14: Chapter 14 Approaching a Hundred-Man Team

"61 Spirit Crystals!" Lin Tian's eyes widened as he quickly did the mental math. "18 black iron 2-star, 2 each, 36; 7 black iron 3-star, 3 each, 21; 1 black iron 4-star Alpha Wolf, 4... Perfect! Not a single one more or less, quite accurate!"

Weighing the warm, faintly glowing Spirit Crystals in his hand and feeling the energy flowing within them, he could almost hear the clanging footsteps of new recruits. "Recruit! Must recruit hard! If I don't mass-produce troops now, when will I? This is what's called 'use good steel on the blade's edge, spend Spirit Crystals on recruiting troops'!"

With wind under his feet, he rushed straight to the militia recruitment altar, which now looked much more impressive with the reliefs of three elite troop types carved onto it.

"Brother Altar, we're open for business! Give me a 'rain of light'!" Lin Tian boldly tossed all 61 Spirit Crystals in at once. The altar suddenly burst into brilliant light, and soft, dense white light gushed out like a fountain, with one somewhat slender figure after another rapidly solidifying in the radiance.

As the light faded, 61 new recruits stood around the altar, looking somewhat dazed. They still possessed that classic "starting refugee template"—sallow and emaciated, wearing tattered clothes, their eyes a mix of anxiety about the unknown and a glimmer of the desire to survive.

Lin Tian swept his gaze over them and couldn't help but chuckle: "48 men, 13 young women... This gender ratio is almost catching up to our civil engineering department back in the day.

Oh Altar, Altar, when will you launch a 'custom recruitment' or a 'gender balance patch'? I'd love to experience what it's like to command a 'Mulan Legion'!"

Jokes aside, his movements were lightning fast. He glanced at the warehouse; basic materials were pitifully scarce. "A clever housewife can't cook without rice; without materials, how can I 're-equip and makeover' the brothers? Trading Platform, activate!"

He quickly switched to the [Trading Platform]. The morning's collective hunt had clearly stimulated market demand, and requests to buy meat and leather were scrolling by rapidly.

Listing: 45 units of Wolf Meat for 15 Iron Ore!

Listing: All 26 units of Wolf Skin for 52 wood!

Listing: 5 units of Wolf Meat for 5 Stone!

Listing again: 80 units of Wolf Meat for 160 wood!

"Done! The Wolf Skin and most of the Wolf Meat have been successfully converted into cash!" Lin Tian watched the resource bar refresh and snapped his fingers in satisfaction. Adding the remaining assets, he now held: 24 Iron Ore, 24 Stone, 245 wood.

"Materials are in place, let's start the Fusion! Lunch? Non-existent! Development is the number one priority!

Just have to rough it for these two days, a two-meal-a-day system will have to do. Daytime is too precious to waste!" Lin Tian was full of energy, as if he didn't know the meaning of fatigue.

First, he used 24 units of Iron Ore and 24 units of Stone to fuse 24 brand new Iron-Armored Spearmen and Rock Armor Soldiers respectively. Then, without hesitation, he consumed 13 units of wood to promote all 13 female Militia into Archers.

The light of Fusion flashed repeatedly, and batch after batch of new recruits were transformed, instantly gaining momentum. In the end, out of the 61 newly recruited individuals, 24 Iron-Armored Soldiers, 24 Rock Armor Soldiers, and 13 Archers—a total of 61 people—completed their initial arming and stood tall. Now, let's take stock of this "expanded" army:

Original Elites: 33 people (11 Rock Armor Soldiers, 11 Heavy Armored Spearmen, 11 Moon Shadow Archers)

Newly Fused Combat Power: 61 people (24 Rock Armor Soldiers, 24 Iron-Armored Soldiers, 13 Archers)

Total: 94 people!

Looking at the dark mass of people before him—a formation that, while not perfectly orderly, was already quite intimidating in scale—a strong sense of accomplishment and heroic spirit filled Lin Tian's chest.

"Haha, that's more like it!" He put his hands on his hips and laughed heartily. "I left this morning with just a 'reinforced platoon,' and by noon, I'm almost back with a 'hundred-man company'!

