Absolute Death Game

Previously, Xiao Buli had discovered two instances when scouting the Black Mountain situation, one being the major instance, which was the Black Mountain Stronghold instance. Right after he triggered the campaign quest, it vanished directly.

The other instance, however, was hidden inside the stronghold—a cave instance. At that time, when he tried to enter, he was repelled by an invisible force, likely due to some restriction. But Xiao Buli thought to himself that now he had become the master of the stronghold, and he presumed he wouldn't be barred from entry any longer.

While considering this, he appointed Han Wenhuan as the Leader of Black Mountain Stronghold and let him slowly deal with the stronghold affairs. Then, Xiao Buli headed toward the cave alone.

Locating the cave wasn't difficult as he had been there before. In no time, Xiao Buli arrived at the entrance of the cave, which was part of the Black Mountain cliff. Initially, some bandits guarded the entrance, but now none were to be seen, presumably all having fled.

The light barrier was still present at the entrance, and looking through it, the interior was pitch black, impossible to see the bottom.

Since he only wanted to see if he could enter the instance, Xiao Buli didn't prepare much and barged straight in. Who would have known that after a few steps, he would collide with an invisible air wall.

System prompt: You have been repelled by an invisible force.

What the heck, still can't get in!? Xiao Buli was somewhat puzzled. Could it be unrelated to being the stronghold leader? What conditions were required to enter then?

This was the first time he had encountered an instance that required a key, wondering if a quest was necessary.

However, while he was puzzled, a wave of excitement arose in him. The inability to enter indicated the instance was anything but simple. Moreover, from the individual he had seen previously named Wu Dak (Priest Amara), it was clear that this character was significant — at least when he conversed with Xu Lie, that old man didn't seem the least bit inferior, most likely a major BOSS in his own right.

Generally, monsters like priests would be followed by a deity or something as the final BOSS. So Xiao Buli felt it prudent to be careful and didn't continue to force his entry, instead returning to the Hall of Righteousness.

By the time he arrived back at the Hall of Righteousness, Han Wenhuan was nowhere to be found.

"Old Han, where have you gone?" Xiao Buli turned around and asked.

"Of course, I've gone to persuade those bandits to surrender." Han Wenhuan replied without looking back. He was currently rallying the dispersed Black Mountain Bandits. These humanoid monsters didn't flee far after their escape; they loitered near the stronghold in small groups, aimlessly moving around as if they were NPCs in a domestic game.

After handing over the Bandit King's Cloak to Han Wenhuan, he donned the cloak and stepped out of the stronghold. Naturally, for safety's sake, he took a troop of militia as bodyguards. The Black Mountain Bandits did not attack him on sight, and their names displayed as neutral creatures.

Han Wenhuan approached a bandit who looked quite honest, clicked to initiate dialogue, and immediately a dialogue box with two options appeared.

1. Brother, I'm now the Leader of Black Mountain. Join us, and I assure you, you won't be treated unfairly.

2. You bastard, to see the leader and not kneel! Quickly pledge your loyalty to me, otherwise, I'll take your life.

These two options were like the carrot and the stick, and using both might be effective, but the issue lay in that only one could be chosen.

Han Wenhuan glanced at the bandit's appearance and resolutely chose the second option.

Han Wenhuan: "You bastard, to see the leader and not kneel! Quickly pledge your loyalty to me, otherwise, I'll take your life."

The bandit was so frightened that he immediately knelt, "Don't kill me, I surrender, I surrender!"

System prompt: You have subdued a bandit.

"Haha, it's that simple!" Han Wenhuan suddenly laughed out loud.

He found another. This time the bandit looked very fierce, with a bulky stature and mean face. After hesitating for a moment, Han Wenhuan repeated the process.

Han Wenhuan: "You bastard, to see the leader and not kneel! Quickly pledge your loyalty to me, otherwise, I'll take your life."

Black Mountain Looter: "Kneel your ass, I'll chop you down." After saying that, he charged forward, swinging his machete.

Han Wenhuan was startled, but a group of militia behind him swarmed forward and quickly slashed the bandit to death.

System prompt: Killed a bandit, earning 20 combat experience points.

Along with the experience, a 'Worn Leather Armor' dropped.

"Phew, it seems that past experiences are unreliable; one must judge based on the individual bandit's appearance."

Coming upon a third bandit, still a harsh-looking fellow, Han Wenhuan chose a different approach.

Han Wenhuan: "Brother, I'm now the Leader of Black Mountain. Join us, and I assure you, you won't be treated unfairly."

The bandit nodded, "Alright, I'll join you then. But you've got to keep your word."

System prompt: You have subdued a bandit.

Soon, Han Wenhuan had mastered the knack of it, threatening those who looked honest and bribing those who appeared fierce. After dialogues, the majority of the Black Mountain Bandits chose to surrender. However, a few still chose to resist, and others ignored him. Regardless of their choice, he dealt with them equally—killing them all.

By evening, not a single trace of bandits was left near Black Mountain; they had either been killed or had surrendered to him.

What depressed Han Wenhuan was that all the surrendered Black Mountain Bandits had become the lowest ranking Black Mountain Lackeys, roughly over a hundred people. Together with the remnants of the Thousand Pines Town militia, there were a total of one hundred and fifty people available to be trained as combat troops. Han Wenhuan intended to train all of them.

The fighting strength of the Thousand Pines Town militia was very weak, only slightly stronger than the Black Mountain Lackeys, and also unable to upgrade, so he simply reorganized them all into Black Mountain Lackeys.

