Author: Xevinaly

Cheng Yang was curious why that one Bone-Eating Ant was so concerned with getting away. As soon as the Freeze debuff wore off, it tried to run again. As far as Cheng Yang knew, the only creatures capable of resisting the urge to kill humans were those like the Orcs: monsters that were more like humans.

However, Bone-Eating Ants were far from reaching the point of resisting that urge. Perhaps this one was special? It would explain why they were able to trap Cheng Yang so easily.

Cheng Yang followed the ant, and seeing it glance behind itself in fear was a thoroughly creepy experience. After chasing it a few steps, Cheng Yang reached down and grabbed the ant.

As soon as he did, the ant bit him. It only dealt four damage, but that meant it was already a Pinnacle-Grade monster. Still, that shouldn’t be enough to grant it intelligence.

“Odd.” Cheng Yang remarked as the ant tried to gnaw through his gloves. Although it was painful, Cheng Yang had gone through worse in the last hour alone. The ability to fight through pain and injury was an essential quality in this world, and Cheng Yang had honed it to the max.

The ant desperately struggled to break Cheng Yang’s grip, but there was no way it could. Seeing this, a smile appeared on Cheng Yang’s face for the first time since he discovered the Bone-Eating Ant Nest.

He had initially planned to destroy the Nest entirely. However, he hadn’t expected to capture the leader alive. Since he did, there would be a change of plans.

What use was the leader alive? Since they were the core of a Nest, as long as they were alive, the Nest couldn’t be destroyed. Conversely, as soon as the leader was killed, the Nest would collapse, and any remaining monsters would disperse.

Cheng Yang could only assume the ant wanted to escape so that the Nest would survive, and it could rebuild its army. Little did it know, Cheng Yang planned to let it do just that.

Since its army was dead and its foundation destroyed. If Cheng Yang let the leader live, it would make the Nest into a key farming location for Phoenix Village. As long as they were diligent in killing the ant and were wary about the leader’s scheming, there wouldn’t be any danger.

It might seem like a rash decision, but in around two months, the spawn rate for wild monsters would become nearly zero. As more monsters established Nests, the monster density would become too high to support monsters spawning in the wild until a Nest was destroyed.

As such, keeping the leader alive killed two birds with one stone. It provided a consistent stream of monsters from the Nest, and it guaranteed the monster density would be low enough that wild monsters could spawn.

In the future, this area would become a vital source of income for the territory and its soldiers since the only other option would be to either attack a Nest or wait for a Nest to attack you. The former was a horrible idea since the monsters had a home-field advantage, and while the other was slightly better, the cost of defeat was annihilation. Thus, while he was worried about how smart the leader was, to Cheng Yang, a known threat was better than a hidden one.

Cheng Yang quickly brought the Bone-Eating Ant leader to its Nest and threw it onto the anthill. It was a massive structure covering around forty-square meters and two meters tall at its peak.

From what he knew, this was a Low-Grade Nest, which would produce around a thousand Bone-Eating Ants each day. The most massive Nest recorded for Bone-Eating Ants was a Standard-Grade one, which created an army with an estimated size of ten million.

This army then destroyed every village surrounding Kabul and was only defeated after fifty-thousand soldiers sacrificed their lives.

When Cheng Yang saw the leader hurriedly burrow into the anthill, he breathed out a sigh of relief. A calamity had been avoided, and a juicy piece of meat had been placed onto his doorstep.

Cheng Yang lingered for a moment longer, calculating the labor needed to create a clearing around the Nest. The Bone-Eating Ants were nothing but cattle now, but they still deserved a wide berth.

As he surveyed the area, Cheng Yang noticed a fluctuation of magical energy.

“Of course, how could these monsters be this powerful and not have a reward.” Cheng Yang chuckled as he dusted off a chest half-buried in the anthill. He then opened it and pulled out the item within.

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Bone-Gnawing Bead (Low-Grade)
Bone-Eating Ants aren’t natural creatures. They are the descendants of a powerful bio-weapon developed by a deranged alchemist. Although they escaped into the wild and devolved after the great war ended, several of the original summoning beads still exists.

Effect: Summon 100 Low-Grade Bone-Gnawing Ants
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown: 24 hours
Upgrade Condition: 10,000 Experience Fragments

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It was a very powerful item, and once Cheng Yang checked the stats of the Bone-Gnawing Ant, he was even more shocked. They were twice as powerful as Bone-Eating Ants!

With this bead, he would be able to deal two hundred damage per second to any enemy he encountered. Since it ignored armor, it was a guaranteed two thousand damage so long as the enemy didn’t have an AOE attack. Now, even if he fought a Mature monster, he wouldn’t be afraid.

If the Low-Grade bead was this useful, Cheng Yang was eager to see what the upgraded version would be like. However, the upgrade condition was terrifying. Although ten thousand Experience Fragments wasn’t a lot, it wasn’t a small amount either. Moreover, that was just to upgrade it once. How much would it cost to upgrade the item fully?

Despite those problems, Cheng Yang smiled. It was always comforting to have an additional hidden ace. He slipped the bead into his ring and left. Since he had completed the God Quest, there wasn’t any point in running around like a headless chicken.

He also needed to assign a team to patrol the Bone-Eating Ant Nest quickly. If their numbers were allowed to grow, it would become a problem ordinary soldiers wouldn’t be able to solve.

Although he had a lot on his mind, Cheng Yang made sure not to show it on his face after returning to Phoenix Village. As the Lord, he had a responsibility to inspire confidence in his citizens.

As soon as he got back, Cheng Yang summoned Old Lee to his Meditation Hall. Luckily, Old Lee was still in the village, so he arrived promptly.

“My Lord, this is amazing! We only need to post four guards, but we’ll be able to harvest over a thousand Experience Fragments a day just from that! The efficiency is outstanding.” Old Lee praised Cheng Yang after hearing about the Nest. “I’m worried about what may happen in the future, but I’ll trust that you’ve considered those problems, my Lord.”

“I have.” Cheng Yang replied, “We also should station more than just a handful of guards since its possible a horde may wander into the area.”

“I will do what you believe is best, my Lord.” Old Lee said, content to follow Cheng Yang’s orders.

“Set up a guard rotation for me, but before that, I need you to clear the area around the Nest.” Cheng Yang said, “Clear out any vegetation and make sure there isn’t anywhere an ant could hide. By the way, feel free to assign members of Zhao Chuan and Lau Hui’s battalions to guard duty as well.”

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Cheng Yang’s heart was racing. How far ahead had the ants planned? Should he break through the high-level ants and return to the clearing? Or should he escape down the path and try to outrun them? Either way, if he kept running at full speed, he’d run out of stamina soon, and the gods’ rules would force the Fatigued effect onto him, quartering his Movement Speed. If that happened, he was dead.

At the same time, hundreds of ants started to pour out of the trees and sprout from the ground. Some of them joined the ants blocking the path to the clearing, but most of them created a massive swarm blocking Cheng Yang’s other escape route.

Cheng Yang anxiously batted away the ants near him away as his heart pounded in his chest. Was he going to die here?

No! He’d come too far to die like this! They’re just a bunch of ants!

Cheng Yang tried to boost his morale, but even if he was optimistic, these Bone-Eating Ants weren’t an easy opponent.

Cheng Yang couldn’t tell but, he was able to estimate that there were at least five thousand ants in his immediate vicinity. This meant that if he ran, at the very least, he’d avoid the majority of the hoard.

Cheng Yang grit his teeth, then dug his heels into the ground. As long as he had two working legs, he wouldn’t give up, and he wouldn’t stop running. As long as there was a chance he would survive, Cheng Yang would take hold of it!

With a superhuman leap, Cheng Yang broke through the swarm blocking his trail. Although he used Petal Blizzard to help clear a path, Cheng Yang couldn’t avoid having nearly two dozen ants attach themselves to his clothing.

Cheng Yang grimaced in pain as several painful bites assaulted his senses. In response, Cheng Yang could only grimace. He couldn’t counter-attack, and if he ripped them off one at a time, he would die. The only thing he could do was to drink a Health Recovery potion carefully.

