. Cheng Yang had made a decision affecting tens of thousands of people so casually. If this were the old world, a committee would have been formed to deliberate for a few months before finally releasing a polished policy. In this new world, however, a decision only needed Cheng Yang’s approval. The process had certainly been simplified. “As you wish, my Lord.”

“My Lord, what’s our primary goal today?” Liu Hau asked once the group had addressed the most important topic, “The Imperial Guard is taking care of the monsters that respawn near the territory, and we can’t touch the large monster hordes a few kilometers away, so there isn’t much for us to do.”

The problem was that when the territory leveled up, more than half of their hunting grounds were now accessible to the Imperial Gaurd. The respawn rate of the monsters in the remaining land wasn’t able to meet the needs of eight hundred people. The only other option would be to move three or four kilometers away to fight monsters, exposing themselves to hordes numbering in the thousands.

“Well, it’s imperative that those with tools be able to collect resources. Especially stonecutters, otherwise none of the important buildings can be built.” Cheng Yang replied.

“My Lord, there are only a handful of people that have tools right now. Only the people who regularly run the Blood-Soaked Church with us have the spare Experience Fragments needed to buy any. Although, I’ve heard some people have suspended their training so they could afford some in a few days.” Old Lee reported.

Cheng Yang nodded. It was to be expected. Although leveling a Profession wouldn’t directly help a person survive during the apocalypse, it would allow them to live more comfortably.

Even if you weren’t going to focus on the manufacturing half of your Profession, leveling up your gathering skill was just common sense. Precious materials were scattered all over the world, and it wasn’t uncommon for them to disappear within a few hours. So, if someone found a high-level material but wasn’t able to harvest it, how sad would that be?

Everyone needed to train their gathering skills as soon as possible.

No matter what, Cheng Yang was determined not to buy tools for everyone in the territory. With eight hundred soldiers, how much could give each person? After all, he was a Lord, not a nanny. Having to give up his incredible training speed so that his soldiers could practice their Profession skills was unacceptable.

He wasn’t in any rush to build the new buildings, so his soldiers would have to deal with this problem on their own.

“Since the territory spawn-free area expanded, let’s go and clear out the monsters that are still there. Pick then soldiers to come out and walk with me. Except for you, Ox, you’re soldiers train at noon.” Cheng Yang said with a nod.

Lau Hui knew how vital training was, so he didn’t insist on joining the operation.

Suddenly Cheng Yang remembered the incident that had happened yesterday. “Ox, you said yesterday that a monster killed one of your soldiers, right? Have they been replaced yet?”

Lau Hui was stunned for a moment. “Not yet. When we got back last night, they spent a while criticizing me, so I didn’t have time to find a suitable candidate.”

“Don’t bother looking for one then. I’m going to have to take that class change ceremony slot from you.”

Ignoring Lau Hui’s upset expression, Cheng Yang turned towards Wang Lu. “Do you want to perform your class change ceremony now?”

Without waiting for the woman to respond, Cheng Yang left the pavilion. Wang Lu was thrilled and immediately followed after his Lord.

“Koko, you said that Yoko wouldn’t… why Wang Lu…” Lau Hui couldn’t help but groan.

“You’re just overthinking this.” Pang Sun said, cutting off Liu Hau’s response, “Perhaps Wang Lu got to go first since she has a special ability?”

“That’s true…” Lau Hui responded, “but Wang Lu hasn’t performed a class change ceremony yet, so how would he know that?”

“Are you being stupid on purpose?” Pang Sun rolled her eyes. “You may not believe that he has foresight, but he was able to predict the apocalypse wasn’t he?”

Lau Hui smiled sadly, “That he did.”

Old Lee couldn’t help but laugh when he watched the young couple fight. “I agree with Pang Sun. Wang Lu must have some kind of special ability. Otherwise, our Lord wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of bringing her and Zhou Jie here from Cloud City.”

“You mean I have a special ability too?” Zhou Jie asked in surprise.

Old Lee just shook his head with a laugh. “There’s no way to tell, but I’m guessing that the answer is yes.”

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

It cost Cheng Yang 17,000 Experience Fragments to hire all of the Imperial Guards bringing his total below 100,000.

Once the Imperial Guard had gathered in full, Cheng Yang announced that Xue Yu would be the captain of the guard. Once Cheng Yang put her in charge, Xue Yu separated the Imperial Guard into five patrols of six guards each. The captains of each patrol were the first guard hired from each class.

Stepping out, Cheng Yang returned to the Territory Altar. It was time. He activated Divine Grace.

A wisp of energy stretched out from the altar, then, flowed into Cheng Yang as a torrent.

After a few breaths worth of time, strange and robust energy filled Cheng Yang’s body. He had reached a level he never had in his past life: Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice. Of the people on Earth, only Cheng Yang was worthy of being referred to as a master.

At the same time, all thirty members of the Imperial Guard also leveled up. With this, Phoenix Village had become un-conquerable for at least a few months.

More importantly, the Imperial Guard would now be able to clear all five runs of the Hard difficulty Blood-Soaked Cathedral every day! Even after the instance dungeon leveled up, they would still be able to do so.

He had so many powerful subordinates that it just felt capricious!

Moreover, if he brought the Elite Imperial Guards with him, Cheng Yang was confident he could clear the Nightmare difficulty! With their combined strength, it would be easy!

When he imagined what kind of loot would drop when he secured the first clear, Cheng Yang started salivating.

It would be a great source of Experience Fragment. Not just for Cheng Yang but Phoenix Village as well.

Cheng Yang did some careful calculations and concluded that after clearing the Blood-Soaked Cathedral one more time would level up the instance dungeon. When that happened, it’s Experience Fragment output would increase to eight thousand a day minimum.

Thus, Cheng Yang immediately sent a team from the Imperial Guard into the instance dungeon.

Now that he had such competent subordinates, he naturally did not need to do something so trivial personally.

While he was waiting, Cheng Yang opened up the Territory Altar system pane. There he found that in addition to the usual options, there was now a panel dedicated to donations.

That panel presented Cheng Yang with the option to enable donations. Then, any citizen living in his territory would be able to donate Experience Fragments, equipment, or raw resources to the Territory Altar. In exchange, their Contribution Score would increase in a roughly one to one ratio with the value of the donated item in Experience Fragments.

After a territory reached the level of a High-Grade Village, the Lord would be allowed to restrict access to the territories facilities. The way to unlock those facilities was naturally a high Contribution Score. Right now, one of the only things Phoenix Village could restrict was the ability to use Meditation Halls. As the territory developed, however, having a high Contribution Score would be more important than having a lot of Experience Fragments.

This ability was by far the most powerful tool a Lord had for exerting their will a territory as a whole.

Cheng Yang then opened the pane that tracked citizen information and saw a new contribution value column on each one. The only people with positive values were those that had official positions.

At that time, the three members of the Imperial Guard exited the Blood-Soaked Cathedral. In less than twenty minutes, the three of them had cleanly cleared the instance.

Since dozens of people had confirmed this in his past life, Cheng Yang knew that it took fifty clears to level up an instance dungeon the first time. Thus, even though the shimmering entrance to the instance dungeon didn’t change, Cheng Yang knew it had been upgraded.

They would now be able to run each ten instances per day at each difficulty. Once Cheng Yang confirmed that the instance dungeon had leveled up, he sent three more teams into the Hard difficulty.

As for the extra Normal difficulty runs, Cheng Yang wouldn’t bother competing for them. After all, he had nothing to gain from them. However, for his soldiers, this was their only source of equipment.

The remaining members of the Imperial Guard didn’t enter an instance since Cheng Yang needed them to patrol the walls and Outer Village. The reason so many of them needed to be on duty was that the Imperial Guard weren’t robots. Although they didn’t need to train, they did need to sleep, so only half of them could be doing something at any given time.

Afterward, Cheng Yang opened up buildings tab of the Territory Altar system pane and upgraded his Meditation Hall.

In an instant, the only Standard-Grade Meditation Hall in the territory was wreathed in light and became a High-Grade one.

A courtyard now surrounded the buildings with a low wooden fence. In addition, the upgrade added five rooms had to the interior, including a kitchen and bathing area.

Cheng Yang walked inside and entered one of the second-floor bedrooms.

Although Cheng Yang wanted to keep the whole house for himself, he knew that was too extravagant.

Luckily, each room was pretty good on its own since the decorations and furniture were all on the level of a high-class hotel. The area had been partitioned into a living area with a tea table and a bedroom for sleeping.

Cheng Yang flopped onto the bed and opened his system pane.

