Seeing Xiao Jing take his advice to heart and seem to grow warier of the horse bandits, Guo Yun inwardly sighed in relief.
Those horse bandits were extremely formidable. They rode warhorses, came and went like the wind, and were incredibly vicious. Even though the Village Chief had over a hundred Soldier Terracotta Warriors, he would suffer heavy losses just to annihilate them.
He had gone through so much trouble to find a safe place for everyone; he couldn't bear to see it all disappear just like that.
Shaking off his thoughts, Guo Yun spoke again.
"My Lord, the village has just been founded. We villagers have next to no rations after fleeing for our lives. The food shortage is a problem that we must rely on you to solve!"
"That is indeed a problem…"
Xiao Jing murmured thoughtfully.
After learning the strength of the bandit leader from Guo Yun, Xiao Jing had already decided to put his plan to annihilate the bandits on hold.
He already had the Ancient Qin Secret Realm. A Nine Dragons Array Plate, which was of little use to him right now, was not worth losing a large number of his forces.
In the early stages of the game, military strength was unbelievably important!
"I will lead the Soldier Terracotta Warriors to hunt wild beasts for food. However, Mr. Guo, you must also arrange for people to clear and cultivate the land as soon as possible! That is the only long-term solution!"
After a moment of deliberation, Xiao Jing made his decision. 'Looks like the beasts near Wild Mountain Village will have to bear the brunt of it.'
Firstly, clearing out the beasts would provide food. Secondly, it would also serve to protect the villagers. Thirdly, the less dangerous animals would be perfect for training his troops.
'For now, my Soldier Terracotta Warriors are still too low-level and too weak. A small gang of bandits is enough to stump me. How could I possibly stand against the Yellow Turban Rebellion that's about to erupt?'
"I understand!" Guo Yun nodded and replied with a cupped-fist salute.
...
Though the world of *War* was based on the Three Kingdoms period of the Late Han Dynasty, it differed greatly from actual history.
This, of course, included farming and crop yields.
Historically, clearing and cultivating new land was always a troublesome and arduous task, and most critically, crop yields were very low.
But in *War*, things were different.
「The next day.」
Early in the morning, Guo Yun led a group of well-rested, able-bodied villagers to the great plains outside Wild Mountain Village.
They chose a spot near a mountain stream and set the overgrown weeds ablaze.
Once the fire died out, the weeds had turned to ash, revealing the dark soil beneath. Just like that, the land was cleared.
"What a treasure this land is!"
Guo Yun bent down, grasping a handful of black earth. He sighed in admiration, his heart swelling with confidence once more.
With such a vast plain of fertile land, he was confident that once it was all cultivated, they could produce a million units of grain per month. (One unit of grain was defined as the amount needed to feed one ordinary adult for a day.)
'Wild Mountain Village is in a valley, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It has this vast expanse of fertile land at its back, and the Village Chief is the renowned leader of the Number One Village Under Heaven. With over a hundred soldiers under his command, we're bound to prosper!'
At that moment, Guo Yun was filled with confidence.
...
While Guo Yun was leading the villagers to clear the fields, Xiao Jing wasn't idle either.
He was currently leading fifty Soldier Terracotta Warriors on a hunt for wild beasts in the mountains.
BANG!!!
STAB!!!!
After spearing a lunging wolf to death, Xiao Jing was slightly out of breath.
"You have killed a level 5 wild wolf. You have gained 10 EXP, 5 units of wolf meat, and 1 wolf pelt."
But upon hearing the notification for +10 EXP, he no longer felt tired.
'Sigh, the EXP gain dropped again!'
After ordering one of the Soldier Terracotta Warrior guards behind him to transport the wolf's corpse back to the village, Xiao Jing glanced at the body and sighed.
In *War*, the EXP required to level up increased by 200 with each level. It didn't sound like much, but the rate at which you gained EXP also decreased.
Originally, at level 1, Xiao Jing only needed 100 EXP to level up. Killing a wild wolf would grant him 15 EXP, almost as much as he got from that bandit he'd killed.
But once he reached level 2, the requirement jumped to 300 EXP, while killing a wild wolf only granted 10 EXP. The difficulty of leveling up had increased significantly.
