Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

"From this day forward, you will become a cooperative warrior. Honor will accompany you, and loyalty will be your foundation. May you possess great power, but know that true strength lies within your heart."

After speaking, Charles glanced at the young minotaur kneeling before him. Seeing the resolute expression in the man's eyes, Charles nodded, and the young minotaur lowered his head.

Then, Shire picked up a red-hot awl from the side, reached out and grabbed the minotaur's left ear. A wisp of burnt black smoke rose as the awl pierced a hole in the minotaur's ear.

This is the last young minotaur to receive a ring today. Ringing means they have come of age and can become warriors, but there is still a long way to go before they can become qualified warriors.

After pulling out the awl, the minotaur, who was kneeling on one knee, visibly trembled. Charles smirked and then quickly picked up a silver ring from the wooden tray beside him. A dark bead the size of a fingernail was threaded onto the silver ring.

"Bear with it for a moment," he whispered to comfort him, then quickly slipped the silver ring onto the minotaur's left ear.

This is his fourth and last silver ring today. Unlike his previous clumsiness, Charles is no longer flustered.

It was the responsibility of the Tauren clan leaders to circumcise young men, but now that the Bloodhoof clan had joined the Shard's tribe, the task of circumcising these guys naturally fell to the Shard.

As the last tauren stood up, walked to the center of the clan, and shouted joyfully, Shire wiped his hands and smiled along with the others.

This coming-of-age ceremony attracted many people from the tribe to watch, since most members of the tribe were unaware of their existence. Being able to witness each other's coming-of-age ceremony in person can help them get to know each other better.

As the smoke rose, some people showed a hint of reluctance. Yunxia even wanted to treat the young minotaur's wounds immediately, but she was stopped by her good "best friend" Lan Luoli. The cave goblins had learned about the minotaur's customs in advance and knew that the wounds from the rings could only heal naturally, which was a reflection of their idea that "scars are merits in battle".

"Four more tauren have come of age." Charles walked over to Baine with his hands behind his back. As the leader of the Bloodhoof clan, he was smiling as he looked at the young people who were shouting and yelling.

"Yes, Chief," Bain nodded, "Thank you very much for personally overseeing the event in Sheung Wan."

"No, it's nothing." Charles waved his hand. This was his duty, but he didn't expect that both men and women in the minotaur tribe would wear silver rings. Among the four of them, there were two female minotaurs. However, unlike the adult ones, Charles prepared silver rings for these four young people, while the elders of the Bloodhoof clan wore iron rings, some of which were even a bit rusty.

"This is yours." With that, Ciel took out a gold ring from behind his back and handed it to Bane, who was standing next to him.

"Mine?" Bain took it with some confusion. On the gold ring was a dark bead, which was a little larger than the beads of the other young people.

Seeing the man holding the gold ring with some suspicion, Charles smiled and said, "I noticed that many of the rings in our tribe have rusted, so I had a replacement made. We will gradually replace them all with silver ones, which won't rust. Of course, yours is gold."

After saying that, Charles smiled.

"This," Bain was at a loss for words. He hadn't even thought of replacing the clan members' jade pendants with better ones, but Charles had noticed it. "I don't know how to thank you, Chief."

"It's what I should do," Charles waved his hand dismissively.

Bain held the gold ring in his hand, pursed his lips a few times, and then slowly said, "I am very glad that I accepted your invitation. You are a leader who truly cares about his subordinates. This gold ring even makes me feel the aura of a lord."

"Well, I'm glad you like it." Charles raised an eyebrow. He really wanted to say, "Of course you can feel the Lord's aura, because the beads on the golden ring are taken from the Demon Lord's Angry Horn."

When Charles was researching that long horn before, he scraped off a small piece with a knife. When he fed it to a rat, the rat exploded on the spot—a physical explosion. After that, Charles gave up the idea of ​​using the Angry Horn to strengthen his subordinates.

But after that, he was surprised to find that the area he had scraped had miraculously recovered.

It seems that, just as the panel says, this thing has immortal properties.

However, Charles hasn't figured out how to use this thing yet. If he soaks it in water and drinks it, his men will all go crazy and die. If he hands it over to the church, it might cause even more trouble. The only use he can think of right now is to make beads.

