Chapter 171

Chapter 171

On the day the beast tide officially arrived, **Lorant** was not at the frontline fortress.

After delivering the Devouring Frogs to **Lindbergh**, **Lorant** returned to the **Animal Pet Shop**.

The tasks at the Animal Pet Shop wouldn’t reduce by even half just because of the arrival of the beast tide.

**Lancelot**, on the other hand, had to stay at the fortress. However, because of the Devouring Frogs, he had gained some special privileges with his father. As long as he had the time, he could return to the Animal Pet Shop for a visit.

Even so, **Lorant** still felt uneasy and decided to place **Mo'er** in the fortress as well.

The security of the fortress was undeniable, and he wasn’t worried that his younger brother would get hurt there.

Mo'er’s main job was to watch over the Devouring Frogs, making sure to replenish their water on time, feed them regularly, and control the frequency of their empowerment, among other things.

In simple terms, he was there to properly serve these “masters” in the fortress. **Lorant** couldn’t rest easy without someone from his side staying with these beast pets.

Whether you called him overly suspicious or just cautious, **Lorant** was always willing to assume the worst possible outcomes for any situation.

Accompanying Mo'er was also his **Glassy Ice Flame Dog**, **Hanhan**.

With **Lancelot** watching over them, **Lorant** felt somewhat at ease.

The beginning of the beast tide didn’t seem to affect areas outside the **Lopulo** Mountains at all.

Except for the Merchant Guild organizing another relief effort for the **Lopulo** Mountains, **Lorant** suddenly felt that perhaps nothing had changed at all.

The people in **Mauplan** continued their lives as usual, seemingly unaware of the beast tide.

The **Church** in **Mauplan** only sent a small team of priests to the **Lopulo** Mountains, while the rest continued their usual work.

The seeds of the cotton trees had been officially harvested.

It must be said that although it took a long time, each cotton tree produced a considerable number of seeds.

The seeds filled up two rooms of **Lorant**’s.

He took some of them and had the **Church** replant them in the fields as a token of gratitude from the Animal Pet Shop to the **Church**.

In addition, the **Church** had opened up a large piece of land not far from the Animal Pet Shop.

The land here was cheap, and although it wasn’t as convenient as near the city gate for the **Church**’s priests to catalyze the growth, it could plant dozens of times more cotton trees.

These cotton trees didn’t need to be spaced far apart, as they were meant to be saplings for sale by the **Church** and the Animal Pet Shop. After three to five catalyzations by the priests, these saplings could be dug up and sent away.

Every day, **Jeremy** led the priests diligently working in the new cotton tree fields, like a serious old farmer.

However, recently the old farmer had been harboring some resentment. Naturally, he knew about the situation in the **Lopulo** Mountains. Although he had applied many times to go to the frontlines, he was ruthlessly denied by **Frank**.

“I really don’t understand! Why won’t they ever let me go!” **Jeremy** complained softly to **Lorant**, “I’ve applied so many times! They didn’t let me go during the Black Forest beast tide, and before that, they wouldn’t let me go to the **Shield Knight Regiment**’s mountain pass beast tide either.”

Every time a beast tide occurred, every **Church** would dispatch a team of priests to the frontlines to provide assistance.

Due to the **Church**’s special nature, they were always the first organization to offer support whenever a beast tide happened.

**Jeremy** was always the most eager, but his wishes had never been fulfilled.

**Lorant** looked at him sympathetically. As long as **Frank**, the High Priest, was around, he would definitely not allow his precious protégé to go to such dangerous places.

Unlike other professions, where some combat experience was necessary for true growth.

Priests were different; they didn’t need to do these things.

For other professions, being a flower in a greenhouse was completely unacceptable. A professional who relied purely on external resources to forcefully accumulate power was just an empty shell, shattering at the slightest touch.

But priests didn’t need real combat experience. They could be flowers in a greenhouse. As long as they had enough spiritual power to use divine arts, even a child who had never seen blood could heal the injured from behind a curtain.

So, **Frank** had always been reluctant to send his apprentice to the frontlines.

**Lorant** poured some tea into **Jeremy**’s cup, “Don’t worry, **Jeremy**. Isn’t your value beyond just going to the frontlines?”

“Also, if everyone went to **Lopulo**, it would mean the situation has become serious,” **Lorant** said, “I think it’s good that things are calm now. I hope it stays like this.”

**Lorant** looked up at the clouds, feeling that everything was so peaceful.

As if, under the same sky a thousand miles away, there wasn’t a flesh mill churning.

