# Chapter 5: Elite Units
When elite units engage in melee/ranged attacks, they are imbued with the "Blazing Sun" effect. (100 elite units can trigger this effect).
Blazing Sun Effect: Deals 320~470 points + 0.2%~15% of maximum health as true burning damage to enemies (units with Blazing Sun status, upon first attacking an enemy target, will deal 470 points + 0.2% of maximum health as true damage; each subsequent attack will stack one layer of the Blazing Sun mark on the enemy, increasing the maximum health damage taken by 3%, stacking up to 15%).
Tip: The Blazing Sun mark can stack up to five layers (this is the maximum), and will persist for 60~9000 seconds (depending on the current number of layers).
When the enemy is at full "Blazing Sun mark" status: All friendly "melee" elite units attacking this enemy unit will deal 470 points + 15% of maximum health as true burning damage, with a knockback effect.
When the enemy is at full "Blazing Sun mark" status: All friendly "ranged" elite units attacking this enemy unit will deal 320 points + 10% of maximum health as true burning damage, with a severe healing suppression effect.
Description: Praise the sun.
Sale Price: Cannot be sold.
...
In terms of true attribute enhancement, the eight-star Sun Lord is 10 points lower than the eight-star War Lord, but the Sun Lord's strength lies not in this aspect.
In fact, a 20-point all-attribute bonus is already very powerful, not to mention that the second bonus is an all-ability level increase of Lv.18. To put it simply, suppose a beast tribe chieftain has a Lv.62 passive ability. That ability would be at the seventh rank level, but after increasing by Lv.18, it directly reaches Lv.80. This would be a ninth-rank level passive ability.
Moreover, elite units are different from soldier units. A ninth-rank elite unit must have at least 7~8 abilities. If a beast tribe chieftain with 7 passive abilities receives the all-ability level increase of Lv.18, the combat power boost would be quite astonishing. It's safe to say this would be a major chieftain.
In other words, as long as 30 elite units are recruited, the combat power of these 30 elite units will first reach the chieftain level, and then, due to the all-ability increase of Lv.18, reach the major chieftain level.
The intuitive ranking is: Elite Level < Chieftain Level < Major Chieftain Level < Minor Boss Level < Leader Level < Lord Level < Overlord Level.
If the "Sunshine Nourishment" and "Blazing Sun" buffs are obtained, then these hundred or so beast tribe elite units can go from elite level to minor boss level. Imagine what it would be like to lead a group of minor bosses.
But this is not the final lineup. Don't forget Bubu Wang's aura ability. In previous army-style tactics, Bubu Wang couldn't provide auras because there were too many friendly targets. Auras are not completely cost-free abilities. Providing auras to too many friendly targets would cause Bubu Wang to quickly become exhausted and deplete his body energy. However, providing auras to a hundred or so elite units is no problem. In fact, this is the most powerful aspect of auras.
After multiple potential awakenings and improvements, Bubu Wang's current aura ability is:
"Aura Specialization (Passive, Lv.60): Permanently fixes the level and range of all aura skills mastered by Bubuteni. The level and range of all aura skills are based on this skill.
All aura skill levels: Lv.60.
All aura skill range: 1090 meters.
All aura skills receive bonus attributes: True Charm Attribute.
Mastered aura skills are as follows:
Blessing of the Ice Goddess·Lv.60: All friendly targets within the aura range recover 610 health points and 56 mana points per minute.
Spirit Grant Aura·Lv.60: Within the aura range, the maximum health of all friendly targets is increased by 35%.
Awakening Aura·Lv.60: Within the aura range, the stamina recovery speed of all friendly targets is increased by 40%.
Swift Aura·Lv.60: Within the aura range, the movement speed of all friendly targets is increased by 20%."
...
That is to say, when the elite units under Su Xiao's command reach a hundred or so, the total bonuses they can receive are: "All True Attributes +20 points", "All Ability Levels Increased by Lv.18", "Sunshine Nourishment", "Blazing Sun", "Ice Aura", "Maximum Health Increased by 35%", "Stamina Recovery Speed Increased by 40%", "Movement Speed Increased by 20%".
With all these bonuses stacked together, an elite-level unit can be directly boosted to the combat power of a leader-level unit.
Although Su Xiao is a lord this time, his strength is definitely not just at the lord level, but at the overlord level. That is to say, when the Sun Lord bonus faction takes shape, it will be an overlord leading a group of leaders.
