From A Stronghold NPC To The Final BOSS - Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Level One Faction
“You have participated in the contest for the Core Token of Starter Village #10021!”
“You are currently the owner of the token. If you are not killed and do not leave the radius of the token within the time limit, you will obtain ownership of the Core Token of Starter Village #10021!”
Beneath the system notification was a timer.
Qin Shujian reached an understanding when he saw this.
This was why the player he had killed with one strike had not obtained the Core Token despite standing in the area for such a long time.
The time limit of ten minutes might not seem long.
However, it was fatal.
After all, with so many players contesting the token, who could guarantee that they could last the entire duration and emerge victorious out of the tens of thousands of players.
However, the other players might not be able to accomplish that, but that didn’t mean that Qin Shujian couldn’t.
Qin Shujian looked around at the rest of the players, who did not dare to step forward.
Qin Shujian had a stoic expression as he stood with his hands behind his back.
His Tiger Head Blade was pierced into the ground. Half the length of the blade was underground.
Seeing this, several players had a look of fury.
Everyone could see what the Boss was doing. He was completely disregarding them.
The players would have swarmed forward if the Boss was anyone else.
However, when they saw Qin Shujian standing within the ring of light, the flames of fury that welled up in their hearts didn’t last long before subsiding. They felt a wave of helplessness.
Even if they wanted to battle, they knew they didn’t have a fighting chance.
Even if it were just the ability to break through his defenses, with this many players respawning indefinitely, they would be able to crush the Boss with their numbers.
However, the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain in front of them was so powerful that it was terrifying.
Not only were his attacks overbearing, but his defense was also unparalleled.
The players couldn’t even break through his defense with their current abilities.
The plan of crushing the Boss with just their numbers alone was but a pipe dream.
At this moment, all of the players sensed it. A deep, evil intent that came from the game itself.
“There’s no way we can play this game!” Lu Shoujia took a deep breath. He felt a wave of helplessness well up in his heart.
He was not alone. The rest of the leaders from the other faction also had an uncertain look on their faces.
They had played many games.
But this was the first time that they were dominated to such a degree.
They had no way of retaliating.
Zhao Xiaomeng had a dejected expression. She sighed, “After this incident, our Starter Village #10021 will become famous.”
It was a starter village that was oppressed by a Boss.
Every player from Starter Village #10021 was embarrassed.
“I’m leaving,” Cao Hong instantly turned to leave.
Rather than look at Qin Shujian’s infuriating face, he might as well look away and feel better about it.
Cao Hong had the urge to die together with Qin Shujian when he thought about the dozen times he had been killed at the Liangshan Stronghold Mountain Bandits’ hands.
Cao Hong would not hesitate if he truly could die together with the other party.
But, he knew it very well.
The enemy would strike him down if he charged forward.
As Cao Hong left, the rest of the players hesitated for a moment before also leaving indignantly.
In an instant, a good portion of the players gathered at the heart of the Starter Village left quietly.
However, a majority of the indignant players remained where they stood.
They did not walk forward, and they didn’t retreat.
Time passed little by little.
The players didn’t dare to take action, while Qin Shujian was not interested in attacking them.
His current priority was to obtain the Core Token.
Ten minutes was not a short amount of time, but it was not a long time either.
Soon, he reached the end of the countdown.
“You have obtained the Core Token of Starter Village #10021!”
“You can choose to destroy it or absorb it!”
“Destroy: The Core Token will be converted into a corresponding amount of Life Value. Starter Village #10021 will cease to exist!”
“Absorb: The Liangshan Stronghold Token can absorb the Core Token of Starter Village #10021. The Liangshan Stronghold Token will level up after the absorption. The Liangshan Stronghold would also level up to become a Level One Faction!”
The ring of pale blue light receded after the timer was fully counted down. The bronze token that was suspended in the air also fell into Qin Shujian’s hands.
At the same time, he received a string of system notifications.
Qin Shujian’s heart shook slightly when he read the last two notifications.
Logically, Life Value should be of utmost importance to him. Even though he didn’t know how many points of Life Value he would get by destroying the Core Token, Qin Shujian guessed that it wouldn’t be a small number.
After all, he had spent a great deal of effort to topple Starter Village #10021.
However, Qin Shujian hesitated when he saw the last notification.
The Liangshan Stronghold would level up to become a Level One Faction!
Qin Shujian didn’t know what a Level One Faction was.
However, he was sure that the entire Liangshan Stronghold might benefit if the Liangshan Stronghold leveled up to become a Level One Faction.
One of the options was a simple, individual boost.
The other option was likely a collective improvement.
However, Qin Shujian only hesitated for a little while before he came to a decision.
He did not forget.
The bulk of why he was able to improve his strength within such a short time was due to the Mountain Bandits massacring the players and supplying him with a large amount of Life Value.
Otherwise, if it had been him alone, he might not have been able to reach the level he was at even if he slogged all his life.
Also, if he thought about the choices from another perspective, as the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain, boosting the Liangshan Stronghold’s strength was indirectly improving his strength.
If the Liangshan Stronghold could become more powerful as a whole.
Then they would be able to supply him with more points of Life Value in the future.
Thus, Qin Shujian was able to make a swift decision with relative ease.
“Absorb!” He exclaimed as he exerted his will.
The Liangshan Stronghold Token in his robes flew out into the air and combined itself with the Starter Village Core Token.
Finally, a speckled green token was suspended in the air in front of Qin Shujian.
A slew of system notifications appeared again when Qin Shujian grabbed the green token.
“You have absorbed the Core Token of Starter Village #10021!”
“The Liangshan Stronghold Token in your possession has transformed!”
“Because of your status as the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain, the Liangshan Stronghold has leveled up to become a Level One Faction!”
“Level One Faction: The stages of all Mountain Bandits have increased by two levels on top of their original level (This cannot exceed Martial Entry-Level Six). The influence of the Liangshan Stronghold has increased!”
“As the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain, your level will also increase!”
“Because you are already at Martial Entry-Level Eight, leveling up has failed for you. Instead, you have obtained an additional 500 points of Life Value!”
Qin Shujian let out a comfortable smile when he saw these notifications.
He never expected there to be so many benefits when the Liangshan Stronghold leveled up to become a Level One Faction.
Even if he disregarded everything else, merely the two-level increase to the levels of all the Mountain Bandits was enough to increase the overall strength of the Liangshan Stronghold multiple-fold.
At the same time, “Because the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain had absorbed the Core Token, Starter Village #10021 has ceased to exist. The players that were originally from Starter Village #10021 will be redistributed randomly!”
“Players will be forced out of the game during the redistribution!”
“Countdown: Five seconds!”
The expressions of the rest of the players instantly changed dramatically when the Core Token was absorbed.
The system notification had caught them completely off guard.
“F***…”
Several players cursed immediately.
However, they didn’t have the chance to say much more before they turned into rays of white light where they stood and were forced offline.