9 Scaredy-cat

Zhang Yang rested for a whole hour, during which he took out dozens of wolf and bear demon meat. He set them on the campfire and roasted them to medium-rare, giving all the soldiers a full meal.

At that moment, he wanted to recruit a chef, but eventually gave up on the idea. He decided not to use his precious nine recruitment quota and saved it for emergency usage.

The good thing was that the medium-rare barbecue didn't affect the freshness of the demon meat. The meat tasted delicious, but unlike what was commonly seen in a fantasy world, none of them transformed or gained extra powers after consumption.

I sure hope I've entered a false fantasy world!

Zhang Yang chuckled and ridiculed himself. He had adjusted his mentality and of course, it might be the effect of the B- soul that caused his resistance to stress to become incomparably strong.

After the feast, Zhang Yang set off. He brought along Wu Yuan, three elite bowmen, five shield soldiers, and five spearmen—a total of 15 men as a party. The rest of the soldiers stayed in this temporary base. There was only one way in and out. As long as the entrance was blocked by stones and tree trunks, they could hold on for quite a while even if demons were to attack.

Zhang Yang continued his earlier routine by alternating between the Level 1 Concealment and Level 1 Vision. He located the positions of demons and sneaked his way around to ambush and annihilate them. The results were surprisingly good.

After all, Zhang Yang had a captain spearman with him as an ace; Wu Yuan's combat power was really amazing.

Within the span of two hours, they had taken out four bison demons (level 3), two boar demons (level 2), a black panther demon (level 4), and another green wolf demon (level 1).

It was as if Zhang Yang's good luck had finally arrived. All the demons they encountered were less threatening. Of course, that could be because the most powerful demons in the area were the two spider lords from before.

He used the harvest of the eight small demons to exchange four elite spearmen and four shield soldiers. At that moment, the force under Zhang Yang had grown to an unprecedented level.

One captain and 11 elites. If one were to include the imprisonment spell that Zhang Yang mastered, this party seemed really strong indeed.

"It's almost time to go back."

Zhang Yang was in a good mood, but didn't get carried away by the increase in combat power. Upon seeing that the sky would turn dark in another two to three hours, and there were no more yellow or red dots in the Level 1 Vision, he decided to end the hunt and fortify that temporary underground camp before the sun set.

They didn't face any ambush along the way back. But when they almost reached the underground camp, Zhang Yang was a little puzzled as he looked at the trees. If he remembered correctly, before he encountered the spider lord in the morning, at least one-third of the trees were twisted and hideous and the weeds had also almost withered.

He wondered if it was an illusion because in just half a day, the trees and weeds seemed to have flourished a lot.

They are booming with life. This primeval forest sure is fickle.

Zhang Yang didn't take it to heart. After all, they were just some trees and plants.

"Chop down some trees and seal up the entrance. The forest is dangerous at night. Prepare more bonfires and when those demons appear, we will kill them all!"

Zhang Yang loudly gave orders and made all the soldiers fortify the underground camp as much as possible.

Thereafter, he activated the Level 1 Vision every half an hour. He wasn't going to let down his guard. Moreover, he had enough energy now. After deducting the cost of training elite soldiers, he still had 850 points of energy at the moment.

Two hours later, the sun set. The forest darkened and became incomparably quiet. Zhang Yang jumped out of the deep pit for the last time, activating the Level 1 Vision.

Amazing. There's nothing, as if all the demons are hiding.

This time, Zhang Yang felt a little odd because according to normal biological laws, after nightfall, there should be some active animals. But now, there wasn't a single buzz from the bugs. The whole forest seemed dead.

"Village Chief, the forest seems to be fogged up. I feel that there are some unsuspecting demons watching us."

Wu Yuan, the captain of the spearman, stood right next to Zhang Yang and said with a grave expression.

As soon as he said that, Zhang Yang's hair stood on end.

"Go back! Block the entrance!"