Although Cheng Yang hadn’t taken much damage, he needed to be mindful of the potions cooldown. If he waited to maximize his benefits, it might end up being too late once he was low-health again.

Cheng Yang rushed forwards, but he couldn’t escape the trap he had landed in. Although most of the ants were in a swarm behind him, they didn’t need more than a handful to kill him. Worse still was that the ants in the trees were using bent branches to launch themselves at him. They might be slow on their own, but with the help of physics, they were almost faster than Cheng Yang.

As he ran, ants endlessly rushed towards Cheng Yang, and any that reached him immediately tore a chunk of flesh off his body.

As soon as the cooldown was finished, Cheng Yang drank another potion. He couldn’t help it, with so many Bone-Eating Ants covering his body, it was a miracle he hadn’t died already.

Cheng Yang felt like he was drowning in a sea of ants. If he stopped for even a moment, the sea would envelop him, and his bones would be ground to dust by its waves. He could feel tiny legs scampering across his body and an ant biting through his cheek.

Their thin bodies were flexible, and their feet clung to his clothes like velcro. In the blink of an eye, they would rush up his legs and into his robes. By then, Cheng Yang couldn’t remove them by hand.

Right as Cheng Yang felt like the sea was about to swallow him whole, Petal Blizzard finished casting and depleted his Mana. In an instant, every ant around him died. They were torn to shreds by the deceptively beautiful petals that skillfully danced around their master.

Once he was able to take a breath, Cheng Yang noticed that he only had twenty-two Health left. That is to say, if only another twenty-two ants reached him, he would die.

Cheng Yang felt like puking. He had experienced several dangerous situations, but none of them had the phycological stress this one did. It felt like he was carefully balancing on a razor-sharp thread; one wrong step, and he’d fall into the abyss.

Pushing back bile, Cheng Yang forcibly chugged another Health Recovery Potion.

There were still countless ants around him, but Cheng Yang could feel his stamina bottoming out. If he could make it another fifty meters, he might have a chance to live.

The ants never gave him a chance. With every step he took, dozens crawled up his legs. His calves were nearly torn to the bone, and his feet would be utterly skeletal if not for his sturdy boots.

Cheng Yang was traveling at inhuman speeds, but the seven or eight steps he would need to break out of the encirclement were too much for him. Every step he took only increased the amount of damage he took, and now, he didn’t have any skills to save him.

After three steps, Cheng Yang was down to ninety Health. At this rate, he would die. Even if he jumped and avoided touching the ground as much as possible, there wasn’t a way he could survive.

As Cheng Yang took his fourth step, thousands of thoughts rushed through his mind. He was out of Mana, so none of his spells were useful now. He couldn’t drink a potion since they were on cooldown. Was there nothing he could do using the gods’ rules?

Wait! The rules! Why did he have to rely on them!

Cheng Yang had an epiphany as he remembered the actions the ants took earlier. They didn’t have a skill to catch him, so they used the environment around them!

Right before Cheng Yang’s next step hit the ground, his Alchemy furnace appeared on the ground. Softly landing on it, Cheng Yang used it as a springboard and leaped into the air.

As he began to fall once more, an epee appeared beneath his right foot. With a kick, Cheng Yang drove the sword into the ground and launched himself forwards.

One after another, items fell out of Cheng Yang’s Spacial Ring as he flew across the ant’s blockade.

Cheng Yang ripped the remaining ants off his body as he ran across his makeshift bridge and one he escaped the ants trap. He drank a Mana potion and finished them off with a Petal Blizzard.

Cheng Yang didn’t want to check his Health. If he knew how close to death he was, he wouldn’t be able to focus on what came next. He continued to run at a leisurely pace, and once he’d had another Health Recovery potion, he turned around to face his enemy.

Since they had failed to kill him, Cheng Yang would bury every last one of these ants! His eyes gleamed with measured madness.

The Bone-Eating Ants were crafty, but a trick like that only worked once. Now that he was aware of their capabilities, Cheng Yang treated every one of their moves like a potential trap. As such, Cheng Yang slowly whittled down their number over the course of half an hour. Cheng Yang was so focused on utterly annihilating his prey, that he completely missed the notification telling him he had completed a God Quest.

Finally, less than a hundred ants remained. It was only then that Cheng Yang could feel himself relax.

However, as Cheng Yang prepared for victory, he noticed one of the ants trying to escape into the foliage.

Did ants fear death? If so, it was the first Cheng Yang had heard of it. Regardless, Cheng Yang wouldn’t let it escape.

“Freeze!” Cheng Yang used Hibernation Chill to stop the ant from escaping while he finished off the others. This spell had leveled up as well, so Cheng Yang quickly killed the other ants during the three-second stun.

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Before he left, Cheng Yang noticed that the ants weren’t attacking him. Since he was safe for now, Cheng Yang decided to hide and watch them.

In the middle of the swarm of ants was a giant anthill taller than a person. When Cheng Yang saw it, he scrunched his eyebrows. Typical hordes needed to rely on natural spawn mechanics to increase their numbers. This would limit the size of a horde since the spawn rate decreased if there were too many monsters in one area. These ants, however, had built a Nest, a structure that allowed a horde to expand endlessly based on a fixed rate for their species. For the Bone-Eating Ant, this rate was horrifyingly high.

This wasn’t the first Nest Cheng Yang had found, after all, the Spined Eagles had also created one. That was why Cheng Yang had been so focused on annihilating them.

Now Cheng Yang wasn’t able to ignore the ants. If he didn’t deal with this problem now, Phoenix Village would be overrun by millions of Bone-Eating Ants one day. At the very least, he needed to cull their current numbers so a regular patrol could come and finish the job.

Cheng Yang didn’t remember there being a Bone-Eating Ant nest this close to Phoenix Village in his past life, but if there was, Yuan Jianzhe wouldn’t have been able to establish the territory at all. Was the future changing from his actions, or was there some hidden story Cheng Yang had discovered a remnant of. If so, what had destroyed this nest in his previous life?

Regardless of what happened before, Cheng Yang could only rely on himself to remove this danger to the village. By his estimate, there should already be several thousand Bone-Eating Ants in the nest and upwards of ten-thousand if he was unlucky.

However, what could Cheng Yang do about it? He may be powerful, but there was no guarantee he could do this on his own. But, if he brought his army to help deal with it, he’d lose dozens if not hundreds of soldiers.

There was no way Cheng Yang could accept that result, so the only way he could approach this problem was using methods similar to the ones he used when he was weaker: kiting and running away. No matter how dangerous these monsters were, the difference between their speed and his was like that of the heavens and earth.

It would take a long time, and if he ever messed up, he would probably die, but there wasn’t a better option.

Cheng Yang wasn’t going to attack without thoroughly preparing. Although he had a supply of potions on him at the moment, they wouldn’t be enough if something were to go wrong. Since the Alchemy Tower was now at the Standard-Grade level, he would be able to buy High-Grade potions.

Although High-Grade potions from the Alchemy tower were only as good as Cheng Yang’s Standard-Grade potions, Cheng Yang didn’t have enough to meet his needs. Nearly all of the potions he made were sold to the Alchemy Tower manager in the Cloud City safe zone, so he only had three on him. Cheng Yang had enough money that it wasn’t a loss, but he resolved to save more of the potions he made in the future.

Having made a decision, Cheng Yang backed away from the Nest and returned to Phoenix Village. Once he was there, he bought a fifty High-Grade Health Recovery potions and fifty High-Grade Mana Recovery potions for a total of two thousand Experience Fragments.

Cheng Yang also paid several soldiers so he could borrow their swords for a while. Although they wouldn’t be useful in a fight, if an accident happened and Cheng Yang died because he couldn’t cut through some bushes, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

Less than half an hour later, Cheng Yang started to clear out the nest of Bone-Eating Ants. Although their other senses weren’t very strong, their ability to detect vibrations was unmatched. When Cheng Yang arrived, all he had to do was stomp to send every ant into a frenzy.

As the black carapaced wave of monsters surged towards Cheng Yang, a beautiful ice flower bloomed. To the ants, it was a meat grinder.

