Eltysian Army

“Mmh… Progress is rather good”

Anoteros muttered to himself as he walked through the organised ranks of his Eltysian army. The Underwood Elves had proven themselves useful already, as their affinity for invisibility and stealth made them excellent assassins and spies by default, and even in a combat situation, they could be of great help, even if their physical strength often left much to be desired.

Unfortunately, biological differences made it so Underwood Elves were simply quite weak compared to the typical cultivator, but that was what blades and other weapons were for… The Underblood and Undersky Elves were quite similar in this regard. They were a bit more physically strong, but still not enough to serve as proper front-line combatants.

They were also all unfit to cultivate body cultivation techniques, so it was best to just keep them in their respective niches. The most versatile were the Underblood Elves, due to their ‘Body Markings’, which could potentially result in elves with some good might to them, but the markings weren’t a precise science, so proper units of Underblood Elves weren’t something achievable unless a lot of time passed and their numbers grew greatly.

The Baumsaftgars remained the best fighters. The speed at which they multiplied was also satisfactory in Edrick’s eyes…

Crimonia wouldn’t be giving birth any time soon. However, Eltysia was much quicker in regard to creating new life, and she had actually managed to produce two more Blutgars. One was primarily an Undersky Elf, only with a much stronger and more impressive physique, but despite this body, he turned out to be far more suited to do the same work as other Undersky Elves.

His ability to improve land fertility and the growth of plants, flowers, and the like was exceptional. It would be a waste to have him do anything else.

As for the second Blutgar, he was actually built for war, as he was primarily a Baumsaftgar. In fact, it felt like he was the result of shoving multiple Baumsaftgars into one rather than a mixture with another species.

Regardless, his physical might was off the charts, and he could wield ambient energy to further empower himself. He couldn’t do anything more refined than this, but it was more than enough. Especially when he inherited the simple mind of the green plain savages.

ANoteros had been hoping for female Blutgars, so that he could quicken the pace of breeding more of them, but it seemed like the odds were against him… Eltysia informed him that female Blutgars were not an impossibility, but they were rarer than male Blutgars.

Unfortunately, even the Blutgars who took after one of the species in particular couldn’t reproduce at all. Only Edrick could fertilise a female Blutgar. Even amongst themselves, they wouldn’t be able to reproduce.

As such, Blutgars could only be created by Eltysia by chance, or born from the union of the scion and a female Blutgar.

This was a bit troublesome, but nothing truly insurmountable.

Especially since the intelligent species of Eltysia weren’t the only ones who could serve as soldiers in his army…

All creatures inhabiting the realm would obey him without question, and all species of the realm were seeing their population shoot up thanks to Eltysia’s pregnancies.

Laughing Foxes, if they worked as a group, could be devastating, as they could turn an entire ecosystem against a precise target. They could basically trigger the famed ‘Beast Tides’ on a whim, especially the evolved variants, of which there turned out to be quite a few roaming in the shadows of the realm.

Some of these fellows had even tried to get Edrick killed back in the day, but it was water under the bridge by now. Besides, Anoteros couldn’t really muster up the effort to hold grudges against wild beasts of all things.

Apart from the Laughing Foxes, there were the Earth-Carrying Boars and Flame-Maw Bears. The wild sorts weren’t exactly too threatening, but Edrick selected a few promising individuals, including some Flame-Maw Bears who were from the area where their kind was far larger than the norm.

He had procured some cultivation techniques appropriate for beasts like them, and as many could confirm, beasts capable of cultivation were always several notches more threatening than their non-cultivator counterparts, and this even went for simple animals.

The realm was home to a lot of Banana Bats, but they were unfortunately simply not built for fighting. They did eat basically any fruit and berries, not just bananas. As such, if enough of them were gathered, Anoteros could potentially have them ruin orchards and the like.

Bats were known to mess with crops in fields as well, but using famine might be a little excessive for now. It was good to be viewed as a resourceful and inventive general, but jumping straight to starving soldiers and civilians alike would probably be too much for the scion’s first military act.

The Wood-Antler Deers and Grass Buffaloes weren’t fit to be combatants either. Edrick viewed them more as future moneymakers rather than soldiers, which was a purpose just as important in his eyes.

The Eltysian Mountain Sasquatches would naturally make for good fighters. They had impressive simian might and could spit out rocks at will. They could fight in close quarters and provide ranged support at the same time.

He also selected individuals to be trained in cultivation.

At this very moment, Edrick was with another of the potential combatants. The Nature-Blessed Wolves.

He was lying with Alffine sprawled upon his bare chest. He had bedded her whilst she was in her bestial form. Promptly impregnating her, as Anoteros was naturally aiding in increasing numbers. Whenever he went somewhere in Eltysia, he would be pumping females with his seed.

Alffine was a special kind of beast, and she was at the head of the most powerful pack of Nature-Blessed Wolves in the entire realm. Many of her offspring were stronger than the norm as well, so he naturally went to her to find promising candidates to be integrated into the army.

These early individuals he was selecting were pretty much tests. He needed to know what worked to strengthen the various denizens of this realm, so that he could eventually apply it on a much larger scale.

For now, the future confrontations he was envisioning against Journomanp wouldn’t be huge battles. He mostly aimed to engage in small skirmishes and to compromise trade routes.

Toppling large sects or the like wasn’t in his plans yet.

In any case, it still left two creatures of the realm… One was naturally the Paraceratherium Magi. They were way stronger and more threatening than the brunt of typical cultivators innately, but if he started supplying them with cultivation techniques and putting them in organised battalions or squadrons? It would be like showing up in a battle of antiquity with tanks.

Few places had proper armies with beasts or monsters serving as major parts of their ranks. It was obviously expensive to maintain, but Edrick had a full realm filled with wild creatures willing to listen to any of his orders.

However, although a Paraceratherium Magus was a force to be reckoned with, it would be important not to forget about the sole monster-type creature Eltysia had to offer:

The Volubilem Slime.

A highly corrosive, large core-bearing slime. Rather rare at a glance, but not so much following the expansion of the realm and several rounds of pregnancies of Eltysia. A swamp-like region had actually formed near the current eastern edge of the realm, and it was filled with Volubilem Slimes.

‘Actwin’

Yes?

‘Do you think my dick would melt off?’