Chapter Twelve Pre-War Preparations

  The Elf tribe's war ancient tree also produced an archer every half hour, and in two days, more than 40 archers were produced.

  Tai Lande's current level is only Level 1, so Xiao Yu decided to take Tai Lande to upgrade first, this way the hero can become even stronger.

  Tyrande can now learn the following skills: Scorching Arrows (up to 3), Hawk Eye (up to 2), Multi-Shot (up to 3), Beast Senses (up to 3).

  Scorching Arrow is a spell that fires a flaming arrow, dealing massive damage.

  Eagle Eye allows for long-distance observation of enemies and provides accuracy bonuses for shooting.

  Multi-shot arrow is capable of shooting multiple feathered arrows at once.

  Beastmaster's spirit can communicate with some beasts, tame them to fight for themselves, and also command the already tamed beasts to fight, connect with their own spirits, enhance the beast's combat ability, and lend part of their energy to the beast.

  Apart from these skills, Tyrande also has a built-in skill called Shadowform, which allows her to enter the shadows and avoid being detected by enemies.

  This Shadow Dance is a universal skill that all Night Elves possess, however, this Shadow Dance is not completely stealthy, but rather can hide oneself to a certain extent under certain conditions.

  If it were in broad daylight under the sun, without any buildings, and without any shadows, they would not be able to hide. They can only hide when there are shadows or at night.

  Xiao Yu first gave Tyrande the Hawk Eye skill, because this skill is very practical, it can not only detect enemy situations but also increase shooting accuracy and enhance damage.

  Xiao Yu this time directly brought Tyrande to find a group of bandits to upgrade, unlike the Sword Saint who started by killing a few small magical beasts to upgrade.

  Now he has soldiers and real power, so naturally he is confident.

  According to Zhao Hu's report, this time they raided a small bandit den with only over a hundred people, and two hundred beastman soldiers surrounded them directly, then let Tyrande shoot arrows to kill.

  These little bandits, seeing so many beastmen, were immediately flustered and fled in all directions. Thelan stood on the shoulder of a beastman, looking down from a high vantage point, shooting arrow after arrow quickly, harvesting dozens of lives in the blink of an eye.

  Xiao Yu was standing under the beastman carrying Tyrande, then his eyes sneaked a peek upwards. As a result, Tyrande's arrow pointed directly at his eyes, and Xiao Yu was immediately frightened into not daring to look again.

  These guys were shot one by one by Tylande, with no way to escape, directly collapsing their nerves, and finally surrendering.

  Xiao Yu didn't kill them all, but instead tied them up and took them back to be slaves. They had been bandits for so long, more or less doing some bad things, letting them off would be too easy on them.

  The leader of the bandits, after being interrogated by Xiao Yu, was found to have many evil deeds, including having done some shameful and immoral things such as raping women. Xiao Yu directly ordered Tyrael to shoot him dead with one arrow.

  After finishing off the bandit's lair, Tailande's level had reached 3rd grade. Xiao Yu taught him a Scorching Arrow and a Multi-Shot Arrow, three skills in total. Tailande was quite impressive now.

  After searching the bandit's lair, Xiao Yu was disappointed to find only over 2,000 gold coins. Zhao Hu explained that not every bandit's lair is rich like this. The reason their leader had so much money was because they happened to rob a wealthy merchant, getting over 10,000 gold coins. Those two groups of bandits were relatively powerful and lucky, which is why they had over 20,000 gold coins. This already counted as the petit bourgeoisie among bandits; normally, having 4 or 5 thousand gold coins would be very impressive.

  Xiao Yu led a troop of beastmen soldiers in a campaign against bandits.

  In just over a dozen days, the bandits in this area were almost all wiped out by Xiao Yu, their dens destroyed, property confiscated, and those who didn't die were taken back to be slaves, cutting wood in the Beastmen's camp.

  The elves are one by one above the top, and don't want these dirty human robbers.

