Author: Xevinaly

When Chéng Yáng returned to the meeting spot, he discovered that almost everyone had been as successful as he had; over a hundred people were waiting there. This was far more than he had planned, but if they hurried, it shouldn’t be a problem to move them a kilometer. He waited until the last few of his Citizens returned, they gave to order to set off.

“We can’t leave yet! Aren’t you going to rescue the others?” A forty year old man had blocked Chéng Yáng’s path and started angrily questioning him.

Chéng Yáng looked the man over. He was a pudgy man wearing a nice suit. He looked like the kind of person who had had a bit of status in the old world.

“We’ve already gathered too many people. Any more and we risk some of you dying on the way.” Chéng Yáng didn’t want to validate the man, but several others looked like they wanted to know the answer to his question, “We’ll come back later to rescue more people, so don’t worry about them.”

“Can’t you save just one more? You need to go rescue my son! I can pay if that’s what stopping you. How much do you want? A ten thousand? A hundred thousand?”

“If you want to die, I don’t mind letting you stay here on your own, but don’t drag the others here down with you.” Chéng Yáng couldn’t stand the arrogance the man exuded. “Actually, maybe I should leave you here to cool off and pick you up with the next batch.”

“You little…” The man felt a little fear after being berated but he had never been the type to concede to others. “How dare you not help me, do you know who I am? I’m the-“

Before he could finish, another survivor in a red shirt clapped a hand on his mouth.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense, hes just a little stressed. You’ve done something selfless by rescuing us so we have no right to tell you what to do. have saved our lives so naturally we won’t impede your plans.”

Chéng Yáng gave the man in the red shirt a pensive look.

“What’s your name?”

“Call me Hú Yáng. This is my brother Hú Jūn.”

“Hú Yáng, I hope you’ll remember what you said just then.”

“Of course, of course.” Hú Yáng stumbled over his words.

Chéng Yáng didn’t spare the brothers another thought. Why would he care what normal people though. Even if they carried a deep grudge from this, what could they do to him?

It took them about fifteen minutes to reach the Settlement, but it was an easy journey. It hadn’t been long since they’d cleared the area, so they only ran into solo monsters that had recently spawned, but were able to resolve the problems without civilian casualties.

Once they were safe within the confines of the Settlement walls, Cheng Yang had the Players gather the Hell Pig corpses from earlier, butcher them, and distribute meat to the survivors from Huìmín. Although they didn’t have proper cooking tools, if the meat was impaled and held up to the torches on the Wall, a crude roasted meal could be made. The survivors, who hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before, or even longer, were more than willing to eat what would usually be considered a subpar meal.

While they ate, Chéng Yáng started another round of Research for each Class Statue, then gathered his forces and returned to Huìmín.

Although they focused on saving people, the Phoenix Village Citizens did their best to collect food from the ruins. With their strength, it wasn’t hard to clear rubble or carry a large amount of supplied on their backs. Although there would be an infinite buffet of monster meat in the future, it was far from a balanced diet so it was important to collect what they could now. In the future, a Farmer Profession would appear that allowed for the rapid growth of staple crops, but it wouldn’t be for a while.

Many of the normal people living in Phoenix Village would get sick, or even die if they ate nothing but meat between then and now. As for the Players, although they couldn’t get sick, malnutrition would apply a debuff to them, reducing their Attributes, and thus their chance of dying in combat.

For most of the day, Chéng Yáng ferried people and supplies between Phoenix Village and Huìmín. As time passed, the originally empty field gradually became lively. Although he never brought back as many people at a time after the first trip, since venturing deeper into the ruins meant wasting time fighting monsters, he was able to raise the population of Phoenix Village to over six hundred by the time he stopped.

Chéng Yáng had stopped at around four in the afternoon. When he’d started the fourth round of Research for the Class Statues at 2:00 PM, he’d barely had enough Soul Fragments. For the fifth and sixth rounds that needed even more, if he didn’t change his plans, there was no way he’d have enough. If he wanted to level up his Settlement as fast as possible, he would need to focus his efforts on gathering Soul Fragments for the rest of the day.

---

Chéng Yáng called his friends into the Cultivation Chamber that they shared. He planned to allow some of the Huìmín residents to become Players to bolster their forces and focus on farming monsters, but before he did that, he would need to set up some rules, and subdue the vast number of normal people living in Phoenix Village.

“What did you need us for?” Niú Bīng asked when the final person, Yú Kǎi, had arrived.

Chéng Yáng chuckled. Niú Bīng had always been a serious and straight to business person, but in this situation it was rather comical.

“Don’t you have questions you want to ask me now that we’re alone?”

“What’s use? Even if you know the answers, the only important thing is being able to live another day. Other than that, the only things I think about are Páng Shān and my parents. I’m worried but there’s nothing I can do. After all, we can’t even reach Xiāngyáng to save the families of the others.”

Liú Hào also looked aggrieved when Niú Bīng said that. His family lived in a different province so there was absolutely nothing he could do, even if he was a Player now.

“Yángzǐ, do you think I’ll have a chance to see my parents again?” Liú Hào asked, his voice cracking.

“Don’t worry so much.” Chéng Yáng gave his friend a playful punch in the shoulder, “Didn’t I tell you to give your families some advice? It wasn’t meaningless, it was also in the dream I had. Every big city has a Safe Zone that prevents monsters from entering and allows people to become Players. If your folks followed your advice, they should be perfectly safe.”

Now that Chéng Yáng thought about it, if they had reached the Safe Zone and became Players, they probably had S-Rank Innate Abilities based on his current theory. Actually it wasn’t like it was impossible to reach the Safe Zones before monsters encircled it, so why had there been so few S-Rank talents? Maybe after becoming Players, but before the monsters had gathered around the Safe Zone, they had gone out to test their powers, then realized just how powerless a single person was and died a tragic death, wasting their potential.

Chéng Yáng felt suddenly enlightened, as if he had discovered a secret history. How much better would humanity’s position have been in his previous life if not for people’s arrogance after gaining a small bit of power? Most of the S-Ranks he knew of in his previous life must have been those that were either sufficiently cautious, exceedingly steady, or too cowardly to leave the Safe Zone after becoming a Player.

“Yángzǐ, my friend, I won’t thank you[1], but you’ve done me an enormous favor. As long as my parents are alive, I know we’ll eventually be reunited.” Liú Hào said while suppressing tears, the relief he felt after worrying for so long made it impossible for him to stay calm.

“We’ve been good friends, but after what we’ve experienced, we’re become brothers for life!” Niú Bīng straightforwardly declared. ” I won’t bother with formalities but from now on I owe you a debt of gratitude. Even if you try and chase me away I’ll always come back!”

“Since these two have already bared their souls to you if I said nothing wouldn’t I seem cold-hearted?” Yú Kǎi looked between Niú Bīng and Liú Hào with a wry smile on his face. ” I don’t know why you were chosen to foresee this disaster, nor why it happened. What I do know, is that when you heard that something terrible would happen, you chose to make preparations that allowed me to avoid the miserable fate of living through the kind of tragedy Huìmín went through. It might be a little shallow compared to the other two, but I know that if I ride your tailcoats, I’ll be able to maintain a decent life. I’ll do my best not to drag you down, and I’ll follow any orders you have so I don’t get chased away. From now on your fate and mine will forever be tied together.”

Chéng Yáng looked at the three of them while wearing an incomprehensible smile. He felt like he was seeing double as he remembered the pact they’d made in his previous life to always look after each other. Back then they promised to have each other’s backs, but now they were entrusting their lives to him, it was a heavy burden, but one he took up readily. These were the most important people in his life, if he couldn’t allow them to live comfortably despite the apocalypse what was the point of regressing and obtaining so much power?

“I’ll make sure you’re trust in me wasn’t misplaced.” Chéng Yáng said with cheery confidence. “We’re brothers for life now!”

“Now lets hear why you called us over here.” Niú Bīng pulled the discussion back on track.

Chéng Yáng nodded.

“My plan for the next few days is to fulfill the conditions necessary to level up the Settlement. This will give us the numbers and the raw strength we need to break through to Xiāngyáng and rescue the families of our comrades. In order to level up the Settlement, I’ll have to allow a group of people to become Players so that they can gather Soul Fragments for Phoenix Village.”

“I assume that the point you wanted to discuss with us?” Yú Kǎi asked, “You’re worried that although we’ve earned their gratitude but not their loyalty? They’re only here cause they don’t have any other choice. I wouldn’t be surprised if after getting to Xiāngyáng some of them would rather stay there and be free, than come back and have to follow your orders. Even if they do come back with us, why would they be loyal? With so many Players, even if its you, Yángzǐ, I don’t think you’d be able to stop them from taking over.”

“I’m not worried about a coup.” Chéng Yáng replied, “But we do need to work on building loyalty. Everyone has been acting together so far because we didn’t have the numbers to do otherwise, but starting this afternoon, we’re going to split into five groups. Five combat teams. Each of us will command one and I plan to give command of the last one to Old Lǐ. From what I’ve seen, the main thing he wants is to save his family and keep them safe. That’s something I’m more than capable of providing, so I don’t think he would defect. Moreover, I can’t afford to lose him, his Innate Ability is too useful, so I don’t mind giving him some power.”

“I get the point about Mr. Lǐ, but how is that going to inspire loyalty in everyone else?” Liú Hào asked, “Why would that stop anyone from leaving? Wouldn’t the added supervision make ambitious people want to get away even more?”

“The ambitious people would stay because we’ll give them power.” Yú Kǎi rapped Liú Hào’s forehead, “All those games must have made your brain rot. Use your head, since we’re going to make combat teams, naturally their will be lieutenant positions. We can funnel those with ambition into those positions and tie them to the Settlement.”

“Rewarding those that perform well will also encourage those who are on the fence. If they see that we can provide them benefits they won’t leave unless they have a good reason. ” Niú Bīng analyzed. “Aside from leadership positions, we could also add opportunities to visit the Instance Dungeon or rights to equipment.”

“I guess that makes sense…” Liú Hào said with a frown of confusion, “But what makes you so confident that we don’t need to worry about a coup? The normal people might not be a problem but an overly ambitious Player might be.”

“Because I have a carrot that will entice them to obey, and a stick that can resolve the problem on the spot.” Chéng Yáng revealed a slightly cruel smile, “Compared to a Safe Zone, Phoenix Village is a paradise. It’s not crowded, there will be plenty of facilities soon, and being a Citizen will make you a dragon among men compared to Players from the Safe Zone. If someone is really still tempted to risk being thrown out, I can directly strip them of their power. Since they became a Player here in Phoenix Village, as the Lord of Phoenix Village I can turn them back into a normal person. Unless their plot runs so deep that they’re able to dethrone me before I find out about it, its impossible for an internal revolt to succeed.”

The room was silent for a moment as the others processed that information.

“I’m considering telling everyone after we break through to Xiāngyáng, but I’m not sure if its better to keep that blade hidden, or leave it out in the open as deterrence.”

