Liam pondered silently as he ignored the numerous experience points notifications he was receiving every second.
This was definitely a good starting point for training everyone, maybe even better than the dungeons. There was no doubt about it.
These insect levels were quite significant. He might be getting very few experience points thanks to his army of soul minions who were also sharing his pot, but the others would get boosted a lot.
Not only that, but they would also get a bounty of mana cores along with the experience point chunks. If they get enough mana cores, then they could finally invest in valuable skills.
"We should start with a healing skill." Liam thought out loud.
Though he could probably use some other skills, a basic healing skill was necessary for a guild. It was time they started nurturing a group of healers. Otherwise, they would eventually fall behind.
He thought about a few more things while the soul minions worked tirelessly to get rid of every last one of the isons.
<Ding> You have gained 1 experience point
<Ding> You have gained 1 experience point
<Ding> You have gained 1 experience point
…
…
…
With each ison that fell, experience points also steadily poured in. It was not much, but when hundreds and thousands of bugs were squished to their death, it was something.
After all, Liam and his soul minions were hogging all the experience points to themselves, but no one had any complaints about that.
Everyone had already fought to their heart's content. They had gained a lot and, at the same time, lost a lot in this dreadful fight. They did not have the strength to do anything more.
Liam saw all the tired faces and decided to address them first. "Everyone should go back and rest for the day. You have survived. You have all done exceedingly well. I am very proud of you."
"You have nothing to worry about now. I am here, and I will take care of everything. Just be vigilant and let me know if you see something suspicious or unusual. Rest well!"
All the gathered civilians looked at Liam with gratitude.
Though some of them were related to Crimson Abyss members back from the game and were already quite close to Liam, most of them were new people.
After the apocalypse, they all had favorable opinions of this young person who had shown up out of nowhere and taken the initiative to lead them and protect them, but that was about it.
They might be loyal to the guild, but it was out only of necessity and the fact that they had no other choice.
However, all of that changed today.
After coming so close to death today and seeing something they had never even dreamt of in their wildest nightmare, each and every single person in the guild was beyond grateful to Liam.
Though they all started dispersing silently after Liam finished his little speech, in most of their hearts, they were extremely thankful for having found a shelter like this in desperate times and, more importantly, having found a leader like this.
Many even resolved to work harder in the coming days to pay back for all of this kindness and generosity. They were also inspired to become stronger and become pillars of the community, just like the main fighters of the guild.
In this new world that did not make sense, this was the only way to live and the only way to survive!
The crowd slowly returned back to their respective houses and other accommodations, and along with them, some of the combat group also returned to make sure that there were no stray insects wandering about here and there.
Only Alex, Rey, Shen Yue, Mei Mei, and a few others stayed back. The old chief Lan Ganjie was also waiting along with them.
After overseeing everything, Lan Ganjie walked over to Liam with a tired smile. He had a look of gratitude on his face. He did not know how to express his thanks to the young man standing in front of him.
He really thought that today was the end of it and also prepared himself to face the music, but he was saved yet again! It was all because of this one person standing in front of him.
"Mr. Liam…" He started, but unexpectedly, Liam immediately waved at him. "Oh! I was looking for you! Did you happen to note down the people who fled the scene when they were called to fight?"
Lan Ganjie was startled for a second, but then he slowly nodded with a bitter smile.
Of course, saving everyone was a tremendous achievement for someone like him, but… this person probably did not even break a sweat while doing this. It was business as usual for him. After all, he had not done any of this expecting their gratitude in return.
"Yes, guild leader. I indeed remember a few names, but not all of them." Lan Ganjie smiled and replied.
"Alright. That's good enough. Now I need you to kick all of them out of the guild without any exceptions. They will not be allowed to enter the guild again."
Lan Ganjie nodded. Though this might be very harsh because almost everyone was gripped with fear and had no control over how they acted, it was still necessary to do this.
In fact, they were only able to survive because of those who overcame this fear and stood their ground and fought back, even if it was a little. Otherwise, everyone would have been wiped out.
That too, after this incident, it became very clear that this was just the beginning. The peace that they had been enjoying for the past two weeks was just a dream.
Lan Ganjie was not foolish enough to think that something like that was achievable. The world had permanently changed, and they also had to change accordingly in order to survive.
In the future, there will definitely be more situations like this, and if someone did not want to give their all to the guild, then they truly had no place here.