XMTL

It was a little past four in the afternoon when Cheng Yang returned to Silkworm Mountain.

Cheng Yang allowed Yu Kai to give his Vice Governor some instruction before the group set off for Phoenix Village.

At that time, Silkworm Mountain had reached the High Grade. However, this was a bottleneck for the satellite village. Phoenix Village didn’t have enough stone to share, and Silkworm Mountain didn’t have its own supply. As such, it would be quite some time before it leveled up again.

While passing through Cloud City, Cheng Yang deliberately avoided moving too far into the city. Now that Yuan Jianzhe was searching for the Forgotten Grave, it was only a matter of time before they came into conflict. However, Silkworm Mountain would be vulnerable if it were to be cut off from Phoenix Village. So, at the very least, Cheng Yang hoped to keep the location of the village a secret.

As long as Yuan Jianzhe didn’t threaten his interests, Cheng Yang was content to keep the peace. After all, it would be harder to develop in a time of war.

Along the way, Cheng Yang rescued a few refugees. There weren’t many left in Cloud City. Those that remained were either extremely lucky or had the tenacity of a cockroach.

At this point, of the million or so people that inhabited the city before the apocalypse, there were a few tens of thousands still in the ruins, the upwards of ten thousand in Phoenix Village and around three hundred thousand in the safe zone.

Overall, about forty percent of humanity should still be alive. However, over the next week or so, another ten percent of the previous population would die as food reserves ran out. Anyone unable to reach a safe zone would perish.

---

Yuan Jianzhe frowned at the ceiling of his attic.

He was currently relaxing in his high-class condo. It was expensive to rent, but his progress left others in the dust. In fact, after tonight, he would become a Standard-Grade Warrior.

Yuan Jianzhe, however, wasn’t happy. As nice as it was to grow, it wouldn’t matter if Cloud City remained weak.

His subordinates had searched the ruins for two entire days but had yet to find an instance dungeon. At this rate, Cloud City would fall behind the rest of the world.

He was beginning to think Cloud City didn’t have an instance dungeon. Still, since other cities had them, he refused to give up!

Although that was frustrating, it wasn’t the real reason Yuan Jianzhe was upset. Earlier today, he put together various intelligence reports and uncovered a terrifying truth: there was another group of people in Cloud City, and they were far stronger than the military.

Their true strength was unknown but significantly higher than theirs, and their speed was beyond comprehension. At first, it just was scattered rumors of super-powerful individuals, but recently a whole army was discovered.

Whoever they were, they had tried hard to conceal their existence, but one thing was certain: they had been here since nearly the beginning of the apocalypse.

Two other points scared Yuan Jianzhe. The first was that several people had seen these people recruiting civilians from the ruins. Secondly, the description of that group’s leader matched that of the NPC that visited the safe zone.

As such, Yuan Jianzhe couldn’t even confirm that the other group was composed of humans. If the person from before was to be believed, they might be a group of NPCs.

A knock on the door interrupted Yuan Jianzhe’s thoughts.

“Come in, Lao Wu. What’s happened?” At the commander’s admission, a brisk man with solemn eyes entered the attic.

“Are you still worried about those mysterious people, commander?”

“How could I not be? We don’t know if they’re hostile or not. Hell, we don’t even know where they came from. I asked all of the nearby cities if they sent forces here, but they’ve all denied it. They’re probably telling the truth too. The nearest one is thirty kilometers away.”

“Is it possible they’re from here? Maybe they beat us to the safe zone and performed class change ceremonies before leaving.”

“Unlikely.” Yuan Jianzhe said immediately. “You saw what it was like when we arrived. There was no way a civilian could have made it past those monsters. Even if they started in the safe zone, they wouldn’t have been able to escape. Besides, there are too many of them for that.”

“That’s true…” Lao Wu sighed.

“Anyways, why did you come to see me?” Yuan Jianzhe asked.

“I’ll get straight to the point. We’re going to run out of potable water soon. It was manageable when there weren’t that many civilians, but right now, we only have enough water left for three days.”

Yuan Jianzhe’s hearts skipped a beat. If someone had to go a day without food, it would be hard but tolerable. However, if the civilians weren’t even given water, they were sure to riot.

“I remember there used to be a river right outside the city. Can we use that?”

“Perhaps, but it will be difficult. According to people from the outskirts of the ruins, the city has been nearly isolated from the surrounding area by massive canyons. There are only a few stone bridges across, and the other side has become a dense forest. As for the river itself, the path has changed impossibly. It comes out of the ground in the northwest and disappears back into the ground in the southeast. It’s a weird river that flows from nowhere to nowhere. I’, not sure if it’s safe to drink.” Lao Wu reported.

Yuan Jianzhe frowned. “Despite that, once we run out of water, that river will be our only source.”

Lao Wu smiled sadly. “I know, commander. Someone will have to be our guinea pig. What are your orders.”

Yaun Jianzhe stared back at his subordinate with deadened eyes. “Find some civilians to do it. If we offer a hot meal, there will be no shortage of volunteers.”

“Understood commander. I’ll make sure it is done promptly.”

“By the way,” Yuan Jianzhe stopped Lao Wu from leaving, “Have we had any luck negotiating with nearby cities?”

“We’ve recently been in contact with Northern Cang City, and they seem receptive. However, the municipal government is in control there, not the military. Two days after the earthquake, they were able to rely on the police force to open up the safe zone. However, even though they’re friendly, they’ve already betrayed the country. They have no intention of asking the military for help or following orders from the national government. It seems like they want to establish themselves as a new country.”

“Fucking politicians! Of course, they’d pull shit like this as soon as an opportunity arrived.” Yuan Jianzhe said mercilessly.

Lao Wu hesitated for a moment. “Forgive me for asking, commander, but how do you plan to respond to Beijing’s summons?”

Yuan Jianzhe hesitated before replying. “Tell them everything they ask for and let them know we plan to remain loyal. We have nothing to hide.”

Lao Wu nodded before leaving.

After his subordinate left, Yuan Jianzhe stood up and walked over to the window and watched the sun set over the ruins.

---

After Cheng Yang returned to Phoenix village, he immediately constructed a new High-Grade Meditation Hall.

The manual workers in Phoenix Village worked hard today, so there were plenty of materials lying around to build with.

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For a monster to deal that much damage to Cheng Yang was horrifying. He had an abnormal number of defensive buffs, but even so, the flurry of attacks tore him apart.

Cheng Yang was used to pain, however. So, even with talons digging into his flesh, he sent an icicle flying through the bird’s eye. At the same time, Yu Kai fired into the bird’s chest.

Cheng Yang didn’t know whos attack finally killed the leader, but, after their combined effort, the monster was dead.

Glancing towards the corpse, Cheng Yang found that the Spined Eagles weren’t so scary anymore. That one was at least a Pinnacle-Grade monster since it dealt so much damage, but even so, Cheng Yang had bested it easily.

It wasn’t as if Cheng Yang hadn’t killed Pinnacle-Grade monsters before, but this was the first time he really felt it. Understood just how powerful he had become. Other than him, which person had such a perverted collection of skills?

Honestly, it wasn’t that big of an achievement to kill a monster at the same level. The stats of humans and monsters grew at the same rate when they were in the first stage of evolution. So, with the help of equipment and other items, humans could beat a monster of the same rank with ease.

However, that wouldn’t always be the case. Once they reached maturity, the rate at which a monster’s stats grew increased exponentially. Fighting against them, the only way to win was teamwork, skill, and exceptional items.

Some people tried to argue that humanities skills were better, but most Standard-Grade Mature monsters had even more perverted skills than Cheng Yang. Some were even better than Liu Wei’s!

In other words, although this was the apocalypse, it wasn’t yet the end of the world. The current era could be considered a tutorial before the real apocalypse — something designed to allow humanity to adapt to their new world before truly throwing them into hell.

Moreover, once a monster reached maturity, they became smarter. Not as smart as monsters like Orcs but enough that they couldn’t be tricked. They learned how to hunt and to be patient. They became far more dangerous.

