Cheng Yang took some prepared clothes out of his ring for the father-daughter duo. After so much continuous use, their current clothes stank—especially Qin Qiang, who had been lying in his mother’s corpse juice.
Then, Cheng Yang carried them down the cliff face one at a time before placing them on Enlai’s back. Enlai resisted at first since he didn’t want civilians to ride him, but Cheng Yang’s threats forced him to allow it.
Under Cheng Yang’s orders, Enlai rushed back to the village ahead of Cheng Yang, who followed behind his path of destruction.
Since the path had already been cleared, and the weight of two emaciated riders was negligible, Enlai took less than half an hour to return to Phoenix Village.
Once they were safely behind the village’s walls, Qin Qiang finally allowed himself to believe that they were saved. As for Qin Yiling, she was ecstatic to see so many people.
Over the last few days, the duo had come to believe that humanity was all but extinct. Even when he was feeling hopeful, Qin Qiang thought that human civilization had been thoroughly razed. So, when he saw a thriving village, he was moved to tears.
Cheng Yang was slower than Enlai but not by much. He arrived a few minutes later, and when he did, he explained the current state of the world to Qin Qiang.
Qin Yiling was too young to understand most of what Cheng Yang said, but Qin Qiang was different. When he learned that the world had been gamified, the shock in his eyes didn’t subside for a long time.
“Mister, if we get classes, the monsters can’t hit us?” Qin Yiling asked.
Cheng Yang froze. When he brought them here, he never intended to let them perform a class change ceremony. Not only were all of the slots taken right now, but the task of selecting people had been delegated to his generals. However, Cheng Yang couldn’t refuse when he saw the hope in Qin Yiling’s eyes. So he nodded.
“You’ll get a class soon, and then the monsters won’t be able to hurt you.”
Those words brought a smile to Qin Yiling’s face. Seeing her smile made Cheng Yang smile too, so, in high spirits, he checked the class change statues to see if there were any open slots.
Unfortunately, it was as he thought. There weren’t any open slots since it was weird for a Phoenix Village soldier to die. Qin Yiling would have to wait until the statues leveled up.
He also had the option of taking her to a satellite village and performing a class change ceremony there. However, since none of them granted the soldier an Innate Ability, he didn’t want to.
Regardless, he tested their aptitude. Qin Yiling was best suited for the Sorcerer class, while Qin Qiang was best suited to be either a Warrior or Ranger.
After explaining the situation to Qin Qiang, Cheng Yang had one of his subordinates lead them back to his Meditation Hall. Cheng Yang wasn’t worried about how the duo would be treated since they were his guests. If anyone dared to harass them, that person would be expelled from the village.
It was just after eight at night, so Cheng Yang decided to visit Joyous River village and get the first clear of the Nightmare Difficulty of the Abandoned Citadel instance dungeon. Then, after midnight, he could run that difficulty again. After that, he would return to Phoenix Village to train.
With Enlai’s speed, it only took Cheng Yang ten minutes to arrive at Joyous River Village. It was even faster than driving a sports car down the highway. Of course, that was mostly due to the road between the two villages.
The road led towards the southern gate, where several people could be seen coming and going. It was time for dinner, so even civilians were bustling about.
Liu Hau’s subordinates were also hard at work. Their role was vitally important in protecting the civilians as they used the road. They needed to sweep through the surrounding areas to ensure there weren’t any monsters forming herds. This was especially important after the discovery of two Nests. If the soldiers of Joyous River Village weren’t careful, monsters might overrun the road and massacre civilians.
Thankfully, the village was on the brink of becoming a High-Grade one. At that point, there would be two thousand soldiers dutifully defending the territory.
In the future, after Cheng Yang annexed the safe zone, those two thousand soldiers would be supplemented by tens of thousands from Cloud City. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough combat strength to restrict the monsters hordes in the tens of thousands.
Cheng Yang’s appearance shocked those near the village’s gate. Although Cheng Yang felt he should be used to it by now, he couldn’t deny that he liked the looks of awe he received while riding Enlai.
“My Lord, what are you doing here?” Liu Hau rushed to the city gates as soon as he heard Cheng Yang had arrived. Not only was that his duty as a Governor, but he was also curious about Cheng Yang’s mysterious trip. However, his enthusiasm turned to shock when he saw the white tiger. “Yoko, look out behind you!”
“Calm down.” Cheng Yang gleefully rolled his eyes, “This is just my new catch.”
Liu Hau was stunned for a moment but quickly understood what Cheng Yang meant.
“Then this is an Ascendant? Didn’t you say they’re almost impossible to meet and harder to tame? Where did you find that guy?”
