Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

In the afternoon, in a courtyard at the end of a lane in the western part of the outer city.

When three camel carts loaded with goods stopped at the gate of the courtyard, the whole alley was in an uproar.

"That's... grain?!"

"My God, there's also cloth! Three whole cartloads!"

"Has Lord Li struck it rich?!"

A crowd of onlookers crowded at the alley entrance, pointing and whispering, their eyes filled with envy and greed.

But when they saw that the people jumping off the camel cart were guards from the Crimson Cloud Merchant Alliance dressed in crimson leather armor, their greedy eyes immediately shrank back.

No one dared to mess with the business alliance.

Ian stood at the gate of the courtyard, watching the guards carry bags of grain, bundles of cloth, and boxes of medicine and tools into the yard.

Li Yao and a dozen or so boys helped out from the side, their faces flushed with excitement.

The white-bearded old man walked over shakily, looked at the mountain of supplies, and after a long pause, finally managed to squeeze out a sentence.

"Lord Li... these... these are all for us?"

"Yes." Ian nodded. "From today onwards, this yard and the surrounding buildings will be our permanent base."

Grain was distributed per capita, cloth was given to women and children to make winter clothes, and medicine for injuries was stored away for future use.

He looked at the men in the courtyard.

"First, repair the house, then open up the empty yard next door, enclose it, and make it a complete courtyard."

"Yes!" the men replied in unison, their voices filled with barely suppressed excitement.

With these supplies, they will finally not starve or freeze to death this winter.

Ian then looked at Li Yao and the thirteen boys.

"Come with me."

He led fourteen men into the newly cleaned main room, closed the door, took out the cloth bag containing the standard crystal from his pocket, and poured it on the table.

Twenty milky-white standard crystals rolled out, emitting a warm glow in the dimly lit hall.

The boys all gasped in surprise.

"T-Teacher..." A-Ku stammered, "This...this is..."

"A standard crystal," Ian said calmly. "One is worth one hundred dust crystals."

He picked up ten coins and placed them in Li Yao's hand.

"These will be used to purchase your cultivation resources for the next month."

He picked up two more and handed them to the white-bearded old man.

"Exchange these two for dust crystals as operating funds for the base this month. Buy salt, oil, and necessary daily necessities. If there is any money left over, recruit a few more skilled craftsmen."

Ian put the remaining eight back into his bag.

"Save these as emergency funds." He looked at the fourteen young faces in front of him.

"From today onwards, you are no longer rootless duckweed. You have a base, supplies, and cultivation resources... but you also have responsibilities."

He walked to the window, opened it, and pointed to the busy people in the courtyard.

"Among those people are your parents. They entrusted their lives to you. If you are strong, they live; if you are weak, they die."

The main room was completely silent.

Only the heavy breathing of the boys could be heard.

"Teacher," Stone suddenly spoke, his voice rough but firm.

"My father died in the mouth of a corrupting beast last year, my mother died of illness, and my sister... starved to death."

He looked up, his eyes red-rimmed.

"You gave me this life. You told me to protect these people, so I will. Anyone who wants to harm them will have to step over my dead body first."

"Me too!" Xiao Zhou gritted her teeth.

Count me in!

"And me!"

Thirteen boys stood up one after another, their eyes burning with fire.

Ian looked at them and nodded slowly.

"very good."

He turned around and looked out the window at the darkening sky.

"Then starting tomorrow, we'll do two things."

"First, build this stronghold, make it solid and secure."

"second……"

He paused, his voice turning somber.

"I'll take you to the wilderness for real combat."

"Kill the corrupted beasts, practice teamwork, and draw blood."

"One month from now, I need thirteen of you to be able to hunt down a mid-stage Awakened Corrupted Burrowing Beast head-on."

The boys clenched their fists, their eyes burning with passion.

"yes!"

Late at night, Ian sat alone on the rooftop, gazing towards the inner city.

The stone tower of the Crimson Cloud Merchant Alliance stood tall in the night, its crimson crystal at the top resembling an ever-burning star.

"Core Guest Elder..."

Ian muttered to himself, a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips.

This step was the right one.

With a business alliance as their backing, established bases as their foundation, and this group of young people as their core team...

Next, it is time to improve strength as soon as possible and awaken the deeper power of the Star Guide bloodline.

then……

He gazed into the depths of the wilderness, at the darkness shrouded in gray clouds.

There are decaying cracks, ancient ruins, and the world's deepest secrets.

"No rush."

Ian closed his eyes, took out the crystal, and began meditating on the "Star-Guiding Chapter".

The Starfall Core in my chest was slightly warm, and the resonance with a certain star deep in the night sky was twice as clear as yesterday.

Initial stage of solidification (1%) → (1.1%).

Although slow, every step was solid.

three days later.

The courtyards at the end of the alley in the western part of the outer city have completely changed.

The original five separate dilapidated courtyards were connected together, and a two-meter-high earthen wall was built using newly cut wooden stakes and rammed earth.

Sharpened wooden splinters were stuck in the top of the wall, and the outer side was covered with a layer of black, viscous liquid that emitted a pungent odor.

This is made by boiling the blood of corrupted beasts with certain herbs, and it can effectively drive away low-level corrupted beasts.

The courtyard gate was replaced with a heavy iron and wooden door, with newly made iron hinges that made a dull "creaking" sound when opened and closed.

