Gou San trembled with dread, but 100 Loyalty left him no room to refuse. After a round of Han Huohuo's sweet talk, his head went hot, and he charged in, blade in hand.
Loyalty -1
Loyalty -1
Loyalty -2
Loyalty -5
Loyalty -10
......
All the way over, his Loyalty kept dropping, and before he'd even reached the Mammoth Beasts, it had successfully fallen to 0.
When the Mammoth Beasts noticed this brazen little thing actually daring to charge at them, blade raised, they first froze for a moment — and then he'd successfully enraged them. Stamping the earth, setting it shaking, the two Mammoth Beasts charged ferociously at Gou San together.
The ground rumbled and quaked. He couldn't even keep his footing — utterly terrifying.
Gou San's Loyalty had long since hit 0. With a scream of "Mommy!" he flung his blade away and turned to run.
Suddenly his leg wasn't lame anymore. Quick and agile, he fled backward, wailing and howling like a damned soul.
The two Mammoth Beasts gave chase one behind the other, in no mood to let this shameless little wretch off — how dare he challenge the dignity of the kings of the jungle?
Not daring once to look back, Gou San was scared half out of his wits.
One chasing, one fleeing — both quite fast.
The two Mammoth Beasts, one ahead and one behind.
The rear Mammoth Beast, chasing on and on, suddenly slowed its steps and looked warily around.
Three oddly shaped steel wolves were closing in silently from three directions, eyes flickering with an eerie light, locked on this Mammoth Beast!
It sensed danger. In all this forest, it had never seen wolves the size of a young calf.
It tried to call the Mammoth Beast ahead, but by now that beast had been lured far off by Gou San.
The little rat Gou San deliberately ran the roughest, narrowest trails. Whatever else he lacked, when it came to running for his life he really did have a knack.
The three giant mechanical wolves rushed in and were instantly locked in a biting, tearing brawl with the Mammoth Beast.
The fight was fierce. Han Huohuo hid in a tree far off, his little heart pounding wildly. The ground shook, the big trees swayed back and forth, and he clutched the fork of the tree tight, sweating buckets. Utterly terrifying.
The three giant mechanical wolves fought with real method — you advance, I retreat. One drew the beast's fire while the other two attacked savagely, tearing at the Mammoth Beast without pause.
Each time the Mammoth Beast went after one Mechanical Wolf, the others charged and bit hard at its rear, while the wolf under attack slowly fell back, dodging the beast's blows.
After a few exchanges, the Mammoth Beast couldn't hold on.
Han Huohuo himself was a hopeless weakling in a fight, but sitting up in the tree, he actually understood it: though the Mammoth Beast hit harder and was thicker-skinned and tougher, the giant mechanical wolves' combat skill far outstripped it.
So when the Mammoth Beast faced three giant mechanical wolves ganging up on it, it simply couldn't win.
Earlier he'd wondered what the Mechanical Wolves' Intelligence of ten meant. Now he knew — Intelligence also covered combat skill.
Put simply: smart people are better at fighting!
The giant mechanical wolf was a machine born purely for battle.
Terrifying!
With a sky-shaking wail of grief, the Mammoth Beast finally toppled, unwilling to the last.
The other Mammoth Beast in the distance heard its dying cry and only then realized it had been duped. The fool finally gave up chasing Gou San and turned to race back.
It was already too late.
The beast lay on the ground, its body torn ragged all over by the giant wolves.
Even a Mammoth Beast with its eyes gone red was no match for three cold-blooded war machines. A dozen-some minutes later, the second Mammoth Beast also fell into a pool of blood.
Han Huohuo was thrilled. He climbed down from the tree, went over to check, and confirmed both Mammoth Beasts were dead.
"B-boss!"
Han Huohuo jumped. He turned to find Gou San had come back, reeking head to toe of piss and shit, but without a single injury on him.
"Huh? You're not dead yet?"
"......"
Crap, that slipped out. Han Huohuo felt a little awkward.
