Chapter 45: Getting Rich
The ideas in Su Xiao's mind became more refined. Faith could inspire people, but it also had many drawbacks, such as fostering extreme or stubborn ideologies.
The Sun Church handled this well. How did they achieve it? The answer was: don't set rigid rules; let people believe however they want.
The core of the Sun Sect wasn't about preaching or the like, but the gradual influence brought by the power of the sun.
For example, Su Xiao wouldn't bother with positions like bishop. He wasn't really trying to establish a sect; he was building a Sun Legion style force.
It was enough for the boar warriors to worship and yearn for the sun. This could become their spiritual home, making them believe they were a race blessed by the sun, not lowly creatures enslaved by the Vassal Alliance.
The most brilliant part was that if he tossed an Apollo on the battlefield in the future, the boar warriors' morale would surely skyrocket.
After weighing the pros and cons, Su Xiao clicked the small glass vial into the upper slot of the injection gun. The evolution nest in front of him opened, revealing a heart-like core after a moment. He injected the soul blood of the Sun Warrior into it.
The evolution nest immediately began to change. Golden patterns appeared on the pitch-black nest, and sparks covered the entire structure, floating upward.
A wave of heat hit him. Witnessing this, Molei shuddered for some reason. She felt that something incredible was about to happen.
"Bai Ye, when are we going to war with those two sides?"
Molei spoke. She and Yueshitu were now eager to start a battle with the contractors from Holy Light Paradise and Watchful Paradise. That was when they could reap the benefits.
"Wait."
Su Xiao wasn't in a hurry to fight Holy Light Paradise and Watchful Paradise. The Sun Fortress was in a high-speed development phase. From now on, every day they delayed meant an increase of tens of thousands of boar warriors.
"Alright."
Molei walked down the stairs, heading back underground to find Yueshitu.
The evolution nest's upgrade lasted about 2 hours before finishing. Besides the instinct grant, the evolution nest now had a second trait it could bestow upon boar warriors, named Sun Holy Emblem.
"Sun Holy Emblem (Passive, Lv.63): Willpower +35 points. When under sunlight, the body absorbs a small amount of solar power, accelerating wound recovery and moderately reducing pain from injuries, making the heart fearless."
Another ability that boosted willpower. The "Battle Instinct" skill increased willpower by 25 points, and now the "Sun Holy Emblem" ability added another 35 points.
Without mentioning anything else, with this double boost, the boar warriors' willpower was worlds apart from before.
Having upgraded the evolution nest to this extent, Su Xiao had done everything he could. He returned to the main control room on the fifth floor, sat in a chair by the arched window, and gazed out at the continuous mountain ranges and the endless grasslands of the mutated beast territory to the east.
He took out a communicator and contacted Kaisa. It connected after a few seconds.
"How is Azba's preparation going?"
Su Xiao now needed a large number of pig-headed people. The slave merchant Azba was the first choice.
The current transaction method was that Kaisa acted as an intermediary between Su Xiao and Azba. Azba didn't trust Su Xiao much but trusted Kaisa, who had other business dealings with him.
In reality, that business was Kaisa taking the mutated beast furs, sharp teeth, and other items from Su Xiao and reselling them to Azba.
"The channel is open. Azba handles at least tens of thousands of pig-headed people every day. We're his big client."
Kaisa's voice came through the communicator. The current situation was that Kaisa had become Azba's strategic partner.
No one was stupid. If Su Xiao, through Kaisa, bought tens of thousands of pig-headed people daily, or even more, the slave merchant Azba would inevitably suspect where they were going. Whether for mining or training fighters, the demand was too high.
Sometimes, places beyond the law's reach were more terrifying. For example, Azba's underground business. He was one of the shareholders of the "Life Factory," which was the place that continuously supplied pig-headed people—essentially their "breeding farm."
Conception, birth, growth, etc., all took place within the "Life Factory." From infant to laborer, the time was long, but the massive numbers compensated for this.
If the slave merchant Azba started to suspect where the pig-headed people Kaisa bought were going, things would get very bad.
Su Xiao and Kaisa had already solved this fatal flaw. Where did the bought pig-headed people go? That was obvious—they were resold to the human side.
