Chapter 42: Population Explosion, Tradition!

With anticipation, Lin Mu quickly arrived at his destination.

Standing outside the high-level rebel camp, Lin Mu walked around to observe. He noticed no rebel patrols, so he likely wouldn't encounter an ambush.

Lin Mu stood still, expressionless despite the turbulence in his heart. He activated the Ancient Recruitment Technique. Suddenly, an invisible aura of majesty surged from the depths of his soul, soaring toward the heavens like divine authority. It felt as if a sliver of his divine strategic power had vanished, spreading to shroud the entire camp. For a fleeting moment, it was as if a giant hand had descended from the sky, erasing a portion of the rebels within the camp.

"Ding!"

"—System Prompt: Player Lin Mu has successfully activated the Ancient Recruitment Technique. You have obtained 600 Level 30 rebel soldiers. The soldiers have automatically refreshed in the refugee camp within your territory. Please check them!"

The high-level rebel camp contained 20,000 Level 30 rebel soldiers; 3% was exactly 600. Haha, these recruited people would now become his subjects!

An instant increase of 600 people—this was truly domineering.

If he used this in a large-scale stronghold like Azure Dragon Fortress with over a hundred thousand people, a 3% recruitment rate would be even more exhilarating. Lin Mu had already decided to go and conquer Azure Dragon Fortress; he had been accepting tasks for months.

With the Ancient Recruitment Technique, the world was his! Haha... Seeing the system prompt confirming his success in recruiting 600 people, Lin Mu calculated that his territory's daily population growth would now increase to 760. Combined with the bonuses from his God-tier attributes, the aptitude of his subjects would be even better. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change—this was the wisdom of the ancestors!

Hehe, this recruitment technique is truly satisfying!

Instead of entering the rebel camp to level up, Lin Mu turned back toward the village to see what the aptitude of these 600 people was like.

Generally, NPCs capable of transitioning into soldiers do not have poor aptitude. Ordinary soldiers are usually around Tier 3 or 4, while elites might be Tier 5 or 6.

If all 600 had Tier 5 aptitude, and after the bonus, they became Tier 6, he would instantly gain a large number of high-aptitude soldiers! He could enlist them all!

In a rush, Lin Mu hurried to the refugee camp.

Chang Yin had already noticed the unusual situation at the refugee camp and was currently handling it. These rebels, once refreshed by the system and recruited by Lin Mu, seemed to have gained flesh, blood, and souls.

Following established custom, Chang Yin ensured that any villagers refreshed from refugee or migrant camps were given a sip of hot porridge, a mouthful of hot food, and a bowl of warm clear soup.

Lin Mu had instructed Chang Yin to do this, treating it as a welfare benefit for those about to become his subjects—a way to win their hearts.

This practice had earned the approval of many subjects. After all, they had come from refugee camps hungry and shivering from the cold. Suddenly being offered hot porridge, hot food, and warm soup provided them with a sense of meticulous care, leaving them deeply grateful. This territory might be their future home; with such measures, the Lord must be a virtuous and benevolent man.

It was through these small gestures that Lin Mu created a profound and lasting first impression on his new subjects!

Within his territory, Lin Mu needed to establish good traditions to become a unique characteristic of his domain. Even if it wasn't unique, doing it well would let his subjects know that their home would never neglect them!

Establishing food depots in front of refugee camps to immediately fill the bellies of newly refreshed subjects would become a territorial tradition!

Furthermore, honoring martyrs required professional staff to visit families one by one to provide comfort—whether through material goods, the Lord's concern, or spiritual support. This, too, was a tradition. Lin Mu placed great importance on these customs because they would become the most powerful tools for treating his subjects well in the future.

He believed that when the territory grew larger, stronger, and more prosperous, a subject would one day say from the bottom of their heart: "Child, look, those are the traditions established by the Lord himself to benefit the people!"

Tradition is a force. Respect tradition, and promote tradition!

...

The 600 rebel soldiers wore tattered leather armor, with straw sandals or worn cloth shoes on their feet. They held wooden sticks, iron knives, or iron spears. Their equipment was dilapidated and unsightly, far inferior to the gear of the rebels previously spawned by the world rules to attack his territory.

It seemed the conditions for recruited rebel soldiers were quite harsh.

However, Lin Mu did not value their equipment; he valued them. People were the most scarce resource in his territory.

Though the 600 were not emaciated, their complexion suggested they had not lived well. Lin Mu knew the background of the rebel camp: they were bandits rebelling against the government. They had undergone simple military training, but their equipment was old and their skills were low-end. However, those selected to be soldiers still possessed decent aptitude.

