Heading to the Academy

There was no other way; the 500-meter small map was simply too large. Even if the soldiers hadn't spotted their opponents, they could use the map to pinpoint their location in advance, then hide and fire arrows from the shadows.

The enemy's smallest reconnaissance team was secretly wiped out by arrows without any prior knowledge of the situation.

This back-and-forth battle didn't put much pressure on Ye Qian's side, but the opposing players were finding it hard to keep up.

"The opponents are all elite troops."

The young man who had brought the wounded general back from outside looked extremely pale.

The losses were too great; nearly 80 men had been killed, and even the generals were wounded. This kind of battle made them feel extremely uneasy.

"It seems we underestimated the enemy's strength."

The middle-aged man took out a locally produced cigarette, took a puff, glanced back at the still-assembling army, and suddenly felt a lack of confidence.

They have a long history of development and are quite capable, that's for sure.

In preparation for battle, the group has assembled a large army capable of coordinating operations across multiple military branches by purchasing and acquiring blueprints.

With a total of 1,000 soldiers, although they can't compare to those veteran players, they are definitely strong among newcomers.

Some players who have been developing their forces for several months only have this many troops, and their troops are not necessarily as strong as theirs.

"If our opponents mainly use elite troops, then the cost will definitely be higher than that of ordinary soldiers. It is very likely that the opponents are using all the elites as scouts. Considering this, it is not surprising that we are at a disadvantage. Next, we can appropriately increase the number of scouts and pair them with some ranged units to ambush the enemy in the predetermined area."

The middle-aged man was thinking: to ambush rather than encounter.

After discussion, their main force made another move.

Little did these people know that ambushes were no problem for Ye Qian, who had a minimap.

Night fell before they knew it. Their repeated ambushes were thwarted by enemies that seemed to appear out of nowhere, leaving them all dead. Iron Arrow rained down from all directions, a veritable reaping of lives, forcing them to retreat. In the end, they were chased all the way to their own doorstep.

The two sides clashed in the jungle in a massive battle. Ye Qian had gathered several reconnaissance squads, which were attacked by the enemy's main force sent from their camp.

The battle was fierce, but even so, some of the archers managed to escape.

The Black Shield infantry responsible for covering the rear held out until the very last moment, not one of them surrendering. Even for elite troops, such morale moved the opposing general.

After the battle, Ye Qian learned about the enemy's situation and immediately began to consider launching an attack on their forest camp.

"The estimated number is less than 1,000, which seems like a lot, but there are very few elite units, probably less than 20 in total. The enemy's strength lies in their comprehensive troop composition; they even have several catapults. However, in this kind of jungle warfare, catapults are not very effective."

After discussing it, Ye Qian decided to launch a full-scale attack before nightfall.

The reason for not setting off at midnight was that the enemy had night-fighting units, while our side was somewhat weak in this area.

As Dusk approached, a layer of red clouds enveloped the sky.

The 1,500 archers had been divided into 15 square formations of 100 men each, silently surrounding the enemy from all sides.

The enemy was still sending out reconnaissance teams, but faced with such a force of archers, those reconnaissance units had no chance to bring back intelligence and were killed on the way.

"Charge!"

With Italin's loud shout, the 500 Black Shield Heavy Infantry and 500 Skeleton lying in ambush at the front launched their attack simultaneously.

Countless arrows rained down from all directions, instantly piercing the enemy's formation.

This sudden attack completely stunned the four opposing players.

The middle-aged man froze when he saw a large number of black-shielded infantrymen emerge from the forest like a black tide.

They had initially assumed that elite units were too expensive and unlikely to be used on a large scale except for some scouts, but now they realized that the enemy was treating elite units as their regular main force.

Thousands of Iron Arrow swiftly reaped the chaotic warriors.

One of the Iron Arrow even pierced the chest of the young male player, causing him to die in agony while struggling.

"Escape, we must leave here."

The middle-aged man knew that now was not the time to continue; he had to leave the forest with his remaining strength.

The enemy is strong, but not invincible. At least during the previous reconnaissance encounters, they killed quite a few elite troops.

