Volume 2 Spread Wings Chapter 226: Recruiting Soldiers and Going North
Hunter Swamp: A certain number of Ferocious Crocodiles (Tier 2), Crocodile Men (Tier 2), and Crocodile Warriors (Tier 3) can be recruited every week, and there is a low chance of the rare soldier - Killer Croc (Tier 3) appearing.
Levi suddenly felt that Sobek was really generous. One God-given building could directly recruit four different types of soldiers. Although the specific output was not known yet, he had already felt the other party's sincerity.
The only thing that needs to be noted is that Sobek himself is in the lawful evil camp, and these crocodiles and crocodile men are probably all the same. Levi himself probably can't lead the army with him, otherwise they would probably have to fight with the Mastiff-headed Arkons every day.
But it's not a big problem. Witch Tiva is currently in an absolutely neutral camp. Basically, she can recruit soldiers from all camps. Moreover, the Sun Knight and several younger brothers in the guild are also from the evil camp. At most, we can let them pay first and then open up some recruitment rights to them.
After thinking about it, he directly handed it over to the Temple of Wealth together with the architectural drawings he had obtained when he conquered the demon village. He chose to spend money to ship them back to the village and let the witch Tiwa build them first. Otherwise, it might take a long time for him to return.
Although the shipping fee is as high as 10 gold coins, the advantage is that the speed is extremely fast. With magic + flying beast, it is estimated that the witch Tiva will receive it in less than an hour.
And if any accident happens during the process, they will compensate for the loss, so it is quite reliable.
Even Levi was a little tempted, thinking about setting up such a branch in Bitao Village, but after asking about the conditions, he had to give up temporarily, because the Temple of Wealth looked down on his small village, and the Temple of Wealth was only established in places that were rich enough...
After finishing all these, Levi took his subordinates who had almost rested and went to the Black Castle dungeon again, ready to complete the remaining times, and then go to Ashridge Town to deal with the matters of Moonbow Temple and Red Brotherhood. Then tomorrow they would go straight north to find Reiner to fight the greenskins together.
And this time he also made some adjustments. He planned to let Mastiff Chief Yakong lead the Legion Yakongs to form a group with Donna, and he would transfer some of his elite subordinates to his own command. Now the strength of both teams will become stronger.
As for the fact that Mastiff Yakong would lose the opportunity to enter the dungeon alone, there was nothing that could be done about it. At least based on the strength he had shown so far, it would be difficult for him to complete a simple dungeon alone.
Then he found that the place was now much more lively. Not only were there heroes chosen by God, but there were also many indigenous people. The three Amazon sisters, the cockfighting group, and many indigenous heroes of the Black Castle were all queuing up or discussing the situation of the dungeon.
Moreover, after many failures, other chosen heroes gradually gained some experience. They began to try to form teams to challenge together. Although this would reduce their gains, if they could successfully pass the normal difficulty, they would basically earn more than if they challenged the simple difficulty alone.
Even when they saw Levi coming, some people took the initiative to invite him, but of course he declined it politely. It's not like he couldn't do it himself.
So after spending some time, Levi and Donna both completed two more copies. After their strength was strengthened, they found it even easier than before.
Donna, in particular, kept praising the Mastiff-Headed Yakon to Levi. Once, they encountered long-range units such as musketeers hired by the undead.
She originally thought that she might suffer some losses, but she didn't expect that Mastiff-Head Yakong would lead the Legion Yakongs in a charge and directly silence the enemy's long-range troops. This was a completely new experience she had never had before, and she had to admit that it felt really good!
Unfortunately, they seemed to have used up their luck for the day and did not obtain any commendable spoils. Most of them were some green-quality equipment, which slightly enriched the equipment choices of their subordinates. Then there was a green harmonica, which was thrown to the bard by Levi. It could slightly increase the diffusion distance of his voice.
But a lot of experience points and gold coins were gained. In addition to the advancement of a large number of soldiers, the most important thing was that Janet finally advanced. In addition to the improvement of various attributes and the acquisition of a new skill, the most important thing was that she seemed to have reached adulthood early because of her increased strength.
Originally a special bee-man, she possessed two skills: Low Carrying Weight and Little Queen (incomplete). Now the former has disappeared without a trace, and the latter has also removed the remarks in brackets, and can further enhance the amplification effect on ordinary bee-men.