  After these days of continuous beheading, the beastman soldiers have basically reached level 2, with a larger body shape and stronger strength. With one axe, they can smash a stone into pieces. Grom has now reached level 6, and Tyrande has reached level 5.

  Grom's current skills are: Whirlwind Strike (Level 1), Invincible Slash (Level 2), and Fatal Blow (Level 3).

  Tairand's current skills are: Scorching Arrow (Level 2), Hawk Eye (Level 1), Multi-Shot (Level 2).

  Xiao Yu calculated the time, and Karu would also bring his troops soon. With his own strength added up, he now had about 500 men. Dealing with Karu's several thousand soldiers shouldn't be a problem, right? After all, these soldiers weren't ordinary ones.

  Xiao Yu's heart was eagerly anticipating that great war, it was a magnificent practice for these demonic beast troops.

  Because he had scraped together some more money, Xiao Yu first built a blacksmith shop and prepared to produce some equipment for these beastmen brothers to wear.

  But the price of producing weapons and armor still scared Xiao Yu, in the absence of materials such as steel, simply buying a piece of level 1 beastman armor from an iron shop would cost 200 gold coins, and a level 1 axe would cost 50 gold coins. This made Xiao Yu so angry that he wanted to curse, buying equipment was actually more expensive than buying soldiers.

  In this way, a beastman soldier needs to spend 250 gold coins to equip himself with first-class armor. For 200 soldiers, it would cost 50,000. Poor Xiao Yu only robbed a little, after struggling for more than half a month, he had less than 50,000 gold coins.

  In the end, Xiao Yu just bought a hundred sets first, and then produced some more later. Because the other money still had to be used for other purposes, the beast tribe's side still had to produce a lot of beast dens, and the elf tribe's side had to build a moon well, otherwise they would have nowhere to go and would starve to death, which would be troublesome.

  Xiao Yu was relieved that the first-class blacksmith's shop could upgrade the Sword Saint's sword, as the previous broken sword looked really bad.

  After upgrading, the sword suddenly shines with colorful light, and it also has a chilling aura. Its attack power reaches 14-23, which is much stronger than before.

  "That's right, collect scrap iron." Xiao Yu issued this order in his territory. Relying solely on gold coins to buy equipment was too expensive, and now Xiao Yu finally understood the difficulties of maintaining an army.

  Why do they say that fighting is just about spending money? Now, Xiao Yu has a deep understanding of this. This is still through the direct purchase of the blacksmith's shop in the game. If it were to be forged in reality, a full-body armor for an orc of this size would cost even more. Because their bodies are too big and need to be wrapped in many places.

  When the first set of armor was made, Xiao Yu looked at it and was fairly satisfied. Although there were no additional effects, at least the key parts were protected, and the iron plates were also quite thick. Only such beastman soldiers could be considered to have real combat power. Otherwise, relying solely on their bodies to resist, even if the beastman's skin was thicker, they would still be easily killed.

  But to forge armor, an ironworks also needs the hard work of beastmen, otherwise a craftsman would need several days to make just one set.

  Xiao Yu had no choice but to spend another sum of money to buy two hundred beastmen for the hard labor of forging armor.

  However, after collecting for half a day, Xiao Yu found it difficult to collect steel because in this desolate and cold land of the northwest, materials like steel were extremely scarce.

  His actions, however, earned him a severe scolding from Fourth Sister Xue Lian. A few days ago, Xiao Yu had sneaked a peek at her while she was bathing, and although he hadn't been caught, she was certain it was him and had been seething with anger ever since, waiting for an opportunity to vent her frustrations on him.

  "You're just messing around, buying up all that steel for no reason, you're just bored and have nothing better to do. In a few days, the Calamity is going to come and you're still doing these pointless things. Didn't you run away? Why did you come back?" Xue Lian was dressed in military attire, with her sword at her side, looking heroic and majestic as she scolded Xiao Yu, pointing at his nose.

