Chapter 521: Chapter 521: The Last Resistance Force Fortress


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    The back and forth, exhausting the lives of NPCs of various races to continue the fight,sted a month and a half, until heroes and leaders arrived and joined the fray, ughtering the Demons near The Gate of Other World. Only then did they secure a foothold nearby and a steady stream of troops began to pass through The Gate of Other World to establish bases.


    With the bases established, the Expeditionary Army reputation system kicked in, and the first batch of thousands of yers, all over Level 50, entered. They unanimously chose to grind reputation at the Expedition Base, and even Lin Xiao was no exception.


    The reason was simple, after the Ound was opened, the Fortress system was made avable, allowing any yer who raised their Gaia reputation to Respected and their Expeditionary Army reputation to Revered to qualify for building their own Fortress, recruiting and training NPC soldiers through the expenditure of reputation and Demon Marks.


    A Fortress, essentially an Outpost Base, is where yers exchange reputation for core keystone to venture deeper into the Ound. Once the keystone is ced, a personal fortress can be established, recruiting various utility andbat NPC soldiers.


    Utility NPCs refer to various traders, such as leather armor smiths, the Hearthstone-bound inn, flight points connecting to other fortresses and the main base of the Expeditionary Army, general merchants that sell potions, traders for various spell materials, professional trainers, and professional mentors to learn spells, etc.


    Newly recruited utility NPCs only have basic functions, but by capturing special resource locations or collecting resources, or upgrading the core of the Fortress, upgrading NPCs can enhance their capabilities or offer special products unique to their own Fortress.


    A Fortress is akin to a small town or watch station in a game, where yers can resupply, transfer goods, or even stay for an extended period.


    yers have to pay taxes on transactions in the Fortress, which is one of the sources of ie for the Fortress, usually one-tenth of the total amount of the goods bought from NPCs goes to the owner of the Fortress.


    In the Ound, it serves as the safe zone for yers to rest and also offers housing for yers to rent or purchase, where yers can store items that won’t fit in their packs in their rooms.<div>


    However, this depends on the strength of the Fortress, as it must be built in dangerous areas. It not only faces attacks from Ound Demons but also destruction from Children of Nightmare. If a Fortress is breached, the items stored there by yers would be lost.


    Therefore, whether a Fortress can attract arge number of yers to stay and resupply depends on its strength.


    So, building a Fortress is not something a casual yer can do. At the very least, a team, like a guild, needs toe together to establish a Fortress. It’s rare for someone to build a Fortress alone.


    Battle NPCs naturally refer to various NPC soldiers, including elite NPC soldiers, and can be of any race. Generally, yers have advantages in recruitment price and conditions when choosing NPCs of the same race.


    These NPC soldiers can also level up throughbat, gather resources to forge specialized equipment, and even be promoted, such as upgrading a regr soldier to an Elite Temte and then an Enhanced elite or Leader Temte.


    In theory, an ordinary soldier could be an extremely powerful Hero NPC under stringent conditions. But in reality, that’s generally just theory and hardly everes to fruition.


    Lin Xiao was quite interested in this and decided to strike out on his own after discussing it with his girlfriend.


    The reason he didn’t go along with the guild was that there were many in the guild who wanted to exchange for the core of a Fortress, and everyone could see the potential of the Fortress system. Those in Radiance were elites, and making them submit to someone was difficult, even if Lin Xiao had already shown his strength and they recognized that he was strong now, but recognition is one thing, expecting them to act as subordinates is another.


    I respect you, but that doesn’t mean I want to be your subordinate.


    Additionally, human nature is fickle. Having a bunch of people as subordinates was not something he felt secure about, so after discussing it with his girlfriend, they simply decided to leave the guild and go it alone, considering that the guild’s cohesion was so-so and they didn’t expect much help from it.


    What followed was grinding for reputation, constantly taking on repeatable Demon-hunting quests from the Expeditionary Army. Each Demon in meant a certain amount of reputation earned.


    Both he and his girlfriend were Mages, and she chose as her Core n a Sub-legendary Race derived from her original Core n, the Thunder Wings, called the Ire Winged Man, which seemed to be modeled after Angels; hence, they leaned towards the appearance of Angels and were breathtakingly beautiful while also possessing tremendous Spell-casting Talent.


    There are two types of Ire Winged Men, Silver and Golden. The Silver Winged Ire Man has more powerful Thunder Talents than Thunder Wings, while the Golden Wrathwing is endowed with the Divine power of Angels.


    Shen Yuexin chose the Golden Wrathwing, so her specialty was Holy, abination of Mage and Priest. Initially inclined towardsbat, she changed her talents to a more supportive role after teaming up with Lin Xiao, essentially bing a Priest with significantbat power.


    As time went on, the Demons near the Expedition Base were wiped out. The powerhouses from the main world used Spells to transform the barren terrain around them and constructed an enormous fortress. Squads of NPC soldiers, led by NPC officers, began to leave the Expeditionary Army Fortress and set up outposts nearby.


    This served both as a service to the yers and as an expansion of territory, as well as a buffer against any counterattack from the Demons.


