Chapter 93: Chapter 35: Inspiring Mass Breakthroughs
No wonder the knights of this world especially love the knight tournament. Watching a high-level knight battle is a feast for them, providing unparalleled enlightenment for their strength.
Especially after eating Fire Rabbit meat, the knights of Hesse Territory were in a state of boiling blood. After watching an exhilarating intense battle, three or four of them broke through on the spot.
The next morning, the detailed statistics were complete, and Hilude, the High-tier Chief Steward, excitedly reported to Su Li: "Lord, the gains we made yesterday are simply enormous."
"Thirteen Armed Attendants directly broke through to the Apprentice Knight tier, among which three are not of the Fire Attribute bloodline. Eight Apprentice Knights were promoted to formal Knights, and another three formal Knights broke through to become Elite Knights. It’s worth mentioning that the two who broke through are members of the Hohenstodten Clan."
"Besides these significant breakthroughs in tiers, there are also 27 attendants who achieved minor breakthroughs within their current tier."
This tremendous surprise made Su Li so excited that he turned off the Daily Intelligence system panel and jumped out of bed.
"Hahaha! Hilude, this is indeed good news. Achieving so many breakthroughs before a great battle, nothing can boost morale better than this."
All these varying breakthroughs add up to a total of 51 people!
His elite army has only two squadrons, totaling about 240 people, which means nearly one-fifth of the members received strength enhancements.
Of course, such a significant enhancement is directly related to the generous input from Lord Su Li.
Six Fire Rabbits — at 100 Gold Coins each, that’s 600 Gold Coins spent.
In any world, military development is supported by strong material guarantees.
Of course, Su Li also gained a lot, increasing by 3 Elite Knights, 8 formal Knights, and 13 Apprentice Knights at once.
To support so many knights, Su Li feels a lot of pressure too. He pondered for a moment, then smiled and said: "Did Sophie and William both achieve breakthroughs? It seems necessary to grant a piece of land to the Hohenstodten Clan."
The Hohenstodten Clan, which is Court Judge Frederick’s family, has fire attribute bloodlines, thus reaping the greatest benefits in these waves of major breakthroughs.
Three Elite Knights, just their family’s salary from Su Li totals 180 Gold Coins a year, plus various benefits and allowances. They can take over 200 Gold Coins from Su Li annually, which is enough to purchase another Elite Knight.
So, Su Li plans to grant them a piece of land, usually a village-sized territory, so he won’t have to care about their salaries, which is very profitable. No village can pay taxes of 200 Golden Crowns a year.
Moreover, with fiefdoms, their family can help Su Li develop the territory. Their family has considerable wealth and can independently purchase slave capture teams, bringing prosperity and increasing the entire Hesse Territory.
The territory of Hesse is too vast. Relying on Su Li alone, development would be very slow.
While Su Li was contemplating this, during breakfast, Lauren arrived excitedly at the castle to report to Su Li: "Lord, this morning I received a surprising news; the Fire Rabbit soup had an effect; among the slaves, a 16-year-old boy named Carl has awakened the Red Flame Owl Bloodline."
"Red Flame Owl Bloodline?" Su Li’s eyes lit up; he knew of this bloodline. It’s a fierce Owl Beast that can fight with a Bloodthirsty Barbarian Bull by sheer force, and once the bloodline ability is activated, it greatly enhances the courage and heavy-hit capability of nearby soldiers. Many Druids love transforming into this beast, enhancing the attack power of surrounding forest Tree Demons and Treemen, allowing these weak creatures made of vegetation to possess formidable attack power, inflicting considerable damage on strong enemy forces.
This slave awakened just by a bowl of meat soup without systematic training, showing that his blood purity and talent are quite remarkable.
Therefore, Su Li immediately instructed Hilude: "My High-tier Chief Steward, personally bring him to the castle, thereafter he will serve as my Armed Attendant, helping me with horse care and armor maintenance. Also, in my name, bestow him a set of Dwarven Armor and a Fine Longsword. Let Knight Schwartz personally guide him in combat techniques during his training."
Hilude immediately nodded and agreed, saying: "This is indeed a talent worth cultivating. Additionally, the other Armed Attendant you’ve been nurturing, Harry, has also made considerable progress. He has now broken through to the Middle-tier Apprentice Knight."
Su Li naturally remembered this Armed Attendant. He previously broke through to Initial-tier Apprentice Knight by his own efforts, and after a day of motivation, he smoothly advanced to Middle-tier Apprentice Knight.
Although his speed cannot compare to Su Li, it is still rapid. In just half a month, achieving two breakthroughs is an impressive feat in any other territory.
Only in Hesse Territory, beneath Hilude’s radiance, might he seem less outstanding.
However, his strength remains quite considerable, and he cannot be regarded as an ordinary Apprentice Knight. He once, with just his innate divine strength, fought fearlessly against a Great Horned Beast, vividly demonstrating what it means to not fear the tiger as a newborn calf.
Under desperate circumstances, even formal Knights might not be his match.
