CHAPTER 1977: CHAPTER 633: THE OLD GECKO’S SECRET (PART 4)

"I must hurry back, the Mulanese have a deep-seated enmity with us; who knows if they’ll muster their courage and send a hundred thousand cavalry to attack the city!" The king smiled, "Remember your promise to me; don’t make General Reyes’ job any harder! He doesn’t have your confidence, nor your fortitude, but he dares to bear this heavy burden! I hope you will do everything you can to assist General Fawkes in defending the city!"

"If you need anything, contact me. Even if I don’t come, I’ll send someone to help at the royal city!" Liu Zhenhan patted the six-barrel machine gun in his hand.

"You probably won’t need it. The Bode Alliance’s army has already arrived at the royal city and is preparing to assist in the defense!" Sal, with a meaningful look, glanced at Old Liu’s face, which had suddenly gone stiff, "If I remember right, your child is due soon, isn’t it?"

"Tanya’s due date was last month, but the baby still hasn’t been born; it could be a late term. As for Tru..." Old Liu lost his focus momentarily, nearly letting something slip, "...Um... Joan of Arc still has over two months..."

"Your children are the new generation of hope I hold high expectations for. You know that we Beamon, like the Druid and the Elves, place extreme importance on lineage." Seeing Old Liu’s increasingly uneasy expression, His Majesty the King sighed, "Forget it, forget it... Your matter with Jose... Sigh! Just pretend I never said anything..."

"The Bode Alliance does have a sense of loyalty, knowing to lend a hand to their brethren in times of crisis." General Reyes, seeing His Majesty turn his head and go back to the royal city, remarked a bit untimely, "Heh, now it seems our Governor can probably pull some more forces from the southern province to the northeast. I told you, Lord Mourinho is my idol; how could he stand on the wrong side of such matters of principle?"

This left Old Liu inexplicably awkward, as the name Mourinho was like a poison dart he desperately wanted to avoid, yet found he couldn’t escape.

However, the fact that Mourinho and Bruckner would lend aid to Beamon did not surprise Old Liu; the Jose family is not a bunch of bad guys. On the contrary, they were the most noble and pure-hearted people among the nobility Old Liu had met, without a trace of lowly interest.

But thinking about it still sent a cold sweat down Old Liu’s back. Suppose Mourinho was leading the charge to aid Witherspoon, how would he face him upon meeting?

"In another half year, our temple priests might also be able to learn the ’Song of Blood and Passion.’" The High Priest in a red robe murmured to Old Liu, with Blatte muttering from the sidelines, his tone sour as if he had eaten a green plum.

This respected ecclesiastical leader was purely exaggerating; the pronunciation of the Southern Border language is unlike any language of Aegean, with a complexity that rivals the notoriously obscure Dragon Language to every Beamon priest. Moreover, mixed within the phonetic syllables of the ’Bloodsucking Battle Song’ are numerous changing retroflex and pressed tongue sounds. Even with the Battle Song device available for real-time imitation and practice, priests certainly couldn’t learn it within half a year.

"In view of the results from the practical exercise with the Summer Palace’s heavy infantry just now, ’Iron Blood Berserk’ is indeed powerful but still has critical bottleneck issues --- even if everyone could learn the Bloodsucking Battle Song, we probably don’t have that many warriors capable of self-initiated berserk to pair with it!" Liu Zhenhan knew this guy was definitely exaggerating and smiled dismissively, "But I must praise the quality of the temple priests. Considering the qualifications of our young priests from the Summer Palace Cambridge, it is unlikely they can fully master the Bloodsucking Battle Song in less than two years."

"Rapid achievement can never replace innate talent." Old Lizard chuckled. This was something he had long wanted to remind the Shaman of Divine Songs. Even though Emerald City’s ’Parrot Copycat Conch’ could wholesale produce priests with exceptional singing power, a magic conch is ultimately just one. Accelerated priests—regardless of how powerful their singing ability may be—still need diligent practice to master each and every battle song; otherwise, they’ll be like a bread-filled wine jar, with skills they can’t put into practice, full of staff-level singing power but without functionality.

"Not necessarily!" Liu Zhenhan found this ludicrously funny. The old lizard just couldn’t stray from his usual refrain, artfully twisting the conversation back to factional struggles, subtly hinting that the Summer Palace couldn’t compare to the temple’s deep foundations.

"How so?" Old Lizard pressed.

"My Song Lab is currently adapting many songs, and with Helen, as long as she can learn any song, she can transform it into the corresponding battle dance. Battle dances are not as complex as battle songs, so popularizing them isn’t difficult." Liu Zhenhan sneered, "Give me enough time, and I can produce a big group of qualified battle dance priests out of Beamon, who are adept at dancing. With the Parrot Magic Conch, who cares about talent? I’ll use quantity over quality!"

"Richard, could I have a word with you..." Old Lizard’s cool sweat poured out; he furtively glanced around, slinking close to Old Liu’s ear to ask, "How did you manage it?"

"What do you mean, how did I manage it?" Old Liu was puzzled by the question.

"Why can so many Buer Warriors maintain their consciousness even after undergoing berserk infusion without needing ’Light of Calm’? How can so many of them use ’Iron Blood Berserk’ at the same time? Isn’t it said that only high-level warriors capable of self-initiated berserk can do this? Don’t tell me all of them are self-berserk warriors, that’s unrealistic!"