Recruiting Manpower

At that moment, as the mechanical voice faded,

another function appeared on the Parchment: "Leaderboard"!

The Leaderboard had three sections.

They were:

Hunting Leaderboard.

First place: Colin, 143 kills.

Second place: Atu Nyarathotep, 39 kills.

Third place: Wang Xiong, 39 kills.

Construction Leaderboard.

First place: Colin, Level 2 Territory.

Second place: Lin Yilan, Level 2 Territory.

Third place: Meichuan Sangyi, Level 2 Territory.

Resource Leaderboard.

First place: Colin.

Second place: Bear Grylls.

Third place: Li Chou.

(Note 1)

Colin had taken first place on all three leaderboards!

His blood-red name appeared before the eyes of every Survivor.

The Hunting Leaderboard was especially striking. With more than a hundred kills over the person in second place, Colin had claimed first in a crushing victory.

At that moment, the Chat Channel quickly erupted.

"Holy crap, 143 Aberrations killed, first in construction, first in resources, and slaughtering his way through all three leaderboards—Colin's a beast!"

"These three leaderboards are all connected. The more you kill, the more resources you get. The more you take, the further you can advance your construction."

"I was worried yesterday that someone had killed him. Turns out I was worrying for nothing. With over a hundred kills, there can't be many people in the whole game who could beat him, right?"

"No way, no way. The big shot in my head is already three meters tall!"

"No wonder he can withstand that kind of psychological pressure. I guess people really are built differently. I've only killed my second one."

"Why are there foreign names on the Leaderboard? Isn't this game only for Chinese people?"

"What? You're not Japanese?"

"Fuck? You're not from Lighthouse Nation?"

"What? You're not from White Nation? I saw this bread and thought this was a game for us White Nation people."

"Holy shit, I was wondering why some people talked so weirdly, like they were using machine translation. Turns out you're not even Chinese!"

"Looks like the game has a built-in voice translator."

"I'm no great talent, but I'm seventy-seventh on the Hunting Leaderboard, forty-ninth on the Resource Leaderboard, thirty-fourth on the Construction Leaderboard, and I've got a Level 2 Territory. Really, I'm only saying all that because I want to say I'm a simple man: give me your tits, and I'll give you food."

"Anyone teach foreign languages? I'm not very good at them, and I want to learn one before I die. I'm eighteenth on the Resource Leaderboard, blond and blue-eyed. Preferably someone with a big chest."

"Blondie cultists, fuck you! You've betrayed the Chinese! White-haired lolis are the only Truth!"

"Are you all just trying to get laid? Why dress it up in such classy language?"

"Big shot, big shot! Are men okay? I'm blond, my name's Harry, and I'm Potter-sized."

A full belly made a man think about sex.

While everyone else was still thinking about getting something for free, Colin was already planning his next move!

"We have plenty of food and water. The main thing is these extra ninety-nine loaves of bread. They'll let me do a lot."

Colin returned to the house. He leaned back in his chair, one arm propped on the armrest and his hand supporting his cheek, while the fingers of his other hand tapped the table absently.

His two upgraded subordinates sat behind the huge office desk, quietly awaiting orders.

The next step after expanding the territory was naturally to recruit people.

Otherwise, there were only three people in Colin's enormous house. He was supposedly a Lord, yet he had only two people under him.

Was that any way to run things?

It was a disgrace to Colin's dignity as a Lord!

Recruiting people was urgent.

Using Mist Points on the Parchment, Colin could only recruit Servants, at three points each.

Recruiting skilled workers required special recruitment cards.

He figured those could only be obtained from quests; under normal circumstances, there was no way to recruit them.

So, under the current circumstances, the only way to expand was to take on ordinary Servants.

Of course, Colin would never be stupid enough to spend Mist Points on Servants. There were plenty of people on the World Channel trying to sell them. A few hundred milliliters of water or a loaf of bread could buy a person.

At this point, people were the cheapest resource of all.

The few things they earned from their daily quests weren't even enough to keep themselves alive, let alone two Servants. To them, Servants were nothing but a burden.

That was also why Colin planned to use this opportunity to improve his position.

But recruiting people wasn't as simple as taking on as many as he wanted.

The biggest limitations were food and Hurricane Lamps.

The former was easy enough to deal with. During this early stage of development, resources weren't that scarce yet.

The latter wasn't irreplaceable, but Colin had discovered that blood only burned at a consistent rate when he used a system-issued Hurricane Lamp.

Otherwise, it burned about one to two times faster, which was a terrible deal.

Right now, he only had two Hurricane Lamps, so Colin planned to form two teams around them.

The first would naturally be his own team.

Ordinary Blood could illuminate an area with a diameter of twenty meters, or 314 square meters.

That was close to three-quarters the size of a basketball court.

The area was big enough for far more than three people; even ten would fit comfortably.

And with Ordinary Blood, Colin could use the synthesis function to combine it into Ordinary Filthy Blood at a three-to-one ratio.

Of course, he couldn't go a step further, since he hadn't "unlocked" anything above Ordinary Blood.

"Hmm, we'll recruit twelve people here, bringing the total to fourteen. We'll split them into groups of three and station them at the front, back, left, and right. Number Two will be my deputy. I'll lead this team and take them to explore those treasures."

Colin thought it over in silence.

Then there was the second team, formed around the other Hurricane Lamp.

Servants couldn't synthesize, so this team would have to use Dim Filthy Blood.

The light from this blood could illuminate things within a five-meter radius, or seventy-eight square meters.

To be safe, five people should be about right.

With more, it might get difficult to move around. If one person got knocked down, they'd all get knocked down.

Besides, this team wouldn't need to deal with anything too troublesome. They could just explore the area near the house.

"Too bad we can't seem to take other people's Parchments and Synthesis Tables. Otherwise, the second team could be a lot bigger."

Colin sighed. Parchments and Synthesis Tables were important, too, but they seemed to disappear when their owners died.

He wasn't sure, but when he searched that female corpse, he hadn't found either of them.

Afterward, he asked his two Servants. Once they both said they had no objections, the plan was set.

Recruit sixteen Servants and split them into two teams.

Colin began buying up unwanted people from the Trade Market.

[Level 3 Water]

[Item Description: A water source with a slight odor, but it should be safe to drink.]

[Type: Consumable.]

[Quantity: 200 ml.]

[Price: One Servant.]

[Seller's Note: DM me if you have any other unusual items.]