But Levi didn't care. After all, it seemed that the fighting power of the bees was too weak, and it would be impossible for him to recruit them into the team unless something unexpected happened.
Then Janet had two new choices. The first choice was that she could truly command a tribe of beemen as a queen, and then hatch and even lay eggs.
If she did so, Levi would have a very stable logistics base that could continuously provide him with bee people. The number of troops a tribe could provide would far exceed that of ordinary God-given buildings, but she would no longer be able to continue to follow Levi in battle.
As we all know, the size and tonnage of the queens in the bee-man, ant-man and other tribes are all very terrifying. The bee-man queen is okay, but it is normal for the ant-man queen to be more than ten times larger than ordinary members. They have no other tasks every day but to eat and live, so naturally they have no way to fight.
After learning this information, Levi subconsciously wanted to refuse. Not to mention that they had been partners fighting side by side for a long time, Janet was only a few years old. How could he let her fall to such a state?
The big loli who had the best relationship with her was naturally the first to respond to Levi's opinion, and then Donna also nodded with a smile. To be honest, they all sincerely felt that the bee tribe had no future at all.
Besides, that old half-drow witch wasn't a good person either. It would be better if she didn't become the queen.
Others like Elegy, who were not very familiar with Janet for the time being, naturally chose to support Levi and Donna unconditionally.
Perhaps because of the education she had received over a long period of time, Janet herself was a little hesitant at first, but seeing that Levi and the others were so determined, she finally had to agree and gave up this option.
As for the second choice, it is that she completely gives up the opportunity to inherit the tribe, and even the related abilities such as hatching and laying eggs. But she is at least a little queen with the strength of level 5, which is still very rare for the bees with low strength and potential, so she still gained a new skill.
Little Queen's Guard: Designate four friendly troops of a rank/level not higher than your own, giving them additional physical defense or magic resistance (based on their own rank/level).
In Levi's opinion, this skill is basically a more powerful version of the soldier bees' guard skill. Although it has some limitations, its enhancement for the back-row troops is still obvious.
But speaking of which, the Sun Knight sent him a message yesterday, saying that the old witch has been restless recently. She kept complaining that the aura of undead in Silent Manor had an impact on the bee people and wanted to move out. Maybe after he finished dealing with the greenskins, he should deal with her.
He's obviously a half-blood drow, why is he interfering with the bee people?
And since she escaped from the Underdark, she might be useful when we go to defeat the Black Dragon...
As for the new skill Janet acquired, it is called Natural Transfiguration, which is a relatively common skill for druids. Every day she can specify an animal or any one of the four elements of earth, fire, water and wind, and use spells to transform into the other person.
After the transformation, she will temporarily lose the druid's own spellcasting ability, but will gain the other party's special abilities. For example, after turning into a water element, she can really swim freely in the water like a water element.
But based on her current strength, she can only transform into some relatively weak animals or medium-sized elements, which is a significant weakening for her.
If she joins the team adventure, it might be of some use in certain specific situations, but in Levi's team, she is basically unlikely to have the opportunity to use it, so it can only be said that it is better than nothing.
After finishing this matter, Levi happened to find that the Lightcaster, Master and others were discussing something, so he walked over directly.
After asking, he found out that the other party also wanted to form a team to challenge the difficult copy together. Although Levi said that it might be difficult, one of them is the president and the other is the vice president. They can't completely give up the idea just because of the other party's words, right?
Only by trying it once themselves will they be prepared for the next time. They even want to invite Levi to join them, but Levi can only say with regret that he has used up all his chances.
Master could only give Levi a thumbs up. He had nothing to say about such efficiency.
Levi didn't persuade them, but just agreed to meet in Ashridge Town tomorrow and go north together to meet Reiner. Then he left Black Castle first.
Actually, he should have gone to say hello to Michaela, but considering that she was currently in the core area of the Black Castle, he didn't know what she was busy with. Not only could ordinary God-chosen heroes not get in, she herself probably didn't have time to pay attention to him.
Half an hour ago, she had sent other natives to deliver the documents recording the battles that had taken place near the Black Castle, and told Levi that he didn't need to return them because they were copies she had made using magic.
Besides, she wouldn't stay in Black Castle forever, so Levi gave up temporarily. After all, there would be plenty of chances to meet her in the future.
We traveled quickly all the way, and this time the road was completely peaceful. We couldn't see any wild monsters at all. However, we could see many indigenous people and God-chosen heroes rushing over.