A simple wooden sign hangs above the door, with three crooked characters written on it.

Li Xingyuan

The handwriting wasn't exactly beautiful, but each stroke was ruthless, as if it had been carved with a knife.

The courtyard has also changed dramatically.

The ground, which was originally overgrown with weeds, was completely cleared and covered with a layer of fine pebbles transported from the riverbank, which made a "rustling" sound when stepped on.

Five rows of newly built adobe houses lined the courtyard wall. Each house had its own doors and windows. Although simple, they at least provided shelter from the wind and rain.

The innermost row of buildings was a warehouse, with neatly stacked sacks of grain, bundles of cloth, and several newly built large water vats containing clean water transported from the inner city.

The middle row is for living quarters, allocated by family, one room per family.

Although it's crowded, it's much better than the previous situation where more than a hundred people slept in a large dormitory.

The outermost row is the public area.

A large kitchen with three earthen stoves inside and a newly made iron pot hanging on the wall.

In one workshop, several skilled men were repairing tools and sharpening weapons. The largest room was the "training room."

It was early morning.

Inside the training room, fourteen figures stood shirtless in two rows, facing each other.

Sweat rolled down their lean backs, glistening in the morning light.

Everyone was covered in fresh scars, scratches, bite marks, and burns from splashes of corrosive liquid.

But no one cried out in pain.

Li Yao stood at the front, holding a newly forged iron sword in his hand.

He took a deep breath and slowly raised his sword.

"First move, thrust!"

"drink!"

The thirteen men roared in unison, stepped forward simultaneously, and thrust their weapons—swords, knives, and even two spears—into the open space in front of them in perfect unison.

The movements weren't perfect, but the fierceness was there.

Ian leaned against the doorframe, watching quietly.

For the past month, he led the group of teenagers out of the city to hunt during the day and returned at night to guide their cultivation, treat their wounds, and summarize their gains and losses.

Real combat in the wilderness is more brutal than any training.

On the first day, they encountered three rotten rats, but Ashu was still bitten through the calf, and Stone's arm was splashed with corrosive liquid, causing a large patch of skin to rot away.

The next day, they hunted a young burrowing beast. Xiaozhou had two ribs broken and was carried back, spitting blood.

Day three, day four...

Every day, someone gets hurt and someone bleeds.

But every day, someone makes a breakthrough.

On the fifth day, Aku finally connected all thirty-six runes and officially entered the early stage of awakening.

When he severed the head of the corrupted rat with his sword, the silver light of the sword illuminated the entire battlefield.

Aside from Li Yao, he was the first teenager to enter the awakening stage.

On the twelfth day, Stone withstood the burrowing beast's charge and used his body to trap its claws, creating an opportunity for Li Yao to deliver a fatal blow.

After that battle, he had three deep, bone-revealing scratches on his chest, but he had also officially completed the rune cycle.

Today marks exactly one month.

All thirteen people have entered the early stage of awakening.

The reputation of "Lixing Academy" quietly spread throughout the outer city.

Initially, it was just a few scattered rumors that the young man who brought refugees into the city not only broke through to the Condensed Form stage himself, but also trained a group of teenagers who could hunt corrupted beasts.

Later, the rumors became more and more specific.

Some people say they saw it with their own eyes: thirteen teenagers, working in perfect harmony, surrounded and killed a mid-stage awakened burrowing beast in just half an incense stick's time.

Some people say that the purification potion refined by Li Xing is 20% more effective than those on the market, and even important figures in the inner city have sent people to buy it.

Fame brings respect, but it also attracts prying eyes.

In just two months, three groups of thugs who didn't know any better had been "cleared" from the entrance of the courtyard, and two groups of guys who claimed to be a small gang wanted to collect "protection money".

As a result, Li Yao and the boys broke their legs and threw them out.

One of the leaders, who was in the early stages of awakening, had his tendons severed by Li Yao's sword, and his screams echoed across half the street.

From then on, no one dared to cause trouble in the alleys of West Street anymore.

dusk.

Ian walked at the front of the group, his iron sword slung across his waist, the scabbard stained with a few drops of still-dry dark red blood.

Behind them, thirteen teenagers carried the corpses of two decaying hyenas, their steps steady, their breathing even, their eyes no longer showing the panic of two months ago, but only a cold, hard determination.

Li Yao walked beside Ian, carrying a bulging burlap bag filled with odds and ends scavenged from the hyena's den.

Several blood-stained fragments of dust crystal, and two fist-sized strange rocks covered with holes.

"Brother, this stone..." Li Yao weighed it in his hand, his brows furrowing slightly.

"The energy fluctuations are strange, unlike those of ordinary minerals."

Ian took a piece, feeling its cool touch in his palm, and a faint, decaying odor seeped from the holes.

[Starlight Perception] Spreads out silently.

Inside the stone, the energy structure was chaotic, like a spider web that had been forcibly crushed, but at its core, there was a very subtle dark fluctuation, like a lurking venomous snake.

"Residue from the Abyss's corruption." Ian crushed the stone, and powder fell through his fingers.

"Those bastards from the Dark Star Society love to use this as a marker, or... as a fuse."

Li Yao's expression changed: "They've been around this area?"

"Not only that." Ian looked towards the east side of the gravel beach, at the withered forest shrouded in gray mist.

"The marks are very fresh, no more than two days old."

The latest chapter has ignited the plot! Stay tuned for more updates.