The Era of Gods

With troops in hand, Lin Xiao’s courage surged, and he pondered whether to attempt a head-on skirmish with the undead in the ruins that night?

However, the thought of how easily his subordinates had been swept away like withered branches before dampened his confidence.

Normal ghosts were just Level 3 troops, but they seemed to get a huge boost inside these ruins; their combat power was formidable. Ordinary skeletons were instantly killed by a single pounce from a ghost. Although roughly eight hundred skeletons seemed numerous, they couldn’t withstand many such attacks.

He decided to put off exploring this map for now, to leave the area and build up some strength outside before returning to investigate.

No sooner had he decided than he summoned his troops and left the ruins, making his way through the thickets on the outskirts of the forest.

This city ruin lay at the edge of the forest. As they moved outwards, the trees became sparse. Many wild animals lurked within, but they scattered in all directions when they saw the procession of over eight hundred skeletons. The occasional brave beast that dared to charge was quickly encircled and killed.

Before he knew it, they had passed through the forest. Lin Xiao stood atop a lone tree at the forest’s edge and looked out to see a wilderness covered with waist-high weeds. Far off, there seemed to be a settlement encircled by a wooden fence, with numerous crude tents inside and many humanoid creatures bustling about.

He approached quietly on his own, observing that this was a tribe of creatures known as Big Eared Monsters.

Big Eared Monsters were about one meter forty-five in height, with physical strength and builds not much different from humans, greenish skin, and large ears—likely the origin of their name—and they lived in tribal communities.

A strange tapping sound came from the distance as a large beastman trade caravan approached, and an abundance of Big Eared Monsters came out to trade with them.

Lin Xiao observed and felt that it would be difficult to communicate with them. Besides, these Big Eared Monsters didn’t seem to have much to offer, and killing them probably wouldn’t yield much, so he gave up his original plan and led his skeletons around the Big Ear Monster Tribe to continue forward.

While observing earlier, he noticed the traders had come along a path partially obscured by weeds—a path the trade caravan must frequently take. He assumed that following it would lead to a civilized part of this world.

After a wide detour, he didn’t stumble upon the earlier path but instead found another one hidden by tall weeds.

This road was paved with stones and was likely an important thoroughfare. He picked a direction at random and set forth, the great mass of skeleton racks marching eerily upon the main road.

But soon, something even more surprising happened. After following the main road for a while and as they were about to reach the top of a rise, he saw a large expanse of bright white light rise behind the slope, quickly overtaking it until it stopped less than a meter in front of him. One more step, and it would have touched him.

Lin Xiao looked up and saw through this layer of transparent brilliance an area of about a hundred meters in diameter where shadowy figures seemed to be moving. At the same time, a glowing prompt appeared in front of him with the message:

“You have discovered a recently spawned Rifleman Camp. Do you wish to explore?”

“Rifleman Camp? Does that mean there’s a den?”

Lin Xiao instantly realized its meaning, eager to try his luck.

But he didn’t recklessly rush in immediately. Instead, he led his subordinates to circle around the area ensconced in white light.

Just as they were circling to the other side, suddenly he heard someone shouting from behind:

“Wait a moment.”

Turning around, he saw a troop of Lizardmen led by a Lizardman Hero mounted on a giant lizard rushing toward them, waving from a distance and speaking in human tongue:

“Human Hero, would you consider exploring this camp together?”

Lin Xiao furrowed his brow and saw that behind the hurrying Lizardman Hero, there were two more units drawing near. His eyes flickered, and suddenly he turned and rammed headfirst into the white light screen, vanishing into it instantly, with his skeletons becoming streaks of gray light and disappearing in the same instant.

The Lizardmen who had rushed over with Speed Up pulled on the reins of the giant lizard to a disappointed stop.

The two other units quickly arrived and halted not far from the Lizardman troop—one led by a human hero with roughly one hundred and eighty riflemen and twenty or so archers, accompanied by five swordsmen in heavy armor, and another led by a Goblin Hero commanding nearly three hundred Goblins.

The three heroes stood side by side. The Lizardman Hero, with a frustrated punch on his giant lizard mount, sighed:

“Damn it, it was snatched away.”

The other two heroes also looked annoyed.

The Goblin Hero’s eyes suddenly spun with an idea and said:

“Although that Undead Hero has many subordinates, they’re all Level 1 Skeletons. Together, we are stronger than him. If he gets through this Rifleman Camp, he’ll surely suffer some losses. We can wait for him to emerge and then plunder his gains.”

The other two heroes glanced at each other with shimmering eyes and nodded after a moment:

“That seems like a good plan.”

As they discussed how to besiege him, Lin Xiao had already arrived outside a vast camp.

From the outside, the Rifleman Camp phantom appeared to be only one hundred meters in diameter, but upon entry, they found themselves in an immense space with a huge camp set upon the wasteland. Lin Xiao had just appeared when scouts atop the camp’s watchtowers spotted him. With a lengthy horn blast, a large number of riflemen in leather armor poured out from the tents, forming defensive lines at the camp’s entrance.

