CHAPTER 277: VACUSE BEGAN.

Vacuse began.

With one hundred billion gold in hand, he began to outfit his men with the best armor he could get. The first set to buy for were the twenty-nine that went to the Dark Wilderness with him, as well as his attendants.

Enchanted armor all. On a battlefield, life and death could be decided by the armor worn. Although, looking at it broadly, armor might seem the little thing to notice during a fight, as most Magus and Soulbearers could simply create magical shields around themselves.

But what about when the shield breaks? When the magical attack hits? What happens then? Armor might be the thin line between life and death.

Although Vacuse himself did not think much of armor, since he always dealt and was dealt with overwhelming firepower, he couldn’t deny its benefits when those wearing it numbered more than thirty. At least in a fight against their circles, it would give them an edge.

Vacuse himself did not buy one for himself. Anything that would break through his defenses wasn’t something armor could protect against.

Besides, even with all the money, Vacuse still couldn’t get the very best of the best. The strongest he could get were armors at the third circle.

But even with that, he had boosted the power of his hunters. And as such, he took it a step further and got them enchanted weapons to go along with it.

Since they could not buy for every single hunter, they created a list that they updated each time they bought new enchanted weapons and armor to distribute and add more hunters to the list.

Vacuse was so intentional about boosting the dragon hunters’ power that he even began to buy different war-enchanted weapons such as magic bombs, shield rods, and long-range beam shooters. Since the Magus didn’t use constructs, he got the paper clones that could summon enchanted warriors briefly to fight.

All of these things drained his money, but he didn’t mind. What is money but a tool to be used?

Besides all of this, the dragon hunters began to buy different resources in bulk. The resources were so random and strange—some common, while others were rare. And yes, they spent huge billions on them.

If one were to combine the resources, they would only come up with confusion. At least some of the enchanters who tried to combine them had no idea what those resources meant when brought together, even though they knew it was likely for an enchanted instrument.

This move left many people baffled. What exactly were the dragon hunters planning? Were they going to war? With whom? Why? Were they planning to return to the mountains?

Since the day the dragon hunters killed the mind stalk apes, everyone had kept their eyes on them, and so everything they’d been buying was known by all and became hot topics among the hunters’ circle.

Another thing that Vacuse was satisfied with was the growth of the dragon hunters. Their numbers were swelling at a rapid rate, with applications reaching into the hundreds per day.

They set up a way to filter the applications. The first thing they did was only accept third-circle Magus, and then those third-circle Magus had to pass through Captain Amros and Magus Arch’s personal screening.

The requirement for third-circle Magus alone slashed about ninety percent of the applications. And that fact did not make many people happy, as they felt that accepting only third-circle Magus was denying them a place.

Vacuse did not care, though. The second-circle and first-circle members that were already in the team could stay, but he wasn’t letting others join. Only third-circle.

He was most likely going to war in the future, and he wouldn’t let anything drag him down. The only answer he gave anyone who asked was, "The Dragon Hunters is a team of elites. It’s for the third circle."

And when anyone pointed out, "But you’re in the second circle,"

Vacuse would shrug. "Can any second circle do what I can do?"

And truly, could they? Vacuse made the twenty-nine hunters that went with him to hunt the mind stalk apes into his standard hunting group.

He would lead them into the Dark Wilderness personally and fight where the danger was the thickest. He wasn’t afraid to throw himself into the path of the meanest monsters, a mad grin on his face.

How many second-circle Magus could do that? When the men of the dragon hunters saw this, they were shaken to their core. Not because a second circle was punching straight into their ranks, but because... why did it seem as if their leader was already touching the edge of the fourth circle?

And truly, when Vacuse combined the power of Sivan and the dragon construct, his power would reach a new height and could cause serious damage.

Honestly, at the moment, Vacuse himself did not know how strong he was. He could say he was far stronger than when he left the mountains—but how strong exactly?

That was the reason why, after almost two months of leading the dragon hunters, Vacuse called another meeting. This time it was only for his attendants—his Soulbearers.

"My lord, what I’ve been observing is the shield around Umbracrypt, and there’s been little change. After that last week when it ripped a little, there hasn’t been anything," Kagerou reported. "I’ve also kept an eye on Lady Maraget all this while, and she hasn’t done anything strange. Well, I don’t know what she does when she’s with you on a hunt."

Vacuse was letting Lady Slave follow him on hunts so that she could create ravage pills for him. What she created were Imbalance Pills—five of them—but it was enough for him, as she kept adding to them each time they went on a hunt.

He waved his hand. "What else?"

Kagerou smiled. "The war between Pale and Shroud is still as intense as ever, and it seems Eloryna Stormhaven hasn’t done anything dramatic. Maybe she’s even dead?"