Orion stayed quiet. What he had laid out on the table were all building plans—special structures the Horde could actually construct right now.
These five building plans—Horde Hall, Heroic Altar, Military Fortress, Mount Beast Pens, and Hall of Glory—were within the Stoneheart Horde’s current capabilities.
Of these:
• The Horde Hall, Heroic Altar, Military Fortress, and the Hall of Glory were four "main" buildings that required a Lord’s Stone.
• The Mount Beast Pens plan was feasible because the Horde already had a full brood of cave spiders.
Of course, Orion also had three thousand icefield snow wolves, but in order to build and empower a true Beast Pens, he’d need another broodmother-level beast. At the moment, that was out of reach.
Tamping down his wandering thoughts, Orion glanced at everyone before him.
"Since we’re expanding Blackstone City anyway, we might as well seize this opportunity to really overhaul it. This is our big chance.
"We still have some time before winter sets in, so there’s room in our schedule. We’ve got a decent number of Thunderstorm Bearmen slaves. Let’s put them to work. No point letting them lounge around on a free ride."
Orion half-closed his eyes, gazing at the sunshine and skies outside the tent, his tone dipping a little.
"As for these special buildings, let’s have the spiders and the obsidian golems handle it together. Right now, I don’t trust the Bearmen in the cannon fodder troops to keep their mouths shut."
Hearing this, Onyx immediately understood that Orion wanted him to oversee the project.
"My lord, rest assured, I’ll make sure only trustworthy folk take part in building these structures, and I’ll have them swear oaths of secrecy."
Orion nodded. He truly wasn’t comfortable delegating the job to anyone else.
"Moonshadow Valley will get some renovations too, but we won’t change it too much. It’ll remain our main place for training various troops.
"For the current Blackstone City, I plan to turn it into an inner fortress—an area for our key tribespeople. As for the new outer city, we need proper planning so that we can accommodate far more tribes(clans) in the future.
"Delilah, I need you to stay on top of that."
Delilah nodded. She knew that with Orion’s strength at Legendary level, he’d now show bits and pieces of his transcendent power, and the Stoneheart Horde stood to benefit a lot because of it. Whatever Orion decided to do, no one would likely oppose him.
"My lord," Onyx asked, "are there any special requirements for materials when constructing these buildings?"
He was already thinking through the details since he’d taken on the task of building them.
"We can use the same stone we’re going to use for the city walls, as long as it’s decent quality."
Of course, the higher grade the materials, the better. But the Stoneheart Horde was still pretty broke.
Orion did have his own idea, though: he wanted to merge the giants’ tribal relics into the Horde Hall to boost the special building’s quality. But first, the hall had to be built, providing a vessel for that plan.
"My lord, have you decided on locations for these buildings?"
Again, it was Onyx asking. Truth be told, he had the sharpest eye for building projects among them.
"The Horde Hall will go on the stony wall side of Moonshadow Valley," Orion said. "After that, the only passage from Blackstone City to Moonshadow Valley will be right where the Horde Hall stands."
He made it clear he wanted the Horde Hall facing south (toward Blackstone City), with Moonshadow Valley behind it. That way, the hall could serve as both a symbolic anchor for Blackstone City and a direct link to the military camps in Moonshadow Valley and the underground fissure, both critical sources of troops.
Within Moonshadow Valley, they’d also build the Heroic Altar, the Military Base Fortress, and the Beast Pens.
The Hall of Glory—where they’d record the deeds of fallen warriors and gather faith energy—would stand in the heart of Blackstone City’s inner plaza, opening to everyone on certain holy days and festivals.
For the rest of the day, Orion and the higher-ups hashed out details until they’d locked down construction sites for each special building. Everyone left with a to-do list tied to their respective corps. By the time they wrapped up, night had fallen.
Instead of returning to his tent with Lilith and Lysinthia, Orion took Dace and three more guards to patrol the western ridge near the city walls. That area bordering Moonshadow Valley wasn’t just Skytalon Tribe’s domain for raising flying beasts—it was also the base for cultivating magical plants and the home base for Thunderhawk Rayden.
Once upon a time, when Rayden wasn’t injured, he protected the ridge himself. Ever since he got hurt, an Alpha-level fighter had been posted out here daily.
Orion’s mission tonight was to check on Thunderhawk Rayden.
"Master, you came to see me!"
"Master, you’re incredible—you actually made it to Legendary level!"
Sensing Orion’s arrival, Rayden came dashing from the stone slab he’d been sunning on like a giant, bald rooster.
"Rayden, you’re getting fatter by the day. You’d better watch it, or once your feathers grow back, you’ll be too heavy to fly."
Orion pulled out a bottle of Pet Pills and tossed them into Rayden’s beak.
"Master, not a chance. We thunderhawks are natural-born sky fighters—soaring is what we do! But, uh… do I really have a shot at growing feathers again?"
Rayden’s mood see-sawed from excited back to a worried slump in a flash.
Orion didn’t say anything. Placing his hand on Thunderhawk Rayden’s back, he focused for a moment. Threads of surging electricity sparked out of Rayden and were quickly dispersed by Orion—remnants of Lord Ariel’s transcendent power.
This was the root cause of Rayden’s internal injuries and the reason why his feathers hadn’t regrown. Before, Orion hadn’t been able to do anything about it, but as a Legendary-level giant, purging it was now a breeze.
"Okay, I’ve cleaned out Ariel’s leftover transcendent power. With your natural healing, it won’t be long before you’re soaring again."
At those words, Thunderhawk Rayden froze, the Pet Pills clenched in his beak.
"Master, are you serious? You’re the lord and the Giant King now. Don’t trick Rayden, okay?"
Orion just rolled his eyes and left the increasingly chunky thunderhawk behind, returning to his tent with his guards.
Nighttime in Blackstone City was bright and festive, lanterns lit everywhere. They were celebrating Lysinthia’s promotion to Alpha-level for the usual three days, three nights. And since Orion himself had never picked a day to celebrate reaching Legendary level, everyone rolled that party into these three days as well.
"Dace, Otho—don’t you think Blackstone City’s so much livelier than before?"