Growing Team

"Y-you have a Remnant Soul?"

It had only been one day since this batch of newcomers started. Most people didn't even dare leave their territories, let alone obtain a Remnant Soul. Low-level, low-rank monsters couldn't drop Remnant Souls.

This guy had something going for him.

"Just luck, just luck."

Mu Yuan cupped his hands.

Frog Seller Bro looked at Mu Yuan, his eyes widening: Weren't we supposed to be losers together? Who'd have thought you were actually a big shot? I misjudged you... Big shot, please carry me!

Mu Yuan hadn't been carrying the Remnant Souls on him earlier, but that didn't matter. As long as his character was in front of the Altar, he could withdraw items from the game at any time.

Inside the Association, countless Quiet Single Rooms had been built for players to use—commonly known as Internet Cafe Booths.

Mu Yuan entered one, operated his phone for a while, and withdrew all three Random Remnant Souls.

Rounded off, this was practically the same as carrying a Space Backpack around.

It was just that the Cross-Dimensional Fee was ridiculously expensive. Those people deserved to be hung from streetlamps!

Mu Yuan carried several Remnant Souls and soon returned to the stall.

The boss had been craning his neck in anticipation. When he saw that the handsome young man really was carrying Remnant Souls, he smiled.

This was a promising newcomer.

In that case, he couldn't fleece the kid too badly. Making a moderate profit would be enough.

Wait, there seemed to be more than one Remnant Soul.

"How many Remnant Souls do you have?"

"Three. They're all Random Remnant Souls."

Mu Yuan revealed a bashful smile.

Stall Owner: "..."

This newcomer definitely had the Lord's Posture! Forget it, forget it. He couldn't fleece him. It was only a small deal anyway. Whether he made more or less didn't matter. He could treat it as forming a good relationship.

Mu Yuan spoke up. "Boss, you should also know that Random Remnant Souls are more expensive than Little Skeleton Remnant Souls, right?"

After a back-and-forth tug-of-war that resembled haggling in a market, Mu Yuan ultimately exchanged three Random Remnant Souls for the five Little Skeleton Remnant Souls in Boss Zhang's hands.

Both sides were delighted.

Boss Zhang: Forget it, forget it. Making money isn't important. What matters is forming a good relationship.

"Boss, it seems you also buy goods here?"

"That's right." Boss Zhang was a Merchant Player, making a little money through buying and reselling goods. "But I don't buy everything. I purchase more of things like Random Remnant Souls, Cultivation Materials, and Promotion Materials."

"Wait, don't tell me you still have..."

"I only have this last drop left. This bottle of Energy Potion. Boss, I heard that this kind of Energy Potion can let a person go seven times in one night..."

After a long while,

Boss Zhang watched Mu Yuan walk away until he vanished from sight, sinking into deep thought.

"Did I get ripped off?"

But as he looked at the Orange Potion in his hand, Boss Zhang tightened his grip, unable to bear letting go.

After completing the trade, Mu Yuan quickly slipped away. After changing transportation several times, he finally returned home.

Although he had only been outsmarting thin air.

"After all, the things I'm selling aren't worth much in the eyes of veteran players. Even if their prices multiplied several times, they still wouldn't be worth much."

He was a complete newcomer with only one day of practice. How much wealth could he have?

Mu Yuan felt it wasn't worth breaking the law and becoming a wanted criminal just to rob a poor guy.

However,

"If I obtain some high-level treasures in the future, I can't sell them so openly anymore."

After returning home, Mu Yuan glanced at the game's situation, rubbed his hands, and opened the Tai Xuan Forum.

"Notice: Your identity has passed the review. The Tai Xuan Forum is now officially open to you. We hope you enjoy your time."

"Notice: The Trading Area has been opened. The Bounty Area (Newcomers) has been opened."

The Bounty Area contained tasks such as capturing Wanted Players, hunting roaming monsters, and exterminating Monster Camps. However, these tasks were far too advanced for newcomers, and newcomer players weren't qualified to accept them.

Rather than calling them bounties, it would be more accurate to say they were warnings for newcomers: a Wanted Player had committed crimes in such-and-such city, a powerful monster was roaming such-and-such mountain forest, so be careful to avoid them.

Mu Yuan browsed through them. Fortunately, there were no Wanted Players or roaming monsters in Baijiang City.

As for the Trading Area,

"This is a real trading platform. The small Trade Market in Baijiang City... never mind."

But after looking through it, Mu Yuan had only one thought—he was truly poor!

Moreover, buying and selling on the trading platform required paying substantial shipping fees and deposits.

There was no point looking at this trading platform!

Mu Yuan closed the platform, idled around on the forum for a while, then ordered a food delivery for lunch and began today's campaign.