  Xiao Yu was scolded until his face turned blue, and he said in a wronged tone: "Sister-in-law, I'm doing this for the sake of acquiring steel to forge weapons to protect you all, how can you scold me like that?"

  "How dare you say that if it wasn't for you losing the fifth sister, Karu would bring people to fight? Moreover, can you defeat Karu's army just by buying some steel? Are you waiting to die here instead of escaping early? The Xiao family now only has you left as the sole heir. If you die, will you be able to face your father? Xue Lian scolded him in a series of verbal attacks, leaving Xiao Yu completely defenseless. Although she was scolding him like this, she was actually trying to persuade Xiao Yu to escape and leave some descendants for the Xiao family. From this, it can be seen that this seemingly fierce fourth sister is actually very kind-hearted."

  "Sister-in-law, don't worry, I've already come up with a way to defeat Karu. The other day, I went out and hired a mercenary who can help us defeat Karu." Xiao Yu said confidently, narrowing his eyes.

  However, no one believed this sentence. How could he gather a group of mercenaries to defeat Karu in such a short time? Besides, the original Xiao Yu was a master who could lie without blinking his eyes.

  Hire a mercenary army that can defeat Karu, at least 2-3 thousand people are needed, but the cost is at least several hundred thousand gold coins before they will come to sell their lives.

  The finances of the Lion King's territory have truly hit rock bottom now.

  "Young master, you'd better leave. If you have a heart, wait for another chance to avenge us in the future." At this time, old steward Xiao Hong also walked over and sighed to Xiao Yu.

  He thought Xiao Yu was about to leave soon, but unexpectedly, Xiao Yu ran out for more than half a month and still didn't leave.

  Looking at Xiao Hong's desperate eyes, Xiao Yu let out a soft sigh and knew that Xiao Hong was unwilling to believe that he had a way to defeat Kalu no matter what. He immediately said: "Uncle Hong, you can rest assured, I said I can protect the Lion King's territory, and I will definitely be able to."

  At this moment, a soldier brought something over.

  "A declaration of war? This Karu really thinks he's someone, sending a declaration of war." Xiao Yu looked at the soldier who handed him the declaration, sneering in disdain.

  "Tell him, if he wants war, then let's go to war. I'll be waiting for him here." Xiao Yu gave a cold hum and replied to the messenger.

  "Master, you'd better leave quickly." At this time, the old steward Xiao Hong and the leader of the guard Long Hui were also persuading Xiao Yu.

  These past few days, Xiao Hong and Long Hui tried every means to get Xiao Yu and several young madams to leave, but not a single one of them left.

  Xiao Yu even more loudly said that he wanted to live and die with Lion King, to be a real man.

  This made the old steward anxious, if Xiao Yu had such an awakening earlier, it would be much better, and it wouldn't have come to this today. If Xiao Yu died, how could he face Xiao Zhan Tian in the afterlife?

  The date of the decisive battle was set for three days later, and Xiao Yu had already made preparations. Looking at the 200 trained beastman infantrymen, 200 elven archers, and 100 elven hunters, Xiao Yu was filled with confidence in victory.

  After a period of conquest, the 200 Beastmen infantry have all reached level 2, and nearly half of the Elf archers have also reached level 2. The 100 Elf hunters, due to their weak defense, were not used much by Xiao Yu as he feared they would die easily, and only had use in pursuit battles, with less than a third reaching level 2.

  However, the main force defending the city this time was the orc infantry and the elven archers, and these elf hunters did not have much effect for the time being.

  The 2nd-level beastman soldiers, half of whom were also equipped with 1st-level armor and weapons, could easily deal with twice as many people. With the addition of the elven archers' marksmanship, even if the enemy came with 4 or 5 thousand men, they would not have any major problems as long as they defended the city.

  "Does the bow and arrow cost money too?" Xiao Yu roared at the system. Originally, they were already short of money, and only a hundred sets of beastman soldier armor had been obtained, now even the arrows shot would cost money, this was simply unreasonable.

