Chapter 10: The Dwarves’ Provocation

After half a day, Reed finally regained consciousness. He went straight to Li Bin, who was busy sorting through stacks of paperwork at City Hall, and said bluntly, "I want you to send Jessica back to her city."

Li Bin showed no surprise at Reed’s words. He set aside his work and calmly looked Reed in the eye. "Can you tell me the reason?"

"That Bialu Empire—the empire where Carter is—it was him who did this to me. I want him to suffer worse than death," Reed said fiercely.

Li Bin studied Reed for a long moment, then nodded. "I’ll agree to your request, but you may need to wait for a while."

"Why?" Now that he knew where his enemy was, Reed was eager to act and couldn't wait another moment.

"For the sake of this city." Li Bin slowly stood up. "I'm no longer just a combatant. Now that I have my own city, I must think of my territory and my future. Even if I must go, I have to settle the affairs of my domain first."

"I understand." Reed recalled how, in this period, Li Bin had scarcely left City Hall and his level still remained at 4/4—the same as when he left the beginners’ continent. Reed’s heart softened. "Then you must give me a definite time."

"One month. Give me one more month," Li Bin said after a moment’s thought. "In this month, Ghost Butterfly City will rise to a Level 3 settlement and we'll conquer the nearby dwarf villages. Then we’ll organize a unit of Level 7 troops to fight for us, and even the bone dragon we ordered will arrive. Only then will we have a guarantee of victory when we strike."

"Fine, one month. I’ll give you just one month. If you haven’t made a decision after that, I’ll disregard the system’s restrictions and take back my contract from you," Reed issued this ultimatum and left Li Bin’s office.

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In the days that followed, since all affairs of the mining district outside the city had been entrusted to Shui Yuetian, Li Bin’s workload quickly diminished.

Each day, he could spare a little time to research undead troop types and plan for future discoveries.

Early that morning, his ghost-fire slave brought him two pieces of news—one good, one bad.

The good news, according to Lidas’s report, was that the Amazon camp hidden in the forest was developing rapidly. Not only had it recovered to the level it once had in the Bloodthirsty Wastelands, it had even established two branch camps.

Moreover, after breaking free from the Level 7 restriction for top troops on the beginners’ continent, they used the Evergreen Divine Vine left by Li Bin to train three Level 9 Amazon Valkyries.

To repay Li Bin for his help, the Amazon camp decided to leave two Valkyries as guards, and send one Amazon Valkyrie and a mixed squad of Level 7 Deep Forest Hunters (an upgraded version of Forest Pursuers) and Level 7 Swamp Assassins (Forest Hunters adapted for swamps, armed with curved blades and blowpipes, accompanied by wild oxen, venom flies, and giant pythons) to serve Li Bin. They would arrive at Ghost Butterfly City within a day or two.

The bad news was that the nearby dwarf settlement had dispatched a force to attack Ghost Butterfly City.

Unfortunately, during this period, to protect the roads and mining districts, Li Bin had sent out all the city’s skeleton soldiers, corpse troops, and ghost soldiers, forming patrol squads in a ratio of three to one to one. Only undead gargoyles and the harpy poisonmaidens remained in the city. Although the harpy ghosts, now fully functional, qualified as Level 7 troops, they were designed as auxiliary and aerial units. Their effectiveness in direct combat was not on par with some Level 6 main combat units.

The undead ballistae that Li Bin relied on were only Level 5 troops, and without knowing the enemy’s strength, he couldn’t guarantee their usefulness.

Yet, when the dwarf force appeared at the corner of Ghost Butterfly City’s walls, Li Bin breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever the dwarves were thinking, their force was even weaker than the one Shui Yuetian had once fled from in panic.

Two squads of dwarf miners, a squad of dwarf militia, and four or five dwarf guards, all led by a dwarf wearing a horned helmet and wielding a heavy iron hammer, stood beneath the city walls.

That dwarf hero pointed at Li Bin atop the wall and shouted loudly, "You must be the master of this bone city! Come out and surrender, or the mighty army of Lord Dwarf will leave no survivors!"

Li Bin, seeing the drunken dwarf, couldn’t help but tease, "No survivors? But there isn’t a single living creature here."

The dwarf stared hard, then said, "That’s true. Then leave none of… none of what, again? Never mind. Just come down and surrender so I can finish my mission."

"Finish your mission?" Li Bin sneered. "I don't think so—you might not even make it back yourself."

Even drunk, the dwarf wasn’t so dull he missed the threat in Li Bin’s words. He raised his heavy hammer and shouted, "Charge, everyone! Kill them all and drinks are on me!"

At this, the dwarf force’s morale soared. The two squads of dwarf miners charged madly beneath the city wall, raising their pickaxes and digging away.

Standing atop the wall, Li Bin could see the wall thinning rapidly, possibly even being breached. Anxious, he ordered the harpy poisonmaidens and harpy assassins to attack, hoping that those basic dwarf troops hadn’t been trained to Level 6 or 7 by their hero.

Unexpectedly, before the poisonmaidens could even fully deploy, the first two harpy assassins to meet the dwarves cut them down almost entirely.

From the system message, Li Bin was surprised to see that the dwarf force consisted only of Level 0 and Level 1 troops.

Confronted with such farce, Li Bin could no longer watch. He casually ordered the harpy poisonmaidens to capture the dwarf hero alive, then left the city walls—after all, there were still many matters waiting for him at City Hall.

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Two hours later, the dwarf hero was brought in. The delay wasn’t because he was hard to capture, but because he’d drunk so much he was sleeping.

Upon seeing Li Bin, the newly awakened dwarf hero’s eyes flashed with cunning. He looked up and asked, "Are you a player?"

Li Bin was startled, sizing up the dwarf reeking of alcohol. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, "Are you a player too?"

"Of course I am," the dwarf replied, clutching his head and sighing loudly. "But comparing people only makes you feel miserable..."