---

Cheng Yang
Phoenix Village Lord
Class: Mage
Subclass: Cryomancer
Profession: Alchemist
Level: Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice (8.5%)

Age	19	Life Span	300
Health	276.5	Mana	483.8
Physical Attack	8	Magic Attack	108.8
Physical Defense	27.4	Magic Defense	17.3
Attack Speed	8	Movement Speed	25

Innate Abilities

• Receive 40% more stats in the Magic Attack attribute when you level up
• When Lord of a territory, all building effects are increased by 30%
• Movement speed is increased by 200%
• Perfect Medicinal Body: All potions effects are doubled and the side effects are halved
• Frozen Flesh: Physical Defense is increased by 50%
• Icy Mind: Mental Defense is increased by 50%

Skills

• Meditation (Pinnacle-Grade): Meditate to absorb experience fragments and level up
• Icicle Blast (High-Grade): Attack targets within thirty meters with a spike of magical ice | Damage: 130.6 | Cost: 5 MP | Cast Time: 1.3 sec | Effect: 30% chance to freeze target on hit | Proficiency: 45.3%
• Petal Blizzard (Low-Grade): Conjure hundreds of razor sharp ice petals to dice your enemies | Damage: 54.4 | Cost: 20 MP | Cast Time: 1.3 sec | Effect Radius: 3 m | Proficiency: 12.2%
• Hibernation Chill (Low-Grade): Freeze the air around an opponent greatly slowing them | Duration: 2 sec | Cost: 8 Mana | Cast Time: 0.8 sec | Proficiency: 31.4%
• Sacrificial Blood Cloud (Low-Grade): Gift one of your attributes in full to five allies | Penalty: All attributes are halved | Duration: 10 minutes | Cast Time: 10.3 sec | Proficiency: 7.1%

Equipment

• Wolf King’s Sorrow (Black Iron): A stave crafted from the leg bones of the once mighty Wolf King, a Pinnacle-Grade Evolved monster that ruled a pack of millions. Shoddy construction has caused its power to diminish over time | Increases Magic Attack by 4 | Durability: 69/80
• Corrupted High Priest’s Robes (Black Iron): The robes of the high priest of the St. Luantha cathedral corrupted by demonic magic | Increase Physical Defense by 2 and Mana by 10 | Durability: 48/60
• Standard Battlemage Helmet (Black Iron): A helmet mass produced by the Nubines Citadel for its famed battlemage infantry | Increase Mana by 20 and Physical Defense by 1 | Durability: 67/80
• Rotten Wooden Ring (Black Iron): Once a powerful artifact, this ring made from a holy tree has been nearly destroyed by demonic energy | Increases Magic Attack by 3 | Durability: 75/80
• Crystal Ring (Green Bronze): A simple band ring composed of a single red crystal | Increase Magic Attack by 1 | Durability: 51/60
• Sunbeam Necklace (Green Bronze): A necklace bearing a sun motif that was lightly blessed by a holy entity | Increases Magic Attack by 1 | Durability: 55/60
• Dire Bear Bracelet (Green Bronze): Warm and fluffy this bracelet was made using the fur from one of nature’s fiercest predator | Increases Physical Defense by 1 | Durability: 45/60
• Adoril’s Gauntlet (Black Iron): One of the last fragments of the mithril armor used by Holy Knight Adoril which is the perfect size to wear as a bracelet | Increases Mana by 10 and Physical Defense by 2 | Durability: 77/80
• Iron Ant Boots (Green Bronze): Stylish and practical, these boots were made using hundred of iron ants as sequins | Increases Physical Defense by 1 and Movement Speed by 1 | Durability: 58/60

---

Cheng Yang had more or less reached the level of a Boss. Even if Cheng Yang stood still and let a Low-Grade soldier attack him, it wouldn’t hurt him.

Right now, he could face an army of one thousand Low-Grade monsters without a hint of fear. With the combined might of his doubled Mana attribute and the Petal Blizzard skill, Cheng Yang would be able to massacre them all in minutes.

Since god’s rules would transfer all of the Experience Fragments gathered by members of the Imperial Guard to Cheng Yang, he decided to rest for a while.

Over the next twenty minutes, Cheng Yang’s Experience Fragment balance increased explosively, and he achieved his goal of obtaining one hundred thousand.

Cheng Yang then began training.

That night, Cheng Yang filled his experience bar by two point three percent. This outrageous progress was the combined result of his Innate Ability, the High-Grade Meditation Hall, and having unlocked the next level of increased training speed.

Of course, this kind of progress wasn’t free. There was a reason no one was able to use thirty-two times training speed in his previous life consistently. Cheng Yang consumed a total of one thousand two hundred and eighty Experience Fragments.

When Cheng Yang got up to begin the day’s activities, he found several people waiting in the courtyard outside the Meditation Hall. Except for Yu Kai, who was training at the moment, the other four generals were patiently drinking tea. It wasn’t just them; there were four other uninvited guests: Pang Sun, Liu Wei, Zhou Jie, and Wang Lu.

Once he saw them, Cheng Yang realized he had forgotten about the people he had brought back yesterday. They were probably waiting for a verdict from him, but why were the others here?

“My Lord, you have a pretty nice house. Do you think we could each have one too?” Lau Hui asked with a smile.

“What do you mean? Just go choose one for the five of you.” Cheng Yang dismissed the comment.

“This… my Lord, do you think I could have a house to myself?” Lau Hui asked with an embarrassed expression.

It was then that Cheng Yang noticed the deep red blush on Pang Sun’s face. “Why don’t you want to live with your buddies?” He asked with a mischievous smile.

“I… Well, it’s not very convenient for the five of us to stay together.” Lau Hui stuttered.

Cheng Yang snorted when he saw that reaction. “Alright, I won’t make you say it. I know the real reason you want a house, and I’ll make getting one easy for you. Buy the wood needed for it from the Loggers, and I’ll use it to build a house for you. If you want to upgrade it, make sure to bring me more wood.”

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

In Cheng Yang’s previous life, humanity began conquering Territory Altars two to three months after the apocalypse. These territories were only able to level up to Standard-Grade a few weeks before Cheng Yang died. The reason they were so slow was that on a good day, the territory would only earn 500 Experience Fragments. This was because the respawn rate was abysmal after three months, and all of the large monster hordes were cleared before establishing a village.

Cheng Yang confirmed that he met the requirements for military personnel, city development, and finances.

Once he did, Cheng Yang immediately chose to level up the village.

“Congratulations, your territory has become a High-Grade Village. Please check the Territory Altar system pane for more details.” A familiar voice echoed deep within his soul as Cheng Yang viewed the territories stats.

---

Phoenix Territory
Level: High-Grade Village
Experience Fragments: 634

Owned Buildings

• Warrior Statue (High Grade): Produces Warriors (260/260)
• Mage Statue (High Grade): Produces Mages (260/260)
• Ranger Statue (High Grade): Produces Rangers (260/260)
• Summoner Statue (High Grade): Produces Summoners (260/260)
• Priest Statue (Standard Grade): Produces Priests (15/15)
• Ringed Wall (Low Grade): A circular wall with a radius of 650 meters.
• Ringed Wall (Standard Grade): A circular wall with a radius of 1700 meters.
• Meditation Hall (Low Grade): A buildings that improves the efficiency of the meditation skill by 13% (79)
• Meditation Hall (Standard Grade): A buildings that improves the efficiency of the meditation skill by 26% (3)
• Forge (Low Grade): Unlocks the forging of Bronze Green equipment and the Miner and Blacksmith Professions. Can buy or sell metal equipment from the NPC inside
• Tailor(Low Grade): Unlocks weaving and the Tailor Profession. Can buy and sell clothes and cloth goods from the NPC inside
• Lumber Mill (Low Grade): Unlocks logging and the Logger and Carpenter Professions. Can buy and sell wooden equipment and wood from the NPC inside
• Silversmithy (Low Grade): Unlocks jewelry crafting and the Sculptor and Silversmith Professions. Can buy and sell jewelry and related equipment from the NPC inside
• Alchemy Tower (Low Grade): Unlocks potion making and the Alchemist Profession. Can buy and sell potions and alchemical ingredients from the NPC inside
• Grocery (Low Grade): Can buy and sell assorted goods and food from the NPC inside
• Imperial Guard Pavilion (Low Grade): Allows the creation of the Imperial Guard and access to the NPC market

