XMTL

As usual, Chéng Yáng woke up bright and early. Since the Blood Soaked Cathedral had already been cleared today, he directly woke up his team leaders and the rest of the sleeping Players.

“Today we’re going to continue rescuing people from Huìmín. To expedite the process, half of us will continuously patrol the stretch of land between Huìmín and the Settlement. This way, normal people can travel between the two unaccompanied. The people on patrol will also need to bring in any edible monster corpses for the normal people to butcher. A good rule of thumb is that if it walks on two legs its no good. Only bring back things that walk on all fours.” Chéng Yáng explained, “Our secondary goal is to collect food, equipment, and wood. The wood is especially important since we’ll need it to build things.”

The Players easily agreed. The new Players were happy to contribute to saving the lives of their fellow Huìmín residents, and the old Players were fine so long as they could gather Soul Fragments and increase their strength. After they left, Chéng Yáng pulled Lǐ Wànshān aside.

“Old Lǐ, I have a special task for you. I’m hoping you can talk to some of the normal people and convince them to transport goods between the Settlement and the edge of Huìmín. This will allow the Players to focus on finding things in the ruin and dealing with monsters. Tell anyone that volunteers that they’d be next in line after the people we chose yesterday.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

As the Lord of Phoenix Village, Chéng Yáng left those troublesome matters to his subordinates. This allowed him to spend his time solo farming in other areas until the last round of Research on the Class Statues finished.

He didn’t have a mechanical watch, so by the time he had returned, the Research had already been completed. When he checked the corresponding tab in the Territory Altar system pane, there were a few changes.

---

Mage Research Subjects

Phoenix Village
Standard-Grade
20/50 Registered

Research

Mana Compressing Techniques
With enough training, its possible for a Mage to compress Mana, allowing them to fit more into the Mana nodes they already have.

Cost: 100

Time: 8 hours

Advanced Mana Purification Techniques
A continuation on previous techniques. These advanced techniques allow further purification.

Cost: 100

Time: 8 hours

Ironskin Tattoos
By expanding on already inscribed Stoneskin tattoos, their power can be increased without sacrificing their current expenditure efficacy.

Cost 100

Time: 8 hours

Advanced Mental State Training
When a Mage experiences the power of a high level existence, they can later borrow it through visualization. This new barrier is stronger than one created using willpower alone.

Cost: 100

Time: 8 hours

Mana Circuit Tributaries
Small amounts of Mana are stored in a person’s flesh. If additional Mana circuits can be carved into those area and fed into your main Mana circuits, the flow will increase.

Cost: 100

Time: 8 hours

Organ Reinforcement
By wrapping your internal organs in a thin layer of Mana they become capable of handling even highly accelerated speeds, removing the natural limits we usually impose on ourselves.

Cost: 100

Time: 8 hours

---

The other Class Statues underwent similar changes.

Since there were slots for new Players, Chéng Yáng grabbed twenty of the previously chosen people and performed their Transcendence Ceremonies. Most of those present had already had their talent appraised, so it was rather cheap.

Since he was saving for the level up fees for the Settlement, Chéng Yáng only allowed the bare minimum number of people to become Players. There would be time after the Settlement leveled up to fill the rest of the open slots.

Chéng Yáng spent an hour training the new recruits, then sent them to participate in the ongoing operation in Huìmín.

Now, all he had to do was wait. By his estimates, at the latest it would be 7:30 PM when the necessary funds were gathered but it was likely to be a few hours earlier. Now that they had cleared all of the nearby herds, he could only rely on the natural spawn rate.

---

Xiāngyáng was in absolute chaos.

Since early that morning there’d been non-stop gunfire throughout the city. This was the sound of the Xiāngyáng Garrison of the People’s Liberation Army closing in on the Safe Zone.

The military had actually recovered mere hours after the earthquake. Although the apocalypse had affected them as well, they had access to high munition weaponry that could completely shred your average monster. A police issue pistol would take a few seconds to kill a monster, but an automatic rifle could kill one instantly, and, unlike the police, their arms and munitions were stored in warehouses, not high-rise buildings. Thus, even after the warehouses collapsed, it was easy for them to access their equipment.

They hadn’t acted immediately due to a disagreement between the military executives. Many believed that they should immediately rush to Xiāngyáng to stabilize the situation but it was treason for the garrison commander to unilaterally impose martial law thus there was a deadlock for some time.

The tipping point was when the engineer corp declared that the damage done to electronic equipment was irreversible. This meant there was no way to receive the go ahead from someone higher up the chain of command. Faced with the choice of treason or the deaths of the civilians in Xiāngyáng, the garrison commander, Yuán Jiànzé, chose treason. He could beg for leniency later, but there was no way to bring the citizens of Xiāngyáng back to life.

