After taking the Nine Dragons Array Plate, Xiao Jing's gaze turned to the cave where the Ancient Qin Secret Realm was located. With Zhou Cang by his side, he felt eager to try his luck.
After all, the Ancient Qin Secret Realm was just too good to pass up!
Never mind the abundant resources that the panel showed for each floor.
The auxiliary buildings alone were enough to make Xiao Jing drool. The Ancient Qin Secret Realm had a full five of them. As Pre-Qin Ruins, and a gold-tier, extremely dangerous Secret Realm, those buildings had to be purple-tier at a minimum. The effect of a single gray-tier 'Primary Shop's' 'Hundred-Mile Merchant' was already so powerful; he couldn't even imagine how heaven-defying the purple and gold buildings would be...
A five-story Secret Realm, and conveniently, five auxiliary buildings.
This couldn't help but make Xiao Jing think—one auxiliary building for each floor, unlocked just by clearing it...
Although the first floor of the Ancient Qin Secret Realm was dangerous, with nearly two thousand troops, with a Tier Seven military general like Zhou Cang around, Xiao Jing felt he had a chance.
After all, Zhou Cang was a Tier Seven military general. His strength far surpassed those Tier One or Tier Two troops on the first floor of the Secret Realm. Fighting a thousand enemies at once was no issue for him.
"Commander Zhou, is that cave dangerous?" Xiao Jing suppressed his eagerness and turned to ask.
After closing his eyes to sense it for a moment, the relaxed expression on Zhou Cang's face gradually turned grave.
"My Lord, we can't!"
"My gut tells me the cave is very dangerous. One wrong move and we could lose our lives!"
Hearing this, Xiao Jing felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on his head. He instantly calmed down. Although he was a bit disappointed, he quickly composed himself.
He just smiled bitterly to himself. 'I guess I was blinded by the potential rewards. Zhou Cang is strong, but who knows what kind of battle formations those troops in the Secret Realm might use?'
'If I lose Zhou Cang here, there'll be no use crying over it!'
He took one last deep look at the Secret Realm, then commanded, "Leave a squad of terracotta soldiers to guard the area around the Secret Realm. Everyone else, back to the village!"
...
With matters settled here, Xiao Jing led the bandit suppression unit back to Desolate Mountain Village.
The commotion of the bandit suppression unit's return attracted many villagers to watch. Seeing Xiao Jing return unharmed, many of them, including Guo Yun, breathed a sigh of relief. Morale increased by 2 points.
Presumably, seeing that Xiao Jing had successfully eliminated the bandits and removed the threat to Desolate Mountain Village, their morale increased by two points, reaching 70.
During this time, thanks to the Refugee Attraction Scroll, over a hundred more refugees had arrived at the village. The total population now reached 472, and it was finally starting to look like a proper village.
"How is the village construction coming along?" Xiao Jing asked Guo Yun after he had brought Ye Mengmeng to her quarters and helped her get settled.
"Everything in the village is proceeding well, my Lord. After several days of continuous reclamation, your subordinate has opened up a hundred mu of fertile farmland. Once we plant crops, we'll be able to produce over ten thousand units of grain per month!"
Guo Yun replied respectfully.
In "War," one mu of farmland could produce 100 units of grain per month. The production efficiency was significantly increased.
One hundred mu of farmland producing over ten thousand units of grain sounded like a lot, but in reality, it wasn't even enough to feed the village's 400-plus people.
Xiao Jing nodded. "Very good. That's a good start. But grain is crucial, so don't stop reclaiming farmland!"
Then, he opened the village panel.
He had to admit, the Refugee Attraction Scroll was remarkably effective. Even he felt his village was a bit remote, yet it had managed to attract three to four hundred refugees.
It was thanks to these refugees that the village had the necessary labor force for development.
[Territory]: Desolate Mountain Village (Level 1 Village)
[Lord]: Xiao Jing
[Population]: 472
[Morale]: 70 (Stable morale, Development Efficiency +2%)
[Security]: 66
[Economic Index]: 15/100
[Political Index]: 17/100
[Cultural Index]: 6/100
[Military Index]: 2097/100
[Prosperity]: 73
[Territory Specialty]: None
[Existing Buildings]: Village-level Lord's Residence, Wind Cavalry Barracks (Gold), Thatched Huts (55)
[Buildable]: Residences, Clinic, Primary Market, General Store...
