The World Online Chapter 31-32

Chapter 31 - Ranking

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Levs

Even Ouyang Shuo couldn't believe that Shanhai Village turned out to be the first village in the world to successfully resist the Siege of Beasts. The alchemical fire oil had really wrought a miracle.

Because it was a worldwide quest, the rewards would wait until all the lords had finished the quest before they were issued. With the free time, Ouyang Shuo went to the west gate to look over the situation there.

Along the west side of the village near the gate, the fire array was still burning. The fire array had basically trapped the buffalo herd inside a large trap, albeit without using spikes. Cattle corpses with arrows and javelins sticking out of them were everywhere. Even the buffalo king had been directly killed by General s.h.i.+ with a bow and arrow with no way of fighting back.

Ouyang Shuo told the Logistics Department to fill the ditch of hot oil with soil and extinguish the fire. If they just waited for it to go out, he had no idea how long it might take.

After the fires had been put out, he walked out in the array, stopping next to the body of the boss buffalo to see what items had fallen. Picking it up, a look told him that it was a manual.

This was a really good thing. The animal breeding in his territory would usher in a whole new era of development!

Ouyang Shuo immediately called Lin Yi, telling him to take forty cavalry, and fly along the path that the herd of cattle had come from. They were to take full advantage of the lack of danger in the wilderness and to capture as many small buffalo as possible, bringing them back to be domesticated.

With the mobility of the cavalry, rounding up the smaller cattle and herding them into a group together to bring them back to the village should not be a problem.

Similarly, he called on San Gouzi, and had him lead the Second Squad and 30 Team militia reserves, and head back in the direction the wild boars had come from. They were to look for piglets. Although he already had a dozen of them, that was far below the numbers he would need to seriously establish a pig farm. Why not take advantage of this great opportunity to catch enough piglets at once and expand the scale of his pig farming?

Waiting until the two teams were on their way, Ouyang Shuo also called over the Construction Division secretary, Zhao Dew.a.n.g. "Secretary Zhao, I have two tasks to give the Construction Division!"

"Lord, please tell me!" As long as it was about building things, the secretary is not worried about anything.

"First, as soon as you can organize the staff, on the west side of the village we need to  build a large cattle pen and pig sty. This will ensure that when the cavalry teams bring back the young cattle and pigs, they have somewhere to live.

"Second, work with the Material Reserves Division to clean up and fill in the pit traps. The animal corpses in the pits are the responsibility of the Material Reserves Division, and filling them in is the responsibility of the Construction Division, restore the original appearance of the land. Remember, do not miss any of the traps. Otherwise, catching some of our people wandering around would be a really bad joke," Ouyang Shuo said seriously.

Zhao Dew.a.n.g looked serious and said firmly, "I guarantee it will be done right!"

At this time, General s.h.i.+ came over to him, smiled, and handed him an object. It was the thing the wild boar king had dropped.

Ouyang Shuo examined it, finding out it was a talisman. Such a talisman was a trump card, the kind of thing that if you used it at a key moment, it could save your life.

[ Talisman of Blood Thirsting ]: After using this, you enter into a bloodthirsty rage. Your combat power is doubled for half an hour. After the rage expires, you will be weakened for two days.

During this period of time, he was constantly hearing more system announcements. Most of the lord players had failed and their territories were removed from the lists. But then finally came another success, and one after another, names were filling the the world ranking lists.

"World announcement: Congratulations to the Free Village of the United States! Under the Leaders.h.i.+p of their Lord Jeff Dawson, they have succeeded in fighting off the Siege of Beasts, and are ranked second in the world!"

  ……

"World announcement: Congratulations to the Handan Village in China! Under the Leaders.h.i.+p of their Lord Di Chen, they have succeeded in fighting off the Siege of Beasts, and are ranked fourth in the world!"

  ……

"World announcement: Congratulations to the Vic Village of France! Under the Leaders.h.i.+p of their Lord Henry, they have succeeded in fighting off the Siege of Beasts, and are ranked tenth in the world!"