Is this an elite squad? No, this is a boss squad, and a boss squad with a group of boss-level units. This is the power brought by the combination of the eight-star title Sun Lord and Bubu Wang's aura ability.
After reviewing the attributes of the Sun Lord title, Su Xiao had a clear idea of how to kill the absolute-strong spellcasters. As long as the boss squad is successfully formed, this boss squad would be a strongman killer. With melee and ranged units properly coordinated, the threat to strong individuals is enormous.
Of course, directly confronting an "absolute-strong" with a boss squad would not yield any advantage. Although the boss squad has attack methods to kill an "absolute-strong", they would also be instantly killed by the absolute-strong. The key lies in timing and terrain.
As long as the boss squad is recruited, there is a way to solve the problem of negative reputation. Su Xiao does not plan to use the boss squad to kill enemies on the main battlefield, both because the risk is too high and because the rewards are not substantial enough.
The advantages of the boss squad are strong individual combat power and flexible movement. Combined with Baha's ability to open alternate spaces for concealment, they can be used to penetrate deep behind enemy lines. Whether it's "White Hoof Port" or "Ancestor Lighthouse", both are important areas of the sea tribe. Raiding these two key locations, along with killing the sea tribe's high-ranking officials, will surely yield a large amount of faction reputation.
As for where to find a hundred or so beast tribe elites or beast tribe chieftains, this is why Su Xiao needs to go to the seventieth district and use the teleportation tower there to go to Iron Fortress City.
Iron Fortress City, as the most chaotic large city near the front lines, is a place where dragons and fishes mingle together. At the same time, there are many beast tribe chieftains. Normal beast tribe chieftains and major chieftains are unlikely to join Su Xiao's command because, although Su Xiao is a lord, he has no fiefdom. To put it bluntly, it feels like there's no future.
If Su Xiao had a fiefdom, after a beast tribe major chieftain joined his command, the chieftain's wife, children, and even all family members would move to his fiefdom and enjoy various treatments corresponding to the major chieftain's authority.
There is a slum area in Iron Fortress City where many beast tribe elites who have committed mistakes and been punished live. Although these disreputable fellows have skills, no lord is willing to employ them.
In the past, Su Xiao would not recruit such subordinates either. But this time is different. With the Sun Lord's bonus of "Elite Unit Loyalty Increased by 70 Points", the scope of recruitment suddenly expands.
The scenery outside the bus train window flew by. Because the main city, Iron Fortress City, is too large, it felt like riding a long-distance train. Looking at the wheat fields outside the window, this feeling was even stronger. This was the one hundred and thirtieth district. Most of the fresh meat and fresh milk in the main city area were provided by nearby districts.
Half an hour later, the train stopped. A beastman dressed in formal attire, wearing a small round hat, boarded the train and strode toward Su Xiao.
"Lord, this is what you need."
The newcomer handed over a small booklet and got off the train just before the doors closed.
Su Xiao opened the booklet. On it were names, followed by age, gender, address, what positions they had held, etc. This item was a bonus from the transaction with Grand Commander Kane. In a place as large as the main city, there were definitely beast tribe elites who had committed mistakes in the past and were no longer employed.
This was something to do before going to the seventieth district. Su Xiao eliminated names from the notebook one by one. Soon, he found a spotted fox tribe member named Pilu. This guy had been a financial officer, but made the wrong choice at a critical moment, ending in a miserable outcome.
When the bus train reached the thirty-fifth district, Su Xiao got off. According to the location recorded in the notebook, he came to a small alley filled with garbage, where trash cans emitted a strange smell.
Dong dong dong!
Amu knocked on the rusty iron door. After at least half a minute, a voice came from inside: "Who is it?"
Baha glanced at the sewage that was almost overflowing in the gutter and said, "We're here to repair the drainage pipes."
"You finally came? I've been waiting... Don't kill me! The money is under the mattress."
Spotted Fox Tribe·Pilu said while retreating into the room. Seeing this, Amu moved the Dragonheart Axe away from his neck.
A moment later, Su Xiao and Spotted Fox Tribe·Pilu sat facing each other across a small table in the room.
"I think highly of you. Work for me from now on."
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, the Spotted Fox Tribe·Pilu across from him had hesitation in his eyes. Clearly, the -17 point Charm attribute was playing a key role.
"Sir, who are you?"
