Although the Dragon Nest Tribe hasn't equipped all its militia beastmen and production beastmen with armor and weapons, the tribe's warehouses have stocked a large cache of copper armor and weapons. Once war breaks out, they can immediately arm a Dragon Nest army multiple times the size of the current one.
With the development of the Dragon Nest Tribe and its population surpassing five thousand, various beastmen races are interwoven together. Each race has its own distinct advantages. Thus, in the context of surplus combat strength, a policy where everyone becomes a soldier, adversely affecting production and life, is not appropriate.
Considering various factors, Austin has decided to implement an elite soldier policy, selecting the strongest and most robust beastmen from the large population and training them intensively to form the most formidable fighting force, the Dragon Nest Legion. Equipped with weapons and armor, this will generate a combat strength far beyond the ordinary legion's power.
Simultaneously, Austin is promoting Breathing Techniques within the Dragon Nest Legion to further enhance the beastmen soldiers' abilities. He selects the most outstanding among them to transform into Dragon Vein Beastmen and then picks the strongest from the core Dragon Vein Guard to undergo Magic Modification, substantially boosting the core combat power with the cultivation of the Navy's three techniques.
By advancing step by step in this manner, the resulting elite core even possesses one or two parts of his own combat strength. Combined with a large armed beastmen legion, this significantly bolsters Austin's confidence.
"I've developed Shave, utilizing the recoil from multiple bursts of Fighting Qi in an instant underfoot to move rapidly. Paired with Iron Block and Gale Wave, along with Fighting Qi Sword techniques developed during the Gale Wave process, the trained core Dragon Vein Guard now qualifies to stand alone."
On the vast square, looking at the densely packed, fully armored, spear-bearing, orderly standing legion below, and at the intimidating Dragon Vein Guards exuding an unparalleled aura at the front, Austin's mood inevitably brightens.
This is not even the Dragon Nest Tribe's greatest strength. Within the entire tribe, even the militia and productive beastmen have undergone military training and possess a certain level of military literacy. Although they are usually responsible for production rather than combat, if a crisis arises, arming them would turn them into a large group of well-trained, qualified soldiers.
"Although I don't know what this unease is, this is the best preparation I can achieve."
Gazing at the beastmen legion below, crafted entirely by his own efforts, Austin muses silently. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn ɴovᴇl(ꜰ)ir(e).nᴇt
He steps forward, his massive frame towering over the scene, his enormous pupils reflecting the densely packed figures below. An invisible pressure spreads from him, enveloping the entire square, making the air feel several degrees heavier to all the beastmen.
"....Two years ago, there was nothing here! But today, two years later, you possess everything you couldn't imagine back then! Go forth and fight! For our glory!"
High upon the stone platform, Austin spreads his wings, his voice resonating like thunder.
"Long live! Long live Your Highness!"
A massive wave of sound rises overwhelmingly as the beastmen soldiers below display a fanatical look in their eyes, their shouting turning their faces red, and their copper spears rhythmically striking the ground.
After two years of constant indoctrination, these beastmen soldiers' loyalty to Austin has become similar to fanaticism, easily stirred by his words.
With weapons and armor in place, the long-prepared Dragon Nest Tribe finally sets out once again.
A large number of beastmen soldiers, fully equipped with armor and weapons, began departing Dragon Nest Town, launching attacks in all directions under the lead of the elite Dragon Vein Guard, conducting a sweeping campaign in the surrounding regions, attacking and annexing nearby beastmen tribes.
In previous upheavals, many beastmen tribes within a hundred-mile radius of the Dragon Nest Tribe collapsed due to an inability to fend off various external crises, becoming wandering beastmen eventually joining the Dragon Nest Tribe.
However, the hundred-mile range is vast, with countless hidden beastmen tribes scattered like stars in the forest. A considerable number of beastmen tribes still survive, and the total population of all these tribes within the hundred-mile range exceeds thirty thousand.
To resist unknown dangers and with the recent abundance of wild animals providing an easy food source to support rapid population growth, Austin began a massive annexation of beastmen tribes within the extensive range, hoping to swiftly increase the Dragon Nest Tribe's population and greatly enhance its strength.
Under the copper-armored torrent of the Dragon Nest Legion, even tribes where Extraordinary Beastmen are rare are swiftly overwhelmed and destroyed. Teams of captives are sent into the Dragon Nest Tribe for military training and transformation, strengthening the tribe's power.
Besides gaining a large influx of new residents during this period, the Dragon Nest Tribe occasionally obtained unique finds from these small tribes, such as beastmen elites with self-awakened Extraordinary Abilities, beastmen priests with certain magical gift abilities, and some small tribes even produced "wizards" and similar figures.
Of course, these "wizards" are not true wizards. These beastmen "wizards" don't possess any real Extraordinary Abilities, but through long-term practice, they learned to identify certain herbs in the forest and understand basic healing techniques, thus gaining reverence and worship from their tribes.
Nevertheless, the integration of these beastmen "wizards" has somewhat strengthened and improved the Dragon Nest Tribe's medical system.
Beyond these gains, the Dragon Nest Beastmen Legion also collected various spoils like Totem Poles, Sacred Artifacts, Divine Stones, and other miscellany while sweeping through those small tribes. However, after Austin's identification, most were deemed useless and discarded in a corner of the warehouse, with only a couple carefully saved by Austin.
For example, fragments engraved with unknown lines and runes, a sacred artifact resembling an electric lamp worshipped by an ignorant beastmen tribe, which absorbs sunlight by day and glows at night, or a spearhead with twisted snake-like engravings...
Such items resemble nothing the beastmen, still living in an era of ignorance, could manufacture. Their origins remain an unsolved mystery.