Chapter 8

Fortunately, Yang Rui acted early and built the lumber mill shortly after establishing the village. He also allocated a considerable number of people to the logging site, which prevented the wood supply from becoming too tight, allowing the construction of civilian houses to proceed in a timely manner. Otherwise, Yang Rui would have been in trouble.

On the fifth and sixth days after the village was established, Dasha Village unexpectedly experienced two more "surges" of refugees, with over 20 refugees appearing each day, totaling 47 people in two days! The amount of wood required to accommodate these new villagers was not a small number.

Yang Rui was somewhat puzzled by the increase in the number of refugees in Dasha Village. The 10% increase in the refresh rate should not be so simple as just the number of refugees, and it was likely not the frequency of the "surges" either! However, more refugees were certainly a good thing!

With the addition of these villagers, the population of Dasha Village was approaching 100 people, and the labor force suddenly became abundant. After Yang Rui divided the tasks, each group, with the addition of this new batch of labor, carried out their respective tasks in an orderly manner.

Among them, the logging site managed by Chen Li had reached a scale of 50 people, producing 100 units of wood daily. The team responsible for land reclamation and planting, led by Chen Ping, maintained a size of 30 people. After harvesting the first batch of sweet potatoes on the fifth day, they continuously expanded the planting area, and food production stabilized.

Notably, the planting of sweet potatoes did not disappoint Yang Rui. Although the land in Dasha Village was at a "barren" level, the adaptability of sweet potatoes was indeed strong. The yield per mu of land was about 15 units, 1.5 times the average yield of normal land, and even exceeded it! Yang Rui couldn't help but marvel that sweet potatoes were truly a treasure!

Apart from the 80 people led by Chen Ping and Chen Li, the remaining people, under Yang Rui's leadership, completed the construction of nearly 20 thatched cottages. Even if another "surge" occurred, there would be no need to worry about housing for the next few days!

In the afternoon of the sixth day, after much consideration, Yang Rui temporarily abandoned the plans to build a primary market and a primary shipyard. Using almost all the stored wood, he spent 150 units of wood to build the Militia Camp first!

"Militia Camp: Basic building, a basic training ground for soldiers. It can convert level 10 and above combat personnel into 1st-tier militia. Conversion cost: 50 copper per person per time, conversion limit: 100 people per day. Can be upgraded to a primary barracks. Upgrade conditions: 150 stone, 300 wood."

Basic buildings do not require construction blueprints, such as the Militia Camp, logging site, and quarry. However, buildings above the primary level require relevant blueprints or higher-level professionals to construct. For example, the primary barracks require an upgrade blueprint or a mid-level general.

The attribute description of the Militia Camp is very simple; it is a dedicated place for converting 1st-tier militia. In a sense, converting to a militia is a sign of a soldier's combat strength improvement. Without conversion, even if the level is very high, the corresponding strength will be far inferior to that of a converted soldier of the same level!

As soon as the Militia Camp was completed, Yang Rui eagerly selected the 10 or so villagers with the highest combat values from all the villagers and led them to find trouble with wild monsters! Yang Rui wanted to quickly train them to level 10 and convert them into 1st-tier militia.

The newly refreshed refugees were all level 0 (Chen Li and Chen Ping, the two brothers, were system-gifted assistants with an initial level of 10), so these 10 or so villagers, although relatively high in combat value, were still only around 8 or 9 points!

Moreover, each villager actually has a qualification level. The system-gifted Chen Li and Chen Ping were both A-level, which was quite good. Most ordinary villagers were mostly C, D, or E level. The higher the qualification, the higher the aptitude and potential for a particular job!

Similarly, each soldier's qualification largely determines their future potential. Starting from 2nd-tier soldiers, soldiers need relevant advancement credentials or self-enlightenment to advance, and the probability of self-enlightenment is closely related to the soldier's qualification!

However, Yang Rui did not consider the qualification of the selected villagers. In his plan, these soldiers had a special purpose, and higher qualifications would be a waste, better to save them for other uses!

The location of Dasha Village in the inner valley determined that there were still many wild monsters around. However, these monsters were generally level 10 and above, far beyond what these level 0 villagers could handle, and even a single counterattack could cost them their lives!

Therefore, to avoid unnecessary casualties, Yang Rui decided to take action himself, targeting fewer passive counterattack monsters, and kept the 10 or so level 0 villagers behind him, first bringing them up a few levels.

Although most of the experience was obtained by Yang Rui, the villagers still gained some experience, and since the experience required for low-level upgrades is relatively low, their leveling speed was not slow.

After about an hour, the 10 or so villagers led by Yang Rui barely reached level 3, and their health was no longer so thin. Yang Rui began to leave some monsters with only a breath of life for them to finish off, so they could gain more experience.

Even so, there were a couple of times when the remaining monsters still caused significant damage, nearly killing a couple of villagers! Fortunately, Yang Rui had equipped them with "miner clothes" (obtained from the mine in the beginner village) from the inventory, which increased their attributes by 5 points, saving their lives by a stroke of luck.

As the cooperation became more默契, the villagers' attacks became more coordinated, and such dangerous situations occurred less frequently. By the time the villagers reached levels 6 or 7, they could assist Yang Rui in attacking!

After another two hours, the villagers' levels successively reached 10, meeting the conditions for conversion to 1st-tier militia. Compared to the time Yang Rui spent reaching level 10 when he first entered the game, the villagers' leveling speed was already quite fast!

Without hesitation, Yang Rui immediately led these villagers back to the Militia Camp in Dasha Village and ordered them to line up and enter the building one by one for conversion.

"Congratulations! Your villager Zhang ** has met the conditions for conversion to 1st-tier soldier, conversion successful... cost 50 copper... You have obtained 1 1st-tier militia!"

"Congratulations! Your villager Yang ** has met the conditions for conversion to 1st-tier soldier, conversion successful... cost 50 copper... You have obtained 1 1st-tier militia!"

...

...

Each conversion of a 1st-tier militia was announced to Yang Rui, and the system announced a total of 13 times. The original 1008 copper in Dasha Village was mostly deducted as conversion fees, leaving only about 350 copper!

After the system announcements ended, the 13 1st-tier militia stood neatly in a row, 3 meters in front of Yang Rui. It was clear that the converted soldiers had undergone a significant change in demeanor.

Looking at the row of 1st-tier militia in front of him, although Yang Rui was not overly excited, he felt a sense of satisfaction. Although the rank of the militia was low, this was the first step in Dasha Village's military development!