Over a hundred ants died from a single spell regardless of their level. Since their stats were so low, even a Mature Bone-Eating Ant would be instantly killed by Cheng Yang’s Petal Blizzard.

Despite his skill being the natural counter of a small monster like the Bone-Eating Ant, Cheng Yang was already retreating. Against an enemy like this, staying on the move was the only thing that mattered.

Less than two seconds later, Cheng Yang finished casting Petal Blizzard again. He aimed at the densest group of monsters and killed hundreds.

This pattern continued as Cheng Yang retreated at a pace somewhat higher than a High-Grade Bone-Eating Ant. As such, there were now three groups: a decimated group of High-Grade ants in front, a large group of Standard-Grade ants in the middle, and a teeming horde of Low-Grade ants in the back.

Unfortunately, once there were only a few dozen High-Grade ants left, they slowed down and started to move at the pace of the Low-Grade ants, causing them to sink into the background of the forest.

“These guys are pretty smart.” Cheng Yang said with a trace of a smile. “They know to reserve their strength, but what use is that if they can’t catch me?”

Only a minutes had passed since Cheng Yang disturbing the ant nest, during which he ran through a convoluted path he had hacked out of the undergrowth earlier. He did this to avoid returning to regularly patrolled areas since the ants would be a disaster for any soldiers that happened to pass by.

Suddenly, Cheng Yang noticed that the number of ants had decreased a bit too quickly. He hadn’t seen it before since the foliage was too thick, but once they entered a clearing, Cheng Yang realized there were only around two thousand left.

This realization covered Cheng Yang’s back with cold sweat. He didn’t have enough damage to lower their numbers that much in such a short amount of time, so where were the other ants?

With a growing sense of dread, Cheng Yang sprinted fifty meters down the path at full speed. He stopped to watch the ants in the clearing and pulled a potion out of his ring. He was nearly out of mana, so until he figured out the source of his uneasiness, Cheng Yang wanted to stay in peak condition.

However, right as Cheng Yang put the bottle to his lips, a Bone-Eating Ant fell out of the sky and bit his hand causing him to drop the bottle, spilling its contents everywhere.

Cheng Yang quickly grabbed the ant and threw it before looking up into the canopy above his. To his horrified surprise, it was teeming with thousands of ants.

Cheng Yang then felt a pinch near his feet as he lost a Health point. He looked down and saw hundreds of ants crawling out of fresh tunnels in the ground behind him.

Looking back, Cheng Yang saw the ants he left in the clearing charging at him. They were all Standard-Grade ants, so although they weren’t fast, it wasn’t a slow charge either.

Another ant fell on top of Cheng Yang and bit him, but Cheng Yang didn’t even realize. He was in shock, with his mouth gaping open. He’d been fooled. By a group of ants! They’d guessed his every move and played him like a fiddle. Despite every precaution he took, every promise he made to himself, was he about to be turned into bone meal even after coming so far in his new life?

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The reward for being a good person wasn’t astounding, but the punishment for bad people was incredibly severe.

Once people started claiming Territory Altars, exile wouldn’t be horrible, but right now, it was a death sentence. Exiled individuals wouldn’t be able to learn skills or buy supplies. Anyone could kill an exile without real consequences.

The lists were created to prevent a situation that was already happening worldwide where the leader of a city would prevent people from becoming Professionals. The gods’ objective was to help humanity evolve so people that opposed that goal would be thoroughly dealt with.

Although the new rules seemed to be applied fairly, an ordinary person couldn’t reach the top five of either list. To do so required one to affect a large portion of the population of a safe zone, which would only be possible for leaders of the various powers in a city. This added a second constraint to individuals trying to rule a safe zone and made it nearly impossible. Now, if someone wanted to be a ruler, they needed to claim a Territory Altar.

It was these new rules that made Cheng Yang confident that Yuan Jianzhe would never be able to crawl up from the pit Cheng Yang dug for him. Aside from that, however, Cheng Yang didn’t care about those new rules since it wouldn’t affect any of his villages. His only goal now was to complete the God Quest he’d accepted.

Unfortunately, another new rule affected that goal. The general spawn rate of monsters had been decreased again. It would be harder to find monsters now, and in the future, Pheonix Village’s revenue would decrease.

This rule ensured that the lead Cheng Yang had would be harder to lose since it would be difficult for any new territories to reach the High-Grade level.

While he was still close to the village, if Cheng Yang ran into a small group of monsters, he ignored them. As long as they spawned within a few kilometers of the village, they would naturally be taken care of by some soldiers. It wouldn’t be until Cheng Yang reached the ten-kilometer mark that larger groups would appear.

Once he did, Cheng Yang ran into some hordes with a hundred or so individuals, which became his appetizers. After a few rounds of casting Petal Blizzard, Cheng Yang continued on his way.

Cheng Yang’s Petal Blizzard skill leveled up a few days ago, increasing its damage by 5% and expanding the area it covered. Casting it once allowed Cheng Yang to kill nearly two dozen monsters, and although it couldn’t kill High-Grade monsters, it shredded anything at a lower level than that. Battles like that very child’s play for Cheng Yang thanks to his high Physical Defense and the support from his Ice Aegis spell.

After three hours of fighting, Cheng Yang finally reached an area that the soldiers of Phoenix Village never visited. If he wanted to complete the God Quest, he needed to clear every monster within a few kilometers.

Cheng Yang could no longer tell what the area he was in used to be. Maybe it had been a town or a factory in the past, but now it was nothing but dense, hostile forest. It was a dangerous area that only he could safely enter since it was common to find Pinnacle-Grade monsters hidden inside massive hordes.

When you were closer to a city, Pinnacle-Grade monsters would only spawn in hordes with at least a thousand monster, but out here, they would need less than three hundred. Although they would be difficult for Cheng Yang to kill, a single one wouldn’t be able to force him into a dangerous position.

Since no one had set foot in this area since the apocalypse, it was covered in dense brambles as thick as arms and covered with dank moist leaves. Walking through it was bad enough to make Cheng Yang swear the entire way. Why were there even leaves on the ground? It wasn’t autumn yet, so the land shouldn’t be covered like this. However, no matter how much Cheng Yang complained, the terrain didn’t change.

Suddenly, Cheng Yang heard a sharp hiss above him. Cheng Yang rolled forwards as a heavy object struck the ground behind him. Then, without looking, Cheng Yang fired an Icicle Blast at the object.

It turned out to be a Void Python. They would lurk inside a dimensional pocket before suddenly charging out if they saw prey. They were incredibly dangerous since, as solitary creatures, they were far stronger than average. This particular Void Python had been a High-Grade monster, but it sill died the instant Cheng Yang hit it.

“Tch, a little fellow like this isn’t even enough to let me relieve my stress.” Cheng Yang spat. He’d been using a low-quality sword to chop through the bushes, but its durability was nearly zero. Although it wasn’t expensive to fix, Cheng Yang hadn’t brought a lot with him.

Suddenly, Cheng Yang heard a rustle to his left. It was a disorganized sound which gave Cheng Yang hope that there were multiple monsters.

“Please be a couple hundred monsters.” Cheng Yang muttered as he crept through the trees. He traveled a few tens of meters, killing the occasional monster as he made his way towards the increasingly loud sound.

After nearly three hundred meters, Cheng Yang burst into a clearing and finally saw the source of the noise. When he did, he immediately turned around and tried to leave. The monsters he found weren’t scary, they were actually kind of cute, but they were ants.

These fist-sized ants were a particularly terrifying monster known as the Bone-Eating Ant. They were individually among the weakest monster in the world. Each one had less than ten health and a single point in the Physical Attack attribute. Even a normal person could kill one. However, their true strength lay in the numbers, small size, and Innate Ability.

Most monsters would only be able to attack in groups of five or six at most, but dozens of Bone Eating Ants could cover a person and all attack at once. Their Innate Ability, Sunder Armor, allowed a Bone-Eating Ant to ignore the usual penalties for attacking someone with a high Physical Defense and forcibly did damage equal to the level of the monster. The combination of the two created a twisted attack pattern where a colony of ants could deal tens of damage a second to even the stronger of foes.