  ……

In less than an hour, the top ten of the world charts were set. Ouyang Shuo looked at the world list. The only difference in it from his past life was that Canada's Maple Leaf Village was not there, having been squeezed out of the top ten as a direct result of his own appearance.

1st - China - Shanhai Village - Qiyue Wuyi

2nd - The United States - Free Village - Jack Dawson

3rd - Russia - St. Petersburg - Pushkin

4th - China - Handan Village - Di Chen

5th - Germany - Rhine Village - Manstein

6th - j.a.pan - Sanli Village - Honda Keisuke

7th - India - Bengalore Village - Durava

8th - Britain - Avic Fort - William

9th - South Korea - Ulsan Village - Park Wins

10th - France - Vic Village - Henry

Because of the emergence of Ouyang Shuo, the top ten list of the world now had two Lords from the same country. Suddenly, the Chinese scene looked very different.

At this moment, near Handan Village, a handsome young man was staring at the world rankings, his expression gloomy. He was the lead of the Handan Six Tyrants, Di Chen. Next to him was sitting a peerlessly beautiful woman, named Juedai Fenghua. n.o.body except Di Chen was aware of her ident.i.ty in reality.

In the past life, out of the women on China's top ten beauty billboard, she was ranked second from the top. The first was the only woman lord player in Handan Six Tyrants, Feng Qiuhuang.

Juedai Fenghua was not a vase on a pedestal. Di Chen considered her his first counselor. Anyone who underestimated her wisdom would not have a good ending.

"You said that this Qiyue Wuyi was not merely lucky?" Juedai Fenghua asked.

Di Chen frowned, hesitantly admitting, "His ident.i.ty, I am afraid no one knows yet. But for Shanhai Village, I have some conjectures."

"Oh? What kind of thoughts?" Feng Huajue seemed a little surprised.

"I heard my father mention something about the village order. He said, that in order to balance out your privileged players, gold-level village tokens were hidden in the village build task," Di Chen told her uncertainly. After all, the news about the inner workings of the game were very confidential, outsiders could only hear rumors.

"If you do not remember, he was the seventh in China to build a player village. From the opening of the game, it took him less than two hours. That is, he should be the fastest player to actually complete building a village. With that speed, his task completion rate should not be so high," Juedai Fenghua a.n.a.lyzed, somewhat hesitant.

"No matter what, this time Handan Village did not even enter the top three of the world, instead some n.o.body from nowhere had claimed the throne. This is a great blow to our prestige, and I am afraid that the rats, those who are ready to act will become restless."

Juedai Fenghua laughed gently. "Those rats will never be enough for the real stage."

Di Chen was silent. This was truth, but difficult to swallow.

Following this, China's rankings were also officially released. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone from the previous forecast on the forums was on the list.

What left Ouyang Shuo dumbfounded was that the person he had 'stolen' the gold-level village token from, Xunlong Dianxue, was actually on the list, having been second on it in his previous life. Because Ouyang Shuo had entered the world list, Xunlong Dianxue had come in twelfth and received the tenth prize. How fate made it happened, was difficult to say.

1st - Dali - Shanhai Village - Qiyue Wuyi

2nd - Jingdu - Handan Village - Di Chen

3rd - Xiangyang - Pill Sun Village - Chun Shenjun

4th - Chengdu - Swordsman Village - Feng Qingyang

5th - Luoyang - Fallen Phoenix Village - Feng Huajue

6th - Xianyang - Asura Village - Sha Pojun

7th - Jianye - Blood Red Village - Zhan Lang

8th - Quanzhou - King Village - Xiongba

9th - Chang'an - Fallen Leaves Village - Wandering Magic

10th - Jingdu - Stone Village - Wu Fu

11th - Dali - Consonance Village - Baihua

12th - Quanzhou - Seeking Dragon Village - Xunlong Dianxue

Description: Because there are two China players in the world ranking, the rankings were automatically extended by two.

Out of the list of 12 lords, the one Ouyang Shuo was most concerned about was the other lord in Dali. Consonance village lord was the legendary Chinese electronic sports star, Baihua.