Reorganizing the militia or desperately converting them into Black Mountain Lackeys did not cost anything, but to train the Black Mountain Lackeys into higher-level soldiers required equipment resources.

The expenses required to train different types of troops varied, and there were two different methods of upgrading: one was providing equipment, the other was making direct payments with money.

The following are the costs required for upgrading Black Mountain Lackeys:

Training a Black Mountain Raider requires a wooden shield ×1, javelins ×6, a dagger ×1, Leather Armor ×1 (set).

Or direct payment of 150 silver coins.

Training a Black Mountain Looter requires a wooden shield ×1, a single-edged sword ×1, Leather Armor ×1 (set).

Or direct payment of 120 silver coins.
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Training a Black Mountain Archer requires a bow ×1, arrows ×30, a small dagger ×1, Leather Armor ×1 (set).

Or direct payment of 170 silver coins.

Training a Black Mountain Lancer requires a long spear ×1, a dagger ×1, Leather Armor ×1 (set), a horse ×1.

Or direct payment of 300 silver coins.

The bandits trained by spending money or by equipping gear were different; those trained with money all came out with uniform gear, of course at the lowest grade of weapons and equipment. If a lord chose to upgrade their troops by providing equipment, then the bandits after upgrading would directly acquire the corresponding equipment.

In other words, if one was willing, even gearing a bandit with a set of gold or silver grade equipment was possible, and the bandit thus armed would at least be of an Elite Level.

However, for these ordinary soldiers who were used as expendable goods, naturally they wouldn't be given too good of equipment. Not to mention Divine Artifacts, Han Wenhuan wouldn't even part with the light blue equipment, as he still had a large number of white-grade equipment on him.

But Xiao Buli also did not plan to use silver coins for upgrading. Although he still had some Gold Coins, there wasn't enough to arm so many bandits, and the strength of the bandits equipped with money would obviously not be very strong. Therefore, for the time being, he clearly needed several people with Life Skills to provide a large amount of basic white equipment.

As the saying goes, one shouldn't let the water flow into others' fields. Such matters should naturally be done by one's own people. Currently, Gu Shaobang had already learned Alchemy, Li Shuren had learned Mechanical Techniques, and Xiao Buli himself had learned to make Magical Treasures. Those who hadn't chosen a main Professional Skill yet were only Han Wenhuan and Xiao Ge.

After discussing it together, Han Wenhuan said, "Since I am going to follow the path of a military commander, then I will learn Forging. It will allow me to craft weapons and equipment for myself and also for the soldiers."

The only option left for Xiao Ge was to learn leatherworking. Since most of the bandits' equipment was primarily Leather Armor, the use of leatherworking was extremely significant.

Xiao Buli left only ten Gold Coins in his bag, giving the rest to Han Wenhuan.

"There's no time to delay. For the next while, go all out in collecting materials. Those Solo Players will probably stay here for some time, just collect from them."

The situation was indeed as he said. Those Solo Players usually struggle to kill monsters and gather materials, but now they finally had access to a fully opened map. How could they miss such an opportunity?

Han Wenhuan naturally agreed readily. "Then what about you? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to sell some things, then buy some things."

What Xiao Buli wanted to sell were the fragments of the Black Dragon King Flag. There was no chance of getting the fragment in Zhang Haojie's hands, and since that was the case, they were useless to him. It would be better to sell them for some Gold Coins.

One could imagine Zhang Haojie would be willing to pay a high price to collect enough King's Banner fragments to complete his quest. Xiao Buli could take the opportunity to earn a good sum, and he also knew that a certain BOSS was likely to drop fragments of the Black Dragon King Flag—the ghostly BOSS, Soul of Meng Zhao, which they had encountered in the ancient battlefield.

As for what he wanted to buy, it was the Skill Book "Spirit Reincarnation". The last time Han Wenhuan had nearly perished, and although he didn't say anything, he was frightened enough inside. If someone actually died, he didn't know how he would face the others. Even if the person who died could face it calmly, how would he himself get over it?

So, this time he decided to buy several copies of Spirit Reincarnation. Since the drop rate of the Spirit Reincarnation skill book seemed to be quite high, even the minor BOSS in the novice area dropped it. One could surely get it from the auction house.

As long as one learned Spirit Reincarnation, they wouldn't immediately lose their life upon death, and if they had enough Merit Points, they could even revive. Hence, he decided to make a trip to Nine Dragons City.

Xiao Buli mentioned this to He Suoju and Du Yibo, and they were planning to stay for a while longer and not leave yet. Just as Xiao Buli was about to leave, Han Wenhuan said, "Boss, there's a prisoner in Black Mountain Prison. Do you want to take a look?"

"A prisoner?" Xiao Buli did remember something like that.

Han Wenhuan said, "Yeah, it's a rare elite. Maybe there's a quest, or even if there's no quest, we could kill it for the loot."

In the game, the distinction between NPCs and monsters was often blurry. In theory, anything hostile was a monster, but in practice, what might be an NPC for some players could be a monster for others, and vice versa. Additionally, as long as conditions allowed, NPCs could also be killed for loot.

Xiao Buli shook his head. "Forget it. It's just a rare elite; it probably won't have any important quests. You all can take a look, and if it's not worthwhile, just kill it for the equipment. Oh right, what's the name of this rare elite?"

"Seems like his name is Li Baocheng."

Xiao Buli uttered an acknowledgment and was about to set off when he suddenly stopped. "Wait a minute, what did you say his name was?"

Han Wenhuan repeated, "Li Baocheng. What's wrong?"(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)