7: Team Leader

[Congratulations to the player for being the first to obtain the official position: "Squad Leader"!]

[Reward for the player: Earth-tier Treasure: Blood Burst Talisman × 3]

[Blood Burst Talisman (Earth-tier): After use, it can temporarily increase Martial Strength by 20 points for one hour. (Effective for High-level players and below, cannot be used consecutively.)

Side effect: Martial Strength decreases by 10 for one month after use.]

After returning to the camp, Lin Yue, who had officially become a Squad Leader, heard the game system notification ringing in his ears!

Blood Burst Talisman!

If a High-level Military General uses it, they can temporarily possess the strength of a Legendary General!

This is truly a good item, much better than the Space Jade Pendant rewarded by the game system when he first became a Squad Leader in the game.

However, his current strength is insufficient. After taking the Spirit Gathering Pills from the newbie gift pack these past few days and combining them with the Heaven-tier cultivation technique "Killing God Art", he had only just upgraded to a Mid-level Soldier. Using the Blood Burst Talisman now would only temporarily grant him the strength of an Initial-stage Martial General; it wouldn't be cost-effective and would simply waste its value.

[Name: Lin Yue, Title: Pioneer, Identity: Soldier (Great Qin), Peerage: None, Official Position: Squad Leader, Cultivation Technique: Killing God Art (First Layer 70%), Martial Strength: 30, Intelligence: 30, Command: 21, Politics: 22, Charisma: 99, Reputation: 500 (Unknown), Talent: Amiability, Skill: None]

Lin Yue checked his attribute panel. It had taken three days to upgrade his Martial Strength by only 2 points; he still felt it was a bit slow.

If other players knew his thoughts, he would surely be drowned in their spit; most players hadn't even increased their Martial Strength by a single point yet!

In the game, a Martial Strength of 25 is an Initial-stage Soldier, 30 is a Mid-level Soldier, 35 is a High-level Soldier, 40 is a Special-tier Soldier, and 45 is a Half-step Martial General.

50 is an Initial-stage Martial General, 60 is a Mid-level Martial General, and 70 is a High-level Military General.

80 is a Third-rate Military General, 85 is a Second-Rate Military General, 90 is a First-rate Military General, 95 is a Super-first-rate Martial General, also called a Legendary General, and 100 is a Mythical Martial General!

The higher the realm, the more difficult it is to improve Martial Strength. Often, one cannot improve their Martial Strength by even a single point for years or decades, and as one gets older, their Martial Strength will even slowly decline. Lin Yue's Martial Strength was just 30, making him a Mid-level Soldier, so he couldn't yet experience that kind of pain.

"Squad Leader Lin, this is for you from the Military Marquis." A Soldier handed Lin Yue a small package. Upon hearing this, Lin Yue opened the package and saw shimmering silver!

He counted carefully; it was a total of 30 taels of silver!

The currency in the game is not the Qin Banliang, but a monetary system based on three levels: gold, silver, and copper. One thousand copper coins equal one tael of silver, and ten taels of silver equal one tael of gold.

These thirty taels of silver were definitely not a small amount!

"I cannot accept this." Lin Yue demurred, not understanding why the Military Marquis would send silver to a lowly Squad Leader like him. Could it be a hint?

"Squad Leader, you have misunderstood. Because Black Diamond was your military achievement, the spoils of war should rightfully belong to you. This is a tradition of the Qin Army; please do not forget it next time, Squad Leader." The Soldier explained to Lin Yue with a smile.

So that was it!

He had been too hasty!

If he had known about this tradition at the time, it would have been an act of mercy if Black Diamond had even been left with his underwear!

It was mainly because he had overslept at the time and hadn't thought much about it. He hadn't expected that he could not only get promoted but also make a fortune. No wonder the gazes of those Soldiers were so intense during the search!

"I see, thank you for your trouble." Lin Yue offered him one tael of silver, but he smilingly refused.

"The Military Marquis asks that you go search for Mountain Bandit camps when you have time. This subordinate will take his leave."

Lin Yue nodded and saw him out.

Search for Mountain Bandit camps? Even if he hadn't said it, he would have searched for them anyway.

One must know that the game had just launched. Although the Great Qin Empire did not allow the existence of players, there were still many Mountain Bandits and wandering merchants in the wild. If players wanted to become stronger and trade with them, they couldn't do without silver! However, the means for players to obtain silver at this time were too few, causing the value of silver to remain high!

Currently, the exchange rate between one tael of silver and the dragon coin circulated by the Great Xia official authorities is 1:1000. As players gradually develop and the means to obtain silver increase, the amount of dragon coins that silver can be exchanged for will become less and less. This moment should be the peak!

Only a fool would refuse to make money!

These 30 taels of silver could now be exchanged for 30,000 dragon coins, which was equivalent to his previous monthly salary! That was something he had only obtained after working day and night for 30 days with countless overtime hours. Now, he had obtained it after playing the game for only three days!

