Chapter 111: Instant Retreat

More than half of the crops in the farmland were destroyed, which was already considered fortunate. Fortunately, the crops planted in these fields had short growth cycles, so the villagers weren’t too heartbroken. They happily collected the locust corpses, seeing them as a rare delicacy.

The corpse of the Locust King naturally belonged to Jia Zhengjin; no one dared compete with him for it.

[Notification] You have obtained the blueprint for constructing a mine!

[Notification] You have obtained the blueprint for crafting a miner’s helmet!

[Notification] You have obtained Locust Antennae!

[Notification] You have obtained the skill book “Instant Retreat”!

[Notification] You have obtained the cooking recipe for Salted Egg Yolk Meat Dumplings!

[Notification] You have obtained a spear!

[Notification] You have obtained a wooden stick!

The Locust King proved generous, dropping so many valuable items. The mine, of course, boosts mining speed by 10% and can station troops! Stationing troops means sending the city’s army to the mine, which reduces the troop cap in the city to zero, allowing for more soldiers to be recruited. For example, if the city’s goblin troop cap is 500, sending those 500 into the mine frees up the city to recruit another 500 goblins.

As for the miner’s helmet, its material requirements were too high. Jia Zhengjin currently lacked the technology to produce plastic, light bulbs, copper wire, or batteries. He would need to first build a suitable workshop or unlock the necessary skills, then gather the specific materials. So, although he could learn the blueprint, crafting it wasn’t urgent.

The locust antennae were just a headband fashioned from the Locust King’s antennae. Besides granting +1 to luck, agility, and charm, and looking amusing, it didn’t have much practical use. However, Tina would likely love this cute accessory, so Jia Zhengjin immediately handed it to his resting wife.

Tina was delighted, promptly placing it on her head and giving him a big kiss on the cheek. Perlin stood nearby with a blank expression, but Jia Zhengjin sensed a hint of envy in her gaze.

He promptly learned the “Instant Retreat” skill from the book. Such a life-saving skill was invaluable to him.

He also studied the salted egg yolk meat dumpling recipe, though he had no idea where to find glutinous rice. It seemed that glutinous rice didn’t exist among the otherworldly crops; he might have to rely on monster drops to obtain glutinous rice seeds.

The spear and wooden stick were both poor-quality weapons with terrible stats, so he tossed them straight into storage.

Among everyone, Wolf had the strongest recovery abilities. After eating some honey to restore his stamina, Jia Zhengjin approached him to test his new skill. “Wolf, try attacking me!”

“Me?” Wolf looked puzzled. “Why?”

“Just do it!” Jia Zhengjin hastily urged, not bothering to explain.

As his master’s order, Wolf complied, though he didn’t go all out—only using about 10% of his strength. With a swift movement, he lunged forward and swiped his claw.

“Instant Retreat!” Jia Zhengjin quickly activated the skill, leaping backward with incredible speed, easily dodging Wolf’s attack.

“Wow, awesome!” Jia Zhengjin was in high spirits. “This skill is great—it only consumes five stamina points and is incredibly practical!”

“Indeed, it’s impressive,” Wolf admitted, somewhat surprised.

“Again!” Jia Zhengjin was eager to show off the fantastic new skill.

“Alright, I’ll use 20% of my speed and strength this time!” Wolf charged forward.

Jia Zhengjin fixed his eyes on Wolf, activating Instant Retreat just as Wolf closed in.

With a swift hop, he landed several meters away, dodging the attack once more.

The feeling was exhilarating!

Jia Zhengjin laughed heartily. “Faster! Faster!”

“Got it!” Wolf accelerated again.

“Swoosh!” Jia Zhengjin dodged with ease. “Not fast enough! Speed up!”

“Faster!”

“Even faster!”

“Use your top speed!”

“Then be careful!” As Wolf kept increasing his speed, Jia Zhengjin still evaded every strike. Finally, Wolf decided to unleash his full speed—though only his speed, never his full strength, as that would be too dangerous.

“Hahaha! This skill is amazing. As long as you judge correctly, no matter how fast you are, I can retreat in time to avoid your attacks!” When Wolf dashed at full speed, Jia Zhengjin activated Instant Retreat the instant he detected movement, successfully dodging even this attack.

Instant Retreat means retreating instantly. Though it may not seem very fast in appearance, it effectively avoids most attacks.

Since it could dodge even Wolf’s full-speed assault, Jia Zhengjin was thrilled to the point of flying. “Hahaha! Keep going! Attack me! Haha!”

Wolf was unfazed and happy to play along with his master. But after a few chases, seeing Jia Zhengjin retreat increasingly far, he called out, “No more playing!”

“Haha! Frustrated because you can’t catch me?” Jia Zhengjin ignored him and executed another Instant Retreat backward.

“Bang!” Suddenly, his head slammed hard against a solid stone block. The world spun, and his vision blurred.

“The city wall is behind you…” Wolf said as he covered his face.

“You should’ve said so earlier…” Jia Zhengjin’s vision darkened as he collapsed to the ground.

When he awoke, a large bump had formed on his head, the pain nearly bringing tears to his eyes. “Ah! The skill is good, but you always have to watch out for obstacles behind you, or it’s basically a suicide move!”

He had experienced the benefits of Instant Retreat but also knew the caution it demanded.

Jia Zhengjin began considering where to allocate his new skill points.

In the recent battle, including the Locust King, he had defeated over thirty thousand giant locusts.

The Locust King granted substantial experience, but the ordinary locusts only gave one point each, which was quite underwhelming. Still, it was enough to level Jia Zhengjin up to level 10. Level 11 required 51,200 experience points, which seemed much more challenging to reach!