Many of the 600 were lost and confused, unaware of what had happened.

But seeing people distributing steaming hot food and fragrant clear soup at the entrance, the soldiers couldn't help but swallow hard, their stomachs growling as their eyes remained fixed on the food.

While in the rebel camp, it felt as if a celestial deity had spoken into their minds, commanding them to pledge loyalty to Dragon Village—to this future home! They were told that if they were loyal and hardworking, they would enjoy food, warmth, and peace, and their futures would be limitless!

Then, abruptly, a flash of light had passed, and in the blink of an eye, they appeared here, in this place that was better and warmer than their camp. Was this truly their future home?

The soldiers began to accept the hot meals distributed by Chang Yin, forming orderly lines to receive food. Their discipline was strict—they were soldiers, unlike the chaotic refugees.

Even without Chang Yin presiding over the order, there would have been no chaos. The mid-level refugee camp, covering three acres, was bustling with people; 600 was indeed a significant number.

Currently, Chang Yin was managing the area, but once the territory's junior scholars or civil officials were trained or refreshed, he would no longer need to do this personally.

There were only two guards at the entrance of the refugee camp, merely keeping a simple watch. If these rebel soldiers were to suddenly revolt, they wouldn't be able to stop them effectively, which would cause great loss to the territory. However, thanks to the powerful recruitment technique, their loyalty was at 60 points. As long as it didn't drop below 50, they wouldn't revolt without cause. Moreover, with hot food in front of them, they were weeping with gratitude and burying their heads in their meals, too quiet to cause trouble, as if they had already accepted their fate.

Lin Mu instructed Chang Yin to register these 600 people so he could check their aptitude.

Registration was simple for Chang Yin. Soon, Lin Mu knew the breakdown of the 600

15 had Tier 6 aptitude, 38 had Tier 5, 365 had Tier 4, and 182 had Tier 3.

After registration and the bonus from his God-tier attributes, their aptitude increased by one tier. Lin Mu's harvest was: 15 with Tier 7, 38 with Tier 6, 365 with Tier 5, and 182 with Tier 4.

The aptitude of these 600 was better than the villagers refreshed from the refugee camps. As expected of soldiers, their aptitude was solid. For a moment, Lin Mu was ecstatic to have gained so many high-aptitude individuals!

The 38 could be added to the village army for Feng Zhong to train, while the others were demobilized and assigned to the territory's production affairs.

Tier 7 talents possessed Master-level potential; if trained well, they would become Master-level talents in the future! They could not be casually assigned as mere soldiers. As for the others whose aptitude didn't fit military policy—well, they could temporarily help build the territory.

With 600 such soldiers entering his service every day, why should he worry about a lack of talent? Haha!

Finally, in addition to the refugee camps, he had another source of population. However, this skill belonged only to Lin Mu. If circumstances changed, he couldn't use the skill every day; it was a limitation.

Lin Mu finally moved past the slight sadness regarding the dozens of fallen soldiers. Tier 6 soldiers were the backbone of the territory, and Lin Mu valued them highly.

It seemed he needed to use it once a day; a little more "harvesting" was healthier!

"Yuanjian, when our territory killed the King Beast, the Moon-Howling Silver Wolf King, we received a reward from the Great God: a copy of the Ancient Recruitment Technique. It allows us to recruit enemies once a day. From now on, our territory's population will experience a massive explosion. I'll have to trouble you to oversee the work!" Lin Mu said happily to the busy Chang Yin.

"Haha, congratulations, My Lord, on learning such a divine art! I have heard of such miraculous techniques from my ancestors, but they are extremely difficult to obtain. It seems My Lord is truly blessed with profound fortune and dragonous luck!" Chang Yin said joyfully. He had previously wondered why so many refugees had suddenly appeared in the camp; it turned out his Lord had obtained a miracle technique, meaning the territory's population would grow even faster.

"My Lord, I suggest you go and recruit from camps with higher aptitude every day. Our territory has five high-level rebel camps, and the aptitude of their soldiers should vary. It would be best to try several times and then settle on recruiting from the most outstanding camps to maximize the effect. Combined with our God-tier territory attributes, this could multiply our territory's potential!" Chang Yin suggested.

"Haha, good! As expected of my right-hand man. Your suggestion is excellent. I was surprised by the aptitude of the soldiers recruited earlier; I didn't realize it could be so detailed. We shall proceed according to your view!" Lin Mu humbly accepted Chang Yin's suggestion and nodded.