**Lopulo** Mountains.

**Ed** sat solemnly at a table that had been temporarily brought over.

“Shields, to position three! Swords, position one! Staffs, position five.” He continuously marked his notebook while quickly directing the professionals in front of him to their positions based on their weapons.

Beside him, there were ten signs marked with numbers, and each sign had a cart piled high with various weapons.

A large group of first-tier logistics professionals were diligently loading these weapons onto the carts, securing them tightly with straps.

Once a cart was full, they immediately dashed off with it.

Thirty-one Devouring Frogs sat quietly in a corner of the fortress, each looking up at the clouds.

The frogs, who had been excited when they first arrived, had returned to their usual calm and composed demeanor after two days.

**Mo'er**, standing nearby, tensed up slightly as the carts approached. This was his first time witnessing such a scene. Originally, **Lancelot** had been by his side, but a loud explosion had occurred near the fortress, and **Lancelot** had flown away shortly after.

Leaving him alone...

**Mo'er** rubbed his face to pull himself together. No, he couldn’t have these thoughts of backing down! **Lorant** believed that he could do this, so he absolutely couldn’t fall behind!

"What number is this?" He forced himself to calm down and walked over to a professional soldier with a wolf head insignia on his shoulder, who had come with the wooden cart, and asked.

The biggest gain Mo'er had made in the day he had been here was distinguishing the rank divisions among the professionals in these fortresses.

Those with a wolf head insignia were one level higher than those without, likely holding a position similar to a squad leader.

Then there were the wolf head, leopard head, and crocodile head, which seemed to represent different responsibilities, but were of equal rank to each other.

Those with a lion head were one level higher than the others, likely being of a captain rank.

The wolf head professional was one of those responsible for today's arrival. He quickly replied, "Number one, what should we do now?"

He was completely unclear about what he was supposed to do, only knowing to pull the cart over and find this young man.

Ed hadn't told them anything else.

"Number one? Follow me." Mo'er didn't waste words and directly turned to walk towards the mana devouring frog he had already arranged earlier.

According to the list Lorant had given him, Mo'er had already arranged the mana devouring frogs to stand together according to different 'packages.'

The number one longsword enchantment involved three mana devouring frogs, so he had these three big guys squatting side by side.

Mo'er led the knights pulling the cart to the side of the first mana devouring frog and patted its thigh hard.

"Hey big guy! Enchant these items!"

The force of the pat didn't attract its attention, so Mo'er practically threw himself against the frog's leg, which finally drew its gaze.

He wasn't Lorant, after all. To Mo'er, every mana devouring frog looked exactly the same, and he couldn't distinguish their identities.

Although the mana devouring frogs had signs like 'heavy strike' and 'thunder' hung around their waists, Mo'er still needed some time to match their abilities with their names.

Fortunately, the mana devouring frogs didn't mind. Seeing that it was a young man they had met before, they didn't care about the form of address.

The mana devouring frog slowly lowered its head, and its yellow-green pupils, filled with a sense of oppression, swept across the somewhat nervous professionals.

When it saw where Mo'er was pointing, it stuck out its tongue and, to everyone's astonishment, swallowed the bundled longswords in an incredible manner.

Mo'er swore he really saw the mana devouring frog's mouth expand outward by a large circle!

It wasn't his imagination!

The size of this bundle was definitely not something the frog's mouth size could accommodate!

But it swallowed it.

Before they had time to be astonished, the frog swallowed hard and spat the weapons back out.

Mo'er shouted to the wolf head professional to have them wipe off the slime on the weapons, and quickly patted the belly of the next mana devouring frog.

If they didn't wipe off the slime, the mana devouring frogs would be reluctant to enchant again.

That is to say, despite their not-so-pretty appearance, the mana devouring frogs still had a basic love for cleanliness.

After the third mana devouring frog finished enchanting the weapons, Mo'er tried to drag the items.

However, the weight of a greatsword was already not something an ordinary person like him could drag, let alone a bunch of greatswords bundled together. Mo'er almost strained his back.

"Is the enchantment done now?" The wolf head professional curiously asked from the side.

"Yes, it's done; you can take them away and clean them off." Mo'er gave up on the idea of dragging them himself, wiped his sweat, and thought for a moment before saying, "The shortest duration of the enchantment for number one is about forty-five minutes. Pay attention to the usage time."

"Oh, by the way, number one will be done after another two carts."

The wolf head professional nodded seriously, obediently listening to this kid who wasn't even a professional and firmly remembering his words.

