Dozens of wild bulls all used Savage Trample at the same time.
The nearly three-hundred-person force was instantly scattered by a herd of cows.
Plus the trampling and horn attack, the death toll directly reached one hundred and twenty-three.
The remaining hundred-plus were mostly wounded.
In the harsh environment of the Mist World, those wounded soldiers' conditions quickly deteriorated, and many soon died as well.
In this battle, Shakun lost 256 soldiers, but only killed six wild bulls.
They obtained 5 Earth Beast Cores, 6 Wind Beast Cores, 1 Water Beast Core.
Even so, General Shakun still thought that getting so many beast cores made him the strongest on the surface.
He even smugly believed that in the entire Mist World, the first person with the qualification to build a villa must be him.
But at this moment… the names and content flashing across the pinned announcement deeply wounded Shakun's fragile heart.
He could not understand how someone could gather 20 specifically required beast cores and at the same time collect so many Advance materials.
'This is not scientific!'
'No!'
'It is very likely that this person is just lucky.'
'He had just happened to gather the villa upgrade requirements. He certainly did not have more materials than me. After all, I have an entire army serving me.'
'No one else could possibly have such conditions!'
Another possibility flashed through Shakun's mind. He believed Ethan was surely inferior to him in other abilities.
But the system seemed to see through his thoughts, and the next announcement popped up. Still a comparison of both parties' strengths.
[Shakun's warehouse materials: Advance wood 65, Advance stone 126, Bronze 360, Silver 40, Spirit Stones 75…]
[Ethan's warehouse materials: Advance wood 115, Advance stone 570, Bronze 1470, Silver 186, Spirit Stones 219…]
The announcement did not even bother to list the low-grade materials.
But just from the listed Advance materials, who was stronger was obvious at a glance.
Ethan's strength painfully tormented Shakun.
He tore at the few hairs on his head and roared hoarsely, "How is this possible? How did he chop so much Advance wood!"
"A ten-man team felling trees for a day can only get one piece of Advance wood!"
"And Advance wood is so hard to fell!"
"And those Advance stones, every single one is on sheer cliffs. Each one mined costs lives. How could he possibly…"
"And that bronze and silver, how could he possibly have opened so many treasure chests by himself!!"
"I know!"
"He must be like me, a warlord, or a chieftain or something!"
Shakun tried hard to find suitable reasons and excuses for his failure.
At that moment his deputy stood silently to the side and said, "Reporting to the general, according to the District 7 informant bought by the intelligence bureau, this player named Ethan appears to be only one person."
"What?"
Shakun felt as if pierced by arrows.
He grabbed the report from the deputy's hand and flipped through it in disbelief, "This can't be! How could he be just one person? He must have an army behind him, at least a group supporting him!"
"According to the intelligence bureau's information, this player sold flint, burn medicine, compasses, and fresh rat meat," the adjutant explained, "The intelligence bureau analyzed that on the first day he probably opened a bronze treasure chest and obtained 20 pieces of flint, of which he sold 19 and kept one."
"That bronze chest might not have dropped exactly 20. Couldn't it be 30 or 50?", Shakun retorted.
The adjutant only bowed his head lower and continued to explain, "General, calm down! According to intelligence, this player also sold 49 units of burn medicine, keeping one for personal use."
"If, by the general's logic, he could have obtained more than 50 units of burn medicine…"
"Assume he had 11 subordinates, burn medicine is not a single-use bottle, so it shouldn't just happen to have exactly 49 left."
"And he sold most of his meat. If he had a team or was a warlord, that would be unreasonable."
Shakun frowned and asked, "Why would that be unreasonable?"
"General, please consider: if you obtained a large amount of meat in this famine world, what would you do?", The deputy did not answer immediately but instead asked Shakun a question.
"Of course I would give some as rewards to deserving subordinates, and store the rest as rations or future rewards..."
Shakun paused when he said this.
Only then did he realize, "You mean this guy can eat enough for himself, his household won't starve. So he doesn't need to stockpile rations, and since he has no subordinates he can directly sell them to exchange for other materials."
"Yes, General!"
Shakun fell into deep thought.
'Is my strategic development direction wrong?' [T/N: Technically, in the long run, Shakun would have better advantage.]
He shouldn't have chosen sneaky development. He should have been more forceful, expanding by war and invading other players to grow himself.
[Reminder: Players ranked beyond 100 in the district, please make your choice quickly. Countdown 01:58]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Regional Channel]
["I don't want to die! Mom!"]
["Rather than be erased, I'd rather choose to become a subject. At least I'd have a chance to live!"]
["Our district's big shot is the world number one! Don't you think he has a chance to lead us to the end, then defeat the game's final big BOSS and free us all?"]
["I remember a book I read that said once everyone entered the game they couldn't leave. Then the male lead cleared the game alone, killed the AI behind it, and brought all players back to the real world!"]
["That can happen! Hopefully by tomorrow!"]
["My sister ranked 56. For her to live, I volunteer to become a subject! I hope everyone will consider relatives and friends still alive in our district. If the lord has no subjects, it will be hard to beat other district lords! For District Seven!"]
["For District Seven, our people will never be slaves!"]
["For District Seven, I volunteer to become a subject!"]
["Damn, you guys are so passionate. You've got me thinking of giving up my top-100 rank and volunteering to be a subject!"]
["You up there, you motherf*cking-show-off! If you've got the guts, swap with me!"]
["Got no guts, got no guts!"]
["..."]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
However, the protagonist of everyone's hot topic, Ethan, was still sound asleep.
He didn't know what was happening outside at all.
Except for the occasional prompt flashing from his magic book—
[Subject +1]
[Subject +1]
[Subject…]
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳
Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.