Chapter 78: Chapter 60: End of February
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of the second month.
This time, Lin Yu didn’t wait until the final settlement to boost his score. One thrilling, down-to-the-wire experience was enough. Pushing his luck like that too often was just asking for trouble.
On the third day after the Vein of Life was completed—early this very morning—he had used all twenty of his stockpiled Recruitment Scrolls (1,000 units).
He recruited Death Devourers. Twenty thousand of them brought his territory 80 million combat power points at the cost of his entire 2 million Gold Coin stockpile. He was left with just over ten thousand Gold Coins.
Thankfully, after the World Tree was upgraded, its "Lush Foliage" ability had evolved into "Lush Foliage II," which reduced recruitment costs. Otherwise, he truly wouldn’t have been able to afford the Death Devourers. Their Gold Coin cost was simply too high.
Each Death Devourer cost 10,000 Gold Coins. Recruiting twenty thousand of them at the original price would have cost two hundred million Gold Coins.
To be honest, in terms of the Gold Coin cost to combat power point ratio, the Death Devourers were 2:5. It was actually less efficient than recruiting legendary-level troops.
Even the Withered Messengers, another unit from the Vein of Life, had a ratio of 1:5, with each providing 1,000 combat power points for 200 Gold Coins.
Still, what could he do? The Death Devourers were simply stronger.
By now, the World Chat Channel had completely blown up. Everyone was trying to guess how "Anonymous 1" had managed to instantly increase their combat power points by 80 million.
[World Chat Channel (789654)]
Ding Dong: "Hahaha, this is hilarious! Qian Duoduo and Yun Qihao have been fighting for a month, and in the end, Brother Anonymous took first place again."
Ding Dong: "Brother Anonymous shot straight up to 85.33 million combat power points."
Ding Dong: "Qian Duoduo and Yun Qihao are both still hovering around 15 million-plus combat power points."
Zhao Zhaonan: "There’s definitely something wrong with Anonymous 1. Even if he has a legendary-level Recruitment Office, it’s impossible to jump this much."
Mi Qisheng: "Yesterday he was only at 5.3 million combat power points, and today he’s at 85.33 million. He went up by 80 million in a single day."
Mi Qisheng: "Even if you calculate it based on the max combat power score of 1,400 points for a soldier from a legendary-level Recruitment Office, this Anonymous 1 just recruited over 57,000 soldiers at once."
Mi Qisheng: "In other words, he used 57 ’Recruitment Scrolls (1000)’ all at once."
Zhao Zhaonan: "Exactly! At the beginning of the month, the system only gave everyone 10 ’Recruitment Scrolls (1000)’. Can someone tell me how Anonymous 1 got so many scrolls?"
You Zhixuan: "Hey, big shots, is it possible he got them from other lords?"
Mi Qisheng: "Impossible. My boss, Qian Duoduo, tried that long ago."
Mi Qisheng: "’Recruitment Scrolls (1000)’ are bound. Whether through trading or force, other people can’t get their hands on them."
Mi Qisheng: "If they were tradable, my boss would have started buying them up long ago."
You Zhixuan: "That’s strange, then. How did the great Anonymous manage to recruit so many soldiers in one day?"
Zhao Zhaonan: "I suspect he’s a shill!!!"
Xiong Ahba: "You idiot above, this isn’t a game."
Zhao Zhaonan: "How do you know there are no shills? The competition organizers are incredibly powerful. Maybe there’s an audience watching us from the outside, and what if they arranged a shill for some unknown reason?"
You Zhixuan: "Now that you mention it, that’s possible!"
Zhao Zhaonan: "Anyway, let’s report him first. There’s definitely something wrong with Anonymous 1. Otherwise, why would he always stay anonymous? None of the rest of us are."
Anonymous 9527: "Who says no one is anonymous? I’m anonymous all the time."
Anonymous 404: "Yeah, being anonymous is fun. You guys have no idea who I am, so I can say whatever I want."
