Zhang Chen looked at Fang Ping, and couldn't help but smile knowingly, thinking to himself, "Such a talent, it would be a pity for him to serve the bandits. Today, I must capture this man alive and recruit him to serve under my command."
Just then, Fang Ping suddenly shouted, "Don't panic, everyone! Retreating will only lead to faster death! The entire army listens to my command! Form ranks, defend!"
With Fang Ping's command, the surrounding Soldiers actually gathered into formation. Pan Feng, seeing this, couldn't help but frown and roared, "Insolent little thief! Your General Pan is here!"
"General Pan!" Zhang Chen quickly shouted, "You can attack and kill the others, but I want this person alive!"
Zhang Chen said, pointing at Fang Ping. Pan Feng understood, cupped his fists, and said, "Understood!"
With that, Pan Feng spurred his horse into the enemy ranks, his great axe swinging left and right, instantly causing the enemy Soldiers and horses to be overturned.
Zhang Chen also spurred his horse forward, but he wasn't there to kill enemies or generals. Instead, he rushed towards the several captains to seize the opportunity to start plundering traits.
This was his main objective!
The Trap Camp Soldiers behind him then surged forward, engaging the bandit army opposite. Zhang Chen retreated to the periphery of the battle circle and took the opportunity to use his Hand of Plunder.
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully plundering the green trait "Initial Understanding of Staff Technique", gaining 100 plunder points!】
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully plundering the green trait "Archery (Initial Understanding)", gaining 100 plunder points!】
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully plundering the green trait "Initial Understanding of Swordsmanship", gaining 100 plunder points!】
In an instant, the green traits on the three captains were plundered by him. As for the white ones, Zhang Chen didn't even bother looking at them.
Immediately after, another prompt entered Zhang Chen's ears.
【Ding! Congratulations to the host, plunder points have reached 1500 points, System is upgrading, please wait...】
The System had upgraded!
Zhang Chen was delighted. The System upgrading meant that he would unlock more abilities!
He didn't expect that without realizing it, he had accumulated enough plunder points!
【Ding! Congratulations to the host, System has been upgraded to Level 2, unlocking the "Trait Fusion" function. Traits with the same name can be fused and upgraded. After upgrading, the trait attributes can be enhanced, or a new trait with stronger attributes can be generated.】
【Ding! The host currently has 1550 plunder points. 3450 more plunder points are needed for the System to upgrade to Level 3! The function that can be unlocked when the System upgrades to Level 3 is: Trait Conversion, which allows unusable traits to be converted into usable ones by consuming a certain amount of plunder points.】
【Ding! Detected that the host currently possesses traits with the same name, meeting the fusion conditions. Fuse and upgrade?】
A series of System prompts stimulated Zhang Chen's nerves. At this moment, he was incredibly excited.
What are you waiting for? Upgrade!
With a thought, several cards of different colors immediately appeared around Zhang Chen. Of course, only he could see this scene.
First to appear were two cards glowing blue. Zhang Chen glanced at them; they were indeed the blue trait 【Superhuman Strength】!
He had a total of 3 of this trait. One was obtained from the reward draw when the System was first bound, and it was his first trait. The other two were plundered from Duan Hei Hu earlier and from Cui Ba just now.
Two blue traits were needed to advance to purple. Zhang Chen looked at the slots that appeared before him and placed the two trait cards inside.
Fuse!
With a thought, the two cards gradually moved closer together, eventually overlapping. Immediately after, a purple light flashed out.
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully fusing the purple trait "Immense Strength", gaining 200 plunder points.】
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for using the "Trait Fusion" function for the first time, rewarding 100 plunder points.】
Haha! Awesome!
Zhang Chen couldn't help but feel a surge of joy. Not only did he gain a new trait, but he also instantly received 300 plunder points. It was simply too awesome!
Zhang Chen eagerly looked at the trait attributes.