Available Buildings

• Ringed Wall (High Grade): Build a third circular wall with a radius of 3390 meters around the Territory Altar and increase the stats of the first two rings of walls | Durability: 5000 per meter | Damage Reduction: 20 | Cost: 4 units of wood per meter
• Meditation Hall (Low Grade): When inside improves the efficiency of the meditation skill by 13% | Occupancy: 6 | Durability: 650 | Damage Reduction: 3.9 | Cost: 10 units of wood
• Meditation Hall (Standard Grade): Upgrade for the Low Grade Meditation Hall, when inside improves the efficiency of the meditation skill by 26% | Occupancy: 6 | Durability: 1300 | Damage Reduction: 6.5 | Cost: 20 units of wood
• Meditation Hall (High Grade): Upgrade for the Standard Grade Meditation Hall, when inside improves the efficiency of the meditation skill by 39% | Occupancy: 6 | Durability: 1300 | Damage Reduction: 6.5 | Cost: 40 units of wood
• Forge (Standard Grade): Upgrade for the Low-Grade Forge that expands the selection of items sold | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Tailor(Standard Grade): Upgrade for the Low-Grade Tailor that expands the selection of items sold | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Lumber Mill (Standard Grade): Upgrade for the Low-Grade Lumber Mill that expands the selection of items sold | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Silversmithy (Standard Grade): Upgrade for the Low-Grade Silversmithy that expands the selection of items sold | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Alchemy Tower (Standard Grade): Upgrade for the Low-Grade Alchemy Tower that expands the selection of items sold | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Grocery (Standard Grade): Upgrade for the Low-Grade Grocery that expands the selection of items sold | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Tavern (Low Grade): A bar and grill that serves all kinds of food and drinks. Provides access terminal for the global communication network. | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Adventurer’s Guild (Low Grade): Allows individuals to register as adventurers and form parties for dungeon clearing. | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Barracks (Low Grade): Allows individuals to join the territories army as foot soldiers or leaders. Soldier’s that train their skills here will learn faster. | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Trial Hall (Low Grade): A place for adventurers and soldiers to test their skills in instance dungeons. | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone
• Quest Hall (Low Grade): A central location for people to post quests that adventurers can accept. | Cost: 500 units of wood and 100 units of stone

Attributes

• Lord Innate Ability: All building attributes increased by 30%
• Fast Soldiers: Grants 200% increase in movement speed as an innate ability

Upgrade Conditions

• Maintain 1000 Professionals
• Raise the level of all four class change statues to Pinnacle Grade
• Raise the level of the Forge, Tailor, Lumber Mill, Silversmithy and Alchemy Tower
• Build the Tavern, Barracks, Adventurers Guild, Trial Hall and Quest Hall
• Have 3 Low-Grade Specialists, 20 Pinnacle-Grade Apprentices and 100 High-Grade Apprentices
• 100,000 Experience Fragments

---

Everything was the same as Cheng Yang expected it to be since the Phoenix Village from his past life was the same. If not for the difficulty in cultivating a high-level soldier, it would have leveled up again weeks before he died.

If the requirement only required a single individual to be at the Specialist level, most territories would be able to fulfill it. After all, the Territory’s Lord since most would be at the Standard-Grade Apprentice level when they first used Divine Grace. However, since the requirement was that three people be at the specialist level, not a single territory had reached the Pinnacle-Grade Village level before Cheng Yang died.

As for the other conditions, compared to the fifth one, they simply weren’t worth mentioning.

Even so, Cheng Yang wasn’t worried. Establishing a firm foundation at Phoenix Village’s current level was more important than quickly leveling up again.

“My Lord, can we build the Tavern first?” Zhao Chuan asked, “It’s been days since I last had a good drink, and I need one.”

Cheng Yang shook his head since he already had a long term plan.

First off, he could temporarily put off building the High-Grade wall. Since monsters below High-Grade Immature wouldn’t even be able to damage the Standard-Grade walls, there wasn’t a need to upgrade it yet.

He could also ignore the Adventurer’s Guild and Trial Hall since every Professional was currently a part of the Phoenix Village militia. Until there was another influx of soldiers when the class change statues leveled up, there wasn’t a reason to build them. The Quest Hall and Barracks, on the other hand, were absolutely essential.

As for the Tavern, it wasn’t particularly noteworthy, but it was still more valuable than half of the new buildings.

Regardless, Cheng Yang couldn’t build a single one of the new buildings without stone. Until he found a quarry, he could only build more Meditation Halls.

When Cheng Yang explained the root of the problem to his generals, they were felt helpless. It seemed they would need to wait a while longer before becoming salaried generals.

Then Yu Kai and the others left to focus on their responsibilities. After all, even though Cheng Yang had nearly died inside the Mystery Gate, for everyone else, it was just an ordinary afternoon. Thinking about his experiences, Cheng Yang let out a sigh of relief. Although he knew that it was impossible to make any achievements in this world without taking a risk, he was still glad to be alive.

When Cheng Yang looked at the Territory Altar in front of him, he was filled with melancholy. He had managed to create a miracle by producing a High-Grade Village in just ten days but was it enough to change his fate?

Shaking his head to clear those thoughts, Cheng Yang entered the Imperial Gaurd Pavilion without using Divine Grace to level up.

This was because Cheng Yang wanted to minimize the cost of recruiting the Imperial Guard since the hiring price was directly proportional to their level. If he were to use Divine Grace before hiring them, their level would rise alongside his, bringing the price up as well.

Although Cheng Yang was far richer than he was in his past life, his expenses were also much higher. Cheng Yang had more than 114,000 Experience Fragments, but reaching the maximum number of Imperial Guard members wasn’t going to be cheap.

The cap had been raised to thirty from twenty when the village leveled up. So, subtracting the three Imperial Guard members he had already had, Cheng Yang needed to hire twenty-seven more.

The first thing Cheng Yang did when he arrived was check every NPC’s list for a guard with an SS-Rank Innate Ability. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find any new ones aside from the two he hadn’t hired last time. This just goes to show how rare individuals with that kind of talent were.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Cheng Yang hired as many Imperial Guard members as he could from the NPCs.

Without exception, all of the guards Cheng Yang hired has an S-Rank Innate Ability or better. Each one of which spawned as High-Grade Apprentices.

Of the twenty-seven open slots, Cheng Yang had filled four with Priests and filled the other twenty-three slots evenly with members of the four primary classes.

If not for the restrictions put in place by the Imperial Guard Palace limiting Cheng Yang to just four Priests, he definitely would have hired more.

When Cheng Yang was finished, the thirty-strong Imperial Guard gave him a unified salute, filling him with pride. These people would be the backbone of his territory!

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

Cheng Yang stared at the closest gem. From twenty meters away, it twinkled beckoningly.

He couldn’t just give up! That gem was worth tens of thousands of Experience Fragments!

But what could he do? Just run in and hope he didn’t get hit?

Cheng Yang’s mind was a mess. This was arguably one of the most difficult decisions he had ever had to make.

To avoid being detected before he made a decision, Cheng Yang retreated. After he was safe, Cheng Yang began to think. Hard.

After a long time, Cheng Yang came up with the perfect plan. Opening up his system pane, Cheng Yang wanted the countdown.

His plan was simple: to run down the clock. He would run in at the last second and grab one of the gems; then the Mystery Gate would teleport him away. However, that would only work if the Rotoskr wasn’t any higher level that Low-Grade Mature.

The gem Cheng Yang wanted was twenty meters away with the Rotoskr another eighty meters further. Taking into consideration that they’re sleeping right now, Cheng Yang estimated that his plan had a success rate of 80%.

On the other hand, there was a twenty percent chance Cheng Yang would die.

As for the second closest gem, it was thirty meters away. Since his plan was already so risky, Cheng Yang didn’t even consider trying to get it.

Cheng Yang came sat down and began to wait quietly. With just a half-hour left on the countdown clock, he wouldn’t have to wait long.

Time trickled by, leaving Cheng Yang on edge.

Finally, there was just one minute left…

Cheng Yang had budgeted two seconds worth of time for him to sprint twenty meters and pick up the gem. Hopefully, none of the Rotoskr would be able to reach him…

Ten seconds… Nine seconds… Eight seconds…

Three seconds…

Cheng Yang flung himself out of the tunnel, boring down on the dark blue gem.

Simultaneously, the Rotoskr woke up. In just half a second, the Low-Grade Mature leader had started sprinting towards Cheng Yang. At the same time, it used its signature skill, bursting forwards with a speed the like of with Cheng Yang had never seen before. Its movements were barely traceable with the human eye, rocketing forwards at a pace at least three times that of a Pinnacle-Grade Immature Rotoskr using the same skill.

Even if he was scared, Cheng Yang had committed to his actions. There was no room to back out now!

Pushing himself to the limit, Cheng Yang put everything into his sprint. In a miraculous push, he reached the gem after just a second and a half, but there was no time to waste. The leader of the Rotoskr was only twenty meters away!

Without hesitating, Cheng Yang ground to a stop, picked up the gem and turned to run.

He’d done it! He had the gem!

Suddenly, Cheng Yang noticed a set of six sharp claws sticking out of his chest.

“Oh fuck, teleport me out!” Cheng Yang pleaded as the pain from the blow caught up to him.

Cheng Yang felt himself get raised into the air as the Rotoskr sat up on its hind legs.

It grabbed Cheng Yang with the prehensile, human-like hands on its middle set of legs and raised Cheng Yang’s head into its waiting jaws.

At the same moment, its mouth snapped shut, Cheng Yang’s body disappeared without a trace.

Angered by the loss of its prey, the Rotoskr let out a tyrannical roar-like squeak, causing stalactites to fall from the intense shaking.

