110 Post-War Reconstruction (Unrefined and Unreviewed)

The Battle for High Court had already passed more than half a month ago...

During this time, the main task for the recovered Yang Jie was leading a group of cadres to clean up the battlefield within High Court.

Half the city had been destroyed, and everything lay in ruins.

Simply burying the dead, clearing the roads, and demolishing the burnt houses took a full half month.

The number of casualties had yet to be tallied, but this was not Yang Jie's concern; the past could not be changed, and living in the present was what mattered.

The field hospital remained overcrowded. Many clan members who participated in the defense battle suffered lifelong disabilities, and countless children became orphans after losing their families.

Fortunately, a heavy rainstorm prevented the outbreak of any plague—truly a blessing amid misfortune.

No immediate plans were made to have Lao Sha rebuild the houses, as the number of clan members lost was immense—roughly estimated at nearly twenty thousand, including children and women—leaving many mouse dens abandoned.

Currently, the number of adult mouse folk in the tribe was under ten thousand. The entire Mechanized Battalion, including Shuke, had been wiped out; the Black Flag Army was left with only 234 mice; the City Defense Army had 189 mice remaining; and the reserves numbered 1,957.

Among them, nearly half the warriors were left with permanent disabilities, never to return to the battlefield.

However, those who were still healthy were the elite of the elite. With these warriors as the backbone, it was believed that before long they could raise a combat-ready army once more.

The population structure was severely unbalanced, with minors making up over sixty percent, and nearly half of them orphans.

To accommodate these young mice needing adult care, Yang Jie ordered Lao Sha to swiftly build ten orphanages overnight to temporarily house the orphans. Except for a small number adopted by others, most of the young mice were simply raised within these orphanages.

The shortage of adult mouse folk was critical; this was truly a time that stretched their every resource thin.

It would take at least two years to restore the population balance to a healthy state. The scars left by the war deeply wounded every mouse folk.

Fortunately, their food reserves were abundant enough to sustain them for the short term.

...

Aside from the bad news, there were naturally some good tidings.

First, Johnny successfully broke through the barrier and advanced to the legendary rank, undergoing a transformative leap. He became a fiercely loyal legend warrior for Yang Jie, catapulting the mouse folk’s top-tier combat strength from the lowest ranks directly to the pinnacle of the entire clan’s hierarchy.

Second, with the end of the founding war, the mouse tribe officially established its dominance over the Northern Plain.

With the lizard folk guarding the south, the human alliance across the Tam River to the west utterly defeated, the sacred Mount Stides to the north providing a natural fortress, and the favor of the Satyrs in the eastern Fagon Forest, the mouse folk could at least spend the coming dark age in peace. They were set to smoothly advance into the Bronze Age.

Third, the first kingdom of the Lox continent had been established.

Upon founding the state, the system officially unlocked the icon for the Scaven Empire, including diplomatic relations, foreign trade systems, merit awards, and imperial milestones.

Diplomacy pertained to relations between nations; foreign trade systems similarly governed trade; the merit award system allowed for honoring outstanding cadres within the empire, which both increased their loyalty and unlocked hidden traits. Imperial milestones represented achievements granting additional technology points and merit values.

Yang Jie’s ability to establish a state as the top-ranked lord on the Lox continent was entirely due to completing the “Founding War” achievement, a unique distinction.

This special “Founding War” achievement granted Yang Jie a system reward of 5,000 technology points. Simultaneously, he completed the “First Empire” achievement, awarding an additional 15,000 technology points, including 5,000 bonus points from the system. In other words, any player completing the “Founding” achievement could receive 10,000 universal points.

These two achievements alone brought Yang Jie 20,000 technology points, injecting powerful momentum into the rapid rise of the empire.

Without these special achievements, founding a state would have required waiting until after the Bronze Age. Thus, Yang Jie held a significant advantage despite his current weakness.

Fourth, points and merit values.

Following the battle, Yang Jie’s system merit value had reached a staggering 25,718—almost inexhaustible in the short term.

The fundamental difference between points and merit values lay in their acquisition: points were mainly gained by the lord through killing neutral system creatures, neutral tribes, or capturing ancient relics. After capturing relics, points continued to accumulate daily for three days. Points were primarily used after reaching the Bronze Age to purchase special items, tools, weapons, and technologies from the system store.

For example, ten points could buy a longevity potion that extended a clan member’s life by a year; healing potions could instantly restore a hero’s wounds. There were also various wonder blueprints. Points were absolute hard currency.

Merit values, on the other hand, were only obtained by killing the troops and heroes of other lord players. The stronger the enemy troops and heroes, the higher the merit gained. For instance, killing the Hill King alone provided Yang Jie with 3,000 merit points. To prevent players from farming merit by repeatedly killing the same heroes, merit could only be earned once per hero killed.

Merit values were used not only as mentioned above but also to create regiments and banners, and to upgrade these banners.

Moreover, after entering the Bronze Age, constructing special buildings, summoning large or giant units all required consuming merit points. Later on, even reviving heroes needed merit points, underscoring their importance.

Fifth, a stable environment for development.

The human forces across the Tam River to the west were now broken and unable to recover. The dark elves in the eastern Fagon Forest had been jointly annihilated. Thus, Yang Jie gained a precious opportunity for development.

...

At the same time, because of achieving the “First Empire” accolade, Yang Jie’s fame was officially established; continuing to keep a low profile was no longer an option.

Players in the Lox continent’s closed beta began to inquire about who Yang Jie really was and how strong he was.

...

The sun set, casting long shadows along Sunset Avenue.

Yang Jie stood on the city wall of High Court, hands behind his back, watching the comings and goings of mouse folk and lizard folk as he pondered his next plans.

After the joint assault with the Satyrs and the Darkmoon Clan annihilated the dark elves, Xia Rong’s lizard folk had also made a hefty haul from the dark elves’ Silver Moon City.

Yet Xia Rong had not forgotten his big brother Yang Jie. At the war’s end, he sent a large shipment of resources and rallied nearly two thousand lizard folk to aid the mice in rebuilding High Court.

Yang Jie was deeply grateful.

At that moment, Xia Rong behind him suddenly broke the peaceful sunset silence.

“I’ve had a question I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time.”

“Ask away,” Yang Jie replied, still standing with hands behind his back.

“What if the lord of the Chakalk Grasslands invades us now?”

...