Zhou Zhou raised his eyebrows at his soldiers.
"You can actually kill a Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade monster?"
"This all thanks to Hui Teng. If he hadn't taken the initiative to stand up and attract this Desert Fog Lizard that wanted to escape... We may really have to watch it escape," Bai Yung said.
Zhou Zhou turned to Hui Teng, impressed at his bravery.
"Yes, my Lord! Even though this Desert Fog Lizard is a monster of Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade, my soldier characteristics make me good at defense, so I can still withstand 1 or 2 attacks from it."
"Of course I wouldn't be able to withstand anything excessive. In addition, I know that there's an invincible protective barrier behind me."
"That's why I dared to walk out of the protective barrier to attract this monster," Hui Teng said, not taking full credit for the kill.
"Brave and resourceful, well done," Zhou Zhou praised.
He then watched as the soldiers left before he took the loot from the Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade Desert Fog Lizard.
Done with that, he placed his hand on the Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade Lizard.
The golden notification appeared again.
[Do you want to retrieve the loot?]
"Yes!" Zhou Zhou responded.
[Lord Talent Hint: You have obtained the loots - 4 units of Mist Cores (Black Iron-Tier), 40 units of Desert Fog lizard meat (Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade), 3 kg water bag, one copy of the Sword Shield Soldier Class Change Certificate (Gradeless), one copy of the Sword Shield Soldier Recruitment Book (Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade)]
Whoosh.
The same scene appeared again.
The Desert Fog Lizard's corpse exploded, becoming a small mound of loot.
With his jacket, Zhou Zhou carried the loots into his Lord's House before taking the Sword Shield Soldier Class Change Certificate and the Sword Shield Soldier Recruitment Book.
After that, he asked the couple to roast 20 units of meat for everyone to eat. Unsurprising, just as the military profession had their weapons and armor, the chefs also had their cooking utensils.
With how tough the condition of the territory is, they could only make do with such simple meal.
Zhou Zhou looked at the new loot in his hand when everyone left to patrol the surroundings.
He knew what the Sword Shield Soldier Class Change Certificate was so he turned his attention to the Sword Shield Soldier Recruitment Book instead.
[Item Name: Sword Shield Soldier Recruitment Book]
[Item Level: Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade]
[Item Effect: Throw it into the Gate of Summoning and you'll be able to summon a Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade Sword Shield Soldier with Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade Potential as your subject!]
"I can actually summon a soldier directly?"
Zhou Zhou was quite surprised.
"If this is dropped with each monster killed, it might not be much, but it would at least feed my other soldiers,"
Already have an intense desire towards the Promotional Energy, Zhou Zhou knew the best way to use it wasn't to spread it across hundreds of people, but to gather it within a few.
"I just have to convince my soldiers that it is the right thing to do for the sake of our survival," he muttered as he called for Bai Yung, Hui Teng and Man Nao.
"If you're given a situation to choose between your life and that of others, who would you choose?" he asked the 3 soldiers.
Bai Yung and Man Hao immediately chose their lives.
Weirdly, Hui Teng gave a condition.
He said, "if it was a choice between my life and that of yours, my Lord, I would choose your life over mine."
Shocked by Hui Teng's words, Zhou Zhou finally saw the terrifying effect of a subject with 92 loyalty points.
Also shocked by their fellow soldier's answer, Bai Yung and Man Tao became ashamed of their choice.
Seeing through the state of the 2 soldiers due to how easily they revealed their expression, Zhou Zhou comforted them, "choosing your lives don't make you both lesser, it just means you both are humans."
Hearing the words of their Lord, as a professional soldier, Bai Yung was able to hold back his tears from leaving the confines of his eyes. But that couldn't be said for Man Nao.
"You're so kind, my Lord!" Man Nao knelt with tears running down his cheek.
[Your Subject Man Nao's loyalty has increased to 94]
[Your Subject Bai Yung's loyalty has increased to 95]
[Your Subject Hui Teng's loyalty has increased to 97]
'My Lord is really the best thing that has ever happened to me,' Hui Teng mused after hearing Zhou Zhou's words to his peers.
'I guess doing the unexpected as a Lord can help raise the loyalty of my subject,' Zhou Zhou thought after seeing the results of comforting words.
Looking at the 3 soldiers, he became more confident of getting a positive response on his idea.
"Tell me, if it means that my survival would be more guaranteed if you 3 eliminate those coming out from the Gate of Summoning, would you be willing to do it?" he asked,
"No matter what my Lord tells me to do, I will faithfully do it," Hui Teng said, giving no thought about if the order was righteous or immoral.
"For the survival of my Lord, I would even raise my spear against my former commander!" Bai Yung said seriously.
"I'd rather die than for my Lord to come to harm's way," Man Nao beat his chest as he said.
Having a smile on his face, Zhou Zhou handed the Sword Shield Soldier Class Change Certificate to Man Nao, "change your class and then eliminate the soldier that would be summoned."
"Yes, my Lord," Man Nao said excitedly as he quickly made use of the certificate.
