Amid a clamor of machinery, the giant mechanical wolves dragged up an unconscious female barbarian. Astonishingly, this barbarian leader wasn't dead — just knocked out!
Her health bar was still quite thick!
Han Huohuo hid behind the Floaters, had the giant mechanical wolves pin the woman down hard, then splashed water to wake her.
"Who are you people? Why did you attack my stronghold?"
The woman opened her eyes groggily, only then realizing she'd been captured. Furious, she said:
"Because you stole our king's treasure! Our king sent me out to find it!"
"Fuck, you killed all those people and still haven't found the treasure? Why'd you come killing all the way to me?"
"No. We slaughtered our way through over a hundred camps and still didn't find the treasure."
Han Huohuo was startled and puzzled, and turned to look at Liu Qiang.
Because the last three men of that caravan were all here with him — if there really was a treasure, then where had it gone?
Liu Qiang hurried to step forward and explain. "Chief, we were only the caravan's lowest hired hands. We know nothing at all about any treasure."
Looking at Liu Qiang's eyes, he knew the man surely wasn't lying.
Low-ranking workers couldn't possibly know such a secret.
Han Huohuo grew curious, wondering: what kind of treasure was it, that even the Barbarian King had to pursue it?
And why was this whole affair so unreasonable? It sounded strange. Could the barbarians have overlooked something?
Just as Han Huohuo's mind was wandering —
【Recruit the barbarian legendary hero "Hua Mulan"? Recruiting Hua Mulan costs one Hero Token and 2,500 gold coins.】
Han Huohuo had had no interest in recruiting a barbarian hero, but the instant he heard the name he got excited.
Who?
Hua Mulan?
Hold on — since when did Hua Mulan become a barbarian hero? Did that make any sense?
Fuck it, who cares! Since it's Hua Mulan, I absolutely can't pass this up.
"Girl, lift your head. Are you willing to surrender to me and fight across the world at my side?"
"I will never betray our king! Kill me, flay me, do as you please — you little thief can forget about ever earning my loyalty!"
The girl was quite fiery.
But the instant she saw Han Huohuo raise the Hero Token in his hand, Hua Mulan's expression changed at once — utterly respectful, immediately straightening her dress and composing herself.
"This one obeys the Hero Token, and is willing to submit!"
Quite the about-face!!!
Han Huohuo had just been brewing up the eighteen cruelest tortures of the ages in his head, wondering whether he could break this girl — only for her to surrender the moment she saw the Hero Token.
This Hero Token really was a fine thing. He'd have to get a few more in future.
Of course, a slight pity too — such a fierce girl, and her mouth only stayed tough for a few seconds!
That was far too anticlimactic.
Hero Token -1
Gold coins -2,500
Obtained a new building blueprint: 【General's Manor】
【General's Manor】: where heroes reside; every hero needs an independent residence.
【Build】: 1,000 wood, 500 stone, 100 iron.
This building was really expensive. The thing was, yours truly, as the Lord, still lived in the Main Base himself, without an independent residence — why should a hero be treated better than the Lord?
Han Huohuo felt wronged, nearly to the point of tears.
【You have recruited your first legendary hero: Hua Mulan】
【Hero】: Hua Mulan
【Level】: 1
【Attributes】: Strength 15, Defense 15, Endurance 8, Intelligence 10.
【Exclusive Skill】: Bloodthirst
【General Skill】: Basic Leadership.
【Loyalty】: 50
Looking at the attributes and skills, this hero was incredible — stronger than himself by who knew how many times. The one difference was that a Lord's attributes applied to his entire army, while a hero's attributes applied only to the army she personally commanded.
【Bloodthirst】: increases all troops' physical damage by 20%
No wonder these barbarian axe-throwers were so strong. Hua Mulan had two powerful skills: on one hand, Leadership boosted the axe-throwers' attributes; on the other, Bloodthirst added an extra layer of damage.
He immediately built a General's Manor and sent Hua Mulan to rest. The girl was rather badly wounded; if she suddenly died of her injuries, wouldn't his Hero Token be wasted?
【You are the first Lord in the world to recruit a hero. Broadcast this worldwide?】
"Decline!"
