Foster did some quick calculations.
In this wave, he had collected 3000 Gold Coins, 4000 Stone, 3000 Wood, and 2000 Crystal Ore. By comparison, building an Arrow Tower only required 500 Stone, 500 Wood, and 200 Gold Coins. The cost of constructing a Tier 1 Barracks and recruiting militia was about the same.
Most players wouldn't worry about building structures or recruiting soldiers early on in the game. The resources they could gather would generally be just enough to cover their needs. However, as players progressed through the beginner phase and began developing their territories, they would quickly realize—they were always running out of something.
Heroic Epic was much like other frustrating mobile games in that regard—resources like Construction Materials, Gold Coins, Architectural Drawings, Experience, and Equipment were all tightly limited. Every aspect of progression would feel like a bottleneck.
But for Foster, just the resources he had earned from the Conquest and Slaughter event on the first day were equivalent to what most players would get in nearly ten days of play.
"Not bad," he muttered to himself.
"If I can get extra resources like this every day, by the time my Lord's Palace is fully built, I should be able to rapidly develop without worrying about shortages."
He pondered for a moment, then quickly surveyed his territory. Finally, he decided to place the new Barracks to the northwest of his Lord's Palace, spending 500 Gold Coins, 500 Stone, and 500 Wood.
In Heroic Epic, Barracks typically gave specific units. For example, a Tier 1 Barracks would provide militia recruits, while a Second-Order Barracks would give Knights. Other buildings mostly came in the form of drawings.
The difference was that a Barracks could only be built once. However, obtaining a drawing allowed players to build that structure as many times as they wanted. This limitation was introduced to maintain balance in the game. Without it, players who got a Barracks Drawing early on would have a huge advantage, rapidly producing soldiers, while other players, who might only get Architectural Drawings, would struggle, as most buildings didn't have much value when built repeatedly.
Having a Barracks Drawing would create a massive power gap between players.
However, when the game was fully integrated into reality, Barracks could be built indefinitely. But by then, soldiers wouldn't just materialize from the building; players would need to recruit real beings from other worlds and train them.
For instance, recruiting Knights would require a humanoid race—Humans, Elves, and certain Orcs were all viable options. Recruiting Elemental Soldiers would require traveling to the Elemental Otherworld to recruit Elemental Elves...
As Foster recalled the details from his past experience, he placed the Barracks, and the resources began pouring in quickly. Soon, a shimmering holographic structure began to take shape in front of him.
The militia recruit barracks would take two hours to complete.
At this point, Foster could only wait. He decided to save the Construction Accelerator Card for the Arrow Tower instead.
While waiting, he quickly logged off.
Foster picked up his game helmet, checked out of the hotel, and returned to his rental apartment. Once home, he ordered a large quantity of supplies through a delivery app and sent a message to the professor at his school, explaining that there had been a family emergency and he needed to take a leave of absence for the next few months.
It wasn't that Foster had any intention of preserving his academic status or credits. He knew it was normal to get expelled after taking months of leave. What concerned him was that his professor and classmates might think he had disappeared and report him missing.
What if, while fighting a boss, the police barged into his apartment and the game helmet forcefully logged him off?
...
After taking care of all these matters, Foster logged back into the game.
In front of him stood the newly constructed building. The holographic image of the structure was now complete.
[Please, Lord, inspect the Barracks!]
Foster approached and lightly touched the hologram. A crimson glow flashed.
[Congratulations! You have successfully built a Tier 1 Barracks: Militia Recruit Barracks!]
[Your Talent Transcendent Evolution has activated! You have unlocked the Second-Order Barracks: Eagle's Nest!]
Foster's expression immediately soured.
The Militia Recruit Barracks, which was originally a long, narrow building positioned in the northwest of the territory to guard the Lord's Palace, had turned into a Eagle's Nest, a structure with wide gaps through which enemies could easily pass.
Moreover, this giant bird's nest sitting on flat ground looked ugly and out of place.
"Dammit! I'm supposed to be a master of architecture! This is a disgrace!" Foster couldn't help but grumble.
Reluctantly, he decided to check the attributes of the Eagle's Nest.
[Eagle's Nest]
Tier: 2
Description: A bird's nest that grows on cliff faces. You can use it to train Saker Falcons.
Daily recruit limit: 20
Recruit cost: 45 Gold Coins/unit
Branch: Saker Falcon
The Eagle's Nest wasn't a beginner's building and couldn't be moved freely. It required a special item called the Building Mobile Card to relocate it. Additionally, recruiting Saker Falcons would cost the normal price—45 Gold Coins per unit.
