——Intelligence Analysis: After obtaining all detailed information about an unknown creature, the hero can discover its fatal weakness, ignoring 25%~100% of its defense in battle. Learning requirement: Grandmaster-level Reconnaissance.

——Phantom March: Your army is difficult to detect by enemies when marching in the wild. Learning requirement: Divine-level Reconnaissance.

……

This is Reconnaissance! A skill similar to the rogue class in traditional games! In the hands of imaginative and creative players, the rogue class can often create incredible miracles!

But in Hero Genesis, a game about leading armies into battle, this skill is a bit awkward—after all, there isn’t a single offensive skill at the start, which is definitely a disadvantage for early leveling. Although the grandmaster-level subskill Intelligence Analysis and the divine-level subskill Phantom March are eye-catching, grandmaster and divine levels are just pipe dreams!

After the level 10 class change, leveling up becomes increasingly difficult. Players who have maxed out Offense before level 10 can kill monsters quickly and efficiently, while between levels 10 and 30, Leadership (which increases troop cap) and Defense (which increases troop HP and defense) are urgent priorities. There’s no way anyone would spend skill points on Reconnaissance. After level 30, leveling is even harder, so it’s even less likely anyone would learn Reconnaissance—otherwise, being held back by Reconnaissance would slow down leveling and erase any early advantage. Probably only pure casual players, non-combat business players, or big guilds and teams would specifically train an account focused on Reconnaissance.

And of course, David Carter is a business player. David Carter’s goal is to run ships and make money. A merchant running ships probably can’t beat pirates, but at the very least must be able to spot pirates in advance and avoid them, so Reconnaissance is a must-have for David Carter! Besides, stranded in this desperate situation, finally finding a book and not learning it would be courting disaster.

So, with gratitude, David Carter opened the book without hesitation! A flash of golden light!

——System prompt: You have learned Basic Reconnaissance. Your vision is increased by 20%! You can now obtain information on enemy troop numbers, morale, and supplies.

Now, with the bonuses from skills and the telescope, David Carter’s vision is 70% greater than normal. David Carter smugly raised the telescope and looked at the wrecked ship again, chuckling darkly: “Just wait, once I learn Stealth, I’ll sneak onto the ship!”

However, seeing Blake Storm working so hard, killing monsters day and night, David Carter felt even more annoyed! Damn it, I’m stuck on a reef with the tide in, can’t do anything, and my leveling time is half of his! No choice but to wait for nightfall and low tide. Since I’m idle anyway, might as well flip through this diary and see what’s up with that so-called Mithril Island.

Chapter 6 Storm Studio

Deserted island shipwreck. As the last skeleton warrior on the deck fell, a flash of golden light appeared—Blake Storm reached level 4. As he wished, he learned the Offense subskill “War Maniac.”

——War Maniac: Increases the base damage of the hero and hero’s troops by 1 point, with a huge boost to low-level units. Prerequisite: must have mastered Advanced Offense.

At this point, Blake Storm’s character had been fighting continuously for a full day and night of game time—2.4 hours in real life—and was now extremely exhausted and had to rest. Blake Storm was satisfied with his current leveling speed.

Although stranded on a deserted island with no instructor newbie quests, no newbie dungeons, and no recruitment points, so his leveling speed was actually slower than those ordinary players who already had a few reward units, this is the price a super account must pay to survive in a desperate situation!

However, learning War Maniac changes everything. Base damage increases from 2-5 at birth to 3-6. Then, upon reaching level 5, the system awards 1 point of base damage every 5 levels, making it 4-7. Plus, 6 attack cancels out the 6 defense of these annoying shield-bearing skeletons. Expert Offense increases damage by 40%, so even the minimum damage exceeds the skeleton warrior’s 5 HP—meaning he can kill one with a single blow. Monster killing will be much faster from here on. Especially for a shield guard who starts with 8 personal defense and 20 HP, future leveling will be worry-free, allowing him to sweep through everything straight to the bottom of the ship!

If there’s anything to be dissatisfied with, it’s that his starting rank is still a bit low—only a level 3 unit, which isn’t very impressive! Currently, accounts valued at $1 million all start with level 4 units. For example, Star Team’s Griffin Keeper starts with a level 4 air force griffin, with high attack and speed, able to swoop down on ranged wild monsters that ordinary players wouldn’t dare approach. It’s just too advantageous for development.

In Hero Genesis, each race’s units are divided into 8 levels. Level 0 units are militia or reserves, such as human peasants, elf flower sprites, dwarf miners, infernal demon infants, undead labor skeletons, and orc goblins. Their HP is extremely fragile, unable to withstand a single blow, and players cannot hire them. Their main role is production and, at critical moments, defending the city. The speed of a castle’s development mainly depends on the number of these level 0 units.

Then, level 1, 2, and 3 units are regular troops that ordinary players can hire in the main city as long as they have enough leadership and tactical slots. Level 4 units are the threshold for advanced troops, requiring completion of various difficult quests and reputation grinding.