---

Cheng Yang found himself bleeding out on that hill near the village, next to Wang Cheng.

“I didn’t die! Yes!” Cheng Yang laughed maniacally, holding the gem in his hands out in front of him, letting the dark blue clash with the red twilight sky.

---

High-Grade Experience Gem
When crushed or sacrificed to a Territory Altar, gives one hundred thousand Experience Fragments

Quality: Slag

---

Clutching it, Cheng Yang absorbed the massive amount of energy inside. When he opened his system pane, he found those six digits to be the most beautiful thing in the world. Even though his Health was at a frightening 0.4, nothing could ruin this moment.

Thinking about the eleven Standard-Grade Experience Gem’s in his bag, the personal fortunate he now had, and the good things they’d bring, Cheng Yang chuckled.

tossing the dust into the air, he smiled. “Wang Cheng. Let’s head home.”

---

By the time Cheng Yang and Wang Cheng arrived at the village, night had fallen, and dense cloud cover had blocked out the light of the stars. Even so, neither person minded since Cheng Yang could light up several meters around them just by holding a Standard-Grade Experience Gem in his hand.

Once they reached the gate, Cheng Yang handed Wang Cheng the gem in his hand. Although Wang Cheng tried to refuse at first, Cheng Yang forced it into his hands. Although it seemed like his role was the safer of the two, the unknown was far more dangerous than any monster Cheng Yang had faced.

Wang Cheng was a bit uncomfortable with the gift, but after hearing Cheng Yang praise his bravery, he was able to accept it with a smile.

In the few minutes, it would take to reach the center of the Inner Village; Cheng Yang did some mental math. When he left the territory had around seven thousand Experience Fragments, so if the evening hunt went well, it should have reached eight thousand while he was gone. Once he added in the Experience Gems he in his backpack, he would either be able to level up the village or be very close.

When Cheng Yang finally reached the Territory Altar, he was intercepted by his generals before he could open the system pane.

“Yoko, worrying about the things you do is going to kill me someday!” Lau Hui shouted, his face filled with sad yet happy anger.

Cheng Yang was startled by the harsh tone. “What’s gotten into you?”

Before Lau Hui could reply, Old Lee reprimanded Cheng Yang. “My Lord, we simply couldn’t bear to think about losing you when we heard you had gone off on a dangerous mission, worry corrupted our every moment. Your life carries the weight of Phoenix Village and the half-million people living here.”

Cheng Yang suddenly realized how his actions must have looked to an onlooker when he heard Old Lee’s passionate speech and saw the worried faces of his friends.

“I’m sorry, everyone. I should have told you where I was going.” Cheng Yang said with an apologetic smile. “But, I can’t agree not to do things like this in the future. After all, since I did, the village that was originally going to take ten days to level up can be leveled up tonight.”

Yu Kai, who had been listening silently, was thrilled. Although there weren’t any direct benefits to leveling up the village for him, who wouldn’t want a more secure place to live?

“Once we do,” Cheng Yang continued, “we’ll be able to build the Adventurer’s Guild so that people can complete quests instead of fighting monsters. We’ll also be able to build the Barracks and standardize our military operations.”

“My Lord, what on Earth are you waiting for?” Liu Hau asked, shaking Cheng Yang vigorously.

“I was about to, but a certain group of concerned friends stopped me.” Cheng Yang smirked.

With a wry smile, Liu Hau and the others stepped back.

When he finally checked, Cheng Yang found out that he was around a thousand and two hundred Experience Fragments short. However, this was within his expectation.

“Old Lee, what time is it right now?” Cheng Yang asked.

Old Lee checked the mechanical watch on his wrist. “Eleven forty-five my Lord. Why? Do you not have enough to upgrade the village?”

“Just a few. Once midnight arrives let’s go clear the Blood Soaked Cathedral. That should be enough to earn what we need.”

For Yu Kai and the other, the fifteen-minute wait was torturous. For Cheng Yang, however, it was relaxing compared to the nervewracking countdown he experiences in the cave.

Once the wait was over, Cheng Yang brought the Imperial Guard with him into the instance dungeon. None of Cheng Yang’s generals joined him since each one had a designated time that they always used the dungeon and didn’t want to change.

After just over half an hour, Cheng Yang and the Imperial Guard cleared the instance.

Without anything to hold him back anymore, Cheng Yang placed the eleven gems he had risked his life for on the Territory Altar and hit the sacrifice button.

In the time it took Cheng Yang to blink, all of the gems had turned to dust.

When Cheng Yang glanced at the Territory Altars system pane, he saw one gratifying number. Twenty thousand, six hundred, and forty-three.

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

Since the benefits were too good to pass up, Cheng Yang decided that he would at least get those three Experience Gems!

Unfortunately, the Standard-Grade gems were quite far away. Cheng Yang needed to inch towards them, picking up the Low-Grade gems on the way and carefully observing his surroundings.

Although Cheng Yang was on edge, getting ten Experience Fragments every few steps made it bearable.

Even though Cheng Yang was strong, he preferred just picking up stones to killing ten Low-Grade monsters.

Ten minutes later, Cheng Yang picked up one of the Standard-Grade gems and carefully placed it into his bag.

It was hard to explain how Cheng Yang felt right now. Even if someone placed a piece of Red Gold equipment in front of him, he wouldn’t be willing to trade the gems he had picked up. Although, relatively speaking, the equipment was more valuable.

Half an hour later, Cheng Yang finally reached the last Standard-Grade Experience Gem. The whole process had gone very smoothly, and not a single Rotoskr had appeared.

Cheng Yang slowly squatted, grabbed the gem, and stowed it away.

After getting up, Cheng Yang took a regretful look at the dozens of Low-Grade gems in front of him. Even so, he decided to leave them.

Right before turning around, Cheng Yang saw one of the lights on the ground jump. Pausing for a second, he saw the gem tremble and pop of the ground once more.

“This is…” Cheng Yang stopped hesitating and sprinted back towards the cavern. Moments later, a giant head appeared from behind the corner. This time, however, Cheng Yang was ready.

He had a significant enough head start that even though his enemy was a Pinnacle-Grade monster, he was never in any danger. The only downside was that the Rotoskr was able to reduce his Health to twenty before dying.

Cheng Yang felt quite depressed since this meant he would have to use one of his last three Health Recovery Potions. Although he had brought lots of potions, nearly all of them were Mana Recovery Potions.

Cheng Yang checked the countdown timer on his system pane: 3:12:36

Although it would cost him nearly a third of the time he had left, Cheng Yang decided to heal using the Meditation skill. Killing the second Pinnacle-Grade Rotoskr with ease gave him the confidence to try his luck for a little longer, so he wanted to save his potions.

Once he had healed, Cheng Yang got up to explore a little bit further.

Cheng Yang slowly made his way to the point he had reached earlier and when he reached the corner, glanced around it. Not too far away were four more blue gems.

This time, Cheng Yang decided to try out a theory of his. The cave was laid out just like a dungeon in a game, with enemies stationed at predictable locations. If he was right, there was a Pinnacle-Grade Rotoskr around the corner at the end of this tunnel.

Cheng Yang sped up, quickly picking up all of the gems he found. Absorbing the Low-Grade ones and storing the Standard-Grade ones in his backpack.

Once Cheng Yang got close to the corner, he slowed down. He planned to inch forward until the Rotoskr detected him and then attack while running away. Of course, if he could sneak up on the monster that would be even better.

Although his best-case scenario was a good one, it wasn’t to be. Once he was a meter from the corner, Cheng Yang heard the telltale footsteps of a Rotoskr.

“Gotcha.” Cheng Yang created space and launched an Icicle Blast the moment the monster rounded the corner.

As if the gods were looking after him, Cheng Yang’s first attack froze the monster solid. Moreover, this Rotoskr didn’t have an Innate Ability that helped it thaw out early.

By the time it could chase after him, Cheng Yang had retreated to the end of the tunnel and hit it twice with Icicle Blast.

Although the Rotoskr used Acceleration Burst to close the distance, it was already too late for it to even struggle. Cheng Yang was able to kill it before the Rotoskr could land a single hit.

Cheng Yang waltzed over to the corner, proud of himself for figuring out the trick to clearing the Rotoskr nest but when he turned the corner, he couldn’t help but be disappointed. There were only three Standard-Grade gems in this tunnel, and the number of Low-Grade ones had been reduced by one fourth as well.

“Isn’t that too cheap?” Cheng Yang griped as he picked up all the gems.

By now, Cheng Yang’s Experience Fragment balance had exceeded thirteen thousand. Of which, Cheng Yang gathered five thousand by killing monster over the last two days, and the other eight thousand were from absorbing Low-Grade Experience Gems. That wasn’t even counting the eleven Standard-Grade gems in his bag.

Since this was just the tenth day of the apocalypse, this many Experience Fragments was more valuable than any high-quality equipment and almost as valuable as the Imperial Guard Pavilion blueprints he had found earlier! Cheng Yang’s had made so much today that he was somewhat afraid to go to sleep tonight, for fear that he would wake up and realizes it was all a dream.