As for the Saker Falcon itself, Foster casually checked its attributes. It had decent stats for a Tier 2 branch.
[Saker Falcon]
Tier: 2
Loyalty: 100
Morale: 100
Attributes: Strength 10, Constitution 10, Agility 20, Spirit 6
Armor Type: Flesh
Its overall attributes were two points higher than a Knight. The Saker Falcon was an agility-specialized branch, making it more suited for reconnaissance than direct combat.
"Besides frontline combat, it can be used as a scout," Foster mused. "Not bad. This Barracks evolution is actually pretty good."
The Saker Falcon's ability to fly and its high agility made it excellent for quickly uncovering new areas during the exploration phase of the game. It was a solid choice for early-game map expansion.
However, Saker Falcons weren't the best units among the Tier 2 branches. There were other units like the Novice Priest and Apprentice Mage in the second tier.
The Novice Priest could heal soldiers, which would be incredibly useful in keeping Foster's Knight Guards alive and helping them evolve into Tier 3 units. On the other hand, the Apprentice Mage was pure damage output, and with Foster's control, their damage could easily clear many bosses.
Foster quickly decided to recruit all 20 Saker Falcons he could for the day, though they would still require 100 minutes to fully recruit.
This time, he didn't log off. Instead, he stayed in the territory, and for each Saker Falcon that was summoned, he quickly commanded them to fly outside the territory in search of the bosses that were always located near every player's spawn point.
As soon as the Saker Falcons hatched, they affectionately perched on Foster's shoulders, nuzzling their heads against his face. The Knight Guards nearby also interacted with the Saker Falcons, and it seemed like the two groups got along well.
While commanding the Saker Falcons to scout, Foster suddenly realized that, in future battles, he could use their aerial firepower to suppress the enemy from above, while the Knight Guards could follow up with ground attacks.
The synergy between these two branches would undoubtedly be greater than the sum of their parts.
"And this is my exclusive strategy," Foster thought with growing excitement. He was starting to truly appreciate how powerful Transcendent Evolution was.
In Heroic Epic, soldiers of different factions and races weren't necessarily compatible with one another.
The Saker Falcons and Knight Guards were fine together, though. Humans and Beastfolk had an innate affinity, as humans were naturally capable of training beasts. As long as the loyalty of the Raptors and Knight Guards wasn't an issue, the two could fight side by side without problems.
On the other hand, mixing Undead with Humans would cause Human soldiers to suffer a massive morale drop, drastically reducing their loyalty, and half the army could be rendered useless in an instant!
As a side note, the Undead faction was unique. They had no loyalty or morale stats, which meant they lacked the usual attribute bonuses. However, they could mix with any other branch without causing loyalty issues.
Foster remembered that in his previous life, many players fell into the trap of not understanding how to properly build their armies. They ended up losing all their hard-earned troops during a single task or boss fight because of internal strife within their ranks—often resulting in catastrophic losses.
Fortunately, Foster didn't have to worry about such risks.
The loyalty of soldiers was difficult to increase to 100, and in fact, the difference between 99 loyalty and 100 loyalty was nearly negligible in actual combat.
Most players, with the exception of the Knight branches, wouldn't prioritize pushing for 100 loyalty. However, the benefits of 100 loyalty went far beyond just attribute increases. It could prevent any negative effects from occurring, including conflicts between different soldier races.
With 100 loyalty, Foster could even recruit Radiant Knights, those pure-hearted knights devoted to justice and light, and have them ride Undead Bonehorses. The Radiant Knights wouldn't suffer any combat penalties, and would even gain the bonus damage from the Undead Bonehorse's Hellfire attack!
This was the true power of Transcendent Evolution!
It was no wonder that it was a Red Talent!
As Foster was mulling this over, suddenly, one of his Saker Falcons flew toward him from a distance.
The Saker Falcon hovered on Foster's right shoulder, hopping excitedly, and then it began to perform odd movements in mid-air.
It danced in a strange pattern, drawing a half-circle in the sky.
If a regular person saw this, they would have no idea what it meant.
In Heroic Epic, the game adhered closely to reality. Don't expect low-intelligence units like the Beastfolk to communicate with you using words—they only communicate through body language.
Foster, being an experienced Lord, immediately recognized what the movements meant.
"You found the boss?" he asked, his voice filled with anticipation.