Section 075: Class Change and Crafting
“Very well. Since Leader Li has made up his mind, we can only let it be. When Leader Li wants to strike back at that obnoxious tribe, we will gladly lend our strength again.”
After saying this to Li Zhan, Lei Long turned away and led the other chieftains off in scattered groups.
Li Zhan sensed something odd in Lei Long’s expression before and after the exchange, but he had no time to dwell on it. His thoughts were entirely devoted to the plan of revenge that night.
After seeing the chieftains off, Li Zhan went straight back to the center of the town. The threshing yard was still under construction. He checked the progress: it was already sixty-five percent complete. Then he went to the barracks and found Zhao Ming and the other early militia men resting there. First he checked their injuries. Fortunately, most were only skin wounds; even the worst had lost no more than thirty percent of their health.
Once he had confirmed their condition, Li Zhan told them that the barracks could now promote them to swordsmen. Given the town’s limited funds, the first five to receive this promotion would be these veteran militia men.
Among the five, Zhao Ming was the highest leveled at ten; the lowest was still level nine. In health, skills, attack, and defense, they were all far stronger than the newly recruited militia. On hearing that they were about to become the first regular troops of the town—swordsmen—Zhao Ming and the others could hardly conceal their excitement. Each of them straightened his back as if afraid the mayor might catch even the slightest sign of weakness and suddenly change his mind.
--------------------------------
Ways to become a Swordsman:
Direct production from the barracks. Each swordsman requires 150 food and 12 gold.
Promotion from militia. Once a militia man is promoted to swordsman, the barracks can no longer turn him into militia again. Each swordsman requires 12 gold.
Other methods.
Learnable skills: Brawling (innate), Swordsmanship, Shield Skill
--------------------------------
Li Zhan’s gaze swept over the five men, and he nodded in satisfaction. Just as when he had first promoted them from villagers to militia, he asked whether they were willing to accept the change. The five nodded repeatedly, saying they were more than willing.
After receiving their affirmative answers, Li Zhan opened his mayoral interface, clicked on the Military category, then selected Promotion from the many drawer-like options. In the only choice that appeared next—Swordsman—he clicked, and then set the target as the five men.
A flash of white light appeared before his eyes, and Zhao Ming and the others’ positions instantly changed from militia to swordsmen. Compared to before, the contours of their faces had shifted slightly, and their muscles were also more firmly defined. After promotion from militia to swordsman, attack increased by 5, defense by 3, HP by 50, MP by 20, and speed by 1, while level remained unchanged. A level ten swordsman could learn swordsmanship in the barracks. The method was deliberate training, with a degree of randomness; the difficulty was not especially great. A level fifteen swordsman could learn shield skill in the same way. Upon success, he could equip standard shields.
Standard shield types: leather shield, iron-rimmed leather shield, vine shield [special], iron shield, steel shield.
After finishing Zhao Ming and the others’ promotion, Li Zhan closed the mayoral interface and checked Zhao Ming’s attributes—
Soldier [male]
Name: Zhao Ming
Civilization: China [Flame-Yellow Tribe]
Title or Position: Swordsman, Squad Leader
Level: 10
Training: 92
Morale: 80
Attributes — Potential: +8 Constitution: 113 [+2] Strength: 125 [+3] Intelligence: 65 [-2] Agility: 15 Loyalty: 95 Support: 78
Command: 8 Attack: 13+0 Defense: Armor 8+0 / Shield 0+0
(An additional 2 defense from the new clothing) Speed: 4
HP: 288 MP: 150
Skills — Intermediate Brawling 14%
(Zhao Ming was not equipped with an iron sword, leggings, or bracers, so his attack and defense were entirely from his own attributes.)
After a glance, Li Zhan felt quite satisfied. Just as he had predicted, the swordsman, after promotion, had nearly double the attack and defense of the unpromoted militia. One swordsman was worth two militia men—even before learning swordsmanship and shield skill.
He let the excited Zhao Ming and the others continue resting quietly, then stepped out of the barracks. There, he happened to meet Zheng Jun coming toward him. Zheng Jun told Li Zhan that the archery range had already been completed and asked the mayor to inspect it.
Although both were military buildings, the archery range differed greatly in style from the barracks. On one side of the main structure stood a watchtower. Like an ordinary lookout tower, it could be manned by soldiers on guard duty. The main building of the archery range was a two-story structure. The ground floor was a spacious arrow-making workshop where soldiers could craft arrows inside; the joint workshop could also produce them. The upper floor was a soldiers’ rest room, able to provide shelter and recuperation for twenty soldiers. Connected to the main building was a small open training field, where soldiers could practice archery and other skills.
After inspecting the layout, Li Zhan told Zheng Jun to take two builders and continue repairing the damaged structures. He himself stood outside the archery range, opened the mayoral interface, clicked on Production under the Military category, and then set the target to the range. Since horses had not yet been put into use, only the icon for infantry archers appeared before him. Li Zhan clicked the infantry archer icon five times in succession, ordering the range to begin automatic production.
--------------------------------
Ways to become an Infantry Archer:
Direct production from the archery range. Each infantry archer requires 100 food and 15 gold.
Other methods.
Learnable skills: Brawling (innate), Archery, Focus
--------------------------------
After taking care of everything, Li Zhan finally let out a long breath. The archery range’s production speed was one soldier per hour. It was now eleven in the morning; before nightfall, these five infantry archers could easily be finished and committed to battle.
He then checked the settlement’s remaining resources, chiefly food and gold—
Tribal Resources
Raw Resources: Wood 2047, Food 67, Stone 3625, Gold 55
Mineral Resources: None
Trade Goods: Fish Meat 429, Cotton 538, Cotton Thread 4, Cloth 5, Clothing 11 (Militia Uniforms)
Unusable Resources: None
Other Resources: None
In just three hours, food had plunged by more than two thousand, and gold had fallen by more than eight hundred. Since entering the game, this was the first time Li Zhan had spent resources so recklessly. In truth, not only was it the first time for him alone; even across the entire Empire Ascendant, such an extravagant rate of consumption would be enough to send the Flame and Yellow Town to the top of the “Twelve Fastest Resource-Draining Tribes and Towns” ranking—if such a ranking existed in the game, of course.
The collapsed dye shed had already been cleared away by the villagers. The inferior wood dug out from the ruins was piled to one side, while the dye vats, looms, spinning wheels, and worktables were carried out and handed over to the women to clean. The men, meanwhile, loaded the unusable scraps onto their shoulders or carried them in their hands and transported them to the hill country east of the tribe, the place where the villagers usually dumped their garbage.
It looks as though by tomorrow, production in the town will be able to resume, Li Zhan thought, watching the villagers busily clearing away the debris of war in the fields, residential quarter, dye shed, and elsewhere.
Just then, a militia man stationed outside the north gate came running to report to him.
“Mayor, a tribal chieftain has come to the north gate and wants to see you. He says he is from Jiujiang County.”