Chapter 614 - 579: It Turns Out Gold Was Right Under Our Feet
The Flying has returned to the Vine Demon Space once again.
Accompanying her return, Tachiusu couldn’t help but exclaim, "Lord City Lord, you are truly amazing, no, magnificent! To build such a massive city in such a closed environment as the Pool of Radiance, not even the entire Elf Kingdom might be capable of doing that. I feel extremely honored that I will soon become a subordinate of yours."
Hahaha, it really pays off to bring a beauty to visit your home! But this was built by the Dragon Slayer Gang, it’s not all my credit, but greatness is greatness precisely because people are willing to give for me! Yes, that’s my greatness!
Da Fei replied with a faint smile, "It’s just a framework for now, there’s still a long way to go."
Tachiusu said seriously, "My Lumang Clan is willing to offer strategies and efforts for Lord City Lord’s construction endeavor!"
Haha, I love hearing such loyalty, and relying on others for efforts is imperative, as for strategies—alright, I’ll put you to the test!
Then, Da Fei sighed, "Miss Tachiusu, as you’ve seen, Radiant City’s transportation is blocked, and the environment is closed off. The World Tree is dormant and unable to increase the population. Out of necessity, I had to employ a large number of Cave People to fill the city’s population, but this has led to a low cultural rating for the city. Although I have many Flower Demons, I’m trying to train their skills through schools, but firstly, there are no good teachers, and secondly, the maturation rate of Flower Demons is very low, or rather, none have matured so far. Do you have any suggestions?"
Tachiusu furrowed her brows, "Lord City Lord, how many Flower Demon students are there in your school?"
Damn, I have no idea! Isn’t this always managed by the Cultural Consultant who doubles as the principal? Da Fei immediately opened the city panel to check the school’s attributes:
—School: Level 1 school, enrollment capped at 100. Current students: 100. Teachers: 4. Building Durability: 10,000.
Courses offered: Medical Class (63 Flower Demon students, 1 teacher).
Circus Class (37 Fishman students, 3 teachers).
Requirements for upgrading to level 2: Have 1 resident teacher with Master Level professional skills, cultivate 10 students with Advanced professional skills. Level 2 school enrollment cap: 200.
...
So these are the school attributes, my bad! Da Fei then said embarrassedly, "There are 100 students."
Tachiusu let out an "Oh," and said, "I personally believe that a teacher’s energy is limited, and the more students they teach at once, the lower the rate at which students will mature. However, with a large base of students, even with a low maturation rate, the number of talents cultivated can be quite significant, which is why the school model has become mainstream in education. But, to cultivate truly elite talents, it’s better to select a small number of intelligent students and concentrate teaching resources to train them fully. Since Lord City Lord lacks teaching strength, you can change the training method."
Da Fei’s brows twitched, "Intelligent students?"
Tachiusu nodded, "For instance, the Flower Demon Instructors I saw in your city! They are the most intelligent individuals among Flower Demons, and they are the most likely to learn skills. If you focus on teaching them, perhaps you will find a breakthrough. Also, there are a lot of Flower Demon Instructors in your city; I’ve already seen no less than 10, which is a very rare special skill troop type!"
Flower Demon Instructor! Holy moly, that’s a wake-up call! How could I have only 10 Flower Demon Instructors? They were all saved during the last Pool of Radiance battle, in the side quest to rescue the enslaved Flower Demons, and not a single one was lost! It was that quest that laid the foundation for the Flower Demons’ reverence for me!
Da Fei suddenly realized, "I see! Thank you for your guidance, Miss Tachiusu!"
Tachiusu smiled and said, "It’s probably just that Lord City Lord was too busy to think of it. By the way, even though Instructors are smarter than ordinary Flower Demons, it’s still best to focus on one subject, so Lord City Lord needs to assign learning tasks to the Flower Demon Instructors. Moreover, Flower Demons as students should focus solely on studying and should not take part in other battles. Earlier, I noticed there weren’t many Flower Demons in Lord City Lord’s school; I only saw a group of Fishmen cleaning."
Fishmen cleaning? Is my school turning into a mess? Damn! Even the Cultural Consultant who’s a part-time principal is running around the streets! As expected, if the City Lord and Deputy City Lord don’t care, it’s impossible to expect the people below to be proactive, after all, this is my fault!
Da Fei hurriedly said, "Thank you for your guidance, Miss Tachiusu. It’s been very enlightening!"
Tachiusu smiled and said, "Actually, before I became a hero, I was also a Vine Demon Instructor, and the troop types with Instructor Skills are the most likely to grow and evolve."
Da Fei understood once more, so she and Deirdre are actually the same!
It reminds me that in the public beta, mutant troop types with Instructor Skills are considered valuable assets. Once a player is lucky enough to recruit an Instructor in the barracks, it’s a small fortune. This also shows the rarity of Instructor Skills. And during the last Pool of Radiance battle, so many rare special skill mutant troops were present, and I never paid attention! I always thought having many Instructors was just for the convenience of barracks repairs and tasks, and also because they were level 0 Instructor troops, I didn’t take it too seriously!
Now I realize why that mission to save the Flower Demons was an Epic Quest side quest, because the presence of Instructors is an important foundation for future city development!
Holy cow! Finally figuring it out, Da Fei felt the clouds of worry dissipate and his confidence surged!
It’s said that Wang Chongyang, with his unrivaled martial arts, took in hundreds of disciples and ended up teaching seven losers, the Seven Disciples of Quanzhen. The Jiangnan Seven Strange, with their mediocre martial arts, trained a dull Guo Jing, and cultivated a legendary hero. This is the advantage of concentrating teaching resources!
Alright, since there aren’t any good teachers right now, I’ll focus all my efforts, and have the part-time medical class advisor concentrate fully and train a Flower Demon Instructor 1-on-1 first! Once all the Instructors have learned, will there still be a worry about not being able to teach others? Haha, hahaha!
Amidst laughter and chatter, the Flying had docked. At this moment, the Nasir Ancient Tree still stood motionless, silently erect in the water.
There wasn’t much to say, it was time to unload the cargo and have a meal.
In an instant, the Vine Demon Army began their operation of moving bodies again. The deck was crowded with lethargic Demon Children who listlessly disembarked and gathered on the shore. Meanwhile, Tamilia opened the Holy Vine Space Gate, releasing a thousand Demon Children from the space. Looking at the red sea of Demon Children on the shore, Da Fei couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh; after all, they were the Hell Race’s treasured level 1 strategic troops. What a pity that would be in a moment.
Then, Tamilia flew into the Nasir Ancient Tree Castle, and the tree shook with a thunderous vibration as it awoke again: "Fertilizer!"
Tamilia called out, "Lord City Lord, just throw the Demon corpses around the tree!"
Da Fei waved his hand: "Throw them."
Thus, the Vine Demons tossed the carried bodies next to the tree. The parasitic Holy Vine tendrils coiled around the bodies like giant snakes, wrapping them up immediately. Then, the vines began to pulsate, and the wrapped Banshee corpses started to rapidly wither - just like a deflating inflatable doll!
So evil! In that moment, Da Fei felt his stomach churn with extreme discomfort, and his entire being felt unwell! Da Fei couldn’t help but turn his head away, thinking to himself, is playing a game supposed to be this hard?
Now, under the frenzied absorption of 20 parasitic vines, the hundred-odd Banshee corpses in a ship’s hold had shriveled down to nothing but skin and bones. At this time, the 20 vines were blood-red, and the entire Ancient Tree Castle seemed to be tinged with a faint red hue.
It was then that the ancient tree spoke: "Very good! But I need more!"
Da Fei said with annoyance, "There’s plenty, the shore is full of them!"