That was yesterday afternoon. Computers, cars, and radios weren’t the only equipment they lost to the apocalypse. Almost all modern weapons, even some guns relied on electricity to function. The only things they could use were traditional firing pin weaponry.

The irony of the situation is that the garrison had just gotten updated tanks the year before, replacing their analogue tanks with newer digital versions. At the time they’d been ecstatic to replace the clunky old tanks, but now that the new ones were useless lumps of metal, they could only yearn for the glory of an analogue war machine.

Without vehicles of advanced weaponry it had taken them until this morning to fight their way over from the garrison. As they moved they needed to station soldiers to watch over their supply lines and kill any monsters that spawned, further slowing them.

When they finally arrived in the suburbs of Xiāngyáng, they were able to see the full scale of the disaster. Similar to Huìmín, the ground was littered with half eaten bones, dried blood, and rotting gizzard.

A rich smell of carrion had begun to permeate the city, and if it weren’t for the fact that Players were immune to normal diseases, humanity may have been doomed to die from plague.

At this point, the military began to lose hope. With the destruction so widespread, what could they accomplish? Moreover, there weren’t that many people in the garrison, a little under twenty thousand even accounting for civilian staff. It would be far from enough to cover the entire city, much less secure it.

It was only after they started finding civilians that they regained hope. As they marched through the streets, the civilians hiding in the ruins would rush out to them crying with joy. It was from these civilians that the military learned about the Safe Zone, and how monsters couldn’t get in.

This gave them a goal to work towards. If they could break through the monsters surrounding the Safe Zone, they would be able to resolve the problem of where to put civilians that would keep them safe.

With this goal in mind, the military adopted a new strategy. Instead of running supply lines back to their garrison base, they began to transport the supplied into the city. This would allow them to preserve their power and resolve any logistics issues in the coming war. Like an inchworm, they would clear new areas, then move their supplies forwards. Kilometer by kilometer they inched towards the Safe Zone.

As time passed the crowd surrounding the military grew and inevitably some people tried to cause trouble for the soldiers. It was then that the citizens of Xiāngyáng learned what it meant to be under martial law. Most people were lightly beaten then sent on their way. Anyone that went to far and dared to attack a soldier was executed on the spot. Yuán Jiànzé had no quibbles with using force to maintain public order. So many people had already died, what was a a few more? If they couldn’t break through to the Safe Zone everyone would die. This was simple pragmatism.

The military reached the Safe Zone late that afternoon. Rather than immediately engage the enemy, they chose to set up a defensive line. It would get dark soon and without floodlights it would be too dangerous to engage in large scale warfare.

Since they had time, they sent a group to rendezvous with the Xiāngyáng police force and draft them. If they wanted to win tomorrow, they needed more manpower. The police were the obvious option since they had proven their moral character and had comprehensive weapons training.

As the sky darkened, the military prepared for a long time. There were too many of them to hide underground, so they were forced to endure attack from monsters the entire time, often while not being able to see them before they had already killed someone.

Tomorrow would be a new dawn, but the night would be long.

---

The day passed quickly for the Citizens of Phoenix Village. In total, they had rescued another eight hundred people from the ruins Huìmín. After tripling the personnel involved, the operation became routine. They no longer had to fear monsters or waste time escorting normal people back. This allowed them to push closer and closer to the city center where more people lived.

They were also able to procure a large number of supplies. In addition to simple cooking tools, they obtained large amounts of food, which was transported back to Phoenix Village by some of the braver civilians. Anything with a long shelf was confiscated and locked away in a Cultivation Chamber. Food shortages would be frequent so it was important to ration anything that could last a while. As for perishables that had survived until now, they were directly distributed to the civilians in the Settlement.

As a result, the atmosphere in Phoenix Village was quite cheerful. Although the civilians didn’t have any privacy, or anything to do, they had full stomachs and nothing to worry about. It was quite easy for them to lie in the sun and pretend like the world hadn’t ended.

Unfortunately very little Wood was collected, a few units at most. Unless they found a wood processing plant like Lǐ Wànshān’s lumber mill, they were unlikely to make significant progress anytime soon.

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It would be at least another day until mega-herds with hundreds of monsters would begin to form. Thus, even if they traveled more than a kilometer past the Settlement walls, it wouldn’t be too dangerous for the Citizens of Phoenix Village.

While this Soul Fragment gold mine still existed, it was vital that Chéng Yáng fully excavate it. He brought the new Players out beyond the walls for live combat training, and a few hours later, left them alone under the command of Zhào Chuān.

He planned to use the Soul Fragments his Citizens earned to first fill the remaining slots on each Class Statue. Then, to procure the funds needed to finish the last two rounds of Research. It would take a lot of work, but it was just barely possible.

At around 5:30 PM, Chéng Yáng walked up to Lǐ Wànshān to let him know it was his turn to allow some of his chosen to become Players. The other three team leaders had already gone, leaving only a single Cleric slot left open. Since that was the case, all Lǐ Wànshān had to do was find someone with the talent to become a Mage and have them become a Cleric.

Despite having been dismissed, Lǐ Wànshān hadn’t left. He seemed conflicted, as if he wanted to say something.

“What is it?” Chéng Yáng asked.

“Boss, do you want me to take care of that Hú Jūn fellow? He used to be the mayor and he’s clearly displayed his hostility. If we’re not careful he might stab us in the back.” Lǐ Wànshān voiced his doubts.

Chéng Yáng chuckled.

“So you heard about his outburst? Don’t worry about that Old Lǐ. If he had any chance of posing a real threat to us I would have killed him. I’m not so soft-hearted as to spare someone who wants me dead. Besides, a moron like that can make a useful example. Hú Jūn will remain a normal person for the rest of his life. When the other normal people realize these are my intentions, they’ll stay in line.”

“How thoughtful. As long as he’s always miserable, no one will be willing to come into direct conflict with us.”

“Indeed. Keep an eye on the people Hú Jūn interacts with. He should have some connections among the other normal people, including his brother Hú Yáng. Anyone seen interacting with him will also be barred from becoming a Player until they stop. Let’s see how long they let him drag them down.”

“Yes, boss!” Lǐ Wànshān responded crisply.

“Old Lǐ, you don’t need to call me boss. It sounds really weird coming from you.”

“That just won’t do. Let me tell you as a business owner, without a clear delineation between boss and employee, no one will respect you. If you want the Settlement to be run efficiently, little details like this matter. If you don’t like the title boss, we can use something else. Since Phoenix Village is more like a town than a company, what about mayor?”

The word mayor made Chéng Yáng think about Hú Jūn and he grimaced. Now that he thought about it, it was pretty common for Lords in his previous life to use ostentatious titles. Ancient titles like king, emperor, sultan, and caliph came back into vogue. Since that was the case, it wasn’t strange for him to do so as well.

“You’re right. I do need a title.” Chéng Yáng said after some contemplation. “In my system pane, my title is Phoenix Village Lord, so we’ll go with that.”

Yes, my Lord.” Lǐ Wànshān replied. He didn’t care about the actual title used. He was just happy that Chéng Yáng had listened to and accepted his advice. It meant that Chéng Yáng held some respect for him and his views.

“Old Lǐ, my friends and I are young and haven’t experienced much of the world. I foresaw much about the apocalypse, but I have blind spots when it comes to interpersonal relationships. I hope that in the future I can continue to rely on you to supplement me in that regard.”

“Thank you, my Lord, you can count on me.”

Chéng Yáng sighed after Lǐ Wànshān walked away. He must have died in the first few days or even hours of the apocalypse in his previous life. Otherwise with his Innate Ability and adaptable personality he would have occupied a position of important in one of the Settlements surrounding Xiāngyáng.

---

The Class Statues completed the fourth round of Research at 8:00 PM that night. Unfortunately, despite his efforts, Chéng Yáng hadn’t been able to gather the funds needed to have each of their start their fifth round of Research on time. It wasn’t until an hour and a half later, at 9:30 PM, that the last Class Statue started the fifth round of Research.

Another complication was that the collection rate for Soul Fragments was going down. So, at midnight, when the Blood Soaked Cathedral refreshed, he planned to have the group he’d brought with him the first time clear it on their own.

The two biggest obstacles for clearing the Instance Dungeon were the mini-bosses and the boss. Previously, without Chéng Yáng present, both were insurmountable. Now that Phoenix Village had a batch of Clerics, the first obstacle was meaningless. Even if the Warriors took a large amount of damage, they wouldn’t have to worry about dying to the self-detonation of a Mephit if a Cleric was constantly healing them.

For the other obstacle, there were two reasons Chéng Yáng believed that someone other than him could pull off the strategy to cheese the boss to death. The first was that he’d obtained some high quality ear plugs from the ruins in Huìmín. With them, you could completely block out the roar of a Low-Grade Greater Mephit. The second was that four rounds of Research had been completed, buffing the Attributes of the Citizens of Phoenix Village significantly. Now, so long as the person responsible for dealing with the boss wasn’t a Mage, there was no way for the boss to kill them before they were able to climb the tree.

Despite these reassurances, Chéng Yáng still chose to let the two remaining runs for the day go to waste. The strategies to beat the Instance Dungeon were simple, but Chéng Yáng was worried that if he sent in people who’d never run the dungeon before they would make a fatal mistake at the last moment. He only trusted Yú Kǎi and Niú Bīng, who knew the layout of the cathedral and the location of the organ to attempt the strategy to cheese the boss.

