As for the casualties caused by exploring the wilderness, they were perfectly normal. High risks often came with high rewards; that was an unchanging law.
This was also one of the factors that truly set the many lords apart.
After all, the truly powerful had always risen through one life-threatening danger after another!
Zong Shen could now be considered well-armed and well-staffed. With the Strategy Module, he could easily take down powerful monsters, even elite ones and stronger.
That was his innate advantage, and what made him extraordinary.
However, even with the Strategy Module, he still needed to develop and build his territory steadily.
It was fair to say that he was developing many times faster than the other lords at the same stage.
But given enough time, and looking at the bigger picture, the other lords would eventually grow stronger too.
As for the other lords at this stage...
Ninety-nine percent of them could never hope to have a formidable force of fighters like his!
Of course, some lucky ones had received help from native forces early on, or discovered some Ruins.
Those lords would pull ahead of the vast majority of ordinary lords.
After all, in any world, there would always be lucky people and those with exceptional abilities. They made up the very top of the pyramid.
After the Newbie Protection Period ended, this would probably be how things developed, barring any unexpected changes.
Of course, Zong Shen figured that the Lord System wouldn't let everyone live so comfortably.
If things stayed this peaceful, it wouldn't be survival—it would be a group of people farming and settling into retirement.
Once the Newbie Protection Period was over, some new trouble would probably crop up!
Zong Shen calmly assessed the situation.
Overall, there was still only one core objective: