Arrival at Crouching Dragon Ravine

Early the next morning, people sent by the slave market vendors gathered at the entrance of the City Defense Department.

Lin Lei had his men carefully inspect them to ensure no one was trying to pass off the elderly in their sixties or seventies as able-bodied workers. Once satisfied, he handed the remaining gold coins to the vendors and completed the handover of the entire group.

Looking at the slaves he had just purchased, Lin Lei frowned. Most of them had dull, lifeless eyes, completely devoid of spirit or vitality.

This won't do. If they keep going like this, they won't even need bandits or magical beasts to attack; they'll drop dead in droves just from the walking.

With this thought, Lin Lei made a decision: he had to give these people a reason to keep going.

Lin Lei gave a light cough and walked to the front of the crowd.

"I assume none of you know me, so let me tell you now: my name is Lin Lei. Thunder Roar. The one who bought you, and who will be your lord from this day forward."

"I imagine you are all curious why I bought you. I might as well tell you directly: I am a pioneer lord, and I am in desperate need of subjects. As long as you work hard, it is not impossible for me to grant you your freedom."

"If you do that, your descendants will also be free citizens, no longer destined to be slaves for generation after generation."

Lin Lei's light, airy words caused those who had been keeping their heads bowed to look up at him boldly for the first time, sparking a massive commotion among them.

"Move out."

Seeing the restless crowd, Lin Lei knew his words had taken effect. Not wanting to waste any more time, he ordered the procession to set off.

Lin Lei donned his Ice-Sealed Armor and led a group of over twenty soldiers, headed by Allen, to guard the perimeter of the caravan.

Throughout the journey, Lin Lei made no attempt to conceal his aura, openly displaying his Gold-rank strength.

This effectively drove away any bandits or thieves lurking in the shadows, as well as any fierce magical beasts that dared to approach.

A day later, the long-ravaged Crouching Dragon Ravine welcomed a new group of visitors. The scene was truly harrowing.

"Hah!"

Lin Lei let out a heavy sigh as he looked at the landscape, which resembled the aftermath of a forest fire.

"Finally, we've reached Crouching Dragon Ravine." The soldiers who had returned with the lord revealed that they had spent half a day just burning the corpses of the undead, and the scorched earth everywhere was proof enough that the battle here must have been incredibly brutal.

Lin Lei ordered the caravan to halt and rest, while he climbed to the highest point of Crouching Dragon Peak alone.

"Looking from the peak, to the west of Crouching Dragon Ravine lies a beach connected to the Endless Sea. If one had a large ship, one could even cross the ocean to the Western Continent, where the Night Elf and the World Tree reside."

"To the north of Crouching Dragon Ravine is the Gloomy Forest, and further up lies the Kingdom of Lordaeron and, to the northwest, the mage kingdom of Dalaran, home to many excellent high elf mages. Further north still is the Winter Northlands, where the first Lich King Ner'zhul resides with his army of evil undead."

"To the east of Crouching Dragon Ravine is Iron Hearth Fortress, the territory of the dwarves. The Mother of Red Dragons has not yet attacked them, and the orcs of the Blackrock Clan have not yet invaded."

"To the south of Crouching Dragon Ravine is the direction I came from: Kul Tiras, a kingdom of islands ruled by the Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore."

Since Crouching Dragon Ravine had been burned to white ash, Lin Lei felt relieved rather than saddened; it saved them the trouble of clearing the weeds.

"Allen, take half the soldiers to hunt. The rest of you, guard the camp. Although we bought a month's worth of rations, we cannot just sit and eat through our supplies. It's better to stock up on some wild game."

Lin Lei returned to the caravan and spoke to Allen.

"Everyone else, listen up! Men, go move rocks, chop wood, and build houses. Women, get the fires started and begin cooking. Collect your tools from the first wagon; the lady standing next to me will distribute them."

Lin Lei gestured to Aierlan, who was standing beside him, and under his orders, everyone began to move and work.

Lin Lei then divided the men and women into groups of five, totaling one hundred and twenty groups, with one house assigned to each. The children were divided into groups of ten, totaling forty groups.

Since it was already late in the day, there was no way to finish building the houses in time. Everyone would have to sleep in the open for the next few nights. Aside from Aierlan, who could stay in the wagon, Lin Lei also remained outside; he needed to watch over the entire camp at night and essentially could not sleep.

Rustle, rustle. After Lin Lei helped move some stones and spent some time with Aierlan, the sky gradually darkened. Allen and the others returned from their hunt, each carrying game that was enough to feed everyone for a day.

Lin Lei distributed the majority of the meat to the slaves. These people would become the foundation of his territory, and he would not be stingy with them.

Under the moonlight, the roasted meat on the bonfires sizzled. Accompanied by the glow of the flames, everyone ate the roasted meat happily, and the slaves wore long-lost smiles on their faces.

Eating meat was already difficult for them when they were commoners in the kingdom, let alone after becoming slaves. This single meal was enough to make them feel a sense of belonging to Lin Lei.

Half a month later, Lin Lei's territory had begun to take shape. The housing needs of basically everyone had been met, and those Lin Lei had purchased were living peacefully in the territory.

With Lin Lei encouraging production, those with specialized skills opened small shops, while those without special skills were assigned to farm.