Chéng Yáng split the four people who had cleared the Instance Dungeon with him that morning into two teams; the first team paired Yú Kǎi with Lǐ Wànshān and the second paired Niú Bīng with Liú Hào. He then filled out the rest of the team such that each had two Knights, a Druid, a Ranger, and a Cleric.

Naturally, the Cleric on Niú Bīng’s team was Páng Shān. Then, to make the number of S-Ranks on each team equal, Chéng Yáng had Zhào Chuān join Yú Kǎi’s group. With these line-ups, it was almost impossible for them to fail.

Chéng Yáng drilled the necessary strategies into their minds, then sent them into the Instance Dungeon. With this, two of the three runs for the day were accounted for.

As for the last run, Chéng Yáng would clear it on his own. With his strength there was almost no danger in doing so, and it allowed him to monopolize the Soul Fragments and equipment that dropped.

By relying on his high Movement Speed, Chéng Yáng kited the Lesser Mephits in the courtyard. Whenever he needed to Meditate and replenish his Mana he would climb onto the roof of a cloister.

Forty minutes after entering, Chéng Yáng had successfully completed the Instance Dungeon. The other two teams had been a bit faster than him and were already outside waiting for him.

Chéng Yáng’s first reaction upon seeing them was relief; nobody had died! The second was jealously. Between the two groups they had five new pieces of Black Iron equipment and four new pieces of Green Bronze equipment!

On average, clearing the Normal Difficulty of the Blood Soaked Cathedral provided three pieces of Green Bronze equipment and one piece of Black Iron equipment. At minimum you were guaranteed two pieces of equipment, one from the boss and one from the end chest. The boss had a 40% chance of dropping Black Iron equipment and the end chest had a 75% chance of doing so. The chance of not getting at least one piece of Black Iron equipment was pretty low.

As such, Chéng Yáng had expected to make quite the profit by completing a run on his own, but only two pieces of Green Bronze equipment had dropped! None of the mini-bosses had dropped anything, and both of his guaranteed drops had been Green Bronze equipment! Moreover, one of them was a Cloak so he couldn’t even use it. In the end, all he got was a Hat that gave him twenty Mana. It was better than nothing but compared to the others it was too pathetic.

Chéng Yáng could only curse his bad luck. He passed off the Cloak to Zhào Chuān and funnel his anger into farming more monsters.

This time, Chéng Yáng was able to collect enough Soul Fragments to start the final round of Research for each Class Statue right as they finished the previous ones. The monsters in the surrounding area had almost bee completely exterminated, but it had been enough.

Tomorrow morning, when their final Research was complete, the Class Statues would level up to the Standard-Grade. This would increase the number of Citizens that could register with each one, allowing the Settlement to fulfill that upgrade condition. Once it did, the only thing left would be to collect a thousand Soul Fragments and level up the Settlement!

Unfortunately, Chéng Yáng was already scraping the bottom of the barrel when it came to Soul Fragments. Unless he was willing to risk the safety of his Citizens by provoking a large herd, there was no way to quickly raise the funds he needed. Since leveling up the village a couple hours early wouldn’t provide any particular benefit, Chéng Yáng wasn’t willing to endanger his Citizens. Especially since their Innate Abilities were all top quality!

The Settlement wasn’t the only thing growing at an astounding rate, Chéng Yáng was too! His large Mana pool meant he spent less time resting, and more time fighting. Since he was strong enough and nothing particularly strong had spawned yet, he had also done his farming solo to maximize his gains. As a result, he managed to level up his Magic Missile skill! This had taken him two weeks in his previous life, but in this one it took him less than two days.

---

Magic Missile (Standard-Grade)
Gather Mana into a rapidly rotating, condensed sphere, then fire it.

Damage: 24.6	Cost: 6 Mana
Range: 30 m	Cooldown: 2.95 sec

---

You couldn’t tell when just looking at the description, but the damage ratio had changed. Chéng Yáng only had 20.5 Ability Power, but his Skill did 24.6 damage, meaning it did 120% of his Ability Power instead of the 100% that it did at the Low-Grade level!

Upgrading his Skill wasn’t the only benefit Chéng Yáng gained from these past few hours. Of the nearly three thousands six hundred Soul Fragments raised, Chéng Yáng accounted for nearly thirty percent! Just from that, he had 1,162 Soul Fragments! Enough to unlock eight times training speed even if he couldn’t actually use it.

But that wasn’t all. One of the conditions Chéng Yáng had imposed on the people he had allowed to become Players today was that they needed to pay back the money needed to appraise their talents and perform their Transcendence Ceremonies. In total, they owed 1,420 Soul Fragments. A Low-Grade Village couldn’t collect debt because there was no way to accept donations. There also weren’t any stores or services to ban someone from until the debt was paid. Since that was the case, it was better for Chéng Yáng to embezzle the funds for himself!