The camps Lin Mu had recruited from had not yet been cleared by the army, so they were at full capacity, which is why there were 600 people.

*It seems I need to arrive before the soldiers sent to clear the camps to activate the recruitment technique, so they can be included in the clearing process. I should mention this to Feng Zhong,* Lin Mu thought to himself.

Lin Mu and Chang Yin discussed various territorial affairs, and Lin Mu assigned several tasks to Chang Yin before heading off to level up.

Lin Mu's current level was 31, and he was approaching a bottleneck. Every 10 levels represented a tier; 10 to 19 was Tier 1, so level 31 meant he was a Tier 3 soldier!

Lin Mu had not yet learned internal cultivation techniques or transitioned into a military general. Recently, he felt a mysterious intuition that he would encounter a fortuitous event and learn extraordinary techniques. Both Chang Yin and Feng Zhong had mysteriously suggested that he visit the Dragon Temple. Unsure of why, Lin Mu often visited the temple, but it remained mysterious and unfathomable, offering nothing... which once led Lin Mu to believe that Chang Yin and Feng Zhong were merely teasing him.

Furthermore, as the biggest boss in the territory, he needed the best techniques, the best skills, the best specialties, and the most beautiful women... Haha... how could he settle for common techniques? With the resources of his entire territory supporting him, he believed he could eventually obtain Earth-tier or Heaven-tier techniques.

Lin Mu checked his territory's population: 21,889/10,000. He was very satisfied. Only four months had passed since the game began, yet his territory had over 20,000 pure indigenous residents with high aptitude, and various industries were flourishing. The copper coins in Lin Mu's pocket had reached over 500 million. At current black market rates, exchanging them for over 1 billion RMB would be no problem at all.

However, his territory's development required the circulation of copper coins, so he couldn't just exchange them all at once. He had already exchanged 1 million RMB, which would suffice for a while.

Additionally, large-scale exchanges might attract unwanted attention. He was currently afraid that if people discovered his information, they might kidnap or even kill him, which would be a tragedy.

Lin Mu was extremely satisfied with his territory's development. With the assistance of Chang Yin and Feng Zhong, he could rest easy.

Lin Mu summoned his attribute panel to check the system announcements. Counting carefully, there were currently 37 territories in the Huaxia Zone, mostly representing large corporations and major guilds.

37 territories—not far from the 100-territory mark. Considering the difficulty of obtaining Village Building Tokens in the early stages of *Mythical World*, having this many in the Huaxia Zone was quite a lot, largely thanks to Lin Mu's frantic selling of weapons.

Since the announcements for newly established territories did not disclose their locations, Lin Mu didn't know how many were in Yangzhou. However, based on his past experience, it was likely that only the "Alluring Beauty" guild, one of the top ten, had established a territory there.

Lin Mu's territory was in Yangzhou. If he wanted to dominate the world in the future, he would certainly have to control Yangzhou, which meant an inevitable clash with the "Alluring Beauty" guild.

The leader of the "Alluring Beauty" guild was Bei Tang Xue.

Bei Tang Xue was the dream woman of many shut-ins and social elites. She was also the leader of the top ten Huaxia guild, "Alluring Beauty." Her martial prowess was formidable, ranking 18th on the Battle Net's "Heavenly Dragon List." A true heroine, she surpassed many men and was known as the "Bei Tang Valkyrie." She had countless celebrity endorsements, a net worth in the billions, and a guild membership of a million. With a single command, a million would respond. Rumor had it she was also the heir to the Bei Tang family within the "East City Conglomerate."

With a stunning figure, incomparable beauty, a prestigious family, and glorious achievements, she was as domineering as a novel protagonist.

Such a person seemed to be the center of the universe; many men felt inferior just standing before her.

A true "rich, beautiful, and powerful" woman! A high-born elite.

Furthermore, Bei Tang Xue was the campus belle of Xinghai University and a top scholar!

Xinghai University was the school Lin Mu attended.

In his past life, Lin Mu had seen the real Bei Tang Xue. She was rarely seen on campus, and when she was, he could only watch from afar, because her appearance would draw a swarm of men, surrounding her completely.

In the game, he had only seen her once during a high-end lord gathering, but given his status as a nobody, he had neither the possibility nor the standing to speak to her.

Now, he had the capital and confidence to stand on the same level as these chosen ones. Perhaps he was even more outstanding!

Looking at his prosperous and busy territory, a surge of grand, world-shaking ambition rose in Lin Mu's heart. He began to look forward to meeting those geniuses.