Chapter 152 - 152: Rewards from the Lair, Core Acquired (2)
Benbo nodded and led dozens of Dragon Blood Mur Iocs into rhe sea, swiftly swimming towards a nearby island.
“You bring all the pirates on this island to the harbor/’ Ji Chen said, looking at Anina standing beside him.
Anina quickly nodded and rushed into rhe cave with a large sword in hand. Shortly after, they drove hundreds of pirates out of rhe cave as if herding pigs. Each pirate sat on the ground with a dejected look, filled with confusion and fear.
Ji Chen saw their miserable appearance but had no comforting thoughts.
The reason he spared these pirates was to subdue them, so he would have enough manpower to sail the eight pirate ships back.
He straightforwardly stated, “If you submit to me, 1 will spare your lives.
Otherwise, you’ll die.”
Upon hearing this, a desire to live ignited in the pirates’ eyes, and they quickly agreed.
They had no thoughts of avenging Robert. Following him was only for the sake of earning gold coins and having food to eat.
As pirates, one should not expect them to possess virtues such as loyalty and faith.
Now that their leader was dead, it was natural for each of them to flee from the impending disaster. If they couldn’t flee, they would simply find another leader.
“Ding- You have subjugated 1250 pirates.”
Seeing the system prompt, Ji Chen nodded.
He waited for Benbo to return.
In the late night, Benbo and his crew safely escorted a group of pirates who were stationed on other islands back to their base.
Ji Chen repeated his earlier statement.
Without any surprises, these pirates, driven by their strong will to survive, chose to lower their heads.
“Ding- You have subjugated 250 pirates.”
In total, he had subjugated 1500 pirates here, adding to the previous 270, making it a total of 1770.
Although their tier and combat power were low, they had the advantage of sheer numbers, enough to make numerous ships of the Crown of the Ocean sail.
Transporting the resources would take some time.
After looking at the night sky, Ji Chen stretched lazily and went back to rest on the New Moon.
The massive ship provided a spacious and comfortable room, making him feel almost as comfortable as resting on land.
Before going to sleep, Ji Chen suddenly remembered something.
Besides conquering this pirate stronghold, he also planned to go out and trade with other players.
And rhe content of the trade would be military recruitment camp cores.
He had always had a limited number of recruitment camp cores. At best, he only had around ten of them.
The consequence of having a small number of recruitment camp cores was that the weekly recruitment quota was limited, and the growth of his army was slow.
He could only recruit about a dozen or twenty troops per week.
To form an army of a hundred people would take at least seven weeks!
At first, he thought it was fine, but now, after experiencing so many things…
Being hunted by tens of thousands of Blood Spirit Warriors, facing pirates in four digits, and preparing to resist an unknown number of Sea Heirs.
Ji Chen felt that his troops were suddenly insufficient.
He realized he was outnumbered in a physical confrontation.
He had absolute confidence in defeating enemies twice their number.
He even felt he could handle enemies five times their number.
If Alice and the others joined the battle, there was a possibility of winning against ten times the enemy.
But what about fifty times, a hundred times?
There were billions of players in this world, and there should be millions allocated to the Western Central Ocean coastline and many islands.
In such a massive player community, there must be someone who had the recruitment camp cores he desired.
Ji Chen casually opened the forum and, after some thought, posted a thread under the name “The Islander”.
“Seeking to buy ocean and amphibious recruitment camp cores. Can trade with gold coins or rare resources. Trading location limited to the Western Central Ocean.”
On chat channels and forums, there were countless similar threads, not only seeking recruitment camp cores but also seeking specific resources or treasures.
After all, there was no trading system or exchange) so players could only find what they wanted through these inefficient means.
And it was also limited by geographical distance, which was particularly apparent at sea, where it often took days to sail.
After posting the thread, Ji Chen planned to check for responses the next day.
But before he could close it, the thread started to refresh like crazy.
“Big Boss Islander is back from the dead!”
“The boss is still awake at this late hour. It’s no wonder he’s so powerful. Even at this hour, he’s still working hard and striving!”
Ji Chen’s mouth twitched as he read these night owl players’ comments.
Can’t you guys fust focus on the topic? Can’t you answer the content of the thread seriously?
After a series of bragging, someone finally noticed the topic of the thread.
“I have a few Tier-1 recruitment camp cores that 1 haven’t had a chance to use.
But, boss, you might not be interested…”
“I think so too. Big Boss Islander probably has Tier-2 or Tier-3 troops. Tier-1 probably won’t catch his attention.”
Seeing this, Ji Chen narrowed his eyes.
As long as the troops are suitable, what’s wrong with Tier-1?
He was a man with a military talent tree! Even the initially useless Tier-1
Water Spirits had been elevated to the level of Tier-3.
And his initial River Murloc troop had become a 4-star, Tier-3 Dragon Blood Murloc.
He wondered how shocked those players would be if the Dragon Blood Murlocs evolved to Tier-5, Tier-6, or even the supreme Tier-7 troops.
This scene resembled a person with previously perceived elementary-level intelligence suddenly discovering they had been admitted to a world-renowned university.
“No matter the tier, as long as they suit me. I’ll take them. The more recruitment camp cores, the better,” Ji Chen added a sentence to the thread and pinned it.
Soon, players started to apply for private chats, showcasing the recruitment camp cores they possessed.
And most of them were ocean and amphibious troops.
Thorny Flying Fish – Tier-1, 5-star, 4 cores.
Floating Crab – Tier-1, 7-star, 3 cores.
Shallow Water Lizard – Tier-1, 4-star, 6 cores.
Marsh Murloc – Tier-2, 2-star, 4 cores.
Lobster Rider – Tier-2, 1-star, 6 cores.
Toxic Octopus – Tier-2, 3-star, 2 cores.
There were a variety of troops at different tiers.
Besides Tier-1, there were also quite a few Tier-2 and Tier-3 troops.
But Tier-2 was the main focus, while Tier-3, although available, usually had only one core, so Ji Chen quickly excluded them.
The selling price of Tier-3 recruitment camp cores was outrageous, far from their actual value.
They demanded resources in the range of four-digit rare items or five-digit gold coins, or a few rare blueprint drawings.
Did they really think he was a fool?
With those resources, he could elevate several Tier-2 troops to Tier-3. Why would he just buy one core from them?
After observing a few Tier-3 sellers, Ji Chen focused on Tier-1 and Tier-2 troops.
After all, the lower the tier, the cheaper the price, and the more cores available.
After careful selection, he finally settled on two troops that were highly suitable and had advancement value.
One each from Tier-1 and Tier-2.
[Self-Detonating Water Spider]
Race: Water Spider
[Tier]: Tier-1, 3-star
Skills: Unstable Crystals (White skill, able to detonate rhe crystals within its body)
Splash (White skill, increases the explosion range by 10%)
Swift (White skill, increases movement speed by 20%)
[I’m a Magnet]
[Lobster Rider]
[Tier]: Tier-2, i-srar
Charge (White skill, when in a charging state, increases movement speed by 10% and impact force by 5%)
Agility (White skill, increases movement speed by 5%)
Unit Trait: Coordinated Charge (When fighting or charging with troops of the same kind, all attributes increase by 5%)
[Charge Away!!]
Self-Detonating Water Spider and Lobster Rider.
One relied on self-detonation to harm the enemy, while the other was a cavalry unit in water.