The next objective

Qin Shujian felt a little melancholy.

A full day had passed since he sent the letters, yet he still had not received a reply from the bandit factions in Rubble Forest.

By all rights, this should not have happened.

He considered the contents of his letters sincere and heartfelt.

Anyone who understood the bigger picture, whether human or NPC, should have agreed.

“Bandits will be bandits. Do they really have no sense of the bigger picture?” Qin Shujian shook his head inwardly. “I wanted us all to cooperate for mutual benefit, but it seems that won't be happening.”

With a full day already gone by,

he promptly left his room.

Outside,

Zheng Fang and the other elite leaders were already waiting.

Qin Shujian said gravely, “Rubble Forest's refusal to take a stance has made its hostility toward Liangshan Stronghold abundantly clear. Rather than passively waiting to be attacked, we should naturally strike first.”

"We await your orders, Chief."

Zheng Fang was the first to declare his support.

Zhang Tieniu and Wang Tiezhu were not far behind.

Seeing this,

Qin Shujian was very satisfied.

After clearing his throat, he continued, “There are currently three bands of bandits entrenched in Rubble Forest: Mingai Mountain, Cloud River Stronghold, and Chaotic Gold Mountain.

“Besides them, Outlander villages have also appeared within Rubble Forest's territory.

“So this time, besides facing the bandits of Mingai Mountain and the other factions, we'll also have to deal with large numbers of Outlanders.”

At this point,

Qin Shujian paused. “Your main task this time will be dealing with the Outlanders. As for the other bandits, I'll pay them a visit myself.”

“Chief, wouldn't that be a little too risky?” Zheng Fang asked hesitantly.

Although he did not know exactly how strong Qin Shujian was,

there was considerable danger in challenging an entire faction alone.

"I have confidence in my abilities."

Qin Shujian waved a hand, offering no further explanation.

By his estimates, the bandits of any single faction would, at most, be slightly stronger than Liangshan Stronghold had been under Wu Sheng.

Martial Entry Fifth Level or Entering Martial Sixth Layer should be their ceiling.

Of course,

within their own faction's territory,

these bandits might receive a certain boost to their strength.

But no matter how much of a boost they received, Qin Shujian did not believe they could reach a level comparable to Martial Entry Ninth Level.

Besides,

with his current strength,

even if he truly could not defeat them, retreating would pose absolutely no problem.

Watching Zheng Fang and the others withdraw to carry out their orders, Qin Shujian could not help thinking about the situation in Rubble Forest.

Three bands of bandits.

Barring any surprises, each should possess a faction's Core Token.

Just like the Liangshan Stronghold Chief Token Wu Sheng had dropped.

Or the Core Token dropped by Beginner Village 10021.

These Command Tokens directly represented their respective factions and were their true cores.

One Novice Village's Core Command Token was enough to promote Liangshan Stronghold to a First-Tier Power. To advance to the second tier, third tier, or even higher, I'll probably need more Command Tokens.

Qin Shujian pondered this.

As a First-Tier Power, Liangshan Stronghold's members already started at Martial Entry Third Level.

If it became a second-tier power, perhaps even its weakest bandits would become experts at Martial Entry Fifth Level.

The only thing Qin Shujian regretted was

that Liangshan Stronghold still had too few bandits.

Counting everyone, they had only around a hundred and thirty people.

Compared to the thousands upon thousands of players in a single Novice Village, their numbers were still woefully inadequate.

And who knew how many Novice Villages this world actually had?

Qin Shujian could only judge by the population of his previous world and the proportion of people who played popular games.

The number of players flooding into this world was probably at least in the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions.

A hundred-odd bandits,

against a hundred million players.

Even thinking with his backside, Qin Shujian knew what the outcome would be.

Although it was impossible for every player in the world to focus solely on Liangshan Stronghold, he still felt it necessary to prepare for trouble ahead.

Plunder Life Source!

Raise the faction's tier!

Recruit more bandits!

These were the three objectives Qin Shujian had set for himself, ranked in order of importance.

Life Source undoubtedly came first.

Only with enough Life Source could he become powerful enough, laying the foundation for accomplishing the other two objectives.

"Bandits have been running rampant lately, terrorizing the countryside. Young hero, if you can rid the people of this menace, I will reward you handsomely!"

Inside Beginner Village 23012, Liu Qinghong was speaking with the village's guard captain.

When he saw the system notification,

Liu Qinghong silently accepted, then said with a smile, "With bandits terrorizing the countryside, I certainly can't stand idly by as a member of Beginner Village 23012."

"Then I'll await your good news, young hero."

"Of course."

Liu Qinghong nodded, then bid the guard captain farewell.

A dozen or so players immediately crowded around him.

"Brother Liu, how did it go? Did you get the quest?"

"I did."

Liu Qinghong shared the quest directly with his party.

A player named Zhang Quan laughed. "You really are something, Qinghong. Players talk to the guard captain every day, but hardly any of them manage to trigger a quest."

"The other players probably couldn't trigger it because their cultivation levels didn't meet the requirements."

Liu Qinghong wore a faint smile throughout.

However, as he looked at the quest, he felt a little apprehensive.

Eliminate fifty bandits!

Every bandit, even the most ordinary one, had the strength of Entering Martial First Layer.

With bad luck, they might encounter even stronger ones.

Fifty bandits was no small number. Even a player at Martial Entry Third or Fourth Level would not be confident of completing this quest alone.

But—

the harder the quest, the richer the rewards would be upon completion.

After glancing at the sky,

Liu Qinghong immediately said, "This quest won't be easy. Everyone has an hour to stock up and prepare. We'll meet at the village entrance in one hour."

"All right!"

None of the other players objected to Liu Qinghong's instructions.

The dozen or so players then dispersed.

Only Liu Qinghong and a girl with slightly round cheeks remained.

"Hey, brother, what's the reward for this quest?"

Liu Qingqing blinked and tilted her head, her face full of curiosity.

Liu Qinghong shook his head. "The quest didn't specify the reward, but I doubt it'll be worth little. You only have an hour. Is there anything you need to prepare?"

"With you here, what do I need to prepare?" Liu Qingqing giggled and hugged Liu Qinghong's arm.

At this, Liu Qinghong shook his head helplessly, his eyes filled with affection.

Still, it was just as Liu Qingqing had said.

With his current cultivation at Fourth Level of Martial Entry, along with the rest of the party, wiping out fifty bandits should not be much of a problem.

Whether Liu Qingqing contributed would not really matter.

An hour passed in a flash.

Liu Qinghong and Liu Qingqing had arrived early and were already waiting at the village entrance.

Before long, the other players in the party arrived one after another.

Seeing that everyone was present, Liu Qinghong spoke in a firm voice.

"Let's go!"

The book has made it into next week's featured recommendations. Thank you all for your tremendous support! For now, I'll post the day's regular updates. I'll make up the bonus chapters for recommendation votes as soon as the weekend ends!