The ancient tree gravely said, "If you hope for me to lift the curse from your ship, it is better to let me feed on the flesh and blood of High-level Demons. These low-level little Demons are not even valuable enough to be fertilizer."
Da Fei was stunned! Damn it, after I’ve brought them all the way here, you’re still picky with your food?
Da Fei then asked, "Do you have a way to lift the curse?"
The ancient tree laughed heartily: "Actually, I do not have a way to lift the curse, but I do have a means to absorb the curse’s power on your ship onto myself. This curse is more upscale and powerful than the one on me, a power I very much desire to obtain! But the prerequisite is, I must be strong enough, strong enough to absorb this curse’s power!"
Da Fei was shocked, "Didn’t you say you were tormented by a curse? And you dare to absorb more?"
The ancient tree spoke solemnly, "Correct! When you can’t escape torment, then you must confront it, transforming the pain into your own power! Curse Knights among Demons are such beings; they gain endless strength from their suffering, and that is precisely the kind of power I seek!"
Holy crap! So that’s the deal, alright, I’ll satisfy you!
Da Fei then told Lady Tachiusu, "Lady Tachiusu, looks like we have to go out and hunt Demons again, I’ll be needing your assistance."
Lady Tachiusu chuckled, "It is an honour, and as for hunting Demons, I never tire of it."
Anlicia confirmed, "Then what about the small Demons that have been transported here?"
Da Fei shook his head and sighed, "Since we’ve already brought them here, let’s use them as cannon fodder. At least they possess the special skill to steal Magic Power; maybe they can manage to pull something off against the Eight-Headed Snake, right?"
Wait a minute! In that moment, a thought flashed through Da Fei’s mind! Right, have the Demon Children steal the Mana from the Eight-Headed Snake! The biggest value of the Demon Children, as level 1 strategic troops of the Hell Race, lies in their ability to steal the enemy’s Mana Value at regular intervals during a battle, where the amount of Mana Value stolen equals the number of Demon Children divided by 4, meaning 4 Demon Children can steal 1 Mana point. I have five to six thousand Demon Children; with one move, they could steal over 1200 Mana from the Eight-Headed Snake! If this were a player versus player battle, it’s akin to rendering the enemy’s Magic Hero useless right from the start!
Of course, the Eight-Headed Snake has more than a thousand Mana points, but since the cannon fodder is just cannon fodder, they’ll contribute as much as they can! The reason why Demon Children are classified as strategic troops is precisely because they differ fundamentally from common cannon fodder like Skeleton Soldiers; that is, the longer they stay on the battlefield, the more value they can exhibit!
Holy crap, my odds of winning just increased by ten percent! Why didn’t I think of this before? I must have been groggy with sleep, too busy being silly; such awesome troops and I was thinking of wasting them as food! Even high-end Hell Race players might not be able to accumulate such a staggering number of five to six thousand Demon Children, as after all, Demon Children are prime targets for the enemy’s ranged and Magic attacks, suffering heavy consumption.
As for how to deploy five to six thousand Demon Children into battle? Easy, let the newly recruited Underground Mercenary Heroes lead them, joining from the riverbanks on both sides of the Eight-Headed Snake’s space, which under normal circumstances would be the primary battlefield. I trust they have a combined Command Power total of five to six thousand without a problem.
Da Fei then laughed, "Lady Tachiusu, I must trouble you with one more thing; is there some simple, rough food that can sustain these little Demons for a bit?"
Lady Tachiusu chuckled, "No problem, with the exquisite food that Lord City Lord has brought, nobody eats our old fruit and nuts anymore. I’ll immediately send someone to transport food over!"
Da Fei exclaimed with joy, "Great! Hurry up, as long as they can last a day for now!"
Da Fei couldn’t help but feel deeply moved; whether it be the Flower Demon Instructor or the Demon Children, the treasures to break the game were right in front of my eyes, yet I’ve been oblivious to them. This is the case of looking too far ahead and failing to see the gold under one’s feet. I was wrong!
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