If Cheng Yang wanted to clear a colony of Bone-Eating Ants, he would have to be prepared to take almost a hundred damage a second as a worst-case scenario. If that were to happen, Cheng Yang would be killed in seconds.

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Cheng Yang reached an empty terminal then checked the time.

It was nine-thirty in the morning.

A few days ago, Yu Kai had raided a luxury store while rescuing civilians. Inside were numerous expensive mechanical watched, one of which was given to Cheng Yang. Most watches stopped functioning after the earthquake, but anything without a battery still worked fine. As such, watches slike Cheng Yang’s were the easiest way to keep track of time.

“Just half an hour.” Cheng Yang muttered to himself. Half an hour was valuable to him, but it wasn’t long enough to justify going out to do something. By the time he started, it would already be time for him to return to the Quest Hall.

Ten minutes…

Twenty minutes…

Twenty-five minutes…

Time passed slowly, but eventually, ten o clock arrived, and with it came a familiar booming voice.

“Detestable worms, it would seem you’ve become far too comfortable after receiving the gods’ gift. They righteously allowed you to transcend your limits, but what did you do with it? Fight each other in pitiful mortal power struggles? They have deemed your actions abhorrent and sent me to deliver your punishment! No longer will your growth outpace the monsters surrounding you! However, the gods are also merciful. They have provided a way to quickly grow stronger for any mortals brave enough to grasp it! Do not disappoint them again!”

Everyone in the Quest Hall had a morbid face. Every time that damned voice appeared, something horrible happened. I had announced the apocalypse, then a monster mass evolution occurred, and now it declared that they would level up faster than humans!

Before anyone could react, a bright light blinded them as a new screen appeared at the back of the Quest Hall.

It was big enough that everyone present could easily read it. The title at the top identified it as the God Quest board. Cheng Yang had been waiting here so that he could quickly accept and complete one of the God Quests he knew would appear.

Regular quests were generated based on the rules created by the gods. As such, they were procedurally generated based on the location you received them. Quests in a territory were usually related to kingdom building, whereas those in the safe zones would be related to special events if there were any.

Now, however, safe zones would also get fetch quests. Originally safe zones weren’t upgradable, but the latest system patch by the gods changed that. The only way to do so would be to complete a nearly endless number of fetch quests. The benefits of doing so weren’t great compared to territories, however. It would only increase the space inside the safe zone a little and provide some housing bonuses.

Unlike regular quests that were procedurally generated, these God Quests were handed to humanity directly by the gods. This meant that each God Quest could only be completed once, and everyone in the world had the opportunity to try and complete it.

New God Quests would be posted every month and expire after six. Completing one provided you with an absurd number of Advancement Tokens and a priceless treasure.

Of course, these quests were difficult to the point of absurdity. For example, the first of three God Quests on the board right now was to annihilate an Orc Stronghold completely. It was never completed in Cheng Yang’s past life.

Right now, two of the three God Quests were group activities, but there was one that could be done alone.

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Crazy Counterattack
Prove your bravery,strength, and perseverance by slaughtering one thousand Standard-Grade Immature or higher monsters in a single day.

Reward: 10,000 Advancement Tokens and a special item

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Just the ten thousand Advancement Tokens were enough to make anyone go crazy. It would be enough to raise someone at least three or four ranks in the military.

For adventurers, it would directly turn an F-Rank Adventurer into an E-Rank Adventurer. This would allow them to take harder missions and increase the rewards from easier ones.

Cheng Yang, however, was focused on the special item he could earn. Once the screen had appeared, he rushed over and accepted the Crazy Counterattack quest. Then, he sprinted out of the Quest Hall and into the wilderness.

Cheng Yang didn’t have time to waste. Although it was easy for him to kill a Standard-Grade monster, he wasn’t sure he could kill a thousand in just one day. Not because he wasn’t strong enough but because he might not be able to find a thousand monsters at that level.

At first, Cheng Yang wanted to visit the various instance dungeon’s under his control and farm monsters there. The Forgotten Grave would have been especially suitable for that task since it had several dozen Standard-Grade monsters in the Normal Difficulty alone. Unfortunately, when he accepted the missions, Cheng Yang learned that the monsters had to be naturally born. It was a revelation that filled his heart with resentment for the gods.

Fortunately, the gods’ punishment raised the spawn rate so that 20% of any monster horde would be at the Standard-Grade. As such, Cheng Yang only needed to slaughter five hordes with a thousand monsters.

If this were still the earliest days of the apocalypse, finding monster hordes that big would be easy, but now it would be hard to find even one if you weren’t trying to. That’s why Cheng Yang was frantically rushing into the depths of the wilderness.

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Cheng Yang might consider running into a horde with a thousand monsters lucky, but anyone else would consider it to be a calamity. For them, the new Standard-Grade monster spawn rate would be an unprecedented disaster.

Even when only five percent of each horde was at the Standard-Grade, any horde with more than a few dozen monsters was horrifying. Anytime a group fought without the advantage of numbers, they would suffer casualties as they gradually whittled away at the monsters’ numbers.

Once they found out about these new changes, they would undoubtedly worry about whether they could still earn a living. The leaders of each safe zone, however, were worried about something else.

There were only two changes, but everyone in the safe zones immediately became aware of them.

The first change was that it was now impossible for one human to kill another in a safe zone. If they tried, the person would be restored to an undamaged state.

The other was the introduction of a poll. Near the class change statues at the center of the safe zone, underneath the God Quest terminal was a pair of lists: the List of Honorable Mortals and the List of Wicked Fiends.

Everyone in the safe zone was on one of the two lists based on the opinions of the other people in the city. Although it was called a poll, there wasn’t a way to vote. Instead, the system would passively monitor the levels of hatred and goodwill in the city then rank each list appropriately.

If someone was in the top five of either list at the end of each week, there were consequences. For those on the List of Honorable Mortals, the top five members would receive five thousand Experience Fragments each. For those on the List of Wicked Fiends, the top five would be expelled from the safe zone and forbidden from ever entering again.

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In Cheng Yang’s past life, there were plenty of people who liked doing math. As such, dozens of obscure statistics had been released over the forums, including how long it would take to reach the second stage of evolution if someone had eight times training speed since the very beginning of the apocalypse. Even though they knew it would only take a year, it was just wishful thinking. By the time Cheng Yang died eight times training speed was only just becoming feasible for the majority of the population.

Although it wasn’t hard to accumulate a thousand Experience Fragments between a group of five, it was nearly impossible for those five to support the consumption that came with the increased training speed. It was better to continue training at four-times speed that to use eight times forcibly. That way, they could reach the Standard-Grade and hopefully be able to support eight times training speed.

Of course, this only applied to ordinary people. For leaders, the five or six days advantage they would lose was tantamount to losing their authority entirely. Those people would, of course, want to accumulate as many Experience Fragments as possible for themselves. However, that was a path to failure.

Maybe it would have been possible in the old world, where guns and the fear of death could keep the masses at bay, but there was no way for a mere safe-zone leader to stop an angry mob.

In Cheng Yang’s previous life, there was a tyrant in Europe who forced an entire safe zone to hand their earnings over to him, allowing him to reach sixty-four times training speed. Before he could level up, a group of just ten disgruntled citizens carried out a suicide assassination. This would happen several more times until eventually, even after receiving the power of a territory, leaders didn’t dare to force their citizens too far.

In comparison to idiots like that, Yuan Jianzhe was a sensible and competent leader. He had seized control of the Cloud City safe zone but didn’t push anyone too far. He built alliances with various influential people and gave them the power they desired in exchange for obedience. He also put created several taxes that provided him with a hundred thousand Experience Fragments a day.

It was precisely those Experience Fragments that Cheng Yang swindled from Yuan Jianzhe for a few days. Although it seemed like a lot, it barely covered the various expenses Yuan Jianzhe had. He needed to pay for his training and housing, those of his officers, any elite soldiers he had, the equipment he needed to buy, and food from the grocer.

