Two days later, Felix ran into the lung youth again on the street. This time, the group of people in red robes was nowhere to be seen. Only the General Zuo's son was standing guard from a distance.
"This is what you asked for."
The lung youth handed Felix a small booklet, then pointed at several trucks beside him. "These are filled with the fertile soil you wanted."
"By the way, you can call me Ji."
[Congratulations, you have obtained: "People Live on Food — A Farmer's Guide"]
Felix raised a brow. "Do all of you siblings have one-character names?"
"You could say it's a family tradition."
Ji chuckled. He exchanged a card with Felix, then opened the box at his feet. Inside was a high-grade, fully integrated mecha set, complete with a manual.
"An excellent suit."
Ji praised it. "With this money, I can bring in even more goods."
"Your profession is merchant?"
Felix asked. These siblings all seemed to have their own specialties. Nian made movies, Ling drank like a profession, and the lung girl he saw in his dream was farming.
By that logic, this man's work was indeed business.
Ji nodded slightly. "Merchants pursue profit. And you, Pioneer, don't seem to lack funds. Doing business with you is a pleasure. If you ever need something again, I may appear with more goods."
"Thank you."
Felix flipped through the booklet. After only a few pages, he was already itching to learn the farming subclass. He decided to copy it as an important skill manual that players and Sarkaz could buy with money or merit points.
Ji waved to him, then climbed into a vehicle while the General Zuo's son followed after a polite nod toward Felix.
What kind of family is this… going out with so many bodyguards?
Though this time, the red-clad ones were absent.
The soil was precious. Felix immediately created a transport mission and added the skillbook to the exchange shop.
He also used his leader privileges to post new farming and cultivation tasks.
His goal was clear: by the end of the year or early next year, Kazdel needed to achieve at least partial self-sufficiency.
Even at a discount, the soil made his heart ache. But you couldn't catch a wolf without sacrificing the lamb. If anything happened to this soil, it would be a total loss.
He remembered Mudrock's sensitivity to stone and soil, and also the secret Mandragora had whispered to him back in Kazdel.
Mandragora had once told him that something in Mudrock's Originium Arts or aura felt familiar and comforting. Mandragora's own encounter back in Victoria had granted her the heritage of the Gargoyles, a unique Sarkaz subspecies, and even her Originium staff had been a gift from her teacher at the time.
So it was possible Mudrock's geokinetic-sense resonated with her. Or Mudrock herself might not be an ordinary Sarkaz. She might be a Gargoyle.
But in Felix's memory, Gargoyles were just statues perched on Victoria's buildings, carved entirely from stone.
Regardless of her true race, he planned to entrust the farmland management to Mudrock. Construction work could be handled by her squad.
———
In February, Felix returned to Kazdel. The soil he treasured had already been placed into a special cultivation chamber, similar to a greenhouse but filled with advanced technology. The design came from his own blueprint: a compact ecological garden. Many players who preferred farming or disliked combat worked here for experience and rewards.
The first batch of crops was half corn, half potatoes. W had suggested potatoes during a meeting, explaining that Victoria had dozens, even hundreds of ways to cook them. And in emergencies, she could always throw them like bombs for a satisfying blast.
A messenger from Kazimierz brought new information: the Fate Knights now numbered over twenty. Alongside familiar names like the Blood Knight, Viviana, and the Dark Knight, several unaffiliated or previously ostracized knights had joined as well, including a few Infected knights.
But that was not the main point. The real focus came during the routine meeting at the end of January, when Ms. Russell proposed expanding the scope of the Major. She stated that since the Blood Knight, an Infected knight, had given everyone such a spectacular performance, it was time to formally establish the bill confirming that Infected knights were legitimate knights.
The Chamber of Commerce fell silent, while the Adeptus Sprawiedliwi continued pressing the advantage. It seemed only a matter of time before the bill passed. Soon, the Kazimierz Major would allow Infected knights to compete.
By mid-February, repairs on Kazdel's mobile city had reached eighty percent. Felix judged that the moment was right and issued a war mission.
[B-Rank Mission: Journey of Liberation]
[Mission Details: The Pioneer believes it is time to display strength through force. Join the Pioneer's expeditionary army. Fight for him. Conquer all obstacles in his name.]
[Mission Requirements: Defeat the Western Legion (0/1). Kill or capture the Western Legion's leader, Azure "Caren Augusta" (0/1).]
The Western Legion had never behaved themselves during Kazdel's reconstruction. They had attempted to invade territory near the mobile city and were driven back by Tomorrow's Development. Afterwards, they turned to banditry, robbing convoys belonging to Tomorrow's Development. Many unlucky players had been ambushed and killed, forced to log out.
This war mission used a reward-pool system. Like before, the teams with the best performance would claim the largest share. Even ordinary players would not lose out, since Felix still had unused reward-pool experience to distribute.
As soon as the mission was released, the forums exploded again. Many players thought Kazdel's war was already over and expected a long period of peaceful rebuilding, especially since the mobile city was not yet fully repaired. But even more players reacted like they had been injected with pure adrenaline. They had been waiting for a war. Or rather, they had been waiting for the Pioneer to lead them into battle again.
This time, the cause was righteous. They would liberate western Kazdel and integrate it into Tomorrow's Development.
