These soldiers wore battle-damaged metal armor covered in rust, wielding heavy longswords in their hands.
These human soldiers came with their own weapons upon summoning, but unfortunately, the weapons inherent to the unit couldn’t be traded.
Otherwise, the man wouldn’t have set his sights on the trash in the goblin’s hands.
The average level of these units was only level two, with most at level one, and only a few at level three.
How could they be a match for Qilin?
He didn’t even need to transform.
As the spoils fell slowly to the ground, scattering around, his figure had already vanished from the spot, crossing the soldiers’ defensive line in a few swift steps to stand before the man.
The man hadn’t even reacted before Qilin had gripped his throat, lifting him with one hand.
“Wait, wait… Big brother, I was wrong!”
The man hurriedly begged for mercy, his face full of terror, completely unprepared for such a vast difference in strength.
The soldiers behind him, seeing their lord captured, didn’t dare to make any sudden moves.
“It’s fine. Be more careful in your next life.”
Qilin tightened his right hand.
With a crack, he snapped the man’s neck.
[Congratulations on a successful kill…]
—
[Settlement complete. You may choose one of the following rewards: gold coins, infrastructure resources…]
[Note: As this lord’s unit is of the same Subrace, you have acquired the training method for [Light Armored Soldier].]
[Congratulations on your first unit merger. Achievement: Become Bigger and Stronger completed.]
“A bit interesting.”
A smile appeared on Qilin’s lips.
In this situation, even a farmer lord’s main body could possess some combat power.
As for the reward, he still chose the territory.
At present, this was the most cost-effective choice.
However, as for where the opponent’s territory actually was, only the main body would know.
“Your lord is dead. I give you a choice—submit, or die.”
Qilin turned to the units on the field, releasing his Dragon’s Might.
An invisible pressure instantly enveloped everyone present.
“We are willing to follow the Lord!”
The soldiers collectively knelt, bowing their heads in loyalty.
They were born warriors—admiration for strength was one reason, the lord’s death was another, but the most crucial point was that their loyalty was not at its maximum.
Loyalty points ranged from 1 to 100.
At 100, they were utterly loyal, fighting to the last moment even if the lord died.
Below 70, the people were like grass in the wind.
If faced with an unbeatable enemy, they would abandon their lord without hesitation to prioritize their own survival.
Below 50, the people could rebel at any time, or even kill the lord and defect.
Such lords were often brutal, and losing their people’s loyalty was normal.
“Just right. The nearby Wild Monsters have mostly been dealt with, so it’s safe to let these farmers gather resources.”
Qilin thought for a moment.
“Lead the way. To your territory.”
Now, it was indeed time to move and develop elsewhere.
It’s just that the distance between territories was too great.
Traveling back and forth would be a waste of time.
—
On the other side, the main body within the territory also received the message.
The achievement reward was as perfunctory as ever.
He casually placed the medal on the table, then left the lord’s hall and went to the barracks.
Sure enough, a new unit had been added inside.
[Unit Name: Light Armored Warrior]
[Description: Once subordinates of the Empire General, they bear supreme honor.]
[Training Cost: 3 gold coins]
The training cost wasn’t high.
If one judged a unit’s strength by price alone, they didn’t seem much stronger than farmers.
Although they were currently the strongest units Qilin could train, it was also undeniable that they remained cannon fodder.
“Still, it’s interesting that units of the same Subrace can be merged.”
He didn’t know how many human lords were on this island, but he was already thinking about collecting his own unit puzzle pieces.
Farmers were, in essence, human.
Rather than calling Qilin a farmer lord, it was more accurate to call him a human lord.
Humans were also considered a top-tier race, weren’t they?
They were known for building up strength over time—weak early on, but powerful in the late game.
However, Qilin didn’t care much.
With his divine abilities, he could sweep through most lords.
What concerned him more now was his business as a middleman in the days to come.
At present, there were 2,300 gold coins.
If all were converted to a single type of resource, it would yield—
The risk was minimal; chopping wood and mining stone posed almost zero danger.
Was there even a need to hesitate?
Some even dispatched all their forces to gather resources around their territory.
Because they knew the opponent’s supply of gold coins was limited, they had to gather as many resources as possible to earn more coins.
As the most scarce resource at present, most people viewed Qilin’s act of dumping gold coins as extremely foolish.
Of course, no one realized that his strength made summoning units with gold coins unnecessary.
That was his greatest advantage.
46,000 units of wood or 23,000 units of stone.
Even with current wealth, it was still far from enough to buy all the materials needed to upgrade the lord’s hall—showing just how rare these resources would become.
Currently, the three incarnations were developing outside, while the main body sat in the territory, overseeing everything.
For a lord to grow quickly, only one thing mattered—gold coins!
The more coins, the faster you could mass-produce units.
The greater the forces, the more energy points the lord would gain, becoming even stronger.
But the number of monsters nearby was limited.
As lords expanded outward, they naturally had to fight other races on the island.
But this was an island ruled by goblins, and they were the most numerous creatures.
If things continued, it would inevitably provoke their wrath.
Conflict between lords and ruling races was unavoidable—Qilin had long understood this.
He just wondered if those green-skinned guys would lump all lords together and, when collective retribution came, how the situation would evolve.
Because the marketplace on the terminal showed buyers’ names, it was hard for the name ‘Qilin’ to go unnoticed.
Soon, news of his large-scale acquisition of infrastructure resources spread among the lords.
But since most lords’ territories hadn’t reached advanced village status, they had no idea the next upgrade would require massive resources, so they couldn’t figure out his motives.
On the contrary, most lords thought exchanging twenty pieces of wood for one gold coin was a huge profit.
Compared to hunting monsters for coins and risking unit losses, this seemed almost risk-free.