Chapter 3: Elite Unit Loyalty Increased by 15 Points (This forcibly 'twists' the subconscious cognition of elite units through Solar Force, triggered by 100 elite units).
Equipment Effect 2: Faith Force·Sun (Passive). This title can not only be upgraded in star rating through title synthesis, but also by absorbing Faith Force·Sun to increase its star rating.
Description: Praise the Sun.
Price: Unsellable.
...
Seeing the effects of [Sun Lord], Su Xiao sincerely felt that this item was far more formidable than it appeared.
If [War Lord] was a divine-tier title for developing a legion strategy and succeeding in mass troop production, then [Sun Lord] reached the same height as [War Lord] from a different dimension.
[Sun Lord] does not provide bonuses to soldier-type units. It takes effect on elite units, following an elite path. Its advantage is that only 30 elite units are needed to trigger the title's basic effect. After 100 elite units, the title's effects are fully maximized.
It's not possible to mass produce troops in every world, but in most worlds, gathering 30 to 100 elite units is still feasible.
Bonus 1 boosts all attributes. Unlike [War Lord], it can also increase the Luck attribute. Bonus 2 is Fire Scorch, which Su Xiao had experienced firsthand with the Sun Warriors. Bonus 3 forcibly increases elite unit loyalty by 15 points.
In Su Xiao's view, Bonus 3 was the most powerful ability. The elite path had a major flaw: subordinates had too many ideas. If one wasn't careful, those few dozen subordinates might secretly discuss among themselves and rebel by dawn, or defect to the enemy.
With the [Sun Lord] title, this problem could be greatly alleviated. The Solar Force would wash over their subconscious cognition. If betrayal still occurred, one would have to reflect on whether it was their own problem, or if the elite units recruited were too treacherous.
Beyond these bonuses, the [Sun Lord] title had one unique feature: it had a distinct growth path. It could increase its star rating by absorbing Faith Force·Sun.
Currently, [Sun Lord] was a four-star title. If it could reach seven stars, its bonuses would definitely rival those of [War Lord], each with its own characteristics—one for legion strategy, the other for the elite path.
Back in the Demon Sea World, Su Xiao had really wanted to obtain a title like this for the elite path. The Doom Number had only a few hundred sailors. If it weren't for the enormous risk of obtaining the Black Curse Crow from the Old Hag, he would never have been able to trigger [War Lord] with the number of cursed people.
Regarding Faith Force·Sun, Su Xiao now had two ways to obtain it. First, from the Wild Boar Warriors: create a representative faith object, like forging a [Sun Ring], and tell the Wild Boar Warriors that this was a medium for worshipping the Sun. After that, there was a high probability of using this [Sun Ring] to collect the faith force generated by the Wild Boar Warriors.
Second, Su Xiao could take over the faith force from the Sun Church within the World of Paintings. He had already received this kind of output in the Real World before.
At the current stage, the share from the World of Paintings hadn't yet brought Su Xiao any Soul Coin income, but Faith Force·Sun was about to be put to use.
Having made up his mind, Su Xiao temporarily closed the reward list. To obtain [Sun Lord], he would have to wait until the number of Wild Boar Warriors exceeded 300,000.
Time passed as he waited. Just as the countdown reached zero, the World Core floating beside Su Xiao flew straight upward, pierced through several layers of ceiling to reach the main command room, and hovered above the coordinate device. Several twisted white threads extended out, fixing themselves onto the World Core.
[Announcement (Void Tree): The current World War has officially begun!]
[The war zone is about to be sealed. Except for extremely special circumstances or contractors who have abandoned their war missions, once the war zone is sealed, all combatants located outside the war zone will be immediately executed!]
[The arbiters from Apocalypse Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, and Watchful Paradise have been teleported outside the war zone. All combatants approaching the war zone edge will receive a warning. Attempting to break out of the war zone will result in attacks from the arbiters.]
[The war zone position in this world will be permanently or temporarily lifted under two conditions: when the World Coordinate has been generated, or when its generation has been interrupted.]
...
Dozens of announcements appeared in succession. Su Xiao glanced through them and closed them. They were no different from before. He had seen the same content several times.
"You still haven't left? The enemy is almost here. Good luck to you."
An elderly contractor from Apocalypse Paradise stood outside the main entrance, making as if to leave.
A Blood Spear formed above Su Xiao, but he received a prompt that the elderly contractor was actually a neutral unit.
It was rare to see a contractor become a neutral unit. The melee was about to begin, and Su Xiao had no mind to investigate this matter. He would deal with it later.
The elderly contractor outside the main entrance hurriedly left, having gained a new definition of Su Xiao's brutal style of conduct.
Silence returned to the empty first floor of the fortress. But this silence didn't last long, broken by a rumbling sound approaching from afar.
Boom!!
The fortress seemed to have been hit by cannon fire, trembling as a whole. The outer armor layer withstood this test.