Lin Xiao looked up to assess the camp: about three hundred riflemen, mostly recruits with a fair number of veterans, plus a dozen elite riflemen in chainmail, but no stronger leader in sight.

No question about it, let’s fight.

He waved his hand, and over eight hundred Skeletons, without any formation, rushed towards the camp gate and fought fiercely with the Riflemen guarding the entrance.

Lin Xiao didn’t stand by watching the fight; he rolled up his sleeves and joined in, charging into the camp and knocking down Riflemen with his fists.

With him, a Hero, personally taking action and the number of Skeletons already three times that of the Riflemen, victory was inevitable. Soon, the ground was littered with bodies.

Then, when less than half of the Riflemen were left, some suddenly surrendered, and more and more Riflemen laid down their weapons and surrendered.

“You have achieved a glorious victory, Points +50.”

“The guards at the Rifleman Camp have surrendered in fear of your military might, and you have obtained 142 Riflemen.”

“You have taken over the Rifleman Camp, and you have ten minutes to plunder it.”

Time was tight, so Lin Xiao quickly charged into the interior of the camp and into a tent on the outer edge. In less than half a minute, he emerged from the tent with a Riflemen Card in his hand, and the tent suddenly became transparent and soon disappeared.

He then swiftly took the Riflemen Cards from the other tents, a total of twelve cards, before heading into the central stone building of the camp, the Gunman Barracks. He found a Rifleman Camp Fragment, two thousand Gold Coins, twenty wood, and twenty minerals there.

The resources were decent, but the Rifleman Camp Fragment left him speechless since it would take ten Fragments to combine into a single Rifleman Camp.

A camp is essentially a nest for monsters or a type of troop, just with a different name.

After looting everything, the huge camp became empty and devoid of anything. Lin Xiao was about to leave when a thought struck him, and he flipped his hand to make the twelve Riflemen Cards appear in his grasp. He glanced upwards and then clenched his hand, making the cards vanish.

With a thought, he was in the Creation Magic Cube Space, looking at the twelve Riflemen Cards suspended in the space. He willed two of the Riflemen Cards to crumble into two streams of light, which merged into one under his command, becoming slightly brighter, and then…

“Strengthen!”

He chose the latter between fusing more Riflemen Cards or merging them to strengthen them into more powerful gunmen.

As soon as he finished speaking, the merging light reformed into a new Riflemen Card.

He immediately checked the card’s attributes and a smile of anticipation appeared on his face:

“Not bad!”

It was still a basic Riflemen Card, able to summon one hundred Riflemen, but due to the fusion of two cards, the summoned Riflemen were no longer new recruits, but veterans.

Seeing this, his gaze fell onto the remaining ten Riflemen Cards as he continued to strengthen them in the same manner, obtaining five veteran cards.

Along with the first one, the six veteran cards were again merged in pairs, and as expected, he obtained three Elite Riflemen Cards.

This was the limit of card fusion. It was not that they had reached the experience limit of the troop type but that beyond Elite was the Advanced troop level, which could not be achieved through fusion and had to be gained through battle experience and leveling up.

The Elite Riflemen were equipped with Chainmail and a sharp steel spear, and their physical fitness far surpassed that of the veterans, with about 2 points in Constitution and Strength. Combined with their rich combat experience, they were among the best even among Level 2 troops.

Three hundred Elite Riflemen, Lin Xiao thought about it and decided to put them away for now, planning to summon them once the Skeleton Cannon Fodder were nearly gone.

After all, there were still over seven hundred Cannon Fodder left, and to disband them directly seemed wasteful.

In any case, he didn’t plan to keep using these Undead Cannon Fodder forever. In any world, controlling the Undead was a role that everyone shouted down, and he did not want to swagger through the streets every day with a group of undead as a living person, lest he be mistakenly identified as an Undead Mage.

With a thought, he exited the Rifleman Camp.

To the three Heroes outside, the Rifleman Camp suddenly began to fade, signaling the camp had been conquered. The three teams positioned themselves on three sides, ready for battle.

When the camp completely turned transparent and vanished, Lin Xiao and his subordinates appeared, and the three Heroes immediately launched an attack on him.

The first wave was dozens of arrows shot in rapid succession from the human Hero Archers, along with rocks thrown by the Goblin Stone Throwers, hitting the Skeletons with a clatter, sending bone chips flying, followed by a rush of five to six hundred Lizardmen, Riflemen, and Goblins.

Lin Xiao’s response was to face them head-on, as he was still considering how to expend these Skeleton Cannon Fodder, and now the opportunity had come.

After ten minutes, the three Heroes escaped with their remaining forces, and Lin Xiao was left contemplating over the five hundred plus Skeletons that remained.

His strategic attribute combined with his Talent had an incredible effect on the Skeletons, overwhelming the three Heroes’ combined forces.

That being the case, he could do nothing but let it go.

After a short rest, he continued along the road.

Before long, he came to a three-way intersection with a signpost at the junction. The sign for the road from which he had come read ‘Undead Relic’, and to the right…