According to the news in his past life, Baihua should be the same as him, a civilian player. To achieve results like this truly showed her strength. As she also ranked in the top three of Chinese beauties, as well as being a master player, Baihua's appeal in the player groups was very powerful.

Also in the previous game, Baihua was not alone. Three years ago, she established her own game studio - Consonance Studio. The core members of the studio were all beautiful women. In addition to Baihua, there was Zi Luolan, Hong Ying, and Tsing Yi.

An hour later, Dali's regional rankings were finally released. This really showed the difference in the local lords' abilities.

1 - Lianzhou area - Shanhai Village - Qiyue Wuyi

2 - Kunming area - Consonance Village - Baihua

3 - Sishui Area - Liangshan Village - Zhanxingji Land

4 - Liuzhou area - Floating Village - Fluttering Liu

5 - Lianzhou area - Broken Blade Village - Pa Knife

6 - Tengyue Area - Ancient Village - QinHan Siyuan

7 - Lianzhou Area - Mulan Village - Mulan Yue

8 - Guilin Area - Vest Village - Pa.s.sers-by

9 - Dongchuan Area - Villains Villager - Villains Must Die

10 - Wuding Area - Famous Village - Written in the World

11 - Chuxiong Area - Wuli Village - Li Xiaobo

12 - Lianzhou Area - Windy Days Village - Xiaofeng Moon

Note: Because Dali had two players enter the national list for China, the list has been extended by two.

In the Dali regional list, the Lords of the Lianzhou Basin had four people in the rankings, accounting for a third of them. In addition to Ouyang Shuo, the three major overlords from his previous life were all represented here.

After the last of the three lists was released, there was a burst of music in Ouyang Shuo's ear again.

"System Tip: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for leading Shanhai Village to resist the Siege of Beasts and completing the mandatory defensive quest. Your quest rewards follow…

"System Tip: Player Qiyue Wiyu, for making it into the top three of the world list, you have achieved a reward of 3000 merit points, 600 gold coins, and a random secret building!

"System Tip: Your random secret building has been selected - Recruitment Hall! Your building has automatically been generated in your territory, please inspect it!"

Oh G.o.d, it was actually the Recruitment Hall! Ouyang Shuo had a feeling of ascending to heaven. In his view, the combined merit points and gold coins could not even match the value of the Recruitment Hall!

Chapter 32: Recruitment Hall

Translator: TeamTWO

Editor: Jun

The Recruitment Hall was located in his educational and cultural district, next to the private school.

Name: Recruitment hall

Type: Secret Cla.s.s Building

Function: Randomly recruit a special talent every month, randomly recruit a historical talent every year.

Features: Special talent attraction rate increased by 20%; Reputation of the territory is increased by 5%.

Description: This is a specially designed hiring location. Recruiting a special talent costs 10 gold coins. Recruiting a historical talent costs 100 gold coins. Recruitment chances cannot be acc.u.mulated, and can expire.

It was worthy of it being known as the secret cla.s.s building that was comparable to a G.o.d-level equipment. Its properties' descriptions were simple yet strong. It acted like a gravity stone, attracting and providing steady streams of talents to the territory.

Special talent attraction rate increased by 20%: This is comparable to the gold level attraction ability of Shanhai Village. After the two abilities are summed, the ability to attract special talents increases by 40%.

Territory reputation increased by 5%: This was a rarer feature, so far found only in the similar secret cla.s.s building, the Mazu Temple. Even a gold level village did not have such a feature built into it.

The most intuitive power was the recruiting function. This was a loved or hated power. Loved, because it made it easy to recruit special talents and historical talents. Hated, because of the high recruitment costs.

Gold on hand was precious stuff, and bringing it up brought forth bitter tears. Even with Ouyang Shuo being so lucky, and the Handan Six Tyrants being so powerful, they never had too much loose gold on hand.

If he hadn't had the world's award of 600 gold coins, Ouyang Shuo wouldn't have considered using the Hall at all. He would've rather wasted the opportunity to recruit than spend precious gold on recruiting talents.