Once he counted the Soul Fragments the new Players had paid him, Chéng Yáng had over two thousand Soul Fragments! Enough to support his use of eight times training speed for a few days.

During his cultivation session, Chéng Yáng burned more than three hundred Soul Fragments to supplement his training, filling his experience bar up to the 10.24% mark. Although it was common for the leaders of large factions to consume that many or more every day in his previous life, it was unprecedented to do so this early into the apocalypse!

Chéng Yáng’s team leaders were also able to make significant progress in their cultivation. When they cleared the Instance Dungeon they each gained twenty Soul Fragments. Combined with the surplus of Soul Fragments gained during their fanatic farming session, each of them had unlocked four times cultivation speed without even having to pool their resources.

Some of the Mages and Rangers among the old Players had also managed to unlock four times cultivation speed for an hour or two. Compared to Warriors and Druids who spent most of their time entangled with a single opponent, ranged Classes could farm more efficiently.

The new Players, on the other hand, had unlocked two times cultivation speed at best and some of them had struggled to do even that. Part of the problem was that they had to pay back part of their harvest to Chéng Yáng, however, the primary reason was that they were simply far less efficient than the old Players when it came to farming monsters since they weren’t used to their abilities left.

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The people Lǐ Wànshān and the others selected were instructed to wait in the Cultivation Chambers, while the current Citizens of Phoenix Village power farmed monsters. Since they were earmarked to become Players, they were granted a certain level of comfort above the other ordinary people and were allowed to bring their families or friends with them to get out of the sun.

“You fucking bastard! You class traitor!” An angry voiced echoed throughout the Settlement as Hú Jūn stormed out of one of the Cultivation Chambers the chosen civilians had entered.

When Chéng Yáng had made him “disappear” earlier, he had actually teleported him inside one of the Cultivation Chambers and locked him inside until one of the chosen civilians had accidentally let him out. Lords had a remarkable amount of power inside their Settlement, especially over normal people; he could teleport an ordinary person anywhere inside the Settlement’s range of influence. To psychological increase the impact when he used this power earlier, Chéng Yáng had added some theatrics, but in reality, he could do so as long as he willed it.

Chéng Yáng sighed. He’d completely forgotten about this troublesome person.

“You were being incredibly rude while I was trying to work so I had you go somewhere else for a bit. I’m sorry if it was a bit sudden, but your behavior was too excessive.” Chéng Yáng tried to brush Hú Jūn off with an apology, “If you have a problem with how I run things, or feel that I’m too much of a tyrant, you are free to leave the village and return to Huìmín.”

“Leave? Why should I be the one to leave?” Hú Jūn shouted at Chéng Yáng, drawing a crowd, “This place is located within the city limits of Huìmín, and as the mayor of Huìmín, it is legally under my jurisdiction. So, I think that actually you, are the one who should leave!”

Chéng Yáng whipped around to look at Hú Jūn in awe. Could such a moron truly exist in this world? Where did his confidence come from? Even after personally experiencing Chéng Yáng’s authority as a Lord he’d still come over to raise a fuss instead of cowering. Moreover, Chéng Yáng had even apologized to soothe the man’s ego, and yet he still wanted to start a fight.

“You son of a bitch!” Zhào Chuān, who had been chosen by Chéng Yáng and was standing nearby, couldn’t control his anger when he heard Hú Jūn’s bullshit, “Who was it that rescued you from the ruins this morning? Who was it that rescued your family this afternoon? Who was it that provided the food you’ve eaten today fed you two meals today? Mayor? Do you really think that title hold any power anymore? How can such an ungrateful person exist? Shameful!”

“Ha! Don’t think that little act of righteous anger will work on the army when they arrive! They’ll see right through your charade and punish you for the vicious acts you’ve committed again me and the citizens of Huìmín!”

Chéng Yáng snorted.

“How about I toss you outside the walls this time? I don’t know when the army will get here, but unless its within the next ten minutes you’ll be nothing but bones when they do.”

“You, you, you, you… you’re a murderer! A criminal!” Hú Jūn’s turned to face the crowd that had gathered, “Do you see this? These are his true colors! Will you continue to be blinded by his empty promises? Rise up! We outnumber then five to one! So long as we detain them we need not live under his tyranny.”

Despite Hú Jūn’s provocation, the crowd stayed silent. Although Hú Jūn didn’t know the meaning of fear, how could the others not realize that open rebellion meant death? Even if they thought Chéng Yáng was out of line by trying to institute his rule over them, it wasn’t like he’d treated them badly.