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[1] In China it is considered rude for close friends to be overly polite to each other as it is seen as creating distance between them

Chéng Yáng ran ahead of the group to make sure the gate was clear, then, one by one,the rest of the group trickled inside. Once they were all in, Chéng Yáng shut the gate.

A few seconds later, a deafening crash echoed in their ears as one Hell Pig after another slammed into it. It the gate were a normal one, the force behind those charges would have knocked it off its hinges. Thankfully, unless its Durability reached zero it would always stand firm.

A Hell Pig’s charge dealt seven damage, so although it was capable of breaking through the gate’s Armour, there would need to be hundred of them before Chéng Yáng had to worry about the Settlement’s defenses being breached.

Chéng Yáng walked up onto the wall, followed by the Mages and Rangers. They could see the Hell Pigs milling around, as well as a few other herds that had come over, attracted by the commotion.

As he farmed the monsters, Chéng Yáng lectured the group.

“Large monsters like those are especially dangerous because Knights will have a hard time blocking their attacks. Although the inertia from their weight doesn’t increase the damage of their attacks, the force behind them is still there. Even a single Hell Pig is akin to a disaster before reaching the High-Grade Apprentice level. Whenever you encounter monsters like that, make sure to run. Come back to the Settlement and rely on the walls. If you can’t get to the Settlement, do your best to find something to block their charge before it hits you.”

Everyone made sure to engrave that advice into their memories since this knowledge would be able to save their lives.

When they were on their way to Huìmín again, Chéng Yáng checked his Soul Fragment balance: 152. He couldn’t help but sigh. He was a long way off from unlocking eight times cultivation speed. Hunting in a group was just too inefficient.

Since they had already cleared most of the monsters between them and the city, the journey back to where they’d gotten before took less than five minutes. Then, they were able to enter the city proper.

When they did, everyone was stunned. The entire place smelt of blood and there were smashed corpses visible everywhere. Although Chéng Yáng had told the what to expect, actually seeing it was traumatic.

Some people with weaker mentalities collapsed to the ground and almost everyone puked. How could they, who had grown up in a sheltered environment be able to handle the shock of this scene.

Despite their shock, everyone did their best to stay quiet. They remembered what had happened when Liú Hào shouted and didn’t want to attract any monsters.

Chéng Yáng waited patiently for them to recover. He’d actually had a worse reaction than most of them when he’d first seen a similar scene in Xiāngyáng. It was natural for them to need some time to recover, and some of them might even have nightmares for the next few nights.

Perhaps they would have nightmares for the next few nights.

After a while Lǐ Wànshān walked over to Chéng Yáng on unsteady legs.

“Mr. Chéng, it can’t be that every city is like this now right?” It was clearly written on his face that he had been imagining his family as one of the incomplete corpses on the ground.

“I’m afraid it is.” Chéng Yáng gave the man a sad look, “Don’t give up hope, only a fifth of the population will have died by the end of the week. During that time, as long as you’re lucky its not too hard to survive. After that however, the casualty rate will increase exponentially. This first week is the most critical, if we can’t become strong enough to reach Xiāngyáng in time, then you can lose hope.”

Lǐ Wànshān pensively surveyed the desolate scene.

“I understand.” He said after a long pause.”Whatever you need me, no, us, to do, I’ll complete it to my best ability. As long as we can reach Xiāngyáng before the end of the week.”

Hearing that, the others that were worried about their families had similarly resolute looks. They did their best to quickly recover so that they could work towards saving the people they loved.

“Everyone spread out.” Chéng Yáng said when he thought they were ready. “In groups of two search the area near here for survivors. When you find some, bring them back to this spot. Once we have twenty, we’ll escort them back to the Settlement. Any more and we won’t be able to protect them. Also be on the lookout to backpacks, food, and things we can use to grill meat. No matter what, meet back here in fifteen minutes.”

The others nodded, then split off to search the ruins.

While moving, in order to avoid detection by wandering monsters, they stayed low to the ground, slowly advancing between crumbled walls. The groups separated, fanning out across the ruins; letting out a soft voice every now and then to attract any hidden survivors.

If they happened to run into a monster that was on its own, they wouldn’t hesitate to quickly kill it. Any two random Phoenix Village’s Citizens could easily take care of a single monster.

Thankfully there weren’t many monsters wandering around. Most of them had clumped up into obvious herds. So long as they were careful, there was no danger of attracting them.

---

“Yángzǐ! Look over there!” Liú Hào, who had partnered with Chéng Yáng, excitedly pointed at the remains of an apartment building thirty meters from them.

The rubble had created a complex pattern of caves, and a person’s face could be seen peaking out of one of them.

Chéng Yáng waved at the man to show that they’d seen him. The man excitedly waved back, then, with a worried look, pointed towards his left.

Looking over, Chéng Yáng found the source of the man’s distress. A lone Graveseeker was idly gnawing on a bone no more than twenty meters from where the man was hiding.

Chéng Yáng walked forwards, towards the monster, ignoring the panicked waving of the man in the ruins. With practiced ease, he and Liú Hào easily dispatched the creature in a matter of seconds, to the shock and surprise of the hiding man.

“Come out!” Chéng Yáng quietly but clearly said to the hiding man.

Despite his previous eagerness, the man hesitated. He’d just watched these two people easily dispatch something he considered to be a walking disaster. Not to mention that the way they did it was completely absurd, Chéng Yáng’s Magic Missile had left a deep impression on him.

“A-are you human?” He croaked.

“Are we human?!” Liú Hào immediately became angry. “You’re the one that’s not a human! Your whole family is inhuman!”

Although he was mad, Liú Hào had learned his lesson from last time, and kept his voice to a reasonable level.

“Thank you! Thank you for saving me!” Despite Liú Hào’s harsh words, the man didn’t get angry, but seeing that the duo seemed otherwise normal, was ecstatic that he’d really been saved.

“Don’t mention it.” Chéng Yáng waved off the gratitude. “It’s not like you’re safe now, there’s still monsters everywhere.”

The man immediately sobered up when he remembered he that he was still in a monster infested wasteland.

“How did you do all that?” He whispered in a low voice. “With the sword and that ball of light?”

“We’re just got some special abilities is all.” Chéng Yáng gave the man a mischievous smile. He had no intention of wasting time explaining the situation to every person they ran into. “Do you happen to know where any other people are hiding? We want to bring them to a safe location.”

“I do, I do! If you follow me I can lead you too them!” The man nodded excitedly when he heard that Chéng Yáng knew about somewhere safe, “There’s a lot of people hiding around here. I’ve been delivering food to the ones that are too injured, old, or young to find their own. That’s what I was doing when that monster trapped me in these ruins. My name is Zhào Chuān by the way.”

Chéng Yáng indicated for them to lead the way. As they walked, Chéng Yáng got to know that Zhào Chuān had been a middle school teacher before the apocalypse. Part of the reason he’d been going around delivering food was that he’d been worried about his former students.

With Zhào Chuān help, Chéng Yáng and Liú Hào were able to quickly gather another dozen people. Although many of them had seen or heard the arrival of the Phoenix Village group earlier, it wasn’t until Zhào Chuān visited that they dared to make themselves know.

After they witnessed the power Chéng Yáng and Liú Hào displayed, they were more than willing to believe that they could bring them somewhere safe and left their hiding spots.

Although they were only completing a short loop back to their starting point, Chéng Yáng found and rescued more than thirty people. Most of them had been hiding in the ruins, but a few had been either searching for food, or had come out when they saw a crowd. Chéng Yáng made sure to take notice of the former. Anyone with enough guts enough to brave the chance of encountering a monster was worth nurturing.

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Xiāngyáng was shrouded by a thick haze of despair.

It had been sixteen hours since the world ended, but to the citizens of Xiāngyáng it seemed like an eternity.

Not a single person had been able to sleep that night. They’d huddled together in the corners and crevices of their ruined city, desperately listening for warning that a monsters was near. Fearing that they would be eaten every time wind rustled through grass.

Many people had hoped that numbers or weapons could guarantee their victory, but that hope had been shattered, and their bones were indistinguishable from the countless others that littered the streets.

Overnight, the cities population had been quartered; over half a million people hadn’t lived to see the sun rise the next day.

They knew that humans no longer controlled Xiāngyáng, monsters did. The streets had been painted red by the blood of humans. It was a pure nightmare.

Most people had figured out that this disaster hadn’t just affected Xiāngyáng. Otherwise how could they not have seen rescue helicopters or the military by now? Unless the entire world had been affected by this disaster, how was it that they hadn’t seen a single outside force in half a day?

Even so, life goes on. Most people hadn’t eaten the night before and were unused to hunger. Despite their fear, and the horrors that awaited them, people were considering venturing outside in an attempt to fill their stomach.

In the early hours of the morning, in Xiāngyáng, on the day after the apocalypse, desperate and daring humans were scrabbling across the ruins like rats. Monsters had stopped spawning sometime during the night after fully saturating the city, and most of them had moved either to guard the Safe Zone or the outskirts of the city. The rest were either asleep after eating their fill on human flesh or gathered together in large herds. As long as you were crafty enough to avid those few herds remaining in the city, you could search the ruins in relative safety.

When two groups found food at the same time, it wasn’t uncommon to see a fight break out. Even so, robbery could be considered the worst crime happening. Although many people were willing to beat and rob a person, very few were willing to seriously hurt or kill others. They had lived in a peaceful society just the day before, and except for a few psychopaths, their morals wouldn’t degenerate that far after a few hours.

Most people still upheld the spirit of compassion and virtue. They would split any food they found among all those that had arrived. In times of despair it was better to work together and help others than find yourself alone. Besides, there was still plenty of food in the ruins.

As people left their hiding spots, the dome of light covering the Safe Zone in the city center gradually came to their attention. It would easily have ranked in the top ten tallest buildings in the world, and since nothing over two stories was still standing, it was visible from every part of the city. For those on the brink of despair, how could such an unusual phenomena not spark hope in them?

The dome slowly swirled with color, apparently indifferent to the chaos around it, eliciting a warm feeling in those that saw it. They felt that as long as they could reach that dome, everything would be okay.

People that approached were able to see the piles of rubble that surrounded the dome like a wall, as well as the army of monsters guarding it. They had separated themselves by species and seemed to have entered a non-aggression pact, with each group guarding a different segment of the perimeter. Their first reaction would be one of joy upon realizing that the monsters couldn’t enter the dome. Their next was despair, when they realized that neither could they.

News about the Safe Zone spread quickly through the city. Then, with full stomachs, a goal, and the immediate threat removed, social order returned almost as fast as it had disappeared. Large groups started to form among the civilians, and the various governmental and private forces began to mobilize.

No one was foolish enough to attempt to gain entry to the Safe Zone using a trick, but they couldn’t figure out a good way to get past the monsters without heavy weaponry or vehicles. All of the supplies that would have been useful for such an attempt were either buried under rubble or had mysteriously stopped working.

