Randy had almost forgotten that he upgraded his fortress to level 2, too distracted by all the chaos happening around him. The first thing he checked was his resource production now that his buildings were at level 2, his stations were producing twice as much. Previously, his resource stations only generated 5 per day, but now they produced 10 each.

  With 3 farms, 3 stone mines, 3 wood camps, and 3 metal mines, his total daily production had jumped to 30 of each resource. That meant he could now summon 30 Tier 1 troops per day instead of just 15.

  Feeling excited about his growing army, Randy let a day pass before checking the world channel out of curiosity. The protection shields had dropped, and he wanted to see how everyone else was handling the battlefield.

  Lord Wolf Fang: Guys, I’m looking out from my watchtower, and I see twelve fortresses on fire burning to the ground. I don’t know who did it, but I’m pretty sure it was only one guy.

  Lord Sypha: Please, please someone save me! I’ve been captured! I don’t know the lord’s name, but I’m pretty sure I’m somewhere in the south.

  Lord Titan: Hey, have you guys joined an alliance yet? I heard there are alliance boosts and events joining one will help you grow a lot faster.

  Randy’s attention locked onto the words “alliance boost” and “alliance events.”

  “What are those? How good are the boosts? What kind of events are there?”

  He quickly typed in the chat:

  “How good are the alliance boosts, and what are the events like?

  Lord Titan: The boost gives you 2× resource production if your fortress is inside alliance territory. As for the events… I’ve only heard about them, haven’t experienced one yet. If you need an alliance, join mine Tiger Nation. We’re in the Top 40, and it’s an open alliance right now, but not for long. Hurry up!

  Randy hesitated.

  2× resource production would be huge for his growth. But… could he really trust these people? He had trust issues. He had never had friends. He was homeless before all of this. Would they still accept him if they knew?

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  Worse what if it was a setup?

  They could just be luring him in, pretending to be friendly. Once they saw his base coordinates on the map, they could kick him out and attack him immediately.

  That thought alone was enough to make him scoff.

  “Hell no. I’m not joining any alliance. I don’t care how high-ranked they are.”

  Given enough time, Randy was confident he could grow strong enough to take on an entire alliance by himself.

  But that 2× production boost and event rewards… those were too valuable to ignore. If he wanted to grow fast and keep up with pay-to-win players, he had no choice he would have to create his own alliance.

  After reaching level 3, he would form his own alliance . If people were going to acknowledge him as the leader, he had to outlevel them first.

  Without hesitation, he summoned 30 more Tier 1 troops:

  ?10 Infantry

  ?10 Ranged

  ?10 Cavalry

  Then, he looked out from his watchtower, at the level 3 fortress in the distance.

  A beacon shined over their base this guy had captured someone.

  “Interesting…” Randy thought. “I wonder how I can provoke him into attacking me… without sending a march first?”

  He only had two options:

  1.Send a scout

  2.Send a private message and taunt him

  He decided to send a scout first.

  A voice rang in his head:

  “When a scout is sent to an enemy base, they are covered in a protection shield and given a speed boost.”

  Randy watched as one of his Cavalry scouts dashed out at 2× speed, reaching the level 3 fortress in just a minute before returning.

  He immediately asked, “How many troops are in the base? How many resources?”

  The scout replied:

  “The Scout failed. I wasn’t able to scout them they have an Anti-Scout Trophy.”

  Randy cursed under his breath.

  “Damn it.”

  He had recently heard about trophy’s powerful tools that provided extra defensive bonuses. But he hadn’t expected someone to have one already.

  Still, Randy smiled.

  “Fine. If I can’t scout you… I’ll just piss you off instead.”

  He opened the private message and typed:

  “I dare you to attack me. And when I capture you, I’ll tie you up and use your face as my soldiers’ toilet for two days. Then, I’ll stake your head outside my castle as a decoration for others to see.”

  Then, he pressed send.

  Across the battlefield, inside the level 3 fortress, a man sitting on a throne read the message. His eyes twitched.

  With burning rage, he stood up, walked to his tower, and spotted Randy’s level 2 fortress in the distance.

  “This little insect thinks he can talk to me like that?!”

  Without hesitation, he sent a march.

  A system alert appeared before Randy:

  “Your fortress is under attack by Lord Almighty Ray. Summoning your troops to defend.”

  Randy’s smile widened.

  “The moment you attacked me… your possessions already became mine.”