Chapter 23: Before the Decisive Battle
Accordingly, the days of everyone passed normally.
Soon, several days passed.
Speaking about it, after having Pei Yuanqing, Shi Hao who was a stupid fighter in the eyes of Wu Batian, it could be said that he was like a stranded fish put back into the water. Heh heh! Pei Yuanqing led a group and began to sweep through level 1 areas. His efficiency was far higher than Li Yi. Just like there was a difference in combat power between level 1 Pei Yuanqing and level 1 Li Yi, there was also a difference in the combat power of different level 1 areas. The higher the combat power, the drop-rate of good things was higher. As a matter of fact, the number of skill books in Twin Dragons Village had doubled.
However, Shi Hao didn’t give these skill books to the people in his village, rather they were used as a chip equivalent to copper coins during the trade of goods and materials with Zhang Yang. This time, Zhang Yang was very happy. Tranquil Water Village had no shortage of money, but they lacked skill books. Zhang Yang felt that Shi Hao was truly a ‘good brother’ because Shi Hao had given him these treasures. Merely, Zhang Yang didn’t know that all these treasures were obtained by the team lead by Pei Yuanqing who originally was Tranquil Water Village’s resident. In fact, Zhang Yang didn’t even remember Pei Yuanqing’s name. After all, the population of Tranquil Water Village was big, and Pei Yuanqing had been away for so long. How could Zhang Yang remember him unless Shi Hao was stupid enough to take the initiative to remind him.
Therefore, with a lot of goods and materials provided by Tranquil Water Village, there were no hiccups in the development of Twin Dragons Village in these past several days! Strictly speaking, the development speed was very fast. It was like sitting on a rocket. Shi Hao sat in Twin Dragons Village’s Council Hall and opened the information interface of Twin Dragons Village.
[Name: Twin Dragon Village]
[Village Chief: Shake the Heaven]
[Tax: 5% (affects financial revenue)]
[Population Support: 85+1 (affects residents’ working efficiency)]
[Public Security: 85 (affects residents’ security)]
[Reputation: 105+1 (affects the attraction of NPC)]
[Village Level: 1]
[Current Residents: 245/300 (three level 1 housing can accommodate 300 people)]
[Current Resources: 500 food, 200 water, 10,000 copper coins, 400 iron ores, 600 material stones, 600 lumber, 200 gold]
[Current Armament: Level 1 Iron Bow (1)*0, Level 1 Iron Sword (1)*0, Level 1 Iron Armor (1)*0, Level 1 Iron Arrow*0, Level 1 Blue Cloak*0, Level 1 Iron Shield *0 (the number 1 inside brackets represent the enchantment of the items, the attributes are increased by 1 point; these items are being equipped by soldiers)]
[Village Area: 1 square kilometer]
[Territory Area: 100 square kilometers]
[Current Buildings: Level 1 Stargazing Platform (Durability: 5,000), Level 1 Council Hall (Durability: 10,000), Level 1 Warehouse (Durability: 5,000), Level 1 Tailor Store (Durability: 5,000), Level 1 Smithy (Durability: 5,000), Level 1 General Store (Durability: 5,000), Level 1 Housing*3 (Durability: 100)]
[Constructible Buildings: Lumber Workshop, Hospital, Military Camp, School, Dock, Market, Pub, Teahouse]
[Resources Required for Upgrade: 10,000 copper coins, 1,000 iron ores, 1000 material stones, 1000 lumber, 1000 gold]
Twin Dragons Village had three major item making facilities: Tailor Store (defense items), Smithy (weapons), and General Store (assist items). The gears for the troops were complete. Moreover, the number of troops had also expanded significantly. Twin Dragons Village already had 50 level 5 fighters, all equipped with level 1 iron sword (1), level 1 iron armor (1), and level 1 iron shield; 15 level 5 knights, all equipped with level 1 iron sword (1), level 1 iron armor (1), and level 1 blue cloak; and 15 level 5 archers, all equipped with level 1 iron bow (1), level 1 iron armor (1), and level 1 iron arrow.