When Cheng Yang died in the past, all it had taken was a single strike. Remembering that was enough to sober him up. If he had been fighting the Spined Eagle from back then, perhaps he would be the one bleeding out on the ground right now.

Thinking about the battles to come, Cheng Yang refocused himself. Fighting spirit wouldn’t help here. His only strengths would be cunning and determination.

Then, Cheng Yang brought himself back to reality. The leader was dead, but hundreds of Spined Eagles remained.

Even with just three people, with the leader dead and the cover provided by the shallow cave, they were unbeatable. Every one of them was able to kill a Standard-Grade monster instantly.

Cheng Yang also had the Physical Defense necessary to act as a tank. Although the leader was able to deal massive damage to him, monsters under High-Grade were utterly useless in front of him.

Even if he took damage, his cheat-like skills regarding potions allowed him to stay in peak condition.

A few minutes later, Cheng Yang’s fear of spined Eagles was cured. Hundreds of bodies were strewn across the hillside while blood and feathers decorated the trees like some demonic holiday festival. To Cheng Yang, the scene held a certain beauty to it. It was an illustration of the strength he had built up from nothing. A promise that in this life, he would not suffer the fate of helplessly dying to a random mob.

“Hah, these fuckers weren’t so strong!” Yu Kai chuckled while kicking his way through corpses.

Cheng Yang was speechless. “Have you already forgotten about almost dying?”

“That incident?” Yu Kai asked with a grin, “Total fluke, if I hadn’t been distracted by someone sprinting past me, it wouldn’t have happened. Anyways, we have treasure to find!”

Cheng Yang nodded. Although there might be a few Spined Eagles left somewhere, the primary threat had been eliminated. As such, it was time for them to collect their rewards.

Once they reached the summit, Yu Kai pointed towards the leader’s tree. “The treasure I saw was up there, my Lord.”

“Stay here. I’ll go up and take a look.” Cheng Yang replied.

Although the tree was enormous, the gaps between the bark were large and sturdy, making it easy to climb.

A few minutes later, Cheng Yang pulled himself over the edge of the nest and finally saw the treasure Yu Kai told him about.

It glowed red like the evening sun, everlasting and unreachable. It regally floated above the refuse and clutter of the nest, giving the impression that it resented having to exist in such an impure world.

Cheng Yang had seen a lot of treasure across his lives but nothing at this level. Not only was it outside of a chest, but it was floating! There was no way this was an everyday item.

Once Cheng Yang got closer, he recognized the item as a feather seemingly made from flame. Then, with a strong leap, he grabbed the feather from its lofty heights.

---

Nirvana Feather (Low-Grade)
Every time a phoenix dies, it leaves behind a single feather. Placing it in a position of honor within a house will allow the inhabitants to strengthen their bodies.

Effect: Increases training time by two hours
Upgrade Condition: 1 drop of phoenix blood
Upgrade Condition: 1,000,000 Experience Fragments

---

Once Cheng Yang read the items system pane, his brain stopped functioning.

Never between his two lives had he heard of such a heaven-defying item. The ability to increase the amount of time someone could train just was just that unnatural. It broke the most fundamental rule that the gods imposed on humanity.

Of course, Cheng Yang would need to spend more Experience Fragments each night and have less time to gather them. However, it was well worth it since he could level up thirty percent faster.

Moreover, the Nirvana Feather wouldn’t just help him, but everyone that used his Meditation Hall. That meant twenty people could reap the benefits of the Nirvana Feather every day!

The only downside was that the upgrade conditions it mentioned were impossible to fulfill. At least in Cheng Yang’s eyes. Nevermind phoenix blood, even getting a million Experience Fragments was enough to stop him from ever upgrading it.

However, since he was a Lord, there was no way he would let people use his Meditation Hall for this. As such, he planned to construct a new High-Grade Mediation Hall once he returned to Phoenix Village.

Cheng Yang put the feather into his ring and then climbed down.

“My Lord, what was up there?” Yu Kai asked with an expectant smile.

In response, Cheng Yang tossed the feather to Yu Kai.

“Holy shit! No way am I going to stay and train at Silkworm Mountain! I’m going to come back every night so that I can train with this.”

“Do as you please.” Cheng Yang smirked. “I’ll make sure you have one of the twenty training slots.”

“Twenty? That’s not a lot.” Yu Kai said nervously. “You’ll take one, another will go towards Liu Wei for sure, and the generals will get one. What are you planning to do about the other thirteen slots? Do you think you could give my battalion some special treatment? After all, we found the Nirvana Feather.”

Cheng Yang was helpless in front of his friends, pleading. “We’ll talk about it when we get back, but I promise the Fox Hunting Battalion will be properly compensated.”

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“My Lord, what’s your plan?” Yu Kai asked, “If we don’t kill those monsters, we won’t be able to retrieve the treasure.”

“The treasure is secondary right now.” Cheng Yang replied, “We need to make sure every single one of these feathered bastards dies here today.”

“My Lord. Look over there.” Liu Wei tapped on Cheng Yang’s shoulder before guiding his gaze towards the tree on the peak of the hill.

Just like Yu Kai said, there was a nest there which was larger than all the others and, the owner had just landed.

Cheng Yang grinned. “That’s the leader! Great job Liu Wei!”

However, only moments later, Cheng Yang’s expression fell. There were a few hundred nests in between them and the leader. Not to mention, with the sparser foliage, there was no chance that they could sneak to the peak.

“My Lord, why don’t you just forcibly attack? With your Physical Defense, there shouldn’t be much danger.” Yu Kai suggested.

Cheng Yang shuddered at the thought of being ripped apart by Spined Eagles on all sides. “I’d rather not. Even if I can survive, what if they notice you two? You might survive, but Liu Wei would definitely die!”

Seeing that Yu Kai had accepted his last-minute rebuttal, Cheng Yang offered a new solution.

“Look over there. Do you see that cave? It’s a decent place to fight from so. I think we should bunker down there and then aggravate the monsters. That way, we won’t get surrounded.”

Cheng Yang called it a cave, but that was a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like a shallow dent in a side of the hill. It might have been effective against normal monsters, but it didn’t provide much protection against aerial attacks.

Since he didn’t have a better plan, Yu Kai reluctantly accepted Cheng Yang’s proposal.

“Let’s go.” Cheng Yang ordered. Once he did, his companions scrambled forwards, groping their way up the steep, rocky hill.

They were faster than before since there weren’t many thorn bushes, but they weren’t fast enough. After traveling less than twenty feet, a Spined Eagled dove at them with a shrill cry.

Giving up on stealth, the group started running towards the shallow cave. When they did, Cheng Yang looked up into the sky.

The monster above him was terrifying. It moved like a storm of black clouds as its wingspan covered the ground with shadows. It was massive, three or four times bigger than the Spined Eagles that had attacked them earlier.

“Liu Wei, look out!” Cheng Yang shouted when he noticed who the bird’s target was. At the same time, a dozen more monsters flew over.

“Fuck!” Cheng Yang forced himself to fire an icicle at the big bird despite his fear. Unfortunately, his shaking hands let him down. His aim was slightly off, allowing his target to dodge out of the way.

As a small mercy, one of the other ones got hit and fell to the ground alongside two others. Although Cheng Yang was struggling to keep calm, his companions had acted as soon as they noticed the monsters attack.

Now, it was time for the counter-attack. The few remaining monsters stretched out their talons and, instead of diving, swooped towards their targets.

“Don’t let them catch you!” Cheng Yang shouted when he realized what they were trying to do.

When the Spined Eagles attack Phoenix Village in Cheng Yang’s previous life, the worst possible way to die was being dropped out of the sky. If the monsters decided you were to difficult to kill directly, they would pick you up, fly into the air, and then drop you a few hundred meters.

The god’s system measured fall damage numerically, but as far as anyone knew, a fall from that high up was an instant death even for Pinnacle-Grade Apprentices.

Once Cheng Yang warned them, Liu Wei and Yu Kai focused more on dodging the monster’s grapples. Although it didn’t stop them from attacking, they avoided the worst fate.

