Volume One, Chapter Eleven: Martial Commander Skills

“Exactly!”

“To advance in our profession, it takes at least ten years of experience, and sometimes even decades of accumulation!”

As he spoke, Wang Yan couldn’t help but let out a sigh of emotion:

“Throughout history, many fine weapons have existed, but truly legendary ones are exceedingly rare. Isn’t that because breaking through to become a master of forging is incredibly difficult? Truly difficult!”

Lin Xuan stood before Wang Yan, looking at the middle-aged man’s earnest expression, and felt deeply moved.

From Wang Yan’s words, Lin Xuan understood that recruiting this man, who was on the verge of becoming a forging master, was an incredible stroke of luck.

Recalling the scene earlier that morning in Jiyin City, when he saw the villagers Ningxia had—each with no more than 40 points in their four core attributes, and none with any outstanding talents—Lin Xuan could only compare.

His own villagers?

Each had three or four attributes above 50 points, some with at least one or two, and nearly half had special talents. Three even held professions.

Lin Xuan knew this was all thanks to his “Luck” talent.

Whether it was starting with a three-star general, obtaining unique blueprints for special buildings, or recruiting high-attribute villagers that no other lord could get—everything demonstrated how his talent was silently at work.

But Lin Xuan didn’t let that inflate his ego. He understood that his achievements were due to his talent’s advantage, a fortunate edge.

Other lords, however, sometimes had great luck of their own. Like the lord who drew the “Midas Touch” talent, or the one who began with a treasure trove, or the one who had an iron mine from the start—they had already pulled far ahead of everyone at the beginning.

In short, the key remained: avoid arrogance and impatience, proceed steadily and firmly, and strengthen oneself. That was the true path to power.

After this reflection, Lin Xuan stopped chatting with Wang Yan and directly handed over the materials, instructing him to begin forging weapons.

Amid the clang of hammer on anvil, evening swiftly approached.

[Long Spear]: Common-grade weapon; when equipped by generals or soldiers, adds +1 to their Strength attribute.

In the smithy, Lin Xuan looked at the twenty-two newly forged long spears before him and picked one up to check its attributes on the virtual panel.

Then he handed the spear to Jiang Feishang. “Feishang, make do with this for now. We’ll replace it with something better when we get it.”

With that, Lin Xuan opened Jiang Feishang’s status panel.

[Jiang Feishang]: 25 years old
[Territory]: Lin Family Village
[Loyalty]: 89
[Rating]: Three Stars
[Profession]: General
[Strength]: 91 (includes +1 from common-grade long spear)
[Leadership]: 81
[Politics]: 65
[Combat Power]: 118 (three-star cultivation method, adds 30% combat power bonus; decimals disregarded)
[Skill 1]: Bravery (for 20 minutes after activation, Strength +3; cooldown 3 hours)
[Skill 2]: Nine Strikes of Heaven (next nine attacks after activation gain +3 Strength; cooldown 6 hours)
[Skill 3]: Blade Sect (when wielding blade weapons, Strength +2)
[Martial Art]: Three-Star “Cang Yuan Technique”
[Weapon]: Common-grade long spear
[Mount]: None

“Strength 91, combat power 118, and with Bravery plus the Nine Strikes skill, Feishang’s peak combat power can reach 126!”

Lin Xuan sighed softly.

“It’s a pity the top ten reward was a long spear forging blueprint, not a blade weapon one—otherwise Feishang’s combat power could be even higher!”

Though regretful, Lin Xuan knew that at this stage, having a general with peak combat power of 126 was already impressive.

With his Luck talent boosting him, of Jiang Feishang’s three skills, only two granted the maximum attribute bonus (+3).

(Skills confer attribute bonuses from +1 to +3, with 3 being the highest.)

Other lords’ generals rarely had even one skill with a +3 attribute bonus, let alone three such skills.

(Generals ranked from one to five stars can learn up to three skills; god-tier generals up to five; peerless-tier generals add an extra peerless divine skill with +5 attribute bonus.)

Understanding these mechanics made Lin Xuan appreciate the importance of his Luck talent even more.

“Sigh, I’ve really slipped back to square one!”

After a brief moment of happiness, Lin Xuan’s gaze wandered to the village assets displayed on the virtual panel.

An helpless smile appeared on his face.

[Village Assets]:
Copper Coins: 242
Wood: 1068
Iron Ore: 18,010
Food: 19,006

“242.”

That was all the money Lin Xuan currently had—1 silver coin plus 142 copper coins.

If it weren’t for the abundant wood near the village, saving him a great deal of expense, Lin Xuan wondered if he could even afford to upgrade the Village Chief’s Hall to level one.

The 2,000 units of wood he bought earlier in Jiyin City, used for building a refugee camp, a basic barracks, and the smithy, as well as upgrading the Village Chief’s Hall, had all been consumed—each costing 500 units.

Now, the wood shown on the virtual panel, except for the initial ten units gifted by the system, was all gathered by the villagers of Lin Family Village.

Lin Xuan roughly calculated that each villager could collect about fifty units of wood per day on average.

At that rate, he wouldn’t have to spend money buying wood anymore in the future.

“The fastest way to get money is to rob it!”

If Lin Xuan had more funds, he wouldn’t have limited Wang Yan to forging only 22 long spears. He himself wouldn’t say anything, but Jiang Feishang and those fifty novice infantry should each have at least one weapon.

“Hopefully that mountain bandit stronghold won’t disappoint me!” Lin Xuan could only pin his hopes on the bandit camp Jiang Feishang mentioned last time.

Whether it was crafting equipment or training soldiers, money was essential. These resources might be crucial for the upcoming novice trial he had to face.

So Lin Xuan resolved: tomorrow, Jiang Feishang would lead the troops to capture that bandit stronghold!

Not to say he’d get rich overnight, but at least… his forces could grow larger.

Fifty soldiers were simply too few for Lin Xuan. In his view, even if he couldn’t train thousands, there should be at least seven or eight hundred soldiers!

What Lin Xuan didn’t know was that if other lords heard this, they would scold him mercilessly:

“Fifty soldiers and you’re still not satisfied? We haven’t even built a barracks yet!”