CHAPTER 211: CHAPTER 106: THE STRATEGY OF CAPTURING MENG HUO SEVEN TIMES

The second human form should have already passed the juvenile dragon phase (infant stage).

The most representative feature is that it finally no longer needs to sleep incessantly, replaced by a normal giant dragon’s rest times, along with a very unique ’hibernation’ indicator.

It cannot be actively activated, but there is a progress bar that can be triggered once filled.

—"Hibernation (Special Ability): The giant dragon begins to enter a state of deep sleep, requiring an advance intake of large amounts of food, and its body indices must reach the critical points of the current stage. Upon entering hibernation, the dragon will develop rapidly and further transform, directly skipping the current dragon age period.

During hibernation, the dragon’s scales, claws, teeth, skin, etc., will all be further enhanced, while muscle and skeletal development will improve basic attributes."

Currently, this progress bar is only about one-third full.

The second human form is now roughly equivalent to a two- or three-year-old human toddler, having begun to adapt to this world, but still very weak compared to an adult giant dragon.

However, because Duncan engraved the ’Power of the Giant’, the juvenile dragon is akin to being born with an eight-pack.

Time passed silently.

The juvenile dragon slept for three days and nights after a full meal, while Duncan used this time to formulate the development plans for the British Province. For the next several months, most of the time over there will be under trusteeship, as he will focus his main efforts on the second human form.

Of course, some things in the Middle Ages must be handled by him personally, such as the secret sacrificial ceremonies in Bath and the daily training of Anya and so on.

Duncan can involve himself in everything, but he doesn’t want to be like Zhuge Liang, as it’s too exhausting and he doesn’t have such strong administrative abilities. He prefers to be like Liu Bang, delegating tasks to his subordinates to train their abilities as well.

The main trusteeship scheme for the first human form is to train soldiers, with only one purpose, to strengthen and prepare for conquest of Great Britain next year.

Perhaps because the first human form has gained a foothold, Duncan truly feels like a dimension player now, only needing to occasionally check on things and personally handle major matters, while spending more time thinking about breakthroughs.

One Monotheism, one Norse Pantheon, two great mountains.

If he only wanted to grasp royal power, that would be slightly easier, but if it involves divine authority, he must find a way to break through the world’s bottleneck; currently, the greatest hope is the dragon human form.

Perhaps his current state is indeed the norm for dimensional beings. Initially he had no choice but to first stabilize an anchor point in the real world.

Duncan now feels like he’s playing a strategic game as before, personally controlling battles when necessary, and allowing the computer to develop during other times. When he played Romance of the Three Kingdoms 11, he frequently did this, loving to personally control fierce generals sweeping through battlefields, but once a city was conquered and politics came up, he would plan development layouts and leave everything to the computer. He also liked to place his self-created monarch, along with Diao Chan, Zhen Mi, Da Qiao, and Xiao Qiao in one city, with Hua Tuo included as well, or else his health wouldn’t hold up.

Night fell.

Anya just returned to Southampton from Gaul and naturally came to Duncan to claim credit and rewards. Duncan is currently their greatest energy source, and after every recharge, Anya feels her lower abdomen swelling, with vitality filling her entire body.

Today was no exception.

However, after feeling a bit full, Anya, for the first time, pleaded for mercy, changing the topic to attract Duncan’s attention.

In the flickering candlelight of the room, this beautiful witch leaned against Duncan’s chest and softly said, "Triss intends to transfer all members of the witches’ assembly to Great Britain."

When the witches’ assembly was mentioned, Duncan immediately showed interest and asked, "How many members does the witches’ assembly have exactly?"

During this period, he had met three members in total.

One of them was three-star silver-gray, one of the founders of the witches’ assembly, replacing Crow Queen Triss to recall other members, while the other two were weak and no match for Anya, serving as Duncan’s temporary advisors.

Anya’s white fingers traced circles on Duncan’s chest, caressing his firm muscles as she recalled, "About thirty members."

"But it doesn’t rule out whether other witches have recruited new members."

Duncan nodded and continued to ask, "Aren’t there four founders of the witches’ assembly? Why haven’t I seen another?"

Anya spoke softly, "Idico is a Germanic."

"Although she is one of the founders of the witches’ assembly, she lives in the territory of the Barbarian Race."

"Therefore, she doesn’t keep close contact with us."

The power of the church doesn’t yet pose a threat to Germania, and as one of the witches’ assembly founders, Idico doesn’t need to hide like them.

However, she has her troubles too, notably the powerful Huns Empire.

The Huns conquered the Barbarian Race, slaughtering the holy sanctuaries, even more brutal than Duncan’s plan to unify the Celtic faith. Those destroyed sanctuaries represented the decline and disappearance of native beliefs, like the Sarmatians’ Horse God, whose last sanctuary was personally ordered destroyed by Attila, with the deity being devoured by the Huns’ faith in the myriad faces.

Idico?