"A lord without a fiefdom."
"L-Lord?!"
Spotted Fox Tribe·Pilu showed surprise on his face, but then worry arose in his heart. He tentatively asked, "Lord, why are you looking for me?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. A crystal card similar to a Scarlet Card condensed in his hand. He placed it on the table. Baha beside him said, "Take this to Iron Fortress City. When we need you to do something, we'll contact you."
After leaving these words, Baha followed Su Xiao and left. When only Spotted Fox Tribe·Pilu remained in the dirty room, his shifty eyes looked at the crystal card in his hand. Then he sneered and tossed it into a drawer.
"I'm not going to do something that could get me killed."
Spotted Fox Tribe·Pilu muttered to himself with a smile. But after a while, he looked around the dirty room filled with a faint strange smell. His expression became somber. A moment later, he looked at the photo frame on the bedside table. Through the cracks in the glass, he could still see the smiling faces of his wife and children. But all of this, after he lost his official position and became a drunken wreck at home, he pushed away time and time again. When he came to his senses, there was no one beside him. He really couldn't blame others for this.
"Tsk~"
Spotted Fox Tribe·Pilu looked at the crystal card in the drawer. After hesitating repeatedly, he finally picked it up. Perhaps no one would have thought that a guy with very weak combat power, whom the sea tribe hated to the point of gnashing their teeth, would appear.
...
Forty-second District, Old Street, inside a tattoo shop.
Jingle~
The shop door was pushed open. Su Xiao walked into the tattoo shop. A faint smell of alcohol wafted over. He looked at the recliner and workbench. The shop owner wasn't working. From the panting sounds coming from the back room, the owner was busy with other things.
Finally, the back room door was pushed open by a rain fox tribe woman with eye shadow. After counting the cash, this rain fox tribe woman gracefully walked away. Then, from the back room emerged a man who appeared to be human but had snake-like vertical pupils and gray-white hair. He was bare-chested, with a large area of tattoo ink on his side abdomen, seemingly used to conceal some mark.
"This customer, what would you like to get tattooed?"
The tattoo shop owner spoke enthusiastically with a smile. Su Xiao closed the tattoo booklet in his hand and tossed it onto the workbench.
"Be at Iron Fortress City before tomorrow morning. Someone will contact you there."
Su Xiao placed a translucent blue crystal card on the workbench. Seeing this, the tattoo shop owner asked suspiciously, "Customer, I don't provide home service for tattoos."
"Oh, then spend the rest of your life here."
With that, Su Xiao walked toward the tattoo shop exit, silently counting in his mind: 3, 2, 1. Then the other party would say, 'Customer, my price is very high.'
Just as Su Xiao pushed open the shop door and was about to walk out, the tattoo shop owner behind him, the man called Viper, said:
"Customer, my price is very high. And there are countless small-time chieftain-level scumbags like me with bad records. Why come to me?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't pay any attention to Viper behind him. He just pushed the door and left.
Only Viper remained in the tattoo shop. He picked up the crystal card on the workbench, pondered for a moment, shook his head, and put it into his tool box. Then he picked up a brush and drawing board to continue working on a tattoo design. But after drawing for a while, he frowned uneasily, turned his head to look at the crystal card in the tool box.
"I'd better... not take the risk. Life is good now, hehehehehe."
Viper let out a unique laugh. Combined with the snake-scale-like patterns on his skin, it gave people a sense of unease. Although he was vengeful, he was also somewhat of a fence-sitter, and was good at stirring up trouble. This was Viper.
Viper's frown deepened. He suddenly had the thought, why not go take a look? It wouldn't cost anything. Just then, the tattoo shop door was pushed open, and a man who looked like a wolfman walked in.
Seeing the newcomer, Viper smiled and said, "Evil Fang, I encountered a good thing today. A big shot is preparing to hire me at a high price."
"Pfft~, have you had too much to drink?"
Soul Wolf Tribe·Evil Fang was amused. Hearing this, Viper picked up the crystal card, slapped it on the workbench, and angrily said, "Bullshit! This is the employment certificate. As long as I bring this to Iron Fortress City before tomorrow morning, someone will receive me."
"There's no fixed location. How will they receive you?"
"This is a positioning mark, or rather more like a certificate. A certificate of passing the test of that big shot. Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I said more."
"Is that so? Congratulations then."
"I got two bottles of good wine yesterday. I'm happy today, so I'll treat you to a drink. Wait here."