    However, yers who wanted to build their own Fortress had to venture far from the vicinity of the Expeditionary Army Fortress and deep into this Alien World.


    ording to the regtions, the further a yer’s Fortress is from the Expeditionary Army Fortress, and the more strategically important its location, the more support they will receive from the Expeditionary Army. This will also result in a significant bonus when ites to scoring in the future, pushing yers to venture deep into the Ound.


    This was very advantageous for Lin Xiao, who had a level advantage. After spending a few months umting enough reputation, merits, and Demon Marks, he and his girlfriend exchanged for a Fortress core and a middle-size squadron of 100 Level 55 NPCs, including five elites. With ample supplies prepared, they mounted their steeds, leading the troops away from the now Super fortress of the Expeditionary Army Headquarters, into the vast Ound.<div>


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    Recruiting elitebat NPCs requires Green Demon Marks for exchange, and these items have an extraordinarily low drop rate; we have umted less than ten so far.


    A regr Level 55 NPC warrior only has 3,500 health points, while elites have just over 10,000, with an averagebat power that’s slightly lower than ordinary demons.<div>


    This Ound World is ravaged by Demons and chaotic forces, with energy in the Void bing incredibly berserk. yers receive a Negative BUFF in the wilderness of this world, making any cast spells likely to fail while increasing mana consumption and casting time by 50%.


    Only within the areas controlled by the Expeditionary Army, where the Void energy is calmed by the Mage Tower built inside the Expeditionary Army Fortress, does this Negative BUFF disappear.


    So, in the early stages, the expedition genuinely relies on NPCs, sacrificing their lives to advance, with yers–Lin Xiao included–unable to y much of a role.


    Although his level is quite high at 68, the Ound is filled with powerful demons. Just one Level 70 or above Enhanced Elite leading a group of minions could chase them around everywhere.


    An Enhanced Elite at Level 70 can have at least 100,000 health, and for a powerful race like Demons, they can have between 200,000 and 300,000 health, with strong attacks and powerful spells, plus a horde of minions, they have no chance of fighting them.


    Since the gates opened nearly half a year ago, he had died at least twenty times, which is actually considered few. Those who ventured into the Ound just above Level 50 died hundreds, if not hundreds of times, with the powerful demons making them question their existence.


    Stepping out of the Expeditionary Army Fortress, many yers clearing scattered demons saw them and knew they were preparing to establish a fortress, watching them with interest.


    At this stage, yers daring to venture out and build a fortress are few; most are still in the umtion phase.


    This toon consists of a hundred NPC soldiers, including 50 regr warriors, 5 Rogue scouts, 10 Archers, 10 Mages, 10 Knights, and 10 Priests among the 95 regr soldiers.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Among the five elites are three melee warriors and two Mages.


    The team is reasonably configured, but even with an Enhanced Elite Demon, the fight would be costly… and they are likely to suffer heavy losses.


    All five Rogue scouts are dispatched to survey the surroundings, to avoid identally stumbling upon arge group of demons.


    Three dayster, Lin Xiao and Shen Yuexin led their troops, now reduced to less than a third in number after suffering heavy casualties, back to the Expeditionary Army Fortress in disarray.<div>


    No more than fifty kilometers from the Expeditionary Army Fortress, they were spotted by a flying Demonized Creature. After several skirmishes with small demon groups, they attracted the attention of a Level 76 Demon Overlord who personally led an army to surround and hunt them, forcing them to leave half the troops behind to cover their retreat.


    “This ispletely unworkable.”


    They were forced to return hardly having left the Expeditionary Army’s range, and even if they got lucky next time and made it out, it wouldn’t be long before they’d be surrounded and wiped out by demons again.


    His girlfriend, pping her golden, brilliantly luminous wings, said:


    “We need to train an elite force, at the very least we need to train a batch of elites over Level 65 to carve out a path.”


    “I understand.”


    Back at the Expeditionary Army Fortress, they used the remaining Demon Marks to recruit a fresh batch of soldiers, a troop and a half in total, with the same configuration as before, and set out from the Expeditionary Army Fortress once again.


    But this time, they didn’t run outwards; instead, they headed toward an outpost called Hawk Hill, located to the west of the Fortress, to regroup. The Outpost Base was packed with NPCs and other yers, so if they encountered arge number of demons like before, they could retreat there for safety instead of being chased all over the ce.


    Hawk Hill is situated on a teau over forty kilometers from the Expeditionary Army Fortress, surrounded on all sides by sheer cliffs, with only one winding road leading down. As long as they guard the only ess road and prepare well for aerial defense, they can firmly secure the ce.


    When Lin Xiao arrived, he saw a crowd of about two to three thousand demons attacking the Hawk Outpost under themand of a Demon Overlord. Many elite NPC soldiers defended the pass while numerous yers on the fortress walls operated the ballistae and attacked the demons below.


    Inside the fortress, two squads of yers, leading two toons of NPC soldiers, stood ready.


    Like Lin Xiao, they were nning to take the route of the Fortress Regiment, also training their forces. They nned to take the opportunity to beat the struggling demons when their main force had to retreat after an unsessful assault.


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