After recruiting the soldiers, Foster's movements were still quick.
"I'll start today's Conquest and Slaughter early."
[Ding! Are you sure... ?]
"Skip, confirm."
Without waiting for the system's suggestion to familiarize with commanding soldiers after establishing the territory, Foster selected "skip."
Immediately, he felt a faint rumbling sound from the distance.
[You have started Conquest and Slaughter.]
[The minimum requirement to pass is to kill 30 enemy units.]
[After completing the minimum requirement in Conquest and Slaughter, even if your Lord's Palace is destroyed, you can restore it after completing the challenge.]
[After each wave of battle, you can choose whether to start the next wave.]
[The first wave of enemies has arrived.]
Foster quickly scanned the message and then took a few steps toward the group of Knight Servants.
These second-tier soldiers, a mix of men and women, were all fairly good-looking. They were dressed in light armor, carrying short swords and small round shields.
At this moment, each one of them stared at Foster with fierce enthusiasm, their loyalty at max.
"Master! Our blades swing for you!"
The Knight Servants quickly knelt on one knee, striking their round shields with their short swords in perfect unison, creating a sharp, synchronized sound.
"Very well! May honor be with you."
After Foster's words, the Knight Servants' eyes grew even more intense. This was a habit Foster had developed in his previous life while playing Heroic Epic. Different branches of soldiers had different preferences for certain types of speeches.
Although the Servants' loyalty was already at full capacity, it seemed that they gained even more momentum under Foster's encouragement!
"Honor!"
"Loyalty!"
"Sacrifice!"
They all shouted together.
At the same time, a panel appeared in front of Foster.
[Knight Servants]
[Tier: Second]
[Loyalty: 100]
[Morale: 100]
[Attributes: Strength 12]
[Constitution 12]
[Agility 10]
[Spirit 10]
[Armor Type: Light Armor]
[Skill: Unripe Fruits]
"The total attribute value is slightly lower than a typical second-tier branch,"
"But with the 1.6x boost from full loyalty and morale, their overall attributes surpass all others."
Foster nodded in satisfaction.
Next, he opened the mini-map and activated the holographic mode. The 3D map of his territory appeared in front of him, with red dots showing up as the enemies for the first wave of invasion.
"That's them."
He murmured, observing the positions of the invaders.
"Everyone, follow my command."
"Prepare to strike from the southeast!"
As his orders rang out, Foster led his soldiers forward at a rapid pace.
Ten seconds later...
A group of ragged Goblins appeared in Foster's sight, numbering around 30 or so.
Even for some absolute beginner players, a freshly trained first-tier branch could easily take them down.
Foster casually shouted, "Charge!"
Immediately, the Knight Servants swung their blades forward and launched their attack!
Each of them wielded a sword, effortlessly cutting down the Goblins in less than 10 seconds.
Foster, meanwhile, was frantically sending requests to the system.
"Summon the next wave of monsters!"
In Conquest and Slaughter, once half of a wave of monsters is killed, players can opt to summon the next wave early.
So, the Knight Servants never paused. The moment the Goblins fell, another group of stronger Goblins appeared out of thin air.
But these new monsters were also instantly slaughtered!
In the beginner-level Conquest and Slaughter, only second-tier wild monsters would appear, and those only from the 10th wave onward.
So, the earlier waves of monsters were simply chopped down like weeds by the Knight Servants!
Foster didn't need to do anything extra—just quickly request the next wave of monsters.
The system was bombarding him with messages as the battles continued.
[You have gained 1 Experience.]
[You have gained 2 Experience.]
[After massive slaughter, your Knight Servants have accumulated a bit of training value.]
[After massive slaughter...]
The Knight Servants needed to accumulate 100 training points before they could advance to a third-tier branch. However, with just a few waves of monsters, they had only accumulated a small fraction of that.
On the other hand, the Experience requirement for Foster's own level-up was relatively low.
By the time he reached the 3rd wave of monsters, his Experience was already full.
A golden light enveloped him as he leveled up to Level 2.
Then, by the time the 4th wave of monsters was finished, he leveled up again to Level 3.
After the 6th wave, he reached Level 4.