Looking at Man Tao, Zhou Zhou watched as a white light exploded from his body.
A moment later, Man Nao who was wearing the standard Sword Shield Soldier equipment, reappeared after the white light receded.
Same gaze with Bai Yung and Hui Teng, it revealed the benefit of the Sword Shield Soldier Class Change Certificate - 1 year of Sword Shield Soldier combat experience.
"My lord. Thank you for allowing me to become a professional soldier!!" Man Nao knelt on the ground as he said fanatically.
[Your subject Man Nao's loyalty has increased to 97]
Zhou Zhou nodded in satisfaction.
'It might not mean much compared to before, but something exciting might happen if his loyalty reaches 100.' he mused.
Bringing his attention to the Gate of Summoning, he threw the Sword Shield Soldier Recruitment Book inside.
A man wearing standard armor, holding an iron shield in his left hand and a sword in his right, walked out of the Gate of Summoning in no time.
But before he could even bow to his new Lord, a sword cut through his unguarded neck, sending his head flying.
[Your subject, Man Nao have killed a Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade Sword Shield Soldier. Promotion Energy +10! Loots are condensed!]
Enjoying the feeling of growing stronger, even if it was minute, Zhou Zhou's desire to absorb a Promotion Energy all to himself made him to ask Bai Yung to train him in the art of the spear.
"It will be an honor, my Lord," Bai Yung said.
"Alright, we'll train later after you all are done hunting," Zhou Zhou said as he sent his soldiers to continue dealing with the surrounding monsters.
With Man Nao leading the group with 21 Promotion Energy, he was short of 79 to advance to Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade.
"Sometimes having less potential can be of help to you," stating his reason for letting Man Nao quickly advance, Zhou Zhou stared down at the corpse of the Sword Shield Soldier.
[Item Name: Sword Shield Soldier's Corpse]
[Item Level: Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade]
[Item Effect: Contains unextracted loots]
[Item Description: Summoned soldier killed by a soldier of Blazing Sun City]
[Prompt: In 2 hours, this corpse will turn into fog and be respawn in the future]
[Loot Drop Rate: 2 units of Black Iron-Tier Mist Core, 20 units of Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade (Basic Material)]
"Too poor," seeing the loots on the floor, Zhou Zhou couldn't help but sigh.
"I guess this is what you get from a being summoned from a dropped book."
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.
And in that time, Bai Yung, Man Nao and Hui Teng had killed 18 Desert Fog Lizards in 2 hours and had successfully cleaned up all the fog monsters within 100m of the protective barrier.
The territory was temporarily safe!
There were a total of 12 Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade, 5 Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade and 1 Elite Black Iron-Tier Advance Grade Desert Fog Lizards killed.
With the 3 soldiers majorly hoarding the entire Promotion Energy, they all raised the amount of Promotion Energy in their body, with Bai Yung and Hui Teng having 90 Promotion Energy and Man Nao having 153 Promotion Energy.
And with that, he became a Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Sword Shield Soldier.
His Promotion Energy was accumulated as Zhou Zhou kept using the newly obtained Sword Shield Soldier Recruitment Books to summon new soldiers one after the other before asking Man Nao to eliminate them.
The result was 6 new sword shield soldiers obtained from the hunt were decapitated, boosting Man Nao's Promotion Energy to 153.
As for Zhou Zhou, his Promotion Energy could only peak at 36 after the entire hunt.
"I can only cope with my loots," he sighed as he counted his drops.
64 units of Black Iron-Tier Mist Core, 540 units of Black Iron-Tier Desert Fog Lizard meat (Elementary, Intermediate and Advance), 37kg of water bag, 18 Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade Class Change Certificate (Gradeless), 5 Black Iron-Tier Intermediate Grade (Sword Shield Soldier Recruitment Book - Used) and 1 Black Iron-Tier Advance Grade (Sword Shield Soldier Recruitment Book - Used).
The final loot was a Black Iron-Tier Advance Grade skill, Sand Stealth!
[Skill Description: Controls the sand under your feet and allows you to quickly burrow into the desert. It can be used to quickly travel, hide, and escape under the desert.]
This skill book was the loot that the Elite Desert Fog Lizard had dropped.
Zhou Zhou slapped the skill book with both hands.
A text notification appeared.
[Do you want to learn the skill, Sand Stealth?]
"Yes," Zhou Zhou said.
The skill book in his hand turned into countless golden lights and fused into his glabella.
Zhou Zhou closed his eyes and re-opened them again after some time.
He looked at the ground under his feet and had a strange feeling that he could control the sand underneath his feet.
"This skill will definitely come in handy in this desert territory," Zhou Zhou was very satisfied with his first skill.
He kept the other loot in his Lord's House.
"I'm here to report, my Lord. We've already cleaned up all the Desert Fog Lizards within 100 meters of the protective barrier. We have yet to find other types of fog monsters," Bai Yung said respectfully, "should we explore further to kill monsters further away?"
...