Chapter 156 – Explosive Flames

Within the ranks of Luofeng Village’s elite, even without counting the territory guards, there were now six high-tier experts. This was because Li Wanshan and Zhao Chuan had both advanced to the high-tier on the 24th and 25th days of the apocalypse respectively.

It must be said that with the combined effects of eightfold cultivation speed, the Nirvana Divine Stone, and Cheng Yang’s innate talents, advancing from mid-tier to high-tier had become remarkably easy. At most, it took seven to eight days to complete the breakthrough.

Of course, only the commanders of Luofeng Village’s five main battle camps could enjoy the eightfold cultivation speed. Even deputy commanders could only occasionally experience this rapid cultivation, as their daily earnings weren’t sufficient to sustain continuous use of the eightfold speed. However, their sixfold cultivation speed was maintained consistently, so advancing to high-tier didn’t require too much time.

For both Luofeng Village’s top management and leaders of other main cities, gathering 10,000 or 100,000 spirit energy points to activate high-multiple cultivation wasn’t difficult in the early stages. The real challenge was having enough daily spirit energy to sustain the continuous consumption of high-speed cultivation. This ongoing expenditure was something many couldn’t afford.

Currently, the highest cultivation speed available in main cities was eightfold, with very few able to maintain sixfold speed.

Although Yuan Jianze now had many subordinates under him, who would dare to exploit them on a large scale? With all the demonized beasts in Xiangcheng City’s main territory completely cleared and half the city occupied by Cheng Yang, the daily spirit energy income was very limited. Despite having over 200,000 combat professionals in the main city, the total spirit energy income didn’t exceed 150,000 points. Other main city forces might have slightly higher incomes, but none exceeded 300,000 points.

This meant that the average daily income for main city combat professionals was only about 1 spirit energy point. Unless someone dared to open a passage out of the city ruins, this income would only decrease as demonized beast respawns diminished over time.

Currently, apart from Xiangcheng City’s main force, other regions’ main cities had no knowledge of what lay beyond the passages. They didn’t dare risk attacking the clearly guarded passageways. Who knew what conditions awaited beyond those passages? Moreover, the passage guards had grown extremely powerful, making them difficult to overcome. With nearly 10,000 demonized beasts, including over 2,000 mid-tier and several high-tier ones, combat professionals were hesitant to confront them.

However, the passage guards’ dominance wouldn’t last much longer. As the number of combat professionals increased, their desperate need for spirit energy would inevitably drive main cities to look beyond the passages. Of course, the uncertainty of the wilderness would lead to increased losses, making progress in those areas less than ideal.

Cheng Yang wasn’t concerned with these matters. To him, they were irrelevant. Luofeng Village now boasted not only himself as a peak mage apprentice but also six high-tier apprentices and over a thousand mid-tier combat professionals. This was Cheng Yang’s confidence.

He had a plan that had been brewing for some time, one he’d considered when making the agreement with Yuan Jianze by the Death Valley teleportation gate.

For outposts like Luofeng Village, while they could raise a powerful army through statue-based class changes, they couldn’t meet all survivors’ class change needs. Any force needed not only a strong military but also numerous mercenaries or free-living professionals.

If these people relied solely on outpost class changes, requirements couldn’t be fully met. Therefore, main cities would remain the primary means of class changes for a long time. As an outpost, attracting some main city class-changed combat professionals was inevitable.

Of course, absorbing already class-changed individuals was secondary. Cheng Yang’s main focus was selecting from those yet to change classes. However, he had no intention of recruiting from Xiangcheng City’s remaining unclassed population. After nearly 20 days since ordinary people gained access to spirit energy attributes, those who hadn’t gathered the 20 points needed for class change were either cowardly or physically weak. Cheng Yang had no interest in such people at this stage.

In three days, survivors from counties without main cities or those in villages and towns would be teleported to main cities, causing a population explosion. This would allow Cheng Yang to begin large-scale expansion of Luofeng Village.

After recent developments, both Heshan Village, occupied earlier, and Tongling Village, taken later, had upgraded to level 2 villages. The rapid progress to level 3 was largely due to Cheng Yang’s strong support.

First, regarding territory spirit energy, Cheng Yang would immediately transfer resources from Luofeng Village whenever subsidiary outposts needed them. This explained why Luofeng Village, despite its high spirit energy production, had little stored.

Second, after upgrading to level 2 and establishing carpentry workshops, Cheng Yang allocated tens of thousands of spirit energy points to purchase logging tools for class-changed professionals. By the third day of occupation, they’d gathered enough wood to construct all level 2 village buildings, allowing the villages to upgrade to level 3.

At level 3, Heshan and Tongling Villages could develop independently. While level 2 walls couldn’t guarantee absolute safety, late-stage tier-1 demonized beasts rarely appeared around Luofeng Village, making the four-meter-high walls relatively secure. Moreover, Cheng Yang hadn’t planned to bring Niu Bing and Liu Xiyue back to Luofeng Village yet, so they could handle any late-stage tier-1 threats.

Both villages now had about 800 combat professionals, sufficient to clear newly respawned demonized beasts in surrounding areas. Cheng Yang’s current approach prioritized stability over rapid progress, allowing these outposts to develop steadily.

Staying longer in Tongling Village would have benefited both it and Heshan Village. However, with many matters requiring attention in Luofeng Village, which was undoubtedly more important, Cheng Yang decided to return, leaving these matters temporarily aside.

During these days, Cheng Yang had tried to locate the dungeon teleportation gate near Tongling Village. However, between escorting newly class-changed professionals to Yicheng for wood and clearing demonized beast hordes around Tongling Village, he hadn’t dedicated time to search for the gate. Consequently, he never found it.

Instead, Cheng Yang achieved first clears of the Dark Night Forest dungeon’s hard and nightmare modes. These yielded two precious items, one being a mage skill inheritance stone – Explosive Flames.

The nightmare mode first clear reward wasn’t mage-related but a pair of special items.

Both the Explosive Flames inheritance stone and Voice Transmission Jade Talismans were valuable, though currently the skill stone held greater worth. However, in specific situations, the talismans could prove extremely powerful, serving as strategic treasures. In his previous life, no information about these talismans had surfaced on forums, suggesting the first clear team recognized their value and kept them secret.

The talismans’ usage conditions were frustrating, consuming spirit energy at a rate of 1 point per second per kilometer. Even international calls before the apocalypse weren’t this expensive. Cheng Yang calculated that communicating between the world’s most distant points would cost tens of thousands of points per second – a price few could afford.

Looks like using these for long chats is out of the question.

For now, apart from the undiscovered dungeon near Tongling Village, Cheng Yang had essentially completed all available dungeon first clears. As for hell mode difficulties, they remained beyond his current capabilities. Only after advancing to mid-tier warrior level might he attempt them.

Returning to Luofeng Village, Cheng Yang prepared to visit Xiangcheng City’s main territory. Three days prior, he’d threatened Yuan Jianze to provide answers about the explosion incident. While Cheng Yang already knew how Yuan would respond, this trip remained necessary.