Zhan Long

I summoned the God Dragon Horse and galloped to the palace. When I stepped in, I noticed that Fang Ge Que, Drunken Spear, Ye Lai, Jian Feng Han were all here. Apart from them were people like Luo Fei, Xu Yan, and Situ Xin. The sight of these people made me understand something. The similarity between this bunch was that they were all generals and people who held troops under them.

……

"Master Li, you’re here!"

Lochlan smiled at me. "It is good that you’re here; we can start talking about serious matters now."

I asked, "Your Majesty, what happened? Why did you call all the generals over?"

The official beside Lochlan said, "His Majesty wants to thank the generals for serving the nation up till the point all of you have no time to rest at all. His Majesty ordered the north villas of the back palace to be renovated into dozens of General Manors for the generals to reside."

I was shocked. "This..."

Lochlan smiled and asked, "Master Li, do you think that my actions are inappropriate? Don't worry; I didn't use the citizens’ riches and resources. Those villas used to be part of the palace; I just reduced the palace by 30%. Anyways, since I fired many maid servants and officials, those rooms have become empty."

I was somewhat speechless. "Okay..."

I laughed. "Can you have some standards?"

Fang Ge Que countered. "Who knows what the manors can provide for us in game?"

"I am quite unsure; we'll know when we head over."

"En."

Anyway, this was a good thing. Lochlan was good to the generals and that was good for Tian Ling City. Moreover, this was a way to win us over. Lochlan was becoming a better and better ruler! As a ruler, one should have such ability to win over his people; if not, they would just be useless.

……

A few palace officials brought us over. We went out of the palace and around the streets. This place where there were little to no players only had a few guards walking about. On the streets with flower petals falling, many residences appeared ahead of us. Some were big and some were small, each of them were guarded by some Guards Army troops. Ye Lai could not help but say, "Why are the Guards Army guarding us? They are obviously monitoring us!"

Situ Xin replied hurriedly, "General Ye is worrying too much. The guard troops are here temporarily in case thieves break in. Once you move in, your Xia Yu Army will switch for these Guards Army troops. Don't worry."

Ye Lai laughed. "That's great. Sorry for offending you."

Situ Xin was a frank person, too. "Don't worry. We are generals of the country; there is no need to be so polite."

……

Very quickly, we arrived at Ye Lai's residence. It was not huge, but the overall land area was over one thousand square meters. When he walked to the entrance, it opened. Two NPC servants were standing there. "Congratulations for returning to your manor, General!"

Ye Lai was stunned. "D*mn! These are?"

Situ Xin laughed out loud. "Which General Manor won't have maids? These are given by His Majesty, so just enjoy them."

Ye Lai laughed. "Okay, understood..."

In the end, he brought the two of them and entered happily. Jian Feng Han frowned. "Scoff! Fatty Ye is actually such a person. It’s so unexpected!"

I laughed, too. "Jian Feng Han, you had better not change your words when you see your beautiful maid servant!"

Before I finished speaking, we arrived at his residence, which was not big. Three maids were actually assigned to him, and their beauty shocked him. "Quite pretty..."

Drunken Spear laughed. "The legendary Jian Feng Han is only like this!"

Fang Ge Que did not laugh and continued walking forward while holding his fan.

At this point, I received news from Ye Lai: "Xiao Yao, this residence isn’t bad... The two girls aren't much, but the courtyard has a sparring ground. If you use skills on the wooden totems, the skill familiarity can increase in folds. Plus, they are specific to you, so it is for us to get to level 18."

I was delighted, too. Skill familiarity was always a problem and the demands for it were too high in the late game. My Seven Star Fragment Slash was only level 144, and now I was at level 177. In truth, I should be getting level 18 skills. Moreover, some skills, such as Great Realm of Desolation and Ice Domain, were rarely used, but this did not mean that they were not practical. On the contrary, they must be used in intense PKs. Also, since these totems could cause skill familiarity to increase by folds, it was a really great help!