A murderous glint surfaced in Gou San's eyes; he badly wanted to go over and strangle Han Huohuo. The three giant mechanical wolves padded up and stood behind Han Huohuo, cocking their heads to look at Gou San together.
Loyalty +30
Loyalty +30
Loyalty +30
Gou San's Loyalty instantly maxed out.
"Boss, I was in such danger, I nearly died back there. I didn't lose face for you, did I?" Gou San blubbered, all snot and tears.
Han Huohuo hurried to nod. "That's right, you were very brave. I told you you could do it. See, you're fine, aren't you? Come on, tonight your boss treats you to a feast, a reward for the hero of the hour!"
Gou San was instantly moved to tears. "The boss is wise! Following you is the greatest honor of my whole life."
Han Huohuo thought, this guy really is something. So this is what "emotionally unstable" looks like?
The giant mechanical wolves were enormously strong. Dragging the Mammoth Beasts by their tusks, they hauled both carcasses all the way back to the camp.
He broke down the two Mammoth Beasts, gaining 800 Premium Food in all — a great fortune — along with two heavy hides and four ivory tusks.
Again no blueprint dropped. Han Huohuo was speechless. Was he just fated never to get a blueprint, or was the drop rate truly that low?
Ding!
Breaking down a Mammoth Beast yielded a treasure!
【Horseshoe: increases the Lord's Luck by +2】
A treasure?
A horseshoe that raises Luck? What's that good for?
Ding!
【Congratulations, Lord, your personal level has risen to Level 2. You are the first Lord to advance to Level 2. Broadcast this worldwide?】
"Decline!"
Han Huohuo had no wish to be famous. What's wrong with quietly getting rich? What idiot turns himself into a target for the whole world?
And what was this Lord leveling-up business?
He opened the Lord interface and saw his own stats.
【Lord】: Han Huohuo
【Level】: 2
【Attributes】: Strength 3, Defense 3, Endurance 1, Intelligence 2.
【Exclusive Skill】: Mechanical Mastery
【General Skill】: Basic Leadership
Looking at his attributes, Han Huohuo was dumbfounded. Forget the other numbers — why was his Endurance only 1 point? Wouldn't a single hit kill him? He was instantly horrified.
So I'm a glass cannon, huh?
Uneasy, he resolved to keep himself well away from danger from now on.
He took another look at his two skills.
【Mechanical Mastery】: while leading mechanical troops, all mechanical units gain +2 movement speed and +5 attack.
【Basic Leadership】: 50% of the Lord's attributes are added to the troops under his command.
So his attributes could be added to all his troops?
He picked up the horseshoe. The little thing was finely made — not a real horseshoe, just a small ornament. Han Huohuo found a length of cord and hung the horseshoe around his neck as a necklace.
Now I'm a man with a treasure too.
Not enough Endurance? Make up for it with Luck!
【Congratulations on being the first to advance. Reward: one treasure chest. Please accept it, Lord.】
Huh?
There's a reward too?
A treasure chest appeared before his eyes. He opened it to find a Hero Token and 2,500 gold coins inside.
【Hero Token: holding a Hero Token, you may recruit this world's heroes to fight for you or manage for you.】
Heroes were different from farmers — a hero could lead an army out to wage war on your behalf!
In war you always needed a general; you couldn't fight every battle yourself. What kind of Lord would that make you?
It seemed of no use for now, and he hadn't run into any heroes, but the thing was surely quite rare. He stowed it away for later.
He put the Hero Token away.
He checked the wood and stone. In just the time he'd spent hunting, the workers had already gathered forty wood and twenty stone.
That was roughly one hour's output.
Not good enough — too few workers. He needed to recruit more; resource collection was far too slow!
Upgrading a Tier-1 Main Base required 1,000 wood and 500 stone.
With this few workers, it'd take until tomorrow to upgrade the Main Base. Far too slow.
Han Huohuo was getting greedy now. For everyone else, reaching a Tier-1 Main Base took about three days, but he found even one day too slow.