As the wolf head professional led two knights to take the longswords away, Mo'er's gaze shifted to the convoy behind them.

"What number are you?"

......

Although it was the first time conducting large-scale enchantments and some time was wasted, overall, Ed was quite satisfied.

About half an hour later, all the package enchantments were completed.

For the remaining enchantment capacities that were still left, Ed didn't waste them either. He 'milked' the mana devouring frogs to their limits before stopping.

He dispatched a small team to assist Mo'er in serving these big guys, while Ed himself climbed up the city wall in two steps.

The fortress's perimeter was surrounded by a wall walkway, and behind the towering hundred-meter-high walls was the camp of long-range professionals such as archers and mages.

Behind the ancient stones, there were holes where professionals' swords and spells could fiercely emerge and crash into the beast horde ahead.

As Ed climbed up, he saw a team of archers who had just finished enchanting their bows, focusing intently.

One of them was a squad leader he was quite familiar with, a fifth-level ranger.

The tall woman, with her long hair simply tied into a ponytail behind her, looked impressive and spirited. She held a nearly two-meter-long bow almost as tall as herself.

Pulling the enchanted longbow to its fullest, in the next second, an illusory arrow wrapped in icicles appeared on the bowstring.

The woman's slender fingers released, and the ice crystal-like long arrow shot out fiercely.

The ice arrow that split the sky exploded on the forehead of a seventh-level beast. The shattered ice crystals quickly spread across half of its head.

The beast howled in pain, and the ice crystals on its head clearly hindered its movement for a moment.

The beast struggled to turn its head, but before it could break free from the combination of the woman's energy and the enchanted ice crystals, a seventh-level warrior with huge wings on his back swiftly arrived and stabbed it into the ground with a thunderous strike.

It could no longer move.

Ed looked astonished and couldn't help but turn his head to scrutinize the woman.

Of course, he knew that the warrior was the husband of this female archer. The two of them had always hunted morphic beasts together.

However, it was common knowledge that when facing morphic beasts of the same level, professionals usually didn't have the upper hand, and this was even more true at higher levels. A level seven warrior couldn't stand toe-to-toe with a level seven morphic beast.

Moreover, the longbow archer was only level five. For a level seven warrior and a level five archer to dispatch a level seven morphic beast so easily left Ed feeling like his worldview had been refreshed.

It obviously took considerable strength to pull a bow to its full extent. The woman set her longbow aside and stretched her arms to relax her tense muscles. Suddenly, she noticed Ed, who was standing there with his mouth agape.

She couldn't help but smile. "Ed? What kind of look is that?"

"Luna! When did you become so formidable? That level seven beast didn't even last a single round against the two of you?" Ed exclaimed in surprise. "If I hadn't seen you just a couple of days ago, I would have thought you'd already broken through to the next level!"

Luna curled her lips, her fingers gently caressing the longbow that had always accompanied her. "When, you ask? Well, if I had to put a time on it, I'd say about ten minutes ago." She said with a smile.

"The empowerment ability of the Ice Crystal exceeded my expectations, and that longsword empowered with lightning was even more powerful than we had anticipated."

"Before the empowerment wears off, we should be able to take down three or four more level seven morphic beasts." Luna's mood was clearly excellent, her high ponytail swaying along with her.

"By the way, Ed, didn't you say there would be another empowerment opportunity this afternoon?"

Luna's words immediately drew the attention of many nearby.

Some of them were professionals who had already experienced empowerment and tasted its benefits.

Others were those who hadn't had the chance to be empowered yet. Seeing their colleagues suddenly become significantly stronger and hunting morphic beasts with reckless abandon made them itch with envy.

Feeling the gazes from those around him, Ed nodded, suddenly feeling a bit of pressure.

He had a feeling that no matter what he said, he would end up offending some people...

After some consideration, he stepped back half a step, putting a bit of distance between himself and the somewhat agitated professionals before answering. "That's right. Given the recovery ability of the Devouring Frog, there will be another empowerment opportunity this afternoon."

Luna's face lit up with joy, but before she could even open her mouth, she heard Ed quickly add, "However, this time, we're prioritizing those who haven't been empowered yet. Those who have already been empowered today probably won't get another chance."

Luna's eyes widened, and she was about to retort when she heard several people behind her shout loudly, "Exactly! That's the way it should be, Ed! I'll sign up first!"

"That's right! Count me in! I missed out this morning; I need to secure a spot for the afternoon."

"Ed, give us a specific time! I'll go queue up early!"