Once he was ready, Cheng Yang approached the corner to start the next fight.

Cheng Yang stepped within one meter of the corner, listening for the sound of scrabbling paws. When he didn’t hear it, he got right up to the edge and yet, there was still nothing.

Cheng Yang sighed. If there wasn’t a Rotoskr around the corner, that probably meant there wasn’t anything else to loot in the cave.

With a sense of apprehension, Cheng Yang looked around the corner. What he saw amazed him.

Right around the corner was a large cavern bathed in dark blue light. The entire area, which easily covered ten thousand square feet, was blanketed by head-sized deep blue Experience Gems.

Cheng Yang had to stop himself from letting out a yelp of surprise. “This is a siren’s song!”

There was no way those gems weren’t High-Grade Experience Gems! Even a conservative estimate would put the number of gems in this cavern in the thousands! How much would he be able to earn if he mined them all? Ten million? A hundred million? If he were able to obtain this mine, Cheng Yang was confident he could rule the world.

This opportunity was just too huge for anyone to refuse!

Tearing his eyes away from the walls, Cheng Yang checked the floor. In a more or less even distribution, ten of those High-Grade gems were scattered around the room.

If Cheng Yang had found this room a few hours ago, he would have rushed in without hesitation. Now, however, he knew just how dangerous it was to move around freely in the Rotoskr nest. Before making a move, he carefully scanned the cavern in its entirety.

Suddenly, in a far corner, he noticed them. Five Rotoskr sleeping together. Four of them were bear sized Pinnacle-Grade monsters, and the fifth was nearly double their size. Based on the fact that the other four slept in a circle around the big one, it was probably their leader.

What kind of existence would be able to lead a group of Pinnacle-Grade monsters? Clearly that Rotoskr was a Mature monster, one that had reached the second stage of evolution.

When he realized that, Cheng Yang broke out into a cold sweat. Although it was difficult for someone to kill a monster with a higher level than them, it wasn’t impossible. Xue Yu of the Imperial Guard had demonstrated that with the proper equipment and enough potions, that although expensive, it was easy.

However, that was only when both combatants were at the same stage of evolution. This Rotoskr wasn’t just a higher level than him; it had reached a higher plane of existence.

There wasn’t much information about Mature monsters in Cheng Yang’s past life since they had spawned so rarely. However, every single one had power more than double that of a Pinnacle-Grade Immature monster of the same species.

Just like he could insta-kill Standard-Grade monsters, there was a pretty good chance, that Rotoskr could insta-kill him.

Right now, Cheng Yang was even closer to death than when he saw the dragon flying outside.

What should he do? Leave?

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

Cheng Yang squinted excitedly and in the distance, saw some golf ball sized blue gems further ahead.

Cheng Yang’s anticipation was building. He had earned more than a thousand Experience Fragment just using the Low-Grade gems but, these were clearly must better. How much would he make if he grabbed one of those?

As Cheng Yang rushed forward to grab the gem, a shrill squeak echoed through the cave. It was precisely the same cry as the Rotoskr he had killed outside!

“Dammit! I forgot there were monsters in here!” Cheng Yang thought to himself, running back towards the cavern where he first found the Experience Gems.

Sure enough, before he could even make it ten steps, a pair of reflective orbs appeared from around a corner behind him. Cheng Yang’s spirit fell into the gutter when he got a clear view of the massive rodent that was even bigger than the ones he had fought before.

If the Rotoskr from earlier were around the same size as a leopard, the one behind him was the size of a black bear. When it ran, the ground trembled.

As the looming figure approached him, Cheng Yang knew the situation wasn’t in his favor. In an attempt to create distance, Cheng Yang began casting Hibernation Chill on the Rotoskr and fled. Although the Cast Time was less than a second, when the blast of cold air fired, there was only a ten-meter gap between the two.

Fortunately, Hibernation Chill had a 100% chance of freezing the opponent so that giant monster nearly froze solid.

Cheng Yang didn’t dare to stick around any longer. As he sprinted back to the safety of the open sky, he fired an Icicle Blast into the Rotoskr’s head.

However, at the same time, the slow effect of Hibernation Chill wore off. That is to say; it had broken free from the debuff after only half the time had passed!

Taking into account that even when slowed the monster was able to travel ten meters, Cheng Yang was able to guess that the Rotoskr in front of him was a Pinnacle-Grade monster with an Innate Ability that helped it ignore debuffs.

Cheng Yang had experience killing Pinnacle-Grade monsters, but that was only in the Blood Soaked Cathedral where he was able to attack the Boss from the top of the tree safely. Here, however, not only had he lost his terrain advantage, he was actually at a disadvantage!

In the blink of an eye, another Icicle Blast hit the Rotoskr. Although it hit, just the tip was able to pierce through while the rest shattered on its tough hide. Unfortunately, Cheng Yang wasn’t lucky enough for the freeze debuff to activate.

By that time, the Rotoskr was only twenty meters away.

Quickly making some calculations based off of information in his past life, Cheng Yang tried to guess the stats of the monster. The Rotoskr’s Magic Defense would be at most 16 with a Health of 280. Thus, each of his shots would deal around 50.5 damage, and he would need to hit the monster six times to kill it.

He’d already hit twice, and there was only one more chance to attack before the Rotoskr reached him.

Once the monster caught up, both parties would only need to land three attacks, but how would he land the other needed attacks? Right now, his only advantage over the monster was that he had potions; otherwise, it was far more likely for him to die.

Moreover, this was just to kill a single Pinnacle-Grade Rotoskr. Who knows how many more at that level were crawling through these stone tunnels.

If it weren’t for the Experience Gems, he’d be taking a pretty significant loss. The only other benefits to killing this Rotoskr would only give him eight Experience Fragment after all.

From now on, there was no need for planning and schemes; he just had to fight slightly better than his opponent.

Cheng Yang sent the final attack he could before the enemy reached him flying. Now Cheng Yang’s good times were at an end.

Letting the ice shatter on its skin, the Rotoskr swiped at Cheng Yang with its claws. Tearing flesh and slamming Cheng Yang into the ground.

“So fucking strong!” Cheng Yang rolled away from the monster and kicked to his feet.

Without letting Cheng Yang take the time to attack, the Rotoskr had immediately kicked off the ground with its powerful back legs after its first attack.

Cheng Yang watched the wall of flesh move forwards, its other clawed hand aiming for his neck. Although Cheng Yang knew that only Mature monsters would have attributes applied to their attacks, after making so many mistakes in this life, he decided to play it safe. Instead of trying to duck, Cheng Yang used the fraction of a second he had to hop into the air lightly. His honed dexterity allowed him to avoid a potentially fatal decapitation blow, allowing the sharp claws to pierce his chest instead.

The Rotoskr tossed Cheng Yang into a cavern, making Cheng Yang the star of a trapeze. He flew a full fifteen meters away before hitting the cavern wall with a sickening crack. His ribs had cracked and the pain of a pierced lung wracked Cheng Yang’s body. This Pinnacle-Grade asshole was really irritating!

A bloody streak ran down from Cheng Yang’s mouth. That attack had dealt a total of forty damage, the most he had ever suffered from a single attack, and now he only had twenty Health left.

If the Rotoskr hit him again, Cheng Yang would be paying a visit to King Yan. As for whether he might reincarnate again? Cheng Yang hadn’t even considered it.

“Damn. Two more….” Cheng Yang murmured firing the Icicle Blast he had charged while flying through the air. Letting the attack land, the Rotoskr charged forwards, jaws wide open.

At the same time, Cheng Yang drank a Health Recovery Potion with one hand and began casting with the other.

Suddenly, the Rotoskr used Acceleration Burst, turning into a blur of flesh and death. Cheng Yang’s heart dropped, the potion hadn’t had time to reach his stomach yet!

With mere meters between them, Cheng Yang fired an Icicle Blast into the Rotoskr’s open mouth. The moment it hit, shards of ice started to cover the monster, and when it finally slid into Cheng Yang, it was completely frozen.

It was the freeze debuff! Although its claws hit Cheng Yang, the god’s rules didn’t recognize it as an attack! In the single second, he had bought himself, Cheng Yang was able to move outside its immediate attack range, and the potion healed him enough to survive another hit before dying.

With a smile, Cheng Yang cast Icicle Blast the Rotoskr right as it was thawing. He didn’t need to even try for this shot. If he missed a stationary target, what was the point of the experience from his past life?

With an angry squeak, the monster desperately tried to reach Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang gazed coldly at the approaching rodent, the tip of his stave glowing with blue light as ice condensed on the tip. With a flash, it drove itself into the Rotoskr’s flank. The monster’s legs fumbled as it crashed to the ground, with eyes that were unwilling to close.