Despite the setbacks, these groups continued to work hard at finding a solution. Salvation was on the horizon and they were determined to reach it.

---

Chéng Yáng’s core group dusted off the remaining food he’d bought as breakfast. More than twenty people lived in Phoenix Village, so it was already good that the bag of snacks had been enough for a single meal. For lunch their only option would be barbecued beast. Chéng Yáng made a mental note to search for cooking supplies while he was in Huìmín.

Aside from two Mages to clear the wall, and a Ranger to drag the edible corpses back inside to drain them of blood before they started to rot, Chéng Yáng mobilized the entire Settlement and set off.

They were still somewhat inefficient, but after Chéng Yáng’s careful instruction the night before, the group was able to handle any problem thrown their way.

Now, even when they encountered a herd with more monsters than they had Knights, they could mount an effective resistance. By carefully managing aggro, the team could divide and conquer. The Druids played a vital role in this. Their wolves were faster than most monsters, allowing them draw aggro on multiple monsters and kite them away from the group.

The biggest herd they encountered actually outnumbered them; a group of twenty-five fox-like humanoids known as the Guardians of Nox. They were a tricky monster to fight that could shroud themselves in a cloud of darkness. Thankfully this darkness didn’t affect the wolves who could still smell the monsters, and their attack power wasn’t high.

Although the Phoenix Village group suffered some small injuries, they were able to showcase their growth over the last few days and emerge victorious.

When they were about halfway to Huìmín, Chéng Yáng felt some faint magical undulations. Páng Shān had perked up as well, clearly entertained by the novel feeling.

Chéng Yáng led the group on a short detour into the woods, where they found a small, glowing glass vial floating under the boughs of a tree.

Although equipment never spawned in the wild it wasn’t uncommon for other items like consumables to do so. Whenever one did the strongest monster in the area would become its guardian.

Chéng Yáng motioned for everyone to stop, then spent a few seconds examining the area to find the item’s guardian. Then, he fired a Magic Missile into the base of the tree.

To the surprise of the others, it exploded into a pile of goal. Moments later, the figure of a two meter long lizard with sharp teeth melded into reality.

This was a Killer Chameleon. Similar to the Hell-Spinner Spider, it was an ambush predator. In exchange for low Health, its damage far exceeded the norm for F Rank monsters.

“What good luck!” He exclaimed and ran to a spot ten meters away from the chest and started to charge a Magic Missile.

Chéng Yáng walked over and picked up the vial.

---

Mana Recovery Potion (Low-Grade)
Restores 10 Mana instantly and then 2 Mana every second for ten seconds.

---

In conventional games potions like these were considered rather ordinary since they could be bought in bulk at nearly every locations. In this world, however, that wasn’t the case. Although they were available for purchase, they weren’t economical. Since you didn’t gain experience just for killing monsters, most potions wouldn’t even allow you to break even while farming. AS such, they were used exclusively as life saving objects. No one dared to extravagantly use them whenever.

After Chéng Yáng explained the mechanics behind the spawning of the potion, they continued onward towards Huìmín.

Almost half an hour after they started their journey, they began to see the ruins of single family. Although they could cover the distance between the two points in a couple minutes, the terrain was complicated and they often needed to stop, fight monsters, then recover. They’d killed over a hundred monsters so far.

Huìmín hadn’t been a big town, but the group still had to navigate through a few hundred meters of infill before they would reach the city proper. As they passed through it, the group got their first taste of the devastation the apocalypse had wrought on civilization.

“How can that forest we passed through have so many tall trees when that earthquake even destroyed buildings like these?” Liú Hào let out a sigh as he though of his hometown.

“Why can’t an earthquake exclusively effect building?” Chéng Yáng asked with a wry smile, “With every other odd thing you’ve seen, why is that the one that catches your attention?”

“Fuck you god!” Liú Hào shouted while waving his fist at the sky. Rather than respond to his friend, he decided to curse the individual responsible. Although he’d previously said he would enjoy a world like this, that sentiment was completely gone. He would gladly trade this life for the boring days on a college campus where he had a bed to sleep in and food to eat.

“Don’t yell!” Lǐ Wànshān chastised, “You’ll attract something over.”

Sure enough, a few moments later, a massive snout poked out from behind a ruined convenience store. Following the snout came a massive body the size of a garbage truck. Then another, and another. Almost three dozen enormous boars had appeared and caught their group in their beady eyes.

“Retreat!” Chéng Yáng called out with a calm demeanor, “Full speed back to the Settlement.”

He had previously discussed their plan for what to do when the encountered an enemy they couldn’t handle, so right after Chéng Yáng’s shout, they immediately turned tail and ran towards Phoenix Village with all their might.

The monster they had just encountered was called the Hell Pig. They had fifty Health and high defenses. Their damage wasn’t particularly high, but their charges could easily break through a defensive line of Knights.

Although they might emerge victorious, they would probably run out of Mana before being able to kill them all. Additionally, the extended fight would make noise that might attract another group of monsters over, at which point their fates would be sealed.

The proper way to hunt a monster like this was to kite them back to Phoenix Village. Once they arrived at the Settlement, the could attack the monsters from the safety of the wall. At that point they would be like fish in a barrel.

The group ran without even stopping to fire off attacks, though Chéng Yáng would occasionally since it wouldn’t affect his speed. Behind them the Hell Pigs charged through the forest like, well, a boar in the forest. They slammed through underbrush and toppled trees like an unstoppable war machine.

Thankfully they only had one point of Movement Speed, allowing the slightly faster Phoenix Village Citizens to keep a lead on them despite the disadvantage of the terrain.

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What a great item! It covered his weaknesses and reinforced his strengths. Moreover, it was designated as a Cloak which meant he could wear it over traditional armor once he got some. Equipment didn’t have particularly strict slots. The only real restriction was that you couldn’t equip more than one item with the same designation. There were some exceptions such as the One-Handed designation that allowed you to equip two, but they were rare. Most equipment for the arms and legs came as a set.

Compared to the Green Bronze equipment he had, the Corrupted High Priests Robes provided twice as many Attribute points. The next step up, Purple Silver equipment would provide double that of Black Iron equipment and also provide a Skill. In his previous life, Chéng Yáng had seen some Purple Silver equipment, but only from afar. Without a doubt if a person had a full set of Purple Silver equipment they would be able to take on dozen or more opponents at the same level. Unfortunately, Purple Silver equipment was exceedingly rare. Even the leaders of strong factions would only have a piece or two.

Chéng Yáng pulled on the robes, then walked out of the cathedral. When he did, the others in the group gave him a strange look while suppressing their laughter. If he had dared to wear this around before the apocalypse he probably would have been severely bullied.

“Is that what the boss dropped?” Liú Hào while holding his mouth.

“Yep, I was pretty lucky and got some nice magic robes.” Chéng Yáng replied while ignoring his antics.

“Does this mean we’ve cleared the dungeon?” Yú Kǎi asked.

“That’s right.” Chéng Yáng confirmed. “Now that the boss is dead, we’ll be able to leave.”

“Will we be able to run it again?” Lǐ Wànshān asked. It was clear that he was hoping to obtain some equipment for him and his former employees.

“Of course. Although, a person can only run the Instance Dungeon once, a total of three teams can use it each day. Right now only the Normal Difficulty is available, but after we meet the conditions, we’ll unlock a higher difficulty level and additional Normal Difficulty runs. It’s too dangerous for the others to run the dungeon on their own, especially without having experienced it once before, so for today we’ll leave it alone.”

Lǐ Wànshān nodded. If his employees went in on their own some of them would probably die. Not to mention the boss Chéng Yáng had warned them about, even the mini-bosses might be more than they could handle. It was safer to wait.

“Okay.” Chéng Yáng clapped to get everyone’s attention, “I came out to let you know the boss was dead, but we still need to grab the final loot. An instance dungeon is considered finished if you kill the boss, but to fully clear it you need to kill every enemy. Since we have, that means a chest will spawn in the boss room containing a special item. I waited to grab it so that you would know where to look when you clear the dungeon on your own later.”

Once the others heard that there would be more loot, the instantly perked up. Just the three pieces of equipment they’d already gotten were impressive so they were looking forwards to seeing what the so-called “special item” was.

Chéng Yáng led them into the cathedral and over to the pulpit where a small wooden chest could be seen. When they opened it they found a small white jade statue lying inside.

The white jade was carved into the likeness of an angel. It had its armed stretched out towards the sky as if to embrace the sun. It looked incomparably holy.

Chéng Yáng gingerly picked up the statue, as if he were afraid it would break.

---

Cleric Idol
Can be sacrificed at a Territory Altar to built a Cleric Class Statue.

---

It really was the Cleric Idol! Although Chéng Yáng was almost certain that it would drop, he couldn’t guarantee it. The value of a healer was beyond imagination. Factions without one might raise a talent all the way to the High-Grade level only for them to die from a rather minor wound. All of that investment lost because they didn’t have a source of quick healing.

The others didn’t know what the white jade statue was but once Chéng Yáng explained its function they became ecstatic. Especially Lǐ Wànshān and Liú Hào, who, as experienced gamers, properly understood the value of a healer.

“Seems we’ll have some wet nurses to take care of us in the future.” Liú Hào snickered.

“What nurses?” Niú Bīng asked, slapping Liú Hào on the back of the head, “The name of the class is Cleric, remember that. Cleric!”

Liú Hào dazed by his friends sudden actions until he realized the implications of his words. He’d realized that since Chéng Yáng had already know about the Instance Dungeon, he probably also knew about the Cleric Class. It would explain why he hadn’t let Páng Shān perform a Transcendence Ceremony yesterday. She must have have the talent to be a Cleric! That was Niú Bīng’s girlfriend he was making lewd jokes about, no wonder he caught a slap.

“Haha, my bad, my bad.” Liú Hào apologized with a sheepish expression. “The class is definitely called Cleric.”

Right as Liú Hào finished, Chéng Yáng willed them back to Phoenix Village. With that same disorienting flash, the group found themselves back in the Settlement.

The others in the Settlement who hadn’t gotten the chance to enter the Instance Dungeon were anxiously waiting by the portal. When they saw that everyone had returned safely, they let out a loud cheer.

The most excited person was Páng Shān who ran up to Niú Bīng and hugged him tight. As the only woman in the Settlement, and the only non-Player, being surrounded by men she didn’t know had filled her with anxiety. Niú Bīng had already become the rock in her heart after the earthquake and she was happy that nothing had happened to him.

“Niú Bīng! You came back safe!” Pang Sun draped herself over Niú Bīng as she spoke.

“Of course I came back safe and sound.” Niú Bīng stroked her hair to comfort her and planted a kiss on her forehead. “How could I bear to leave you all alone.”

“Oh, get a room you two.” Yú Kǎi lampooned. “You’re tormenting your poor single friend over here!”

“Alright, break it up.” Chéng Yáng interjected, “We have a lot to do today and we’re wasting time.”