All soldiers had reached level 5 in order to welcome Tranquil Water Village’s competition. According to the competition rules, the soldiers’ level was limited to level 5, and both Pei Yuanqing and Li Yi could take part as captain as the only restriction for a captain was level 10. Therefore, Pei Yuanqing and Li Yi couldn’t level up. However, the leveling speed of Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao skyrocketed. Since the other people couldn’t level up, the experience was shared just between Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao. As a result, in an extremely short period of several days, Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao had reached level 10. One should know that Wu Batian who had spent a lot of money to hire people to increase his level had also just reached level 9. As for the ordinary players, they had barely reached level 8, which was also not easy. The higher the character level, the more difficult to level up. This was a unified feature of all online games.
Unfortunately, the days of raising levels at lightning speed had to be stopped temporarily because the agreed date of competition by Zhang Yang and Wang Ling was tomorrow. In the early morning, Shi Hao, Feng Tianhao, Pei Yuanqing, Li Yi along with 20 fighters, 5 knights and 5 archers of Twin Dragons Village set out to Tranquil Water Village. All of them turned off the option to display their names. After all, it was not a good thing to always let other people see your things. Shi Hao decided that everyone from his side should hide their names from here onwards.
Shi Hao’s team didn’t arrive at the entrance of Tranquil Water Village until late in the afternoon.
“Village Chief Shi, this Zhang thanks you.” Zhang Yang who was already waiting at the entrance of Tranquil Water Village immediately stepped forward to greet. Upon seeing Shi Hao had brought along Li Yi, Zhang Yang felt relieved. As for the new face, that handsome young man, Zhang Yang didn’t care. Although Pei Yuanqing’s strength was extraordinary, he, after all, had never been active in the wider world, and his appearance was also too fair and clear. In addition, Pei Yuanqing hadn’t equipped any items. He had stored his Silver Dragon Armor in his inventory. He was just wearing a white dress. Therefore, it was very easy to misunderstand that he was a strategist. If a strategist was sent as the captain, then wasn’t that just courting death?
“I wonder what specific arrangements Village Chief Zhang has made for tomorrow.” After entering the Council Hall, Shi Hao said: “Now, I have brought all my troops. There are 30 soldiers in total, and 2 people can be the captain.”
Zhang Yang smiled and said: “Mmm! That’s enough. Our Tranquil Water Village will supply the remaining 70 soldiers. As for the captain, it’ll be Li Yi.”
“Okay!” Shi Hao didn’t object. In fact, Shi Hao knew that the safest plan was to let Pei Yuanqing be the captain. However, Pei Yuanqing was too strong, and no matter what was said, Zhang Yang was Pei Yuanqing’s original Village Chief. Although it was very unlikely that Zhang Yang would recognize Pei Yuanqing, Shi Hao didn’t want to take a chance. Shi Hao had brought Pei Yuanqing only as the final insurance.
After the matter was discussed, Shi Hao, Feng Tianhao and Zhang Yang brought everyone to celebrate. In their eyes, tomorrow’s victory was in the bag.
Unfortunately, the next morning, outside Tranquil Water Village, hoofbeats resounded!
“F***! Cavalry…” Shi Hao was dumbfounded. Neatly arranged 30 cavalrymen (knights equipped with war-horse and spear) arrived at the main entrance of Tranquil Water Village, giving rise to smoke and dust. Their momentum was too frightening. The cavalry, however, was not a simple existence, at least in the beginning stage of the game.