Staring at the ceiling, Cheng Yang basked in the warmth of living. If not for his luck, he would be the one lying on the ground.

Watching the blood pour out of the giant rodent, Cheng Yang reflected on his actions.

Ever since he was reborn, Cheng Yang had felt a sense of superiority to the people of the past. Not only was he was the most knowledgeable and skilled person but had become the strongest as well. Despite being ordinary cannon fodder in his past life, Cheng Yang had grown arrogant.

However, the last few big fights he had been in had shocked him out of that mindset. It didn’t matter how skilled or knowledgeable he was if he died. Being better than other humans wasn’t important; he needed to be better than the monsters threatening his life.

Over the past few days, he may have killed thousands of monster, but all of them were high-Grade or below; existences that couldn’t compare to him. Just like when fighting the Imperator Sarcosucus the other day, Cheng Yang had made too many mistakes in this fight. Twice now, he had been outplayed by what he considered to be brainless beasts, and both times he had only survived by relying on luck.

In the future, he would have to live up to the power he had obtained and stop underestimating monsters. Otherwise, he’d be throwing his second chance away.

Cheng Yang finally took a good look at the Rotoskr’s corpse. It was a shame his Profession didn’t allow him to obtain animal skins. Monsters that had reached Pinnacle Grade were a trove of resources that crafters could turn into Black Iron quality equipment.

With a final glance at the corpse, Cheng Yang went to retrieve the treasure that had gotten him into this mess.

This time, Cheng Yang moved more cautiously. If he hadn’t let his greed blind his sense, there was no way such a massive creature would have been able to sneak up on him. Cheng Yang wouldn’t make that mistake again.

He would go back to where he found the blue Experienc Gem then carefully observe the situation. Only if it was safe would he try to obtain it.

Near the end of his journey, he would take a full minute to move ten meters. He wasn’t confident in beating another Pinnacle-Grade Rotoskr, and there was a high chance that more than one might appear so he couldn’t take any risks.

Finally, after listening carefully, Cheng Yang snuck forwards and grabbed the blue Experience Gem.

Thanks to the gods’ rules, Cheng Yang didn’t need to wait until he got back to the village to identify the gem. When they transformed the world, the gods had been generous enough to allow humans to learn about an object just by touching it. Even so, humanities knowledge about the world was surface level at best.

The moment Cheng yang picked up the gem, a system pane had popped up in front of him.

---

Standard Grade Experience Gem
When crushed or sacrificed to a Territory Altar, gives one thousand Experience Fragments

Quality: Slag

---

Just like he thought, it was a higher grade Experience Gem! Moreover, that one level increased the amount stored inside a hundredfold. Just thinking about it excited Cheng Yang to no end.

If this pattern continued wouldn’t a High-Grade stone have one hundred thousand Experience Fragments!?

Calming himself down, Cheng Yang observed the situation. Just from where he was, there were dozens of Low-Grade gems and three Standard-Grade ones. It was a very tempting opportunity.

If he were able to obtain those three Standard-Grade gems, he could level up the village a day earlier than planned. Moreover, those Low-Grade gems would be useful for his training.

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As if to confirm Cheng Yang’s guess, as soon as he killed the second Rotoskr, a third appeared.

Cheng Yang was starting to panic. If this was their nest, then there was an entire horde of Late Grade monster burrowed inside the rocks around him. Although he was powerful compared to the other humans, he’d met, that many high-level monsters would grind his bones to dust.

Cheng Yang attacked the Rotoskr and retreated. When it died, Cheng Yang noticed another Rotoskr, and it noticed him. Moments later, their battle started.

Having picked up on the pattern, Cheng Yang came to a realization. These monster were probably related to the treasure!

Since that was the case, retreating was useless. Kicking off the ground, Cheng Yang shot an Icicle Blast at the monster in front of him and searched for a narrow cave to fight inside.

The terrain here was advantageous for battling large groups alone as long as the cave you selected was strong enough. However, before Cheng Yang could find the right cave, the Rotoskr that had been attacking him stopped. Instead of chasing Cheng Yang, it ran back just in time to meet up with another Rotoskr that crawled out of the cave. Those two gigantic creatures climbed up the rocky spires nearby, guarding the entrance to their nest.

“Sure enough, there’s something important in there.” Cheng Yang knew a monster wouldn’t give up on prey to guard their nest.

Cheng Yang swirled around and without looking at the cave, approached it.

As Cheng Yang closed the distance between himself and the two monsters, they let out a shrill warning cry. Within a few seconds, another pair of Rotoskr crawled out of the cave.

Just like the three Cheng Yang had just killed, all four were High-Grade monsters. It was a fighting force strong enough to overwhelm the entire Cloud City military.

Cheng Yang slowly moved forwards, testing to see how close he could get before they attacked.

80 meters…

60 meters…

50 meters…

With every step, the Rotoskr would screech at him. Their shrill voices making his head ring.

Unafraid, Cheng Yang pressed forwards. Once he entered the ten-meter range, the Rotoskr couldn’t hold back their fury. Using their sturdy hind legs, they jumped down from their spires onto him.

Cheng Yang had prepared for this moment. As their bodies hit the ground, the already injured one slammed into an Icicle Blast instead.

With a thud, the mouse hit the ground, impaling itself further on the icy spear. Letting out a final squeak, it died.

Cheng Yang’s fire another Icicle Blast behind him as he tried to get far enough away that the Rotoskr would retreat. Luckily his attack froze one of the remaining three monsters.

With speed nearly double that of the Rotoskr, Cheng Yang had a decent lead when he used his skill, but once a monster reached High-Grade, they would gain a skill too. With a shrill cry, one of the Rotoskr used their signature skill, Acceleration Burst.

The monster shot forwards like a bullet instantly overturned Cheng Yang’s speed advantage. Unable to dodge, the sharp front claws of the Rotoskr flayed Cheng Yang’s back. Cheng Yang was flung forwards like a ragdoll by the mighty thrust as he lost six Health. This was the attack of a High-Grade monster! Not even Cheng Yang would be able to walk away unscathed!

Although the injuries on his back hurt, Cheng Yang powered through the pain.

Using the momentum to gain a lead, Cheng Yang dodged around a pillar while smashing an Icicle Blast into the Rotoskr that hadn’t attacked him.

While dashing forwards, Cheng Yang killed another Rotoskr. Once he was two hundred meters away from the nest, the last two monsters turned tail and ran.

“How predictable.” Cheng Yang sneered as he sat down to Meditate. Once his Health had recovered, Cheng Yang attacked the monsters again.

This time, no one answered their warning cries.

Despite killing the two Rotoskr with ease, Cheng Yang was upset. If the monsters weren’t going to come outside, did that mean he would need to enter the cave to get the treasure?

Cheng Yang gazed into the inky darkness of the cave and when he had gathered enough courage, stepped inside.

For the first ten meters or so, the light from outside was enough to illuminate the path in front of him. However, Cheng Yang needed to use the walls as guidance as he went further in.

As he walked further down the tunnel, Cheng Yang’s heart beat faster and faster. If he were in a well-lit environment, Cheng Yang would be able to face seven or eight Rotoskr without fear. In the dark, however, he’d just become a punching bag for the Rotoskr since they were adapted to fighting without light.

Even so, it wasn’t in Cheng Yang’s nature to back out now. He had a few Health Recovery Potions left so he would be able to survive long enough to escape at least.

After nearly a minute of walking, Cheng Yang saw a faint light in front of him. There was a small cavern in front of him filled with a soft, fluorescent white glow.

“These are…” Cheng Yang was stunned.

Once he was sure there weren’t any monster in the cavern, Cheng Yang sprinted forwards. Once he got a clear view of the objects peppering the cavern walls, ecstasy filled his heart.

“How is this possible? Why are there so many?” Cheng Yang rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Sticking out of the wall were tens of hundreds of Experience Gems. As the name implied, Experience Gems were made from compressed Experience Fragments. As for how many were in each gem, it depended on the grade.

Cheng Yang had seen a photo of one once on the Tavern’s forum. The images posted and these gems looked precisely the same. Moreover, they were all rated as Low-Grade Slag and only contained ten Experience Fragments.

Up until the point where Cheng Yang died, no one had found a sizeable and high-quality Experience Gem mine.

In comparison, it had only been ten days in this life, and Cheng Yang had already found an unbelievably rich Experienc Gem mine. How could he not be excited? The only problem was, he didn’t have any way to get the gems!

Even if he had the Miner Profession, the fact that he didn’t have a way to get back to the mine was a damper on his mood.

Moreover, how many gems would a Low-Grade Miner even be able to obtain in five hours? Would they even be able to mine Experience Gems of this grade? If they weren’t, they would be useless rocks since gods rules dictated that gems had to be extracted before they can be used.

When faced with the harsh reality, Cheng Yang’s excitement died.

Without thinking, Cheng Yang turned away from the brilliantly shining wall. Just as he was about to leave, Cheng Yang spotted a dim light on the ground. Looking closer, he realized it was a Low-Grade Experience Gem.