The daily income of Phoenix Village was much higher per capita. The presence of Priests in the village alone put them light years ahead of their competition.

Priests allowed soldiers to recover faster. In turn, those soldiers could hunt longer and more efficiently since they didn’t fear instant death. This advantage then compiled on itself as the high income paid for the rapid advancement of the class change statue research options.

The soldiers in Phoenix Village and more health and could fight for longer than only needed a few minutes to heal. In comparison, the soldiers of the safe zone would take nearly half an hour to recover and only be able to fight for half that time. This kind of gap would only increase.

---

It was the second day of May, the twentieth day of the apocalypse. Cheng Yang’s experience bar was thirty-seven point five percent full. He still needed a long time before reaching the second stage of evolution.

That morning, after clearing the Blood-Soaked Cathedral, Cheng Yang summoned his generals for a meeting by request of Old Lee.

“My Lord, there is one thing of vital importance we must pay attention to.” Old Lee declared.

“And that is?” Cheng Yang asked.

“The natural alliance formed by those from the former federal government.” Old Lee said with a hint of anxiety in his voice. “My subordinates have been monitoring the Tavern’s forums for the past few days, and we’ve noticed a startling trend. Several dozen safe zones nearby are in the process of allying with Yuan Jianzhe. We need a more permanent solution to the Cloud City problem.”

“Don’t worry about those alliances. They won’t last very long.” Cheng Yang said. “A safe zone isn’t something so easily controlled, so any attempt to leave and aid other forces would result in a coup. Yuan Jianzhe is one of the most talented leaders in the world, but even he won’t be able to unify his safe zone. His potential is limitless, but unfortunately for him, there is no way for him to surpass us. We’ve occupied every nearby territory and instance dungeon, so there isn’t a way for a powerful army to appear.”

Old Lee understood Cheng Yang’s intention but couldn’t believe a man like Yuan Jianzhe would be suppressed so easily. However, he held his tongue.

“Zhao Chuan, what’s the status of the Professions in Phoenix Village?” Cheng Yang asked.

“Not bad, almost every soldier in the village has the tools they need, and a large number of them are getting close to leveling up or already have. They’ve started harvesting materials in groups on their own after the announcement of the contribution system, so the amount of resources available has skyrocketed.

“That’s a good start.” Cheng Yang said with a nod. “Once every soldier reaches the Standard-Grade, we’ll have a powerful force on our hands. Just remember, this was supposed to be a hellish world for humans. If we slack off and forget our personal growth, the monsters roaming our walls will surpass us and tear through the village.”

What Cheng Yang didn’t tell them was that the current world was a mere taste of the real suffering that was yet to come. That way, if anyone slacked off, there would be a few casualties when the difficulty increased. The shock from that moment would be a more effective lesson that any lecture Cheng Yang could provide.

“My Lord, when are you going to clear the Nightmare Difficulty of me and Yu Kai’s instance dungeons?” Liu Hau asked.

Cheng Yang nearly laughed when his warning was brushed aside so easily. Liu Hau didn’t have anything on his mind other than obtaining a unique subclass.

Cheng Yang shook his head and vowed to turn his friend into a suitable fighter. “Not for a while. Without the help of my Imperial Guard, I don’t have the confidence to survive.

“In that case, why don’t you see if there’s a way to send the Imperial Guard to satellite villages?” Liu Hau said with an unhappy face. “If there’s a way, you’ll be able to clear the instance dungeons, right?”

“For a moment I was worried you were using your brain.” Cheng Yang sighed, “Even if there is a way, the instance dungeon entrances are several kilometers from the village, so it would still be impossible.”

Cheng Yang already knew that it was impossible to send his Imperial Guard to any other village. The only way they could go was if the border of Phoenix Village overlapped with the other territory or both had an Imperial Guard Pavilion.

After a little more discussion, Cheng Yang dismissed the generals. They were busy people and didn’t have time for idle chit chat.

Once they were gone, Cheng Yang visited the Quest Hall. He had become an Adventurer a few days ago but had yet to complete a quest. The only ones published were fetch quests Cheng Yang wouldn’t stoop to doing, but he diligently checked the mission boards every day in case something interesting appeared.

It was even worse in the safe zone. There wasn’t a reason to provide fetch quests, so the mission boards were always empty. Today, however, that would change.

When Cheng Yang entered the Quest Hall, it was a lot busier than before. Several people were either selecting or turning in fetch quests.

Whenever Cheng Yang walked past one of those groups, everyone would respectfully greet him and over a slight bow. Even if they weren’t grateful to be given a place to live, everyone knew that Cheng Yang was a legend that would take them to ever greater heights.

Cheng Yang chuckled when he saw that. In his past life, he would be treated like air, but here he was revered. The difference was too vast!

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Once her fears were put to rest, Wang Lu had an opportunity to observe the lobby in detail. In addition to the numerous attendants, dozens of system terminals that functioned like modern ATMs filled the room. A balcony ran across the entirety of the room, looking down on the lobby from the second floor. Wide windows lined the walls of the upper level, allowing you to view the luxurious offices within.

“Ms. Wang, that’s the office dedicated for use by the Financial Manager.” Cheng Yang pointed at a pair of double doors in the center of the second level.

Wang Lu hastily ran up the stairs and into her office. The interior was similar to a modern office with a large wooden desk and several cabinets. The only difference was the lack of electrical equipment and the addition of a system terminal.

Wang Lu sat down in her new plump office chair and reviewed the Bank’s setting and permissions using the system terminal. Aside from a few special settings, she had complete control of the Bank’s inner working.

“You’ve got sixty-thousand Experience Fragments in funding which you can loan to people. Base loans off of soldier paygrades and make sure any loan you give out can be paid back in a matter of days.” Cheng Yang said after Wang Lu familiarized herself with the environment. “I’ll leave it to you to detail the specifics regarding risk and collateral.”

Wang Lu nodded. “Do you have any specific instructions for interest?”

“One percent compounded daily with a minimum payment of one Experience Fragment.”

“Isn’t that a little too high?”

“If this were the old world it would be, but how would we collect a debt from a dead person?” Cheng Yang asked. “The risk involved with loans is much higher than it used to be, and the interest may rise to as much as five percent daily in the future to compensate for that.”

“Ah! What should I do if someone defaults?” Wang Lu asked.

“They can’t.” Cheng Yang said with a sinister grin. “Once the time to pay arrives, the gods’ rules will automatically deduct the cost from them. If they can’t pay their possessions, get taken as collateral, or they are given debt and cannot earn Experience Fragments until its paid. The only exception is if the individual dies.”

Wang Lu was relieved. She hadn’t been sure what kind of authority a bank could wield in this new world, so she wasn’t confident in collecting loans on time.

“Make sure to set up the deposit function as well.” Cheng Yang continued. “Set the interest rate at point one percent compounded daily for now. We don’t want people to invest in a future they might now have.”

Wang Lu nodded. She was familiar with the financial health of the territory and knew most people barely had enough to train and buy potions. Cheng Yang, of course, was an outlier.

“Ah, by the way, I’m going to deposit two hundred thousand Experience Fragments soon. It’ll increase the amount you can lend, but you’ll need to give me two hundred Experience Fragments a day as interest.” Cheng Yang said.

Wang Lu nodded professionally but was shocked by the display of wealth.

Cheng Yang left the office, went downstairs, and deposited his money. Then, he left the Bank.

After depositing the money he had extorted from Yuan Jianzhe, Cheng Yang still had a hundred and ten thousand Experience Fragments in addition to personal loans in excess of twenty thousand Experience Fragments. He kept those to use them while training.

Over the next four days, Phoenix Village developed step by step. Although the number of soldiers hadn’t increased, the quality had.

Around a hundred individuals had leveled up and become Standard-Grade Apprentices. This included all of the founding members of the village. These people were also the various military officials in the army.

The rest of the soldiers had yet to level up. Not because they weren’t working hard but simply because they didn’t have the resources to sustain rapid growth or the time to level up normally.

The situation was starting to improve, however. Using a combination of resource pooling and army provisions, groups of six were managing to scrape together the saving necessary to unlock faster training speeds. Hundreds of people would also take advantage of same-day loans from the bank to train faster as well.