Since you're angry and treat the Bloodhoof clan harshly anyway, giving them a long horn as an ornament shouldn't be a big deal, right?

"As for weapons, I've already had someone buy them. You can also find ways to repair your original weapons," Charles said, glancing at the commotion of the minotaurs in the distance. His lips twitched involuntarily. "But we still need to figure out how to make armor. After all, it's not easy to find armor that fits your body shape. Even if we have to spend money to make it, it will take a long time."

"I understand, Chief," Bain nodded. "We're already quite content with having a decent weapon."

He gripped the golden ring in his hand, looking down at the goblin before him. "Actually, not everyone among us minotaurs can have armor."

"Don't other Tauren clans have them either?"

"Yes, you should know that we are not a race that knows how to forge and cast iron. More often than not, we choose to seize the enemy's armor on the battlefield and then take it back to modify ourselves."

"Their armor?" Charles asked, stroking his chin in confusion.

"Yes, in the Eternal Darkness Plane, all I know is that the Drow Elves can craft weapons and armor. We stole their armor during our battle with them."

"Uh, isn't it a bit ill-fitting?"

“That’s how it is, so we need to make some changes,” Bain smiled, gesturing with his hands to show how it was done before. “Of course, relying solely on the drow elves’ armor won’t work, since they’re a bit thin. The tauren have another way to obtain armor.”

Charles blinked and listened quietly to what the other person was going to say next.

"It's about stripping the Zerg's outer shell," Bane said, but his expression was clearly unnatural.

"Zerg hull? Is that the greedy fan you mentioned before?"

"Yes, some of them have hard shells. After killing those insects, you can peel off the hard parts to make armor for yourself, but..." Bain hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "but the smell is really unpleasant when peeling them, and some of the corpses are covered in strong acid, so it's impossible to peel them."

"So, the armor rate among Tauren isn't high?" Charles murmured, gesturing with his chin as he glanced at the excited Bloodhoof Clan in the distance.

"It's not high at all. Our Bloodhoof Clan can only produce three half-body armors." Baine sighed. This is one of the reasons why the Bloodhoof Clan is the weakest among all the Tauren.

"I'll find a way to equip you with armor as soon as possible." Charles patted the minotaur beside him. He had to find a way to equip these two-meter-tall "strongmen" with enough gear. How could heavy infantry be considered heavy infantry if they didn't have armor and weapons?

Can we rely solely on flesh and blood to be the mainstay?

Seeing Bain excitedly go to deliver the good news to his people, Charles smiled, put his hands behind his back, and walked towards the stone tower not far away.

That place was originally the square pyramid where the feathered serpent god hid. After being half destroyed, it has now become a special portal room, where portals to various places are uniformly arranged.

The reason he needed to leave quickly was to avoid those excited minotaurs.

Unlike other races, minotaurs are a natural fighting race. The female minotaurs among them are also warlike. These guys usually like to eat and fight. In their spare time, they also do some leather weaving and bone carving. Moreover, they love to hold campfire parties. If Shire doesn't leave quickly, he will be lifted up by the minotaurs and forced to attend their campfire feast.

The Tauren sing, dance, and shout at campfire gatherings. They dance in a circle around the campfire and also gather together to perform war dances.

They also enjoy playing a game called sumo wrestling, which is similar to the ancient sumo wrestling that Xia Er knew in his previous life. Both involve one-on-one fighting in a fixed area.

Of course, the other races in the tribe also have their own games, such as goblins throwing sticks, centaurs shooting arrows, and frogmen surfing.

Construction of Forest City has begun. As the weather warms up and winter is about to end, the ground in the entire southern district has been leveled, and the training ground is under construction. Previously, One-Eye and a group of people also began the trial construction of forest cabins.

Unlike digging holes in the ground, building houses was a first for the goblins, but fortunately, Cyclops had prior experience helping centaurs build wooden villages.

This time, however, they are using "black putty," which is a completely new building material for Cyclops. Ciel will need to provide guidance on how to apply it.

With a loud "bang," Charles frowned slightly, looking at Diana who had been flung away by Zunesha's trunk in the distance. "That hurts."

Having lost the bet, Diana reluctantly fulfilled her promise—to spar with Elephant Lord.

