Chapter 30 – Strategic Arrangements

Chapter 30 – Strategic Arrangements

The class change process in the main city wasn’t much different from that in the wild outposts. In fact, the main city held certain advantages in the early stages. Firstly, there were no quotas for class changes in the main city. Anyone who entered the light barrier could undergo the transformation. Secondly, each profession statue in the city was preloaded with 1000 spirit energy points, enough to transform a hundred ordinary people into combatants. However, these newly transformed combatants would need to repay the statue with spirit energy gained from future battles. Only when the statues accumulated sufficient spirit energy again could others undergo the transformation.

Yuan Jianze, unaware of the existence of wild outposts, believed this light barrier was a gift from heaven to Xiangcheng City. Of course, he didn’t think Xiangcheng was the only city with such a barrier. The divine voice that had spoken earlier had addressed all of humanity, not specifically Xiangcheng.

As soldiers entered the light barrier, Yuan Jianze began arranging for these battle-weary troops to undergo class changes. As soldiers miraculously transformed into combatants, Xiangcheng City started to regain its vitality.

The first batch of four hundred soldiers completed their transformations. Afterward, a staff officer named Xiao Chen approached Yuan Jianze with a suggestion: “Commander, I think we should hold off on allowing civilians to undergo class changes for now. We only have ten thousand soldiers, while the civilian population numbers at least a hundred thousand. If they all transform and riots break out, we might lose control of the city.”

“What do you propose?” Yuan Jianze frowned slightly.

Xiao Chen explained, “We should maintain control over these four statues. After all our soldiers have transformed, we can gradually open up the process to civilians. Moreover, those who transform must join our military. This way, we can maintain control over Xiangcheng.”

“Agreed,” Yuan Jianze said immediately. “But we must still bring the civilians into the main city’s protective barrier. The soldiers must use part of their earned spirit energy to purchase food from the general store to ensure the civilians’ survival.”

Xiao Chen acknowledged the order. The transformed soldiers began moving out of the light barrier, while those yet to transform remained inside with a new mission: to prevent civilians from accessing the statues. Once the statues accumulated enough spirit energy, these soldiers would undergo their transformations.

…

Emerging from the dungeon, Cheng Yang noticed Liu Hao and his team exiting as well. Li Wanshan’s team was still missing, presumably still battling within the dungeon.

“You’ve done well,” Cheng Yang remarked, noticing the two to three new pieces of equipment each of Liu Hao’s team members had acquired.

Liu Hao grinned, “Not bad. You must have cleared the dungeon too, Yang. Your haul can’t be worse than ours.”

Cheng Yang smiled, “I did. Got one black iron and two bronze pieces. Not too shabby.”

“That’s decent…” Liu Hao started to respond casually, then suddenly realized what Cheng Yang had said. “Wait, bronze equipment? How did you get bronze equipment?”

Cheng Yang enjoyed Liu Hao’s astonishment, a rare moment of levity in these apocalyptic times. “Simple. I cleared the hard mode dungeon, got the first clear bonus. Besides the equipment, I also got something special.”

He handed the skill inheritance orb to Liu Hao, who stared at it in shock. “Yang, you’re incredible! No wonder you’re our leader.”

Yu Kai and Niu Bing, curious, quickly snatched the orb from Liu Hao. After examining it, Yu Kai said, “Yang, following you is definitely the right choice.”

Cheng Yang playfully slapped Yu Kai, “Stop being so dramatic. For a priest to learn the Angel’s Inspiration skill, they need 200 spirit energy points. If we rely solely on the priests, it would take forever. So, if you want your teams to have priests with this skill quickly, you’ll need to pool your resources and donate some spirit energy.”

“Great idea, I agree,” Niu Bing said with a grin.

Yu Kai and Liu Hao exchanged knowing glances about Niu Bing’s ulterior motives but didn’t object to Cheng Yang’s proposal. With forty-one members in each team, each person only needed to contribute five spirit energy points – a manageable burden.

“How much spirit energy are you earning daily now?” Cheng Yang asked suddenly.

After some discussion, Yu Kai replied, “Excluding dungeon rewards, we earn about 60 points daily. Dungeons average around 50 points. The low outdoor earnings are because, apart from large monster groups, scattered monsters are rare, so we spend most of our time traveling. Now that we’re strong enough to tackle larger monster groups, our daily earnings should increase.”

Cheng Yang considered this, then said, “We’ve gained an advantage by securing the outpost early, but compared to factions controlling main cities, our numbers are still small. To avoid being wiped out by other factions, we need to expand our advantage. I’ve accumulated over 1000 spirit energy points, which unlocks quadruple cultivation speed. I plan to lend 1000 points to each of you daily after my cultivation, allowing you to cultivate at quadruple speed. After your cultivation, you’ll pass the points to the next person, eventually returning them to me. At your current level, with quadruple speed, you should reach mid-level apprentice in about ten days. However, this would consume 120 points daily, leaving little for other uses.”

The others’ faces lit up with excitement. Having experienced double cultivation speed, they could imagine the benefits of quadruple speed.

“Great idea, Yang,” Liu Hao said. “Spirit energy’s main use should be cultivation. Using it to buy equipment now would be wasteful, as our power grows quickly in the early stages. But… won’t this affect you?”

Cheng Yang smiled, “Not at all. Transferring spirit energy doesn’t incur taxes, and it’ll return to me eventually. I suspect this method will become common among factions, but it requires absolute trust. In this apocalypse, spirit energy is fundamental. If someone doesn’t return borrowed energy, there’s no way to force them. Even killing them would only make the energy vanish.”

The others nodded, understanding Cheng Yang’s implicit trust in them.

PS: Seeking recommendations and collections. Yesterday’s collections increased by 140. Tonight, I’ll continue with bonus chapters. Keep it up, brothers! Can we hit another 100 collections today?