Looking around, Cheng Yang noticed that there were several of these gems scattered around the floor of the cavern. However, if there weren’t that many, it wouldn’t be worth the danger of moving around in the Rotoskr nest.

Picking up the pea-sized gem, Cheng Yang shattered it in his hand. A stream of light flowed out and into his body as the gem turned to dust. Once the process was over, Cheng Yang had gained ten Experience Fragments.

Cheng Yang had learned how to use Experience Gems in his past life, but this was his first time doing it. The process was much gentler than killing a monster and made Cheng Yang feel warm when the light entered him.

Glancing around the room, Cheng Yang was able to see about twenty loose Experience Gems. In other words, he saw two hundred free Experience Fragments.

Without hesitation, Cheng Yang rushed around the cavern, picking up the gems and absorbing them one by one.

Unable to resist his greed, Cheng Yang traveled deeper into the cave complex, picking up Experience Gems as he did.

At this point, Cheng Yang was confident that this was the treasure hidden behind the Mystery Gate. The only question was, why were there so many loose gems? Maybe the mine was being used right before it was transported to Earth? Perhaps this was a reward the gods had arranged for the first person to discover the mine?

Although Cheng Yang wasn’t sure what the actual reason was, it didn’t matter to him. He was looking forward to accumulating a hundred thousand Experience Fragments so he could unlock the next level of training speed, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Not only that but when the time came, he could use the Experience Fragments he would gain today to level up the village.

Cheng Yang found one Experience Gem every meter he walked, so after traveling for a hundred meters, he earned a thousand Experience Fragments!

As he went further in, Cheng Yang noticed the gems on the walls were getting bigger, and instead of glowing with white light, they were blue.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that those were Experience Gems of a higher grade!

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Cheng Yang immediately refused his request, saying, “Absolutely not. If you died, the territory would suffer a huge loss.”

Zhao Chuan wanted to argue with his lord, but only let out a sigh and left to go find a soldier up to Cheng Yang’s standards.

After a while, Zhao Chuan returned with a twenty-nine-year-old man in tow. Since he became a soldier after Zhao Chuan became a general, Cheng Yang didn’t recognize him.

Zhao Chuan introduced him, “My Lord, this is my subordinate Wang Cheng. He has agreed to help you in exchange for a favor.”

Cheng Yang nodded and addressed the soldier, “Do you understand the risks associated with what I’m asking?”

“I know that I will most likely die but how can that be considered a risk? Since that damn earthquake, every hour I’ve lived has been a struggle. Instead of dying in vain, I’d rather my life create value for my family. My Lord, I hope that after this you’ll allow them to stay in a house in the Inner City even after I am long dead,” Wang Cheng replied with a resolute expression.

Cheng Yang’s eyes flashed with profound respect. People with this kind of mindset were rare to find after the apocalypse. Although most people knew that their lives would be a constant struggle to live, how many people could genuinely embrace death?

“I give you my word that I will fulfill your request.” Cheng Yang said without hesitation.

Unable to stay silent, Zhao Chaun interjected, “My Lord, of this task will be as dangerous as you say it is perhaps you shouldn’t-“

“I know what I’m doing,” Cheng Yang cut him off. “I have a territory filled with tens of thousands of citizens who rely on me, so I don’t plan on dying any time soon. “

With a nod, Zhao Chuan gave up on persuading Cheng Yang not to risk his life.

A few minutes later, Cheng Yang left the village with Wang Cheng.

Ten minutes later, once the pair had reached the Mystery Gate, Cheng Yang thoroughly explained what the portal was.

“Now that you understand, here’s what I want you to do. Enter the Mystery Gate for me. Unless you’re attacked and killed immediately, there’s a chance you’ll survive so long as you find a good hiding spot. If you’re not dead, I’ll follow you inside and tell you what to do next.”

“Don’t worry my Lord. Although I would prefer to live, I am not afraid of death.” After saying that, Wang Cheng entered the portal with a steely resolve.

Once Wang Cheng disappeared, Cheng Yang sprinted back to Phoenix Village. He rushed straight towards the center until he arrived in front of the Warrior statue. Cheng Yang quickly checked the system pane. When he saw that the number of warriors hadn’t decreased, he felt relieved.

This meant Wang Cheng was still alive, and the Mystery Gate didn’t lead to a quick death. Unfortunately, Cheng Yang had no other way of checking to see of the Mystery Gate was safe to use. Although this method required him to sacrifice someone, it was the only way to guarantee that he wouldn’t die needlessly.

After another sprint, Cheng Yang found himself standing in front of the Mystery Gate once again. After taking a deep breath, he stepped inside.

Suddenly Cheng Yang was falling from an unimaginable height. His weightless body was tumbling into the void. With a violent shake, his momentum stopped, and he nearly blacked out. He found himself standing in a dense stone forest when he recovered.

“Is this the Yunnan province?” Cheng Yang wondered, staring at the stony trees that surrounded him. That was the only place in the world with a stone forest this big before the apocalypse, but he wasn’t sure this was the same place. After all, the gods had changed the geographic landscape entirely a few days ago. For all he knew, this was a desert in the past.

All of a sudden, a head popped out from a crack in the stone followed by a waving hand.

Even from a distance, Cheng Yang was able to recognize Wang Cheng.

Cheng Yang walked over to meet the soldier. “Nice spot. You’d be able to stay hidden here for days.”

“Yep, I got pretty lucky I’d say. After all, I finished your high-risk mission safe and sound. What do I need to do next?” Wang Cheng asked.

“You’ve done everything I need you too. Just stay hidden until the timer runs out and we get teleported back.”

When they passed through the Mystery Gate, both men were alerted by the system that there were just over five hours until the gate closed. On their system pane, a countdown had appeared that currently read 5:03:42. Cheng Yang estimated that the timer started at seven hours since the god’s messenger had made an announcement about two hours ago.

Wang Cheng didn’t even consider offering to help. His Lord’s strength was well known, so there was no reason for him to risk his life if Cheng Yang didn’t ask him too.

“Do you know where we are?” Cheng Yang asked while looking around.

“I’m not sure, but we’re definitely overseas right now.” Wang Cheng replied.

“Really? Why do you think so?”

“Look at the sun. It was getting close to setting back home but its early morning here.”

When he glanced up at the sun, Cheng Yang realized he had been far too unobservant. “Stay here. I’m going to go explore.”

“Stay safe, my Lord.” Wang Cheng gave Cheng Yang a heartfelt blessing. Not only had Cheng Yang developed Phoenix Village to the heights it was now, but it was also inevitable that if he died, the village would collapse.

Cheng Yang nodded. After Wang Cheng hid, he picked a direction to start moving in.

After walking less than ten steps, Cheng Yang felt a magical vibration that made his knees quake. Although there was nothing around, he quickly found a place to hide.

A few seconds later, a massive flying figure split the sky in half. As it flew past trees were uprooted, and a high pitched whistling could be heard as the wind whipped through the stones.

“Damn! What is that?” Cheng Yang thought to himself, his face white with fear.

Even from thousands of meters in the air, it had enormous presence. With a length in the hundreds of meters, it was enough to put any old-world aircraft to shame. Similar to a western dragon, the massive beast danced through the air as it flew.

Was it a monster or an Ascendant? Cheng Yang couldn’t tell. According to theories from his past life, when animals became Ascendants, they would mutate slightly. However, it should have been impossible for any animal on Earth to mutate into a dragon. It was even more implausible that the creature was a monster. If monsters that powerful had started spawning on the tenth day of the apocalypse in his last life, humanity wouldn’t even have lasted until the end of the second week.

Although Cheng Yang didn’t know what level the dragon was, it was definitely a higher level than a Mature or Exalted monster. It might have even reached the fifth or sixth stage of evolution, if those levels existed.

Even after the dragon was long gone, Cheng Yang wasn’t able to determine what it was.

With a wan smile, Cheng Yang wiped the cold sweat off of his forehead and continued exploring.

Although he had been careful before, his actions now were made with the utmost caution. There was a high chance that every single creature living in this area rivaled the dragon in power.

More importantly, where was the treasure? Although Cheng Yang had the memories from his past life to help him, no one had ever visited a stone forest. Humanities expansion outwards had been slow to non-existent, so it would probably have been decades before a human visited this area without a Mystery Gate.

Although he had tried to walk North, the winding paths of the stone forest forced him to travel in winding circles. It was far to easy to get lost in the forest’s dead ends, several forks, and twisted paths. If not for the rules of the Mystery Gate, Cheng Yang wouldn’t have dared to try and explore the forest.

Suddenly, a leopard sized rodent―a Rotoskr―sprang out from inside a hole in front of him. Cheng Yang was no stranger to having giant monsters suddenly appear, and he certainly wasn’t a stranger to killing them.

