Volume One: The Hell-Level Lord World Chapter 134: Preparing to Dispatch Troops

Three days had passed since the miscellaneous matters were finally settled. It could be said that Chen Gu had spent a full ten days in the Forest Garden. Although it took a bit longer than expected, he had successfully organized a territory of his own. At the same time, the number of troops he had with him had increased significantly.

Before capturing the Forest Garden, Chen Gu had been piloting the *Tengguang* with only two heroes and a force of fewer than a thousand troops. Now, things were different. During these ten days, the development of his mobile base, the *Tengguang*, had not ceased. In fact, because it did not need to move, the construction time for various buildings was not delayed. Now that all the basic structures were complete, the *Tengguang* was ready to upgrade to a Level 2 village. Had Chen Gu not intended to leave immediately, he could have easily waited for the upgrade to finish before departing. Even so, he was confident that within a day, the temporary city of *Tengguang* would reach Level 2 status. His caravan would expand, and new carriages would automatically appear near the *Tengguang*.

Inside the *Tengguang*, the 600-strong guard force was fully staffed, consisting mainly of Hungry Wolves, Wild Wolves, and Crows. These units were responsible for internal security; when the *Tengguang* transformed into a caravan, they would follow close by, preventing any creatures from approaching. The 600 regular soldiers, however, were not yet fully staffed. These were the troops that would accompany Chen Gu into battle. Currently, the *Tengguang* housed 48 Fire Spirit Crows, 32 Blood Shadow Wolves, 32 Wild Wolves, 32 Corpse Vines, and 16 Scarecrow Murderers—exactly two weeks' worth of production.

Furthermore, during this week, a new hero appeared in the *Tengguang*. Unlike Pan, who had run off to Changfeng City, this new hero was a mage of green quality. As such, he could not serve as Chen Gu’s carriage driver and spent his time in the Magic Tower studying various spells. Under his command were 60 Fire Spirit Crows, 50 Blood Shadow Wolves, and 50 Scarecrows. Seeing that he had excellent control over the Fire Spirit Crows and could even enhance the effects of their "Spark" magic, Chen Gu simply placed all the soldiers in the *Tengguang* under his command. He also instructed the mage to spend more time at the farmlands when not studying magic. At the very least, he needed to take responsibility for some tasks rather than staying in the Magic Tower all day. The elven mage, whose name was Warnard, was quite obedient regarding Chen Gu’s orders. As long as he was given half a day to study in the Magic Tower, he would do whatever Chen Gu arranged the rest of the time. Chen Gu had no complaints about his attitude; he only hoped that the next time a hero was refreshed in the tavern, he could find a suitable carriage driver.

Beyond the *Tengguang*, Chen Gu’s personal forces had also been strengthened. He personally held a batch of Blood Shadow Wolves, Corpse Vines, and Fire Spirit Crows. The numbers were not small: 100 Blood Shadow Wolves, and 47 Corpse Vines—all of which had reached Level 6 with a "+6" effect. The Fire Spirit Crows were even more impressive, with 300 of them all recruited from the Mechanical Farm. This was even after a portion had been given to Pan; otherwise, the count would have been even higher. Chen Gu had initially considered organizing the Fire Spirit Crows into a single legion, but he discovered that both Pan and the new mage hero, Warnard, had their own ideas about how to deploy them. After their respective handling, the combat style of the Fire Spirit Crows would change. Pan, much like Chen Gu, preferred using "Spark: Carpet Bombing," while Warnard preferred "Spark: Projectiles." To allow for better development of the crows, Chen Gu decided not to consolidate all of them into one unit.

In addition to these three veteran types, Chen Gu had brought some of the new units he had produced in the Forest Garden with him. Kerbas had also become an independent unit, with his troop types supplemented. A new hero would also be accompanying Chen Gu, leading a group of basic elven troops—mostly supported by Changfeng City, with a few others from the Forest Garden that were not suitable for Kerbas to lead. If their numbers hadn't been insufficient to form a full legion, Chen Gu would have named them and presented them with a banner. Even so, excluding the forces of the *Tengguang*, Chen Gu had brought a substantial army for this campaign.

First, under Chen Gu’s direct command, there were 300 Fire Spirit Crows, 100 Blood Shadow Wolves, 47 Corpse Vines, 27 Scarecrow Murderers, 30 Illusion Druids, 150 Extreme Centaurs, and 40 Giant Dwarves. The Illusion Druids were a specialized unit formed after Illusion Elves attained the Druid profession. They could use various druidic spells, and their power was increased manifold. As this was the strongest type among the Illusion Elves, Chen Gu naturally kept them for his own use.

Next were the Extreme Centaurs and Giant Dwarves, both products of a "three-in-one" fusion. The Extreme Centaurs were formed by merging three centaurs; they looked like regular centaurs but were dark red in color and moved much faster than normal. It was a method of concentrating the speed of two centaurs into one. The number of Extreme Centaurs was higher simply because the Forest Garden produced centaurs quite rapidly. Chen Gu had merged all his centaurs to create these 150 Extreme Centaurs. The Giant Dwarves were the result of a three-in-one fusion of dwarves. Originally, the dwarves in the elven realm were merely incidental, with a status lower than that of Flower Spirits or Fairies. After all, their style was incompatible with the elves; their stature and defensive focus were not favored by the elven aesthetic. However, the elves could not do without them, as without dwarves, the elves would have to dig for ore themselves. Therefore, in every elven kingdom, there would always be some dwarves. The Forest Garden was the largest non-elven settlement, so the presence of dwarves there was quite normal. These Giant Dwarves still looked like dwarves, but their height reached about 1.8 meters. If not for their broad frames, one would hardly distinguish them from humans. Beyond their increased size, their strength was enhanced, and most importantly, their magic resistance was tripled. Chen Gu planned to find time to equip them with heavy armor and use them as his primary defensive force.