……

Drunken Spear, Xu Yan, and the others soon got to their designated residences, and finally it was my turn to be brought to mine. This was the biggest one; the board at the top was even changed to the words ‘Suiding Duke’. There were a bunch of Guards Army soldiers guarding it. The door slowly opened, and four maid servants could be seen waiting by the entrance. They said gently, "Welcome back, general!"

The few officials smiled and then backed away.

I walked forward and said, "All of you should return to the Guards Army; the Royal Army will take over here!"

"Yes, General!"

As these hundred Guards Army troops left, I blew my whistle. A few minutes later, a Royal Army War Hawk Knight landed and asked respectfully, "Sir, what can I do for you?"

"Send five hundred Royal Army troops here to guard the residence."

"Yes General!"

……

I stepped into my residence. It was really huge inside and there were more than four maid servants. They were all lined up, and when I counted, there were at least twenty people. Ye Lai's residence was only one thousand square meters, but mine was at least ten times his. It was more than enough to fit five hundred Royal Army troops. This was good. The Royal Army finally had a spot within the city.

"General, do you need me to help take off your armor?" a maid servant asked.

Generals often wanted their armors to be taken off. Otherwise, drinking tea and playing chess with the heavy armor would make them look like jokes. However, the game was different, I didn't find it heavy so I shook my head. "I don't need your assistance; don't mention this again in the future."

"Yes, General!" That servant panicked. "Did I do something wrong to make you unhappy?"

I smiled. "No, all of you needn’t be so nervous. I won't be here often, and even if I do, I'll just be training with the wooden dummies. Do whatever you want. The Royal Army will come here later, but they won't disturb any of you, either."

"Yes!"

The maid servant looked at me and her beautiful cheeks appeared flushed. "We met a good master..."

I was curious and asked, "What did all of you do before? Why did His Majesty give all of you to me?"

That maid servant in a red dress replied, "I was an inner palace maid; after His Majesty sent us away, I had nowhere to go, so I came here."

Another one in a white dress chimed in. "My home was ravaged by war and my parents died, so I ended up in this city. After I became a slave, I was sent over."

I sat on the inner courtyard steps and smiled. "Relax and speak one by one."

A big-breasted maid servant in a yellow dress smiled. "General, you are the Suiding Duke, a person above all and just below one in the empire. I heard those guards saying that you are the top general of the empire, yet you're not greedy for fame and even rejected His Majesty's reward. I heard them say that your Royal Army is the only one strong enough to fight against the Hybrid Demons. I thought that you'd be scary; who knew that you would be so handsome..."

Her face flushed red. "Those people lied to us. General is obviously so likeable!"

I looked at her and smiled. "Where are you from?"

"I am from the Barbarian Race."

"No wonder your words are so open..."

Her cheeks went even redder. "General, don't make fun of me. If you want me to be gentle, then I won't say such words anymore!"

I laughed. "It's okay; I don't mind you being outspoken. "

……

After saying that, I stood up and pulled out Butterfly and Zhen Yue Sword. The bunch of maid servants followed me into the drill field. Wooden, copper, and iron dummies could be found there. I did a simple stab and caused sparks to fly. As expected, the skill familiarity could really increase. Moreover, while I was here, my cooldown would be greatly reduced. Close combat skills with six seconds of cooldown now just had two or three seconds of cooldown. As long as one had enough Mana Potions, the skill familiarity training would be efficient. Moreover... I had thirty-six thousand mana now, which could not be finished easily. The mana recovery was quick, too, so I could continue leveling.

I trained skill familiarity while they looked.

Not long after, Han Yuan galloped over with five hundred elite Royal Army soldiers. He looked around and laughed. "This is indeed a great world!"

I laughed and kept him for dinner. Those maid servants went to order the chef to cook. I had never enjoyed such treatment in-game before. Naturally, someone as poor as Han Yuan had not, too.

……

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After dinner, when Han Yuan was picking at his teeth, a Royal Army soldier came in to report. "Generals, someone called Floating Clouds wanted to meet you!"

"Floating Clouds?"

I was shocked. "Why did she want to meet me?"

Han Yuan frowned. "She’s Luo Xun's; it probably won't be any good!"