"The forum can be used, and the subsidy has already arrived. From now until the Resource Assessment begins... it's time for some serious grinding."

As long as grinding didn't kill him, he would grind himself to death!

He checked the game records.

An entire morning had passed. The territory had remained completely peaceful, with no monsters causing trouble at all... This left Mu Yuan somewhat disappointed.

People were strange.

When he was weak, he feared monster attacks. Once he wasn't weak anymore, he complained that the monsters wouldn't pack themselves up and deliver themselves to him.

The monsters of this generation really didn't know how to behave.

He checked the Skeletons' statuses one by one.

"Skeleton Soldier 'Deathbone' has advanced to Level 3 of Tier 0."

"Skeleton Soldier 'Bone Two' has advanced to Level 2 of Tier 0."

"Skeleton Soldier"

"Little Skeleton"

From last night until now, not only had Deathbone been the first to reach Level 3, but Little Skeleton and the lone Falcon had also collectively risen to Level 2. The price was that the Soul Sand obtained yesterday had been almost completely depleted.

Leveling up required it! Manifesting treasures required it! All sorts of miscellaneous things required it.

This little Soul Sand simply didn't last.

"Relying only on hunting monsters myself for Soul Sand isn't enough to raise Deathbone and the others to Professional Grade. I still have to buy it from other players."

Among veteran players, there were dedicated "gold farmers." Naturally, they were Ranger Players who had lost their lord identities. Their own ranks weren't high enough either, so they could only earn a little hard-earned money to make a living.

But Mu Yuan was earning hard-earned money too.

He needed to sell the treasures he obtained in exchange for Soul Sand as fine as crumbs. A single Remnant Soul could only be sold for a few dozen grams of Soul Sand. Sure enough, making money was incredibly difficult.

Today was the second day since Mu Yuan had obtained his game qualification. He wanted to play it safe, but venturing out appropriately to develop himself would let him survive more steadily on the Eternal Continent.

Before going out, Mu Yuan prepared to recruit five rookie Little Skeletons.

"Recruiting them requires five Remnant Souls and 25g of Soul Sand. Fortunately, I sold the Energy Potion earlier. Otherwise, I'd be stuck for lack of Soul Sand right now."

"But sending the Soul Sand into the Eternal Continent means another Cross-Dimensional Fee expense."

Mu Yuan's heart bled.

He felt that the Eternal Continent was the biggest unscrupulous black-hearted boss of all. With players sending supplies in and out every day, how much toll money did they have to pay?

After consuming the small amount of Soul Sand he had left, several Little Skeletons soon staggered down from the Lord Altar.

They looked dull and clueless, walking with staggering steps as if they might fall over the next moment. As always, they made it impossible for anyone to hold much hope for Little Skeletons.

But—

The Undead Bone General stepped forward. He walked straight to the several little Skeleton brothers and rattled off a long stream of Skeleton language.

They had to follow the footsteps of their lord unwaveringly and work hard carrying bricks... They had to learn to deceive and ambush those monsters... They didn't need to show martial virtue when fighting monsters. If they should scatter lime, they scattered lime; if they should use a sliding shovel, they used a sliding shovel...

Mu Yuan somehow understood the general gist of Deathbone's meaning, but he had no idea whether these dull and stupid Little Skeletons understood him.

"Very good. Very spirited."

After Deathbone inspected the newly recruited Skeletons, Mu Yuan also checked on Deathbone and the other three Skeleton Soldiers.

Bone Two and Bone Three were nothing worth mentioning. Deathbone's progress went far beyond his level.

Not only had he become increasingly proficient in using Cleave, allowing him to unleash three Cleaves, but he had also figured out quite a few combat techniques and tactics himself.

For example, donkey rolls, eye-poking, and fatal groin strikes.

Mu Yuan fell silent.

Something about this style seemed wrong. Why had his Deathbone, who possessed the Appearance of an Emperor, come up with these things? Oh, it seemed to have a little to do with his own guidance? Yes, exactly. These moves were highly practical. Deathbone could draw inferences from one example and truly possessed the Appearance of an Emperor. He was worthy of being taught by Mu Yuan.

"But to be fair, there's a huge difference in combat power between a Skeleton Soldier with combat techniques and one that only charges straight ahead recklessly. Deathbone is clearly still in a period of rapid improvement."

"Are troops with awakened self-awareness all this abnormal?"

"Or is Deathbone just a little more abnormal than other abnormal troops?"

"I wonder what kind of scene it will be when Deathbone evolves again."

"Skeleton-Type Evolution Points: 2.52"

If everything went smoothly, tonight he would be able to evolve his first Rare Troop.