"Zhang Xiang's prediction was wrong."
"Even if all six of them attacked together, they wouldn't have killed a single chaos beast."
Zhou Zhou mumbled before fading away from the battlefield.
As for attacking on his own, he didn't do it.
He had a feeling he wouldn't be coming out on top this time around.
Watching Blazing Sun leave, Great One concluded he wouldn't be a problem in the event.
"I just have to find a way to deal with True."
His expression was dark as he thought.
.
[You have been defeated by the Chaos Gods Race - Great One. You have lost this ranking match!]
[You have degraded to White platinum-tier intermediate grade in the myriad races lord battlefield!]
[You need to participate in at least one ranking match every 3 days. Otherwise, your rank will drop by 1!]
"My first loss since arriving on High Continent..."
"How nostalgic."
Looking at the rows of notifications, Zhou Zhou muttered.
The defeat had cost him a ranking attempt, a rebirth token, a drop in rank, and his self-entitled battlefield points.
'I suppose the blueprint will have to wait a while longer.'
He thought before looking at his soldiers.
"Was today's loss really unavoidable?"
"Perhaps it was... perhaps it's wasn't."
"But one thing is certain; this level isn't the peak of what we can achieve"
"So, as your lord, it is my duty to find the path that will elevate us to the highest level our strength can reach."
"And as my soldiers, your duty is to execute that path without fail."
Concluding his words to his soldiers, he took out one of the many maps of the regions around him.
"One path to increasing our strength is raising the rank of the city."
"Conquering stronger territories helps us do that."
Pointing toward the White silver-tier region sharing a border with Blackrock Desert, he said.
Bai Yung, Lu Chong, Aegon, Maris, Monica and Zhang Xiang stared at the territory as they reviewed the information attached to it.
The Withered Forest Plains contained 2 White silver-tier territories, 6 Green bronze-tier territories and 5 Black iron-tier territories.
Each territory has a lord an entire tier higher than the rank of their territory.
All except the regional lord, Withered Tree Demon, who stood at White platinum-tier elementary grade.
"Rest for an hour before departure."
"Hui Teng and the others won't be joining you."
"From now on, you lots are the only soldiers of the first army."
Rising from his seat, Zhou Zhou addressed his soldiers before making his way out of the war room.
.
"His lordship is disappointed."
Zhang Xiang said after Zhou Zhou's departure.
"His sight has always been fixed on the summit."
"Losing to a fellow competitor must hurt."
"I understand that feeling."
Monica said quietly.
"I'm sure we all do."
Bai Yung muttered, his gaze lowered to the table before him.
"Enough. Get yourselves together."
"If we want this defeat to be the last we ever experience, becoming stronger as fast as we can is the only path forward."
"Just as his lordship said; our duty as soldiers of the first army is to execute the path he provided without fail."
Aegon's eyes swept across his companions as he stirred their resolve.
"We cannot lose again."
"We can't!"
Lu Chong rose to his feet, his voice firm as he turned towards the door.
"Where to?"
Monica asked the wielder of an aspect of space law.
"Dreamland Tower."
Lu Chong replied without stopping as he strode out of the war room.
"We should move as well."
Monica said to the others in the room.
"Alright."
Bai Yung, Aegon, Maris and Zhang Xiang responded in unison as they all left the war room.
..
Meeting Hui Teng in front of the summoning gate, Zhou Zhou handed 40 additional reset cards to him.
"How many subjects has been summoned?"
He asked.
"A total of 18,900 subjects, my lord."
"2,238 of them are professionals, the rest are not."
Hui Teng replied.
"Assign the majority of the ordinary subjects to Ashburn, Carter, Douma and Xing."
Zhou Zhou instructed.
"That was my initial plan, given the ongoing projects."
"However, Chief Architect Zhao Changshou has proposed a project that could drastically alter the scale and speed at which a city is built."
"I would prefer my lord hear from Elder Zhao before making the assignments."
Hui Teng said respectively.
"Very well. Send for him."
Zhou Zhou accepted the suggestion and waited.
Within twenty minutes, Zhao Changshou arrived.
Now appearing to be in his forties, he stood respectfully before his lord and began explaining the incomplete hero skill and the requirements needed for its completion.
"Completing the skill would delay our current projects." Zhao Changshou admitted, "but the returns would be immeasurable."
"We could become one of the wealthiest cities simply by selling the blueprints."
Zhou Zhou did not respond immediately.
Instead, he asked.
"What tier would you say the city is currently?"
"A Green bronze-tier, level 7 city."
Zhao Changshou answered
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