The Era of Gods

Chapter 492: Chapter 492 Ashamed

This back and forth method of employing the lives of NPCs from various races continued for a month and a half, until a number of heroes and leaders eventually arrived and personally saw to the extermination of every last Demon near The Gate of Other World. Only after that they managed to firmly establish themselves in the vicinity, and a steady stream of troops began building bases through The Gate of Other World.

With the bases established, the Expeditionary Army reputation system was activated. The first few thousand players, all above Level 50, entered one after another. They unanimously chose to stay at the Expedition Base to grind reputation, and Lin Xiao was no exception.

The reason was simple. Once Outland was opened up, the Fortress system became available. Any player who raised their Gaia reputation to Respected, and their Expeditionary Army reputation to Revered, would qualify to build their own Fortress, recruiting NPC soldiers from the Expeditionary Army using reputation and Demon Marks.

A so-called Fortress was akin to a base where, using reputation, players exchanged for a Fortress core foundation stone and transported it to the depths of Outland. By placing the foundation stone, they could establish a Fortress of their own, recruiting various functional NPCs and combat NPCs.

Functional NPCs referred to various merchants, such as leather armorer blacksmiths, inns with hearthstones, flight points connecting other fortresses and the main base of the Expeditionary Army, grocery traders selling potions, merchants of various spell components, trainers for learning professions, and job mentors for learning spells, among others.

Newly recruited functional NPCs only had basic functions, but they could be improved by occupying certain special resource areas, collecting resources, or upgrading the Fortress core and the NPCs themselves, enabling them to possess higher capabilities or to sell specialties unique to the Fortress.

Fortresses were similar to some small towns or outposts in the game, where players could resupply, transfer, or even stay for extended periods.

Players needed to pay taxes for transactions here, which was one source of the Fortress’s income. Typically, ten percent of the total amount spent or received by players at NPCs was income for the Fortress’s owner.

In Outland, these were safe zones where players could rest, and also offered housing for rent or purchase. Players could store belongings that didn’t fit in their bags inside their rooms.

However, this depended on the Fortress’s strength, as it undoubtedly had to be established in dangerous areas. Not only would it face attacks from Outland Demons but also destruction from the Children of Nightmare. Once a Fortress was breached, anything the players stored inside was lost.

Therefore, whether a Fortress could attract a large number of players to stay and resupply depended on its strength.

Thus, establishing a Fortress wasn’t something ordinary players could handle. It usually required a team to build a Fortress together, such as a guild; very few people were able to build one on their own.

Combat NPCs naturally referred to various NPC soldiers, including elite NPC soldiers from any Race. Generally, players had advantages in recruitment price and conditions if they chose NPCs from their own Race.

These NPC soldiers could also level up through combat, collect resources to forge NPC-specific gear for strength enhancement, or even rise in rank, such as upgrading from ordinary soldiers to an elite template, or even to Enhanced Elite or Leader templates.

In theory, a mere foot soldier could become an extremely powerful Hero level NPC under stringent conditions.

But in practice, theory is usually just theory, and it’s basically impossible to become reality.

Lin Xiao took particular interest in this and discussed it with his girlfriend. They decided to strike out on their own.

The reason they didn’t stay with the guild was that there were many within it who wanted to exchange for a Fortress core. Everyone could see the potential of the Fortress system. The elites that could get into Radiance would find it difficult to submit to others, and even though Lin Xiao had previously demonstrated his strength, and they acknowledged his current power, agreement was one thing; playing the subordinate was quite another.

“I respect you, but that doesn’t mean I want to be your subordinate.”

Their faith was fickle, and Lin Xiao wouldn’t necessarily trust having a bunch of people act as his underlings. So, after discussing it with his girlfriend, he simply left the guild to go it alone; after all, the cohesiveness of the guild was only so-so, and he couldn’t expect much help from them.

Then came the grind for reputation, endlessly taking repeatable kill Demon quests from the Expeditionary Army. For every set number of Demons killed, they received a certain amount of reputation.

Both he and his girlfriend were Mages. She had chosen her core Clan Ire Winged Man, a Sub-legendary Race derived from the variation of her original core Clan Thunder Wing. Presumably modeled after Angels, this race looked very similar to Angels, with an exceedingly beautiful appearance coupled with an extraordinary talent for spellcasting.

There were two types of Ire Winged Men, Silver Winged and Golden Wrathwing. The Silver Winged Ire Man had stronger Thunder talents than the Thunder Wing, while the Golden Wrathwing inherited the Holy power of Angels.

Shen Yuexin had chosen the Golden Wrathwing, so she specialized in Holy magic, akin to a combination of Mage and Priest. Originally inclined towards combat, after joining up with Lin Xiao, she switched her talents to a supportive role, meaning she now resembled a Priest with considerable combat power.

As time passed, the Demons near the Expedition Base were all killed. The powerhouses from the main plane used spells to transform the barren terrain and constructed a massive Super fortress. Squads of NPC soldiers, led by NPC officers, left the Expeditionary Army Fortress to establish several Outpost Bases in the vicinity.

These served the players, expanding the territory and acting as a buffer against any Demon counterattacks.