At this moment, braving the rain of arrows, the players hurriedly assembled their troops, holding heavy shields, and prepared to retreat.

But...

As hundreds of them began to run north, less than three minutes later, a young girl in a white dress blocked their way.

Behind the girl lay a massive Black Dragon, with heavily Heavy Infantry and countless Skeleton Warrior standing neatly on either side.

The girl was dressed in pure white, with modern-looking white stockings on her legs, and her body possessed an indescribable slenderness and fragility. Her beauty perfectly matched her figure; one glance was enough to leave a lasting impression.

"You are... a player?"

The three players, realizing who their opponents were, looked at each other in bewilderment.

At this point, only the middle-aged man and the two women beside him remained. To be honest, seeing that there were still troops on the other side, they had already considered surrendering.

Ye Qian, on the other hand, didn't want to kill everyone; she mainly wanted to minimize her losses. So she tilted her head and said, "Everyone, if you want to live, just surrender obediently."

It's such a cute voice; most people would immediately defect to the enemy upon hearing it.

It must be admitted that Ye Qian's cute appearance had a great effect on undermining the will to fight. The wounded general on the other side, as well as a large number of his soldiers, wavered a little at this moment, and some soldiers even had the idea of laying down their weapons.

Unfortunately, the middle-aged man was still somewhat skeptical. He didn't want to fail so easily. Looking at the small number of warriors behind Ye Qian and then at the strange black dragon, he hardened his heart and raised his weapon. "Beautiful lady, although you are very strong, it is impossible for you to make me surrender so easily."

"All right."

Ye Qian sighed.

Then this guy won't be allowed to live.

"Roar--"

Amia instantly revealed its terrifying nature, leaping forward and spewing out a terrifying torrent of molten metal downwards.

The intense heat of the dragon's breath instantly engulfed the player, turning him to ashes before he could even scream.

The remaining enemies immediately collapsed, raising their hands and shouting, "We surrender!"

"Very good." Ye Qian nodded in satisfaction and smiled slightly. "Those who want to survive, throw your equipment on the ground and obediently lower your heads."

Hundreds of people knelt down one after another.

It turns out that incorporating other people's armies is entirely feasible. However, upon examining the loyalty details of each individual, it becomes clear that the numbers for these soldiers vary considerably.

Some people reached 30 or 40 points as soon as they surrendered, but most only reached 10 or 20 points.

From her perspective, a number below 30 is quite dangerous. Ye Qian contacted Chen Ning privately and asked him to think of a solution to see if it was necessary to handle the situation separately.

"We can try observing for a while. If the loyalty level doesn't stay above 30, we can secretly eliminate them." Chen Ning was ruthless, directly making a gesture of wielding a knife.

"Okay." Ye Qian's forehead creased with annoyance.

That's absolutely right. People with low loyalty are dangerous and need to be purged.

Ye Qian's own subordinates are incredibly reliable; she rarely recruits anyone with a score below 60. Even if they are, they quickly climb to over 70 and are extremely loyal.

As the fleeing players surrendered, the warriors being chased behind them could only raise their hands.

This brief battle resulted in the deaths of nearly 330 soldiers, with as many as 600 eventually surrendering.

After bringing them back, Chen Ning made clear demands of these people.

"You need to put in the work. After a month, your rank will be promoted based on your performance. The higher the rank, the easier the work and the better the food you get. This is the first month, and you will only receive enough food to maintain your basic physical strength each day. Do you understand?"

A chaotic murmur immediately arose from below.

Ye Qian stood behind, hands on her hips, observing the scene.

She noticed that many soldiers were looking at her.

This group is currently in a state of low morale. Although they have a good impression of the beautiful new leader, they are not family after all, and Ye Qian is really worried that these guys might do something bad.

For safety, she specifically assigned 500 Skeleton to monitor the soldiers. Presumably, for the sake of their future, they wouldn't easily rebel.

The battle yielded a lot of loot, and combined with the blueprints dropped during the previous attack on the Bearman, Ye Qian now has a large number of buildings to construct.

From ordinary houses to meeting rooms specifically used for meetings, or blueprints for various tools.

