Chapter 27 - 25: A Fierce Wave of Development, Stunning Everyone!

Chapter 27: Chapter 25: A Fierce Wave of Development, Stunning Everyone!

Shen Xing opened his Talent Interface and once again activated "Sacrificial Evolution" on Hellish Roar, who was standing nearby.

But this time, a new prompt appeared, different from the ones before.

[Target Soldier Type is Level 5 (Tier One Apprentice Level). Potential has reached the limit for this Level. Forcing an evolution carries a risk of the body exploding.]

(Note: Upon reaching Level 9, it can be promoted to Boss Level.)

[Evolve?]

...

’It’s reached its Tier limit? Forcing a breakthrough risks its body exploding?’ Shen Xing was baffled. This was the first time he’d ever heard of such a thing.

After a moment of thought, he decided to check the forums for any related information.

He typed some keywords into the search bar and actually found a post titled "An Analysis of Soldier Type Potential Caps and Tier Restrictions."

After clicking on it, he saw a post written by someone named Song Rentou: "As everyone knows, in the Land of Mist, there are disparities between Soldier Types.

Some are born in Rome, while others are born to be cattle.

Similarly, some powerful Soldier Types are born with Elite Level Potential.

As they grow, they can break through to Boss, then Leader, and can eventually even become Overlord Level beings.

Take the Dragon Race, Holy Hall Knights, and Vampire Princes, for example.

But some Soldier Types are born at the pitiful Ordinary Level.

Their upper limits are locked, and some starting Soldier Types can only be promoted to Elite★★★ at most.

Examples include goblins, Green-skinned Orcs, Skeleton Soldiers, and so on.

Of course, there might be a few special individuals who break through this cap as they grow.

But the probability is so low it’s practically negligible.

For new players, just raising one Soldier Type to Elite★★★ already makes you one of the best."

These words received many likes, as everyone knew how difficult it was for new players to acquire resources in the early game.

Song Rentou continued, adding: "Besides innate Race restrictions, Soldier Types also encounter a bottleneck as they grow: their Level."

"A Tier One Soldier Type, from Level 0 to 9, can only have its Potential raised to Boss One-Star at most. A Tier Two Soldier Type, from Level 10 to 19, can reach Leader One-Star at most."

"So, while you’re raising Potential, don’t forget to raise their Level too."

A pile of complaints immediately appeared below the post.

SupportIsStacked: "Cut the crap. I’ve been in this game for over half a month, my soldiers are already Level 9, and I haven’t even managed to raise a single Elite soldier. You think this is something I need to worry about?"

TurkeyCrisps: "Exactly, this game is too hard. Raising Potential is even harder. A situation like this is basically impossible."

Wang Jiahao: "Heh, before you complain about the game being hard, maybe you should look at yourselves. Are you trying hard enough? Are you even taking the game seriously?

I’ve only been playing for a week and I’ve already raised an Elite Two-Star Soldier Type. I didn’t think it was that hard."

Seeing how confidently he spoke, the other players thought Wang Jiahao must be a hidden expert.

They flooded the replies, begging the "expert" for advice and guides.

Wang Jiahao replied in a sub-thread: "Since you all want to know so badly, I’ll tell you my method.

Right now on the market, an Ordinary Soul costs about 20,000, while an Elite Soul is 100,000. Even with the chance of failure, you can just dump a few hundred thousand and brute-force your way to an Elite.

Dump a few million, and you can even pull together a whole team of Elite Level soldiers. In the early game, that’s enough to let you kill anything that gets in your way."

After hearing his so-called method, the replies were instantly flooded with curses.

"Get lost, you pay-to-win dog!"

"I thought you were an expert, turns out you’re just a clown!"

"Dammit! If I had millions, would I need you to teach me?"

Shen Xing skimmed through the replies and roughly understood why this situation occurred.

To use an analogy, a Soldier Type is a small fish, and Soul Stones are Food.

The little fish grows strong by continuously eating the Food.

And Potential is the aquatic environment, which determines how big this little fish can grow.

If you suddenly throw a small, undeveloped fish into a dangerous body of water, it will likely perish prematurely.

The analogy might be a bit flawed, but it gets the point across.

For most players, the problem of their soldiers’ Potential exceeding their Level limit would never even come up.

But Shen Xing’s situation was rather special.

Because of his "Sacrificial Evolution" Talent, he got a free promotion attempt every day, and a guaranteed success at that.

That’s why he was able to produce an Elite Three-Star soldier in just a few days.

And other players?

To raise their soldiers’ Potential, they had to kill stronger monsters, painstakingly save up Soul Fragments, and still face the chance of a failed breakthrough.

At this stage, most new players who had even one Ordinary Three-Star Soldier Type were considered to be among the top tier.

’But... my "Sacrificial Evolution" can not only break the Tier limit, but it also seems it can break the soldier’s Potential cap.’

’After all, according to the forum post, the Green-skinned Orc Soldier Type should top out at Elite Three-Star, but I can keep promoting mine...’

’I just need to raise Hellish Roar’s Level to 9, the Tier One limit.’

’It seems this Talent is even more powerful than I imagined.’

Shen Xing pulled himself out of his thoughts. He decided not to risk promoting Hellish Roar for now and to focus on developing his other soldiers instead.

Anyway, getting from Level 5 to Level 9 wouldn’t take long as long as he had enough resources.

So, he called Blood Roar over and used "Sacrificial Evolution" to promote him to Elite★★.

However, whether it was because his aptitude wasn’t as good as Hellish Roar’s or for some other reason, this evolution only increased his Attributes without activating any new Skills.

It didn’t really matter, though. As a Wolf Cavalry unit, Blood Roar could practically be considered two combat units in one.

In a one-on-one fight, there were almost no soldiers of the same Tier who could be his match.

Daily Quest: Evolve 1/1

Next, Shen Xing led his squad and continued to explore the area around his territory.

Several hours later, the team returned fully loaded, bringing back dozens of Soul Stones and Silver Coins.

Shen Xing first spent 30 Soul Stones and 30 Black Iron to upgrade the [Arrow Tower].

Then, looking at the green dots on his mini-map and the surrounding terrain, he fell into thought.

’Based on the past two days of scouting, I’ve discovered quite a few dangerous areas near my territory.’

’Directly to the west, about two kilometers away, is the Sickness Village.’

’To the south, about three kilometers away, the Black Water River stretches for who knows how many kilometers, and it’s home to creatures like the Dark Naga.’

’To the east is a continuous mountain range. I haven’t gone in, but just hearing the roars of beasts coming from inside is enough to make my legs go soft.’

’Oh, right. I don’t think I have legs that can go soft.’

He mulled it over for a moment, then sighed. ’Sigh... I’m still not strong enough. Even with two Elite generals and seven or eight Ordinary Two- and Three-Star Orcs, I’m only a tiny bit stronger than other new players.’

’But in this dangerous world, it’s still not enough.’

’I’ve decided. I’m going to lie low for a few days, focus on leveling up, and then... not amaze everyone, but crush my enemies.’

After that, he distributed the Soul Stones as usual and ended his day’s work.

「The next day, the fifth day in the game.」

[Ding! Your Arrow Tower has been successfully upgraded to Level 2. Penetration Power increased, Shooting Speed increased!]

Shen Xing looked up toward the village entrance. The two Arrow Towers had grown from their original four meters to over five meters tall, looking distinctly more imposing.

’Next, I’ll save up some more resources, build a wall around the perimeter, and the security of my territory will increase significantly again.’

He nodded in satisfaction, then summoned Blood Roar and used "Sacrificial Evolution" to complete his daily quest.

BUZZ—

A red light enveloped them, and the man and wolf began to rapidly transform.

Blood Roar’s limbs grew more slender, and red war markings appeared on his back, exuding a wild aura.

However, the wolf-claw totem that had appeared on Hellish Roar’s forehead did not appear on his.

Instead, a piece of equipment resembling a tool pack appeared on the Warg’s back.

[Evolution successful! ’Blood Roar’ has successfully broken through to Elite★★★!]

[This Evolution: All Attributes +10%, Agility Attribute +10]

[Skill Activated: Capture Net]

...

’Excellent. Now I have two Elite Three-Star soldiers in my territory.’

To have built up such a foundation for his territory in just six days—this rate of progress was terrifying.

Aside from the pay-to-win whales, most players were still struggling just to get a single Ordinary Three-Star soldier at this point.

In high spirits, he opened Blood Roar’s attribute panel to check his new Skill’s Attributes.

[Capture Net]

[Skill Effect: Throws an extremely durable Iron Wire Net at a target, trapping it in place for 2-4 seconds. The target cannot move but can still attack and cast spells.

Hit Rate against flying units is increased by 30%.

Cooldown: 65 seconds]

(Note: I’m gonna net you and kick your ass with my sweaty, size 11 feet!)

...

This was a powerful skill too, and a crowd-control one at that. It could play a huge role in certain situations.

After his breakthrough, Blood Roar’s battle spirit was soaring. He looked at Hellish Roar in the distance and trash-talked, "Oh! Hellish Roar, come and fight me!"

"Let’s prove with our strength who the number one Warrior of this territory is!"

Hellish Roar ignored him and walked straight up to Shen Xing. "Lord, two waves of monsters attacked the territory last night. We took care of them."

"But... one of the waves was unusual. They had the stench of plague on them and seemed to have come from that village we encountered before."

"Oh? It was them?"

Shen Xing’s thoughts stirred. He knew Hellish Roar was talking about the monsters from the Sickness Village.

He just hadn’t expected them to find his territory so quickly.

’Is it because I killed that vulture last time and took its corpse? Are they here for revenge?’

"Lord, I’m already a Level 6 Three-Star Warrior. The strongest monster in that village is only an Elite Two-Star."

Hellish Roar said confidently, "Please let me lead the troops into battle. I’m ninety percent confident I can take care of them!"

"Only ninety percent?"

"Ninety percent... isn’t that enough?" Hellish Roar was stunned.

"Not enough. It’s too dangerous."

Hellish Roar: "?"