Boiling Beast Bloodline-Chapter 2165 - 667: Preparing for Battle (Part 1)

Helen quickly understood why Richard talked about cousin Rommel that way.

Since the outbreak of the sea-land war, the twenty-three human nations have not stopped summoning strategic reserve forces. It was expected that during the truce period, the human nations would make use of the armed and trained reserve forces to quickly fill in the sea-land battlefield and control strategic choke points—yet, the reality is that all the human nations have dispatched their first batch of trained reservists to various coal mine areas, as if these black coals had overnight transformed into black gold.

If only one human nation did this, it might not be significant, but when so many human nations do it simultaneously, even Beamon, with its limited intelligence sources, sensed something unusual—before Rommel announced the "炭精" formula, coal, which was primarily used in metallurgy and forging, was not as important as iron ore in the Aegean’s mineral resources; as for the precious mines guarded by heavy troops, those had always been magical metal mines like Jing Gold, Mithril, and gems or gold and silver mines. Coal mines never enjoyed such treatment!

What was the reason that transformed the unremarkable coal mines overnight to stand on par with magical metal mines?

From Rommel’s makeshift army composition, Beamon could easily find the answer.

After being sent to the Sea Clan-occupied area in the Eastern Aegean by Florent, the makeshift army led by the general quickly formed an air force with a scale of as many as three thousand. Surprisingly, although this haphazardly constructed air force was put together in such haste, it swiftly integrated itself into a formidable fighting force.

It is well-known that to quickly form combat power in an air force, the most crucial factor is the flying mounts. Training air knights is relatively less challenging because controlling flying mounts is not too different from riding land mounts; both rely on refined rein-riding techniques to drive the mounts for tactical maneuvers. As long as the cavalry are top-notch and not afraid of heights, they can quickly adapt to the speed and movement of the aerial mounts with some training.

Flying mounts are different, apart from the more intelligent magical beasts. For ordinary avian creatures to be domesticated from the wild into obedient, understanding battle mounts, it requires a significant amount of time and effort. The reason humans were slow to integrate the Phantom Beast Dragons into combat power wasn’t due to a lack of qualified air knights, but because the Base Dragon is truly too clumsy. Even with the help of Beamon beast tamers and Goblins skilled in training Giant Beasts, these stupid Base Dragons can’t rapidly be trained into flying mounts with human-like understanding.

The speed at which Rommel’s air force formed was due to him having a significant number of well-trained, tame, and obedient flying mounts—in his air corps, aside from five hundred Golden Elf archers riding Dragon Hawks, there were also plenty of skilled Mulan knights riding Thunder Falcons, Fleet Eagles, Crested Ibises, and Beryls sweeping across the skies.

Thunder Falcons and Fleet Eagles are the royal air force mounts of the Holy San Francisco Empire and the Pompeii Empire, while Crested Ibises and Beryls are the standard air mounts of the Tang Zang Empire and the Dubin Kingdom. In today’s trend where "aerial combat" is becoming mainstream, persuading these four countries to part with their trained air mounts is an enormous challenge.

What could the impoverished general offer apart from the "炭精" extraction formula that would make these four countries willing to part with their prized assets so readily?

Upon hearing about this, Liu Zhanzhan could only muster a bitter smile.

Only Florent possesses the Malong Crystal Teleportation Array, and it’s not just Florent that has the magic teleportation array. With the widespread adoption of the bone-linked treasure box, Rommel’s ability to conduct diplomacy and military purchases without Liu’s knowledge didn’t surprise Liu at all—in fact, he had anticipated Rommel might attempt such a maneuver.

Liu Zhanzhan had seriously considered whether he should preempt Rommel by using the "炭精" extraction formula to trade with major allies for scarce resources; but with his current status being vastly inferior to Rommel’s, even knowing the possibility existed, he couldn’t help hesitating and pondering before the incident happened—what if Rommel hadn’t even intended to do this, and he jumped the gun senselessly, providing the strategic weapon’s manufacturing technology to humans for nothing?

Since there’s no regret potion available in the world, Liu wasn’t prepared to feel regret either.

From Rommel’s perspective, trading the "炭精" extraction formula for massive military supplies was indeed a last resort—without roots, backing, or clan in Aegean, the general had no choice but to carve a bloody path through battle in order to secure and expand territory! War heavily relies on logistics, from recruiting soldiers, marching, fighting, to the replenishment of food, weapons, medicine, and military supplies, all of which require abundant financial and material resources. Although neither humans nor Beamon would sit idly by while Rommel fought behind enemy lines, relying on others is eventually risky. If things fall apart at a critical moment, it would be a matter of life and death for the general!

Rommel’s personality is akin to someone who believes "my road is carved out by my steps," valuing self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and never begging for help. Thus, he was willing to use "炭精" in exchange for military aid without raising eyebrows.

Even though it was known in advance that Rommel wouldn’t suffer losses, his straightforward methods still irked Liu a bit. After all, Liu had just obtained the炭精 formula from Rommel and hadn’t even warmed his seat. However, what comforted him was the fact that he wasn’t the unluckiest—the Moore Elves of Lucian were the true victims. The Blood Elves had invented炭精, this strategic weapon, many years ago; but due to their poor fortune, they were stuck in the coal-poor Underground World for over ten thousand years. Just as they finally saw daylight and began accumulating power in secret, the shameless plagiarist Rommel came along and wholesale pirated their intellectual property. Not to mention the military aid he procured from the Dubin Kingdom and the Tang Zang Empire, just the military supplies offered by the twenty-three human nations constituted an astronomical figure.