There wasn’t a single soldier in the village that viewed the single Experience Fragment fee for same-day loans excessive. As such, business was booming for the Bank.

The total capital available to the bank had also quadrupled since it was founded. The primary source was the other three hundred thousand Experience Fragments from Yuan Jianzhe, and the rest came out of the daily earning of the territory.

Although it seemed like formally creating a military force was an economic miracle for the village, that was only because most of the costs were long term — the two most expensive of which being bereavement money and equipment.

Low-Grade soldiers weren’t entitled to military-issue equipment, so there weren’t many costs to cover there. However, once they all leveled up, the cost of supplying thousands of people with a full set of Green-Bronze equipment would be staggering.

Cheng Yang also set a high bereavement money rate since he greatly valued the people who gave their lives for Phoenix Village. Luckily, only ten soldiers have died since the beginning of the apocalypse, so the rate didn’t matter.

Various other expenses were sure to crop up and become a bottomless pit. As such, it was essential to amass a certain level of slush funds.

Improvements to the military weren’t the only change over the last four days. The territory accumulated seven thousand units of wood and five thousand units of stone. The class change statues in Phoenix Village’s satellite villages had nearly reached the High-Grade and would soon make progress on achieving the Pinnacle-Grade like in Phoenix Village.

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“Yoko, check out my system pane! Aren’t I awesome!” Yu Kai proudly declared.

“I could kill you in two hits.” Cheng Yang stated.

“Hey, who asked you to compare us?” Yu Kai was annoyed by his friend’s abrasive words. “Aside from you, I’m the best in the world.”

“What about Liu Wei?” Cheng Yang asked. “Once she levels up, she could kill you with a single word.”

“Well, if I’m not second, then I can settle for third.” Yu Kai said with a laugh.

“You’ll have to compete with Liu Hau for that position.” Cheng Yang sighed. “I’m just trying to make you understand that your not invincible just cause you have a few new skills.”

Yu Kai seemed to be contemplating Cheng Yang’s words. Contemplation and fear were written all over his face.

“Do you really think Liu Hau’s going to surpass me?”

Cheng Yang sighed in response. “Maybe. The Sky God Island Nightmare Difficulty might have a unique subclass as the first clear reward. If that happens and Liu Hau gets a unique subclass, it will be hard to say since he’s faster than you.”

“That rat fucker!” Yu Kai swore.

Although he seemed upset, Yu Kai was secretly happy for his friend. He put on a strong front, but he knew his life was only this easy thanks to Cheng Yang’s protection. Anything that helped the people he cared about survive was a good thing.

Cheng Yang left Yu Kai to play around with his new skills. He had lectured his friend on the dangers of arrogance, but truth be told, it would be hard to find anything capable of killing Yu Kai. Ghost Hunters were world-renowned for having one of the best escape abilities.

He walked over to the Territory Altar and checked the Experience Fragment balance. It was 340,000.

That number shocked Cheng Yang. What loophole had he found?

A few moments later, Cheng Yang discovered the source of the village’s wealth: he had forgotten to set up the military payroll since he was in a hurry to deal with Yuan Jianzhe.

Speaking of the military, Cheng Yang figured he should review the rules surrounding its structure.

Although the military had a few hundred soldiers currently enrolled, each army could only have a maximum of ten people right now. This was because a Private First Class couldn’t form anything bigger than a Low-Grade Army. Cheng Yang chose to model the previous squad system off the same numbers in preparation for this moment.

The main benefit of the Army system was a telepathic link would be created between members of the same army. Right now, each battalion was composed of several armies, but in the future, generals will be able to command hundreds of people fluidly.

As for the salaries, Cheng Yang’s general set the rate at the higher of either the soldier’s military rank or level times fourteen plus twenty. Thus, a Private First Class would receive thirty-four Experience Fragments per day.

Their salary was half of what they could earn before, but their position came with the benefit of subsidized skills, potions, and equipment. Most importantly, they were given paid time off to train and relax. Right now, it wasn’t very often since the military was busy, but everyone could expect a day off once every two weeks.

The generals had also decided on what salaries to provide to officers and other high-ranking military officials. Squadron leaders were paid twice as much, captains three times as much, and generals eight times with deputy positions given twenty percent less.

This meant Yu Kai, Liu Hau, and the other generals had a base salary of two-hundred and seventy-two Experience Fragments. Yu Kai and Liu Hau, in specific, would get four hundred and ninety-six since they were High-Grade Apprentices.

Although it seemed like a lot, nearly the entire paycheck would go towards training consumption. However, now that they had access to the Nirvana Feather, even that wouldn’t be enough.

It could be said that Phoenix Village was too generous with paying its officials. However, this was the deliberate result of Cheng Yang’s original military structure.

He made sure to place everyone with high-rank Innate Abilities in officer positions even at the expense of less talented but potentially better commanders. This was because the commander role wasn’t crucial in the early stages of the apocalypse and because he needed to ensure that the individuals with the most potential received the most care. The system created earlier today was a way to make that unfair process “fair” and official.

Once Cheng Yang paid his soldiers, over a third of the territory’s funds disappeared. Unfortunately, there were still more expenses to deal with; each battalion needed operating expenses covered.

Cheng Yang gave each squad three hundred Experience Fragments for buying potions, which would be paid weekly. Thankfully, the gods’ rules allowed Cheng Yang to set up a recurring transfer directly to an Army instead of a weekly one to the officers.

Cheng Yang grimaced when he saw less than eighty-thousand Experience Fragments remaining. It was heart-wrenching to see his money fly away even if he knew it was necessary.

However, he still wasn’t done. There was one thing left to do: build the Bank and transfer initial capital.

Cheng Yang wanted to build the Bank days ago but didn’t have the surplus Experience Fragments necessary. Now, however, the territory had sixty-thousand Experience Fragments it didn’t need.

A few minutes later, a palatial stone building appeared inside the Inner Village in a flash of light. The Bank was located in between the shops and the Meditation Halls and was detailed with gold, granite, and other precious materials. Its name, “Phoenix Village Money Farm,” was emblazoned on a large polished stone gate using glimmering red gems.

As the territory’s Financial Manager, Wang Lu sense the Bank’s existence as soon as it was created. It wasn’t long before she and Cheng Yang were standing together in the Bank’s lobby.

“My Lord, now that you’ve set up the bank for me, should I start working?” Wang Lu asked in a timid voice, fearing that if she spoke too loudly, she might discover that this was all a dream. Having a safe office job that allowed her to escape the constant fighting of the apocalypse was her ideal life.

“Of course.” Cheng Yang replied with a nod. “I’ve even transferred some Experience Fragments to the Bank so you can start issuing loans tomorrow.”

“My Lord, would it be possible to assign some helpers?” Wang Lu asked with a worried face. “There are several hundred people in the village who might take out loans, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle the workload on my own.”

“You already have all the help you could ever need.” Cheng Yang laughed as he gestured towards the numerous well-dressed attendants in the lobby. “Just let the assistants take care of all the work. You only need to review the Bank’s transaction history and handle any unusual situations.”

“It’s that simple?”

“Did you think it was going to be complicated?”

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“Damn! That guy was tough!” Liu Hau swore as he tore the arrow out of his chest, “You really can’t underestimate Hard Difficulty instances.”

“Have you been training with Xue Yu like I asked you too?” Cheng Yang scolded Liu Hau. “His skills are even better than mine, so it would do you some good.”

“I haven’t gotten around to it yet.” Liu Hau replied with a cheeky smile. “Now hurry up and open the loot chest. I’m looking forward to what’s inside!”

“It’s going to be something for Rangers, so there’s no need to get excited.”

“Maybe not for this instance dungeon, but the sooner you finish up here, the sooner you can clear the one near Yu Kai’s village. Mine gives us items for him, and his gives us items for me.”

Ignoring his friends babbling, Cheng Yang went over the flagpole in the center of the roof and pulled a small, beating heart out of the nearby chest.

