XMTL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We’re here.” Cheng Yang declared.

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

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

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

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

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

Without waiting for an answer, Cheng Yang ran North.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheng Yang began casting Petal Blizzard and charged forwards.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It turned out to be an Alchemy Furnace.

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

---

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

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

---

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

Innate Abilities

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

Skills

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

Equipment

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes.”

“Please select a Bank model.”

“Full Possession.”

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

“Yes.”

“Please input a name for the Bank.”

“Phoenix Village Money Farm.”

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

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

---

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lau Hui agreed at once.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Say it. Don’t be polite.”

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

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

“Yes, my Lord!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lau Hui smiled sadly, “That he did.”

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

Innate Abilities

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

Skills

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

Equipment

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

---

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

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

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

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

Cheng Yang then began training.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

---

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

Owned Buildings

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

Available Buildings

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

Attributes

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

Upgrade Conditions

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time trickled by, leaving Cheng Yang on edge.

Finally, there was just one minute left…

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

Ten seconds… Nine seconds… Eight seconds…

Three seconds…

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

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

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

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

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

He’d done it! He had the gem!

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

---

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

Quality: Slag

---

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This opportunity was just too huge for anyone to refuse!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What should he do? Leave?

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter