"Ding! Congratulations, you obtained the mutated Orange Hero, Christian!"
It was her!
Back on Blue Star, the official government had published an Advanced Heroes Handbook.
It described the advanced units that humanity could recruit in the Ten Thousand Realms Battlefield.
Among the Holy Church faction,
the best hero to have appeared so far was the Holy Light Fox.
She was a mutated hero who not only mastered Holy Light Magic but also possessed a Forbidden Technique.
She was also a Templar Knight.
She was a Rare Unit capable of both ranged and melee combat.
The lord who had first recruited this hero back then
had easily become one of Blue Star's top ten lords with Christian's help.
Unfortunately, he was later surrounded by endless magical beasts during a beast tide.
He fought for three months before dying.
It was precisely his sacrifice that allowed Blue Star's lords to gather their forces and hold the passage.
This prevented the monsters of the Ten Thousand Realms Battlefield from flooding into Blue Star.
And Christian had been one of the key factors that allowed that lord to defend the city for three months.
"Christian greets you, Lord!"
"I shall drive the darkness from this world with holy light and fire."
As her voice fell,
a valiant young woman riding a tall warhorse and clad in plate armor materialized in midair.
After seeing him, the girl leaped down from her warhorse.
Bracing herself with her greatsword, she knelt on one knee and saluted him.
Fang Yuan studied the girl before him for a moment.
Compared to Lilith's bewitching charm,
Christian was more valiant and sacred, radiating an aura that forbade profanation.
That was the characteristic of Holy Church units.
Fang Yuan stepped forward and helped her up with both hands.
"No need for such formalities. Please, rise."
He then opened Christian's panel.
Name: Holy Light Fox Christian Level: LV1 (0/8000) Quality: Orange Epic Potential: One Star Carried Curios: Shadow Demon Wolf Skull, Templar Guardian Badge, Mutated Source Crystal Attack: 800 Health: 8000 Stamina: 8000 Loyalty: 85 (Has a very favorable impression of you. Below 20 loyalty, she will defect.) Skills: Holy Light Strike, Holy Light Shield, Pious Aura, Light of Resurrection, Holy Light Touch.
Generally speaking, the attributes of an Orange Unit were mostly around 500 points.
They also had only four skills.
Christian had 300 more points than a normal Orange Unit, along with an extra skill.
This had a great deal to do with her mutation.
Moreover, her initial loyalty was extremely high.
It had reached 85 points.
As for her skills,
Holy Light Strike condensed the power of holy light and smashed it into the enemy with a greatsword.
Besides dealing triple critical-hit damage, it also had stunning and splash effects.
Against evil and chaotic units, its damage could reach ten times the normal amount.
Holy Light Shield and Pious Aura were group skills.
The former gave ten surrounding units a shield equal to twice their current health.
The latter increased their resistance to spell attacks from evil and chaotic units while also granting control immunity.
Light of Resurrection was exactly what its name suggested.
It could revive units that had died nearby.
That included heroes!
Fang Yuan felt this skill was the most useful.
With it, even if one of his subordinate heroes died in an unexpected situation, they could still be revived.
However, only one hero could be revived at a time.
As for ordinary units, ten could be revived at once.
But this was merely the effect at level one.
As her level rose, the hero's skills would also grow stronger.
As for the final skill, Holy Light Touch,
the skill looked rather bizarre.
It could absorb the skills and attributes of units killed by Holy Light skills.
It could also replenish her expended stamina.
This was a skill that grew stronger the longer one fought.
Its own consumption was also enormous. A single use would nearly drain half her stamina.
But if she could kill a high-tier unit and then use this skill,
the result would surely give the enemy an unexpected surprise.
Judging from her skills alone,
Fang Yuan felt that Christian was already no weaker than a Gold Unit.
Every skill was an absolute top-tier ability. No wonder she was a mutated hero.
Just in time, he now had two heroes and two barracks under his command.
The Flame Mage was a ranged unit.
Lilith would command her.
Most of Christian's skills were melee-oriented.
The Wolf Hunters would be handed over to her.
Once the scouting troops returned,
he could take them out and test their actual combat strength.
Fang Yuan thought for a moment.
He assigned the Wolf Hunters under Christian's command.
He said at the same time, "Christian, I'm about to conquer the Gnoll Tribe. I'm placing the Wolf Hunters under your command!"
"From now on, lead them into battle for me."
Christian clasped her fist and said proudly, "May holy light be with you. I shall conquer evil for you, my lord."
After saying that, she rode her horse out of the Hero Altar.
She was going to take command of the Wolf Hunters.
Watching Christian's departing back, Fang Yuan looked toward the Hero Altar again.
"I really struck it lucky this time."
"When two incompatible items are placed together, the recruitment will most likely fail."
"That would waste one recruitment opportunity."
"I must be more careful next time."
"After all, the number of times I can recruit heroes is fixed. One failure means one fewer opportunity."
"The next recruitment opportunity will only come at level three."
"I only have one White-quality curio left now. At most, I could recruit a White Hero. I also don't have any good recruitment materials for the time being, so I won't recruit anyone yet."
"I'll worry about it later."
Fang Yuan checked the map. The Wolf Hunters who had gone out to scout still had ten minutes before they reached their destination.
There was still time.
He happened to have four White Building Cards in hand.
He decided to use this time to open the White Building Cards and see what they contained.
Fang Yuan's thoughts shifted.
Soon, he took four Basic Building Cards from his inventory.
"Let's open them all together."
Fang Yuan directly chose to open them at once.
"Ding! You obtained a Basic Wall Building Card."
"Ding! You obtained a Basic Watchtower Building Card."
"Ding! You obtained a Basic Spearman Building Card."
"Ding! You obtained a special Basic Unit, a Hunter's Lodge Building Card."
Walls were defensive buildings.
They could enclose the territory.
If necessary, he could even use walls to surround the seventy acres of land outside his main city.
However, Fang Yuan felt that it was unnecessary.
Walls and watchtowers were mainly used for external expansion and establishing strongholds.
As for the Spearman Building Card,
it produced a White Unit with pitiful combat power.
Its use was practically zero.
In a one-on-one fight, it couldn't even beat a White Gray Wolf.
Moreover, it was a melee unit.
It was cannon fodder among cannon fodder.
He didn't have many building slots.
He already had a Purple Barracks.
There was no need to build such a low-level unit.
He might as well sell it.
The final one, the Rare Basic Unit—the Hunter's Lodge—surprised Fang Yuan somewhat.
"Looks like my luck isn't bad."
"A random White Building Card actually produced a Rare Unit."
"Let's see what it does first."
Hunter's Lodge Building Card: Once built, it produces hunters who have mastered skills such as hunting, skinning, and gathering, allowing them to increase the territory's food supply.
After seeing its specific function,
Fang Yuan thought,
"No wonder it's a rare Basic Card."
"For a lord, food is extremely precious."
"Especially in the early stages, before there's a stable source of production."
"Every upgrade consumes stored supplies."
"If other resources run out, at worst, the development speed will be affected."
"But if the food runs out and the heroes and soldiers under my command have nothing to eat,"
"their loyalty will plummet."
"With the Hunter unit,"
"I can guarantee part of my food supply."
"It may not be much, but it's better than nothing."
"Besides, the skinning skill can produce high-quality pelts, which is another source of income."
The Hunter's Lodge was worth consuming a building slot for.
Fang Yuan did not hesitate.
He directly chose to construct the Hunter's Lodge.
He placed it outside the main city.
Very soon!
"Ding! The Hunter's Lodge has been completed. Prosperity +100."
He opened the building panel, and a crude wooden house appeared.
Name: Hunter's Lodge
Quality: White
Function: Produces the special unit, Hunter
Production cost: 1 population, 100 food, and 100 wood to produce one Novice Hunter.
"The production cost isn't too high."
"The main issue is that I don't have much population."
"After all, I don't have many people left now. Only 300."
"I still don't know what exactly hunters can do."
"I'll make ten for now and see how they perform."
Fang Yuan quickly selected the Hunter's Lodge and produced ten Novice Hunters.
As soon as they appeared, they applied to Fang Yuan to go hunting outside.
Fang Yuan naturally didn't refuse.
And soon.
The hunters brought him good news.
Ding! You hunted a wild rabbit. You obtained Food +5, Tattered Rabbit Hide ×1, Bloodstained Rabbit Fur ×1.
Fang Yuan looked toward the area outside the city.
He happened to see ten hunters surrounding a rabbit and shooting arrows at it.
They had shot it so full of arrows that it looked like a hedgehog before finally killing it.
"Uh, all right!"
"That's a little gruesome!"
"But at least they got something."
At the same time, Fang Yuan discovered that the hunters had brought an unexpected bonus.
The places they passed through were all displayed as explored on the map.
"They can not only explore the map but also increase my food supply."
"These hunters are pretty useful!"
"Upgrade!"
Ding! Hunter's Lodge upgraded to Level 2. Prosperity +100.
After the upgrade, the hunters produced were second-tier.
Fang Yuan upgraded the original ten hunters as well.
Then he produced another forty.
With fifty hunters assembled, they went out together to explore the map.
The forest was rich in resources. Not only was there wood, but there were also mineral deposits.
The more hunters he had, the farther the map he explored would expand.
He would be able to obtain more resources as well.
He hoped the hunters would bring him some pleasant surprises!
Before you continue