With stops and starts along the way, the end of the year arrived before he knew it.
Li Chen devoted most of his energy to furthering his studies and repairing his puppets. Only after considerable effort did he manage to rebuild a Puppet Legion using his stockpiled materials.
This time, his Sword Guards had increased rather than decreased, reaching more than thirty, but his Armored Warriors and Wooden Soldiers had dwindled sharply. Li Chen had spent more of his Talisman Coins on the Warrior Constructs, refining over three hundred Chang Clan Soldiers in one go.
These Flesh Puppets were inexpensive yet effective, and had played a considerable role in the previous battle.
Although their combat strength was only of Two-Star grade, and their overall capabilities were slightly inferior to those of Wooden Soldiers, their cost advantage was enormous. Replacing battle losses was not much trouble, either.
Li Chen spent quite some time visiting markets in various places to trade materials, exchanging all his stockpiled red copper and crimson fire copper for cloud mud, true water, and other supplies. Besides maintaining a complement of three hundred Warrior Constructs, he also stocked ample logistical cultivation provisions. If necessary, he could increase their numbers to over a thousand in a short time, immediately producing more Cannon Fodder troops.
Xiao Die was also repaired through intermittent replenishment. Fortunately, the Karmic Fire Lotus had not damaged her Furnace; otherwise, it would have meant another expense of hundreds of thousands of Talisman Coins, enough to build several hundred Warrior Constructs.
During this time, Li Chen became increasingly aware of his strengths and shortcomings.
He also privately counted himself fortunate to have mastered the strategically vital art of producing spiritglow origin crystals. Otherwise, such a grueling battle would surely have damaged him down to the sinews and