However, players who wished to establish their own Fortress had to venture far from the Expeditionary Army Fortress, into the depths of this Alien World.

According to the regulations, the further a Fortress was built from the Expeditionary Army Fortress, and the more strategically important its location, the more support it would receive from the Expeditionary Army. This would also provide a substantial bonus when calculating the score later, pushing players to venture deeper into Outland.

With a level advantage, this was highly advantageous for Lin Xiao. After spending several months accumulating enough reputation, merits, and Demon Marks, they exchanged for a Fortress core and a squadron of one hundred NPCs at Level 55, including five elite NPCs. After preparing ample supplies, they mounted their steeds with this troop and left the Super fortress of the Expeditionary Army headquarters, venturing into the vastness of Outland.

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Recruiting elite combat NPCs required the Green Demon mark for exchange, and the drop rate for this item was extremely low. After all this time, we had accumulated fewer than ten.

Ordinary Level 55 NPC warriors only had 3,500 health points, while elites had just over 10,000, with an average combat power slightly lower than that of ordinary demons.

This alien world was ravaged by demons and chaos, and the energy in the void had become extremely berserk. Players in this world’s wilderness would receive a negative BUFF, making it so that there was a certain chance of failure when casting any spell, and both mana consumption and casting time would increase by 50%.

Only within areas controlled by the Expeditionary Army, where the void energy was pacified by the Mage Towers established within the Expeditionary Army Fortress, would this negative BUFF disappear.

So in the early stages of pioneering, success truly relied on the NPCs, who piled up through sheer sacrifice, as players could not play any significant role, not even someone like Lin Xiao.

Although he was Level 68, which is fairly high, there were plenty of strong demons in the Outland. Any Level 70 or above enhanced elite with a group of minions could make them run everywhere.

An enhanced elite at Level 70 could have as little as 100,000 health points, but a powerful race like demons could have two to three hundred thousand health points, with strong attack power and mighty spells, coupled with a group of minions, the two of them simply couldn’t fight them.

It has been almost half a year since the gates opened, and Lin Xiao had died no less than twenty times, which was considered few. Those who ventured into the Outland just past Level 50 died hundreds or even hundreds of times, leaving them doubting their lives under the formidable demon onslaught.

Upon leaving the Expeditionary Army Fortress, many players clearing stray demons outside recognized them and knew they planned to head out and establish a fortress, watching them with keen interest.

Those daring to venture out to establish a fortress at this stage were few, as most were in a period of accumulation.

This midsize group consisted of 100 NPC soldiers, among which 95 were ordinary soldiers including 50 warriors, 5 rogue scouts, 10 archers, 10 mages, 10 knights, and 10 priests.

The five elites comprised three melee warriors and two mages.

The team configuration was reasonable; even if they encountered an enhanced elite demon, they would have the strength to fight… although at a tremendous loss.

All five rogue scouts were sent out to survey the surroundings to avoid unwittingly running into a large group of demons.

Three days later, Lin Xiao and Shen Yuexin led their remaining troops, less than one-third of their original force and heavily injured, shamefully back to the Expeditionary Army Fortress.

Less than fifty kilometers from the Expeditionary Army Fortress, they were discovered by a flying demonized creature. After killing a few small groups of demons in succession, they attracted the attention of a Level 76 Demon Overlord who personally led a demonic army to encircle them, forcing them to leave half of their forces behind and flee shamefully back.

“It’s completely unfeasible.”

Barely leaving the range of the Expeditionary Army before being forced to return, even if they managed to escape by chance next time, it wouldn’t be long before they were surrounded and killed by demons again.

His girlfriend, flapping her golden, luminous wings, said:

“We need to train an elite force. At the very least, we should train a batch of elites at Level 65 or above to fight our way out.”

“I understand.”

Upon return to the Expeditionary Army Fortress, they used the remaining Demon marks to recruit a new batch of soldiers, a total of one and a half midsize groups, with the same configuration as before. They left the Expeditionary Army Fortress once again.

But this time, they didn’t run outwards. Instead, they headed to a place called Hawk Hill, an Outpost Base to the west of the fortress, to regroup. The Outpost Base hosted many NPCs and other players, so if they encountered a large number of demons again like before, they could flee to the Outpost Base for refuge, avoiding the desperate chases of before.

Hawk Hill was situated on an elevated piece of land about forty kilometers from the Expeditionary Army Fortress, with sheer cliffs on all sides and only one winding road leading down from the high ground. By holding the sole path and establishing good anti-air defenses, they could firmly secure the area.

Upon Lin Xiao’s arrival, he witnessed a large group of about two to three thousand demons attacking Hawk Outpost under the command of a Demon Overlord. Many elite NPC soldiers stood guarding the pass, while a multitude of players crouched on the fortress walls, operating heavy crossbows to fire at the demons below.

Inside the outpost, two squads of players led two teams of NPC soldiers in waiting.

They, like Lin Xiao, planned to follow the fortress regiment path and were also training their troops. They would wait for the demons’ main force to be repelled and then take advantage of the demons’ defeat to strike them hard.

Unable to ascend to the high ground at that moment, Lin Xiao led his forces to hide behind the outpost, ready to take advantage of the situation later.

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