---

Hskad’s Heart
Giving this heart to a Ranger class change statue grants access to the unique subclass Ghost Hunter

---

Cheng Yang was extraordinarily happy with this reward. Ghost Hunter was a fantastic subclass that was even better than Cheng Yang’s for certain activities. Once Cheng Yang allowed Yu Kai to obtain this subclass, he would become a core pillar of strength for Phoenix Village.

After Liu Hau heard what the first clear reward did, he cursed the heavens. “Yu Kai better get me something just as good from his dungeon!”

“Don’t worry. You’ll get a nice subclass eventually.” Cheng Yang teased his friend as they left the instance.

“Koko, try to level up your village today. I’ll transfer you the funds you’ll need later tonight.” Cheng Yang said once they were back in Joyous River Village. “That should help you earn municipal funds on your own.”

Right now, there were only a few square miles of where the territory would earn money from monster kills. This amounted to around a thousand and two hundred Experience Fragments per day. Once the village leveled up, that area would more than double, and so would the territory’s income.

Cheng Yang soon left for Silkworm Mountain but decided to stop by Cloud City safe zone on the way.

Due to the agreement he made with Yuan Jianzhe, he couldn’t take Liu Wei with him. As for why he was going, naturally, it was to collect the debt owed of him.

As soon as Cheng Yang passed through the curtain of light, a terrified soldier recognized him. Shortly afterward, Yuan Jianzhe came out to meet Cheng Yang.

Yuan Jianzhe personally handed over the two hundred thousand Experience Fragments in the first installment with a smile on his face. This was, of course, a facade. If he could, he would have torn Cheng Yang limb from limb.

Cheng Yang smirked when he saw that. He was very aware of Yuan Jianzhe’s character and knew he was counting down the days until he could get his revenge.

After getting his money, Cheng Yang left the safe zone. Although he had bargained for the right to recruit civilians, he was busy today.

It was late, but Cheng Yang still had to clear the Hard Difficulty of Sky God Island before returning to Phoenix Village. While he was there, he would pick up Yu Kai so he could become a Ghost Hunter.

The Hard Difficulty wasn’t very different from the Easy except that the boss took a little longer to kill. It only took Cheng Yang ten minutes to blaze through the instance.

As expected, the first clear reward at the end was a valuable item for Warriors. However, it seemed that Liu Hau would have to wait a while longer to get a unique subclass.

---

Warden’s Wall
This is a skill modeled after the thick hides and hardy constitution of a species that lost their intelligence long ago but were famed as outstanding warriors. It was mass produced for use by prison guards and sealed in crystals.

Grade: Purple Silver
Class: Warrior
Requirements: Standard-Grade Apprentice
Learning Cost: 200 Experience Fragments
Effect: Increases the size of your shield by four times
Effect: Doubles shield Damage Reduction
Penalty: Movement Speed becomes 0
Penalty: Cannot use weapons

---

It was another inheritance gem. This one, however, increased the ability of an army to stop charging monsters.

“Damn, Liu Hau is too lucky!” Yu Kai complained. “He already got a bonus skill, and now he has this as well.”

“Are you kidding? This skill is totally unsuited for Liu Hau. His strongest point is his speed, so this skill is nearly useless to him.” Cheng Yang said with a chuckle. “Besides, you’re even luckier than him, check this out.”

Cheng Yang took out the Haskad’s Heart and handed it to Yu Kai.

“This is awesome!” Yu Kai cheered after he read the system pane.

“We also got a Ranger skill, so come back with me to Phoenix Village.” Cheng Yang said. “Let’s have you become a Ghost Hunter.”

They quickly returned to Phoenix Village, and when they arrived went directly towards the Ranger statue.

Cheng Yang first allowed it to absorb the inheritance gem before forcing Hskad’s Heart into it. With a bright flash, it melded with the statue, and the outline of a brightly glowing heart could be seen even from outside the statue.

Once Cheng Yang was done, Yu Kai powered himself up.

---

Yu Kai
Phoenix Empire Official
Silkworm Mountain Governor
Class: Ranger
Subclass: Ghost Hunter
Profession: Woodworker
Level: High-Grade Apprentice (13.2%)

Age	19	Life Span	200
HP	207.4	MP	207.4
Physical Attack	66.4	Magic Attack	6.9
Physical Defense	10	Magic Defense	5
Attack Speed	8.6	Movement Speed	13

Innate Abilities

• Receive 40% more stats in the Physical Attack attribute when you level up
• Attack Range increased by 30%
• Movement speed is increased by 200%

Skills

• Meditation (High-Grade): Meditate to absorb experience fragments and level up
• Longshot (High-Grade): Increase Attack Range by 40% | Passive Skill
• Quantum Phantom(Low-Grade): Split into two possibilities, once one is attacked, it shatters and when only one is left you fully become that possibility. Every copy can attack with a 50% damage reduction penalty | Cost: 20 Mana | Cooldown: 9 minutes | Duration: 10 seconds | Proficiency: 0.0%
• Spectral Arrow (High-Grade): Imbue your arrow with magic causing it to flicker in and out of existence and deal an additional 120% of your Magic Attack attribute | Damage: 74.7 | Ignore Armor Chance: 10% | Cost: 4 Mana | Cast Time: 0.6 sec | Proficiency: 53% | Ignore Armor Chance: 10%
• Demonic Watcher (Low-Grade): Contract an invisible creature from the abyss that can share its senses with you to spy on living creatures near you | Cost: 50 Mana | Range: 2 kilometers | Proficiency: 6.4%
• Burning Soul (Low-Grade): Using your soul as fuel increase your damage | Damage Increase: 15% | Cost: 2 Mana/Second | Cooldown: 90 seconds | Proficiency: 0.0%

Equipment

• Golem’s Heart (Black Iron): This bow is carved from a single piece of living stone that has long since died | Increase Physical Attack by 4 | Durability: 65/80
• Void Python Bag (Black-Iron): This quiver was made using a baby void python and can hold 200 arrows| Spawns one arrow every 45 seconds | Durability: 78/80
• Gloves of the Boxer (Green-Bronze): Originally a mundane set of hand wraps, they were transformed by the fighting spirit of their owner | Increase Attack Speed by 1 | Durability: 53/60
• Loyal Spirit (Green-Bronze): A product of black magic, this ring has a human’s mana node set into it | Increase Mana by 20 | Durability: 47/60
• Noble’s Shield (Green-Bronze): This badly damaged ring was commissioned by a noble with many mages as enemies | Increase Magic Defense by 1 | Durability: 60/60
• Zephyr Stone (Black-Iron): This necklace contains a friendly wind spirit that can guide arrows to their mark | Increase Attack Range by 5% | Durability: 49/80
• Forlorn Prisoner’s Boots (Green-Bronze): A prisoner fashioned these boots in order to escape but died trying | Increase Movement Speed by 1 and Physical Defense by 1 | Durability: 52/60
• Studded Stygian Leather (Black-Iron): This armor is made from the tough hide of a dangerous bird | Increase Physical Defense by 5 | Durability: 56/80

---

No doubt about it, Yu Kai was a real powerhouse after becoming a Ghost Hunter. His damage had increased, and his skills combined themselves more fluidly. The signature skill of the Ghost Hunter, Quantum Phantom, was especially powerful. It allowed him to confuse and disorient his enemies, and every time he leveled it up, he could produce an additional clone. Maybe in the future, Yu Kai could be a literal one-person army.

Yu Kai’s Demonic Watcher was an upgraded version of the Ranger’s Spirit Eagle skill. It didn’t improve his abilities directly, but it had enormous strategic significance. In an era without GPS, remote detection and pathfinding were only possible using these skills. Its range was short right but doubled every time the ability leveled up.

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On their way back from the battle with Yuan Jianzhe’s forces, Liu Wei even colder than usual.

“Are you feeling alright?” Cheng Yang asked with a level of sincere concern that starkly contrasted with his previous arrogant attitude.

Liu Wei shook her head and said in a fragile voice: “I know they would have hurt me if I didn’t, but I killed several people.”

Cheng Yang sighed and patted her head. “I know it hurts, but that’s the way the world is now, you’ll get used to it.”