Su Xiao had traded [Transmutation Solution] with the human side, establishing a preliminary friendly relationship. With this connection, it was incredibly easy for Su Xiao to set up a pig-headed person sales channel on the human side.
Pig-headed people were such useful laborers that the human side had never refused them. Their pig-headed population was probably about 30% less than the Vassal Alliance's. It was said that they had a "Life Factory" many years ago but dared not make it public due to the Vassal Alliance's deterrence.
Under Su Xiao's management, Kaisa's identity had become a peer of the slave merchant Azba.
Regarding selling pig-headed people to the human side, Azba neither opposed nor refused. His attitude was: as long as nothing went wrong, keep selling. It was too profitable. When the Tribunal spoke up, he would stop cooperating with Kaisa.
Would the Tribunal stop it? No. Li Xiniwei, a mid-to-high-ranking member of the Tribunal, had already bribed the colleagues responsible for this area.
Thus, the channel for selling pig-headed people to the human side through Azba and Kaisa wouldn't be cut off until it caused very serious consequences.
As for problems, it was impossible. Those pig-headed people were nominally sold to the human side but were actually sent to the Sun Fortress in the border region.
With this layered transfer, even if Su Xiao bought tens of thousands of pig-headed people a day, or even 100,000, the slave merchant Azba wouldn't worry.
The human side was a huge market. The Vassal Alliance had always suppressed their pig-headed population. Now that the gap was slightly opened, the surge in supply and demand was normal. Besides, who would dislike having more money?
At 10 a.m. that day, the first batch of pig-headed people arrived at the Sun Fortress. They were first led to the cafeteria, where they had the most abundant meal since birth.
In oversized metal lunch boxes, rice formed the base. Braised mutated beast meat, tender and soft, was the second layer. Thick, glossy gravy soaked into the rice. On top were 4 large meat buns, 3 eggs, 2 chicken legs, and a crisp, tangy pickled vegetable side dish, plus fruit for dessert. If it was Monday, breakfast and dinner came with fresh milk.
The food was even better than what the Vassal Alliance soldiers got. The problem was that after arriving at the Sun Fortress, there was less than a 10% chance of dying on the spot due to failed transformation in the evolution nest.
Batch after batch of pig-headed people were sent in. The evolution nest ran nonstop, and so did the kitchen.
A boar warrior walked out of the evolution nest. It had tusks, and black bristles grew on its head, the back of its head, and its spine.
Additionally, on its upper arm was a dark gold holy emblem. The emblem had a circle of gold-red on the outside, black inside, and a few golden cracks in the center, as if darkness was about to shatter, revealing the sun beneath.
It was precisely because they hadn't embraced the sun that they yearned for it. That was probably why most of the Sun Holy Emblem was black, rather than the imagined all-gold design.
To Su Xiao's surprise, this boar warrior, emerging from the evolution nest, knelt on one knee before him and lowered its head.
Su Xiao didn't think the boar warrior did this out of gratitude or the like. From arriving at the Sun Fortress to entering the evolution nest, besides remembering the good food, this boar warrior probably had no deep impressions of other things.
From this inference, the boar warrior's behavior wasn't due to insect race genes, but because of the sun faith, or perhaps both.
This wasn't random speculation. Jila was Su Xiao's permanent summon, so the demon insect race were all his absolute subordinates. Even without Jila's orders, demon beasts would curl up or prostrate themselves upon seeing Su Xiao.
With the War Lord boost, Su Xiao wasn't worried about a mutiny among the boar warriors. Now, with the double stability of insect race genes and sun faith, theoretically, no one could replace Su Xiao as the commander of the Sun Fortress.
The number of pig-headed people under Su Xiao's command grew explosively. Late that night, the evolution nest stopped.
Name: Sun Fortress (Renamed).
Level: T0 (Invincible Fortress).
Fortress Total Population: 85,206.
Female Pig-Headed People: 3,250 (Logistics Personnel).
Dwarf Pig People: 11,270 (Miner Laborers).
Beast Mages: 5 (Elite Units).
Boar Warrior Head Chiefs: 4 (Hausman, Steel Fang, Tufu, Gluttony).
Boar Warriors: 70,657 (Fortress Core Combat Force).
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