He walked over to the Territory Altar and placed the Cleric Idol on top of it. The beautiful white jade statue melted as it merged with the Territory Altar.

A moment later, the entire area shook as a fifth Class Statue rose out of the ground and the other four moved over to accommodate it. This new statue looked identical to the Cleric Idol, except that it was made of stone instead of white jade.

“Páng Shān, its time for you to become a Player.” Chéng Yáng said quickly.

“Really?” Páng Shān asked in surprise. After seeing Chéng Yáng nod she did a little cheer, then ran over to the Cleric Class Statue.

While Pang Sun was performing her Transcendence Ceremony, Chéng Yáng opened the Cleric Class Statue’s system pane.

It was more or less identical to the other four statues, but with two major differences. The first was that only five people could register as Clerics. This wasn’t surprising to Chéng Yáng. As a Hidden Class, Clerics had a significantly higher stat total than the four main Classes so it made sense that there where limits on the number a Settlement could have.

The other, more interesting difference, was that the Cleric Class Statue had an extra Research option!

---

Divinity Synchronization
Healing comes from the divine, so by integrating the divine into your own body, you can increase the amount you can heal

Cost: 100

Time: 6 hours

---

Chéng Yáng could only stare at the extra research option in confusion. The Cleric Class Statue from his memories didn’t have such an option. In fact, he’d never heard of a Class Statue with seven Research options. Much less one that increased a Hidden Attribute.

After some contemplation, he concluded that it must be a reward for being the first Settlement to obtain a Cleric Class Statue. It must have been kept a secret by whichever factions had obtained them in his previous life.

The truth wasn’t that far off. It was actually a reward for being the first Settlement to have a Class Statue for any Hidden Class. In his previous life, the lucky Settlement to receive that bonus had indeed kept it a secret lest others become overly covetous.

Regardless of the reason, Chéng Yáng was happy to see Phoenix Village gain an additional advantage. Although this would make the Cleric Class Statue harder to level up, especially since Hidden Class Research cost twice as much as normal, the benefits far outweighed the cost.

After some consideration, Chéng Yáng selected the Research option that would increase his Cleric’s Mana instead of the extra option. The Clerics from his memories were usually more limited by how many people they could heal rather than how much they could heal a single person.

Once he was done, he used the Citizens tab to peak at Páng Shān’s system pane.

---

Páng Shān
Phoenix Village Citizen
Class: Cleric
Level: Low-Grade Apprentice (0%)

Age	19	Life Span	110
HP	30	MP	50
Physical Attack	1	Magic Attack	13
Physical Defense	1	Magic Defense	1
Attack Speed	2	Movement Speed	2.2

Innate Abilities

• Receive 30% more stats in the Magic Attack attribute when you level up
• Cleric Skills effectiveness is increased by 30%
• Movement Speed is increased by 10%

Skills

Prayer (Core Skill)
Raise your arms to the sky in praise while kneeling to recover and advance

Healing Light (Low-Grade)
Send down a ray of holy light to heal a single target.

Healing: 33.8	Cost: 5 Mana
Range: 30 m	Cooldown: 9.84 sec

---

Chéng Yáng was delighted when he checked Páng Shān’s Innate Ability, somehow another S-Rank had appeared! He silently adjusted his guess as to how the rank of an Innate Ability was determined. Maybe it wasn’t the time it took to become a Player, but rather the time it took to make contact with magic? Thus, when he tested her aptitude her Innate Ability solidified. That could explain why some people who become Players later still had high rank Innate Abilities. There was probably still some aspect related to how fast each person’s talent decayed, but Chéng Yáng thought his new theory was pretty credible.

Although a Páng Shān’s Healing Light Skill was outrageously strong, to the point that a single cast could bring someone back from the brink of death, she had basically no offensive capabilities. They didn’t even receive starter equipment! Even more so than other Players, Clerics relied on cooperation to survive.

While he was there, Chéng Yáng checked the Phoenix Village Soul Fragment balance. After considering the hundred Soul Fragments he’d spent on the Cleric Class Statue Research, Chéng Yáng calculated that his foray into the Blood Soaked Cathedral had generated a profit of about 115 Soul Fragments for the Settlement. owned had increased by more than two hundred.

Now that he had settled the gains from his detour, Chéng Yáng returned to his plan to visit Huìmín. After all, rescuing the citizens of Huìmín was the only way for Phoenix Village to quickly register new Citizens.

It was currently 8:00 AM. The other Citizens had already eaten and those who had the responsibility of farming the monsters that were attacking the wall were hard at work. The only thing left to take care of before leaving was to deal with the appetites of the five people that had cleared the Instance Dungeon.

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After the Mephit rushed out, Lǐ Wànshān jumped in front of the door to block the Lesser Mephits that were jumping out of the rooms surrounding the courtyard.

Chéng Yáng hit the Mephit was a Magic Missile as soon as it was in range, drawing aggro from the wolf. Then, for the next fifteen seconds, he led the monster around by the nose, using his superior speed to forever keep himself out of reach.

Although the monster was powerful, Chéng Yáng would have been able to kill it on his own, much less with a team. Since he was there, the Mephit didn’t even have the ability to showcase its unique traits like the hard to read tail attacks it could make.

In the end, it never dealt a single point of damage. Even when it died and exploded it was unable to harm anyone. Right after it died, light gathered from its corpse and solidified into a softly glowing stave that floated an inch above the ground.

Although Yú Kǎi and the others exchanged excited glances they didn’t dare to ask what it was until after dealing with the Lesser Mephits Lǐ Wànshān was blocking.

“Did that monster drop equipment?” Liú Hào asked once they had disposed of the remaining monsters, “Yángzǐ, I thought you said monsters didn’t drop loot.”

“Normal monsters don’t.” Chéng Yáng replied. “The only reason this one did is because it’s one of the mini-bosses in an Instance Dungeon. Those will have certain chance of dropping equipment.

The others didn’t dwell on the issue, they were more interested in examine the loot.

“You’re pretty lucky Yángzǐ.” Niú Bīng said with a chuckle after examining the item’s system pane. “This is equipment for a Mage.”

Chéng Yáng had expected such an outcome. Dropped equipment had a high chance of being usable by whatever Class did the most damage to the monster it dropped from. Since Chéng Yáng had done the majority of the damage to the Mephit, it wasn’t surprising that it was Mage equipment.

When Niú Bīng handed the stave to Chéng Yáng, the system panel automatically opened.

---

Ebony Stave (One-Handed)
A casting focus made from high quality wood and engraved to allow for higher damage and faster casting.
—————————————————————————————
Class Requirements: Mage
Effects: +1 Ability Power, +1 Attack Speed

Damage: 0.75	Cooldown: 3 sec
Range: 1 m	Durability: 25

---

It was as good as you could expect Green Bronze equipment to be. As the lowest tier, the Green Bronze equipment would provide two Attribute bonuses and nothing else. Still, it was better than his starter equipment and Chéng Yáng didn’t have to worry about the durability as much as a Knight would.

Watching Chéng Yáng carry around his new stave set the ambitions of the other group members on fire. They sincerely hoped that the other mini-bosses would appear and drop equipment for them!

The next two Mephits they killed were a disappointment, but when they cleared the final cloister, a second piece of equipment finally dropped.

---

Star-Spotted Gloves (Gloves)
Gloves made from the hide of a star spotted deer, which are famed for their sturdy leather.
—————————————————————————————
Class Requirements: None
Effects: +1 Attack Resistance, +1 Magic Resistance, +2 Attack Speed

Durability: 50

---

Seeing the equipment’s system panel Chéng Yáng was ecstatic. This was Black Iron equipment! It was very rare for the mini-bosses in The monsters in the Normal Difficulty Blood Soaked Cathedral to drop Black Iron equipment, so this was quite lucky.

Unlike the other five Attributes, Attack Speed didn’t provide a linear decrease in cooldown times. Chang Yang had never bothered to memorize the exact formula that people had reverse engineered, but suffice to say, two points in Attack Speed was almost negligible to him. A tenth of a second at most. Unless you had an Skill with a really long cooldown, you would hardly notice the difference.

Since that was the case, Chéng Yáng decided to give this piece of equipment to someone else. If he always monopolized the gains others helped him gain they would come to resent him, even if they were his friends.

“Bīngzǐ, this one is yours.” Chéng Yáng threw the gloves to Niú Bīng after reading the properties.

“I don’t need this, you can keep it.” Niú Bīng said despite the obvious desire in his eyes. “You’re our strongest fighter right now so strengthening you is the best choice.”

“Even if I’m the strongest here, if I was surrounded by ten monsters, I would get torn to shreds just as fast as the rest of you.” Chéng Yáng snorted. “Since that’s the case, its better to strengthen the group as a whole. If you use those gloves you’ll be able to summon your wolf faster and shave a few seconds off of the cooldown. Since they share your stats, they’ll also be harder to kill and last longer as a meat shield. Since they don’t suit me well, this is is a pragmatic choice. So don’t worry about me and just take the equipment.”

Chéng Yáng’s explanation wasn’t just for Niú Bīng, it was for the others as well. With this, no one would think he was being greedy or playing favorites.

“All right then.” Niú Bīng didn’t need much convincing before he put on the gloves and started admiring them.

“Since we’ve cleared the last building, the only thing left is the boss.” Chéng Yáng said. “I’m sorry to say it but I can’t allow you to participate in that battle. In front of a D Rank monster you’re all simply too weak.”

“No way!” Yú Kǎi immediately retorted, “We’re a team, so we’re in this together. How can we let you to face all the danger on your own?”

“I agree with Kǎizǐ.” Liú Hào followed up, “We’re in this together! You can rely on us to help you. If it’s really too strong for us we’ll leave but won’t it be better to have us around in the beginning?”

“Even if its just for a little while you’ll all die.” Chéng Yáng said with a bitter smile, “In fact, you mustn’t approach the cathedral at all. It’s already been revealed to me how to defeat this boss, but its hard to explain and I only have enough supplies for myself.”

Although the others still had their doubts, they were naturally able to understand Chéng Yáng’s implication. Whatever entity had told him about the apocalypse in advance had also told him a foolproof way to defeat the boss. Since it was like that, they reluctantly allowed Chéng Yáng to advance on his own.

A Greater Mephit had two skills that made it exceptionally dangerous. The first was a roar that would entice everyone that heard it to run up and attack it. The second was to expel flames from its body with damage similar to the explosion of a Mephit. This combo was enough to one shot most Low-Grade Apprentices. Even though he was a Standard-Grade Apprentice, as a Mage, Chéng Yáng would instantly die if that attack hit him.

Thankfully, it would only roar once at the beginning of the fight, so it was relatively easy to guard against. The method Chéng Yáng had chosen was to stuff mini marshmallows from the trail mix he had bought into his ears. It wouldn’t completely block the noise, but it would leave him clear headed enough to hit himself and completely dispel the effect.