People say that if you stand in the path of the wind, even a pig can fly. Although he wasn't a pig, Lin Yue just wanted to say one thing: it truly did not deceive him!

Thinking of this, Lin Yue's breathing gradually quickened. He turned and went to the building where his squad rested and shouted: "Assemble!"

Everyone was startled awake from their sleep by this sound and hurriedly put on their clothes and armor before running outside.

Until the last Soldier had stood in position, Lin Yue glanced at the system time and said.

"Not bad." Lin Yue praised.

"Set off! Cheer up, we are going to find Mountain Bandits!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an immediate buzz of discussion. Lin Yue did not stop them until one Soldier stepped out and said: "Squad Leader, we searched for an entire day during the day, and now it is late. Should we wait until tomorrow to search?"

"Yes, Squad Leader, all the other squads have already rested!"

"That's right, I'm about to die of sleepiness!"

Everyone in front of him was remonstrating with Lin Yue. It was hard to search in this vast mountain forest during the day, let alone at night?

"You are sleepy? Why am I not sleepy?"

Lin Yue retorted, though he felt a bit ashamed in his heart. He understood that these Soldiers were exhausted, but under the temptation of dragon coins, and because he had slept a lot during the day, he couldn't wait a moment longer.

"Tonight, I observed the celestial phenomena; this trip will surely yield results!" Lin Yue encouraged everyone.

Afterwards, he kept only one tael of the 30 taels of silver he had just obtained and threw the rest to the person who had just stepped out, telling him to distribute it to everyone.

After everyone received the silver, the scene was momentarily and eerily silent.

"This..." the Soldier who had just stepped out asked in surprise, not knowing how to speak.

In the game, an ordinary person in the Qin Dynasty eats about 18 shi of grain a year, and one shi of grain costs 30 copper coins. This one tael of silver is enough for an ordinary person to live for two years!

Immediately, everyone became even more convinced of the young Squad Leader, for whom they already had a very good impression!

It was just suppressing bandits, right? Previously, the world had just been pacified, and there was no time to deal with them, but now they dared to collude with Outsiders and attack villages at every turn. They should have been suppressed long ago!

"Squad Leader, I have thought about it, and since everyone cannot sleep, let us set off!"

"Yes, Squad Leader, my mother wrote to say that those damn Mountain Bandits and Outsiders robbed our village. If it weren't for the village braves rising up to resist, and the government troops arriving in time, the consequences would be unimaginable! Squad Leader, how can I sleep after hearing this?"

"That's right, when can't one sleep? To live, one must have value!"

"If it weren't for them being so elusive, I would have wanted to deal with them long ago. Squad Leader, let's go!"

Everyone spoke one after another, erupting with great enthusiasm!

They had heard that the Squad Leader, this young man who had joined the army three days ago, had been promoted precisely because of this. If they let him find a Mountain Bandit stronghold again, they could also benefit from it. Even if they couldn't find one, this one tael of silver was enough to satisfy their expectations!

As the saying goes, a new official applies three fires. As long as this fire didn't burn them, it was fine!

As for who it burned, that was none of their business!

They didn't know about other things, but anyway, a leader who didn't withhold their rewards and didn't embezzle their contributions was a good leader, let alone this kind of leader who took the initiative to distribute silver to his subordinates!

As for being young, their leader was around twenty years old; what was wrong with being a Squad Leader? They had heard that there was someone named Gan Luo before, who could be a Prime Minister at twelve years old. They even felt that the Squad Leader was a bit overqualified!

As for Gan Luo, Gan Luo didn't give them money!

Lin Yue looked at the righteous and indignant crowd, their eyes full of anger, and felt that the encouraging words he had just prepared were unnecessary. He only wanted to say one thing: I am not as good as you all!

He then coughed lightly to interrupt everyone's actions and said softly: "Set off!"

He had only been putting on an act by looking for them. Relying on these thirty people to find Mountain Bandits in this game with a hundred times the surface area would be like a pie falling from the sky. All he wanted was a disguise.

Otherwise, if he were in the camp every day and still managed to find Mountain Bandits, someone would inevitably be suspicious.

The current Qin Camp was a good place. Look at the other players; cities were forbidden zones for them, and they had to hide in the wild.

Because Mountain Bandits didn't always recruit them; some Mountain Bandits treated them completely as fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. There were also venomous insects and wild beasts, which were all challenges for players who had just entered the game.

As for those 29,000 dragon coins, they weren't actually that important to him. As a sly fox like him, was he afraid of not finding a Mountain Bandit stronghold? Was he afraid of not having silver?

Lin Yue looked up; the moon was bright and the stars were sparse tonight, a good time.

He then opened the regional chat system and, as if selecting a concubine, carefully made his selection.

"The long night is endless, and I have no heart to sleep. Which one should I pick?"