【Immense Strength (Purple)】: You are a strongman; the strength of ordinary people cannot compare to yours. (Strength attribute greatly increased)
From the trait description alone, it seemed not much different from before. Zhang Chen wasn't quite sure how to define a 'significant increase' versus a 'great increase'.
But one thing Zhang Chen was very clear about was that he now genuinely felt a surge of power throughout his body. Even the long spear in his hand felt light, as if he wasn't holding anything.
Although the description was hard to define, Zhang Chen's actual feeling wouldn't deceive him; his strength had indeed improved significantly!
Immediately after, Zhang Chen fused the green traits 【Initial Understanding of Staff Technique】 and 【Initial Understanding of Swordsmanship】 separately, obtaining the new blue traits 【Proficient Spear Technique】 and 【Proficient Swordsmanship】, and at the same time, harvested another 200 plunder points.
Zhang Chen then glanced over the trait cards he possessed.
【Possessed Traits: Immense Strength (Purple), Superhuman Strength (Blue), Proficient Spear Technique (Blue), Proficient Horsemanship (Blue), Scholar (Blue), Ferocious Courage (Blue), Beginner Horse Appraisal (Green), Archery (Initial Understanding) (Green), Initial Understanding of Staff Technique (Green), Good Fortune (Green), 【Loaded with Wealth】 (Green)】
11 traits. Although most of their levels weren't high, now with the "Trait Fusion" function, he wouldn't have to worry about not having good traits in the future.
Moreover, while not proficient, Zhang Chen could now be considered knowledgeable in the eighteen kinds of martial arts.
Zhang Chen's heart was full of confidence.
At this time, the battle situation was also becoming clear. The three captains, stripped of their traits, were like martial artists whose skills had been crippled. They had no power to resist before Pan Feng and were cut down in less than a single exchange.
The System had already stated that trait plundering was not 100% successful. The higher the trait level, the greater the difficulty of plundering.
However, these people were just unknown minor characters, and the traits they possessed were only the second-tier green ones, so plundering them was effortless.
If they were famous historical generals, it probably wouldn't be this easy.
Zhang Chen looked around and saw Fang Ping directing his remaining troops to fight and retreat, falling back towards the central army tent.
Suddenly, Zhang Chen seemed to think of something and couldn't help but feel a slight suspicion.
They had been fighting for so long, why hadn't he seen the commander Yu Du?
The camp was in complete chaos; it was impossible for him not to know, right?
Just as Zhang Chen was feeling suspicious, he saw Fang Ping helping someone run out from the central army tent, then shouting, "Hold off the enemy, protect the General!"
It was then that Zhang Chen realized the person Fang Ping was supporting was completely drunk and unconscious.
"General! General!" Fang Ping anxiously called out.
Zhang Chen instantly activated his Insight Eye and looked at that person.
【Name: Yu Du】
【Possessed Traits: Superhuman Strength (Blue), Proficient Swordsmanship (Blue), Archery (Initial Understanding) (Green), Without Strategy (White)】
This completely drunk fellow was actually the commander Yu Du?
Zhang Chen couldn't help but be greatly surprised.
The commander of an army, actually drunk senseless? How could such a useless person be fit to be a General?
At this moment, Pan Feng swung his great axe, decapitating a bandit Soldier. The head flew backward and, by chance, landed squarely on Yu Du's chest.
"Hmm? Who! Hmm?! This... What's going on!" Yu Du opened his hazy eyes. Blown by the evening wind, a smell of blood rushed into his nostrils, instantly sobering him up.
Fang Ping said with an anxious face, "General, the enemy attacked at night, we can't hold them off! Captain Cui and the others are all dead, quickly give the order to retreat!"
"Retreat! Quickly retreat! Quickly retreat!" Upon hearing this, Yu Du's face turned ashen. He stumbled onto a horse and turned it to flee.
Seeing this, the morale of the remaining bandit troops completely collapsed. They no longer had any will to fight and fled for their lives one after another.
For a time, the bandit army scattered in all directions, fleeing head over heels.