The other problem was that the Greater Mephit had a Movement Speed on par with a High-Grade Apprentice. Even if Chéng Yáng tried to keep his distance, it would catch up before he could kill it and slaughter him. This would be where the trick he learned in his past life came into play.

Under their nervous gazes, Chéng Yáng walked over to the cathedral and snuck inside. Once inside Chéng Yáng glanced around and let out a sigh of relief. The layout was the same as in his memories, which meant the trick he knew could still be used. If not, the only thing they could do was wait until the Instance Dungeon timed out and give up on the first clear rewards.

The inside of the cathedral was in a state of total disrepair. The pews were rotted and large chunks of shattered stone from the roof littered the area. In the middle of the crossing was a gigantic tree with branches snaking throughout the building, the top of which had bust through the roof. Although it wasn’t visible at the moment, Chéng Yáng knew that the boss was hidden in the ambulatory. Once he walked down the nave, it would burst out and attack him.

Chéng Yáng took a deep breath, then sprinted towards choir. As he ran down the left aisle, he saw a bright, scaling red Greater Mephit burst out of the ambulatory as he expected. It was more than two meters tall and holding a massive axe.

Once it was out, it let out a mighty roar which left his ears ringing even with his makeshift earplugs. His path slightly shifted towards the boss, but with a quick slap Chéng Yáng was back to his original objective: the busted organ!

With practiced agility, he leaped onto it and climbed up one of the pipes. From there, he jumped onto a large branch that had stretched over and quickly began to scale the tree.

Barely a second later, he felt heat on his back. The Greater Mephit had charged over and tried to burn him to death with its flames. If Chéng Yáng had been any slower it may have succeeded.

Once he had reached the ceiling, Chéng Yáng stopped climbing and looked down at the Greater Mephit.

It was trying its best to scale the tree, but the branches it could reach broke under its weight, and when it tried to scale the organ pipes, it would accidentally crush them.

Chéng Yáng smiled. The hard part was over. Since it couldn’t reach him there was nothing to worry about. All he had to do was slowly grind its health bar to zero.

Under a barrage of Magic Missiles, the Greater Mephit died an aggrieved death. With its passing, a massive explosion filled the cathedral almost in its entirety. If Chéng Yáng had been any lower down the tree, he would have been caught in it and killed. The damage was incomparable to that of a normal Mephit and could even kill a Low-Grade Apprentice Knight in one shot.

On the ground, where the boss once stood, Chéng Yáng saw a black robe with silver lining floating about the ground. He couldn’t be sure, but Chéng Yáng was fairly certain that it was a piece of Black Iron equipment. When he picked it up and checked its status pane he couldn’t be happier.

---

Corrupted High Priest’s Robes (Cloak)
The robes of the high priest of the St. Luantha cathedral that have been corrupted by demonic magic.
—————————————————————————————
Class Requirements: Any
Effects: +2 Attack Resistance, +10 Mana, +10 Health

Durability: 50

---

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It wasn’t long before Chéng Yáng’s group of five was ready to challenge the Blood Soaked Cathedral. Instance Dungeons had a limit to the number of people that could enter a time, so Chéng Yáng selected those who had an S-Rank Innate Ability.

Typically, in order for people to enter the same instance, they needed to be in a party that had registered at an Adventurer’s Guild office. Of course, Phoenix Village didn’t have one. Neither did the Xiāngyáng Safe Zone. Once Phoenix Village reached the High-Grade level Chéng Yáng would be able to build one.

As for the Safe Zone, the facilities they had would always be those of a Settlement one level higher than the highest one in the vicinity. This is why they currently had the six shops Phoenix Village would unlock when they reached the Standard-Grade level. So far, Chéng Yáng had overlooked this detail. Those hadn’t appeared until a few months after the apocalypse in his previous life and it was unknown how this would affect the development of the forces in Xiāngyáng.

The only other way to make sure a group entered the same entrance was to be in physical contact with all of the party members when one of them entered the portal. So, Chéng Yáng’s group stood in front of the Instance Dungeon holding hands, then Chéng Yáng stepped inside.

With a gut-wrenching flash, the scenery completely changed.

The group was standing at the entrance of a walled compound surrounded by a dank forest. The walls were overgrown with vines and covered in filth. Over the tops of the walls a few buildings could be seen, including a large western cathedral in the back!

In front of the compounds large wooden double doors stood a pair of strange humanoids. They were half a meter tall with dark red skin, a hunched back, and a pair of short pointed horns on their hairless heads. Each one carried a sharp wooden spear that they raised threateningly at the group the moment they appeared but didn’t attack.

These were Lesser Mephits, and similar to Graveseekers, they belonged to the lowest level of monsters, F Rank. Despite its name, they weren’t any weaker than other F Rank monsters. They were only lesser compared to other Mephits.

Chéng Yáng reviewed the layout of the Instance Dungeon in his mind. The compound in front of him was rectangular and covered roughly a square kilometer of space and was divided into two main areas. Eight cloisters with paths in between filled the first three fourths of space. Each one had several rooms surrounding a small courtyard in the center. The remaining space was occupied by a large cathedral.

There were also three gates, the north gate they were currently at, as well as an east and west gate. Two Lesser Mephits would guard each and a couple dozen more would patrol the inside of the compound. Half of the cloisters had a Mephit mini-boss and a few Lesser Mephit minions in the surrounding rooms. The rest were empty. Finally, there would be a Greater Mephit, the D Rank boss, in the cathedral.

As for the forest surrounding the compound? It didn’t matter in the slightest. It was just set dressing and continued onward, seemingly forever. Although many groups had tried exploring it, they were unable to find anything of value and concluded that it was totally empty.

“Yángzǐ, where are we?” Liú Hào asked warily.

“I’m not totally sure.” Chéng Yáng answered, “Just treat it like a pocket dimension. Our goal is to beat the boss hidden in that cathedral over there. So long as we are the first to do so, we’ll receive something special as a reward.”

Liú Hào and the others nodded in affirmation. Even if they were inexperienced, they knew that the first person to eat a crab would be surprised by the taste.

After waiting for Niú Bīng to summon a wolf, the group advanced towards the two Lesser Mephits guarding the door. The wolf was in front with Liú Hào and Lǐ Wànshān following close behind. Chéng Yáng and Niú Bīng were in the middle since they had the lowest Health, and Yú Kǎi acted as the anchor.

The Lesser Mephits hadn’t attacked before since the Instance Dungeon hadn’t been started yet, but as soon as the wolf came within thirty meters of them, they charged.

Although Knights were the main tanks of any group, creatures summoned by Druids played a special role. Any damage they did generated twice as much aggro as other combatants, allowing them to pull the attention of monsters away from more vulnerable group members. They were also completely expendable and could be used to block attacks in a way that most Knights would object too. This made them an obvious choice for the first line of defense when handling monsters.

Since neither side had powerful Skills, when the wolf and the Lesser Mephits clashed, the fight immediately devolved into a bloody brawl. Once the rest of the group entered the fight, it ended quickly. When they died, the Lesser Mephits exploded into flames, taking the wolf with them to the grave.

Although a shield couldn’t fully block area of effect damage, it still provided a 50% damage reduction if you blocked it, so Liú Hào and Lǐ Wànshān didn’t suffer too badly. To them being covered in guts was far worse. Compared to them, the wolf who simply turned to dust when it died was far better.

“When we head inside, don’t wander around.” Chéng Yáng said after waiting for Niú Bīng to summon another wolf, “If we’re not careful we could get surrounded, so its better to take things slowly.”

The others nodded in acknowledgement, then the Knights pushed open the doors, and they entered the compound in an orderly fashion.

Once inside, they found themselves surrounded by buildings and pathways lined with overgrown plants. Straight ahead of them was the cathedral with a small plaza in front of it that had a fountain. Just from where they were, the group saw over a dozen Lesser Mephits. Naturally, the Lesser Mephits saw them as well. Unlike those guarding the gate, these ones immediately charged towards the group once they noticed them.

“This is bad! We can’t fight that many monsters at once!” Liú Hào gasped.

“Don’t worry about their numbers.” Chéng Yáng said with a calm smile, “Bīngzǐ’s wolf will draw their attention for a few seconds. While it does we’ll break into one of these buildings. No matter how many of them there are, they’ll only be able to trickle in and attack one at a time.”

“That would work, but look!” Liú Hào said. “The doors are closed and probably locked, how will we get in?”

“Even if it’s locked so what?” Chéng Yáng retorted, “Just bust it down.”

“That’s true,” Liú Hào flexed and a smile appeared on his round face, “I’m at the same level as Superman now.”

While they were talking, they had rushed towards the nearest building under the cover of Niú Bīng’s wolf. Once they got close enough, Liú Hào knocked the door off its hinges with a single kick, then they went inside.

A few moments later, the first of the Lesser Mephits arrived in the doorway.

Without needing a reminder, Liú Hào and Lǐ Wànshān stood firm in front of their doorway, using their shields and bodies to block the monster’s advance.

While Yú Kǎi and Niú Bīng attacked from over the shoulders of the Knights, Chéng Yáng quickly searched the cloister. Once he had confirmed that there weren’t any monsters he let out a sigh of relief. Only half of the cloisters had monsters in them, and if this was one of them they would have to fend off attacks from two sides. Although it would be manageable, it was still better not to have too.

Over the course of the next five minutes, the group systemically slaughtered the Lesser Mephits that were wandering around inside the compound. For the two Knights it was a fierce battle of attrition where their only role was to block the endless attacks coming their way. For the others it was a rather leisurely experience.

Chéng Yáng couldn’t help but admire the advantage Knights had over other Players in the early stages; their shields were just too overpowered! They didn’t provide any bonus Attributes or Skills but the shield itself was indestructible. This was the unique feature of starter equipment. Any other equipment one could find had a durability value and would eventually break if it didn’t receive frequent maintenance.

This indestructible quality wasn’t particularly obvious obvious on the other types of starting gear since the durability of weapons decreased rather slowly. On the other hand, shields and armor might be destroyed in a single fight! No small number of people had died in his previous life because their otherwise impressive shield had shattered leaving them defenseless. In comparison, the starter shield was far superior since it would never fail.

By the end of the slaughter, Liú Hào and Lǐ Wànshān were on the verge of collapse. Although they hadn’t taken much damage, blocking so many attacks was exhausting. It felt like their arms might fall off!

Chéng Yáng let them rest for a few minutes before having Niú Bīng send another wolf out to run around attracting attention. He had been keeping track of how many Mephits they had killed and determined that there were still a few left outside.

After a few more rounds, Chéng Yáng was certain that they had killed all of the Lesser Mephits that weren’t stationed in specific areas. Now they had to kill the remaining gate guards and clear the cloisters. Although they could leave the instance after killing the boss, the end chest with the Cleric Idol would only spawn if every enemy in the instance was killed.

After taking some time to rest, the group killed the Lesser Mephits in at the east and west gates, then began exploring the cloisters. The first one they checked was empty, but the second had a monster standing in the courtyard, a Mephit, an F+ Rank monster. It looked like a Lesser Mephit but was taller, carried a metal spear, and had a long barbed tail.