The monster’s corpses barely hit the ground before another pair tried to carry off Cheng Yang’s teammates.

Moving quickly, Cheng Yang shot the Spined Eagle heading for Liu Wei, opening himself up to an attack in the process. The cooldown on her skill was far too long to withstand a continuous assault.

Then, with a crisp sound, Cheng Yang’s arm was torn to shreds by the claws of a Spined Eagle. But, he had saved Liu Wei.

Ignoring both his wounds and his fear, Cheng Yang dashed forwards like a madman, like a bullet train, hurtling forward. An unstoppable calamity. He reached Liu Wei in an instant, and when he did, he forcibly stopped himself before gingerly placing his arms around her waist. Once he did, he sprinted towards the cave.

“Lie down, as long as I’m here they won’t be able to reach you.” Liu Wei suddenly found herself on the ground, underneath Cheng Yang’s protective form. Despite the danger she was in, a small blush had crept onto her cheeks. Luckily, Cheng Yang had already turned his attention towards the much slower Yu Kai.

Just when he did, Cheng Yang was greeted by the sight of Yu Kai being lifted off the ground.

Without hesitation, Cheng Yang raised his stave and knocked the Spined Eagle out of the sky.

Even though Cheng Yang acted as soon as he could, Yu Kai still fell nearly a dozen meters after being dropped.

As such, when he hit the ground, Yu Kai was stunned and unable to stabilize himself.

At this point, the leader of the Spined Eagles sprung into action. It dove towards the ground, intending to finish the job its subordinate failed to complete.

Cheng Yang’s instinctively began to cast Icicle Blast before coming to a realization. Even if he hit the leader, unless it died, Yu Kai would be carried to high for Cheng Yang to make a second attack.

Forcibly canceling the spell, Cheng Yang cast Hibernation Chill instead, freezing the Spined Eagle’s movement.

With a sickening crunch, the leader’s wings snapped as it hit the ground. Then, an Icicle and an arrow embedded themselves in the leader’s skull.

By now, Yu Kai had reunited with the rest of the group in the cave. It wasn’t an ideal position, but at least now, the monsters couldn’t attack Liu Wei, and there wasn’t the possibility of a sneak attack from behind.

Flexing its shattering wings, the leader of the Spined Eagles broke out of its icy prison. At the same time, it let out an earsplitting screech and, like a whirlwind, released the hundreds of spikes the covered its wings.

While shielding Liu Wei with his body, Cheng Yang released another Icicle Blast. No matter what level the monster was, Cheng Yang wasn’t scared that an AOE attack could kill him in one shot.

Shockingly, the bird didn’t even try to avoid Cheng Yang’s attack, and despite having been hit by several already, it charged directly at him.

“Oh shit!” Cheng Yang panicked as the birds claw grew menacingly big in his eyes.

A moment later, the bid grabbed him, ripping apart his abdomen before yanking Cheng Yang up to its beak and ripping out his throat.

Every one of his defensive items lost nearly five durability at once, and Cheng Yang took sixty-seven damage.

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During combat, Spined Eagles were only somewhat difficult to deal with. They had an AOE attack but using it prevented them from flying for a few weeks, and it was weaker than their regular attacks.

The real threat they posed was the ability to reproduce quickly. No one knew if Spined Eagles laid eggs or not, but their numbers could triple in a few short weeks.

Cheng Yang died in his previous life because his Lord had been unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to clear out a flock of Spined Eagles. He decided to wait until the village was stronger, but by then, there were dozens of times more monsters which led, presumably, to the village’s destruction.

Without Warriors to protect them, the lives of ranged Professionals were harvested like wheat. Once the soldiers were dead, the birds flew right past the walls and slaughtered the remaining civilians.

Those who could retreat into buildings, but those could only hold out for so long. Cheng Yang was one of the few that was able to make it to safety in the Tavern, where survivors sent the world a warning: whatever the cost, destroy any colonies of Spined Eagles as soon as they appear.

Shortly after, the building was destroyed, and everyone inside was killed.

That’s why, even if he was scared, Cheng Yang was prepared to face his fears. If he let this flock grow, it would only lead to a repeat of the tragedy in his previous life.

Forcing himself to push forwards, Cheng Yang led his group up the steep side of the hill. As the trees became sparse, bushes dominated the landscape, slowing down their climb.

At certain points, they were forced to use thorny branches to pull themselves up. Even with Cheng Yang’s Physical Defense, the thorns tore up his hands. To Cheng Yang’s admiration, Liu Wei, the person with the worse Physical Defense, pressed on without complaint.

“My Lord, above you.” Yu Kai suddenly hissed into Cheng Yang’s ear.

Cheng Yang looked up in shock. Sharps claws glinted in the sun like metal blades as a Spined Eagle dove towards Cheng Yang with the sheer momentum of a meteor.

Cheng Yang’s hand twitched, but his body refused to move.

“Perish.”

Cheng Yang watched the originally furious eyes of the Spined Eagle gloss over as its dive turned into a fall. With a muffled thump, it hit the ground to Cheng Yang’s left.

When it hit the ground, Yu Kai nearly gasped. Cheng Yang hadn’t moved, so how did the monster die? He heard Liu Wei say something, but how could it have been her?

Since when were Priests able to do that? Especially ones that performed their class change ceremony less than a week ago!

“My Lord was that… did she…” Yu Kai struggled to express himself and settled for just pointing at Liu Wei and then at the bird’s corpse.

Since there wasn’t a way to hide Liu Wei’s abilities anymore, Cheng Yang briefly shared everything with Yu Kai. From the beginning, Cheng Yang hadn’t intended to hide the truth from his generals. There just hadn’t been a good time to bring it up before.

Since the truth was already exposed, Cheng Yang decided to let Liu Wei handle any other monsters that got close to them. Although it was an accident the first time, it was also the right decision. If either Cheng Yang or Yu Kai had attacked, they would have drawn the attention of the rest of the flock.

As they continued climbing, Yu Kai struggled to come to terms with being next to someone so dangerous. The sense of superiority he felt after having leveled up twice vanished. Even though it looked like the person next to him was a normal girl, she was capable of killing him with a single thought.

“Ms. Liu, when you first arrived in Phoenix Village, I was going to offer to help you if you ever got into trouble, but it seems that won’t be necessary. Rather, I’m the one who should be asking you for help.” Yu Kai said with a nervous laugh, trying to ease his tension.

“Governor Yu, there’s no need for flattery. My skills are impressive, but limited. Your power as a High-Grade Ranger is more impressive.” Liu Wei responded with a polite, but cold, tone.

Yu Kai smiled. “Perhaps you’d be willing to join me in Silkworm Mountain then? You can help me develop my hapless soldiers by providing a strong frontliner.”

Liu Wei smiled but stayed silent. A foolish question like that didn’t deserve an answer from her.

“Stop chattering Yu Kai. If you alert those monsters, we’ll really be in a bad position.” Cheng Yang snapped, his anxiety having been driven to the limit by Yu Kai flirting with Liu Wei in a situation like this.

Yu Kai sobered up immediately, and the three continued their climb in silence.

After being surprised once, Cheng Yang was meticulous in choosing a path without the chance of being attacked. Even so, a Spined Eagle would occasionally spot them. Luckily, they were solitary creatures, and Liu Wei was able to silence any that came close.

They only ran into a few Spined Eagles, but just that sampling was enough to demonstrate how quickly the Spined Eagles level up. More than a third of the monsters were already at the Standard-Grade level.

Without Liu Wei assassinating every monster that came close, their group would have had a much harder time climbing the mountain if the average level was so high.

Once they got within two hundred meters of the peak, the group was greeted with a magnificent sight. A bird’s nest the size of a house perched on a tree that reached up towards the heavens.

It made sense since the Spined Eagles were so large, but even large birds from the old world didn’t make nests like that! The biggest like ostriches would make nests on the ground, not high up in trees.

“That’s so much bigger than it seemed from afar.” Yu Kai marveled.

“Quiet.” Cheng Yang hissed while looking around nervously. “If there’s a nest-like that, the leader of this flock should be somewhere around here. We have to kill that one first! Liu Wei can’t kill it, but it probably can kill her.”