By the 8th wave, he reached Level 5!
All of this happened in just about 10 minutes.
Because the morale and loyalty of the Knight Servants never dropped, they acted like an efficient meat grinder, slaughtering the monsters relentlessly!
At this point, Foster had already made up for the initial losses from choosing the "useless" character at the start of the game!
Additionally, he gained a total of 8 free attribute points (with each level-up granting +1 to all attributes and +2 free attribute points), which he could freely allocate!
Besides the Experience gains, the wild monsters dropped several white Loot Orbs.
Foster didn't rush to collect them. He knew that first-tier regular monsters were unlikely to drop Equipment, but they could drop some Gold Coins, Stone, Wood, Concentrate, and other materials.
He planned to gather everything after the event was over.
Soon, the ninth wave of monsters, a group of Flower Demons wielding vines, were all slaughtered.
Foster's Experience bar was now close to leveling up to Level 6.
The Knight Servants had also accumulated 10 points of training value.
Just at that moment, as Foster finished saying "Summon the next wave of monsters," the system gave him a new prompt.
[Are you sure you want to summon the 10th wave of monsters? The strength of the monsters will increase significantly, making this wave extremely difficult. Caution is advised!]
"Confirm challenge!"
Foster nodded without hesitation.
Even without the Transcendent Evolution ability, he would attempt the 10th wave with the second-tier branch monsters. Even if he couldn't complete it, the Experience gain and loot drop from the second-tier monsters would be more than enough to fill his coffers.
Not to mention, Foster now had twenty second-tier soldiers with 1.6x boosted attributes!
After confirming the challenge, the ground suddenly trembled, and cracks began to form across the terrain.
From those cracks emerged grotesque monsters, resembling rotting, mud-like creatures.
The panel flashed in front of Foster.
[Devil Worm]
[Tier: Second]
[Attributes: ???]
[Skill: ???]
Since Foster's current level was too low, he couldn't view the combat stats of these second-tier enemies.
"Heh, Devil Worms? Their total attributes are quite high for second-tier monsters, but they still can't compare to my Knight Servants with full loyalty."
Foster wasn't concerned. He already knew the exact stats of the Devil Worms from his past experience.
"Charge!"
With a shout of fury from the Lord, his soldiers surged forward.
The Devil Worms, initially planning to retaliate, twisted and released bursts of thick black slime.
But when the slime hit the Knight Servants, they merely grunted in response, not even retreating a single step.
The servants retaliated with swift strikes, exchanging wounds for wounds.
Foster himself grabbed a blade and rushed forward.
The difficulty of the 10th wave was indeed higher, as not only second-tier monsters appeared, but there were also 25 Devil Worms in total!
However, it was all within Foster's expectations.
He moved to a corner, targeting five Devil Worms, and with a quick slash, he drew their aggro.
While Foster's output was nowhere near as powerful as the Knight Servants, he was able to hold off five Devil Worms on his own!
Armed with a small knife, he nimbly dodged their attacks, drawing aggro with ease despite his relatively low attributes.
No matter how the Devil Worms tried to act, whether faking an attack, suddenly erupting with slime, or attempting to launch a simultaneous assault from all directions,
Foster managed to dodge every move with ease!
He even had time to deliver a few extra slashes in between.
Soon, the Knight Servants, using their attribute advantage, killed the first Devil Worm. Then, they began to work together to slaughter the enemies.
With their numerical advantage, the Devil Worms were quickly overwhelmed, each dying faster than the last!
In the end, the Knight Servants wiped out all twenty Devil Worms.
Seeing this, Foster easily slipped out from the encirclement of the five remaining enemies.
"Have you had enough? Now it's my turn!"
The five remaining Devil Worms, showing signs of panic, tried to escape, but before they could even react, they were shredded into pieces by the furious charge of the Knight Servants!
"For the Lord!"
"How dare you attack the Lord! Die!"
With their loyalty maxed out, the Knight Servants were utterly frenzied.
And with the final Devil Worm slain,
Foster's screen flashed with a new prompt.
[Congratulations! You have successfully completed the event. Today's event evaluation is S+!]