Rushing forwards, Cheng Yang greeted the six-legged rat with a frosty shard of ice.

Unable to dodge the Icicle Blast, the Rotoskr let out a grating squeak as it was hit in the chest.

However, it didn’t die. As a High-Grade Immature monster, this random mob would be able to go toe to toe with Cheng Yang if he wasn’t wearing any equipment.

Even so, Cheng Yang’s Movement Speed was higher, and he was a ranged fighter. The monster never stood a chance.

As Cheng Yang’s second attack hit, the Rotoskr collapse.

Just as Cheng Yang had relaxed, another Rotoskr jumped out of the same hole.

“Damn it! Is that a colony?” Cheng Yang cursed his luck as an Icicle Blast charged on the tip of his stave.

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When Cheng Yang approached the class change statues, he could see Lau Hui walking towards him from a distance. Judging from his expression, something terrible must have happened.

“Hey Ox, what happened?” Cheng Yang asked.

“Our team suffered some casualties earlier, my Lord,” Lau Hui said bitterly.

Cheng Yang frowned. “What happened? I ordered you not to stray too far from the walls, didn’t I?”

Lau Hui shook his head. “We were only two kilometers from the gates and had just finished clearing the area when the gods made their announcement. Right after, two High-Grade monsters spawned right next to us! They attacked the same person simultaneously. We were powerless to save her.”

Cheng Yang looked at him, shocked. Events like that were extremely rare. So rare, in fact, that Cheng Yang hadn’t bothered to mention that they were possible.

After the first evolution, the chance of a High-Grade Monsters spawning in the wilderness was practically non-existent. Since soldiers regularly cleared the monsters around Phoenix Village, a Standard-Grade monster spawning was already a one in a million event. For two High-Grade monsters to spawn right next to each other was just inconceivable!

Lau Hui had been too busy to concern himself with what the appearance of those two monsters meant, but Cheng Yang knew that, in this world, whenever something unusual happened there was a treasure to be found. Several people in his past life had proven that abnormalities in the spawning mechanics were one hundred percent guaranteed to generate something interesting. If you weren’t able to find it, it wasn’t that the treasure didn’t exist, but instead, you were too unlucky or incompetent to find it.

“Where did you get attacked?” Cheng Yang asked immediately.

“Two kilometers past the south gate in a sort of southeastern direction.” Lau Hui said, unsure why Cheng Yang wanted to know since the monsters were already dead. “There’s a hill nearby so it should be easy to find.”

Cheng Yang was very familiar with the terrain surrounding Phoenix Village and was able to figure out what hill his friend was talking about.
“Ox, settle these people into the village while I go investigate.” Chang Yang said.

Lau Hui glanced behind Cheng Yang to take a look at the people he had brought with him. When he saw Liu Wei, he was surprised. “My Lord, you actually managed to find her friend.”

“I was lucky. When we arrived, Liu Wei was already in the safe zone.” Cheng Yang said casually before leaving.

At the same time, Liu Wei recognized Lau Hui. As Pang Sun’s best friend, she had already met Lau Hui even though they hadn’t been dating for very long. The only reason she didn’t take the initiative to greet him was her fear of Cheng Yang.

Once Cheng Yang was out of earshot, Liu Wei wasn’t able to hold back her curiosity. “Lau Hui, why are you here? What about Pang Sun? Where is she?”

Lau Hui didn’t answer immediately. Turning to Ma Tao, he asked, “Soldier, are these your family members?”

Ma Tao nodded, “Yes, General Lau.”

Although Ma Tao wasn’t in Lau Hui’s battalion, who wouldn’t recognize the five generals of Phoenix Village?

“Since they’re family they’re allowed to stay here in the Inner Village. Why don’t you go help them settle into your home? As for allowing them to become Professionals, I’m sure our Lord will consider it.”

“Thank you, General Lau.” Ma Tao quickly led his family members towards one of the Standard-Grade Meditation Halls.

Turning back to Liu Wei, he gave her a friendly greeting. “Liu Wei, welcome to Phoenix Village. I hope that you’ll soon be able just to call it home. Right now Pang Sun is buying some things from the Alchemy Tower, but she’ll be back soon.”

For a few moments, all Liu Wei could do was watch as Ma Tao and his family disappeared. “Ox… Are you a general? General of what?”

“General in the village’s army of course.” Lau Hui said with a smile. “I’m the commander of one of the village’s five brigades.”

Before the apocalypse, Liu Wei knew that Lau Hui was just an ordinary college student. Now, however, he had one of the most important job in this settlement. Even if she was proud and arrogant, she shouldn’t have been so casual with him. She was the literal dirt underneath her feet compared to him!

Noticing her anxiety, Lau Hui said “Don’t worry, it’s not what you think. Don’t tell anyone this, but the only reason I was able to become a general was my friendship with the Lord. We were roommates in college before the apocalypse, so he helped me out a little.”

Liu Wei’s eyes widened. “You’re saying the person who brought me here was our classmate? This…”

“Isn’t it incredible? I also felt that it was pretty unbelievable but since that earthquake struck, what hasn’t been unbelievable?”

“That’s true.” Liu Wei said with a wry smile.

“Don’t reminisce on the past too much. Life here in Phoenix Village will be better than in Cloud City, but it still can’t compare to our lives before the apocalypse.” After giving her some advice, Lau Hui greeted the two other people Cheng Yang had brought. He didn’t understand why Cheng Yang had brought these people to Phoenix Village, but since he was asked to entertain them, he would do a good job.

---

When Cheng Yang left the village, it was already dark. All he wanted was to find that treasure and couldn’t care less about the light levels.

A few minutes later, when Cheng Yang reached the hill, he wasn’t able to find anything abnormal. Except for the occasional monster, the woodland scenery was peaceful.

Even so, Cheng Yang didn’t give up. If it was hard to find that just meant it was valuable!

Since he couldn’t rely on his eyes, Cheng Yang would have to use the passive energy fluctuation created by the anomaly. When the gods transformed the world, everything began to emit magical energy. The more useful and powerful an item, person or monster was, the more apparent they were.

After more than ten minutes of fruitless searching, Cheng Yang grew anxious. The opportunity might have already passed, and any valuables had already disappeared. Concentrating more intensely, Cheng Yang let his perception sweep past the grass and trees, searching for anything unusual.

A few minutes later, Cheng Yang felt a sudden burst of energy fluctuations.

Cheng Yang quickly rushed forwards, clawing his way through the overgrown grass until he found himself in front of a shimmering screen of light. The portal was nearly horizontal with the ground and had an aura that caused his heart to stop for a moment.

“An instance dungeon?” Cheng Yang muttered with confusion.

After a moment, Cheng Yang realized that the gray oval on the ground was actually a Mystery Dungeon. Unlike instance dungeons which were permanent structures, Mystery Gate’s appeared and disappeared randomly.

The other significant differences were that the Mystery Gate didn’t have a limit to the number of people who could enter. Instead, each Mystery Gate would only exist for a brief time before expelling anyone inside.

The final difference was that Mystery Gate’s would lead to somewhere on Earth instead of a different dimension. This meant it was possible to get lucky after entering a Mystery Gate. For most people, earning something from an instance dungeon was hard. If they were unlucky, the dungeon might not even have a single piece of decent equipment in it. However, Mystery Gates were guaranteed to have something valuable on the other side.

Of course, nothing in this new world was free. Even if someone wanted to rely on their luck, a certain level of strength would still be needed.

Although Cheng Yang wanted to try his luck, he was conflicted. It was entirely possible that on the other side of the Mystery Gate was a monster or Ascendant powerful beyond imagination. Even as the strongest human on Earth, he wouldn’t be able to resist in the slightest.

Once you entered a Mystery Gate, there was nowhere to run. You needed to stay where you were transported until time ran out. Only nine Mystery Gate’s were reported in his past life. Of which, only three were successfully explored. As for the others, no one who entered returned.

Of the three where people returned, most who entered died trying to obtain the fabulous treasures they found.

As rare and valuable as they were, Mystery Gate’s were incredibly risky to enter.

In his mind, he chided his cowardice. Go in, damn it. You’ve died once already. What’s there to be afraid of?

With his decision made, Cheng Yang returned to Phoenix Village to prepare.

After buying a large number of potions from the Alchemy Tower, he passed down an order for Zhao Chuan to come to find him.

Ever since being rescued by Cheng Yang in Huimin, Zhao Chaun had always revered him. After being made a general, that feeling had turned into loyalty.

Noticing this, Cheng Yang decided that Zhao Chuan was the perfect person for a task he had in mind.

“My Lord, why did you call for me?” Zhao Chuan asked when he entered Cheng Yang’s house.

“Zhao Chuan, I need you to find a soldier that is willing to give his life to me. Although that soldier might survive, the probability of dying is quite high. Make sure to mention that I’ll reward them handsomely if they survive.”

“My Lord, let me do it.” Zhao Chuan fervently replied.

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