So, when Shen Mu woke up the next day, he found a new dialogue box had appeared on his retina.
“Congratulations! You have new soldiers ready for promotion!”
“You can spend 10 dinar per person to upgrade 200 Swadian Commoners to Swadian Recruits. Total cost: 2000 dinar.”
“Do you wish to upgrade?”
“I have to say, Bandak, whom I’ve always trusted, is truly efficient,” Shen Mu nodded in satisfaction.
Then, without any hesitation, he immediately chose to confirm.
‘Buzz!’
A stream of white data surged directly from Shen Mu’s brow.
It then arrived outside the Lord’s Hall, descending directly upon the low-tier Swadian troops who had just returned with the dawn.
More precisely, it landed within the bodies of the 200 Swadian Commoners who were being protected by the 700 Swadian Militia.
Immediately, these Swadian Commoners were completely enveloped by the white data stream, forming an eggshell-like outline.
As the white light flickered, immense changes were occurring within these eggshells.
After about four or five seconds, these eggshells were completely absorbed by the figures inside them. When these figures emerged, they were no longer the former Swadian Commoners, nor were they of the commoner class.
Instead, they were Swadian Recruits, holding long-handled scythes, carrying old shields, with single-handed axes tucked into their waists, and wearing gray robes!
They had become part of the soldier class.
Even if these soldiers were just Farmers pulled from the fields, briefly trained and armed to serve as cannon fodder for the front lines,
their combat effectiveness was no longer comparable to that of Farmers wielding wooden sticks, pitchforks, or clubs.
This was a qualitative change.
“Well done, Bandak. I really didn’t expect you to turn all these Farmers into Swadian Recruits in just one night,” Shen Mu said while having breakfast with Bandak in the castle hall.
“Thank you for your praise, Respected Lord Shen Mu. This is all just what I should do,” Bandak humbly expressed his deference.
“Let’s eat first.” Shen Mu smiled with great satisfaction, then waved his hand, and the attendants beside him brought out the food cooked for breakfast today.
It was just a thick wheat porridge with cabbage, smoked fish, cured meat, and sausages, along with a perfectly baked, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, black bread.
The taste wasn’t particularly good; it was merely salty and filling.
But for Bandak and the soldiers on the front lines of the war, being able to eat these things was already quite good. After all, there was enough salt, and it was filling, and there was even meat inside—this was practically a feast only available during holidays.
Most Calradia lords were reluctant to let their soldiers eat such good food; most low-ranking soldiers only ate miscellaneous porridge that barely filled their stomachs.
Even black bread was not something that bottom-tier soldiers could afford.
Only the core combat forces could eat it.
Of course, if it was white bread, honey, and cheese, those good things were only affordable for minor nobles or top-tier soldiers.
The food Shen Mu was giving them now was truly quite generous.
There was meat, protein, fat, and salt, and most importantly, the black bread was filling.
How could those soldiers not be happy?
Even Bandak was quite satisfied with this. After all, he had risen step by step from a low-ranking soldier to his current position, having endured many hardships before. Now, eating this clearly generous food, he showed no sign of impatience.
“I’ve also discovered many possible defensive arrangements, and I’ve observed the surrounding terrain. I’ve found that we don’t need cavalry here to firmly hold this watchtower and our castle.”
Bandak reported to Shen Mu while eating.
In the Western-themed continent of Calradia, lords were not accustomed to eating in silence; on the contrary, conversing while eating was the norm.
Shen Mu understood this time, and he was quite accustomed to communicating while eating, similar to business banquets in his previous life.
“Hmm, tell me your thoughts.” Shen Mu nodded, and at the same time, gestured for Bandak to continue.
He was also quite interested in Bandak’s statement that cavalry wouldn’t be needed to firmly hold the watchtower and castle.
“This watchtower and castle remind me of the castles in the Rodok Kingdom; they are both built on mountaintops, thus inherently possessing a geographical advantage.”
Bandak reported at this point: “Moreover, this earthen watchtower itself is 15 meters high, plus a 6-meter city wall, giving us a total drop of over 20 meters. Any enemy wishing to attack our castle here would be like attacking a 20-meter giant castle on a plain.”
“Exactly, that’s right. This is precisely how I intentionally arranged it.” Shen Mu nodded. What Bandak said was exactly what he needed; this was the reason he built the earthen watchtower and placed the castle on top of it.
“This is like a nail placed in front of the enemy,” Bandak nodded and said. “And I’ve noticed that the surrounding desert is expanding. If the surrounding wilderness becomes more and more vast, then any enemy wanting to attack our Deherim will inevitably have to pass through this place. And this is the only high ground around, which is excellent for vision, disrupting enemy supply lines, and ambushing enemies from behind.”
“Exactly, that’s right.” Shen Mu nodded. This was also why he sent Bandak, his most trusted general, here to command Uzhhorod.
“But if we can turn this nail into a fortress, then it can be firmly embedded in this desert,” Bandak continued. “This place is like an outpost. As long as we can ensure this outpost is not lost, then this desert can be brought under our control.”
“And at that time, if the enemy wants to attack us, they will have to pass through this desert. As long as they pass near here, we can detect them first. In that case, because of the absolute geographical advantage, they won’t be able to attack Uzhhorod Castle.”
“Once the cavalry forces from Deherim arrive, if their siege of Uzhhorod is unsuccessful, they will only be forced to retreat into the desert, which is the home ground of cavalry units. At that time, they will certainly be surrounded and annihilated by our cavalry forces.”
Bandak’s words were very reasonable.
Shen Mu nodded in agreement: “Exactly, that’s right. And it seems you are very confident in being able to defend Uzhhorod.”