At the moment it was alone, but Chéng Yáng knew it would summon the Lesser Mephits in the surrounding rooms after it started fighting. The best strategy was to lure it out of the cloister, then have one of the Knights block the entrance, preventing the Lesser Mephits from coming to help. The other four would then surround and kill the Mephit.

Chéng Yáng had already discussed this plan with his teammates, so before the Mephit had reacted to their presence, Niú Bīng’s wolf had already run it, swiped it across the stomach, and rushed back out.

With a roar, the Mephit chased the wolf out of the cloister, ignoring Lǐ Wànshān who was next to the door.

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“Alright, group two, its time to switch out. Group one is going to cultivate, then sleep. We’re going to hunt monsters for another three hours then sleep as well.” Chéng Yáng said, “Old Lǐ, make sure no one overdoes it. Leave at least an hour of your Core Skill’s usage so that you can use it to regenerate Health and Mana tomorrow. If you have any leftover you can do it right before midnight.”

Group two contained all of Chéng Yáng’s friends. Since they had gotten to cultivate first they had maximized their benefits from it compared to group one. They also had an easier time farming since most of the large herds had already been destroyed by group one. This allowed Chéng Yáng to relax, and enjoy the feeling of being reunited with his friends, hunting monsters together like they used to before Liú Hào had lost his arms.

When they finished, it was a little after two in the morning. Although they killed less monsters than group one, they still killed over three hundred.

On the way back Chéng Yáng had to listen to Liú Hào’s constant griping: “What kind of shitty game is this? How can there be tanks and DPS but no healers! I want to file a complaint against this shitty game designer for making these fights so hard!”

Chéng Yáng’s lips curved up as he listened, but he didn’t say anything. Although he knew that the Cleric Class had the healer role, he was having too much fun watching his friend seethe to let him know that.

---

At this point, the first round of research had been completed by the Class Statues, increasing he chosen Attributes for each Class by fifty percent. Naturally, Chéng Yáng chose a new research option for each statue. For Mages he chose to increase Movement Speed, so they would have more survivability. Although damage was important, since Mages had low Health and couldn’t upgrade it, being able to keep their distance from enemies was the only way to survive. As for the other Classes, he researched Ability Power for the Rangers, Attack Damage for the Knights, and Attack Speed for the Druids.

The research cost a total of four hundred Soul Fragments, a burden Phoenix Village could easily afford.

Chéng Yáng was extremely satisfied with the current fiscal situation of his Settlement. In just nine hours he’d been able to earn almost fourteen hundred Soul Fragments. This number was a bit of an anomaly since the spawn rate hadn’t changed in the surrounding until halfway through. Even so, Chéng Yáng was optimistic about the growth of the Settlement. If he was diligent, he would be able to upgrade the Settlement in less than a week. At that point he could institute taxes, solicit donations, or even use his personal funds to make sure the Settlements coffers were full.

After finishing all of his administrative tasks Chéng Yáng spent an three hours cultivating. Since he had 132 Soul Fragments he was able to unlock four times cultivation speed at the cost of consuming thirty Soul Fragments. Combined with the 13% increase from the Cultivation Chamber he was using, Chéng Yáng was able to raise his experience bar to 3.91%, a massive increase over his first cultivation session!

By the time he had finished, the sun was barely visible on the horizon. Chéng Yáng slept for another hour, then got up at 6:00 AM. Thankfully, cultivation was very similar to sleep, allowing Chéng Yáng to feel well rested despite his busy night.

At the moment, he was the only person awake, everyone else was still asleep. He hadn’t assigned a night patrol since the Low-Grade monsters wouldn’t be able to breach the wall even if they tried, but starting tonight he would have to arrange one.

Chéng Yáng chuckled. Sleep was a hard habit to beat, but in the next few months they would gradually reduce the time they spent asleep to the bare minimum.

With a holler, Chéng Yáng attempted to rouse the rest of the Settlement. Despite the noise, only Yú Kǎi and a few others came outside. Of those, only Yú Kǎi seemed to be energetic. The rest looked quite sluggish.

“Yángzǐ, what are our plans for today?” Yú Kǎi asked excitedly. He was the person in Chéng Yáng’s friend group having the most fun. In his eyes, so long as Chéng Yáng was around he wouldn’t be in any real danger.

“After eating breakfast, I plan to lead everyone to the town of Huìmín, in order to save some of the residents. It’s a little over a kilometer away so we shouldn’t have any trouble reaching it. If we run into something we can’t handle, its close enough to the Settlement that we can run back and hide inside.”

“What are we having for breakfast?” Yú Kǎi asked while licking his lips. A moment later, his face filled with fear and disgust. “You’re not going force us to eat roasted monster flesh are you? to roast monster flesh are you?”

“Not today, but at some point yes.” Chéng Yáng replied with a chuckle. “Most bestial monsters are edible, the Venom-Fanged Grey Wolf in specific is surprisingly delicious. Since we don’t have any cooking tools we’ll eat this for today.”

Chéng Yáng pointed to the bag of high calorie food he’d bought the day before.

“Nice!” Yú Kǎi rejoiced, “I’m starving! Last night I had nothing to eat even after all that exercise we got.”

It was indeed a cruel thing to let a rich kid like Yú Kǎi go hungry for a night, otherwise why would he be so excited for some cheap biscuits.

“Go wake everyone else up,” Chéng Yáng said, “Then we’ll distribute some food and start our expedition. We’ll leave a Mage and a Ranger behind to clear any monsters, but everyone else will head over.”

Chéng Yáng wanted to bring everyone with him, but the most efficient way for the territory to gain Experience Fragments was to kill monsters right after they spawned to keep the respawn timers low. This strategy took a few months to discover in his previous life, but he would be able to implement it immediately.

“By the way,” Yú Kǎi pointed past Chéng Yáng, “What is that thing over there? I noticed it last night but was too scared to touch it.”

Chéng Yáng froze up then glanced behind him at the Territory Altar. A few feet away from it, there was an oval shaped curtain of light. It was a phenomena he couldn’t be more familiar with.

It was a portal. More specifically, it was the entrance to an Instance Dungeon.

But why was it here? There definitely wasn’t an Instance Dungeon inside the Settlement in his previous life. Actually he’d never heard of any Settlement with an Instance Dungeon so close to the Territory Altar.

Chéng Yáng walked over to investigate, and realized what must have happened. The strange rock he’d found yesterday was missing, and it its place was the Instance Dungeon. That stone disk must have been the initial state of the Instance Dungeon before the apocalypse!

Chéng Yáng felt a pang of regret. There were four other Instance Dungeons in the area surrounding Xiāngyáng. If he’d know that he could directly move them into his Settlement, he would have spend some time looking for their corresponding stone disks.

Having an Instance Dungeon inside the Settlement was undoubtedly a boon. Since it was inside the collection radius of the Settlement, naturally a portion the Soul Fragments were collected. This had been confirmed by a Settlement in the US after it had become a Pinnacle-Grade village and expanded far enough to include an Instance Dungeon.

Other than naturally formed Instance Dungeons, there were also artificial ones that could be spawned by a High-Grade Village after building a Trial Hall. However, compared to a naturally formed Instance Dungeon, those spawned by the Trial Hall would have their Soul Fragment drop rates cut in half and wouldn’t be collected by the Settlement. In fact, you had to pay to spawn them!

The main reason for clearing an Instance Dungeon, either natural or artificial, was because the monsters there had a chance of dropping equipment! You could also find Skill Scrolls, potions, and even rare special items.

If this was the Instance Dungeon from his past life, it should be a Beginner Instance Dungeon that led to an instance of the Blood Soaked Cathedral. At Normal Difficulty, all of the monsters would be at the Low-Grade Immature level with the occasional Elite, with most of them being F Rank monsters, a few F+ Rank mini-bosses, and a D Rank boss.

The reason Chéng Yáng had been so eager to find it yesterday, aside from being able to obtain a few Soul Fragments, was because the loot tables were adjusted for the first person to clear an Instance Dungeon. The rarest item from the loot table was guaranteed to spawn in the end chest.

For the Normal Difficulty Blood Soaked Cathedral, that item would be a Cleric Idol. Sacrificing it to a Territory Altar would create a Cleric Class Statue!

Although he could get one by repeatedly grinding the Blood Soaked Cathedral, it would be far more efficient if he were able to secure the first clear reward.

Once Chéng Yáng collected himself, he decisively changed his plans for the day. Since the Blood Soaked Cathedral had come to him, he was determined to obtain the first clear. If he could raise a batch of Clerics, the number of fatalities in his teams would instantly be halved.

Of course, under normal circumstances, there would be no way for Chéng Yáng’s group to kill a D Rank monster. However, it was easy to find loopholes and tricks when clearing an Instance Dungeon. They were the same every time you entered, so if you were clever you could avoid having to deal with certain enemies or obstacles.

Chéng Yáng knew just such a trick for the Blood Soaked Cathedral which would allow even a Low-Grade Apprentice to defeat the Boss.

“Is it dangerous?” Yú Kǎi asked with a bemused expression after seeing Chéng Yáng’s rapidly fluctuating emotions.

“It’s an Instance Dungeon.” Chéng Yáng replied, “It can be considered fairly dangerous, but to us its like a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered. Grab Hàozǐ, Bīngzǐ, and Old Lǐ. We’re going to run this once before we head to Huìmín.”

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While they were drunk on pride from their quick victory a rope like thread of silk shot towards Chéng Yáng with a sharp hiss.

“Hell-Spinner Spider!” Chéng Yáng yelped with surprise as the silk landed on his body. Reacting on instinct he fell to he ground with a spin, using the momentum to yank on the silk.

A few meters away, a spider the size of a sink fell out of a tree. It was a dull reddish color and covered in spikes. Before anyone else could react, Chéng Yáng fired a Magic Missile into its abdomen, spraying gunk everywhere and killing it instantly.

Hell-Spinner Spiders were easily the most dangerous monster in the early stages of the apocalypse. The silk it had spit out was a Skill used to grab a player and pull them into the spider, a combo capable of instantly killing a Low-Grade Apprentice Mage. Luckily the Skill could be cancelled and the monster’s health was abysmally low.

“Although that spider is only a Low Grade Immature monster its incredibly dangerous in the woods.” Chéng Yáng said cautiously, “It’s one of the few Low-Grade monsters with a ranged attack. If you see one grab somebody you have to kill it instantly!”

Even if Chéng Yáng hadn’t warned them who would dare to be careless around a massive spider. No one would want to enter its stomach.

They set off again, but before they’d even run forty meters a large group of shadows bolted out of the woods at them.

“Herd incoming! Remember the tactics I taught you!”

Chéng Yáng yelled to remind them, but he didn’t have high hopes for the group. He carefully counted the attackers, if there were too many he would get them to retreat. Thankfully it was just a dozen Graveseekers. Even if this was a hard fight, there wouldn’t be any real danger with him around.