The pronunciation of this witch’s name made Duncan feel slightly familiar, though he didn’t know where he had heard it before.

Anya seemed to recall something, saying, "Idico once plotted an assassination of God’s Whip Attila."

"But it failed."

"Afterwards, we lost contact with her."

Hmm?

Could it be the historical Germanic bride who married God’s Whip Attila only for him to suddenly die?

Duncan finally realized why the name sounded familiar. After the defeat in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, Attila’s Celestial Destiny Golden Body was broken; under such circumstances, a powerful witch could plausibly have killed him. This means that if Duncan had spared Attila at that time, he would likely still have died during the marriage to the Germanic bride.

"Even with supernatural existence, without my intervention, the historical inertia remains."

Duncan stroked his chin, deep in thought. Could Idico really be one of the witches’ assembly founders?

He was indeed a bit surprised.

"By the way," Anya said softly, "we plan to secretly establish a school in Britannia to pass down the ancient knowledge of the past era."

Hmm?

Like Hogwarts?

Duncan seemed to think of something and couldn’t help but smile, "Sure."

"Do you want me to send Merlin to help?"

Hearing this, Anya said seriously, "Having his help would be great, but we plan to only gather homeless witches for now, not recruiting other wizards."

"Triss is worried that so many witches gathering could alarm ordinary people and attract the attention of the church."

"So we plan to place the school in the mountains of Camelot."

Duncan fell into thought, seemingly pondering something, and slowly said, "A temporary placement is fine. Actually, there’s no need for it to be so complicated."

"Do you know about the Shadow Realm?"

Anya’s eyes brightened slightly, hesitating, "Are you referring to the Celtic-faith Otherworld?"

Duncan reached out to touch something, pondering, "I prefer to call it a demi-plane."

"The Shadow Realm is a place where mortals can enter."

"If possible, I don’t want to completely destroy it. Ideally, we can make the enemy submit."

With that, Duncan gazed intently at the night sky outside the window and said solemnly, "In the future, regardless of how supernatural power changes, that place can serve as a point of inheritance."

"Since the Shadow Realm can train legendary Celtic warriors, it shouldn’t be too difficult to cultivate some wizards."

Don’t waste it.

Duncan casually placed a piece on the board today, which might bear fruit a thousand years later.

Anya pondered, "If that’s the case, then it wouldn’t be just wizards."

"Druids, minstrels, oathsworn warriors, and even some supernatural creatures could be placed there."

The premise is that Duncan can win.

On the island of Great Britain, just the head-throwing soldiers in Scotland are quite troublesome, not to mention the legendary Black Sword Warriors. As for Ireland, it’s even more warring, and the uncivilized barbarian territories are all primitive jungles. In the past, the empire gathered tens of thousands of troops, attempting conquest several times but failed, and in the end, could only give up on conquest to build Hadrian’s Wall for defense.

Even if one victory is achieved, the Celtic Barbarians do not yield to assimilation, and sooner or later, rebellion will continue.

But at this moment, Duncan was clearly confident. During this period, he had been frantically managing and training troops, aiming to form a top-notch battle group from elite forces.

In the primitive jungle, numbers might not be useful.

Moreover, the logistics pressure is particularly high. Ordinary soldiers may lose morale when bombarded with heads from the head-throwing soldiers, and their physical strength is insufficient for long-lasting campaigns. Duncan’s tactical plan requires extremely high soldier qualifications.

Anya looked at Duncan’s expression and curiously asked, "What plans do you have?"

This man always has some unexpected solutions.

Duncan smiled, stroking Anya’s long hair with a gentle force. This enchanting witch’s eyes glimmered with charm, glancing at him with a smirk, then obediently bowed her head, while he sighed softly, "What else can be done?"

"Adapt to the situation."

"If possible, we can only learn from the Lord Chancellor."

"Completely subdue the Celtic Barbarians!"

"If we can make them take a sacred oath, we probably won’t have to worry about their rebellion for hundreds of years in the future."

Hmm.

Anya made a questioning sound, seeming half-understood.

History is the best teacher.

It’s hard to completely conquer barbarian tribes in such wilderness areas, and governing them is quite troublesome. Just like the Tusi of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, even after a thousand years, it’s still the same.

Duncan intends to learn from Chancellor Zhuge and see if he has a chance to perform another ’Seven Captures of Meng Huo’!

Of course, to fight like this, there must be elite troops.

Duncan finds it increasingly difficult to gain legendary level through ordinary warfare. To conquer Scotland and Ireland in one fell swoop, he must set a challenging task for himself. Relying on numbers with a large army might win, but they might not truly submit.

It must be a one-time decisive victory!

If successful, the legendary level Duncan gains will not be inferior to slaying the two Kent Kings brothers.

The Celtic faith places great importance on the Power of Oath. If they truly submit, unless you give them a reason to rebel, they won’t easily change for hundreds or even thousands of years.

.........