"Queue? Forget it! The boss will chew us out!"

All of these professionals were from the military, and in the current situation, they had to follow a unified schedule. Even those who still preferred small-team operations had fixed 'work hours.'

Someone clever immediately said, "No problem! The boss isn't on duty today. We'll send someone to queue up early, and I'm sure he'll agree!"

There were several hundred longbow teams like theirs on the city walls. Naturally, there was competition among them.

Currently, the Devouring Frog's ability was gradually being utilized, so Lindbergh hadn't planned for a unified empowerment schedule. Instead, interested professionals could go and queue up before heading to the walls.

This was what had caused the current situation.

Watching the crowd descend into chaos, Ed swiftly took the opportunity to continue climbing the stairs along the outer wall of the fortress.

Like the outpost in the Black Forest, the top level of this fortress also had a massive platform.

Almost all professionals of level six and above were gathered here. Professionals of this level no longer needed to follow small-team arrangements and could freely plan their actions in this battle.

Of course, some high-level professionals had their own squads and could freely move through the beast horde.

Provided they could navigate the horde, that is.

Lindbergh was naturally stationed here, and when he saw Ed approach, his gaze couldn't help but shift toward him.

Ed headed straight for him. "General, all the empowerments have concluded. I've assigned a small team to the boy from the Animal Pet Shop to help take care of the Devouring Frog."

Lindbergh nodded. That wasn't what he was concerned about. "How effective was it?"

Although the Devouring Frog's empowerment ability was undeniable, Lindbergh was still worried whether his troops could properly utilize this newfound strength.

If the sudden surge of power wasn't well-handled, or if they couldn't adapt and thus failed to perform at their peak, it would be a significant loss.

"Excellent!" Ed replied without hesitation. "The effects are very impressive. When I came up just now, I saw that for at least the next hour, we'll have the equivalent strength of about a hundred more mid-level professionals compared to other fortresses."

Lindbergh nodded but didn't take Ed's words to heart. He considered it natural for his logistics officer to perhaps exaggerate a bit in praising his own work.

Who wouldn't take the opportunity to claim some credit at the right moment?

He couldn't have imagined that this time, Ed was genuinely speaking the truth without a shred of exaggeration.

When they tallied the results that evening, everyone would be utterly astonished.

Bringing his attention back, Lindbergh stared at the figure battling in the sky, his expression complex.

His genius son, within less than a year, was showing signs of another breakthrough. Such rapid progress made even Lindbergh find it hard to believe.

The once-genius Lindbergh suddenly felt a touch of old age creeping in, but he quickly shook his head to dispel the untimely thought.

No matter how fast the kid progressed, he still had a long way to go before he could hope to beat his old man!

When Lorant arrived at the fortress in the early evening, it was just as the on-duty professionals were preparing to change shifts.

......

A large group of professionals was crowded together near the teleportation array.

Lorant handed the lunchbox to Maomao to carry while he curiously moved closer to take a look.

Ed sat at the table, feeling utterly disinterested in life. He was sorting and registering the professionals in front of him, while also enduring the bombardment from a few acquaintances buzzing in his ears.

These guys were all mid-level captains, each in charge of quite a number of subordinates, but now they were practically ready to fight each other in front of Ed just for a few empowerment slots.

"Number Three, the one behind goes to Number Seven, no, wait, Number Five. Can you two please stay a little further away from me!" Ed finally turned his head, unable to bear it any longer, and shouted at the two who were cursing like market vendors right next to his ears.

The man with a lion's head badge and a longbow on his back snorted. "If you had let my people finish empowerment earlier, I would have been gone by now! They're almost coming down to find me."

"Tell me about it!" The man with a greatsword on his waist also snorted, and threw a glare at the longbow man. "I don't know what these bow users are crowding in for. You guys hang back there and don't even scratch the surface, yet you're in such a hurry."

Ed turned his head, feeling exhausted. "First of all, the two of you, one with a longbow and one with a greatsword, are in no way related. Even if you're getting empowered, you're not taking each other's slot, so don't argue next to my ears."

"Secondly, there's no such thing as empowerment by team anymore. The boss said we're lining up, just a hard queue! If you get in line, you get empowered; if not, tough luck!"

"And you can only be empowered once a day. If I remember correctly, both of you already had your empowerment this morning!"

"Don't linger here! Don't bother me! Get lost!"

Lorant, seeing Ed from afar, was about to say hello, but upon hearing the commotion, he wisely distanced himself.

Well, it's probably best not to disturb someone working at a time like this!