Circumstances Create Heroes

At the foot of Horseshoe Mountain, on the western side of the Northen Plain, Wendy cupped her hands to gather fresh water and splashed it directly onto her face.

After two months, the artificial lake renovation project was nearing completion. The basin, covering nearly a square kilometer, was now capable of holding water, thanks to the cooperation between the ratfolk and the lizardfolk.

“Open the sluice, let the water in!”

At Old Sha’s command, dozens of robust lizardfolk grabbed their tools and dug through the earthen dam at the end of the canal. The upper reaches of the Tam River began to surge through the waterway, pouring continuously into the newly transformed basin.

“We did it!”

On the bank, hundreds of mud-splattered, bare-chested ratfolk and lizardfolk shouted in jubilation.

Watching the clear water slowly flow into the basin, those who had toiled on this project were filled with an indescribable excitement. It was a masterpiece jointly completed by two peoples. At their current level of civilization, with such primitive tools, every project posed tremendous challenges.

But this was not a new construction; to create the artificial lake, they only needed to select a basin, patch up the necessary areas, level the ground where required, and pile up earth where needed. Still, it had taken more than two months. Once the engineering inspection and acceptance were complete, they would begin building the earth and stone embankments.

Moreover, as the population continued to surge, all kinds of infrastructure projects piled up endlessly. In addition to the upcoming embankment, there were road repairs and new housing in the High Court City; supporting facilities such as schools, training grounds, crop processing workshops, and community management bureaus for each street were also underway.

This was not simply the construction of a neighborhood, but the rise of a grand city-state—a project of unimaginable magnitude.

Yesterday, Yang Jie convened a brief high-level meeting. The sole topic was to slow production and reinforce quality. Though the ratfolk were prolific, their food consumption was equally astonishing. Yet, solving the food issue alone was far from enough for Yang Jie at this stage; comprehensive development in medicine, education, and vocational training was crucial.

This was the nation’s embryonic stage. The foundation must be solid. Blindly pursuing expansion and unchecked population growth would only sow the seeds for deep-rooted social problems in the future.

Most lord-players, when faced with internal development issues, would use external pressure to resolve internal contradictions—raiding and plundering far and wide. Once they failed, their civilization would implode. If they succeeded and swept all before them, the result would be a republic riddled with internal strife and built on slavery.

There was no turning back from that path. Yang Jie’s direction, by contrast, was clear: strive for self-reliance and independent growth! He deliberately chose to avoid that road of no return.

It was a thorny path, but its outcome would be completely different.

For the past six months, Yang Jie had kept a close watch on the grassland tribes of Chakalke. Just yesterday, according to intelligence from Xia Rong, the western and eastern alliances had reached an agreement to demarcate their borders and develop independently for now. After half a year of exhausting warfare, both sides were spent, and many civilizations had collapsed under relentless militarism.

The two alliances had originally boasted forty lord-players, but only eight remained in the west. The east fared no better, with just five lords hanging on. Half a year of war had severely depleted the grassland lords’ productive capacities.

Realizing that neither side could conquer the other, the lords declared a temporary truce. Partly, they were simply exhausted; partly, the vast Chakalke grasslands provided ample space for each surviving tribe to grow.

During this half month, more than half of the civilized tribes on the grasslands were destroyed. A shrewd few, like Xia Rong, chose to migrate. History’s great waves sifted the sand—after the fires of war, only those lords still standing on the Chakalke grasslands were the true victors.

...

Yang Jie stood behind his back, gazing long into the massive sand table before him, deep in thought.

These six months had been a precious window of development. Once the surrounding regions unified, war would soon sweep across the Northen Plain where he stood.

Yang Jie knew what he needed most was time!

...

While Yang Jie was lost in thought before the sand table, Xia Rong pushed open the door and entered.

“Come in, have a seat, my friend!”

Seeing it was Xia Rong, Yang Jie hurriedly invited him to sit. The lizardfolk had contributed greatly to the artificial lake project, something Yang Jie had noticed and appreciated, deepening his goodwill toward this ally.

Xia Rong did not stand on ceremony, pulling up a stool and sitting down directly.

“I wanted to ask—aren’t you planning to establish your own guild?” Xia Rong got straight to the point.

“A guild?” Yang Jie slapped his mouse head, feigning astonishment. “How could I forget that!”

“No time like the present—let’s do it today.”

Truthfully, Xia Rong was nervous. After all, forming a guild together meant deeper cooperation in the future. He hadn’t brought it up before because he hadn’t contributed much and lacked the standing to ask. But now, with the artificial lake finished, he could clearly sense a change in Yang Jie’s attitude. Ah well—such is reality.

“Of course!” This time, Yang Jie didn’t hesitate and agreed at once. He opened the system panel and selected “Create Guild.”

[Dear Lord, please enter your guild’s name.]

The system prompt sounded. Yang Jie, without any trouble naming things, tapped quickly on the panel.

“Guild name: Unity Is Strength.”

[Confirm guild name: Unity Is Strength?]

“Confirm!”

The guild was quickly established, with Yang Jie as its sole member and president.

“All right, I’ll invite you!” Yang Jie looked up at Xia Rong and returned to fiddling with the interface.

...

Xia Rong opened his own panel and immediately saw a guild invitation.

[Lord Yang Jie invites you to join the guild ‘Unity Is Strength.’ Accept? ✓]

“Unity Is Strength?”

Xia Rong exclaimed, clearly at a loss for words over Yang Jie’s taste. But what could he do? Yang Jie was the president, after all.

With a resigned sigh, he clicked “Confirm.”

[Tribe ‘Blossom of Midsummer’ has joined your alliance. Shared vision and basic information enabled.]

Thus, mouse and lizard became formal allies...

Xia Rong opened the map to view the basic stats of the alliance member, “Charging Bamboo Rat.”

Staring at the unadorned numbers on the interface, Xia Rong was left speechless in disbelief.

“Total population: 37,691!”

This... this was terrifying. Xia Rong glanced at his own tribe’s total population, barely a fraction of Yang Jie’s.

Looking again at the prosperity level and territory range, Xia Rong’s pupils dilated sharply—the confidence he’d built over the past few months instantly shattered.

Looking up at the nonchalant Yang Jie, he blurted in disbelief, “Are you cheating?”

...

At the same time, on the Parando Plateau west of the Tam River.

Xue Hui, leader of the dwarves, had established the human alliance “Valiant Rangers,” leading a host of human warriors in conquest.

“Valiant Rangers” was formed by seven human lord-players, banded together on the Padolan Plain, sweeping the neighboring lord tribes like a storm.

In a burning orc encampment, Xue Hui, staff in hand, stood at the fore of the dwarves.

“Chief, the tally is done—2,451 orcs captured, including 781 adult males. We seized 300,000 units of food, 170,000 units of timber, and 60,000 units of stone,” reported a dwarf squad leader, rushing over to summarize the results.

“All the males, take them back to break rocks. The women and young—kill them all.”

“Yes, sir!”

Xue Hui’s expression was calm and composed; two thousand lives were no more than numbers to him.

Six other human lords stood behind him—they were the earliest to unite on the Parando Plain.

“Congratulations, Brother Xue, for unifying Parando. From now on, this region is ours! Ha ha!” Wu Fan stood behind Xue Hui, endlessly flattering.

“When will your shipyard be ready?” Xue Hui, used to Wu Fan’s flattery, asked indifferently.

“It’s finished! Production has already begun!”

...