Chapter 944: Everyone Takes What They Need
“Sounds interesting,” Meng Chao said thoughtfully.
“In that case, she’s concerned about her homeland and still wants to return to the Gold Clan?”
“That’s not it. I heard that she was a loser in the clan battle, and the Snow Leopard Clan chased her out before she escaped her hometown. After that, Lord Casanova, the Blood Skull Arena’s adjudicator, saved her. She has also expressed her hatred for the Gold Clan many times and doesn’t mind serving the Blood Hoof Clan.”
Leaf shrugged. “However, no one knows why Lady Ice Storm is unwilling to become a true Blood Hoof warrior through the Blood Bestowing Ceremony. You should also know that Lord Casanova, who is very powerful in the Blood Skull Arena and the entire Black-corner City, has high hopes for her!”
Meng Chao gave it a quick thought and pushed it to the back of his mind for the time being.
“Tell me about her troubles,” he continued to ask the rat youth.
“Lady Ice Storm wants to lead an army. She is not satisfied with being a pure general. She wants to be a commander or even a general. She wants to have her own battle team, battle gang, battle group, and even an army that she can take charge of.”
Leaf said to Meng Chao, “If she is willing to join a certain family, perhaps she can think of other ways. However, she is too arrogant and unwilling to accept anyone’s help. So, she can only fight her way out of the arena.”
Meng Chao nodded.
After more than half a month of reminiscing and contemplating, he had already recalled a lot of details about the Turan civilization and the glorious era.
He knew that at the beginning of the glorious era, the various large families would use the gladiator arena to select their generals.
This kind of selection did not fret over one’s background, only their methods.
Once the qualified generals were selected from the gladiator arena, they would enter the first battle of the glorious era, the Tournament of Five Clans.
That’s right, the first battle was not to march north and attack the land of eternal light.
It was a civil war between the five great clans.
It sounded idiotic.
However, there was actually a certain amount of scientific reasoning behind it.
One needed to know that for the Turan civilization’s tribal army, which was still in the Middle Ages, they had an almost endless supply of soldiers with the help of the mandrake tree, a wonderful plant.
The number of soldiers was never a problem.
The problem was the organization, training, the command system’s construction, the allies’ tacit cooperation, and the most important one, logistics supply.
If the structure of the entire army was in a mess and the generals who belonged to different clans did not compromise with each other, such a war would be impossible to fight. On top of that, there were countless shrimp soldiers and crab generals who had to consume precious military rations.
Since ancient times, there had been countless so-called million-strong armies that were enough to whip their enemies till they ran dry. Yet, due to internal problems, they collapsed, resulting in catastrophic consequences.
In a situation of panic, more often than not, the more people on one side, the sooner they lose, and the more miserable.
The people of Turan were very strong.
Their minds were anything but simple.
In the age of prosperity, the five clans were equal. There was no subordinate relationship, and there was no Turan king who could command the whole of Turan.
At the beginning of the glorious era, the n.o.ble warriors of the five great clans, along with a large number of warriors from the small and medium clans, as well as a hundred times more rat militia, trained their troops through a limited civil war, they would discover outstanding commanders.
Of course, they could also determine their strengths and subordinate relationships. They could also choose the most powerful War Chief from the five clan leaders to become the supreme leader of all the Turan people in the glorious war.
Although the cruel civil war was very likely to consume a large amount of manpower…
The number of Turan people was not too little, to begin with. There were too many of them.
The weak who wasted food would all be dead, and the strong could get rid of the excess baggage. With their shoulders being lighter, they could improve their efficiency in battle and taste the blood of Turan warriors, becoming seasoned soldiers themselves.
It was like warming up and sharpening their blades.
Sharpening their blades with one of their own…
It was even better when they were heading for the land of eternal light.
As for the enmity formed during the civil war, which would result in a rift between the five clans, it was something that they did not need to worry about at all.
The Turan people’s unique view of life and death made them proud of being killed by the strong.
Dying on the battlefield was the highest honor.
All the people who died in the civil war would return to the embrace of their ancestral spirits, even the rat people who had filthy blood flowing in their veins.
This view of life and death allowed them to see through all of their civilization’s internal conflicts.
As soon as the War Chief was chosen, even two clan warriors who had just fought each other and killed their closest comrades would immediately put down their weapons. They would then join hands to become new and close comrades.
Picture a n.o.body from a middle or small clan…
With the blessing of the ancestral spirit, he obtained great power and a mysterious totem.