As Zhang Yang trotted back into the underground camp, he seemed to have heard a creak from afar, but couldn't determine what it was.

"This forest is too sinister. B-Block the entrance."

Even after soldiers moved several huge stones and tree trunks to block the entrance in several layers, Zhang Yang still didn't feel at ease. He felt like he had turned into a scaredy-cat.

"No, I have to upgrade the Village Building Order," Zhang Yang muttered. He couldn't afford to take things lightly. Right now, he had enough energy and the opportunity to upgrade the Village Building Order, so why wouldn't he?

It's pointless to keep the hole card around, regardless of whether it's worth it or not.

He still had a piece of the Imperfect Village Building Order dropped by killing the spider lord, which had a 55 percent chance of successful upgrade when used alone.

He also had a copy of the Black Spider Nest Civilization Code Drawing, which, together with this item, could raise the chance of a successful upgrade to 65 percent.

He could use his energy points to make up the remaining 35 percent.

100 energy points could increase the success rate by 5 percent, so a total of 700 energy points were needed to improve the success rate to 100 percent. Currently, Zhang Yang had 845 energy points, so what else was there to consider? Upgrade right away!

Buzz.

A strange rhythm vibrated in Zhang Yang's mind and soon after, the two pieces of Village Building Order in his hands floated in the air on their own.

At first glance, one would think that they were two woolen balls with complicated textured lines drawn out of them.

Zhang Yang watched in bewilderment, at the same time hoping to find some clues. But unfortunately, a few seconds later, the textured lines from the two Village Building Orders spread all over his field of vision. The textured lines began to combine and connect on their own. Not to mention whether he could understand the myriad of changes, he couldn't even get a clear view.

The speed of the combination and connection became super fast, from dozens and hundreds of lines per second to tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of lines per second.

Eventually, after ten seconds, all the textured lines disappeared, as if they were an illusion. The Village Building Order in Zhang Yang's hand had been upgraded successfully, albeit him not seeing any changes on it.

Blinking, Zhang Yang opened the attribute panel in his vision.

[Village Building Order (White)

Energy Points: 145

Status: Semi-activated (No placement required to use part of its functions)

Usable Feature: Level 2 Concealment (Able to conceal an area of 20 square meters after activation. Consumes 5 Energy Points per minute. Deactivates when a dangerous target is within 10 meters of range.)

Usable Feature: Level 2 Protection (After activation, forms a defensive energy shield that covers an area of 20 square meters. Consumes 5 Energy Points per minute. When shattered, instantly consumes 10 Energy Points to self-destruct, inflicting a stun effect on all targets within 30 meters.)

Usable Feature: Level 2 Vision (After activation, scan all dangerous targets within a two kilometer diameter and distinguish them by green/safe, yellow/dangerous, red/extremely dangerous, and purple/suicidal. Each activation consumes 20 Energy Points and lasts 10 seconds.)

Usable Function: Recruitment (Available recruitment quota: 9)

Other Function: Please place the Village Building Order and build a village in order to use it.]

In general, Zhang Yang was very satisfied with this upgraded Village Building Order, especially with the Level 2 Concealment and Level 2 Protection. The range of 10 square meters had expanded to 20 square meters, which meant he could protect more ordinary soldiers during battles. After all, he only had a precious recruitment quota of nine left, so each soldier was a most precious property. He could no longer squander them as recklessly as before.

I wonder if I can increase the number of recruitment slots if I place the Village Building Order and build a village?

Zhang Yang was forced to think about that, but on second thought, there was no point to it. Even if he were to place the Village Building Order, he wouldn't choose to build a village in this extremely dangerous forest. Wouldn't that be asking for death?

Thus, his top priority was to upgrade the strength of the soldiers and get out of this damn primitive forest as soon as possible. The moment they stepped outside of the forest, that was when he could start planning for the long term.

After upgrading the Village Building Order, Zhang Yang felt more down-to-earth. He could attack, defend, and retreat when needed. All he had to do was to wait for a demon to find trouble with him!