Zhao Zhaonan: "Fuck, you anonymous guys, stop trying to pick a fight. I’m talking about the ’Anonymous 1’ in first place."
Mi Qisheng: "But, how do we report him? I’ve looked in the system and the chat channel, and there’s no option to report anyone."
Zhao Zhaonan: "Let’s spam the chat! Everyone, shout it with me."
Zhao Zhaonan: "I’m reporting ’Anonymous 1’ for cheating!"
Mi Qisheng: "I’m reporting ’Anonymous 1’ for cheating!"
You Zhixuan: "I’m reporting ’Anonymous 1’ for cheating!"
...
As a group of Qian Duoduo’s and Yun Qihao’s lackeys stirred up trouble in the chat, Lin Yu simply looked on with disdain. ’Those two, Qian Duoduo and Yun Qihao, haven’t said a word, yet their underlings are making such a scene.’
’Besides, didn’t he know perfectly well whether he’d cheated? He had painstakingly grinded mobs for over twenty days, fought in a massive raid, and finally killed a boss just to earn this many points.’
’On top of that, it was all thanks to his large territory, abundant resources, the massive stockpile of Gold Coins he’d saved up, and finally, the Divine-level Territory Heart trait "Lush Foliage II." Without all that, he never could have recruited so many Death Devourers.’
The world channel was unreadable, filled with nothing but spam. Lin Yu switched over to his private group chat.
Lin Yu: "Brother Ding, what’s up? Looks like you were arguing with people in the world channel."
Ding Dong: "Don’t even mention it. That bunch of idiots, all they know is how to stir up trouble. ’Anonymous 1’ is a huge powerhouse. He’s definitely going to advance to the third stage, and we’ll all have to rely on him then."
Ding Dong: "If they offend him and ’Anonymous 1’ decides to just go play by himself, the rest of us will be the ones to suffer!"
Lin Yu: "Brother Ding, did you get some info about the third stage?"
Lin Yu: "Mind sharing?"
Ding Dong: "It’s not really a secret. As long as you pass the second stage, you’ll find out naturally."
Ding Dong: "The third stage is simple. It’s just fighting!"
Lin Yu: "Fighting? Who do we fight?"
Ding Dong: "For the third stage, three other planets of different countries/races will be randomly assigned. A total of four different countries/races of contestants will gather on a continent, fighting each other. In the end, the number of lords who advance will be allocated based on the number of remaining lords from each planet. (Interstellar Nation, minimum requirement: Unify the home planet)."
Ding Dong: "So, when the time comes, everyone will need to band together. The more lords who survive, the more lords who can advance."
Lin Yu: "In that case, if we’re the only ones left, wouldn’t everyone from our side advance?"
Ding Dong: "Hahaha, you wish!"
Ding Dong: "Younger Brother Lin, take my advice. Try your best to get to the third stage. With Anonymous 1 around, we’ll have a huge advantage."
Ding Dong: "And stop selling resources. I saw you were selling resources this month, too. Keep them for development. As long as you have enough points, that’s what matters."
Lin Yu: "Brother Ding, don’t worry about me. My territory is just very rich in resources, with a bit too much to spare. I’m developing normally now."
...
Just as the two were discussing resources, Yun Qihao suddenly popped up.
Yun Qihao: "My apologies, this is embarrassing for everyone to see. I’ll go call my men back now. We’ll all be fighting side-by-side in the future, so it’s not good to damage our goodwill."
[World Chat Channel (789654)]
Yun Qihao: "Zhao Zhaonan... stop spouting nonsense. It’s just the ranking rewards; it doesn’t matter who gets them."
Zhao Zhaonan: "But boss..."
Yun Qihao: "Shut up. Read the information in the private group before you speak again."
At the same time, Qian Duoduo also told his underlings to shut up.
Without these people stirring up trouble, the World Chat Channel instantly quieted down.
