CHAPTER 440: CHAPTER 410: SPLITTING UP

In the early morning, the sky over the battlefield was a hazy gray, emitting a faint and eerie orange glow.

The light from the sun shone down from this kind of sky, no longer the warm sunlight it once was.

Through the slightly bright orange-yellow sky, one could often see the gray-black clouds floating steadily in the air, resembling dark clouds, and upon closer inspection, appearing more like the black clouds of a polluted sky.

Beside the large camp.

More than 5,000 soldiers were gathering.

A force of over 4,000 soldiers of various types combined, led under Horn, and within the ranks could be seen Kreya, Longbei, and Meizike.

Next to them was a team of just over 1,000 soldiers, entirely led by Kane, with Lilulu sitting on his shoulder.

Of these over 1,000 soldiers, more than half were recruited by Kane and the others yesterday, temporarily handed over to Horn’s subordinates for temporary leadership.

"Contact information on the battlefield will be managed through the Ruby Lapel Pin," Kane reminded Kreya before leaving.

Kreya nodded in response, "No problem."

"Entire army, advance!"

At this moment, the leading Horn shouted the action slogan.

Then he nodded towards Kane and led the 4,000-strong force rapidly to the left.

"Advance!" Kane shouted to the soldiers behind him while riding his warhorse.

The team led by Kane, numbering over 1,000, was mainly composed of cavalry.

The soldiers they recruited alone included 400 various types of cavalry, and with an additional 500 soldiers borrowed from under Horn’s command, the majority of the soldiers were cavalry.

This meant that their mobility was notably strong.

Subsequently, they headed towards the predetermined position.

It was then observable that Kane’s warhorse was somewhat peculiar.

Its exterior was not clad in any equipment or leather but was covered with a thick layer of iron plates, distinctly unlike a living horse.

This was not a real warhorse but something Kane himself had constructed.

From the World Restaurant, he gained extended knowledge of his energy circuits, coupled with the abundant biological research there.

Kane borrowed some aspects and put together a set of highly practical mechanical organisms.

When this warhorse moved and ran, it exuded no sense of discord if one did not look at the exterior—seemingly identical to a real horse.

As a construct, it was, of course, far superior to flesh-and-blood creatures.

Fast, stable, untiring.

Since they were on the defensive and not offensive, heading a bit to the right, they soon spotted a small slope, with a three to four meters drop to the ground below.

This should be the interception point mentioned by Horn.

Upon reaching this area, Cain and his troops needed no further commands; the soldiers automatically found and concealed themselves in each of their positions.

The heavy and light cavalry awaited on the slopes, poised for a downhill charge.

The long-range soldiers prepared on the middle slope, with arrows nocked in their bows, ready to unleash a volley at any moment.

Various close combat soldiers guarded the perimeters.

Now, they merely awaited the enemy’s attack.

With Meizike and Cotton Candy on the other side, the reconnaissance task here should naturally fall to Kane.

Yet Lilulu stepped in to intercept this task.

"Are you okay with scouting the enemy?" Kane asked Lilulu on his shoulder.

Lilulu, upon hearing Kane’s inquiry, glanced sideways before responding proudly, "It’s not Lilulu who will scout, but Lilulu’s subordinates."

After speaking, Lilulu waved her magic staff, and a rainbow-colored Teleportation Gate appeared beside her.

Four cloaked and small figures emerged from it, each about the same size as Lilulu.

All four figures knelt before Lilulu, removing their hoods.

That was when Kane realized what creatures they were—four cats with various patterns.

These cats had sharp eyes, and serious faces, and most importantly, they no longer appeared as silly as they used to.

"You shall scout ahead and relay your findings to Lilulu."

"Yes, Your Majesty, Meow," said the leading cat, after which they donned their hoods again and vanished instantly.

Seeing Kane’s curious gaze, Lilulu raised her head with a proudly composed demeanor.

"Well, Kane, aren’t they impressive?"

Kane nodded and inquired, "It’s just been two to three months, but how have these cats become like this, as if they’ve completely transformed into fairy tale creatures."

Basing his guess on the patterns of these cats, Kane roughly estimated their time entering the Fairy Tale World, presumably among the earliest beings to enter—originally ordinary beasts Kane captured at the Furnace Castle.

But when Kane checked just now, he discovered that the magic power within these cats had reached a level of about mid-to-high copper grade, which was quite a change.