  Fortunately, the price is not very expensive, 5 gold coins can buy a bag, and one bag has 20 arrows, which is still acceptable. In addition to these arrows that require money, the wear and tear of soldiers' weapons and equipment also need to be repaired with money, and the repair cost after a big battle is not small.

  Xiao Yu had originally wanted to build another Miracle Ancient Tree, which would have allowed him to upgrade the armor, bows and arrows of these elf archers. However, upon seeing the price tag of 20,000 gold coins and the required 1000 points of merit, Xiao Yu gave up on the idea.

  This is just building an ancient tree. If you upgrade one of them, it will cost tens of thousands of gold coins. The later you go, the more money you need.

  The first base buys blacksmith shops and other buildings at a relatively cheap price, but by the second base, they start to get expensive.

  In the blink of an eye, three days passed, and during these three days, Long Hui assembled more than 400 remaining soldiers from the Lion King's territory to prepare for a final battle.

  However, knowing that it was a doomed outcome, these soldiers also had no fighting spirit. The shadow of defeat loomed over everyone's heart.

  Although Xiao Yu had long said that he would hire a team of mercenaries, they just thought Xiao Yu was talking nonsense. There were rarely any truthful words in Xiao Yu's mouth.

  The old steward Xiao Hong wore a brand new suit today, looked up at the sky and murmured: "Master, I have been loyal. Today the city is broken, I will die, but I regret not being able to take good care of young master and several young ladies.

  Xiao Hong's eyes were filled with tears at this point.

  Xiao Yu's eldest sister, second sister, third sister and fifth sister sat together, looking at a jug of freshly squeezed juice that had just been brought up. This was their favorite honey plum juice, which they hadn't drunk in a long time due to the tight finances of their estate.

  Today this pot is the last one they can drink, and poison has already been put inside. It's a matter of time before the territory is broken, and then they will all drink it together.

  Fourth Sister Xue's attire was that of a warrior, her eyes gleaming with a fierce light, she had already climbed onto the city wall, ready to engage in a battle to the death.

  But just on this day in the morning, accompanied by a neat pace, an army entered the castle.

  At first, Long Hui thought it was Kalu's army that had arrived and was ready to fight, but when he saw Xiao Yu walking in front, Long Hui was stunned.

  "What...what's going on? Could it be that he really hired mercenaries? This prodigal son, where did he hire so many mercenaries from, and what conditions did he pay?"

  These mercenaries all looked strange, each of them wearing a huge cloak that covered their bodies. The front team was composed of tall and strong men, each over two meters high, looking extremely robust. In contrast, the rear team appeared to be slender and well-proportioned, with intricately carved bows and arrows on their backs.

  At the front of this team, there was a person still riding on a white leopard, with only a pair of eyes exposed in the hood, showing that she was an extremely arrogant and proud person.

  "Few... young master, are they all hired by you?" Long Hui said in disbelief.

  Xiao Yu smiled and nodded, saying: "Not bad, this one team can withstand the great army of Kalu."

  Long Hui looked at the beastmen's sturdy heads and their gait, and knew they were elite soldiers. He said, "This team may be small in number, but they look like elite soldiers. With these 400 men, plus our original nearly 400 men, although we can't necessarily defeat Karu's large army, if we defend the city, at least temporarily defending ourselves is no problem. If Karu can't take the city after a long time, he should retreat."

  Xiao Yu's face showed a hint of arrogance, and he said proudly: "Then let's start arranging the city defense. This time I will definitely make that Karl suffer a great loss. He actually dared to have ideas about my sister-in-law, it's simply unbearable."

  "But in his heart, he was thinking: 'Just defense? Humph, with these 400 elite troops, I must make him suffer a great loss.'"

  At once, these beastman soldiers and elven archers all climbed up onto the city walls.

  A great war is about to begin. Xiao Yu's interdimensional battle for supremacy starts from here.