Every plot of land was partitioned and granted to them by Lin Lei, and the seeds were also provided for free, having been purchased in the Flower Territory. Lin Lei would not collect taxes from these free citizens for the first three years, encouraging them to reclaim as much wasteland as possible.

During this half-month, Lin Lei gradually became familiar with the thousand people of various backgrounds. Holding onto the mentality of finding hidden gems, he truly managed to discover a few capable individuals.

There was Old Man Ma, an old farmer with twenty years of experience who specialized in growing Komugi. The fields he cultivated yielded fifty to sixty percent more than those of others. Lin Lei appointed him as the Minister of the Department of Agriculture and tasked him with finding subordinates to build up the department.

His primary responsibility was to research ways to increase food production and teach these methods to the other residents.

Another was Leighton, a butler for a mage in Dalaran. He had served as a butler for over a decade before being intercepted by bandits during a journey and sold into slavery.

After verifying his competence, Lin Lei did not hesitate to hand over all his internal affairs to him, hiring him as his personal butler.

Leighton did not disappoint Lin Lei upon taking office; he immediately selected ten male and female servants from among the children, managing the interior and exterior of the house in an orderly fashion.

Even Red Fire and Red Hare had dedicated staff to care for them, feeding and bathing them every day.

Should I also find a manual on battle aura to study?

Lin Lei stood in front of his door, deep in thought.

Currently, Lin Lei relied on the system to boost his strength to the Gold-rank level. It seemed simple and invincible, but after experiencing it for a while, Lin Lei felt that the system alone was not enough to deal with the dangers he would face in the future.

He needed a cultivation method that started from the basics. Only then could he steadily improve his strength, rather than relying on the luck of killing to earn lottery chances to summon heroes.

For Lin Lei, finding a hundred opponents of his own level was difficult enough, let alone the fact that the lottery draws he earned weren't guaranteed to yield heroes.

Killing enemies of a higher rank was a faster way to earn lottery attempts, but the same problem remained: could he actually defeat an enemy a tier above him? Lin Lei wasn't certain.

Therefore, a progressive Battle Qi technique was essential.

Thinking of this, Lin Lei sought out Aierlan; surely, as someone from a Viscount Mansion, she would have access to such a manual.

"My dear, I study magic. My father never let me look at anything related to a warrior's Battle Qi."

Aierlan replied with a look of surprise. Just as Lin Lei was feeling disappointed and preparing to leave, he heard her continue.

"However, you could go find my brother Allen. He is a genuine Battle Qi martial artist."

"Right, why didn't I think of that?"

Lin Lei said, pleasantly surprised.

"Messenger, go and bring Captain Allen over from his training."

As the soldier's footsteps faded away, Lin Lei stayed quietly in the study, talking with Aierlan and enjoying this rare moment of companionship.

Ten minutes later, the messenger brought a sweat-drenched Allen to Lin Lei's side.

Over the past half-month of development, Lin Lei had selected several dozen civilians with decent aptitude from the refugees, added them to Allen's squad, and brought the territory's guard force up to fifty men.

Now, the ratio of soldiers to residents in Crouching Dragon Ravine was about 1:20. One soldier for every twenty residents was a rather dangerous figure for a small, developing territory like Lin Lei's, but fortunately, Lin Lei could often provide wild beasts to subsidize the territory.

"How is the training going? These soldiers will basically be the backbone of the army in the future. Thank you for your hard work..."

Lin Lei said to Allen, who listened to the praise and gave an honest, simple smile.

"I heard from your sister that your family's Battle Qi secret manual is with you. May I learn it?"

Lin Lei glanced at Aierlan and said directly.

Hearing Lin Lei's request, Allen didn't hesitate; he pulled a book inscribed with the words "Heavenly Thunder Battle Qi Technique" from his chest and handed it straight to him.

Looking at the Battle Qi technique he had obtained so easily, Lin Lei couldn't help but sigh that having power was truly great.

For commoners without power or status, the simplest Battle Qi technique was a dream they would never dare to covet, but for someone like Lin Lei, who possessed Gold-tier strength, a family heirloom manual was within easy reach.

This made Lin Lei think of a short video from his past life, where a billionaire worth over a hundred million, without using any external influence, attempted to start from scratch and challenged himself to earn one hundred thousand in a month—a challenge he ultimately succeeded in. At the time, Lin Lei, who earned no more than three thousand a month, had felt a mix of envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Looking at it now, weren't the principles of both situations exactly the same?

Shaking his head, Lin Lei pulled himself out of his memories. Looking at the Battle Qi technique in his hands, he followed the written descriptions and linguistic prompts to attempt to condense the first wisp of Battle Qi within his body.

"Huh..."

Lin Lei was very confused. He had followed the instructions in the book perfectly, but no matter what, he could not find that mysterious Battle Qi.

According to Allen, the stronger a person's body was, the faster they could condense it. An ordinary person could condense it within the first hour, and he himself had condensed his first wisp of Battle Qi in less than ten minutes.

Yet, an hour had passed for Lin Lei, and he still hadn't found that feeling.

"Ding-dong!"

At this moment, the system's notification sound suddenly rang in Lin Lei's mind.