This speed of expansion, even I'm scared! Having money... ah no, having resources and not spending them, that's being a miser! Spending them to turn them into real, solid fists, that's what feels good!"

He quickly reorganized the troops:

Lin Yan's Rock Armor Soldiers increased to 35.

Lin Feng's spearmen increased to 35 (Heavy Armored Spearmen + Iron-Armored Soldiers).

Lin Yin's Archer unit increased to 24 (Moon Shadow Archers + Archers).

After taking stock, Lin Tian once again cast his gaze outside the territory, toward the area where they had fought the wolf pack in the morning, his eyes sharp.

"Rest? Non-existent!" His loud voice echoed throughout the camp. "Time is life, efficiency is food! Attention everyone, take a short rest. In half an hour, we march to the morning's battlefield and push deeper! Let's clear out all the threats in the surrounding area!"

"Understood!" The soldiers responded in unison, their voices shaking the sky. The new recruits, infected by this, also tried their best to straighten their backs.

Lin Tian nodded with satisfaction, calculating happily in his heart: "Taking a 94-man team out there, the scene... If we harvest another wave this afternoon, resources will roll in, and I'll definitely be able to recruit again tonight. The goal of 'breaking one hundred' is practically in the bag!

As for those three 'bear security guards' at night... hehe, just wait until the team gets stronger. In seven days, we'll see who cleans up whom!"

He could already imagine the scene of his army covering the sky and sweeping across the jungle.

"Let's go! Move out! Today's goal is to make the territory's dinner menu richer, let you live in better rooms, and have more brothers and sisters!" With a wave of his hand, he led the way toward the territory exit.

Behind him, the nearly hundred-man team started moving with a roar. The team then returned to the battle site and continued to push deeper into the jungle.

The subsequent exploration was relatively smooth. Pushing forward for over two hundred meters, they only encountered two timid and docile black iron 2-star Horned Rock Sheep, which fled immediately upon seeing the large army. "It seems this area was a 'canteen' contracted by that pack of wolves earlier," Lin Tian speculated.

Afterward, the team followed the outer perimeter of the territory's protective barrier and began to clear the area in a clockwise direction.

In a muddy forest on the west side of the territory, they discovered new prey: over a dozen black iron 3-star Tusked Wild Boars with ferocious, protruding tusks, rolling around in a mud pit.

But the state of this group of wild boars was clearly wrong; everyone was injured and bloodied, and three of them were on the verge of death, lying motionless by the mud pit.

About thirty meters behind the wild boar group, eight sleek, powerful tigers with magnificent black and yellow striped fur and a "King" ( king) character pattern on their foreheads were pacing over unhurriedly. Their cold gazes locked onto the wild boars and also swept toward Lin Tian's suddenly appearing human team.

[Inspect: Variegated Tiger (Rare)]

[Level: black iron 5-star, 6-star]

"Good grief, seven rare-quality black iron 5-stars! And one black iron 6-star!" Lin Tian's pupils constricted, but seeing the three dying wild boars, he immediately made a decision. "How could the meat already in my mouth fly away? Lin Yin, give those three suffering pig brothers a quick end! Make it clean!"

"Yes!" Lin Yin understood. The bowstring twanged softly, and three emerald green arrows seemed to have grown eyes, precisely sinking into the eye sockets of the three dying wild boars, ending their suffering.

"ROAR!!!"

This action completely enraged the Variegated Tiger pack! Their hard-earned prey had been "stolen," and their territorial dignity had been challenged! The lead Variegated Tiger let out a deafening roar, and all the fierce tigers turned into yellow and black lightning, charging straight at the military formation!

"Well done! I was afraid you'd run away. Lin Yan, hold the line! Lin Feng, prepare for a formation-breaking spear strike! Moon Shadow Archers, aim for the eyes and the soft spots of the mouth, suppressive fire!" Lin Tian, though startled, remained calm and quickly gave orders.

"Rock Formation—Immovable as a Mountain!" Lin Yan roared. The thirty-five Rock Armor Soldiers stomped heavily on the ground, the rock light on their bodies shining brightly, their defense raised to the extreme, like a stone wall rising from the ground, defiantly meeting the tigers' pounce!

"BOOM! BANG! CRACK!"