Chapter 61 – Recruitment

Chapter 61 – Recruitment

Cheng Yang suddenly understood, feeling an overwhelming sense of happiness. Building the Guardian Hall first had undoubtedly been the right choice. The Guardian Hall wasn’t a unique structure; while he had obtained its blueprint, other settlements could acquire it too.

But now, the high-talent guardians spawned in this Guardian Hall belonged entirely to him. Cheng Yang was confident that under normal circumstances, no competitors would emerge to challenge him for these guardians within two months. Of course, accidents could happen – after all, he himself was the biggest anomaly in this world. Therefore, if he could hire high-talent guardians earlier, he absolutely wouldn’t delay.

However, hiring high-talent guardians wasn’t easy. Their prices were sky-high compared to ordinary guardians.

Checking his spiritual energy reserves, Cheng Yang saw that a full day’s hard work had only netted him 3,200 points, nearly half of which came from killing the Blackwater Crocodile group. Adding the 400 points left from morning, he only had enough to hire three SS-grade guardians and one S-grade guardian.

*Should I save up 100,000 points first to unlock the 8x cultivation speed before mass hiring guardians?*

This thought was immediately dismissed. Without hesitation, Cheng Yang chose to hire the most expensive guardian first. A thousand points vanished from his account in an instant.

A flash of light appeared before Cheng Yang’s eyes, and a guardian clad in novice warrior equipment materialized.

It was a handsome man under thirty years old.

“Subordinate Chen Yun pays respects to the Lord,” the warrior immediately knelt on one knee, performing a salute.

Cheng Yang wasn’t particularly surprised. In his previous life, he’d heard that guardians hired from the Guardian Hall behaved like ancient people, with corresponding manners.

Helping Chen Yun up, Cheng Yang said, “Please rise, Chen Yun. The safety of Luofeng Village will depend on you from now on.”

“The Lord flatters me. Serving you is my honor,” Chen Yun replied respectfully.

As the Lord, Cheng Yang could check his subordinates’ attributes, including territory guardians.

Chen Yun’s first talent was comparable to Cheng Yang’s own, while the second was also combat-oriented. If not for equipment differences, Cheng Yang might not be Chen Yun’s match.

Reading the Guardian’s Power description gave Cheng Yang an idea. *Could I have these guardians handle the demonic beasts spawning near the territory, freeing other combatants to hunt further away?* This would provide steady spiritual energy income while allowing him to accumulate personal points – killing two birds with one stone.

Thinking of territory spiritual energy gains reminded Cheng Yang of the Blood Church dungeon. Since kills within one kilometer of the territory contributed to territory energy, could these guardians enter the Blood Church instance? This was worth testing. If successful, he could send these high-level apprentices into the Hard difficulty dungeon, greatly increasing daily energy gains while accelerating the dungeon’s rank progression.

The only pity was that Chen Yun, as a warrior, couldn’t solo the Hard difficulty dungeon since he couldn’t attack the peak-tier imps from the tree like Cheng Yang could.

Still, Cheng Yang would have prioritized hiring a warrior regardless. A powerful warrior was crucial for territory development, even if Chen Yun couldn’t leave the settlement.

For the remaining two slots, Cheng Yang planned to hire an archer and a summoner. While he wanted a priest too, he believed a higher-level summoner would be more valuable.

Approaching the other four guardian recruiters, Cheng Yang discovered their names were equally simplistic – Long Fa (Mage), Long Jian (Archer), Long Mu (Priest), and Long Huan (Summoner).

Suppressing his amusement, Cheng Yang maintained a polite demeanor. These weren’t game NPCs but real people who could hold grudges if offended.

Opening their recruitment lists, Cheng Yang found each had one SS-grade guardian available, along with varying numbers of S-grade guardians ranging from four to ten.

He immediately hired the summoner and archer, using his last two special slots.

With three high-level apprentices added, Luofeng Village’s strength increased dramatically. Cheng Yang now felt confident facing military forces head-on.

After these hires, only 600 spiritual energy points remained. After some hesitation, Cheng Yang decided against hiring an S-grade guardian.

Emerging from the Guardian Hall with his three new guardians, Cheng Yang noticed many combatants staring curiously. Some who had been waiting outside knew only Cheng Yang had entered earlier.

Stopping, Cheng Yang smiled, “Curious? These three will serve as territory guardians, handling nearby monster spawns. This frees you to hunt larger groups further away.”

The crowd erupted in cheers. How these guardians appeared didn’t matter – what mattered was their assistance.

PS: Seeking recommendations and collections! Brothers, we’ve reached 8th on the new book rankings! While this is partly due to the 1st place dropping out, it’s still worth celebrating. Sleepy’s promised fourth bonus chapter will come next week. Please bear with me a little longer…