“It doesn’t look like your words resonated with the crowd, Mr. Mayor.” Chéng Yáng said with a chuckle. “It seems like they saw through your ambition to control this Settlement yourself. You should learn not to be so greedy, or at least how to be more subtle about it”

Chéng Yáng gave Hú Jūn an opportunity to reply, but having seen that the crowd wasn’t with him, he stayed silent and stewed in his anger.

“Enough people have died from the calamity. Another death, even of a petulant man like you, would just add to the tragedy. Take some time to reflect on yourself before dinner, and remember, if you still refuse to participate, you’ll be going to bed hungry.”

Hú Jūn’s face twisted in fury, but he didn’t reply. He’d overestimated the influence his previous position would have over the survivors from Huìmín. Although he’d been fairly powerful, he’d never been particularly popular and raving like a drunken bum had destroyed his image in the hearts of the public.

Despite Chéng Yáng’s admonition, he still felt like the righteous one in this situation. Since the public hadn’t sided with him, Chéng Yáng must have intimidated or bribed them while he’d be locked inside that Cultivation Chamber.

He swore to himself that he would repay this humiliation ten-fold! When the army arrived he would testify and have Chéng Yáng executed for treason! Then, as the former mayor, wouldn’t he naturally be given the authority Chéng Yáng now held? With a grunt, Hú Jūn pushed his way through the crowd and walked off.

As the crowd that had formed to watch the drama dispersed, Chéng Yáng assessed the aptitude of the people he chose and performed their Transcendence Ceremonies. Although this would unbalance the Class ration on the other teams, it would only be until tomorrow when he was able to level up the Class Statues.

In total, Chéng Yáng’s team now had five Knights, five Mages, six Rangers, three Druids, and a Cleric. Three Players had B-Rank Innate Abilities and the others had A-Rank Innate Abilities, except for one. Zhào Chuān, who had stood up to Hú Jūn earlier, had a special Innate Ability that was on par with or better than an S-Rank Innate Ability!

---

Zhào Chuān

Phoenix Village Citizen
Class: Druid
Level: Low-Grade Apprentice (0%)

Age	31	Life Span	150
Health	20	Mana	80
Attack Damage	5.85	Ability Power	13
Attack Resistance	2	Magic Resistance	2
Attack Speed	2	Movement Speed	2.2

Innate Abilities

• Attack Damage is increased by 30%
• Movement speed is increased by 10%
• Natural Predator: All monsters within 100 meters of summoned creatures have their Attributes reduced by 10%

Skills

Spirit Communion (Core Skill)
Lie on your back and commune with spirits to recover and advance

Summon Wolf (Low-Grade)
Summons an obedient wolf with base attributes equal to the summoner.

Duration: 10 min	Cost: 10 Mana
Cast Time: 14.75 sec	Cooldown: 44.26 sec

Equipment

Wooden Staff (One Handed)
A solid wood staff, well suited to hitting things.

Damage: 5.85	Cooldown: 1.45 sec
Range: 1 m

---

Chéng Yáng had been shocked when he saw Zhào Chuān’s system pane. His understanding was that there were three types of Innate Abilities: normal Innate Abilities that enhanced a person’s Attributes, special Innate Abilities that enhanced a Hidden Attribute, Lord Innate Abilities that enhanced Settlements, and Manager Innate Abilities that enhanced Settlements when they were placed in the corresponding management position. Zhào Chuān’s Innate Ability completely defied these conventions and provided him with an always active Passive Skill. An incredibly overpowered one at that!

Since Zhào Chuān had an Innate Ability like this, naturally there must have been people with similar abilities in his previous life. If Chéng Yáng had to guess, these people had been kept as the hidden trump cards of various organizations. Considering how powerful the Innate Ability Zhào Chuān had, Chéng Yáng was inclined to do the same.

Although ten percent didn’t mean much when facing a single Low-Grade Immature monster, if Phoenix Village were besieged by monsters, it could sap away hundreds of Attribute points. Moreover, he could have multiple summons active at the same time! If the effects stacked it would quickly become overbearing; five active summons meant a combined sixty percent Attribute reduction.

Chéng Yáng immediately began to clear an area in the northern part of Phoenix Village where he could quickly impart the knowledge the new Players needed and have them practice their Skills. The sooner he took them out hunting, the sooner he could fill the remaining Citizen slots, and collect the Soul Fragments he needed to level up the Class Statues.

As the new Players got used to their new abilities, a psychological gap between them and the other survivors from Huìmín became to form. Although they had seen the old Players in action, it was only now that they truly understood just how different they were from ordinary people.

Once he was confident they had the basics down, Chéng Yáng left them to practice by themselves for a while and walked back to the Territory Altar to create another ten Cultivation Chambers using nearly all of the remaining Wood. Without sufficient Cultivation Chambers, the growth of the new Players would be stifled. It was painful to use what little Wood he had left, but it needed to be done.