“I ran into him halfway to Yicheng.”
“That’s where you were going? But Yicheng is over fifty kilometers away, how did you get back so quickly.”
“Haven’t you visited the Tavern in the last few days?” Cheng Yang chuckled.
“What would I go there for? Their food is overpriced and not even that good.” Liu Hau seemed offended that Cheng Yang believed he would frequent the Tavern, “Besides, it would look bad if I went in when my subordinates are forbidden to.”
At present, no one aside from Cheng Yang and the five generals were allowed the freely enter the Tavern. Anyone else needed permission, something that was only granted if Old Lee needed someone to browse the forum.
Cheng Yang’s greatest enemies were other humans, so he decided to restrict the biggest information leak. Although Yuan Jianzhe might have found the villages by now, Cheng Yang wasn’t going to announce that Yuan Jianzhe’s suspicions were correct.
Since Liu Hau didn’t know, Cheng Yang told him about his business selling Stones of Return.
“We’re rich. Totally completely rich.” Liu Hau said with eyes bigger than a cow’s.
“In a sense, but our expenses are going to grow just as quickly.” Cheng Yang replied, “Anyways, I came here to deliver some of those Experience Fragments and help you clear the Nightmare Difficulty of the Abandoned Citadel.”
“My Lord, don’t change the subject, what were you doing in Yicheng? Why didn’t you tell anyone you were planning to visit?”
“It was a spur of the moment decision.” Cheng Yang lied. “So, I only took two people, and coincidentally, we found a Territory Altar.”
Liu Hau sighed.
“My Lord, you are the core of our territory, so don’t throw yourself into danger like that! Every time you do, we’re terrified you might die. Although it’s unbelievable, we trust you when you say you had visions, so let us share the burden of fulfilling your dream. What if something happened and you died? Everything you’ve built would become sand in the wind before Yuan Jianzhe conquered everything you left behind. Can you bear to see that happen?”
“Don’t worry. I have my limits.” Cheng Yang replied. “I knew it wouldn’t be too dangerous, so I didn’t want you all to be worried all day. I even brought some Stones of Return, so if we encountered danger, we could safely escape. Besides, look at everything we gained from my trip. We have a new village incorporated into our territory, and I obtained a powerful Pet. Although Little White might seem gentle, he’s at the same level as a Mature monster No risk, no reward, right?”
Cheng Yang took some prepared clothes out of his ring for the father-daughter duo. After so much continuous use, their current clothes stank—especially Qin Qiang, who had been lying in his mother’s corpse juice.
Then, Cheng Yang carried them down the cliff face one at a time before placing them on Enlai’s back. Enlai resisted at first since he didn’t want civilians to ride him, but Cheng Yang’s threats forced him to allow it.
Under Cheng Yang’s orders, Enlai rushed back to the village ahead of Cheng Yang, who followed behind his path of destruction.
Since the path had already been cleared, and the weight of two emaciated riders was negligible, Enlai took less than half an hour to return to Phoenix Village.
Once they were safely behind the village’s walls, Qin Qiang finally allowed himself to believe that they were saved. As for Qin Yiling, she was ecstatic to see so many people.
Over the last few days, the duo had come to believe that humanity was all but extinct. Even when he was feeling hopeful, Qin Qiang thought that human civilization had been thoroughly razed. So, when he saw a thriving village, he was moved to tears.
Cheng Yang was slower than Enlai but not by much. He arrived a few minutes later, and when he did, he explained the current state of the world to Qin Qiang.
Qin Yiling was too young to understand most of what Cheng Yang said, but Qin Qiang was different. When he learned that the world had been gamified, the shock in his eyes didn’t subside for a long time.
“Mister, if we get classes, the monsters can’t hit us?” Qin Yiling asked.
Cheng Yang froze. When he brought them here, he never intended to let them perform a class change ceremony. Not only were all of the slots taken right now, but the task of selecting people had been delegated to his generals. However, Cheng Yang couldn’t refuse when he saw the hope in Qin Yiling’s eyes. So he nodded.
“You’ll get a class soon, and then the monsters won’t be able to hurt you.”
Those words brought a smile to Qin Yiling’s face. Seeing her smile made Cheng Yang smile too, so, in high spirits, he checked the class change statues to see if there were any open slots.
Unfortunately, it was as he thought. There weren’t any open slots since it was weird for a Phoenix Village soldier to die. Qin Yiling would have to wait until the statues leveled up.
He also had the option of taking her to a satellite village and performing a class change ceremony there. However, since none of them granted the soldier an Innate Ability, he didn’t want to.
Regardless, he tested their aptitude. Qin Yiling was best suited for the Sorcerer class, while Qin Qiang was best suited to be either a Warrior or Ranger.