Even the sharp-eyed Levi recognized that there were quite a few guys among them who had backed down at the last minute yesterday. Who knows how much they chose to escape on the eve of victory. How much regret do they have now?
And they are not just high elves, there are also some dusty humans and dwarves.
The dwarves are fine, as they love living in the mountains. They are not too far from Blackburg. However, the human territory is at least hundreds of miles away from Blackburg. They got here so quickly. It seems that what is happening in Blackburg has really attracted a lot of people's attention.
As the rewards of the copy gradually spread, Levi felt that Black Castle would become more prosperous in the future.
After returning to Ashridge Town, Levi naturally went to the temple of the Moonbow Goddess first, wanting to take away the night elf hunters who had temporarily stayed here. He now had enough leadership to lead them.
Although the range of their weapons is only a dozen or twenty meters, after eliminating the enemy's long-range and cavalry units, they have no problem defeating ordinary infantry.
After taking them away, the priests of the temple were very proactive and enthusiastic in expressing that they had heard about Levi's outstanding performance in the battles in recent days, so there were more priests and huntresses in the temple who hoped to be recruited by him.
Levi thought about it and recruited another 10 priests. With or without the healing capabilities provided by priests or other professions, the casualty rate for a team would be completely different.
He didn't want the female hunters. Judging from their current performance, it was not worth him investing too much energy in them. It would be better for him to focus on training a few of them first and see if there would be any new changes after they advanced.
Then Levi asked about the issue of expanding faith. The priest told him happily that the Moon Bow Goddess had made a decision and had sent people to communicate with the Red Brotherhood.
As long as they are truly devoted and can continue to serve the goddess, the conditions proposed by the goddess are still very generous to them.
Levi nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Anyway, as long as the matter could be accomplished, both sides would definitely not treat him unfairly. In this way, he wouldn't have to make another trip there.
Since everyone was exhausted after a day of fighting, Levi gave his subordinates a holiday. He also gave some gold coins to Donna and other subordinates, and told them to buy whatever they wanted. The natives sometimes have their own advantages, and maybe they can get some special equipment.
As for himself, he found a place and prepared to quietly enchant weapons and create magic scrolls. In fact, this was his regular task every night. He did not do it yesterday because of the overnight siege, so he just made up for it today.
So after one night, Levi's proficiency in both of his specialties improved a lot, and at the same time, a lot of magic scrolls appeared in his space ring.
Although he could only create some low-level magic due to the limitation of his current expertise, small magics such as Stoneskin and Burning Arrow were still very versatile. He could create more and distribute them to Janet and many priests so that they could keep them for use at critical moments.
With a happy mood, Levi had just prepared his troops. Before he arrived at the agreed meeting place, he heard a commotion outside the city, and then thousands of high elf troops were entering the city in an orderly manner.
As soon as he saw the other party’s flag, Levi knew that they must be from the Kingdom of Terranlock.
The ten kingdoms of the High Elves all have their own characteristics, and each kingdom has different special forces. Levi now basically knows them all. Among them, the Kingdom of Terranlock is best at racing.
Soon, some special beings, both men and horses, wearing gorgeous armor appeared. They were the 5th-level troops - the Ithilama Silver Chariots.
Although this type of soldier could already be recruited by qualified God-chosen heroes as early as the Stoney Highlands area mission, this was the first time Levi really observed the other party so closely.
But after reading it, he felt a little confused, because a chariot has two horses, a driver and two elite . What if the two horses or the driver were killed, what would the remaining elves do?
Could it be that they were temporarily transferred to infantry units? Then they would not be Tier 5 troops, right?
And looking at the positions of the soldiers on this chariot, they should not be good at collision damage. It is more likely that they will fly past the enemy at high speed and then use the spearmen on the left or right side to attack.
With such doubts, Levi followed them to the military camp, because he knew that according to past practice, the indigenous people would definitely set aside a part of their troops for recruitment by the God-chosen heroes, and the higher the military rank, the more priority they would often have.
Because the Black Castle dungeon attracted too much attention, there are not many God's chosen heroes still staying in Ashridge Town. As a lieutenant, he should be at the forefront in Ashridge Town.
Then, not long after, he saw the Lightforger and Master arriving with many of their followers.
After seeing each other, they all laughed at the same time. It must be said that the three of them were unexpectedly sharp in this regard.
They didn't have to wait too long. The natives quickly completed the handover and announced the names, ranks and maximum numbers of troops available for recruitment.