“Yes, Respected Lord Shen Mu, I myself am from the Rodok Kingdom, and I am quite skilled in siege defense. Your entrusting Uzhhorod to me shows your trust in me, and I will certainly not fail your trust.”
Bandak answered solemnly.
“Very good, I am quite at ease leaving this place to you.” Shen Mu still nodded with great satisfaction.
They didn’t converse for too long. Since the situation here wasn’t too dangerous that night, Shen Mu gathered his Holy Tree Knights and began to return to Deherim.
He was indeed very relieved to leave Uzhhorod to Bandak.
Following the slope of the earthen watchtower, Shen Mu led the Holy Tree Knights, galloping quickly into the distance.
At the same time, as his warhorse galloped, he also saw that the surrounding desert terrain was indeed expanding. Compared to when he arrived yesterday, another patch of desert seemed to have formed.
He subconsciously looked up at the sky.
In the sky, streaks of grayish-white light, faintly visible under the sunlight, began to appear, then crashed down towards this Long City urban area.
“It seems the spirit world really wants to turn this entire area into desert terrain.” Shen Mu pursed his lips, feeling a touch of sadness about the current state of the Blue Star World.
The Blue Star World was indeed dying, and the spirit world was indeed shedding its skin to be reborn.
But what did any of this have to do with him?
He was originally an Earthling. He possessed the Mount & Blade System and Mount & Blade Rules. He didn’t have much affection for the Blue Star World.
Let the Blue Star World die; as long as it didn’t prevent his Mount & Blade Rules from occupying a portion and having its own place when the spirit world was reborn through a shell corporation, that would be fine.
Please collect _(69shu.com!)_
He was even one of the culprits in the division of the Blue Star World.
“Let’s go.” Shen Mu looked at the surrounding Holy Tree Knights and shook his head, not thinking too much, and directly led them quickly towards Deherim.
“Everyone, keep up.”
The Holy Tree Knights also had no other thoughts; their mission was to protect Shen Mu’s life.
So, under the command of the Holy Tree Captain, they shook their reins, lightly nudged their horses’ flanks with their legs, and then moved their warhorses to follow Shen Mu’s retreating figure, quickly galloping towards Deherim.
As they galloped forward, they soon saw Deherim appearing on the horizon.
After all, many of the surrounding tall buildings had already collapsed; high-rises of twenty or thirty stories, forty or fifty meters tall, had disappeared.
Instead, the surroundings appeared like countless mottled bald spots, with many deserts emerging.
The frequency of spirit world deserts descending was indeed increasing.
Perhaps the only place still holding its ground was the Long City urban area.
Countless skyscrapers still stood there.
But thinking about it, one could understand that the proliferation of those skyscrapers was actually due to the presence of death spirit rules there, which forcibly supported those skyscrapers, preventing them from being attacked and collapsing by the spirit world rules.
Looking at it this way, an ironic phenomenon emerged.
It was because of the invasion of death spirit rules that the blue star rules weakened, forcing them to unite with spirit world rules to resist the death spirit rules.
However, the alliance between blue star rules and spirit world rules was like drinking poison to quench thirst.
spirit world rules actually wanted to devour blue star rules.
But at this moment, because the blue star rules and death spirit rules were entangled and resisted each other most deeply, there were many death spirit rules around, which made those spirit world rules hesitant to act, unable to directly transform those blue star rules deeply entangled with death spirit rules.
Nor could they turn those normal Blue Star buildings and Blue Star areas into spirit world areas.
Surprisingly, the death spirit rules implicitly protected the blue star rules and Blue Star areas.
So, it was very comical.
And this was even more true for the Wood Elves living in the Green Land Forest Park at the westernmost end of Bali River Street.
Of course, their current name in the Blue Star World was Green Leaf Group, a large group company that used to engage in municipal greening projects.
And now, led by Zhang Song, they had left Wood Elf Village and arrived at the site of the Diesel Company ruins, which was about to be transformed into a desert.
“What exactly is going on?” Zhang Song frowned tightly at this moment. His original intention was just to pass by the Diesel Company ruins and then exchange information with Zhang Bo near Deherim.
But unexpectedly, when he had just arrived at this ruin this morning, intending to mourn and denounce that the Diesel Company should have been destroyed, he discovered a huge earthen watchtower in the desert, with a clearly human castle building on top of it.
This shocked him deeply.
It took him about twenty or thirty minutes to finally recover, looking at the castle with an extremely grim expression.
“Could it be that guy named Shen Mu created a new castle again?” Behind him, a Blue Star Human who had also completed the synchronized resonance clenched the bow and arrow in his hand, his face also extremely grim.
“Perhaps so.” Another Blue Star Human, who had also completed synchronized resonance and was beginning to transform into a Wood Elf, also frowned and said, “Didn’t rumors say that this guy named Shen Mu got the support of a powerful human empire? Maybe this castle was set up by him here. As for why it was set up here, there might be some explanation.”
But as he spoke, he also snorted coldly, making the two or three Blue Star Humans around him understand his meaning.
This castle was probably set up here to guard against their Green Leaf Group.
“This is really troublesome.” Zhang Song also clenched the bow and arrow in his hand at this moment, slowly sighing, his brows tightly furrowed: “That guy’s growth speed is simply too fast. I really can’t imagine how powerful the human empire behind him is. He actually created another new castle, and you know he just created a new town.”
Zhang Song didn’t know about New Rivadin, this Vigia Castle.
But this didn’t prevent the psychological shock he felt from associating a town with a new castle.
The Green Leaf Group currently only had one Wood Elf Village, controlling over 500 Wood Elves.
Adding other ordinary legions, their total strength did not exceed 1500 soldiers.
At that time, their struggle against the Diesel Company was already very difficult.
Now, with a new human territory appearing, they felt a sense of powerlessness in their hearts.