From the outside, the Recruitment Hall was only an ordinary wooden building. There were no carvings on the walls, nor did it use fine woods. The main difference was that the workmans.h.i.+p was unusually fine compared to the other buildings in the village.

He opened the doors of the main hall. Hanging on the walls around him were twelve portraits of the ancient sages. That is, Confucian-style saints, and also hermits like Zhulin Qixian.

There was a binding location next to a wooden sign, with a handprint on it for him. Ouyang Shuo put his hand in the there, then came the spurring of a system prompt.

"System Notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for opening the Recruitment Hall. The first time you open the Recruitment Hall, you automatically get a chance to recruit a special talent and an opportunity for a historic talent. Do you wish to recruit anyone?"

"Recruit special talent!"

"System Tip: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for successfully recruiting a special talent - an advanced winemaker! 10 gold coins are automatically being deducted."

A white light flashed, and a middle-aged man came out of nowhere before Ouyang Shuo. He bowed in salute, respectfully saying, "Civilian Du greets sire!"

"Master Du, please!" Ouyang Shuo guided Master Du to the side, before once again placing his hand.

"System Tip: You still have a remaining opportunity to recruit historical talent. Do you wish to recruit?"

"Recruit please!"

"System Tip: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wiyu for successfully recruiting the king-level historical figure Fan Zhongyan! 100 gold coins are automatically deducted."

As the white light flashed, a middle-aged scholar arrived from nowhere. "Mr. Xi Wen greets the lord!" he said immediately.

Ouyang Shuo quickly stepped forwards, his hands virtually supporting the other man, sincerely saying, "It is good you came so quickly, there is much to do!"

He took them out of the recruitment hall, a.s.sessing Fan Zhongyan as he did so.

Name: Fan Zhongyan (aka Xi Wen)  (King Level)

t.i.tle: Great Scholar

Dynasty: The Northern Song Dynasty

Ident.i.ty: Shanhai Villager

Occupation: Civil Servant

Loyalty: 45 points

Command: 45

Force: 30

Intelligence: 75

Political: 80

Features: Awe-inspiring righteousness (enhances territorial integrity by 40%); Worries about the land (enhances territorial efficiency by 20%); Gracious (enhances the humanist level of the territory by 15%)

Evaluation: The Northern Song Dynasty was famous for thinkers, politicians, military strategists, writers, fine culture, and geniuses. Xian, placed people's happiness before his and took care of their worries first.

Coming back to the Lord's manor, Ouyang Shuo called in Er Wazi, told him to go find the secretaries and invite them to the chamber, as there were matters to discuss. He personally led Fan Zhongyan into the chamber to chat.

Although Fan Zhongyan was a civilian, his literary attainments were high. Even at the level of a chat, Ouyang Shuo felt more than a little overwhelmed: his knowledge of the cla.s.sics was not high enough. He could only keep up with the principle of staying silent and saying nothing wrong, while being a good listener.

In less than twenty minutes the division chiefs had arrived. Mu Qing Si also followed Cui Yingyu in to join the fun. Ouyang Shuo cheerfully opened the meeting, saying, "The war to defend the village has just ended, and I know that you are very busy. In order not to delay everyone, I will cut a long story short."

He took a look at Fan Zhongyan. "Sitting next to me is Mr. Fan Zhongyan(Xi Wen), man of wide-knowledge. Let us welcome him and get to know each other."

Everyone greeted him naturally. There was naturally a great respect for scholars of his caliber from the secretaries. Except for Gu Xiuwen and Cui Yingyu, the others were basically born as peasants. Zhao Dexian, who was more knowledgeable, could only recognize a few words, let alone the others.

"I have decided to set up an Administration Department to take charge of all of the day to day governmental affairs in the territory. The Material Reserves Division will still operate independently. The Construction Division, the Reclamation Division, the Salt Pan Division, and the Household Registration Office will all be moved under the jurisdiction of the Administration Department."

"I am appointing Mr. Zhongyan as the Director of Administration, managing the daily affairs of the active territory as Chief of the Civil Service. At the same time, I am moving the post of the Secretary of the Salt Fields Division to Mr. Xi Wen."