After upgrading the Settlement, if Chéng Yáng wanted to build any of the new buildings he’d have to gather scrap wood from the surrounding area. How much they would find was entirely up to luck and there were no shortcuts.

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“Open threat.” Niú Bīng replied. “I’m glad that you have that kind of trump card.”

Liú Hào and Yú Kǎi nodded in agreement. Despite hearing that Chéng Yáng could strip their status as a Player, all they felt was relief. Not one of them believed that he might use that power on them.

“Open threat it is.” Chéng Yáng nodded, “After we create the teams, try to get to know everyone and listen to their issues. We’ve got the plans in place to entice them to stay for benefits, but it costs us nothing if they want to stay because they like the people here. They’ll also fight hard to protect you and each other if they care about you. Also, try to dethrone the reputation of the military in their mind. Don’t push the idea to hard, but if they still hold delusions that the military is the only real authority it will cause problems for us in the future.”

“Rest assured, we’ll make sure to follow your plans.” Yú Kǎi said, “I doubt anyone would believe that the military can return the world to normal after seeing the things they have. It shouldn’t take too much pushing to show them that strength as Players in the only authority in this world.”

“Good.” Chéng Yáng nodded, “Although being likeable can help you lead people, there’s only one thing that will make everyone respect you: strength. As a Player, you only have two options to increase your strength above the others in the Settlement: cultivation, and gathering equipment. Using the second method will generate more envy than respect, so the only option is to cultivate. Two times cultivation speed might make you above average compared to those in a Safe Zone, but who wasn’t able to use two times cultivation speed yesterday? In order to truly surpass the others, you need to unlock four times cultivation speed. This means maintaining a surplus of a hundred Soul Fragments, and absorbing thirty to forty each day.”

“Easier said that done.” Liú Hào derisively snorted, “That’s easier said than done Yoko. Experience Fragments are just too hard to get. Each monster only gives one and if too many people participate you may not get one at all. I spent the entire day patrolling the wall and killing monsters but didn’t even get fifty Experience Fragments and that was using ranged attacks to kill a monster on my own! I don’t think it will be a problem getting enough to use two times training speed but getting that many Experience Fragments every day is just too hard!”

“Then what about if you only had to save up twenty-five each? It’s possible to give your Soul Fragments to another person, so if you save up, it shouldn’t be difficult to save a hundred Soul Fragments between the three of you and Old Lǐ. You just have to make sure to cultivate at different times. This can also be considered something of a test for Old Lǐ. If he refuses to give back the Soul Fragments once he gets them, we can pick someone else to be a team leader and threaten to kick him out of the Settlement to get them back.”

Liú Hào and the others nodded with understanding. It would indeed be simple to gather the necessary Soul Fragments if they split the work.

Once they had finished, Chéng Yáng brought his friends out to put the plan into motion. He would have preferred to take some time to hang out like they usually did, but time was short and the apocalypse waited for no man.

The citizens of Huìmín were sitting in clustered groups. They emanated an aura of anxiety and fear, but this was already better than the despair they had felt earlier.

Chéng Yáng walked over to the Territory Altar and climbed on top, and fired a Magic Missile into the air to draw their attention.

“Attention, everyone.” He shouted, “I have an announcement to make.”

Before he could say another word, the crowd rushed towards him and bombarded him with questions.

“What happened to the world?” “How did you get your powers?” “A you sure we’re safe?” “What is this place?” “Who are you?”

Chéng Yáng stayed silent and waited for the crowd to realize that he wasn’t going to answer them.

“Let me answer your questions, with another question.” Chéng Yáng began, “Do you want to live?”

There was some scattered affirmation, but the crowd had mostly stayed silent.

“I said: Do. You. Want. To. Live!?”

“Yes!” This time the cry was resounding as hundreds of people voiced their desires.

“Good! Since you want to live, listen carefully to what I have to say. Do you remember that pork you ate? It didn’t appear out of thin air. My companions had to risk their lives to kill vicious monsters in order for you to fill your bellies. ‘He who does not work, neither does he eat.’ I’m sure you’ve all heard this quote before.

“How can you expect us to fight monsters? We’re not powerful like you are.” A voice shouted from the crowd. Soon after dozens of others joined in.

“I will not force you to fight monsters.” Chéng Yáng said once the crowd had calmed down. “But that is not the only thing that needs to be done around here. Monsters need to be butchered. Food needs to be cooked. With so many people this area will need frequent cleaning. Anyone who does not contribute towards will not be welcome in the Settlement.”

“So we would be your slaves?!” An angry voice burst out as a man forced himself to the front of the crowd. “Just because you’re powerful you think that we must serve you?!”

Chéng Yáng looked down and saw Hú Jūn. The arrogant man from earlier was making a fuss again. Before he could agitate the crowd further, Chéng Yáng quickly cried out.

