Recruitment?
Of course, the biggest issue wasn't the high death toll. It was that the ordinary fighters who truly risked their lives in battle received very little in return. Many even died on the battlefield without anyone knowing what had happened to them, and never received the compensation they were owed.
Some powerful families and nobles had even said, half openly, that these lowborn fighters ought to fight for the Underground World. It was their duty, and an honor. They were fighting for the Underground World—that was only right. What compensation could they possibly need? Wasn't it simply what they were supposed to do?
When all was said and done, the class divide between the powerful families and nobles and the common folk in the Underground World was even deeper than it had been during the Sunny Era in the Surface World.
The path to advancement for the common folk wasn't entirely blocked. There were always inspirational examples like Water Engineer Scholar and Bronze Coconut Scholar.
But ultimately, survivor bias didn't change the fundamental problem. How many genuine success stories of people rising from humble beginnings were there in the entire Underground World? You could count the ones worth mentioning on one hand.
At the end of the day, society in the Underground World was divided. The common folk and the upper nobility had two entirely different ways of thinking, with almost nothing in common between them. In fact, their views were practically at odds.
The powerful families and nobles at the top couldn't understand the joys and sorrows of ordinary people. They couldn't put themselves in their shoes or understand what they truly wanted. Deep down, they didn't even consider them the same kind of people.
In the eyes of the common folk, the powerful families and nobles were