“I already am used to it!” Liu Wei choked back tears when she said that. “I already am! I killed them all, and I felt nothing, and I hate myself for that! It was so easy. They were so fragile. Like puppets with cut strings, not people with lives.”

“It’s okay. I’m proud of you.” Cheng Yang said softly, “You only did what you had to.”

Liu Wei sniffled. “At first they threatened me but after I killed a few the rest begged for their lives. They begged for their lives as I killed them. And I felt nothing.” Liu Wei looked up at Cheng Yang with fear in her teary eyes. “Am I a monster?”

Cheng Yang pulled her into a tight embrace and let her cry on his shoulder. “In this world, we’re all monsters.”

Once Liu Wei finished crying, Cheng Yang felt like his heart had cleared. Although he wasn’t afraid of killing others, it was the first time he had slaughtered so many people at once. Helping Liu Wei work through her fears helped him calm down as well.

Even though his arrogant attitude was just a front, he had successfully forced Yuan Jianzhe into a disadvantageous position. However, Cheng Yang knew this would only delay Yuan Jianzhe interfering with his plans. The next step was to develop Phoenix Village to the point that no one from Cloud City would be able to interfere.

Cheng Yang wasn’t confident he could pull it off, but if he couldn’t, he would have reincarnated in vain.

---

It was around noon by the time Cheng Yang’s original plan was back on track. He had arrived at Joyous River Village a few minutes ago and was now traveling towards the instance dungeon.

It was much further from the village than the Sky God Island instance, which was why it took so long to find. Despite that, it only took half an hour for Cheng Yang to arrive.

“My Lord, what are you doing here? Weren’t you going to go protect The Forgotten Grave?” Liu Hau was currently having lunch with some of his soldiers outside the entrance to the instance dungeon. While he spoke, Liu Hao took large bites from a wolf’s leg roasted to golden perfection.

Cheng Yang sat down next to his friend a stole a chunk of his meat. “I was, but the issue has already been resolved. I forced Yuan Jianzhe, the commander of the safe zone army, to sign a contract with me. They won’t bother us for at least a week or two.”

Cheng Yang gave Liu Hau a summary of the morning’s events while they ate.

“That’s such a shame!” Liu Hau sighed with regret. “Why didn’t you force them up a bit higher? If he said he could pay half a million, he could definitely afford a million! With that kind of money, we’d be able to develop a massive army of High-Grade soldiers!”

Cheng Yang chuckled. “You may think individual strength is important, but if we were too demanding and Yuan Jianzhe started a war, we’d suffer greatly. I’m more concerned with securing this period of peace. We have a lot of talented people, and they need time to grow. In time, our strength will rise, so there’s no need to rush. Once Yuan Jianzhe is ready to fight, we’ll be strong enough to entice his soldiers away from him as mercenaries.”

Liu Hau clicked his tongue. “Why does it seem like your having fun with this? Well, as long as it works, who cares.”

Liu Hau took another bite of his wolf leg. “By the way, are you here to get the Hard Difficulty first clear?”

“Naturally.” Cheng Yang said as he watched his friend finish off his first leg and start another. “I’m glad I ran into you before I went in. Tell me what the instance is like.”

Liu Hau laughed like a thief. “Why don’t you try and guess what it was like, my Lord.”

Cheng Yang cuffed his snickering friend over the head. “My guess is that a ghost was inside that turned you into an idiot! Why are you messing around like a child? Spit it out.”

“The instance dungeon is named The Abandoned Citadel. It has four floors guarded by weird short monsters, the system called Gnomes. There was a boss on the top floor, and after beating it, I picked up something nice.” Liu Hau explained everything to Cheng Yang, but the smug grin on his face never left.

Cheng Yang sighed in relief. He knew there was a good chance Liu Hau would get the first clear since most instance dungeons in the world hadn’t been discovered yet, but he was happy to confirm that.

Disappointed that Cheng Yang wasn’t going to ask him what he found, Liu Hau reluctantly pulled a gem out of his pocket and handed it to Cheng Yang. “It’s a Ranger skill, and it’s pretty good.”

---

Longshot
This was the skill that allowed for the rise of the Highland Gnome Empire under their leader Hskad. During the great war, the Gnomes nearly went extinct and the Demon Duke Bathin finished the job by cursing the remnants of their race to become deformed and lose their intelligence. Before Hskad was fully corrupted by the demon’s curse, she sealed their signature skill in crystal.

Grade: Purple Silver
Class: Ranger
Requirements: Low-Grade Apprentice
Learning Cost: 200 Experience Fragments
Passive Skill
Effect: Increase Attack Range by 10% with an additional 10% per skill level

---

Cheng Yang was satisfied with what he saw when he checked the inheritance gem’s system pane.

Longshot was an outstanding skill. For most Rangers, this would amount to an extra attack or two, but the synergy with Phoenix Village’s Rangers would be incredible. With their superior speed and range, they could kite opponents at the same level indefinitely.

“Good find.” Cheng Yang praised, “This will be useful in the future. Hopefully, we can get some more Ranger specific items from this instance dungeon.”

When they finished their lunch, Cheng Yang prepared to enter The Abandoned Citadel with Liu Hao and Liu Wei. It was at this point that Cheng Yang finally saw the entrance cleverly stuck between three trees that looked like one from a distance.

Cheng Yang reprimanded the gods in his heart. Why was it necessary for you to hide this so thoroughly? It was going to be found and conquered by me anyway, so why bother?

Once inside, Cheng Yang’s group found themselves in the courtyard of a western-style castle. They were next to the gate, and a four-story stone building filled with arrow slits was in front of them.

The instance would have proved quite tricky if not for Cheng Yang’s absurd power. The Gnomes wielded bows and used the topography of the citadel to force intruders to fight their way through a hailstorm of arrows.

Luckily, Cheng Yang could do just that without a problem, so it wasn’t hard to reach the roof of the building.

Once they arrived, Cheng Yang’s group found an unusually large Gnome. Most of the Gnomes were only around one meter tall, but this one was massive!

“My Lord, have you ever seen such a comically large creature.” Liu Hau laughed. “It’s nearly two meters tall, is it even the same species?”

“Perhaps it was raised by giants?” Cheng Yang replied.

“Do you think it’s as strong as a giant?” Liu Hau asked.

“I wouldn’t expect much.” Cheng Yang said, “It uses a bow like the rest of them.”

Gnomes were truly grotesque creatures. They had four bird-like feet and were covered in shaggy hair. Their bodies were almost cubic, with two beady eyes on each side. Their mouth was on the bottom side, and a hard carapace was on the top. In addition, this one held a bow in each of its two pairs of arms.

While they were talking, the Gnome skittered away from them and drew its twin longbows. With the crack of the bowstrings, the battle had begun.

Cheng Yang went all out from the very beginning and froze the monster using Hibernation Chill. At the same time, Liu Hau protected Liu Wei from the monster’s attacks.

The two-second stun was more than long enough for Cheng Yang to reduce the Gnome’s health by more than a hundred and fifty points.

Once the Gnome defrosted, it jumped backward and combined its two bows into one cross-shaped one. Then, it drew a javelin sized arrow and fired it at Liu Hau.

Even though he was a High-Grade Warrior, Liu Hau’s strength paled in comparison to that of the attack he had to receive. Since the start of the apocalypse, he had never stopped training, and now deflecting an attack like this wasn’t a problem.

Before it hit, he lowered his center of gravity and tilted the shield. This allowed him to disperse the force and deflect the arrow into a nearby parapet.

At the same time, Cheng Yang reduced the monster’s health to a critical range.

The Gnome knew it would die when Cheng Yang attacked again, so it put all of its strength into one final struggle.

It drew another javelin, and this time activated a skill as well. When Gnome fired the arrow, it turned into four arrows!

This time, there was nothing Liu Hau could do. He deflected the first arrow. The second threw him off balance. The third knocked away his shield, and the final arrows penetrated his chest and nearly tossed him off the roof.

At the same time, Liu Wei proved her worth but quickly casting Healing Light.

Then, Cheng Yang finished the fight with an Icicle Blast.

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