9

"Warrior." Cheng Yang announced.

Old Lee grinned, "Good, I'd hoped to become a Warrior."

Old Lee went over to the statues just like the others had. A few seconds later he was holding a sword and shield identical to Liu Hau.

Lee Shanwan

Phoenix Village Soldier

Class: Warrior

Level: Low Grade Apprentice (0%)

Age

39

Life Span

110

HP

52

MP

10

Physical Attack

4

Magic Attack

1

Physical Defense

2

Magic Defense

1

Attack Speed

1

Movement Speed

2

Innate Abilities

Receive 30% more stats in the HP attribute when you level up

When you're a territory official, it may have 30% more soldiers

Movement speed is increased by 100%

Skills

Meditation (Low Grade): Meditate to absorb experience fragments and level up

Lacerate (Low Grade): Add magic to your blade making it easier to cut through enemies | Damage: 5 | Cost: 2 MP | Cast Time: 3 sec | Proficiency: 0%

Equipment

Iron Sword: Status symbol of the warrior | Damage: 4

Wooden Shield: A wooden shield | Can block physical attacks

Another S-Rank Innate Ability! And this time one of Old Lee's Innate Abilities involved territory management. It was similar to a Lord Innate Ability except that one didn't need to be a Lord to have its effect activate, you only needed to be assigned to the territory manager position.

Old Lee would certainly be a huge benefit to the village. Although there weren't enough people to fill each statue's quota right now Cheng Yang would be able to attract the more personnel soon.

Old Lee didn't have nearly the same reaction to seeing his innate ability. After all so far that seemed to be the standard since Cheng Yang's friends were also at that standard.

Cheng Yang decided not to tell them since it would be beneficial to their growth if they thought they were ordinary.

Although he wasn't needed anymore Cheng Yang headed up to the wall. The faster monsters were killed, the faster the territory would gain Experience Fragments and the bigger the advantage he gained would be.

In order to make the process more efficient after transferring his friends and Old Lee Cheng Yang focused on only letting those with a talent for the Ranger and Mage classes perform class change ceremonies. As for those who were tested to have a talent for the Warrior or Summoner classes, they would have to wait.

When the last person finished their class change ceremony, Cheng Yang was able to verify his theory. Aside from the unlucky cab driver who was a B-Rank every other person was able to gain an A-Rank Innate Ability. Although there weren't any more S-Rank Innate Abilities, that kind of talent was just too rare and getting four was already very lucky.

As long as none of these people left Cheng Yang for someone else he would have a very powerful original team. In that regard Cheng Yang was confident they would stay. Just wait till they really experience the cruelty of the apocalypse, then they will appreciate the advantages being in a village gave.

The only thing that disappointed Cheng Yang was that not a single other person had a rare attribute increased by their innate ability.

In total the process had only taken half an hour. The main reason for this was that the new Professionals wouldn't have to wait before entering the battle fully rested. If Cheng Yang hadn't needed to rescue Lau Hui perhaps every person here would have had S-Rank talent. Even so, Cheng Yang didn't regret saving his friend in the slightest.

In total Phoenix Village had nine Warriors, five Mages, six Rangers and four Summoners.

After the final class change ceremony was complete Cheng Yang started to give a speech. "Now that everyone has gained the power necessary to defend themselves its time to start training so that you can effectively do so. For the next few hours I am going to open up all of the gates and allow the monsters outside to get into the village. When I do you must defend yourself however necessary. After this is completed I will give everyone another task."

Cheng Yang then turned to Old Lee, "Phoenix village has four gates and we will create four groups. One to defend each gate. Old Lee pick another Warrior and a magician then help me defend the south gate. The leaders at the other gates will be Liu Hau, Lau Hui and Yu Kai. Have at least one members of each class and be in groups of seven or six. Remember, this may seem like a game but it's not. If you die there's no chance of resurrection."

Finally he turned to Pang Sun. "Stay in the center near the statues and call for help if a monster breaks through."

Old Lee had an uncomfortable look on his face. His experience as a businessman told him that Cheng Yang was trying to weaken his influence. Obviously Cheng Yang didn't trust him and had separated him from most of his employees in order to control them better. Although those men hadn't pledged loyalty to Old Lee, his words could influence them as their relationship was deep as they were the people he relied on for his timber business.

Even though he had realized this Old Lee didn't care. He didn't want power. All he wanted was to survive and then return to Cloud City to save his family. Obviously, Cheng Yang would provide him an opportunity to do just that so how could he dissent?

Old Lee also wasn't wrong. Chang Yang had indeed arranged the teams with that goal in mind. Cheng Yang used the knowledge from his previous life to control and influence these people. This control was based on fear of the unknown. Once they got comfortable Old Lee might try to talk them into causing an incident if he didn't bring them over to his side first.

Of course Cheng Yang could force them to obey using his control over Phoenix Village but he didn't want to have to do so. Instead he would divide and conquer, building an image of authority in their minds. After they recognize his authority he could reveal his ability to strip them of their power without them rebelling.

As for why Cheng Yang put Old Lee in a group with him? It was to intimidate Old Lee with a display of power.

After arranging the groups Cheng Yang told his friends the best tactics to use when hunting the monsters found around the village.

These techniques were only found after hundreds of deaths in Cheng Yang's first life, so the knowledge was very precious. The people in Cloud City would learn these techniques in the next month using their blood as payment. Those in Phoenix Village were lucky indeed to know them already.

After informing them of these techniques Cheng Yang sent them to their positions and opened the gates.

The walls were made of strong logs and with 6.5 points of defense Cheng Yang could feel secure in the fact that the walls wouldn't be breached.

Ten minutes after they started there was a bright flash of light outside the south gate and a strange-looking monster appeared. It stood upright and looked similar to an ape except that its head was one big mouth and it was covered in green feathers. It was only a meter tall but not a single person dared underestimate it since unlike other monsters it was holding onto a sharp-looking pitchfork.

"Everyone observe, it's a Low Grade monster with thirty health, I'll handle this first one." Cheng Yang lectured Old Lee and the other two. "Hey, I'm your opponent!" Cheng Yang ran at towards the monster in an instant.

Old Lee had just seen Cheng Yang and the others kill dozens of monsters while they were on the walls. Then he had seen Cheng Yang and the other ranged classes kill dozens of monsters from the walls. Until now he had never been face to face with a monster and seeing one he was quite scared.

Two seconds after it appeared the monster charged towards Cheng Yang.

When the monster entered within thirty meters Cheng Yang raised his staff. By the time the distance had been closed a Magic Missile had shot towards the ape.

*Boom* The monster's chest was blown open scattering blue blood and green feathers everywhere. The monster let out a shrill howl that sounded like a baby crying and charged towards Cheng Yang who had taken the opportunity to put some distance between them.

This process repeated once more as the monster helplessly tried to chase Cheng Yang around.

When the third magic missile hit the monster it collapsed to the ground.

At the same time a weak and indistinct light escaped its body and rapidly integrated with Cheng Yang's.

"Wow…" Old Lee breathed. Although he had been scared before, watching the monster fall to the ground after three well placed shots the tension in his heart was completely erased.

Old Lee did some quick math in his head. If what Cheng Yang said was true then killing the monster in three attacks meant his damage was at least ten. This was considerably more than the four he had as a Low Grade Apprentice Warrior.

Old Lee knew that a Low Grade Apprentice Warrior only did five damage from some of the others which meant that Cheng Yang was at least a level higher than him!

Knowing this Old Lee didn't feel jealous but instead relieved. After all Cheng Yang was his ally. The stronger Cheng Yang was, the safer he was.