Levi was naturally the first one to rush forward. After a quick glance, he found that probably because they had just captured the Black Castle and were in urgent need of troops, the natives were a little stingy this time.
Not only are there very few available recruits, but most of them are not very strong. Even his favorite Avalon and Silver Guards are not there. Moreover, for the God-chosen heroes of different military positions, the recruitment of soldiers of each class is limited.
But now his leadership was very lacking and he had to prepare for a decisive battle with the greenskins, so he was not so picky and directly recruited 50 archers and 30 Tritons, whom he had previously looked down upon.
Although these guys like Triton are tier 3 soldiers, their skills are too diverse, which means their actual combat effectiveness does not fully match the expensive recruitment and maintenance costs. But Levi plans to put them into the long-range troops, which can also help to defend against the enemy's air force, so he is not so demanding.
Then, he added two types of Elion cavalry to Lisadilan and Simon to strengthen their combat effectiveness.
Although it is not very regular, either riding wolves or pigs, there are still quite a few cavalry in the greenskin army, and they need to be targeted slightly.
He then recruited an Ithramar Silver Chariot, hoping to resolve his previous doubts and also to try out a multi-army battle.
Then he discovered that most of the skills of this chariot were similar to those of high-level cavalry, such as charge, anti-infantry and the like, and it also had an additional ramming skill. The chariot's collision alone could cause certain damage, which was not beyond his expectations, but there was one more skill that he had never seen before.
Life-linking magic circle: There is a special magic circle engraved on the chariot. When all personnel are in place, the vitality of the chariot, horses, driver and four spearmen will be linked together under the effect of the magic circle. The maximum health is reduced by 40%, but it will be regarded as a whole. If it leaves the coverage of the magic circle, its health will return to normal.
It was precisely because of this magic circle that Levi's previous worries disappeared without a trace. Although it was weakened by almost half, the remaining health points added up still far exceeded that of ordinary level 5 soldiers, which could greatly enhance their survivability.
However, for a true master, such a magic array will have little effect. After all, it has too many limitations and the target is too big.
Moreover, this magic circle has a side effect, which is that the experience points will be evenly divided among all members of the chariot, and the advancement speed will be seriously slowed down.
As for the last one, when it comes to flying war beasts, Levi chose the fighting griffin, a beast with the strong body of a lion, the head of an eagle, sharp claws and wings, and a majestic aura. It looks quite proud and arrogant.
Janet had previously said that she wanted a griffin as her animal companion. Although by chance she later signed a contract with Shadow Claw, and now it seems pretty good, recruiting a combat griffin this time can be considered as fulfilling her dream a little.
At first glance, the other skills of the battle griffin are similar to those of Donna's two big cats, such as running, pouncing, and then attacking with wings and pecking with beak. At the same time, because it has flying skills, it also has a diving skill that can greatly enhance its charge power.
In addition, it has a skill that Levi values most - it can be ridden!
Because of this, Levi almost sacrificed the reward for completing a copy on it, but he thought it was all worth it.
He immediately spent a certain amount of military merit points to raise his riding skills to advanced level, because only those with advanced riding skills can ride a combat griffin.
As for the original glazed jade lion, he threw it to Janet as a reward for her advancement. The glazed jade lion had no ability to run and could only be used as a means of transportation for some magic units.
The Silver Guards and Caledor Sentinels serve as the front row, the Archers, Tritons, and Avalons serve as long-range output, the Elion Cavalry, Amazon Moa Mounted Archers, and Night Elf Huntresses serve as cavalry units, the Sub-Sky Troops serve as the air force, and the Priests and many elite subordinates are responsible for command and assistance. Now the total number of Levi's troops has reached nearly three hundred, and the lineup has become more and more complete.
If we have to point out shortcomings, it would be that there are no long-range warfare machines or mages.
But he had already inquired about it. He found out that the lack of war equipment was not just his own fault. The fact is that the entire high elves only had one kind of crossbow. That was why they had specially hired an artillery unit from outside when they attacked the Black Castle before.
As for ordinary battles, they use magic to replace artillery, and they like to use many flying soldiers, such as dragons and phoenixes, to destroy the enemy's war equipment and force the two sides to reach a balance in this regard.
Since we don't have excellent war equipment, you don't have it either!
And after Levi took the time to look at the battle records provided by Michaela, he discovered that in many past wars, the high elves had performed quite well in this regard.