Since he was closest, Chéng Yáng fired a Magic Missile into the lead monster before retreating behind the Knights’ shield wall. Just like with the Raatma before, the rest of the group immediately peppered the Graveseeker Chéng Yáng had struck with attacks, killing it instantly.

Moments later, the Druids’ wolves rushed out from behind the Knights and collided with the Graveseekers. However, with only four wolves, they could only slow the Graveseekers down long enough for the Ranged Classes attacks to come off cooldown.

This time, Chéng Yáng chose not to attack. If the group remembered his advice, they would attack in mixed groups of six to maximize their damage. Unfortunately, without him marking a target, they all fired at random monsters, spreading the damage out without killing a single one.

A few moments later, the Graveseekers attacked the line of Knights. Despite their efforts, several slipped past them. After all, there were only seven Knights, but eleven Graveseekers.

The battle devolved into chaos as the Graveseekers wantonly attacked the groups backlines. The Druids had been in the middle of summoning new wolves, but their attention was diverted as they were forced to defend themselves.

Chéng Yáng observed the battle with a cold, detached gaze. He would only intervene when it looked like someone was in lethal danger, otherwise he let them suffer a few injuries.

A little over a minute later, the final Graveseeker died. When it did, several members of the group collapsed to the ground whimpering in pain. Other than the Knights, none of them had experienced an attack from a monster, and the reality struck them hard.

Chéng Yáng gave them a few seconds to rest before clearing his throat to get their attention.

“Do you think we can reach Xiāngyáng?”

Chéng Yáng didn’t say anything else and simply waited for an answer that didn’t come. The eyes of the lumber mill workers around him were filled with reluctance, but they didn’t have the confidence to say they could reach Xiāngyáng.

“You all saw the battle,” Chéng Yáng finally said, “If there had been one or two more monsters some of you may have died. Not only do we not have the numbers to break through to Xiāngyáng, you’re undisciplined.”

The group still seemed reluctant to give up, causing Chéng Yáng to sigh.

“Let me put this a different way. Suppose we do make it to the city. We break through the monsters and find your families. Are you confident that you can protect both them and yourselves? Several of you almost died despite being Players, an ordinary person would have bled to death long ago.”

“Fuck!” Lǐ Wànshān grit his teeth so hard it seemed like they might break. “Once I have the strength I’ll slaughter my way directly into Xiāngyáng, I only hope my wife and child can wait for me… this fucked up world!”

Lǐ Wànshān vented the emotions in his heart that many of the other workers shared. Even if they were desperate to save their families, they couldn’t guarantee their own safety, much less that of an ordinary person.

Chéng Yáng led the group back to the Settlement in an uncomfortable silence. From time to time a monster would peak its head out from behind a tree only to be killed by Chéng Yáng and the others. Most monsters didn’t have night vision and with the full moon Chéng Yáng’s group wasn’t at that much of a disadvantage at night.

Once they were back inside the Settlement, Chéng Yáng decided that it was time to dangle the carrot now that they had seen the stick.

“If you want to get strong enough to save your family the only option is to quickly amass Soul Fragments allowing you to cultivate to a higher level. In order to achieve that goal, we’re going to split into two even groups. One group will go out of the Settlement with me and drag monsters back to the walls. This will ensure their safety while hunting monsters. During that time the other group will begin cultivating.

---

Three hours later, the first group finally went back into the Settlement. In that time they had killed almost four hundred monsters. If not for Chéng Yáng insistence that they kite the herds into the collection range of Phoenix Village they might have been able to kill more.

During that time, not a single Standard-Grade monster appeared causing the members of the first group to feel grateful. If a few monsters like the Graveseeker from earlier had appeared, no one could guarantee their lives. It was normal for them not to encounter anything too strong on the first day of the apocalypse, after all, the ones from earlier only appeared because Chéng Yáng had claimed a Territory Altar so early.

It was almost midnight, which meant everyone’s limit on their Core Skill would refresh soon. Although this meant that Chéng Yáng and the other members of group one had lost some of the cultivation time, it couldn’t be helped.

When Chéng Yáng walked into the settlement, he couldn’t see a single person inside. This meant that they had taken the lesson tonight to heart and were diligently cultivating. Of course it was possible that some of them had fallen asleep due to exhaustion, but at least they weren’t idling about. How could they when every second they wasted was a second longer their families had to wait for rescue?

“Yángzǐ, how was it?” After hearing the gates open, Yú Kǎi had come out to greet the first group.

“It wasn’t too bad.” Chéng Yáng said. “Everyone here is starting to get the hang of group combat. We had a lot of gains. What about you?”

“I was only able to use double cultivation speed for a few hours.” Yú Kǎi said with a sigh. “With my progress at this rate it will take me more a month to reach the Standard-Grade Apprentice level! Can that be considered fast?”

As the other members of group two exited the Cultivation Chambers, they reported similar gains. For every Soul Fragment you wanted to consume for training, you needed ten extra stockpiled. Since everyone in Phoenix Village had at least thirteen Experience Fragment they were all able to double their cultivation speed.

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Cultivation? The crowd was filled with questions after hearing that familiar but out of place word.

“Although the world has become like a game, Players will not level up automatically after killing monsters. Instead, using the Core Skill of your class allows you to cultivate. Whenever you use your Core Skill you draw in energy from the world. So far you’ve used it to restore your Health and Mana but it can do more than that.” Chéng Yáng explained, “If your Health and Mana are both full, the energy you draw in strengthens your body. On its own, the effects are slow, but if you absorb a Soul Fragment the effect doubles. Every factor of ten above that will also double the efficacy. If you absorb ten Soul Fragments you’ll cultivate four times as fast, if you absorb a hundred, eight times as fast. You can only use your Core Skill for four hours each day, resetting at midnight. So be sure not to waste the time you’ve been given.”

Chéng Yáng didn’t ask them to donate the Soul Fragments they had to Phoenix Village. Each one was paid for with their sweat and blood. He had nothing he could give them in return right now and leveraging the safety of the Settlement would only earn their resentment. Besides, their strength was his, so letting them use their Soul Fragments to cultivate was beneficial to him.

“The buildings near the south gate are called Cultivation Chambers. Cultivating is thirteen percent faster inside one and they’ll also double as your residence from now on.”

Chéng Yáng then divided them into groups of five and assigned each group a Cultivation Chamber. Although it was a bit forceful, no one minded. Even having a roof over their head was something to be grateful for, much less a room and bed of their own. Only Páng Shān lived alone. She was the only girl in Phoenix Village and had refused to sleep near a bunch of older men but promised to share a Cultivation Chamber once more women joined the Settlement.

“Yángzǐ,” Yú Kǎi suddenly asked. “We were able to become Players, but what about the people in Xiāngyáng?”

Chéng Yáng looked north.

“There’s a Safe Zone in Xiāngyáng with a set of Class Statues, but I’m afraid no one will have had the chance to use them yet.”

---

Just as Chéng Yáng remembered, Xiāngyáng was still in a paralyzed state.

When facing monsters the citizens of Xiāngyáng could only obediently be slaughtered. Even if you were a former star athlete or martial arts champion you were equal under the monsters’ jaws. Your carefully honed skills would be useless.

Of course, humanity wasn’t completely defenseless. Everything with a circuit board had been turned into scrap, but most guns still worked.

Xiāngyáng’s police force was armed, but wasn’t militarized so they didn’t have high munition weapons like RPGs. They were limited to semi-automatic rifles and pistols, but it was better than nothing.

The Xiāngyáng municipal government was extremely efficient and in just under half an hour had been able to assemble the majority of the police force. Their original plan was to calm the public and provide emergency services. However, the appearance of monsters forced them to change those plans.

Nearly ten monsters had spawned in the ruins of the town hall where the police were gathered, attacking them immediately. The police fired back just as fast, riddling the monsters with bullets. However, even after expending entire clips, some of the monsters were still standing. Their response hadn’t been particularly organized, but the bullet holes on the creatures bodies were clear to see. How were they still alive!?

The opening left by the police’s need to reload allowed the monsters to fatally wound a few of them only to die soon after themselves.

The police didn’t know it, but in game terms, their pistols only dealt three damage, two after subtracting most monsters’ Damage Resistance Attribute. Even armor penetrating rifle rounds would only deal six or so damage. Modern weapons were impotent when facing monsters.

The police adapted quickly to the realization that each monster needed over a dozen bullets to kill. They organized into groups of four to consolidate fire. After that, they didn’t lose a single officer and started to take back the area surrounding the town hall.

Unfortunately, they ran into two big problems. The first was that any area they cleared wouldn’t stay cleared. New monsters would quickly spawn and attack them from behind. The second was that they were burning through their ammunition at an alarming rate! Before long they wouldn’t even be able to defend themselves, much less the city.

Their only options now were to either secure a temporary base of operations using the ammunition they still had, or dig their reserves out of the rubble of the Public Security Bureau. There was no telling how difficult the latter would be without machinery so the top brass made the decision to fortify a nearby underground parking lot and wait. If they could hold on until a rescue force arrived they would have a chance to survive this. At this time, the national military held the weight of everyone’s hopes.

Although the earthquake had leveled every building on Earth, only the above ground floors were affected. Anything below ground remained intact so long as the nearby terrain remained mostly unchanged.

Around the world, underground facilities like the parking lot used by the Xiāngyáng would become the last refuge of humanity. Although it was still possible for monsters to spawn there, they would only kill one or two people before their instincts drove them to the surface.

Although most monsters near a Safe Zone would be driven to the far edges of the area surrounding it, a minority would instead be drawn to the Safe Zone itself. Although they couldn’t enter, they formed an impenetrable wall around it, stopping humans from entering as well. The only people currently inside were those that were there since before the earthquake.

Unless Chéng Yáng’s actions had created a butterfly effect, the military would find out about the Safe Zone early tomorrow morning then break through the monsters’ encirclement the day after. Only then would the citizens of Xiāngyáng have the chance to become Players.

Similar to Xiāngyáng, most major cities would be recaptured within two or three days of the earthquake.

That would be the beginning of a new era!

---

Chéng Yáng spent ten minutes with the group reviewing team battle tactics but he could tell their hearts weren’t in it. All they could think about was rushing out to save their families.

It was inevitable. The powers they received made them feel invincible and other than Liú Hào, none of them had suffered a serious setback. They’d seen one of their own die, but they believed that together anything was possible.

Except for Yú Kǎi, everyone else left the Settlement. Although Chéng Yáng would have preferred to leave a Mage like Féng Jié, none of them were willing to give up the chance to save their family. Although Yú Kǎi would run out of arrows quickly, it was fine since Chéng Yáng never planned to visit Xiāngyáng. The group would be back within the hour.

They jogged in three rows: the Knights and wolves at the front, the Druids and Mages in the middle, and the Rangers at the back. Chéng Yáng walked about ten meters ahead of the rest of the group, leading the way.