Yu Kai nodded then started to survey the mountain. Every tree on the way to the peak was decorated with at least one bird’s nest, but most were empty and unguarded. Even so, about a hundred Spined Eagles were hovering overhead.

“You said there was treasure here, right?” Cheng Yang asked Yu Kai. “Where was it?”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. It’s in the nest on the tree at the very top of the hill.”

“What! How did you manage to spot that?”

“With a telescope.” Yu Kai said sheepishly. “While I was running from the military yesterday, I found a set of binoculars, one of them dropped.”

“Tch, what a lucky bastard.”

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After sending Yu Kai away, Cheng Yang started to plan his day.

He wanted to help Liu Hau find the instance dungeon near Joyous River Village, but that would have to wait. Cheng Yang would have to rely on Liu Hau’s luck to obtain the dungeon’s first clear.

He also had to secure the entrance to The Forgotten Grave. Thankfully, it wouldn’t be too difficult. He only needed one person that wasn’t an idiot to keep guard.

Thanks to the Innate Ability granted by Phoenix Village, so long as it was one of Cheng Yang’s soldiers, they would never get caught. Still, Cheng Yang wanted to assign the fastest person possible since this was an important task.

Aside from himself, the fastest person in Phoenix Village was Liu Hau. He had a Purple-Silver piece of equipment that boosted his speed in addition to the buff from Phoenix Village, his own Innate Ability, and the base stats of a High-Grade Warrior. Unfortunately, Liu Hau was too busy to be tasked with guard duty.

Even so, Phoenix Village was the most concentrated group of talented people in the world.

If it was just finding someone with a 30% bonus to Movement Speed, the problem was trivial.

Cheng Yang chose a refugee from Huimin named Fan Wukong and gifted her a pair of Green-Bronze sandals to further boost her speed.

The Snow Lepard Brigade that she was a part of was currently outside the village, so, Cheng Yang sent a messenger to retrieve her.

Less than half an hour later, Fan Wukong appeared before Cheng Yang. She had a pair of bright eyes that seemed to tear apart what she looked at and a lean body that seemed at odds with her lazy disposition.

“My Lord, you called for me?” She asked bluntly.

Cheng Yang couldn’t blame her. Since the world ended, most people found that they were the last of their family line.

“I did.” Cheng Yang replied curtly. “I need you to do something for me. The military is looking for The Forgotten Grave, so I need you to watch over its location. Just watch it passively, and once someone finds the portal, announce that it’s ours. After that, report to me.”

“I understand. Rest assured. So long as my heart still beats, no one will escape my notice.” Fan Wukong said with shrouded malice.

“Good. As compensation, I will provide you with a hundred Experience Fragments per day and an extra hundred when the task is complete. You are free to hunt any monsters you find but understand that if you fail, there will be consequences.”

Even as an officer in the Phoenix Village army, a hundred Experience Fragments per day was a generous offer. Despite that, Fan Wukong’s face was as relaxed as before.

She was one of the thousands of people who the apocalypse shattered and then reformed. Unable to cope with the cruelty of the world they were thrust into, they embraced it. The only thing left for them was a slaughter. They became living weapons.

Weapons needed someone to wield them. So, since he had pulled her out of the wreckage of Huimin, Sun Wukong happily became Cheng Yang’s hunting dog.

Once Sun Wukong left, Cheng Yang left the village with Liu Wei. Together, they were going to go to Silkworm Mountain and deal with their bird problem.

A little over halfway through their journey, Cheng Yang passed by The Forgotten Grave. Since he was nearby, Cheng Yang decided to clear it.

Cheng Yang quickly slaughtered several waves skeletons before returning to the real world with a fresh batch of equipment.

Shortly after resuming their journey, Cheng Yang and Liu Wei ran into Yu Kai’s group that had left earlier that day.

It was an awe-inspiring sight to watch several hundred soldiers trundle forwards while carrying trees as if they were toys. It wasn’t quite to the point where the procession didn’t see to have a beginning or an end, but it was close.

Since they were weighed down by civilians and supplies, Yu Kai had moved quite slowly, which allowed Cheng Yang to catch up. Once he did, Cheng Yang decided to stay with the group to ensure there weren’t any accidents.

“My Lord, should I show you where I found those monsters now, or should we eat some lunch first?” Yu Kai asked when they reached Silkworm Mountain around noon.

“Let’s eat first.” Cheng Yang replied. “After that, me, you, and Liu Wei will clean up those birds.”

“Just the three of us?” Yu Kai asked in surprise.

“Of course. No one else would have the power to resist the attacks of a flying monster. Even bringing your Liu Wei is a risk.”

Yu Kai nodded in affirmation and then ordered his subordinates to prepare for lunch. Although they had a decent supply of monster meat stored within the walls, someone needed to cook it before it was edible. It was one of the few jobs that even civilians could handle in this new world.

After a dry but filling lunch, Cheng Yang traveled five kilometers outside the city.

“There they are, my Lord.” Yu Kai said, pointing towards a rather large hill.

“Why in the hell were you so far from the station?” Cheng Yang asked with a conflicted smile. “Don’t lie and say you manage to clear all of the monsters within five kilometers.”

Yu Kai gave a wry smile. “Nope, we’ve only cleared the first three kilometers.”

“So, what were you doing out here?”

“Yesterday afternoon, while we were clearing monsters, we saw some birds. We hadn’t seen any birds since the apocalypse, so were we curious to see what they were.”

When he glanced into the distance, sure enough, Cheng Yang saw a few dozen black dots on the horizon.

“Who knows how many are over there.” Cheng Yang grimaced, “This is going to be a pain in the ass.”

Flying monsters wouldn’t care if there was a path up the mountain, but Cheng Yang and the others would have to scramble up loose gravel while fighting. They would also have trouble firing in between the thick treetop canopy the birds were nesting in. Despite that, it would be worse near the peak where the trees were sparse since Cheng Yang’s group benefitted from the cover as well.

“How much damage can you do now?” Cheng Yang asked Yu Kai.

“Enough to one-shot a Standard-Grade monster.”

“Well, you won’t be a burden, at least. Be very careful while climbing up, even though we’re fast, those birds are definitely faster. We might be able to outrun them usually, but they’ll circle around us before diving at insane speeds. If you get trapped, don’t even try to escape. Focus on defense and try to kill them all. We need to find a decent place to farm them from, or there won’t be a way to get rid of them.

Yu Kai nodded, and then the trio began their climb.

Despite putting up a strong facade, Cheng Yang was terrified. He didn’t have much experience fighting flying monsters in his past life and what little he did ended in his death.

Logically, he knew that with his current strength, even if it were just him against thousand of birds, he wouldn’t die. Still, he couldn’t shake the fear that death had ingrained in his bones.

Filled with a caution he had sorely lacked in the past, Cheng Yang led the group stealthily through the shadows of the trees. Although the monsters nested their at night, during the day, they would spend their time flying. As long as they were careful, they could reach the edge of the forest before being discovered.

Every time a bird flew over them, Cheng Yang flinched. Every step he took increasing his anxiety. Even though he wanted to deny it, his choice to sneak as close as possible was one born from the fear that he would panic and run if they flocked him all at once.

After an excruciatingly long trek, Cheng Yang reached the edge of the point where he saw the birds close up for the first time.

When he did, his face lost all of its colors. They were Spined Eagles, the same as the monster that had killed him in his past life.

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“We should use our head start to clear every single one of the higher level Instance Dungeons first.” Yu Kai said, his voice filled with longing. “That way, everyone else in the world could only cry out in despair.”

Since his hour was up, Cheng Yang walked out of the Tavern, ignoring his delusional friend.

“Ah, wait up!” Yu Kai snapped out of his daydream when his friend walked away.

“My Lord, what should we do once the military finds The Forgotten Grave?” Yu Kai asked after he caught up.

“What else can we do but make sure they know it’s ours? There might be a fight, but we can’t just give it away.”