This time, the Dragon Prince Imrik had just had a bloody battle with the dark elves. It seemed that most of the phoenixes and dragons in the colony were killed or seriously injured. Otherwise, the Black Castle would not have fallen so quickly under the invasion of demons.
Of course, if the colony's strength had not been damaged, the demons might not have appeared so coincidentally.
Although most demons only know how to chop, chop and kill all day long, how could Orcus be a complete fool when he can live to the level of a lord?
As for the magicians, Levi was temporarily powerless to do anything, because even for the high elves, the number of magicians was not enough to popularize them in every village or every God-chosen hero. He could only try his luck later.
Looking at the extra troops behind Levi, Lightforger, Master and others were very envious. Because the prices were clearly marked, they could roughly calculate the amount needed to recruit them with just a glance.
I have to admit that Levi is really rich!
In comparison, their funds seemed a little tight, but no matter what, after some recruiting, everyone's overall strength had improved to a certain extent.
After the recruitment was completed, without too much courtesy, they started heading north to find Reiner.
Thousands of troops marched together in a mighty force. Even if there were some ignorant monsters on the road, they were basically killed easily by the advance reconnaissance troops.
Levi also took the time to ride a battle griffin. He had to admit that the feeling of being on high ground and bombarding with magic was really good. Some low-level soldiers had no power to fight back and were abused from beginning to end.
Then he also sent out his chariots to join the battle, but unfortunately, because the enemy was too weak, the full strength of the chariots could not be seen at all.
With just a charge, ordinary low-level soldiers would be knocked back more than ten meters. Then there would be no need for the spearmen on the chariot to attack. The opponents would basically be unable to breathe and would be close to death after being crushed by the wheels.
It seems that we still need to find some powerful enemies to truly see the power of the chariot. Levi temporarily let Simon take it. Anyway, cavalry and chariots both rely on charges, so they should be roughly the same.
After a slight excitement, he returned to the formation amidst the envious and jealous eyes of Master, Lightforged and others. At the same time, he also roughly understood what had happened after he left yesterday.
They did try a difficult copy once, but they surrendered within half a minute of entering.
Because in addition to the larger number of opponents, they also had an undead mage hero. A large-scale death ripple directly covered hundreds of troops, scaring them so much that they started running away. This thing was really not something they could fight at this stage!
Levi was a little surprised. Could it be that starting from the difficult level, the enemy would have hero units? That would make the difficulty level a bit high.
Since there were basically no decent battles on the road, it didn't take them long to successfully reach the village where Reiner was stationed, which was also the northernmost village that still existed and was still under the rule of the high elves.
After arriving there, they all discovered that the defense of this village was significantly stronger than that of an ordinary village. Not only were the wooden fences replaced with low stone walls, but the number of garrison troops was at least thousands.
There are thirty or forty watchtowers in the village. In addition to archers, there are also many crossbows. The long-range firepower of these things is very powerful. Overall, without two or three times the number of troops, don't even think about taking it down easily.
But it can also be seen that because the greenskins are too rampant, the indigenous people have already taken them seriously.
When they arrived, Reiner had obviously received the information already and was waiting for them with a smile at the entrance of the village.
The Lightforger and Master looked at each other, both of them were somewhat surprised, because they knew that the other party's status in this colony was definitely not low, and the high elf natives were always arrogant. They really didn't expect that the other party would take the initiative to come and greet them.
But a few seconds later, Reiner's words made them feel embarrassed and they knew that they had guessed wrong.
"Hello again, Levi."
"Haha, we just fought side by side, didn't we?"
Looking at the two guys chatting happily, Master couldn't help but sigh softly. He never expected that the other party would treat Levi in such an attitude. It's really frustrating to compare yourself with others!
"I am now more and more curious about what kind of person your boss is, to the extent that Levi is willing to be his deputy."
The Lightforged grinned when he heard this: "Well, you should be able to meet him soon. He is planning to come here to expand the territory for the guild, and his personal abilities may not meet your expectations."
Although it was not nice to talk about his boss behind his back, he did not want to deceive him, so as to avoid further embarrassment.
Master was suddenly confused. What did this mean?
The Lightforger hesitated for a moment, but finally rubbed his fingers together. Master instantly understood that he was a person with the ability to make money. That explained everything!
At this moment, Levi in front turned back with a serious look: "Let's go, Lord Reiner wants to discuss the specifics of the war with us!"