In fact, any profession could ride a horse. The mount was just another piece of equipment. Mounts belong to assist items. However, it was not easy to obtain mounts. Even the lowest grade, standard grade war-horse was not something Shi Hao could obtain at present. It was because of the raw materials needed to make the said item! The raw materials were needed to make any items. For instance, the main raw material needed to make iron sword, iron arrow and iron armor was iron ore. And the main resource needed to make war-horse was naturally wild horses. The stable refresh points of wild horses were very few. Therefore, the war-horses were very rare. And the power of rare things was not lacking. The bluff of these war-horses was, +3 agility, and +3 melee attacks. Don’t underestimate this bluff! +3 melee attack bluff was already very high, and there was also the bluff of +3 agility. The war-horses were knights’ favorite mounts. Only after a knight had a war-horse, they would be regarded as a real knight!
As a knight, Feng Tianhao covetously looked at these war-horses, and said: “I fear the combat power of these cavalrymen is not low. How good it would be if our Twin Dragons Village had such troops! The cavalrymen’s spear is a weapon that dominates the battlefield!”
Feng Tianhao was right. The speed of cavalry was very fast. They were also very powerful and skilled in attacking. Moreover, archers could also ride a horse to become bow cavalry. The agility of bow cavalry was also very good. Merely, the bow cavalry had no attack bluff because the attack bluff of a war-horse was for melee attacks. Naturally, fighters could also equip a war-horse, but it was super non-mainstream. Mostly, only fighters with special skills would do this. Thinking about it carefully, what would happen if ordinary fighters equipped war-horses? Increase speed? Increase attack? Generally, these two stats were the weak points of fighters. Even after they were increased, they wouldn’t turn into strong points, so there was no use. Like knights have a favorite war-horse, fighters also had a favorite shield. There was no need to mess around. Perhaps, only stupid fighter Shi Hao would use a war-horse. Haha! After all, it couldn’t be justified if a chief didn’t ride a horse.
“Since I have seen it, wouldn’t it be better to capture these war-horses! In the future, our Twin Dragons Village is going to form our own cavalry regiment.” Shi Hao’s eyes shone as if he had thoughts about these war-horses. At this moment, Shi Hao wanted to dig a pit and make a bet with Wang Ling to take all those war-horses.
Upon hearing the hoofbeats, Zhang Yang came to the village gate in disbelief, and seeing this cavalry unit, Zhang Yang became lifeless. This was how a normal person react when coming across a hopeless situation. Zhang Yang was like this, which explained that he was a very normal person with an ordinary temperament. Naturally, someone might ask, wasn’t it just 30 cavalrymen? Even if they were powerful, it wouldn’t affect the result. Li Yi would participate as the captain, there was no need to fear. Yes, Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao weren’t afraid, they were just shocked to see those 30 people with a war-horse.
In fact, just 30 level 5 knights equipped with war-horses weren’t enough to scare Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang never had hope for the soldier’s group battle. However, there was a hidden person behind this cavalry unit. Although this person hadn’t appeared yet, Zhang Yang was very clear! Since that person’s subordinates had already arrived, he would definitely come. His name was Pan Feng! Yes, that Pan Feng of the Three Kingdoms period! Everyone should be familiar with Pan Feng’s name. After all, there once was a saying, “I have General Pan Feng, can slay Hua Xiong!”. But General Pan Feng was instantly killed by Hua Xiong. This kind of affair was truly domineering. However, in the >, although Pang Feng had no brains, his combat power was pretty good. According to the system setting, Pan Feng was a B grade historical NPC, his profession was knight and his special skill was named General Pan Feng.
[Skill Name: General Pan Feng]
[Skill Grade: historical NPC’s skill, no grade classification]
[Skill Type: Active, 15 MP]
[Weapon Restriction: Melee]
[Current Rank and Mastery: Level 1, 6/100]
[Skill Effect: Increase one’s attack by 12 points and agility by 1 point; lasts 10 minutes]
Zhang Yang noticed that Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao seemed to be paying attention to those war-horses, and he recalled that Shi Hao and Feng Tianhao didn’t know the existence of Pan Feng. Therefore, Zhang Yang briefly explained. Then, he hesitated a bit and added: “Village Chief Shi, since this is the case, this Zhang will be so bold as to ask a question. Do you still have any confidence…”