Chapter 11: The Forging Grounds

With the addition of an orc General into the circle of Millen, the group had reached a small goal in increasing diversity. After a night cleaning up the camp, Bishop showed signs of evolution, evolving into an 'Orc Pillar'. With the might and defensive capabilities of a giant, the orc stood as the most stalwart of the group, owing all of this to his new lord. His hunger was sated, replaced by a gut of pure iron.

Millen appreciated the devotion of his subordinates, finding it rather heartwarming even without having a heart. The feeling of warmth was still prevalent, giving him a sort of analog emotional scale.

The main problem for the moment would be the status of his subordinates' strength. Even if they are very capable of fending off against the normal brigands and monsters, they still would not be able to fight off a demon lord. This put Millen in a bit of a predicament: to settle down, or to train his forces.

The costs of training his forces would be quite high, meaning that he would have to find many worthy foes to temper himself and his subordinates. On the other hand, they need a home to provide them warmth and shelter. Training his forces could also be achieved through using metal as a medium for increased growth, gold being the best medium. But even with metal as a booster, Millen knew that his subordinates still needed real experience to be able to protect themselves.

But that did not bother him too much. As a Billionaire, he knew that investing in worthwhile retainers is what he must do to expand his strength in the long run. Loyalty was also a factor, someone that has stuck with you from the beginning is usually much more reliable than newly appointed subordinates. This is why he needed to make sure his core subordinates became stronger.

So he came up with a plan to do just that.

"Everyone! We will be abandoning this camp. Due to the threat of a possible invasion because of a multitude of factors and my general instincts, we will be moving to a cave which is east of us." Millen announced.

"Very well, Lord Millen."

"Velmorta, you will be receiving some new residents. Is that okay?"

"I am fine with it, just make sure to defend the entrance well." Velmorta responded.

Millen and his band of subordinates ventured towards the cave in less than ten minutes, arriving at he entrance. The cave entrance seemed to have been under heavy activity recently, having many footprints overlapping each other. The footprints seemed to be of normal human size, signalling a possible threat. Assuming that all humans desire to kill monsters, it is most likely that the cave is under threat of extermination.

"Bastion, can you smell any threats nearby?" Millen asked.

"Yes, there are 100 different scents which are not native to Jura. I believe that the scent of humans are the most prevalent of them all. Wait... there seems to be another scent, but I do not know what." Bastion announced.

"Well then, humans are inside my home. We can't have that, can we?" Millen clicked his metallic fingers, summoning his sword.

"Everyone, I will now assign you all a task to expand our influence and power. I believe that these humans must be quite powerful to be confident enough to embark into this cave given its reputation in the last Millenia. What they do not know is that this cave contains the best variety of low level nameless monsters!"

"Low level monsters have endless potential, just as a child could become anything as long as they try hard enough. So why not take them in now? This is my plan."

"We will gather an army of low level monsters from this cave while the humans are busy exploring the rest of the cave. These monsters must be of the lowest evolution, being at least 10 times more dense in magicules than their normal counterparts. I know many of you do not know how to tell which monster should be at what magicule amount, so I will handle that issue. But make sure only to gather the ones which you believe will satisfy my standards."

"Once we are done processing these newcomers, the fun will begin. Have you ever tasted the flesh of a powerful human?"

"As for me, I will temper myself."

Millen morphed his body into a floating set of armor, walking deep into the cave. The weak would be weeded out, and the strong would be picked up by his subordinates. Low level monster like the ones in the cave had yet to gain sentience, so a name is all it takes to bend them into his service. That is the strategy of the former billionaire, more akin to a conqueror, but what choice does he have? An organisation must have strong foundations, otherwise it will crumble.