Elemental fragments were almost depleted.
At least—
Expanding from level 6 to level 7 was definitely not enough.
Fortunately, Chen Yu's main camp was still in the Rare tier. Until it successfully upgraded to the Extraordinary tier, there was no resource pressure for sub-camp expansions.
The problem was, just because there wasn't any now didn't mean there wouldn't be in the future.
As long as the upgrade to Extraordinary was successful.
Chen Yu would then face the expansion of 24 sub-camps, requiring 7680 elemental fragments in total, amounting to 30,720 elemental fragments.
"Having more camps isn't necessarily a good thing!"
Thinking about the elemental fragments needed for expansion made Chen Yu's scalp tingle.
Then again, although expansion required a massive amount of resources, he also enjoyed some of the conveniences brought by the sub-camps.
He could possess more territory.
Within his territory, he could freely build his kingdom.
Of course—
It was still too early to talk about establishing a kingdom, but the area of his current camp was roughly comparable to a decent-sized small family.
Looking outside.
Mountains of resources were piled up outside the camp.
If these resources were not placed inside the camp, he could not take them with him.
If he were to rely on the Kobolds in the camp.
It was likely that even if they were worked to death, they might not be able to move all these resources in. Fortunately, Chen Yu saw that quite a few Orc mercenaries had not left.
While some Orc mercenaries had indeed left after the resources were stripped.
There were still some mercenaries who, perhaps not having had the time to leave the wilderness caves yet, caught Chen Yu's eye.
He took a rough glance.
There were about 50 of them.
"Why haven't these mercenaries left yet?" Chen Yu raised his eyebrows slightly. To his surprise, the rabbit-human mixed-blood mercenary who had previously offered him advice approached, "My Lord, these mercenaries all wish to follow you."
"Heh, you're still here?" Chen Yu smiled.
The mixed-blood Orc mercenary scratched his head with a憨厚 (hān hòu - honest and simple) smile and said.
"I want to follow you too."
"You want to follow me for spoils?" Chen Yu grinned and said, "You've got some ideas, haven't you? How do you know those people want to follow me?"
"It's obvious just by looking."
The mixed-blood mercenary still had that憨厚 smile and said.
"The mercenaries who should have left have all gone, only these people have stayed outside. Their intentions are already clear. Moreover, for us mercenaries, finding a powerful leader to follow is much better than living a life of risking our necks, and it's our good fortune."
"You're quite eloquent," Chen Yu murmured.
With that, Chen Yu looked outside.
All the mercenaries who felt his gaze cast smiles at Chen Yu, and within these smiles, a hint of flattery could be felt.
They wanted to join!
Although they had not interacted with Chen Yu for long, the mercenaries had all recognized Chen Yu's formidable strength.
Whether it was the construction of the camp or his own person.
They were all impressed.
In the mercenary profession, the most revered principle was strength. They acknowledged Chen Yu's power and were naturally willing to work under him.
After a glance around, Chen Yu retracted his gaze and looked at the mixed-blood Orc.
"What's your name?"
"Tian He."
"That's quite a grand name," Chen Yu smiled slightly. The Orc mercenary scratched his head, appearing a bit embarrassed, "Perhaps my father named me when he wanted me to cross that sky-reaching river."
"Sky-reaching river?"
Chen Yu muttered, but he didn't ask further.
There were many things in the caves that he didn't know. There was plenty of time in the future for him to gradually understand them. For now, the most urgent matter was to move the resources outside inside.
"Alright, if you all want to join, it's not impossible."
Chen Yu crossed his arms and smiled slightly, "It's just that joining my enterprise isn't something anyone can do just because they want to. I believe you understand this."
"Of course," Tian He replied.
"If you truly want to join, there must be a token of allegiance." Chen Yu gestured outside and said, "Do you see those resources outside?"
"Yes."
"If you move these resources to my sub-camp, I will give you an interview opportunity. Of course, I don't need everyone. My camp only has opportunities for 30 people for interviews."
Chen Yu held up three fingers and whispered with a smile.
"The interview opportunities will depend on who does more work," Chen Yu said with a smile in his eyes. "This test should not be a problem, right?"
"Definitely not a problem!"
Tian He answered with conviction, and Chen Yu nodded with satisfaction, turning to look at Nuoya and said.
"Nuoya, Kuka, you two go supervise and keep a record."
"No problem," Nuoya nodded with a smile. Kuka, however, frowned and leaned in, whispering, "Boss, this assessment method is a bit unfair to mages."
Among the mercenaries, there were many swordsmen, but there were also mages.
Relatively speaking,
swordsmen definitely had an advantage in stamina over mages.
"Just do as you're told and supervise, why are you asking so many questions?" Chen Yu whispered, "Do you think I wouldn't know these things?"
"Then…"
"Have you ever heard the saying, 'The final right of interpretation belongs to this enterprise'?"
Immediately, Kuka showed a look of understanding.
"Understood,"
Chen Yu also smiled and gestured for Nuoya and Kuka to supervise. Chen Yu watched quietly in the camp as the mercenaries worked to move the resources outside the camp in order to get an interview opportunity.
He also noticed that among the mercenaries, there were a few who were dressed as mages and looked troubled.
Indeed!
Mages were inferior to swordsmen in terms of stamina, but Chen Yu's action was also to gauge the determination of those mages who wanted to join the enterprise.
If they truly wanted to join the enterprise and had a high level of enthusiasm for it.
Even if it was disadvantageous to them.
They would try their best.
If—
They chose to withdraw directly, then Chen Yu would have no need to keep them. The enterprise needed employees who were willing to die for it, not pampered mage lords.
Kuka was also a mage.
Didn't he also do things like chopping trees and mining after joining his camp?
If they couldn't even accept this small test.
They were not worthy of joining his benevolent enterprise!
Of course, if those mages tried their best and still moved less quantity than the swordsmen, Chen Yu could still offer them some preferential treatment.
Special talent recruitment, after all!
Besides, the enterprise was decided by him. The final right of interpretation belonged to him. He could recruit whoever he wanted and not recruit whoever he didn't want.
If he was in a good mood, what if he ended up recruiting all those mercenaries?
"My lord, we also want to follow you…"
Just then, a whisper came from beside Chen Yu from the Ox and Horse brothers.
Chen Yu turned his head upon hearing this.
He saw the two brothers looking at him with sheepish smiles.
"If you want to follow me, then go work. Why are you standing here?" Chen Yu raised his eyebrows. "What, do you think you'll be prioritized for recruitment? Go work!"
With Chen Yu's sharp reprimand, the Ox and Horse quickly shrunk their necks and ran off to move the resources.
Chen Yu also stretched lazily.
Then, his gaze fell upon the pile of un-decomposed armor and weapons on the ground. These were all taken from the Orc mercenaries.
He didn't need them!
Since they had joined his enterprise, they would surely possess unified standard uniforms, which were the perfect-grade adventure sets.
If these items were decomposed.
It felt like a loss.
After a moment of thought, Chen Yu licked his lips, clicked on the chat window, and slowly typed two words on the virtual screen.
"Are you there?"
--
Author's Notes:
Good morning, have you eaten?