However, if she wants to fight Zunesha, she must cast [High Angel Appearance] on herself to directly transform into the appearance of an angel in order to exchange a few blows; otherwise, it will be difficult for her to withstand Zunesha's attacks.

"How are you?" Charles asked loudly as he watched Diana get up and flap her wings again.

"It can still move," Diana said, spreading her arms, and the four longswords beside her floated up.

She turned her head slightly and glanced at the goblins behind her. These guys were diligently picking up the fallen "angel feathers" on the ground. "Now I know why you wanted me to spar with Zunesha. So that's what you were thinking."

"No, not at all," Charles quickly waved his hand. "I just want you and your fourth uncle to have better chemistry. Didn't you say before that you wanted to familiarize yourself with all of your fourth uncle's sword techniques? As for those things, don't waste them."

"Hmph," Diana rolled her eyes at the goblin. She knew the function of "Angel's Feather" and that it was a good magical material. However, after a battle, she could only recover slowly by bathing in the blessing of the God of War. This was also the reason why she discovered that Xiaer's territory had the effect of "Blessing of the God of War". "But you are right. Doing so will indeed speed up my learning of Uncle Si's swordsmanship."

After saying that, Diana flapped her wings and rushed towards Zunesha again.

Shire came here today mainly to see the Elephant Lord. With spring just around the corner, the Elephant Lord had mentioned during their previous meeting that the elephant herds would once again embark on their journeys after spring arrived. This was not good news for Shire's tribe.

The Forest City is so large that without the help of the elephant herd, it would be a pipe dream to complete its construction quickly. Even with a number of worker ants available to mobilize, they still cannot replace the role of the elephant herd.

With a "bang," Diana was thrown over by the shockwave again. Before she could get up, the goblins around her rushed over and began picking up the feathers that were floating in the air and had not yet landed.

"Why don't you take a rest first?" Charles walked over and said to Diana with a smile.

"Aren't you heartbroken that you've lost some of the Angel's Feathers?" Diana propped herself up on her arms and sat up.

"No, no, no, this is enough." Charles nodded with a smile. They couldn't make too much at once. The phoenix eggs were already hanging up, and the magic craftsman Marshall still had a lot of other materials. The old man was now immersed in making magical items every day, and even his meals were delivered to him by the female workers in the clothing workshop. This led the female workers to say, "The boss is so kind, keeping such a crazy old man around."

And there's another reason that Ciel didn't mention: if we don't have enough Angel Feathers, I can make another bet with you.

Diana has a bit of a temper, after all, she was the former leader of the Crusades, but she has one good quality: she's willing to accept defeat when she gambles, and she's quite addicted to gambling.

In addition, her tendency to speak first and then consider later means she can almost always be outmaneuvered by Ciel.

Charles even felt that "Dazed Anna" was just someone the Church of Victory had chosen to take the blame for. She was the one who stepped up when things went wrong and took the blame when things went wrong, so that the chosen one, Lingard, would have enough time to grow.

"Take a break. I also need to speak with Elephant Lord." Charles glanced at his subordinates who were still collecting angel feathers and smiled.

"Alright," Diana said, flicking her wrists, and four longswords were planted in the ground. Then she looked up slightly at Charles, "Could you tell me again about that 'surrounding the enemy to save oneself' thing you mentioned last time?"

"To besiege the enemy and save oneself?" Charles raised an eyebrow. The other party was probably asking about the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao." "It is better to disperse and weaken a powerful enemy than to attack a concentrated and powerful enemy. It is more effective to attack the enemy's weak points than to attack the enemy's strong points. As the saying goes, 'It is better to divide the enemy than to fight them together.'"

These words made Diana frown and lower her head to think.

During this time, Charles read military command books about this world while discussing them with Diana. As a result, the theories from his past life that he often mentioned amazed her. Diana even said, "If I hadn't agreed to be your commander, I would have liked to crack open your skull and see what knowledge was stuffed inside."

"The God of War must be blind." This is something Diana has muttered several times.

Each time, Ciel would just smile mysteriously without offering any explanation.

Seeing that she was lost in thought again, Charles did not disturb her, but walked straight towards Elephant Lord.

"Zane Lord, there's something I need to ask..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zunesha said directly, "Goblin, I need your help with something."

Following the updates has never been so enjoyable.