'But it's fine. I'm not some solo player. As a "noble" Lord, I have an army!'
An idea struck Xiao Jing as he glanced at the Soldier Terracotta Warriors standing guard nearby.
In *War*, the primary way for a Lord to level up was through their army. When their soldiers killed an enemy, the Lord had a chance of receiving a small amount of EXP.
Realizing that the EXP he gained from his own kills was diminishing, Xiao Jing decisively ordered the Soldier Terracotta Warriors to deploy and sweep through the mountain forest outside the village.
The forest outside Wild Mountain Village was home to many types of beasts, but none were very high-level, typically staying below level 20.
There were dangerous beasts like tigers and wolves with Martial Power scores as high as 7 to 9, and also less threatening creatures like rabbits and foxes with Martial Power scores of 1 or 2.
Normally, with only 5 points of Martial Power, the Soldier Terracotta Warriors wouldn't stand a chance against dangerous beasts like wolves and tigers.
But humanity's greatest strength has always been cooperation, a concept even more applicable to an elite unit like the Soldier Terracotta Warriors.
With his Command stat of 8 and no actual experience leading troops, trying to command fifty Soldier Terracotta Warriors at once was a strain for Xiao Jing.
He gave it a try, but ended up using dozens of Soldier Terracotta Warriors just to corner a single wild deer, and even then, a few blunders nearly allowed it to escape.
'This is too much for me. I guess I'll have to find a great general to teach me the art of command and formation someday!'
Xiao Jing gave a wry smile, the thought fleeting.
"Yong Er, take command and hunt the beasts!" he said, turning to Yong Er, who had been quietly protecting him from behind.
"As you command!" After the terse reply, Yong Er turned to the slightly chaotic formation nearby and issued a dazzling series of commands.
The fifty Soldier Terracotta Warriors swiftly broke into ten squads of five.
Then, under Yong Er's direction, each squad began to methodically surround and kill the wild beasts.
The kill efficiency skyrocketed, and Xiao Jing's EXP gain visibly accelerated.
Although each kill by a Soldier Terracotta Warrior only gave him 2 EXP at most, he couldn't be stopped because he had so many of them. Fifty Soldier Terracotta Warriors were farming EXP for him around the clock.
Before long, he leveled up again and gained an Attribute Point.
He allocated the Attribute Point to Martial Power, as usual. A warm current soon spread from his dantian throughout his body.
Clenching his fists and feeling his newfound strength, Xiao Jing sighed in satisfaction. 'Now this is the proper way to level up!'
'Does anyone even grind mobs the old-fashioned way anymore?'
If any other player heard Xiao Jing's humblebrag, they'd probably pay the exorbitant fee to teleport over just to beat him up.
It was such a blatant flex!
What sane person inherits the Ancient Qin Secret Realm at the start of the game and gets hundreds of Soldier Terracotta Warriors?
Even the most powerful high-level player, "Zhen Guan Xiong Bing" from Yizhou, had only just managed to recruit a couple of village militiamen.
...
After a full day of activity, Xiao Jing finally emerged from the mountains at dusk, feeling he could have kept going.
His current status panel read:
[Level]: 5 (107/1100)
[Attributes]: Martial Power: 8.
He had leveled up four times in a single day, gaining four Attribute Points. He'd put them all into Martial Power, raising it by four points. The gains were enormous.
But the ones who had gained even more were the Soldier Terracotta Warriors.
With the "enthusiastic" help of the forest beasts, the Soldier Terracotta Warriors' average level had increased by 10. They had gained 3 free Attribute Points, and their average Martial Power had risen by 3 points.
The reason the Soldier Terracotta Warriors could level up 10 times while Xiao Jing only leveled up 4, despite sharing EXP, was simple. Although the EXP cost for leveling was the same for both him and his troops, the rate at which his troops gained EXP far surpassed his. For example, a level 2 Xiao Jing would only get 10 EXP for killing a wolf, but a level 2 Soldier Terracotta Warrior would get 38 EXP for the same kill—a nearly fourfold difference. How could their leveling not be fast?
'Though, the beasts near Wild Mountain Village have been pretty thoroughly cleared out. From now on, I'll probably have to venture deeper into the mountains to hunt.'