"Except for the cat that just spoke, the other cats haven’t been fully transformed yet," Lilulu corrected Kane’s question.

"So the sign of being fully fairy-taled is learning to speak?" Kane asked curiously.

Lilulu shook her head: "Such external appearances are not obvious. Some subjects simply don’t want to speak, and there’s nothing we can do about it."

My goodness, are we talking about subjects now?

While Kane and the others were still chatting, a very tiny teleportation gate appeared next to Lilulu, only about the size of a thumb, and a piece of paper fell out of it.

Lilulu picked up the paper and handed it to Kane: "This is the intelligence sent by the cats."

Kane opened the paper and looked at it. It indicated that the enemy was still at a considerable distance from them and seemed to have just begun moving.

However, the direction they were heading was indeed towards them.

After reading the note, Kane crushed it into powder and then curiously asked, "Was that little rainbow dot just now a skill mastered by the cats?"

Lilulu nodded: "That comes from the leading skills of the Cat Association, which can be regarded as a representation of fully becoming a member of the Fairy Tale World."

So that’s how it is, Kane nodded. The manifestation of fully becoming a fairy tale creature is generally not evident from the outside.

But after becoming a fairy tale creature, they should acquire certain skills, and these skills have rainbow-colored effects, which can be used to determine whether one has fully transformed into a fairy tale creature.

Kane has always been very interested in Lilulu’s Fairy Tale World, and looking at the soldiers next to him, he continued to chat idly with Lilulu.

"What would happen if the soldiers you recruited entered the Fairy Tale World?"

"They would also become fairy tale creatures." Lilulu seemed to have already thought about this. She continued: "Converting soldiers would require spending quite a bit of World Energy, and if they disappear after leaving, Lilulu would be at a big loss, those are all little money."

That indeed makes sense.

Lilulu’s world can now be entirely said to be built with money.

It hasn’t yet become a self-sufficient Elemental Interface, requiring Lilulu to continuously invest various materials into it and prune inside for it to grow.

And those creatures don’t need Lilulu to take special care of them.

After being awakened by the Spirit Awakening spell, they automatically absorb the surrounding magical power and become fairy tale creatures, so the World Energy spent is very minimal, even negligible.

Once these creatures become fairy tale creatures, they can feed back into the world, allowing it to grow better.

But humans are different. They themselves possess power and wisdom, and converting them into fairy tale creatures requires spending much more magic power.

If they could exist indefinitely, spending a bit doesn’t matter, but the fear is that after clearing a dungeon, they vanish, and the energy spent would go down the drain, wouldn’t it?

This is absolutely unforgivable for Lilulu, who is currently extremely short on funds, as she is not yet lavish enough to consume resources like this.

Speaking of these soldiers recruited by Kane and the others, regardless of the battle achievements spent, their strength is almost all around mid-to-high copper level, without a single copper peak, let alone silver level.

It’s found that all silver level are veterans, with no new recruits.

Of course, excluding various officer leaders.

For example, the leader next to Kane was a subordinate of Horn’s. He looks very young, probably recruited after occupying the territory, but he possesses silver-grade strength.

According to dungeon data, the limit for these soldiers is the silver bottleneck phase, which a particular Explorer specifically researched.

Leading these soldiers into battle will strengthen the survivors.

The extent of victory in a battle will determine the level of enhancement the survivors receive.

The more brilliant the battle, and the stronger the victory, the more experience gained.

If it’s a mass victory by sheer numbers, then not much experience is gained.

It needs to be evenly matched or with fewer defeating more.

For example, the veterans who previously charged with injuries alongside Kane are now mid-to-high silver strength.

The more ruthless ones have reached the silver peak.

These have become elite soldiers.

This world must have previously been some kind of real-time strategy game world.

The overlapping of these settings is too similar.

However, in such a large world, having some strange worlds is indeed not surprising.

And so, as they idly chatted, time gradually passed, and the dim orange-yellow sky had completely brightened.

The apocalyptic-like scene in the sky was clearly visible.

At this moment, a thumb-sized rainbow teleportation gate appeared again beside them.

This time, Kane was experienced and directly caught the piece of paper that fell out to check.

The enemy had arrived.

Kane transformed into an Eagle Eye and looked into the distance, already able to see soldiers approaching them from afar, with billowing dust kicked up clearly visible.

"Prepare for battle!"