After explaining the situation to Qin Qiang, Cheng Yang had one of his subordinates lead them back to his Meditation Hall. Cheng Yang wasn’t worried about how the duo would be treated since they were his guests. If anyone dared to harass them, that person would be expelled from the village.
It was just after eight at night, so Cheng Yang decided to visit Joyous River village and get the first clear of the Nightmare Difficulty of the Abandoned Citadel instance dungeon. Then, after midnight, he could run that difficulty again. After that, he would return to Phoenix Village to train.
With Enlai’s speed, it only took Cheng Yang ten minutes to arrive at Joyous River Village. It was even faster than driving a sports car down the highway. Of course, that was mostly due to the road between the two villages.
The road led towards the southern gate, where several people could be seen coming and going. It was time for dinner, so even civilians were bustling about.
Liu Hau’s subordinates were also hard at work. Their role was vitally important in protecting the civilians as they used the road. They needed to sweep through the surrounding areas to ensure there weren’t any monsters forming herds. This was especially important after the discovery of two Nests. If the soldiers of Joyous River Village weren’t careful, monsters might overrun the road and massacre civilians.
Thankfully, the village was on the brink of becoming a High-Grade one. At that point, there would be two thousand soldiers dutifully defending the territory.
In the future, after Cheng Yang annexed the safe zone, those two thousand soldiers would be supplemented by tens of thousands from Cloud City. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough combat strength to restrict the monsters hordes in the tens of thousands.
Cheng Yang’s appearance shocked those near the village’s gate. Although Cheng Yang felt he should be used to it by now, he couldn’t deny that he liked the looks of awe he received while riding Enlai.
“My Lord, what are you doing here?” Liu Hau rushed to the city gates as soon as he heard Cheng Yang had arrived. Not only was that his duty as a Governor, but he was also curious about Cheng Yang’s mysterious trip. However, his enthusiasm turned to shock when he saw the white tiger. “Yoko, look out behind you!”
“Calm down.” Cheng Yang gleefully rolled his eyes, “This is just my new catch.”
Liu Hau was stunned for a moment but quickly understood what Cheng Yang meant.
“Then this is an Ascendant? Didn’t you say they’re almost impossible to meet and harder to tame? Where did you find that guy?”
“I ran into him halfway to Yicheng.”
“That’s where you were going? But Yicheng is over fifty kilometers away, how did you get back so quickly.”
“Haven’t you visited the Tavern in the last few days?” Cheng Yang chuckled.
“What would I go there for? Their food is overpriced and not even that good.” Liu Hau seemed offended that Cheng Yang believed he would frequent the Tavern, “Besides, it would look bad if I went in when my subordinates are forbidden to.”
At present, no one aside from Cheng Yang and the five generals were allowed the freely enter the Tavern. Anyone else needed permission, something that was only granted if Old Lee needed someone to browse the forum.
Cheng Yang’s greatest enemies were other humans, so he decided to restrict the biggest information leak. Although Yuan Jianzhe might have found the villages by now, Cheng Yang wasn’t going to announce that Yuan Jianzhe’s suspicions were correct.
Since Liu Hau didn’t know, Cheng Yang told him about his business selling Stones of Return.
“We’re rich. Totally completely rich.” Liu Hau said with eyes bigger than a cow’s.
“In a sense, but our expenses are going to grow just as quickly.” Cheng Yang replied, “Anyways, I came here to deliver some of those Experience Fragments and help you clear the Nightmare Difficulty of the Abandoned Citadel.”
“My Lord, don’t change the subject, what were you doing in Yicheng? Why didn’t you tell anyone you were planning to visit?”
“It was a spur of the moment decision.” Cheng Yang lied. “So, I only took two people, and coincidentally, we found a Territory Altar.”
Liu Hau sighed.
“My Lord, you are the core of our territory, so don’t throw yourself into danger like that! Every time you do, we’re terrified you might die. Although it’s unbelievable, we trust you when you say you had visions, so let us share the burden of fulfilling your dream. What if something happened and you died? Everything you’ve built would become sand in the wind before Yuan Jianzhe conquered everything you left behind. Can you bear to see that happen?”
“Don’t worry. I have my limits.” Cheng Yang replied. “I knew it wouldn’t be too dangerous, so I didn’t want you all to be worried all day. I even brought some Stones of Return, so if we encountered danger, we could safely escape. Besides, look at everything we gained from my trip. We have a new village incorporated into our territory, and I obtained a powerful Pet. Although Little White might seem gentle, he’s at the same level as a Mature monster No risk, no reward, right?”