Su Xiao paid no attention to this attack. It was just a probe. The enemy contractors wouldn't easily attack the Sun Fortress.
When the enemy believed they were sure to win, they would tacitly consider this semi-abandoned fortress as their own property and consider using it as a defensive position later.
Defensive positions weren't chosen randomly. Densely populated areas or their surroundings couldn't be used as war zones. The Void Tree wouldn't certify them.
Secondly, even if the plan unfolded and the Wild Boar Warriors surrounded them from all directions, the enemy contractors still wouldn't try to destroy this fortress. In that situation, this would be the fortress they could hold. Were their brains full of holes that they would destroy it?
Therefore, Su Xiao was certain that this attack was just a probe. There would be no follow-up. Moreover, the enemy would select a group of several dozen or a hundred of the strongest contractors to form a strike team, enter the fortress to eliminate him, while the remaining 600-plus contractors stayed outside, in case this was a trap set by the Apocalypse Paradise contractors.
Dense footsteps came from outside the main entrance of the fortress. Soon, a group of contractors, led by two individuals, entered through the main gate.
The leaders were Sacred Hymn and Oland. Behind them were the trusted core members of their respective groups. Further back were the strongest contractors selected from the 700-plus, forming a hundred-man strike team.
Entering the fortress, Sacred Hymn surveyed the scene on the first floor, quickly locking her gaze onto Su Xiao. Oland beside her, and the contractors behind them, did the same.
Xian Lulu had already left. Su Xiao was alone, with one blade and one iron chair. This seemed to be all that was on the first floor of the fortress.
"Hey..."
A burly man with a cigar in his mouth was about to speak, but Oland in front of him raised his hand, signaling him not to say meaningless trash talk. Honestly, Oland admitted to himself that he wouldn't dare to guard the World Core alone in this situation.
"A bunch of cowards who fear death."
Su Xiao vanished from his seat. The next instant, he stood on an energy thread several meters diagonally above.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
The cigar man cursed angrily. Oland said in a low voice, "Shut up."
Sacred Hymn beside him frowned. She rarely saw someone asking to be scolded. What that Apocalypse Paradise contractor said was clearly implying that the other Apocalypse Paradise contractors were cowards who didn't dare to guard the position.
"Friend, you're all alone. Why bother?"
"..."
Su Xiao looked at Oland, saying nothing.
"A shame to lose someone like you. But since you're not a contractor of Watchful Paradise... die here."
Oland said all this to probe. If there was a trap, he would retreat immediately. Having fought their way to the Eighth Rank, there were very few reckless fools left.
"Unfortunately, you're surrounded by us."
Sacred Hymn finished saying this and was about to give the order to attack in the war channel. But she suddenly noticed several messages appearing in the war channel, all from perception-type contractors. The content was: detected a large number of enemy units, specific quantity... unknown.
This unknown quantity was truly unsettling. The contractors who saw this message all had drastic changes in expression.
"Damn, there's an ambush."
"I knew it wouldn't be that simple."
"Kill this guy first, use this fortress as a defensive stronghold."
Rumble...
Sacred Hymn felt the ground beneath her feet lightly tremble, and this vibration grew stronger, as if from all directions in the distance, a vast army was charging in.
Sacred Hymn and Oland both had slight changes in expression. The contractors behind them also knew things were bad. Some cursed under their breath, others prepared for battle.
Sacred Hymn and Oland exchanged a glance. This style of conduct felt familiar to both of them, very much like the style of Reincarnation Paradise!
This feeling made both Sacred Hymn and Oland inexplicably familiar and alarmed.
As Sacred Hymn said, was Su Xiao surrounded? Of course not. When the group of contractors appeared, he had already sent a message to Bubu Wang hiding on the top floor of the fortress, telling him to inject the pre-prepared awakening potion into the Sun Fortress.
The Sun Fortress had now regained its activity. Was Su Xiao going to engage in a chaotic battle on the first floor with Sacred Hymn, Oland, and the others? Not at all. The Sun Fortress was a T0-level fortress, and T0-level fortresses could unfold.
Su Xiao looked at the group of contractors before him, secretly using the fortress core to quietly manipulate the evolution nests on the second, third, and fourth floors to split apart, first merging into the fortress's biological walls, then controlling the entire Sun Fortress to bloom open like a heavy steel flower.
Clack, clack, clack...
Sunlight streamed in from directly above. Everyone in the fortress noticed the change. The entire Sun Fortress gradually unfolded like a blooming flower. Don't forget, at this very moment, hundreds of thousands of Wild Boar Warriors were charging in from all directions. When the fortress flattened out, the strike team contractors would lose their defensive position and be surrounded on all sides.
The rumbling from the surroundings grew louder. As the Sun Fortress unfolded, the hundred-plus strike team contractors on the first floor felt that their mentality was also cracking apart.
PS: (Two chapters, ten thousand words.)