Zong Shen stowed the Kite Shield, Hunting Crossbow, and crossbow bolts in his inventory.
With an Iron Axe in one hand and an iron pickaxe in the other, he stood outside the little courtyard.
The Wolf Cavalryman Colby had already disappeared from sight.
Only the three dim-witted farmers remained within a few hundred meters of the courtyard, gathering resources.
After a bit of lecturing, the three farmers had become somewhat more enthusiastic about working.
Tie Zhu was chopping away at a dead tree as thick as a man's thigh.
Er Gou and Gou Dan were busy: one was gathering hemp in the bushes, while the other was diligently mining stones with an iron pickaxe.
Every now and then, they even dug up a piece of black iron ore.
Zong Shen nodded in satisfaction.
He raised his wrist and glanced at his watch.
When he had woken up, it had been early afternoon.
It was now around 1:40 p.m.
The season here seemed to be spring.
The sunlight overhead was warm and gentle.
As long as the three dim-witted farmers kept up this pace,
they should gather enough by evening for Zong Shen to build a few basic, useful structures.
The three farmers were working diligently, and the Wolf Cavalryman had set out to explore. Everything was moving in a good direction.
For a moment, Zong Shen felt that the future looked promising.
"Now, I should get to work too!"
He said confidently.
Just as he was about to choose a direction and gather resources,
he suddenly remembered his Strategy Module.
If it was a strategy guide, shouldn't it know the details of this area?
As soon as the question popped into his head,
golden strategy text appeared before his eyes.
(This place belongs to Bosbang, in Lentax Great City, Avalon Kingdom, amid the ruins of the Azshara battlefield.)
(That's right, the grassland beneath your feet was once part of an ancient battlefield. Eighteen thousand years ago, it was part of Azshara, a city of the Elf Race. Then the Blood-Burning Legion invaded, leaving this place in ruins. After the passage of countless ages, it now belongs to the territory of the Avalon Kingdom.)
Zong Shen read the two lines of golden text.
It seemed this world had an incredibly grand, epic history.
The Elf Race, the Blood-Burning Legion—even the Avalon Kingdom had made an appearance.
Avalon had roots in Earth's own culture, too.
It was an important island in the legends of King Arthur, a sacred place in Celtic mythology, and the center of the ancient Druid religion.
"So, does that mean this world has dragons too?"
He marveled.
"Right, I almost forgot what I was supposed to ask."
"Is there anything good around here?"
Zong Shen patted his head, remembering the real question.
Then he asked outright.
He couldn't help feeling a little expectant.
If the module could even give him a strategy for this, that would be ridiculously overpowered!
The next moment, golden text slowly appeared before his eyes.
(Here's a little secret: that crooked tree fifty meters southeast of your territory isn't so simple. Grab your iron pickaxe and enjoy the fun of digging beneath it.)
It really did give him a tip!
"Holy crap! Jackpot!"
Zong Shen couldn't help shouting in excitement. His exclamation immediately caught the attention of the three farmers working nearby.
"What is it, Lord?"
"What jackpot?"
Er Gou whispered to Gou Dan beside him.
"No idea..."
"But as loyal subordinates, I think we should go ask."
Gou Dan said cleverly.
They were certainly quick to pick up on the art of flattery.
They promptly left their resources and tools where they were and trotted over.
Tie Zhu, who was gathering resources farther away, saw Er Gou and Gou Dan running over. He had no idea what was happening, but he couldn't afford to miss out.
And so, all three dim-witted farmers hurried to Zong Shen's side.
"Pant... pant..."
"Lord, we're here to protect you!"
"What jackpot, Lord?"
All three panted as they spoke eagerly.
But they saw that Zong Shen was grinning so broadly he could barely hold it in.
That left the farmers even more baffled.
Once Zong Shen had calmed down,
he kicked each of the three farmers in the butt.
"What jackpot?"
"Obviously, the jackpot of a lifetime!"
"Shoo, shoo!"
"Why are you standing around? Get back to work!"
Zong Shen waved them away.
The three dim-witted farmers had trotted over and now trotted back.
Zong Shen rubbed his hands together and eagerly looked around in every direction.
"Southeast! Southeast! Southeast!"
"Right!"
"Which way is southeast?"
A golden arrow appeared, pointing off to Zong Shen's right.
There stood a bare, crooked tree, impossible to miss.
The target was clear!
Zong Shen put away the Iron Axe, leaving only the iron pickaxe in his hand.
He strode toward the crooked tree.
At first glance, it looked completely ordinary.
Thick grass grew all around it.
Zong Shen examined it.
He breathed on his palms and rubbed them together vigorously.
Then he grabbed his iron pickaxe and started scraping away at the soft ground beneath the tree.
Clods of dirt and bits of grass flew everywhere.
Once he had cleared away the weeds, the rich black soil beneath them was exposed.
Then Zong Shen began digging.
More than ten minutes later,
he had dug a pit about half a meter deep beneath the tree.
Suddenly, his pickaxe seemed to strike something hard, and he instinctively slowed down.
He bent over, reached into the soil, and fumbled around until he found the hard object. Then he pulled it out.
Zong Shen froze.
It was a skull.
It looked very similar to a human skull.
Only its eye sockets were somewhat larger.
This skull looked unusual.
Its bone was smooth, translucent, and incredibly hard, almost like jade.
However, a pitch-black arrow was lodged in the back of the skull.
A full third of the arrow had pierced into the bone.
From the front, it almost looked like a piece of skeletal art.
The golden strategy text appeared at just the right moment.
(An Elf Race member from Azshara City eighteen thousand years ago. There may be some ancient Elf Race items in their backpack.)
(The Blood-Burning Arrow fired by an Evil Spirit Archer of the Blood-Burning Legion has survived for eighteen thousand years without decaying. It's a fine arrow.)
The two hints appeared one after the other.
They gave Zong Shen the full story.
He hadn't expected the arrow in the skull to be a treasure as well.
He set the skull on a patch of bare ground nearby. He wasn't particularly frightened.
After all, the grassland beneath his feet had been the ruins of an ancient battlefield more than ten thousand years ago.
It was only natural to dig up a few bones.
He reached into the soil again and found more scattered jade-like bones, along with a leather backpack made from the hide of some unknown animal.
It, too, had somehow survived for eighteen thousand years without decaying.
He carefully searched the soil beneath his feet once more, and only after confirming there was nothing else did Zong Shen climb out of the pit.
He was ready to examine the spoils.
Before you continue