Hilude left, and Su Li hastily ate a few bites of breakfast before heading to the training ground with Lauren.
After the whirlwind of intelligence yesterday, today’s information was still stimulating, but Su Li was now able to face it calmly, unfazed. It was a kind of serenity akin to having seen the vast ocean and regarding other waters with indifference.
The first piece of new intelligence was that within seven days, Tal would demonstrate his divine power. A hurricane would make landfall from the South over the Sea of Grey Mist, bringing not only strong winds but also heavy rainfall. If civilians weren’t evacuated and flood prevention conducted promptly, a large amount of farmland would be inundated.
In this world, the influence of divine spirits is present everywhere, bringing humans substantial blessings and protection but often also disasters. A single movement or sneeze from a divine being could result in a human catastrophe.
Of course, this hurricane is not without its benefits. It will destroy large parts of the ecosystem, bringing in abundant treasures and artifacts.
If one can survive this hurricane, after it has passed, the Hesse Territory will be teeming with opportunities and treasures. With the intelligence system’s support, Su Li could gather numerous treasures scattered by the hurricane.
On the other hand, several witches and prophets are forced out of seclusion, leaving their treehouses and actively seeking assistance from other factions.
This is precisely Su Li’s opportunity. For instance, deep in the Mirror Swamp, there’s a treehouse of a Forest Witch. The system indicates that she can reveal the location of an Essence of Nature.
And the help she requires isn’t difficult, merely providing her with 2000 pounds of wood and 500 pounds of stone to reinforce her treehouse.
Su Li briefly organized the intelligence, not wasting much time, and quickly refocused on the military training at hand.
After all, the Green Tide is the greatest crisis now. If unable to defeat it, neither Tal’s hurricane nor the Forest Witch’s Essence of Nature would matter to Su Li.
At this moment, the training ground was already filled with soldiers in training. 800 soldiers occupied an area about the size of a school playground.
What they were undergoing now was the most basic formation training. After they remembered their teams and positions, they would be taken outdoors tomorrow to arrange battle formations and then briefly trained in assassination techniques before preparing for battle.
Su Li asked the oncoming Knight Oerstein, "My Commander-in-Chief, how are the training results?"
Knight Oerstein wore a proud and self-assured smile, responding excitedly, "Remarkable results, my esteemed Lord. Due to many soldiers and slaves being promoted yesterday, their training enthusiasm is high, with many eager to fight on the battlefield and earn the Goddess’s grace to change their destiny. Although this is their unrealistic dream, how could the honorable Goddess bestow divine grace upon lowly slaves? Yet, it’s good to give them some hope, right?"
Su Li nodded, then instructed Knight Oerstein, "Also, don’t forget to motivate our powerful knights. Convey my rewards: to knights with outstanding battle achievements, I will grant them land and estates so they may have their own territories!"
Upon Su Li’s announcement of incentives, a cheer erupted from the training ground.
The knights followed Su Li to this remote land precisely to achieve glory and have their own estates and lands, didn’t they?
Now it was all finally coming to pass for them, so every knight was itching to fight in a big battle, hoping to take a few Green Skin heads to increase their merits.
The soldiers were as morale-boosted as a rainbow, and Su Li said to Knight Oerstein, "Take a squadron of soldiers and go to war with me. A group of cultists has infiltrated from the North, and their vanguard group has approached the Green Leaf Hills area. We must immediately eliminate them, preventing them from investigating our territory’s situation. We cannot afford to be attacked by cultists on our back while fighting the Green Tide."
Lauren exclaimed in wonder, "With the great battle against the Green Skin imminent, are we still going to attack elsewhere?"
Su Li’s attitude was resolute: "Of course, at such critical moments, the more we cannot wait passively. We must actively go out, capture the enemy, and strengthen our combat power."
Knight Oerstein, invigorated, laughed and said, "Lord, your decision is undoubtedly correct. We must weaken all surrounding enemies to ensure greater victory in the battle against the Green Skin."
With the assistance of Su Li’s intelligence system, they quickly found the cultists near the Moonlight Highlands.
This was a sinister group named the Red Crown, worshipping the evil Blood God and riding massive Blood and Flesh Hounds, allowing them to reach near the Green Leaf Land at great speed, and they would reach Hesse Territory’s buildings shortly after crossing the Moonlight Highlands.
But unfortunately for them, their clandestine reconnaissance was preemptively detected by Su Li, so they fell into Su Li’s ambush.
Sixteen veteran cultist knights were surrounded in the canyon by a squadron of Hesse Territory soldiers, with no chance to break through, resulting in all of them perishing.
The spoils pleasantly surprised Su Li. This cultist group was unexpectedly wealthy. They had sixteen cultists, carrying two Fine Longswords of Refined Level, weapons with a Blazing Rune similar to the warhammer wielded by Knight Oerstein.
The weapon, named the Eternal Flame Sword, was inscribed with a Blazing Rune capable of inflicting fire damage with an added burn effect. Su Li immediately rewarded one to Sophie and kept one for himself.