These things can improve the quality of life in the community to some extent, and Ye Qian entrusted the related matters to Chen Ning and Lan Xinyu.

If the buildings in these blueprints could all become reality, the final result would definitely look much better.

After dealing with everything else, Ye Qian turned her attention to the two players she had captured.

They are all women, and they are relatively young.

In fact, if you carefully observe the player demographics, you'll find that middle-aged people are still a minority; most are men and women between 15 and 30 years old.

The two people in front of me, one is probably in his early twenties, and the other is even younger, probably not even 20.

Of course, compared to them, Ye Qian still looks rather young.

"What are your plans for the future? Since you've failed, why not do some odd jobs in my territory like ordinary citizens?"

Faced with this unrealistically beautiful girl, the two girls exchanged a glance, and then the older one said helplessly, "Although we would like to do this too, after a while, the system probably won't let us be so comfortable."

Ye Qian's heart skipped a beat. "Could you explain it more clearly?"

"It's roughly... you could say it means not supporting people who live off others," the girl said with a helpless tone. "In fact, after being a lord for a long time, the system will issue some Main Quest to players. For example, how many enemies to defeat within a certain time, or how many players to defeat. If you do nothing, you will be judged as having failed the quest. At best, you will be cut off from future rewards, and at worst, you will be kicked out of the Main World and will have no limit on participating in dungeon space quests in the future."

Upon hearing her words, Ye Qian was speechless for a moment.

Because things aren't going well in the Main World, I'm sent to adventure in a dungeon?

I didn't expect there would be a main storyline.

"So, you've all received the main questline, right?"

"More or less," the young woman said with a troubled expression. "The competition is still very intense. Our mission was to defeat the more dangerous native races, which is why we had to patrol and search in the forest, but in the end, you defeated us."

"Is that really true? Could you send me some screenshots of your main storyline?" Ye Qian didn't completely believe them and made this request.

As it turned out, the two girls actually sent over their respective main storylines.

"Such a thing actually happened." Ye Qian herself was speechless.

This Player System forces people to develop, doesn't it?

Of course, Ye Qian felt that her development speed definitely exceeded the system's requirements, so she wasn't worried about the main storyline for the time being. But judging from the two's performance, a mission might be coming in the future.

"Do you have any more detailed information about this system? For example, why did they bring us here to fight, or what is its ultimate goal?" Ye Qian tried to get more detailed information from the two girls.

The younger player sighed regretfully, "How would we know? But my teammates and I have been thinking about it recently. In fact, according to many players, this system is building up enough power to prepare to fight against future enemies that may threaten our reality."

"Protect reality?"

"This is just a guess."

"Um."

Ye Qian decided not to make things difficult for the two of them.

She didn't want to ask too many questions, afraid of provoking the system. Moreover, Ye Qian had recently been pondering why the Main World used gold, silver, and bronze, while the dungeon space used Exchange Points.

Perhaps... the way things drop in the Main World isn't due to the system's ability, but rather because the rules of this world inherently allow items to drop.

Just two days ago, when I was talking to Cherry, she mentioned that a thief had discovered a wild treasure chest.

It was unexpected at the time, but looking back now, it seems a bit outrageous.

Why is there such a thing as "wild" treasure chests?

Chapter 123 Heading to the Academy

Driven by a desire to verify, Ye Qian inquired about the specifics and confirmed one thing.

In this world, treasure chests do indeed appear in the wild.

I've never heard of anyone getting loot from chests, but many ordinary players do encounter chests in the wild. These chests can contain some good items, but what exactly you get is unpredictable.

"From this perspective, finding loot is more like a privilege reserved for players. As for finding treasure chests, both players and natives can do it, but the overall probability is very low. Even I don't seem to have that much luck."

After silently noting this matter down, Ye Qian realized there was nothing she could do about the two girls' worries.

"If you're afraid the system will relegate you to a dungeon, then try your best. With a bit of luck, you might even do well in my territory. Anyway, I won't treat you unfairly if you do your job well."

Ye Qian plans to further assess the sincerity of the two individuals, as players do not display loyalty levels, making it difficult for her to quickly trust them.