Yu Kai smiled. “I knew you’d say that. We found it first, so we absolutely can’t let anyone take it from us. Its a great source of items, and if we give up this Instance Dungeon, we won’t be able to defend the other ones we control in the future. I think we should send some people to defend The Forgotten Grave. Even if we don’t kill the people from Cloud City, we need to give them a vicious send-off.”

Cheng Yang smiled. Unconsciously, Yu Kai had gone from your average college student to a soldier that saw death as normal. Even if it was false bravado born from an easy time in the apocalypse, Cheng Yang was happy to see his friend’s mindset change. In this world, it was better to have fake bloodlust than genuine mercy.

“How many people?” Cheng Yang asked with a chuckle. “Are you going to ask Liu Hau to defend it? Are you going to do it?”

“Cut me some slack. It was just an idea. I haven’t thought that deeply about it yet.” Yu Kai threw up his hands in defeat. “How about we bring all our elite soldiers for the first defense? If we had something like a hundred Standard-Grade soldiers, we would send the military packing!”

“That’s so unrealistic! We have nowhere near that many Standard-Grade soldiers, and by the time we did, the military would already have taken the Instance Dungeon from us.” Cheng Yang countered. “To stop Yuan Jianzhe and the military from occupying The Forgotten Grave, I’ll have to deal with him personally. We’ll station a single soldier near the portal, one of our fastest ones. Once the military discovers the entrance, our soldier will report that to me. Before that, the lookout will claim that we already own the Instance Dungeon. The military will relay that back to Yuan Jianzhe, who, since its a precious thing, will rush over immediately to secure it. Then, me and him can have a good talk.”

Yu Kai immediately understood what Cheng Yang meant by that last sentence. If they could talk it out, they would. If they couldn’t, then they would use other means.

When faced with the prospect of fighting the People’s Liberation Army, Yu Kai was surprisingly more excited than nervous. In his mind, the rise of Phoenix Village wasn’t something that could be stopped by anyone. He had always known that Phoenix Village was developing quickly, but after spending some time on the World Module, he realized that everyone else was in the stone age compared to them!

“If Yuan Jianzhe is too self-righteous, we’ll destroy him, my Lord. If he’s not willing to submit, let’s replace him with one of our guys.” Yu Kai said.

“Self reflect for a moment before talking like that. Anyways, since you had the time to worry about refugees, does that mean you finished killing the monsters near Silkworm Mountain?”

“My Lord, you think too highly of me. The ones within two or three kilometers are dead, but if we’re talking about further than that, then I’ve made zero progress. We’ve only got a few elite soldiers in the village, and kiting tactics are time-consuming. But, that does remind me, I was only helping refugees cause I needed to visit you anyways.”

“You needed to visit me? What for?”

“When I was hunting last night, I found a flock of monsters that had established a lair. I saw some treasure, so I decided to let you know.”

“Treasure? Why didn’t you get it yourself? Your strength should have been more than enough even if there was a High-Grade monster there.”

“I wanted too, but those monsters weren’t something I could beat on my own. They’re some kind of bird, so every time I tried to hit one, it would fly out of my range. That’s why I need your help. I figured you might know how to beat them.”

“That could fly? Some kind of bird?” Cheng Yang’s body tensed up.

“Yeah, I’m not sure what kind, but they were definitely birds. Big enough to make raptors seem like chicks.”

Once Yu Kai confirmed his fears, Cheng Yang’s body convulsed as images of his death flashed past his eyes.

“Yoko, are you okay?” Yu Kai looked at his friend with concern.

“It was nothing.” Cheng Yang said, forcing himself to calm down. “Aerial monsters are powerful but not undefeatable. Their advantages are obvious, but they have quite a few weaknesses as well.”

Cheng Yang paused, giving himself a few moments to fully recovered from the vivid memories that forced their way into focus.

“Aerial monsters don’t spawn very often, so you were right, they’re probably guarding something. If they are, it’s bound to be high-level loot. Plus, since they’re so close to Silkworm Mountain, we need to exterminate them as soon as possible. If we don’t do that soon, bad things will happen.”

“My Lord, did you mean to imply that they’ll attack the village?”

“Its a possibility. Once a horde of monsters reached a certain power level, they’ll start actively hunting for food. Aerial monsters are more dangerous since walls are meaningless to them.”

“I see.”

“For now, head back to Silkworm Mountain and take some building materials with you. You’re going to need it when your village levels up.”

“That’s not going to happen for a while, but I suppose taking what we need now wouldn’t hurt.” Yu Kai said, “The biggest problem is Silkworm Mountain doesn’t have a goldmine like Phoenix Village does. Paying for the upgrade will be pretty tough.”

Cheng Yang looked at Yu Kai contemptuously. “It’s just twenty-thousand Experience Fragments. Since Silkworm Mountain is a subsidiary of mine, I can directly transfer funds from Phoenix Village’s coffers.”

Yu Kai smiled. “I knew I could count on you.”

Phoenix Village really was an abnormal money-making machine. The combination of the Imperial Guard and the Blood-Soaked Cathedral was just too powerful. It could easily support the growth of all three territories under Cheng Yang’s control.

Cheng Yang clicked his tongue. “So you were hoping for that, huh? Well, take what you need, but after that, I’m going to let Phoenix Village accumulate Experience Fragments for a while. I’ll make Liu Hau wait a day or two before leveling up Joyous River Village.”

Yu Kai’s smile widened when Cheng Yang said that. Right now, Silkworm Mountain was lagging behind Joyous River Village. Liu Hau’s territory only needed to build two shops before reaching the level up conditions. But now, Silkworm Mountain would level up first since they had secured funding earlier!

Even if Yu Kai was only the Governor in name, how could he let Silkworm Mountain fall behind its competition?

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What thing in Cloud City had enough value to make the military move in full force?

“Follow me.” Cheng Yang had a sudden idea on how to find an answer to his question.

“Where are we going?” Yu Kai asked.

“The Tavern!”

---

Cheng Yang sat down at the bar with Yu Kai as he ordered a Tianshui Pure Brew for each of them. Since Cheng Yang wanted to access the World Module, he paid a full fifty Experience Fragments for each drink.

“Wow, its pretty fancy in here.” Yu Kai said, his formal act dropped since he was alone with his friend.

“It’s nice, but it costs as much as it looks like it should.” Cheng Yang laughed. “The fee we paid is only enough for us to spend an hour here.”

“Shit! That’s expensive!” Yu Kai looked around and counted the chairs around him. “It looks like there’s enough room for at least a few hundred people, and that’s just counting the first floor. At a rate of just ten Experience Fragments per person, won’t this place have a profit in the thousands every day?”

“Not a chance, who has that much extra money these days? Maybe it will when Phoenix Village is more stable, but until then… oh, here come our drinks. Open up the forum. Maybe we’ll be able to find something important.”

At that time, a waiter brought out two fine crystal glasses on a tray, which he swiftly placed in front of Cheng Yang and Yu Kai.

“Probably not? There’s no way a military commander would let their soldiers post about their operations online. Unless a donkey kicked that commander’s head or something .” Yu Kai commented before taking a sip of the beverage in front of him. When he did, Yu Kai grimaced. “You said this cost fifty Experience Fragments, right? This is just some cheap fruit wine!”

“If you can handle the cost, whiskey costs seventy-five.” Cheng Yang said, happily sipping on his drink. “Or maybe you’d like to pay even more for some good food?”

Yu Kai chuckled. “Nevermind, fruit win works for me.”

Cheng Yang turned his attention towards his terminal while cursing the gods in his heart. The reason he needed to buy two drinks was that each terminal was only visible to one person. Otherwise, he and Yu Kai could have shared.

Putting that aside, Cheng Yang opened up the World Module. The atmosphere was on a totally different level there. The Cloud City Area Module was deserted, but the World Module was filled with people.

Cheng Yang was almost thankful that the World Module only updated once a day, or it would be impossible to navigate it.

The most populated threads were one that discussed how various areas of the world weathered the apocalypse. One of the more common types of poster was a person seemed almost excited by this new world.