“You too can be powerful like me!” Chéng Yáng quickly cried out before the crowd was agitated by Hú Jūn’s words. “I plan to share this power with those who are willing to fight against the monsters to protect everyone else. However, I will only share it with those who are willing to follow my orders.”

“Why should we have to follow you to get power? Why should you get to decide how others live? Everything belongs to the state, this place included!” Hú Jūn had climbed up onto the Territory Altar with Chéng Yáng.

“That’s true, but who here can represent the state?” Chéng Yáng asked, making sure his voice reached everyone in the crowd. “Since the state is not here, whats more important: the state, or its people? I am committed to saving its people, and making sure that all of you survive this disaster. However, this Settlement belongs to me, so until the state is here to instruct me, I have the right to use it how I please.”

Chéng Yáng suppressed a sneer. When the state arrives? How many years in the future would that be? Outside of Běijīng, the state had ceased to exist.

Hú Jūn jabbed his finger and opened his mouth to retort, but Chéng Yáng simply waved his hand at him, as if he were wiping away a stain. Then, in front of the everyone, Hú Jūn vanished.

The crowd became deathly silent when they remembered that the person in front of them wasn’t an ordinary youth. He was someone that could easily kill a monster, someone that had transcended the limits of humanity.

Chéng Yáng watched their reactions with a satisfied smile. He’d never expected the crowd to accept having to submit to him, so it was necessary to do some non-lethal intimidation. Once the stick was visible, they would consider taking the carrot. It wouldn’t be long before they realized just how terrible this new world was. When they did, they would be happy to obey his every command.

“Now then. Who here wants to become a super human? I don’t have the ability to provide this privilege to everyone, but for now, a hundred people will be selected. If you are unwilling to submit to me and follow my instructions, you can leave now. Even if you aren’t chosen today, there will be more opportunities in the future.”

The vast majority of people stayed put and only a small number made a point of leaving. After all, there was no harm in staying to see what happened.

As Old Lee watched the scene from the edge of the crowd, he couldn’t help but feel grateful that he’d met Chéng Yáng when he had. He and his employees already had the power they needed to survive in this world, but if they hadn’t come here to make a delivery, they might have already died.

He also developed a faint sense of superiority over the people present. Not only was he a Player, but he was one of the original Players in the Settlement. It wasn’t just him that felt this way, his employees did too. Without them consciously realizing it, they had tied their fate to Phoenix Village’s.

While he was thinking, Lǐ Wànshān heard a voice.

“Old Lǐ, you too, come over here.”

Chéng Yáng had brought his three friends over to the Territory Altar and was waving him over as well. Although he was confused, Lǐ Wànshān walked over to Chéng Yáng’s side.

“Old Lǐ, since we’re expanding our forces, I’m going to divide us into five teams. Me and my friends will each lead one, and I want you to lead one as well.” Chéng Yáng then switched to address his friends as well. ” Each of us will pick twenty people from the crowd that will join our teams. We’ll also split the people who are already Players between ourselves. We can’t make everyone we pick a Player right now, but you may need extras if too many people have the same aptitude.”

Lǐ Wànshān felt his heart skip a beat. If he led one of the teams, wouldn’t he become an important figure in the Settlement in the future? He wasn’t interested in power, the only thing on his mind was saving his family, but he couldn’t help but feel that it was still a good thing. After all, once his family was saved, having a strong position in the Settlement meant he could provide them with a good life. He would also have some amount of influence over Chéng Yáng. At the very least, if he had something to say, Chéng Yáng would have to listen.

Chéng Yáng gave himself first pick of the citizens of Huìmín. Since there was no way to check someone’s Innate Ability before they became a Player, there wasn’t any real advantage to picking first, but it was a mark of prestige to do so.

When a person became a Player, any underlying conditions they had would be cured. Even the elderly were filled with renewed vigor. Since that was the case, the only real factor when selecting a candidate was their mindset. Chéng Yáng picked out twenty people that had left an impression on him during the day, most of whom were people that had been willing to risk their life for food, or that had survived under horrible conditions that proved their tenacity.

Once Chéng Yáng had made his selection, the other four made theirs. When the last slot had been filled, the crowd let out a sigh. Although they weren’t totally sure what Chéng Yáng intended to do, they knew that they had missed out on an important opportunity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What’s your name?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chéng Yáng nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perhaps they would have nightmares for the next few nights.

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

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

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

Lǐ Wànshān pensively surveyed the desolate scene.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“A-are you human?” He croaked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Xiāngyáng was shrouded by a thick haze of despair.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chéng Yáng walked over and picked up the vial.

---

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

Cost: 100

Time: 6 hours

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

Innate Abilities

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

Skills

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

---

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

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

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

---

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

Durability: 50

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

Durability: 50

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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