Fan Zhongyan had the experience of managing salt pans in the past, therefore, Ouyang Shuo was rest a.s.sured with him managing the salt fields. After all, he himself couldn't leave the territory, while the salt pans would be slowly expanding outside the territory. He really had no way to manage the salt pans himself.

Fan Zhongyan flew to his feet. "Xi Wen thanks the lord for his trust, I will not disappoint you!"

"Gu Xiuwen, I hereby appoint you as the director a.s.sistant,  your main duty is to a.s.sist the Director of Administration in handling the day to day government affairs, and will still be in charge of household registration," Ouyang Shuo went on.

His arrangements were naturally made in the hope that Gu Xiuwen would be learning from Scholar Zhongyan of his ability and experience in government affairs.

"Zhao Dew.a.n.g, Deputy Secretary of the Construction Department, in this battle for our village, you have had an outstanding performance, and fought well. You are officially promoted to Secretary of Construction."

Zhao Dew.a.n.g excitedly voiced his thanks and grat.i.tude. His office finally matched his duties. Wearing the t.i.tle of Deputy Secretary while doing the job of a Secretary did not sit well with him. Now, the load was off his shoulders.

"For the rest of our personnel in dealing with this adjustment, I hope you will help the new director out diligently. I am well aware of your performances. For those who have done well, I will never be stingy in rewarding you."

Mu Qingsi, seated behind Cui Yingyu while watching Ouyang Shuo issue orders, leaned forwards and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "Big brother looks so handsome when dealing with governmental affairs."

Cui Yingyui inadvertently blushed as she swept Ouyang Shuo a glance, her heart suddenly beats harder and a trace of color flas.h.i.+ng up her cheek. In order to cover her panic, she turned and hit Mu Qingsi on the head, with a strong smile saying, "Little girl, your big sister brought you over here to make you familiar with government, not to talk about big brother's appearance. You are so naughty."

Yingyu knew Mu Qingsi was young, but she was intelligent and serious while working. She wanted to cultivate Mu Qingsi more to enter the civil service such that she could help her in the Material Reserves Division in the future. She did not expect her little sister's mind to be totally elsewhere.

"Governmental stuff is so boring. Oh, I don't like it, I just want to be a small tailor, hee hee!" This was a heart of purity. No wonder she had progressed so quickly in the tailoring field.

Cui Yingyu went silent upon hearing this, knowing that her civil servant training plan was dead before it had gotten off the floor.

Ouyang Shuo noted the little tricks of this prankster, and sent a cool look her way. Mu Qingsi instantly straightened up and transformed into a proper young lady, obediently sitting in the back and was motionless, also exaggerating a bit with a small hand over her mouth. Her large eyes met his with an innocent expression in them.

He reluctantly smiled slightly, no longer caring about her, and turned back to the crowd. "The proceedings have ended; you may disperse. As soon as possible, finish the after-war cleaning up work."

"Tomorrow morning, Shanhai Village will reach the full population. That means, as of tomorrow, Shanhai Village can be be upgraded to a grade 3 village. After the promotion to a grade 3 village, there will be more things to do. Therefore, you need to handle your tasks promptly, don't leave extra works behind!"

Everyone there rose, bowed, and quickly departed.

Ouyang Shuo called over Gu Xiuwen, explaining to him that he should take Mr. Xi Wen around the territory to get a good grasp of the basic situation here, and help acclimate Mr. Xi Wen to Shanhai as part of his new family. In addition, he should arrange Mr. Xi Wen's accommodations temporarily in the West Wing.

Shuo would also be handing over the winemaker, Du Chun, to Gu Xiuwen, and ordered Gu Xiuwen to make arrangements for the winemaker.

After all this, Ouyang Shuo headed back to his office. Now that the territory had Fan Zhongyan and General s.h.i.+, two major talents for the government and military, he now had more energy to devote to the development strategy of the territory.

After experiencing the Siege of Beasts defensive quest, Shanhai Village had surged in front of the world. His future operations, ensuring that the desired benefits were attained, would have to be carefully planned out.