【You are the first Lord in the world to recruit a hero. Receive one treasure chest reward, please check it!】
Han Huohuo took the chest, thinking, yours truly doesn't want to be famous. Let whoever loves showing off do it. I want a low profile — low profile, low profile!
......
Just as he was delighting in his own low profile and cleverness, the forum had already erupted.
Han Huohuo glanced at the forum, and the sky fell at once!
The bandit chief bent on keeping a low profile found the whole forum plastered with his name.
【The Barbarian Legion's attack on Black Wind Stronghold has failed; they are wiped out to the last! Battle time: one hour and twenty minutes. Lord Han Huohuo is mighty and unmatched! Broadcasting to the whole world!】
......
Holy crap!
Yours truly wants a low profile, and you pull this on me!
Han Huohuo was furious. The system was too inhumane — it actually scrolled this message on endless repeat.
An outstanding person is like a knife — too sharp, so you can't hide it even if you try!
"Big bro, you there? Please accept my knees — you're too fierce!"
"Brother, I want to ally with you!"
"What were the barbarians like? Tell us about it!"
"......"
The red dots of private chats were about to explode.
Han Huohuo had no choice but to come out and issue a statement.
"I'm Han Huohuo!"
"Holy crap, the big shot's here. Check out my kneeling posture — proper, isn't it?"
"Not as proper as mine!"
"Get lost, line up behind me."
"......"
"You're all overthinking it. It's not that I'm so strong — this legion killed its way down the line, and by the time it reached me there were hardly any barbarians left. I caught a huge break and counter-killed this band of barbarians."
"Huh?"
"So that's it?"
"Big shot, I suspect — are you being too modest?"
"Putting it that way, it does seem to make sense."
"So this was just picking up scraps?"
......
The crowd was still chattering, some believing, some not. Han Huohuo had explained anyway — believe it or not, let them; leaving a little mystery was fine too.
Back at his Main Base, there was a whole pile of matters to handle.
He had Liu Qiang organize the workers to haul back all the wrecked robots and put them in the furnace to recycle, then went to search through the barbarians' spoils.
After that he rebuilt workers, quickly replenishing the gathering teams.
Ten giant mechanical wolves remained undamaged, and Han Huohuo sent them back to the black stone mine to hunt and guard the mine at the same time.
Thankfully all twelve Floaters were intact and unharmed.
Although the recycling furnace had no loss, when these robots were wrecked and then hauled back to recycle, there was some problem at a step he couldn't figure out — they still couldn't be recycled at 100% iron, only a bit over 80%, which left Han Huohuo aching.
Probably some metal was permanently lost at the moment they were destroyed in battle.
Once all the gathering arrangements were settled.
Only then did he return to the Main Base.
The Main Base had upgraded to Tier 3, its appearance changed again — larger, no longer the look of a tent, but now a huge wooden structure.
The flag of Black Wind Stronghold hung atop it, with patterns of blades and spears at the door, even imposing and grand, carrying a rough Ancient-Era texture in its look.
Inside it was zoned as well: in the center the Hall of Righteous Assembly, on the left finally an independent living area for the Lord, on the right Liu Qiang's office area.
There was even a small courtyard by the independent living area, where a little tea room could be arranged for receiving guests.
Because of the era's limits, all the buildings were still crude.
But at least he had a separate space of his own now.
He checked the Main Base's stats.
【Main Base】: Tier 3, an Ancient-Era building.
【Population Cap】: 300 (including workers and troops)
【Output】: 300 gold coins per day
【Buildable】: housing, market, warehouse, beast pen, Tier-3 farmland, Tier-3 wooden wall, recycling furnace, smithy, well, Catapult Barracks, Cudgel Barracks, workshop, General's Manor, Apothecary.
【Upgrade】: the next tier requires 10,000 wood, 5,000 stone, and at least eight Ancient-Era buildings.
The population cap had increased again.
Two new buildings had been added: the General's Manor and the Apothecary.
The resources to upgrade to the next tier hadn't increased — the same as the Tier-2 requirement.
Studying the upgrade notes, he saw that once an Ancient-Era Main Base reached Tier 10, it could advance to the next age and enter the Medieval-Modern era, and only then would the resources required to upgrade change.