#29 - Chapter 29: Planning and Misjudgment
Before the portal of the new lord, Li Qi.
“Goblin One is ready for launch!”
“Launch countdown, 5, 4...”
“1!”
“Launch!”
With a burst of flame, a rocket, crude in every sense of the word, quickly ascended into the sky.
Accompanying the rocket were several short, green-skinned goblins inside.
Despite the constant falling of gears and the incessant alarms from the rocket system, these goblins remained calm and diligently recorded data.
They observed their surroundings through specialized telescopes, relaying their observations to their companions in fluent Goblin tongue.
“Forest detected! Current forest area spans 24 kilometers from west to east, and from north to south…”
“River detected, its drainage basin is…”
“A group of other intelligent lifeforms detected in the desert direction, suspected to be orcs…”
Their companions, in turn, recorded everything for their lord with utmost speed.
Quickly, with the help of the goblins, Li Qi's Heavenly Dao System map was revealed at an almost abnormal rate.
The speed and scope of the mapping exceeded the imagination of any new lord.
In just a few minutes, Li Qi had mapped nearly a third of the entire Trial Continent.
Even the edge of the ocean had appeared on his system map.
This was something even Wu Di had not accomplished.
However, this was the limit.
“Warning! Rocket about to disintegrate!”
“Warning! Rocket about to…”
Upon hearing the disintegration warning, the goblins quickly donned parachutes crafted by the gnomes and ejected from the rocket in specialized protective seats.
Several snow-white parachutes, emblazoned with “Gnomes are the strongest, Goblins eat sh*t”, dotted the sky.
Just seconds later, the rocket, having completed its mission, disintegrated into a pile of parts, burning as it plummeted to the earth.
——————————
“The map is in hand…”
“Huh? What’s going on?”
After Li Qi personally arrived on the Trial Continent and had his gnomes and goblins use disposable high-altitude equipment to survey the continent's basic layout, he was surprised by the current state of the Trial Continent.
Contrary to his expectations, he wasn't the second new lord to arrive on the Trial Continent.
He was the third!
Before he planted his territory's flag on the Trial Continent, Su Yingxue's flag and portal were already standing there.
At the same time, another strange portal, engraved with black and red runes, already loomed in a corner of the Trial Continent.
Oddly, there were no flag markers around this portal, as if the portal's owner didn't care about these important but ultimately impractical details.
【I can understand Su Yingxue arriving on this continent before me; after all, she's not much worse than me in exploration technology, and unlocking portal technology isn't difficult for her.】
【But what's the deal with this portal without a flag? Who's the master behind it?】
Faced with this strange portal, Li Qi thought hard but couldn't confidently determine the other party's true identity.
【Forget it, I won't worry about it. After all, my priority now is to establish a new expansion base and quickly acquire resources on the Trial Continent to replenish my territory.】
【Secondly, I need to contact all the surrounding forces as quickly as possible, because only after establishing normal two-way communication can I have the opportunity to conduct trade activities between them, and even establish deeper alliances through this trade relationship!】
All lords come to the Trial Continent for the same reason: to acquire abundant resources from the resource continent, continue building their territories, and complete their lord trial missions.
Although the goal is the same, the way to achieve it can vary from person to person.
Some lords will choose to plunder and seize land, acquiring the resources they want in a brutal but fast way.
Other lords will take a slow but steady approach, acquiring what they want through trade and exchange.
Still other lords will use diplomacy, helping a strong faction destroy another, and then eliminating the other faction to obtain resources and land for themselves.
....
But generally speaking, in the early stages of entering the Trial Continent, most lords will choose a multi-pronged approach, using as many means as possible to acquire the resources they want.
Li Qi was such a person.
After exploring the map around him, he prepared to contact all the surrounding forces as quickly as possible, and then decide on his next plan.
He would directly annex weaker forces.
He would choose trade and alliance with stronger forces.
And he would choose to avoid extremely powerful forces.
But all of the above were just plans in his mind.
A plan is called a plan because it has a high degree of uncertainty.
At this time, Li Qi didn't know what the Trial Continent had become!
Li Qi, who had just built a branch base on the edge of the desert, didn't even have time to send out any “diplomatic missions” before the “diplomatic missions” of the Trial Continent natives arrived first.
However, these diplomatic missions that came near Li Qi's base were holding not gifts, but swords!
“Sure enough, we found them!”
“Just like the Great Chieftain said, evil outsiders representing destruction and death have descended near our homeland!”
A savage orc riding a dire wolf roared and, without hesitation, led the dire wolf warriors beside him towards Li Qi's newly built branch base.
It turned out that before Li Qi's forces descended, he had received an order personally issued by his Great Chieftain.
That was that he must patrol the entire orc territory non-stop, and kill any outsiders on sight.
Coincidentally, Li Qi, as an outsider, inadvertently confirmed the priests' prophecy with his arrival.
Therefore, the orcs, wanting to protect their homeland, made the most logical judgment after seeing Li Qi's forces, which consisted of unfamiliar races and a large number of unfamiliar devices.
“Li Qi, with both gnomes and goblins, is the evil outsider representing destruction and death!”
Therefore, Li Qi, who originally wanted to communicate with these orcs in words, helplessly discovered that these orcs seemed extremely xenophobic.
The only form of communication they could accept was the physical kind.
Although Li Qi had long been prepared for the Trial Continent natives to be highly aggressive, and had made corresponding counterattack plans in advance.
But even if Li Qi had prepared for a counterattack at this time, the orcs' desperate counterattack before their death turned his newly established base into ruins.
Looking at the ruins in front of him, Li Qi could only cry.
And Li Qi was not the only one with the same experience!
Su Yingxue, known for her perfect operations, also fell into a bitter battle after entering the Trial Continent!