As for the mission requirement regarding the Western Legion's leader, players simply laughed it off. The name "Caren" sounded like a woman. They assumed she would not be killed, but dragged back to Tomorrow's Development as a mascot or poster girl.
Players rushed to sign up. Long-term PVP made them sick, but PVE was another story. And with a reward-pool mission, how many in the Western Legion could withstand a swarm of players charging at them?
In a short time, more than one hundred thousand players had registered, including professional guilds and large war guilds, all hoping to reap huge profits from this campaign.
Felix, as the Supreme Commander, did not intend to appear on the battlefield. There would be no point unless both the Lightbearers and the players were trained through real combat.
The Lightbearer chosen as legion commander after multiple rounds of selection was Oras, a male Vouivre infected with Oripathy. The disease granted him a cold that could freeze anything. Players had nicknamed him "Winter Dragon." Wearing the Lightbearers' standard power armor, he stood with the others before Felix, awaiting his inspection before departure.
Their standard armor was bulkier and more menacing than the normal Tomorrow's Development uniforms, built like massive warriors. They were not sealed inside like tin cans; instead, each set carried a unique structure and emphasis. Assault-type armor came with acceleration and impact modules, letting the user unleash their full strength. Caster-type armor had spell-casting units. Sniper-type armor included enchanted bullets and expansion modules.
"This will be the first true battle fought in the Lightbearers' name," Felix said. "My expectations for you are high."
He paused. "As Tomorrow's Development's strongest force, I want you to show your full power in this campaign. Let everyone witness what the Lightbearers are capable of."
The legion straightened their backs, brimming with confidence. They had trained for years without ever displaying their true strength on a battlefield. Now, they could hardly contain themselves.
The assault on the Western Legion began with the Lightbearers' deployment. They took large transport aircraft to the front lines. Players had already constructed their own camp, trenches, and defenses. Over the past few days, both sides had engaged in minor skirmishes.
The Western Legion occupied terrain that was easy to defend and hard to attack. Because of past Catastrophe, the land formed deep ravines with towering stone pillars. The real ground was difficult to see. Looking down from the cliffs, one saw only thick purple mist.
After consulting Sarkaz mercenaries, the players learned that this was mutated Originium dust fog, formed under lightning strikes. Falling into it would be fatal. Even if the bottom held water and a person survived the impact, inhaling the dust on the way down meant instant game over.
The Western Legion did not have a mobile city. Instead, they held a damaged fortress. Players could see the remains—some parts still bearing traces of Originium catastrophe. Working in this environment required constant caution. No one wanted their infection rate to rise for some strange reason.
After the skirmishes, players reported that the Western Legion was well-trained. Compared to mercenaries, they were more like soldiers ready to repel invaders at any time.
W and Ines, along with several other high-ranking members, personally arrived at the front line. Ines examined the mercenaries standing in tight formation on the fortress walls.
"They're all mercenaries who took part in the war against Victoria."
"Hah? So they actually fought in a real war? Looks like Tomorrow's Development won't have an easy time this round."
W grinned. "And where's the Pioneer anyway? Sending those adventurers forward is basically sending them to their deaths."
"The Pioneer has his own considerations… the Lightbearers are moving."
Everyone's attention shifted to the super-soldiers clad in their immaculate power armor. They advanced in squads of ten, each accompanied by floating drones and armed with gleaming blades.
They soon walked into an ambush within the fortress ruins. Hundreds of Western Legion mercenaries leaped down from the second level, brandishing long knives. Originium arts erupted from all directions, bursting into a dazzling display of colors like a chaotic fireworks show.
Oras raised a hand. At once, the snipers in each squad stepped forward. The sniper-type Lightbearers fell back behind the formation, lifting not pistols, but compact submachine guns—firearms that never appeared on the game market and could only be handled by a handful of Sarkaz NPCs.
Players knew that using such weapons required maxed-out proficiency. For the Lightbearers, it was standard practice.
Behind them, other Lightbearers carried even rarer sniper guns.
Just as someone shouted "What the hell!", the Lightbearers pulled their triggers. Nearly a hundred Arts-infused rounds sprayed forward like an unending torrent, completely saturating the battlefield. Several mercenaries were unlucky and died instantly, while the ones who survived only did so by blocking shots with their armor—yet even they were left bleeding heavily.
Oras gestured again. The sniper team switched magazines and reloaded. The caster squad stepped forward, their bodies glowing before merging their arts into a shimmering prism of color. Flames and frost, stone and soil—Originium arts intertwined and burst forth as a literal mudslide roaring toward the Western Legion's formation.
Boom!
More than half the mercenaries were buried where they stood. The remaining wounded had already lost the will to fight. Without realizing it, their morale had completely collapsed.
At that moment, Oras drew the greatsword from his back. A layer of crystalline frost shimmered across its blade.
"Advance!"
The melee-type Lightbearers charged, like disposal units disposing trash in front of them, swinging their blades and cutting down the mercenaries who were still standing.
A two-hundred-man ambush force was wiped out cleanly and effortlessly. The players were stunned. Tomorrow's Development mercenaries were stunned. Even the upper ranks of Tomorrow's Development stood frozen.
They had known the Pioneer kept a secret elite force…
But never had they imagined power like this.
So this… was the true strength of the Pioneer's First Legion, the Lightbearers.