He arrived in the main city, where the five clans were situated, and joined a certain gladiator arena, becoming the trump card with a hundred victories.
He then trained a group of rat servants and was also invincible in group battles. He later obtained the right to command a battle gang independently in the Tournament of Five Clans.
He became more and more courageous in the Tournament of Five Clans.
Meanwhile, the battle gang under his command also continued to expand, absorbing a large number of remnant soldiers from his side and prisoners from the enemy. Gradually, his battle gang became an army.
By the time the War Chief blew the horn of attack atop the Holy Mountain, he already had tens of thousands of roaring Turan warriors under his command.
He led these warriors toward the land of eternal Holy Light. With the power and totems given by the ancestral spirits, he smashed the heads of the mages, elven kings, and dwarven craftsmen. Finally, in an epic battle that was as dark as the sky and the earth… they faced an army of one million and Nine-ring Magicians.
That was the ideal path of glory for a Turan warrior.
It was obvious that Lady Ice Storm wanted to advance along the same path.
However, she was stuck in the first stage.
Leaf told Meng Chao that Lady Ice Storm’s combat strength was indisputable.
However, she did not seem to be good at commanding troops.
As one of the four trump cards in the Blood Skull Arena, her starting point was very high. From the start, she had the right to choose, train, and command a thousand rat soldiers.
As long as she defeated an opponent who also commanded a thousand rat soldiers, she would have the right to obtain three thousand or even five thousand rat soldiers.
Once the soldiers set off, she would be the commander of the battle group.
Unfortunately, she had lost three battles in a row.
The number of soldiers under her command had also shrunk.
In her third battle that had just ended, her opponent, the other trump card, Brute Hammer, had also not been a particularly good commander. He only knew how to lower his head and charge forward. He was in the same boat as her, and they pecked each other using the newbies.
Even so, she was still unable to bite down on Brute Hammer.
“Lord Brute Hammer’s servants completely destroyed Lady Ice Storm’s servants. Lady Ice Storm was furious, and she summoned her totem armor, Mithril Ripper.”
Leaf vividly described the battle that he had heard about to Meng Chao. “If it was a one-on-one battle, everyone believed that Lady Ice Storm’s Mithril Ripper was even more powerful than Lord Brute Hammer’s Locomotive. However, this was a group battle, and it was a compet.i.tion of command. Therefore, Lord Casanova stopped the battle and declared Brute Hammer the winner.
“Now, Lady Ice Storm only has one last chance. She will build a thirty-man battle team from scratch. If she loses this time, no matter how unwilling she is, she can only serve a certain commander and be a pure warrior.”
“I see. Is this Lady Ice Storm a typical ‘food addict?’”
Meng Chao pondered for a moment and suddenly realized that there had been a very strange word. He was stunned for a while before he stared at Leaf and said, “Wait, you mentioned just now that the Blood Skull Arena’s other trump card, Brute Hammer… What is the name of his totem armor? Locomotive?”
In the Turan language, the composition of the word, “locomotive” was composed of three terms: “burning”, “machinery”, and “immense strength.”
No matter how one looked at it, it sounded strange.
“That’s right, Locomotive.”
Leaf did not understand. “Is there a problem?”
“No problem. I just think that it sounds very powerful. What exactly is this Locomotive?” Meng Chao asked humbly.
“I’m not too sure either. It seems to be an ancient divine artifact that can drag thousands of Turan warriors or as many goods as a small hill in one go. It enables its user to fly across the land. In less than a day, once can cross the entire Turan!”
Leaf said, “I heard that Locomotive can even emit deafening roars and smoke that scare away totem beasts.
“Many people worship such a powerful ancient divine artifact and use it as a totem!”
“…Is that so?”
Meng Chao took a deep breath and kept his doubts in his heart. He continued to ask, “By the way, as the trump card, how is Lady Ice Storm’s treatment in the Blood Skull Arena?”
Of course, there was nothing much to say about the treatment she received.
In the Turan civilization, where the strong preyed on the weak and the winners ate all, a trump card in a large-scale arena was like a giant star in the sky.
Not only did she have a s.p.a.cious independent residence, but she also had a small training field.
Aside from that, she could also accommodate hundreds of servants for training.
She did not have to worry about the cultivation resources at all.
From the most basic mandrake fruit to the fat of totem beasts and refined milk, to all kinds of precious medicines, everything was available.
These things were exactly what Meng Chao needed…
And he was confident that he could provide Lady Ice Storm with what she wanted.