The Rudiments of the Stronghold

The monster-grinding plan, originally scheduled for three days, concluded in less than one.

Aer would reduce the monsters in the village to critical health, batch by batch, then draw them towards the players. The players, utilizing the characteristics of their "Divine Legion," would then plunder the monsters' essence, converting it into experience points for leveling.

However, no matter how many monsters the village contained, there was an energy limit.

When the green mist permeating the Endemic Plague Village dissipated at a visible rate, eventually vanishing without a trace, only ten hours had passed.

After the monsters in the village were completely cleared, Aer retracted her stance and stood idly at the village entrance, saying nothing.

Unsuspecting players still held their weapons aloft, waiting for the next wave of experience to be fed to them.

Li Li, controlling his avatar, used a questioning tone to explain to these players:

"It seems like we've finished grinding the monsters? Is it because Apep, the source of the corruption, died, causing the monsters here to become uprooted and disappear after a short while?"

"You can't really call it a short while. We killed over 40,000 monsters. It's mainly because an NPC led us this time, so the efficiency was too high," replied the Minotaur player named "Pure Love War God" in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, "Amulet Owl" put away his weapon and waved his hand:

"It's not about efficiency."

"Given this game's near-obsessive pursuit of realism, if the monsters here can be wiped out, they might genuinely impose a permanent limit on monster numbers, making wild monsters a one-and-done deal."

"You can think of it this way: this game has a 'total experience pool.' The experience each person can grab is limited, and most people won't reach level 200."

"There's no need to reach the maximum level," "Pure Love War God" countered with apparent innocence. "Not everyone likes combat. There are lore enthusiasts, sightseeing fans, life simulation players... The game's graphics are so realistic, they could completely develop gameplay beyond combat."

"You're missing the point!" "Amulet Owl" shook his head. "This isn't a resource issue. Once the low-level monsters are cleared, how will new players in the future play?"

"That..." "Pure Love War God" finally realized the gravity of the situation.

"Alright, alright, this isn't something we need to worry about," "Golden Wind" patted "Amulet Owl" on the shoulder. "The developers probably did this to reduce server load. They'll fix it with a patch later, why the rush?"

While the players were voicing their opinions, Li Li had already guided his avatar into the cleared village.

The village was situated on the left slope at the entrance of the valley. Standing on the cliff at the innermost part of the village and gazing into the distance, one could see the "root" of Broken Sword Valley.

The geographical location was excellent. It was visible from both entering and exiting the valley, making it an absolute key transportation hub for the future.

However, the village's internal infrastructure could only be described as needing a complete overhaul.

Although the poisonous gas that had permeated the village for nearly a thousand years prevented damage from insects, ants, and wild beasts to the buildings.

The remaining wooden houses crumbled at a touch, hardly qualifying as proper structures.

So, the next course of action was clear.

To get rich, build roads first.

First, he would level up these players, enabling them to clear the monsters along the way.

From Iron Wall City to here, there was about 10 kilometers of road, with three large monster strongholds similar to Endemic Plague Village along the route, as well as numerous scattered smaller monsters.

If these players went all out, they could complete the task within three weeks.

While having Aer assist would be faster, this method of spoon-feeding experience would bring far more disadvantages than advantages for future development.

There were 11 people participating in this monster grind. Judging by "Lost His Mind's" earnings, each person received over 2 million experience points on average, enough for them to jump directly to Silver Rank.

For players to go from Lv1 to Lv30, 1.05 million experience points were required.

After Li Li took half, players would need 2.1 million experience to reach level 30.

However, leveling up was only the "minor part"; the real experience sinks were skills.

For mortals and those at Brass Rank, the maximum level for learned skills was Lv30, with each skill requiring 70,124 experience to max out.

But "Novice Divine Scholar," whom "Amulet Owl" had personally criticized for having "too few skills," had 12 skills to learn.

If he wanted to max out all his skills, he would need at least 1.68 million experience points.

In other words, the experience these eleven players currently possessed was only enough for them to reach level 30; the remaining experience was insufficient to learn skills.

After completing their second advancement, the level 30 players would have average stats reaching three digits, allowing them to leap ten meters with ease. They would already be capable of defeating most monsters along the way.

However, due to skill levels and equipment issues, their damage output would appear rather "scratchy."

Yet, it was precisely this "scratchy" damage that would motivate these individuals to grind for monsters.

Especially after they discovered that wild monsters were a finite resource.

Once the monsters along the route were cleared, Li Li could recruit natives from Iron Wall City to his stronghold for trade.

As for the construction of the stronghold... hiring a construction crew from the city was unrealistic. Leaving the city was a dangerous task, and it would be difficult enough to find convoys to transport building materials.

Although he currently only had 52 Faith points, Li Li's plans would not stall because of it.

Once all the players had leveled up, he would have an estimated Faith income of around 2200 points. Li Li planned to use 500 of those points to summon another 50 players for the "third batch," and then assign them labor tasks for constructing the camp.

The rewards for these labor tasks would be the experience points earned by the first two batches of players.

After leveling up to Silver Rank, the first two batches of players would have reached a new level in both their ability to earn experience and their capacity to consume it, with gains often starting in the hundreds of thousands.

Using the veteran Silver Rank players to support the new Mortal Rank players.

Allowing those who leveled up first to help those who leveled up later.

This would create a virtuous cycle.

After organizing his thoughts, Li Li returned from the cliff to the village entrance. He walked up to Aer and took her hand, ostensibly to upgrade.

He handed the new quest to Aer, letting her issue it to the subsequent players.

[Outpost, Part Two]

[Quest Objective: Completely clear out monsters between Iron Wall City and Endemic Plague Village, and ensure the monsters do not respawn.]

[Quest Hint: To get rich, first build roads. As a hero who can completely clear corruption, please clear a safe logistical line to lay the initial foundation for future expedition plans.]

[Quest Reward: Experience points, title "Pioneer", unlock "Social" function.]

"This quest reward is too good to be true," the Minotaur, who had only been in the game for less than a day and had already reached level 30, transferring from Novice Paladin to Paladin, grumbled.

Beside him, 'Wind of Dawn', who was stuck at level 10 and hadn't transferred yet, said:

"I guess the NPCs don't have much money either. My guess is, to increase realism, we'll get our quest rewards not out of thin air, but taken from the NPCs' wealth."

As she spoke, she pointed to the large truck parked outside the village and chuckled, "Even the only vehicle is a second-hand one they somehow found. Our Creator God, despite being able to command a Legendary rank Saintess, is really poor."