[A glorious victory, you gained 8250 experience]
[After a thorough search, you obtained]
[Common Resources: 5000 units of wood, 5000 units of ore, 5000 units of food]
[Special Resources: 500 units of mercury, 500 units of gems, 500 units of crystals, 500 units of sulfur]
[Gold Coins × 50000]
[Points × 5000]
[Your level has increased to LV4]
[You gained 1 free attribute point]
[You can choose one skill from the following three]
[1. Basic Magic (Increases magical damage by 5%)]
[2. Basic Offense (Increases melee attack damage by 10%)]
[3. Basic Scouting (Can investigate enemy information up to one's own level)]
[Your level has increased to LV5]
[You gained 1 free attribute point]
[You can choose one skill from the following three]
[1. Basic Wisdom (Allows learning level 3 magic)]
[2. Basic Defense (Reduces received physical attack damage by 5%)]
[3. Basic Tactics (Marching speed +10%, Command effectiveness +10%)]
This wave directly raised Qin Muye's level to 5. After a quick glance, he chose Basic Scouting and Basic Wisdom as his skills. Basic Scouting was a temporary skill, and after obtaining it, the "temporary" label disappeared. As for Basic Wisdom, he believed it would have a synergistic effect with his Intermediate Academic, Intermediate Enlightenment, and learning ability. It sounded like a wise choice.
Qin Muye also noticed that he had a book on Basic Magic, so he didn't see the need to waste his choice on it, especially since he couldn't use it.
As for Bloodmagic, he naturally leveled up, but only by 1 level, reaching level 5. He only had a normal 5000 experience without any experience amplification like Qin Muye, so he reached the level normally.
Bloodmagic upgraded Basic Tactics to Intermediate Tactics, doubling its effects.
[Intermediate Tactics (Marching speed +20%, Command effectiveness +20%)]
The effect was quite good.
[Lord/Scholar LV5 (3385/6200)]
[Hero: Blood Magic · Elite LV5 (4770/6200)]
So Qin Muye felt that leveling up was never a problem for him. Even though Bloodmagic went out every day to sweep and kill monsters, this wave of rewards easily closed the gap. If he could boost his experience gain further with Enlightenment, it would be even more impressive.
"Five times the difficulty, five times the reward, tsk," Qin Muye looked at the rewards, feeling a bit uneasy. He worried about what would happen if 1000 undead came tomorrow. What if they brought cavalry or heavily armored soldiers?
However, he quickly calmed down. First, he exchanged the Sulfur Workshop and Crystal Forge from the point store, and then he learned both. He decided to build two.
With the remaining 3000 points, Qin Muye didn't immediately exchange for the job-change voucher he needed. Instead, he chose to exchange the blueprints for a Blacksmith's Forge and a Marketplace. He needed to equip the Bloodsprites, or tomorrow would be a tough fight.
"Bloodmagic, this afternoon, you don't need to go out to search for traces of the undead. Train two batches of Bloodsprites as soon as possible, making all of them elite. You can exploit the experience bug, train again after midnight, rest during the day, and by then, we should have a batch of elites and another batch at two-thirds progress."
"Yes, Master," Bloodmagic agreed. For him, this was not a big problem.
Soon, Bloodmagic led 100 Bloodsprites into the training ground. As for production, Qin Muye had no choice but to suffer some losses, but with today's rewards, it was enough.
He didn't touch the gold coins; he wanted to buy equipment. If the Bloodsprites went into battle barehanded, it would be a huge disadvantage.
"If I'm not mistaken, this wave of monster attacks probably drew forces from the nearby undead faction. If that's the case, in the next few days, there might be champion or hero units."
This was both good and bad news. The good news was that if he successfully defended this wave, the nearby undead faction would likely be weakened, and he could send Bloodmagic to exterminate them.
However, the bad news was that he had to survive the next five waves of monster attacks and save enough strength to do that. Otherwise, either his territory would be breached, or both sides would be heavily damaged and unable to send reinforcements.
Therefore, it was a gamble.
There was another possibility—that the undead faction nearby was more powerful than Qin Muye imagined, and even with the loss of so much hard power, they remained unafraid. If that was the case, Qin Muye would have to find another solution.
The Blacksmith's Forge and Marketplace were quickly built.
As expected, the Blacksmith's Forge could produce equipment, and it came with a standard set—helmets, armor, shields, and a choice of weapons. However, additional equipment required blueprints, and forging also required materials, such as iron ore, which was not easy to find.
Qin Muye didn't count on the Blacksmith's Forge but looked to the Marketplace. The Marketplace had two sections—Shop and Auction House. The former was the built-in store of "Lord Era," while the latter was the trading place for Lords.
Qin Muye naturally chose the Shop, where there were not many good things; most were basic items.
This pleased him greatly.
Soon, he found the equipment he needed.
[Standard Set: Includes helmet, armor, shield, and a self-selected weapon, Price: 100 Gold Coins, 10 units of wood, 10 units of ore]
Qin Muye decisively bought 201 sets, leaving him with some gold coins. He recruited 18 more Bloodsprites with the remaining gold coins, completing the total of 200. It wasn't that he didn't want to recruit more; it was just that he had other uses for these resources.
He chose all weapons suitable for the battlefield, long knives, and distributed all the equipment. He gave the extra set to Bloodmagic. Although he already had equipment, the long sword didn't suit his style. For a violent hero like him, a knife was more appropriate.
(End of this chapter)