[Territory Assets]: Desolate Mountain Plains Farmland (121 mu), Primary Horse Pasture
[Output]: copper coins: None (Tax Rate 0%), Grain: None, Minerals: None, Building Materials: Wood 134 units, Stone 78 units, Clay 221 units
[Specialty]: Pre-Qin Ruins - Ancient Qin Secret Realm
[Evaluation]: A piddling little village.
Thanks to Guo Yun's diligent construction efforts, the village's economic and political indices had improved, but not by much. There was still a long way to go before it could be upgraded to a Level 2 Village.
Upgrading from a Level 1 Village to a Level 2 Village required meeting several conditions.
First, the population had to reach 400. Desolate Mountain Village had already achieved this thanks to the Refugee Attraction Scroll.
Second, the village's Prosperity had to reach 100.
Third, Morale had to be above 50.
Fourth, Security had to be above 50.
Desolate Mountain Village had already met the first, third, and fourth conditions, but its Prosperity was still lacking. It was 27 points short of the 100 required for the upgrade.
It didn't seem like much, but it meant an upgrade was still a long way off.
After all, Desolate Mountain Village's 73 Prosperity points were almost entirely due to its military score. Otherwise...
Shaking his head, Xiao Jing felt a little helpless. 'Our foundation is too weak. We just have to keep developing. Building the Primary Shop should raise Prosperity by a good amount. We'll see if that's enough to meet the requirement!'
While Xiao Jing was out suppressing bandits, a leaderboard had appeared on the panel at some point, sparking a great deal of debate among the players.
The leaderboard was divided into three lists: the Lord Rankings, the Level Rankings, and the Hero Rankings.
The Lord and Hero Rankings were not up for debate.
Xiao Jing and Zhou Cang were listed alone at the top of their respective rankings (anonymously).
Although three or four days had passed, not a single other person had obtained a Village Creation Order to establish a village. This showed just how rare and valuable the item was.
The Level Rankings, however, were the most contentious.
Xiao Jing was Level 5, which was considered quite high among players, but surprisingly, he wasn't even in the top ten.
First: Yue Ye Zhui Chi Tu, Level 10
Second: Zhen Guan Xiong Bing, Level 9
Third: Yang Zhou Tian Xia, Level 9
...
Thirteenth: Xiao Xiao Luo Ri, Level 5
Xiao Xiao Luo Ri was Xiao Jing, ranked thirteenth.
'What a bunch of beasts!'
Xiao Jing sighed. He even had his army sharing experience with him, yet those beasts had still managed to pull 5 levels ahead of him. It just showed how much those players were grinding!
Of course, the appearance of the Level Rankings also triggered frantic debates among the players.
The number one player, 'Yue Ye Zhui Chi Tu,' became the center of attention. Some players even speculated that he was the anonymous number one Lord.
It had to be said that 'Yue Ye Zhui Chi Tu' was a schemer. Seeing these speculations, he neither confirmed nor denied them, instead riding the wave of popularity to post a 'Hero's Invitation,' recruiting heroic players from all corners to join him in a grand venture.
The response was massive. They were already showing signs of becoming the number one player faction. Because most of the players who gathered were from Liang Province, they were nicknamed the 'Liang Province Faction' by onlookers.
Seeing this, other ambitious players also started posting threads to recruit players.
The Yang Province Faction, the Shu-Chuan Faction... and other player factions emerged one after another.
Looking at the chaotic free-for-all on the forums, with factions frantically advertising and recruiting players, Xiao Jing shook his head and closed the window.
Undeniably, being transported to this world with no one to rely on, it was a good move for players to band together for warmth and form factions.
But this didn't apply to Xiao Jing.
First, with a territory in one hand and a Secret Realm in the other, he could grow strong sooner or later by developing step-by-step. He didn't need players whose 'loyalty' was questionable.
Second, although there were teleportation arrays available, the fees were extremely expensive. Gathering people together to accomplish anything would not only be difficult but also require a high degree of organizational skill, which didn't suit Xiao Jing.