Chapter 287: The Conqueror |
After Yang Long left, Qin Ziwu, having received treatment from Qian Muzhen, returned to the urban village.
"Brother, I'm ready to break through to Superhuman," Qin Ziwu said solemnly.
Qin Ziwen looked at the freshly scabbed wound on his face. "Are you sure you're prepared?"
Qin Ziwu's eyes were bright as he clenched his fist. "I am."
Qin Ziwen took out a Limit Breakthrough Card and handed it to Qin Ziwu. "Consider carefully, act within your means, and choose your difficulty wisely."
"Alright."
Taking the card, Qin Ziwu crushed and used it without hesitation.
Amidst the shattering dark golden light, Qin Ziwu closed his eyes.
A long time later, he opened them.
Qin Ziwu's expression turned strange. "Brother, I have a feeling these Superhuman breakthrough tasks are probably related to our current environment, maybe even to my daily actions."
"Oh? What are your tasks?"
Qin Ziwu listed them one by one.
[Tier 1: Hunter]
[Task Requirement: Within seven days, personally and face-to-face, slay ten male humans or humanoid lifeforms whose weight is not less than your own.]
[Tier 2: Conqueror]
[Task Requirement: Within the next seven days, lead any number of intelligent life units (number must not be less than one hundred) to defeat enemies ten times your own number.]
[Tier 3: Deep Sea Ink Dream]
[Task Requirement: Within ten days, personally hunt and kill one healthy marine creature whose weight is not less than one thousand times your own.]
After hearing the description, Qin Ziwen felt there did seem to be some correlation.
He was the leader of the Qin Alliance, so his three difficulty advancement paths were Commander, Leader, and Beast Tamer.
His younger brother usually followed the Hunting Team on missions and sometimes even led teams out hunting.
So his advancement paths were Hunter, Conqueror, and Deep Sea Nightmare.
"Tier One is the simplest. Completing it would be a sure thing for you."
"Tier One is the baseline difficulty, for those who aren't confident about the later tasks," Qin Ziwu said, unwilling to settle for the easiest option.
Otherwise, what was the point of him delaying for so long and honing his skills at the arrow corridor and Training Ground?
"So you want to choose Tier Three?" Qin Ziwen teased.
"Tier Two!" Qin Ziwu said helplessly. "My dear brother, you think too highly of me. One thousand times, what does that even mean? I weigh one hundred and seventy jin now, so I'd need to hunt a monster weighing no less than eighty-five tons. That's asking for my life!"
What was the concept of eighty-five tons?
Doing a rough conversion, it was probably on the level of marine behemoths like Mosasaurs or Ichthyosaurs.
And their weight might even fall short.
If he had the strength to single-handedly hunt such a thing, why would he be besieging the Red Cauldron Tower? Just give him a blade, and he could go carve his way straight through the Red Cauldron Tower himself.
"If it's a Tier Two task, you'll have to wait. The opportunity might come soon," Qin Ziwen mused. Currently, the Blood Script gang or the fish-men were both suitable targets.
The Blood Script was already on the brink of collapse. It wouldn't be long before an opportunity arose.
"For now, take some men and guard this area. Don't let anyone inside come out. If they try to come out all at once, that's your chance to gather our elites and crush them head-on to complete your task," Qin Ziwen instructed Qin Ziwu. "Other than that, don't do anything reckless."
He was afraid his brother's blood would run hot, that he'd suddenly want to prove himself and lead the elites charging in.
"I know, big brother. I'll learn from your steady and prudent spirit," Qin Ziwu assured him, patting his chest.
"Good!"
Qin Ziwen then called over the three Yan brothers and told them to keep a close watch.
Afterwards, Qin Ziwen returned to Home via the Anchor Point.
Inside the vast Home, the Yanwu Military Arsenal was bustling with activity.
Apart from the elite troops stationed on the opposite island, almost all the remaining able-bodied adults were here, operating at full capacity.
Mining, smelting, forging.
Thick trees were continuously transported from the other island, processed into timber of various sizes, and then crafted into Crossbow Carriages, Catapults, scaling ladders...
Upon hearing the news of his Master's return, Jia Liangcai hurried over immediately.
"Master, recently many people from the Alliance have privately joined us. We've already recruited over two hundred more Peripheral Members."
"Hmm, have they been vetted?" Qin Ziwen asked.
"They have. They're all from decent families. Now, dozens come to join us almost every day."
"What's the reaction from the Alliance?"
Jia Liangcai said, "No reaction. They're probably tacitly allowing it."
"Good. Vet them thoroughly. Have people conduct multi-faceted cross-referencing background checks. We may be recruiting, but we don't accept just anyone. The difficulty of joining shouldn't be too lax, but once they're in, treat them equally."
"Understood."
"You go attend to your duties. Have Old Wei come over."
Watching Jia Liangcai's retreating figure, Qin Ziwen wasn't very surprised that people from the Alliance wanted to join the Qin Alliance.
After all, people naturally gravitate towards better things. And since everyone was in the same residential complex, the changes in the Qin Alliance's living conditions were seen clearly, up close, by the Alliance members.
Probably before this map ends, there will only be one voice left in the residential complex.
After more than ten minutes, Wei Zhaohua came running over.
"Guild Leader, were you looking for me?"
"How are the Fields now?"
Wei Zhaohua said, "All the vegetables have been harvested. What's planted now is the second batch."
At this point, Wei Zhaohua hesitated slightly. "But the Field yield is somewhat insufficient, Guild Leader. I suggest the next step could be to increase the number of Fields."
"That's fine," Qin Ziwen nodded.
Wei Zhaohua hadn't expected the Guild Leader to agree so readily, rendering his prepared speech useless.
Seeing the micro-expression on Wei Zhaohua's face, Qin Ziwen smiled. "You are the head of our Qin Alliance's Agriculture Department. You can decide on such matters. Besides, continuing to upgrade this Field's level now isn't very cost-effective."
The Field level in Home had already been raised to Level 5.
To upgrade it further would require a full sixteen Level 1 Field Cards.
"And those two plants, how are they doing now?"
Wei Zhaohua knew the Guild Leader was referring to those two Transcendent Plants.
He immediately perked up. These were also the two things he had been focusing his research on recently.
"Guild Leader, I tried transplanting and propagating them, but it failed. Ordinary propagation methods don't work on these special plants. However, I've roughly calculated their maturation cycles. The Sky-Touching Fruit tree probably needs about 20 days to mature. The Deep Sea Oxygen likely only needs 10 days to mature."
"Ten days, one thousand pieces?"
"Ten days, one thousand pieces," Wei Zhaohua gave the definitive answer.
Qin Ziwen sighed. "Still too few. Not enough."
At first, he thought one thousand pieces would be sufficient, but now he realized one thousand was still somewhat lacking.
Because during wartime, a quantity of one thousand is simply not enough.
If a hundred people go underwater, distributed evenly, each person would only get ten pieces. That's only enough for a hundred people to stay underwater for ten hours.
"Guild Leader, I..." Wei Zhaohua was troubled. He had tried taking a small cutting from the Deep Sea Oxygen and planting it nearby, but it had failed.