The group followed what remained of the highway. Although the terrain in the area had changed a lot, the modifications mostly affected elevation. Even though the asphalt looked like it had been blasted apart by a missile, it was easy enough to follow.

For the next few weeks it would still be usable as a landmark, but by the end of the month it would be nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the terrain. Vegetation growth had massively increased after the apocalypse, so huge trees would soon break the rest of the road to dust and hide that it ever existed.

It didn’t take long for them to encounter their first monster: a rat-like humanoid creature carrying a knife called a Raatma.

The monster screamed as Chéng Yáng’s Magic Missile blasted apart its flesh. Then, before either could do anything else, the Raatma exploded into a pile of viscera as over a dozen attacks ripped through its flesh.

The group cheered at their swift victory, but Chéng Yáng clicked his tongue. What they’d done had been an enormous waste of resources, especially for the Rangers who still hadn’t fully recovered from the training exercise earlier today.

Despite that, Chéng Yáng stayed silent. They knew what the most effective strategies to fight were but had disregarded them. They would learn an painful lesson tonight on why those strategies were so important.

The blood they shed tonight would also serve to instill fear in their hearts towards monsters. Something they gravely needed.

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Chéng Yáng opened the Territory Altar system pane, navigated to the Research tab and selected the Mage option. It was time to unlock the true potential of his Settlement.

---

Mage Research Subjects

Phoenix Village
Low-Grade
7/20 Registered

Research

Artificial Mana Nodes
Mimicking the processes of the heart using magic allows for the creation of an artificial Mana nodes in other organs, significantly increasing a Mage’s Mana storage capacity.

Cost: 50

Time: 6 hours

Mana Purification Techniques
Adjusting the techniques Mages use to draw that Mana into their body helps filter out natural impurities, increasing its purity and thus efficacy per unit.

Cost: 50

Time: 6 hours

Stoneskin Tattoos
Recent rune inscription advances allow for the creation of magic tattoos that duplicate the effects of the Stoneskin spell powered by the excess Mana a Mage naturally exudes.

Cost 50

Time: 6 hours

Mental State Training
Diligent visualization training allows Mages to form a mental barrier around their body that reduces the strength of incoming magic energy waves.

Cost: 50

Time: 6 hours

Mana Circuit Reinforcement
By widening and strengthening the circuits through which a Mage’s Mana flows, the flow can be increased, decreasing the time they need to recover after casting a spell.

Cost: 50

Time: 6 hours

Body Strengthening Mana Flow
A Mage’s Mana is normally at rest unless casting a spell. With training it can be continuously circulated through the body, boosting its natural functions.

Cost: 50

Time: 6 hours

---

Just the Low-Grade Research available to Chéng Yáng would allow any random Player registered with Phoenix Village to greatly surpass the S-Rank elites around the world. This was the incentive that the Gods created to force people to seek out and claim Territory Altars.

The buffs granted by Research might seem excessive at first, but only if you assumed that your enemies were other humans. Up until now, every monster Chéng Yáng had fought, including the Elite Standard-Grade Graveseeker had been a low-quality F Rank monster.

Players had an Attribute total of fifteen at the Low-Grade Apprentice level, F Rank monsters were the same which meant that skilled Players could consistently beat them. A D Rank monster at the Low-Grade Immature level had an Attribute total of forty-five. If a Player met a D Rank monster, even if they were a level higher than their opponent, their death was absolute. Compared to monsters, humans were far too weak. Without the buffs provided by a Settlement, they would eventually be overrun no matter how high their levels were.

Once all of the Low-Grade Research for a Class Statue was researched, Chéng Yáng could spend Soul Fragments to level it up. The Research cost would increase by a fifty for each option already researched for that Class Statue, so he’d need to collect a thousand and fifty Soul Fragments to pay the Research fees for a single Class Statue. All of the Class Statues needed to be at the Standard-Grade to level up the Settlement, so he’d need a total six thousand three hundred Soul Fragments.

Collecting that many Soul Fragments wouldn’t be particularly difficult, the Settlement already had five hundred and twenty-eight, but it would be time consuming.

The spawn rate in the vicinity of a Settlement was supposed to be significantly lower than in other areas. This was something put in place to prevent Settlements from advancing too quickly. Chéng Yáng had assumed it was a rule that would be applied in one of the patches the Gods would make since the spawn rate had been normal earlier, but ever since he gained full control over Phoenix Village the spawn rate had been decreasing.

If a Low-Grade Village relied solely on killing monsters that attacked the walls, they would gain around a hundred Soul Fragments an hour. The only other strategy was to kite a horde of monsters over from another area, into the Settlement’s collection range. Most Settlements couldn’t rely on this method because the areas nearest to them were regularly picked clean.

Since Chéng Yáng had captured the Territory Altar in an unconventional way, the areas around the Settlement would still be filled to the brim with monsters. If he concentrated his energy into pulling monsters over from other areas, it wouldn’t be too hard to upgrade the statues in the minimum thirty-six hours required for the Research to complete.

Chéng Yáng selected the Artificial Mana Nodes Research option causing the system pane to grey out and display a timer. Until it finished none of the Class Statues functions would be available.

Chéng Yáng then researched Heart Overclocking and Beast Blood Transfusion to increase the Health of his Knights and Druids which would allow them to fight longer. For his Rangers, Chéng Yáng chose to increase their Attack Damage by researching Tendon Tightening.

At this time Liú Hào and another Knight placed a pallet of lumber down next to Chéng Yáng. Originally these pallets needed either a forklift or a group of four people to move. Knights had the strength of three men, so although the pallets were too bulky to carry on their own, they only needed two people.

“What’s all this wood for, Yángzǐ?” Liú Hào asked with a cheerful facade. “Ah! I saw some of the wood fall into the river during the earthquake, do you want us to fish it out?”

“If you can’t don’t worry about it but I’d like you to try. We need the wood to build things like the wall and being able to see how much we have left will be useful for planning. We should still have enough to build the things we need but its going to be difficult to get any more for a while so its important to use what we have sparingly.”

Liú Hào nodded with understanding. Without logging tools it would be difficult to cut down trees, especially with monsters breathing down their necks.

Turning back to the Territory Altar System Pane, Chéng Yáng built ten Cultivation Chambers along the edge of the south wall, five on either side of the gate. Even though the others had seen the phenomena when the wall was built, the sight of a building appearing from nothing shocked them. Especially since they had the time to focus on it now.

Chéng Yáng was left with a little over a hundred units of Wood. It was a shame he hadn’t been able to gather more before the apocalypse, but even after spending well beyond his means this was all he could get.

While the Cultivation Chambers were being constructed, Chéng Yáng focused his attention outside the walls. The spawn rate was already at its lowest. Only a single monster would appear every minute or so, a rate eight times lower than earlier. As a result, the Mages and Rangers on the wall were sitting idle.

Chéng Yáng sighed then called them down from the wall, there was no point in having all of them there. A sweep every ten minutes would suffice from now on. Each Wall Segment had five Armor and recovered one Durability per second. Unlike Attack and Magic Resistance, Armor could reduce damage from an attack to zero, so your average Low-Grade Immature monster was completely incapable of doing any damage to a Wall Segment. Even if one could, it would take hours for it to breach the wall.

— 7:15 PM —

The last minutes of twilight came to an end, ushering in the night. The wall was lined with everlasting torches, but the rest of the village was dark. Standing atop the Territory Altar, a moonlit Chéng Yáng addressed his citizens.

“Congratulations on surviving the day.” Chéng Yáng’s voice spread like fog. “There wasn’t time earlier, but now I will answer any questions you have.”

“How did you know all of this would happen, Yángzǐ?” Liú Hào asked.

Chéng Yáng had expected this question. Although they would probably believe him if he said he was a regressor, he had a different idea in mind.

“I had a vision!” Chéng Yáng shouted with fervor, “Two days ago during class my mind was filled with scenes from the apocalypse and omens of death! I wanted to ignore it but an unknown existence urged me to act! It guided me to this Settlement and provided me with the knowledge we need to thrive in this new world! As you’ve seen, everything that was revealed to me has come to pass!”

Telling them he had been reincarnated would create an air of mystique around him, but it wouldn’t inspire absolute faith and fanaticism in him. Thus, he created the image of himself as a prophet.

Chéng Yáng’s speech was absurd, but the crowd found themselves accepting it. They’d all heard the voice of the Gods’ messenger earlier that day, so who could say some other entity hadn’t spoken to Chéng Yáng? How else could they explain where Chéng Yáng had learned the things he knew?

“Earlier you said this was a global phenomena…” Lǐ Wànshān’s voice was strained. “Are you sure that’s true?”

“It’s true!” Chéng Yáng declared, “This disaster also affected Xiāngyáng, the rest of China, and everywhere else! By now every building in the world has collapsed into a pile of rubble. Mountains have become plains, plains have become oceans, and monsters fill them both. The Gods’ rules are the new laws of physics. You’ve experienced it yourself today. The power we hold would be unimaginable in our old world.”

Lǐ Wànshān was crestfallen. Many of the others looked to be on the verge of collapse. Who among them didn’t have someone they loved? Earlier they’d been too preoccupied or hadn’t wanted to think about the danger their families would be in, but now they were forced to confront the fact that they might already be dead.

“My family is in Xiāngyáng, I have to go rescue them!” Lǐ Wànshān shouted. “It’s only a few kilometers away. With our power, if we work together we’ll be able to kill any monsters we meet and reach the city.”

“My son is in the city too, he’s only five, how can he survive on his own?” One of the workers chimed in anxiously.

Before the panic spread to the rest of his crowd Chéng Yáng fired a magic missile into the ground.

“With our current strength rescuing anyone from Xiāngyáng is impossible. We wouldn’t even be able to reach the city. Its been a few hours since the world ended, meaning we’ll have to fight herds with dozens of monsters. Do you have the confidence to win those fights? Even if we get past those, right outside the city will be herds numbering in the hundreds.”

Seeing that the crowd was still agitated, Chéng Yáng sighed.

“If you don’t want to take my word for it, I can take a group outside the walls to verify what I said. I hope in the future you’ll have more faith in me.”

They were ecstatic, their thoughts written clearly on their faces: Hopefully the situation isn’t too bad yet, we might have a chance to rescue our families tonight!

Chéng Yáng felt a pain in his heart seeing their hopeful expressions. If even half of the people they wanted to save were still alive by the time they had the strength to reach Xiāngyáng it would be a miracle.

“Just tell us what to do next, Mr. Chéng. We’ll all follow your orders.” Lǐ Wànshān proclaimed.

“Everyone but Yú Kǎi will follow me to scout the area between Phoenix Village and Xiāngyáng. Although it will be risky to do so at night, the moon is bright tonight. On the off-chance that my visions were wrong, we will break through to Xiāngyáng and save your families. Otherwise, our goal is to collect as many Soul Fragments as we can that way we have the funds needed for cultivation.”

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