It may seem counterintuitive, but if you thought about it a little, it made sense. If you were a homeless beggar in the old world, after the apocalypse, you had a chance to become a new person. It was the classic story of a crow becoming a phoenix.

Other threads detailed theories for what happened to the world or tutorials on how to fight monsters effectively, or become a Professional while being an normal person.

Cheng Yang looked through page after page of threads before finally finding the message he needed to solve his mystery.

---

Dungeon

Andrew Wilson | We found a portal outside the safe zone of New Orleans that lead to a dungeon. We aren’t willing to share the exact details but we felt the need to warn people about the Boss at the end. It was a High-Grade monster and we only won because we were lucky. If you find a portal somewhere, be very cautious before entering.

---

An American posted the thread, but Cheng Yang could still read it even though he didn’t understand English. It was another one of the gods’ small mercies that, at least on the forums, there was no longer a language barrier.

The message itself wasn’t very striking, but over forty people were declaring that they found a similar portal in their city.

Anyone that saw this thread would be able to figure out that the information was accurate. Yuan Jianzhe must have seen it as well, which lead him to send out the military to search for the portal in Cloud City.

From now on, it would be impossible for Phoenix Village to monopolize The Forgotten Grave.

Even so, there was absolutely no way for Yuan Jianzhe to beat The Forgotten Grave without losing at least half of the people he brought in. Some Instance Dungeons were possible to beat with a party of Low-Grade individuals, but The Forgotten Grave wasn’t one of them.

Since he couldn’t beat the Instance Dungeon, Cheng Yang didn’t care if Yuan Jianzhe found The Forgotten Grave. However, if Yuan Jianzhe wanted to monopolize the Instance Dungeon, he would come into conflict with Phoenix Village when they tried to get the Hard Difficulty first clear. At that point, Cheng Yang would have to abandon his plan to develop without Cloud City noticing.

Cheng Yang could only hope that Yuan Jianzhe would be willing to share. Otherwise, he didn’t mind purging the safe zone.

Despite having resolved the matter he was worried about, Cheng Yang didn’t leave immediately. Since he’d already paid the Experience Fragments needed to access the World Module, he was going to make the most of his time.

“Yoko.” Yu Kai looked over at his friend. “There’s a Tavern like this one in every safe zone, right?”

“Yep, every single one.”

“In that case, if I posted on the forum, wouldn’t my parents be able to see it?”

“It would work in theory.” Cheng Yang said honestly. It was a common tactic in his past life. “But, even if we use the Continent Module, there will be thousands of new threads created every day. Yours would be buried by then, so your parents probably won’t see it.”

“Still, they might!” Yu Kai protested. “I also saw a feature that allows me to pin my thread to the top of the module. If I paid for that, it would work, right?”

“It probably would, but do you think your parents would be able to handle the exposure? Pinning a thread is expensive, so anyone willing to do so would be someone rich. If someone finds out who your parents are, they would be able to threaten you and receive a ransom through the Auction House.”

“Then, I’ll just make a normal thread.” Yu Kai said after hesitating. “Even if the chances of my parents seeing it are low, its better than nothing.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure your parents are doing well.” Cheng Yang tried to comfort his friend since he was in distress. “You were able to warn them, so they definitely survived the earthquake. Even if they didn’t manage to reach the safe zone before monsters started spawning, they would be close enough to be rescued first.”

Yu Kai nodded and, despite his melancholy mood, started to type out a thread.
“Yoko, did you manage to find what you were looking for?” Yu Kai asked when he was done.

“I did. It’s highly likely that the military is searching for The Forgotten Grave.” Cheng Yang said. “They’ve probably already found it.”

Yu Kai chuckled. “who cares, we’ve already gotten the first clear, and the military couldn’t beat the Hard Difficulty even if they sacrificed all fifty people that went in. Although, with so many groups trying to clear Instance Dungeons, there’s no way we’ll be able to get the first clear for all of them.”

Cheng Yang rolled his eyes. “Of course they will. There are so many different Instance Dungeons in this world that wanting to get the first clear of each one is childish. Moreover, our new goal will be getting as many first clears on Instance, Dungeons for people in the second stage of evolution as we can.”

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Suddenly, Old Lee realized what Cheng Yang was implying. “My Lord, you don’t mean to say there’s a Boss on the other side of the Western bridge, do you?!”

“I’m not sure, but my intuition says there is.” Cheng Yang replied.

“This is…” Old Lee groaned. Cheng Yang hadn’t been wrong yet, so if he said there was a Boss, there probably was. “Does this mean it’s impossible to clear the western bridge?

“No, it would just be risky. Of course, if all we wanted to do was kill most of the monsters there, we could do it.”

Old Lee sighed. Even if they killed the monsters on the bridge, they’d at most get a piece of decent loot, something with a value that was incomparable to a Territory Altar.

“What are we going to do next then, my Lord? The development of Phoenix Village is on track, and with their current trajectory, Silkworm Mountain and Joyous River Village will level up in less than a month.”

“Let’s wait until we have a surplus of Standard-Grade soldiers before making any big moves. Our development is on track, but we can’t allow any mistakes right now.” Cheng Yang replied. “We could try and secure another Territory Altar, but we’d have to travel to another city.”

“What about checking the area around Yanghe City, my Lord. It’s only eighty kilometers away, so it shouldn’t be hard to reach?”

“Even if its only eighty miles away, it will be hard to find. The terrain has changed since the earthquake, so we’ll probably get lost. Although difficulties are inevitable, getting separated from the village is a death sentence in the wilderness. If it were just me, it might be fine, but…” Cheng Yang paused. “Nevermind that, how are the civilians doing?”

“Not bad, our soldiers bring a lot of food to the village every day, so no one is going hungry. We’ve been storing any grains or rice we find and serving roasted monsters as food. It’s a little bland after a while, and we try to use any seasoning we find, but…”

“But what?”

“We just have too many people.” Old Lee sighed. “Our total population is close to fifty thousand, so the amount of resources we consume in a day is staggering. Most of what we scavenge is non-renewable, so before long, we’re going to run out of old-world products.”

“Just that?” Cheng Yang laughed. “Don’t worry about it. As long as we’re surviving, it doesn’t matter if we’re comfortable. Eventually, we’ll be able to produce some of those things on our own, but until then, we’ll have to tough it out.”

Cheng Yang didn’t know the specifics, but he knew that eventually, there would be several Professions available to normal people. One example was the Farmer.

Thus civilians would become the primary source of food in this world and would likely gain access to other Professions that produced necessities.

Old Lee’s worries were put to rest when Cheng Yang assured him that they would be solved in the future.

After some more chit chat, the two parted ways. Before they did, Cheng Yang transferred the Experience Fragments needed to train new soldiers to Old Lee.

Cheng Yang then returned to his Meditation Hall and, after retrieving his Experience Fragments from Liu Wei, began training.

When Cheng Yang finished, he visited the Territory Altar. By this time, the Priest class change statue had leveled up.

Cheng Yang nervously opened the Preist statue system pane with his eyes shut. He cracked one eye open and then sighed in relief. The statue lifting stone’s bonus was multiplicative!

Although it was just a drop in the bucket compared to the healing needs of Phoenix Village, having proven that the bonus wasn’t additive was incredible. From now on, Phoenix Village would have an enormous number of healers!

When fighting a group without Priests, Phoenix Village would be nearly undefeatable, and even if the enemy did have Priests, Phoenix Village would still have the advantage. Also, the Priests from Phoenix Village would know Angelic Inspiration, further sharpening the village’s edge.

Even without being inspired, Cheng Yang could handle most monsters with ease, but what if he added Liu Wei into the equation? With her acting as his support, he would be able to face Boss type monsters with ease. She would take care of the high-level mobs, and he would wipe out the low-level ones. Then, together, they would annihilate the Boss. It was a beautiful scene that combined two extraordinary people into one.

Cheng Yang couldn’t wait!

Shaking his head to clear those thoughts, Cheng Yang started the process of upgrading the Priest statue again. Since Phoenix Village’s statue had an extra research option, it would take a total of 12,000 Experience Fragments and 18 days to level up.

