Resource Accumulation

Another day passed. Huang Long's Night Elf faction forces soon spread across the entire Spirit Island, operating tirelessly like machines.

Before long, the vast gold mines on Spirit Island had been excavated. Including the previous ones, there were seventeen gold mines and fourteen resource mines. Nearly a hundred elves worked day and night on excavation. Of course, seventy elves mined gold, while only the remainder gathered resources. Resources had reached 17,654, but gold was still insufficient, at only 58,876 coins. Compared to resources, the gold supply was severely lacking. But that was understandable. When Huang Long trained troops, most of the cost was gold, while resources were only consumed when constructing buildings. It was perfectly normal for this situation to arise.

Still a little too slow. It's not enough. But there's no helping it now. I'll wait until the gold reaches one hundred thousand, then upgrade the Ancient Tree of Life to Level 1. How about this? Send every elf to mine gold. That should speed things up considerably! A sharp glint flashed through Huang Long's eyes as he made up his mind. Of course, this was merely a temporary measure, one that could only barely be used during this period.

"Decided. We'll temporarily abandon resource gathering and focus all our efforts on mining gold!" Huang Long opened the troop control panel and assigned all ninety-eight elves to the gold mining area.

"There are still more than forty thousand gold coins needed before the Ancient Tree of Life reaches Level 2. With ninety-eight elves producing one hundred units of gold per hour each, around five hours will be enough." A gleam of intelligence flashed through Huang Long's eyes, which were also filled with anticipation. What kind of surprise will a Level 1 Ancient Tree of Life bring me? At the thought, joy rose within him.

"Master, the archer unit is ready. Please give your orders." Ina, the archer captain, came before Huang Long with a grave expression.

Looking at Ina's excessively serious face, Huang Long sighed inwardly. Over the past few days, he had noticed the faint affection Ina held for the Demon Hunter Yudian, but he had not interfered. Yet judging by Ina's current appearance, making Yudian fall for her probably would not be easy.

"Ina, you should smile more. That way, men will like you." After all, Ina was his first subordinate, and Huang Long had no small amount of affection for her. He could not help but offer a reminder. In the Warcraft game, Demon Hunter Yudian had suffered a crushing defeat in matters of love. Of course, it was not the fault of either of the other two people, but regardless, Huang Long did not want his most admired idol to experience another failure in love and have it affect his temper again. Ina's appearance was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity.

"Master, what are you saying?" Ina's stern face immediately flushed crimson, and she spoke in a fluster.

"Nothing. If you like someone, you have to fight for them yourself. Don't wait until the person you love already belongs to someone else before you regret it, understand?" Since he had already decided to play the good guy, Huang Long did not mind saying a few more meddlesome words.

"Master, this..." Ina hurriedly shook her head, murmuring incoherently.

"Ah, forget it. That's all I can remind you of. As for the rest, you can only rely on yourself." Seeing that a few words from him had reduced Ina, who never changed expression even while killing on the battlefield, to such a state, Huang Long shook his head speechlessly. "Let everything take its course."

"Where is Yudian? At such a critical time, where is he?" Huang Long noticed that Demon Hunter Yudian, who usually guarded his side, was nowhere to be seen, and could not help but ask.

"Reporting to Master," Ina said slowly. Her mental fortitude was indeed high. Although the topic Huang Long had inadvertently brought up had embarrassed her, she could still retain a trace of clarity when faced with important matters. "Lord Yudian is with the Great Golden Roc."

"Oh?" Huang Long raised an eyebrow, his smile turning somewhat knowing.

"Although I do not know why Lord Yudian went to find the Great Golden Roc in private, Lord Yudian would absolutely never betray Master," Ina hurriedly explained, seemingly worried that Huang Long might be displeased.

"Did I say anything?" Huang Long looked at Ina in bafflement, a teasing glint flashing through his eyes as he smiled at her.

"I..." Ina's face reddened again.

"All right, I was only asking. Yudian is not needed for these matters at the moment. As long as I have you and your archer unit, that will be enough." Huang Long smiled, his expression becoming serious again.

"Master, please give your orders!" Ina froze for a moment, then said nothing further and answered directly.

"Lead all your archers and wipe out every magical beast on the island. This island is our base of operations. There absolutely cannot be any force beyond our control here. Their existence is an absolute threat to us. Therefore, I am entrusting this task to you. Tell me, can you complete it?" Huang Long stared into Ina's eyes, speaking each word with deliberate emphasis.

"Yes, Master. I guarantee that I will complete the mission!" Ina's gaze sharpened as she replied solemnly. She also knew that this was Huang Long testing her ability to handle work. Therefore, she had to fully display her capabilities and minimize the losses of every subordinate. If she could not even do this well, then even if her master trusted her, he would not feel at ease assigning important missions to her in the future.

"Good. Take your subordinates and go. I believe you'll do well." Huang Long smiled in satisfaction as he looked at the confident Ina.

"Yes!" Ina answered, then left and returned to her unit.

"Heh, after five days of constant training, even Ina has become a qualified soldier. As for me, I suppose I count as half of one now?" A faint smile appeared on Huang Long's face.

"Now, nothing else is lacking. All that remains is to wait five hours. Heh!"