Viper made a move to put the crystal card into his pocket, but found that he was bare-chested and his pants had no pockets either. He could only carefully lock the crystal card in the safe next to the workbench, then got up and went to the back room.
After a few minutes, Viper came back carrying two bottles of wine, only to find that Evil Fang was no longer there. He opened the safe and found the crystal card inside had disappeared. Seeing this, Viper smiled. He took out a tracking device from under the workbench, completed the positioning, and muttered to himself, "Headed straight for the space tower? Quite proactive."
Viper made a move to stand up, but suddenly froze in place. Because on the workbench in front of him, a crystal card was lying there. On the previous crystal card, there was the beast tribe numeral 2. On this one, the beast tribe numeral 3 was printed.
Viper picked up the crystal card on the workbench and found a note underneath it, which read: 'Before tomorrow morning. Don't be late.'
Cold sweat seeped from Viper's temples and forehead. Being able to silently place this crystal card and note on the workbench in front of him also meant being able to slit his throat.
...
On a moving bus train, Su Xiao opened his eyes. Bubu Wang's evaluation of Viper was similar to what was recorded in the notebook: cautious, good at hiding in the shadows, waiting for things to develop, like a concealed venomous snake, only striking at the critical moment.
Compared to Bubu Wang's side, Baha wasn't going so smoothly. He almost got into a fight with the elite beastman he was trying to recruit. But the result was acceptable. Judging from the elite beastman's performance, he would most likely go to Iron Fortress City tomorrow morning.
Checking the time, Su Xiao prepared to go to Iron Fortress City now. The remaining dozen or so elite beastmen in the main city would be handled by Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha.
When Su Xiao arrived at the space tower in the seventieth district, it was already past five in the afternoon. After smoothly passing the guards with his lord emblem, he went up to the top floor, stood on the teleportation array, adjusted the scale, and activated it. Just as the teleportation array started, unstable spatial fluctuations emerged. A space tower like this shouldn't have such spatial fluctuations.
Bang!
Su Xiao smashed the central disc of the teleportation array with one hand. At the same time, although he wanted to use Dragon Shadow Flash to penetrate space, translucent tentacles had already bound his left arm and left leg. The spatial teleportation was completed. With a prepared mind against an unprepared one, it was truly difficult to guard against. However, for such unexpected situations, Su Xiao always had a trump card: the life-saving item [Drifting Bait] generously sponsored by Molei.
On the street outside the teleportation tower, a beastman with a wild hairstyle sat on the railing of a building's roof. He turned his head and said to the nearby shadows: "The person has been sent over. But with that intensity of teleportation, what was sent over should be a corpse. This guy was too perceptive (minrui). He almost broke out of the teleportation."
"It doesn't matter if he's alive. This collaborator Kane found from who knows where must be eliminated. The unknown is the most dangerous. Since he chose to cooperate with Kane, he is our enemy."
A voice came from the shadows. Hearing this, the beastman with the wild hairstyle shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
...
Boom!
The spatial teleportation ended. The world around Su Xiao quickly became clear. Although this teleportation was quite bumpy, for him, it was completely within an acceptable range. The more important question was, where had he been teleported to?
Looking around, Su Xiao found himself on an open-air teleportation platform. Several stone pillars stood around it. Many humanoid beings wearing scale armor were looking at him. These creatures had pale blue-white skin, some had gills on both sides of their jaws. Overall, they appeared strong with slightly moist skin. Some had mane-like bone spurs on their shoulders and backs. If he wasn't mistaken, these were sea tribe.
"How far is this from Iron Fortress City?"
As Su Xiao spoke, he sheathed the Dragon-Slaying Flash and inserted it at his waist. If he wasn't wrong, this was the main battlefield, and this place was a garrison point of a sea tribe legion.
Hearing Su Xiao's calm question, a nearby mermaid warrior was stunned. He subconsciously wanted to answer that it wasn't too far, but ultimately held back.
Semi-fluid dark red battle armor gradually climbed onto Su Xiao's body. It was the "Quasi-Daddy Level" Bloodthirsty Battle Armor. The setting sun from the horizon shone over. Under the blood-like afterglow, Su Xiao drew the long blade from his waist. And all around him, within a dozen meters, sea tribe densely packed together, so many that the edge couldn't be seen. But, was Su Xiao really the one being surrounded at this moment?