As for the other statues, their current research was still ongoing. They wouldn’t finish until some time tomorrow.

Then, Cheng Yang summoned his Imperial Guard and cleared the Blood-Soaked Cathedral. In the process, Cheng Yang obtained a Purple-Silver robe. It was an incredibly useful item which increased his Mana by 60 points but didn’t have a defense bonus.

Although this piece of equipment had a smaller defense bonus than his old one, Cheng Yang didn’t care. Mana was more important to him, and there was only a two-point difference.

After all, increasing his Mana meant Cheng Yang’s hunting efficiency would increase.

Before Cheng Yang could savor his gains, he saw Yu Kai walked towards him.

“Yu Kai? What are you doing here?” Cheng Yang asked. “Actually, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been wanting to hold a conference with the generals, so this is a lucky coincidence.”

Yu Kai grimaced. “You might have to delay that conference. I have bad news. I ran into a group from the Cloud City safe zone. It wasn’t some small band of mercenaries either. There were nearly a thousand people, so it had to have been the military.”

Cheng Yang frowned. “And then what happened? Did they find you?”

“I was searching for refugees and didn’t notice them until it was too late. They chased after us, and since the soldiers from my village don’t have any Movement Speed buffs, so it was challenging to lose them.

“Where did you first encounter them, and where did you last see them?”

“We were about a kilometer from the Northern bridge, and we were chased all across the city. We only threw them off a kilometer or so from the Southern bridge.”

“That close!” Cheng Yang sighed. “It’s way too early for the military to try and leave the city, so whats going on?”

“I thought it was strange as well. They weren’t a routine patrol or hunting party since they would avoid conflict with monsters. I think they were searching for something. Moreover, even after they stopped chasing us, we ran into two other teams of the same size. Luckily, we were on guard by then, so we weren’t discovered.”

“They were looking for something?” Cheng Yang murmured. It probably wasn’t a person they were looking for since they would want to remove threats during a search and rescue. Since it wasn’t a person, what was their goal?

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Cheng Yang exited out of the Council of Lords and shut down the terminal after glancing at the Transcendent’s List enviously.

Cheng Yang then chugged his beer and left the Tavern. He felt like he was on top of the world. There was no one even close to matching him among humanity, and with the Adventurer’s Guild built, he could finally register as an Adventurer.

The buildings were only thirty meters apart, so after a short walk, he entered the Adventurer’s Guild and walked directly to the secretary.

“Excuse me, ma’am. I want to register as an Adventurer.” Cheng Yang was an Adventurer before he died, so he was familiar with dealing with the guild.

The secretary had been watching Cheng Yang since he entered the building and had apparent disdain written on her face. She wasn’t the only one, the other NPCs in the building were at best apathetic to Cheng Yang’s tipsy appearance. Their attitude was in stark contrast to the usually subservient approaches NPCs had towards the Lord of a territory.

“As you wish, sir. Please make a payment of twenty-five Experience Fragments.” The secretary said courteously.

After Cheng Yang paid, the secretary handed him a form. It was only meant to verify a person’s identity and that they weren’t forced to become an Adventurer.

“All right, you’re an Adventurer now.” The secretary’s voice was cold when she accepted the form from Cheng Yang. “Once you earn five hundred achievement points, come back, and I’ll increase your Adventurer Rank. That will allow you to accept higher-level missions.”

Cheng Yang nodded and then left the building. Once he did, Cheng Yang found Liu Wei, and they left the territory together.

After experiencing the small war in Cloud City, Liu Wei was much closer to Cheng Yang, and the barrier between them had disappeared.

Although she couldn’t be called talkative, she was far friendlier with Cheng Yang, and their trips weren’t as silent as before.

They most of the night chatting and hunting monsters in the area between Cloud City and Phoenix Village.

Once they returned, Cheng Yang lent Liu Wei the Experience Fragments she needed to train. Although Cheng Yang’s training was essential, for the time being, he believed Liu Wei’s was more critical.

Now that he had some free time, Cheng Yang walked around Phoenix Village, basking in his accomplishments. The village was beginning to take shape. There were several dozen buildings and a few sophisticated facilities. They filled the Inner Village in a spiraling manner, forming streets that the gods were kind enough to pave with packed dirt and loose cobblestone.

Cheng Yang only regretted that electricity no longer existed, which meant that the only light came from torches lining the wall. Well, lightning still existed, but there was nothing humans could utilize.

Thankfully, the gods had been merciful during these past few days. It only rained during the day, and the moon was visible every night.

Now that the Barracks had been constructed, there were more than enough beds for everyone in the Inner Village. So, after housing the professional soldiers, the remaining people were spread out with five in each Meditation Hall.

Even though they didn’t own the Meditation Halls and could be kicked out at any moment, having a roof over their heads provided spiritual sustenance. Compared to when everyone was sleeping outside, the atmosphere was much livelier.

Of course, this was far from enough to support everyone in Phoenix Village. It wasn’t even enough to house all of the soldier’s family members. But, everyone could tell that it wouldn’t be long before everyone in Phoenix Village could live comfortably.

All of the soldiers knew that Phoenix Village was in a unique golden window of time for expansion. As long as they established a foothold in this new world, they could secure a life for the people they loved. Thus, even though there were almost three thousand soldiers, it was hard to find any inside the village.

Aside from the apparent time sinks of training and hunting, hundreds of soldiers were working hard to collect raw materials. It made the Inner Village seem a little lonely.

While Cheng Yang was wandering around, Old Lee’s brigade returned to the village. Once Old Lee saw Cheng Yang, he motioned for his second-in-command to lead the group.

“My Lord, welcome back. Did you find the Instance Dungeon near Joyous River Village already?” Old Lee jogged over to meet Cheng Yang.

“Not yet, I’ve had horrible luck. We spent the entire day searching yesterday and weren’t able to find it.” Cheng Yang sighed. “I’m going to try again today, and if we still can’t find it, we’ll just have to wait for a lucky hunting party to stumble upon it.”

“Should I have my brigade join your search?” Old Lee asked after a moment of contemplation.

“That won’t be necessary. We still have a few days before anyone will be capable of stealing the first clear from us, so your subordinates have more useful things to do.” Cheng Yang said. “Unfortunately, another mass evolution will occur among the monsters in a few days, so we need to fortify our foundation before then.”

“Again?” Old Lee was shocked. After the first mass evolution, every large horde had a few dozen Standard-Grade monsters, which significantly increased the pressure on the Phoenix Village soldiers. Although Liu Hau and Yu Kai were at the High-Grade Apprentice level, they had their own villages to defend. If another mass evolution happened and High-Grade monster’s appeared, the village would be helpless without Cheng Yang.

“Don’t be too worried. There won’t be any High-Grade monsters for a while longer. This mass evolution will just increase the number of Standard-Grade monsters.” Cheng Yang explained once he saw Old Lee’s face. “Still, we don’t have much time.”

“We’re doing well in that regard, my Lord. By tomorrow, we’ll have another twenty-seven Standard-Grade soldier, all of which were be able to use eight times training speed. The soldiers using two times training speed will take another dozen days or so to level up.”

“That is to say, we’ll only have five or six Standard-Grade soldiers per brigade?”

“Something like that, yes.”

“That’s too few.” Cheng Yang said. “I’ve accumulated quite a few Experience Fragments, around thirty thousand, which I’ll lend so that we can enable another one hundred and seventy-five soldiers to use eight times training speed. I need you to make sure those soldiers earn enough to sustain their new training speed.”

“Of course, my Lord. I’ll find a way to procure the daily Experience Fragments each of them needs. I’ll also make sure to distribute our resources in such a way that those with better Innate Abilities will level up the fastest.”

“Good. I’ll be able to build the Bank tomorrow, so if you need too, you can make those soldiers take out a loan. Since we’re more or less forcing them to do so, I’ll make sure they get minimized interest rates. The most important thing right now is to level up those soldiers.”

Old Lee agreed with Cheng Yang’s statement. It would only build resentment if they tried to make a profit in a situation like that.

The situation was nearly the exact opposite of Cloud City. The number of Professionals was growing explosively, which limited the growth of any individual. There were only so many Experience Fragments to go around, which meant most people found it hard even to use two times training speed.

This problem was exacerbated by Cheng Yang culling any horde large enough to catch his attention.

Ironically, although this weakened Cloud City, their losses from the second mass evolution would probably be lower this time around.

Over time, the situation in Cloud City would change. Individuals like Yuan Jianzhe would start to extract a fee from their subordinates to support the growth of talented individuals. Before long, they would produce some Standard-Grade fighters.

“My Lord, you’ve cleared three of the bridges into Cloud City, but when are you going to get the fourth one?” Old Lee asked after a while. He had been talking to Cheng Yang about the development of the territory and the delineation limits on contribution scores before remembering this important task.

“Old Lee, what do you think those three bridges had in common?” Cheng Yang suddenly asked.

Old Lee blinked in surprise. “Umm, was it that there was a Territory Altar on the other side?”

“There was, but that’s not the answer I was looking for. You should have asked yourself, ‘what wasn’t there?’ Why weren’t there any surprises? Where were the strong monsters? Where was the randomly spawned loot? Even now, we haven’t found any of the more powerful loot drops. Don’t you think it’s suspicious?”

“Are the things you’ve found up till now normal? What about the blueprints of the Imperial Gaurd Pavilion? Was that not a good drop? It was guarded by monsters that could annihilate any army from another area, so how can it be considered normal?”

“Those monsters? Strong? Old Lee, do you know what kind of monster appears at the end of the Nightmare Difficulty of an Instance Dungeon?”

Old Lee shook his head.

“Normally, the last monster is just a level above the strongest mob in the instance. However, in the Nightmare Difficulty, that last monster is a Boss, a real one that has stats that far surpass any other monster at their level. Do you understand now?”

“I see.” Old Lee said pensively. “So, the monsters we used to call bosses were just normal monsters? But what does that have to do with the last bridge?”

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Cheng Yang walked over to confront the Trial Hall manager, who greeted him respectfully.

“What can I do for you, my Lord?”

“Hello Mr. Manager, I had a question about the functions of your charge. If I want to enter a trial, does your terminal teleport you in?” Cheng Yang asked.

“That’s correct, my Lord.” The manager replied.

“In that case, what’s that portal over there for?”

“My Lord, I can only say that your Phoenix Village is too special.” The manager said with a glowing smile. “Once a village encompasses an Instance Dungeon, it is one of my responsibilities to create an easily accessible portal to it. Your village already having one when its only at the High-Grade level is simply extraordinary!”

If the manager was impressed by that, what kind of reaction would he have if he learned that the village had an Instance Dungeon even when it was at the Low-Grade level?

“Do you mean to say, that if I enter that portal, it will take me to the Blood-Soaked Cathedral?” It was Cheng Yang’s first time hearing about the Trial Hall’s extra feature, so he wanted to gather more information.

“Yes and no, my Lord.” The manager said. “While it is true that entering that portal will take you to the Instance Dungeon you mentioned, it is not reserved for it. Even if your domain encompasses multiple Instance Dungeons, they will all be accessible from this portal.”

“So, if a new Instance Dungeon enters my territory, it will automatically be connected?”

“Correct. You can also manage the various Instance Dungeons connected to the portal using the nearby terminal. By default, Instance Dungeons are open to anyone who has performed a class change ceremony in the village, but you can adjust who has access.”

Cheng Yang thanked the manager before going to inspect the portal.

Using the instructions the manager gave him, Cheng Yang opened the terminal and then checked the page for the Blood-Soaked Cathedral.

---

Blood-Soaked Cathedral
Standard Grade Party Size Apprentice Instance Dungeon
443 Clears Until High-Grade

Normal Difficulty	10/10	Hard Difficulty	10/10
Nightmare Difficulty	8/10	Hell Difficulty	0/10

Restrictions

• Non-residents barred from entering

---

After reviewing the data, Cheng Yang was able to infer that Instance Dungeons were hierarchical. Since it was an Apprentice Instance Dungeon, there must also be instance dungeons for the other stages of evolution. Since the Blood-Soaked Church had an average monster level in the Immature range, other dungeons probably had a monster in the Mature range or higher.

He also learned the disappointing reality of leveling up an Instance Dungeon to High-Grade. Cheng Yang didn’t know the exact number of clears needed, but he estimated that the Blood-Soaked Cathedral was at most 10% of the way to the goal.

For now, Cheng Yang left the restrictions as they were. All of the low-level soldiers knew that entering on their own would be suicide. The higher-level ones had, on the other hand, were all registered with the Barracks and would be quickly punished if they stole a run.

When Cheng Yang tried to leave, the manager wanted to entice him into attempting a trial. Cheng Yang declined since the low-level trials offered wouldn’t benefit him.

Finally, Cheng Yang visited the Tavern. It was the part of his inspection that Cheng Yang was looking forward to the most. However, since it was the middle of the day, Cheng Yang was there to gather information, not to drink.

When Cheng Yang entered the Tavern, he was shocked by how quiet it was. In his past life, loud drunks filled the building at all hours.

“My Lord! Welcome!” An energetic young waiter greeted Cheng Yang.

“I’d like a pint of beer, please.” Cheng Yang requested before sitting down at the bar.

Even if he didn’t want to drink at the moment, the employees would throw you out if you tried to loiter inside without buying anything.

Once the beer was served, and the five Experience Fragment tab was paid, a terminal appeared in front of Cheng Yang.

As long as one spent five Experience Fragments per hour, the Tavern offered a complimentary connection to a site similar to a forum from before the apocalypse.

There were four forums in total: Open Forum, Action House, Council of Rulers, and Transcendent’s List.

In his past life, Cheng Yang had visited the Open Forum and Auction House. The Council of Rulers was restricted to Lords, their officials, and high ranking soldiers or adventurers. As for the Transcendent’s List, Cheng Yang hadn’t even heard about someone being able to open it.

Although the Auction House was a place to auction off equipment and other treasures, most people used it as a glorified shipping company.

If you listed an item, a Tavern employee would take it from you, and once it was purchased, you could pick up the payment.

It was a convenient way to make money if you ignored one glaring flaw. The Tavern charged a dealer fee of ten percent with a one thousand Experience Fragments minimum. So, unless you earned ten thousand Experience Fragments with an auction, the Tavern would take an absurd cut.

This meant it was only worth auctioning an item if it was worth thousands of Experience Fragments, but which idiot would give away something that valuable for money?

As such, very few items were every auctioned, with the exception being raw resources. Since delivery was convenient, areas with a large number of natural resources would sell off massive quantities to the highest bidder.

The Open Forum, on the other hand, was just as useful as it sounded! It provided a way to communicate with humans from around the world. There were four different discussion forums inside the Open Forum page: the Area Module, Province Module, Continent Module, and Global Module. As the names suggested, each one would let you communicate with a progressively more significant portion of humanity.

Currently, Cheng Yang could only access the Area module, which connected him to people in the Cloud City Area. As such, the forum was nearly silent since it was still poorly developed. To get access to the other modules, Cheng Yang would have to spend more Experience Fragments.

Once he did, he would be able to join a thread or start a new one. There was also a direct message feature as long as you were both in the same forum module. However, it wasn’t a perfect experience. Each module would only update new posts and messages after a certain amount of time.

The Area Module updated every twenty minutes, every three hours for the Province Module, every twelve hours for the Continent Module, and every twenty-four hours for the Global Module.

Cheng Yang didn’t have any expectations for the Auction House or Open Forum, so he didn’t care that no one was posting anything there. What he wanted to see was the Council of Rulers.

For most people in Cheng Yang’s past life, the Council of Lords was a forbidden sacred area, and Cheng Yang was no exception.

Cheng Yang’s opened the forum with barely contained excitement that was doused when he found out it was more or less identical to the Open Forum and just as empty.

The Council of Rulers was no longer a mystifying location. It was just a forum where he was the first-ever visitor.

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