After meeting Hasan, Bai Zhongqi became even more determined to take over Emerald Sea Star. It had been confirmed beyond doubt that a tribal prophet from the Southern Continent was a Star Warrior; therefore, it was very likely that the mages of the Northern Continent were of the same identity.
Nan Ma was holding a small knife, skillfully peeling a local fruit that tasted both sour and sweet. The exterior was tough, but the juice inside was gelatinous, like jelly, which was quite a novelty.
As he peeled the fruit, he said to Bai Zhongqi, "It's true that Hasan is a Star Warrior, but the lad received direct guidance from the previous prophet and figured out everything else on his own. Limited by knowledge, the Star Warriors of this planet can't comprehend their own powers, nor can they fully utilize them.
In the Northern Continent, there's a pseudo theory of elements, resulting in Star Warriors who can usually only learn one type of 'magic'. In the Southern Continent, it's worse—they dabble in metaphysical mysticism, making it even harder to develop their abilities."
Bai Zhongqi asked, "So, are you confident that you can train Hasan and the other Star Warriors of Emerald Sea Star into proper Star Warriors?"
Nan Ma was munching on the fruit, with the jelly-like flesh splashing around and nearly staining the Chancellor's trousers. Bai Zhongqi found him quite distasteful. Nan Ma chuckled apologetically and continued, "Hasan's potential for Star Energy isn't bad. Although it's unclear how far he will go, he can at least become an intermediate level Star Warrior."
Bai Zhongqi nodded without further comment. Although Hasan looked tall and sturdy, he was actually just a teenager. To deceive such a Star Warrior wasn't difficult, but it wouldn't necessarily be easy to recruit all the mages from the Northern Continent to the United Empire of Iridium Star.
He already had a preliminary concept in mind; the Mage Tower had a revered status among the kingdoms of the Northern Continent, and naturally, Bai Zhongqi could not allow such a thing to exist within his Empire. Even if the Mage Tower was full of Star Warriors, they would still have to swear allegiance to him within the United Empire.
"It seems a war that engulfs the entire Emerald Sea Star might be inevitable, to destroy the existing social structures here and then absorb the Star Warriors as the Empire's strength. Compared to that, the land and resources of Emerald Sea Star are of less value than these Star Warriors."
Having finished the fruit, Nan Ma wiped his mouth and then said, "Your Majesty, our Empire possesses over two hundred Administrative Stars and a population in the hundreds of billions. Despite our advanced technology and civilization, we've only managed to produce fewer than a thousand Star Warriors.
Yet, this remote planet with a mere population of two hundred million and a lackluster civilization has at least several hundred Star Warriors. This issue warrants Your Majesty's attention. Thoroughly investigating and studying Emerald Sea Star and even sending immigrants to see if new Star Warriors can be born here are important tasks after we take control of this planet."
A chill ran through Bai Zhongqi's heart. Nan Ma was right; figuring out why Emerald Sea Star had become a cradle for Star Warriors was of utmost importance.
Nan Ma was rarely serious, but even that lasted only a few minutes. Now he slipped back into his old ways, saying to Bai Zhongqi, "Your Majesty, when are we going back to Ruyi City? I left my company, which is worth a trillion in the future, unattended. Without me, I'm afraid those guys won't be able to handle it."
Bai Zhongqi's eyelid twitched, too lazy to waste words with him, and walked away.
It was already dawn by then. Star A had set, and the real sun of Emerald Sea Star, Star B, was hanging high. At this moment, it didn't look much different from the sun seen from Earth.
The young Star Warrior Hasan was now clamoring to see his new "Chieftain." Bai Zhongqi happened to see him and walked over.
Hasan called out, "Chieftain, I heard that you're going to attack the cities of the Infians. Take me, Hasan, with you. I want to avenge my tribespeople!"
The tall and statuesque girl Liv ran over to correct Hasan, "I've told you before, don't call him 'Chieftain', call him 'Your Majesty'."
This girl was quite intelligent and had a talent for language. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to speak Shangduohan. With the help of artificial intelligence, which required people from the Storm Wolf Tribe to talk more, most of their indigenous language had been analyzed overnight.
Hasan was still confused and asked, "What's 'Your Majesty'? Is it more important than 'Chieftain'?"
The girl didn't really know much about this herself and whispered, "It probably means something similar to 'Chieftain', like the leader of everyone."
Hasan was stubborn, his face conflicted as he said, "If it's still the leader of everyone, why not call it 'Chieftain', but 'Your Majesty'?"
Bai Zhongqi, with a translation from a bionic human already fluent in the tribal language, couldn't help but smile.
He cleared his throat and said to Hasan, "Hasan, I know you're eager for revenge. However, there are only a little over sixty people left in your tribe now, half of whom are women and children. I have brought over a hundred soldiers, all professional warriors; taking down Infia won't be an issue."
Hasan thumped his chest, saying, "I'm a prophet, the strongest one in my tribe. I can fight a hundred men alone!"
Bai Zhongqi pointed to a mobile infantryman standing by his side and said, "Even so, you were still taken down by my soldiers, and each one of them is as strong as he is."
Hasan felt a bit discouraged and asked, "Your warriors are all very powerful. But I didn't feel any mana on them, only on teacher. So why could they defeat me?"
Bai Zhongqi laughed, "That's the power of technology. You'll learn more about it later."
Bai Zhongqi thought for a moment and said, "If you want to participate in the attack on Infia City, it's not impossible, as long as you can follow orders and not act on your own."
Hasan nodded vigorously, "Okay, I will listen to the Chieftain's orders."
Liv busied herself to correct, "It's 'Your Majesty'."
"Whatever is fine. My companions have all had their fill and are ready to fight. Can they join in too?"
Bai Zhongqi thought for a moment and said, "I only need five people. Go pick the five strongest."
Like a whirlwind, Hasan ran off to the tribe's camp and quickly brought back five young men. Bai Zhongqi looked them over and couldn't help but marvel at the tribe's genetics. These tribespeople, who fought for survival in the wilderness, had exceptional physical condition: tall, muscular, and also very agile.
These tribesmen looked very robust now that Bai Zhongqi had fed them some food, a stark contrast to before when they were left hungry by Yize, the troublemaker.
Bai Zhongqi turned to Xiao Yu and instructed, "Go get six sets of training armor in these men's sizes."