These 500 handsome, cool and pretty pure-blooded Elven guards made up his base as well as trump cards.
Amongst them were 100 Elven rangers, Elven warriors, Elven knights, Elven hunters, and Elven witch bladers. Apart from these, there were also 10 mages. Sia, who had first come to visit him, was one of the Beginner mages.
Amongst the 500 guards, the Elven witch bladers were the strongest. All of them were warriors almost reaching the Intermediate level, their levels only slightly lower than Nox and Norton.
William knew how to use these people.
"Since we're hunting, we will need to enter the Blackleaf Forest. So let's do something else too."
William Blackleaf walked out and said to Nox, who was standing by the door, "Nox, get 300 guards and let's go search for wild beasts groups near the town and remove some of the existing dangers!"
Right now, he was wearing a tailored Elven leather armor. He had a long sword hung around his waist, while he carried a wooden bow, which wasn't of the highest quality. The Elven equipment was definitely more appealing and attractive. Basically, any equipment that had a little quality would include some additional attributes…
Such as…
Charm.
It seemed as though only Elves and the Seraphkin could add various Charm levels onto their equipment, especially the Elves, who could add any level of Charm points to their equipment.
"Yes, my lord." Nox nodded in reply and rushed towards the military camp.
When William met up with Lautner, there were about three hundred Elven guards who appeared before them as well.
Amongst these guards, there were 100 warriors, 50 rangers, 50 archers, and 100 witch bladers. The knights didn't have to be part of this. This wasn't the plains mainland and they were only going into the Blackleaf Forest where the knights could never use their entire capability.
Playing a game also required living basics.
Riding and fighting were alright too, but they required strong, agile magical beasts, not normal riding horses.
"My lord, you call this hunting, but why does it look like you're trying to start a war…" Lautner placed a hand against his forehead, feeling slightly confused from seeing the fully equipped guards.
William shook his head, glancing towards those neat rows of Elven guards instead. He couldn't help but feel proud. It was no doubt they were pure-blooded Elven warriors. No matter their levels, they all looked the same when it came to their military manners.
That was why he took a deep breath and ignored the peasants' confusion as they passed by. He shouted awkwardly, "My guards, I'm your Lord, William Blackleaf.
"Maybe you don't really like to follow me!
"But I know you're the best and most capable warriors!
"When I first came to this territory, I might have given you a bad impression. But in the last few days, I have been resting, and I have reflected upon myself deeply!
"I know I made a lot of mistakes.
"That's why I decided to change and develop this territory seriously."
His words were extremely touching, and several of his people had their jaws agape, their mouths large enough to push a whole sausage in…
However, William didn't care. He was a Legendary NPC; his defense stats were high enough for him to be stronger!
He paused for a second before he continued speaking, "If our town wants to develop, we cannot forget about money. I know that our territory doesn't have much revenue now, but I believe that treasure is present in the woods before us. Everyone, please come with me as we trample over the thorns and difficulties—bravely—for our territory!"
"Yes, my lord!" The 300 Elven guards shouted in unison, their force strong and bold. It didn't matter if they had shouted sincerely, it looked frightening in itself. After all, following their leader was something required of a subordinate.
William nodded with a deadpan face, lifting his hand to pull his sword out before he pointed the blade towards the south. "Follow me!"
"Yes!"
Lautner stared at William Blackleaf, the feeling that this boy seemed to have changed into someone else nagging at him. He used to laugh foolishly, but now he had become a smart boy!
However, William didn't think too much about it. He was merely motivating the guards' loyalty and fervor. Wanting them to be completely loyal to him required a lot more than this, and it was alright to do it slowly.
The soldiers in the territory were originally all half-blooded Elves and humans.
However, after his father disappeared, that group had disappeared the fastest and almost made him bankrupt by wiping clean his assets.
That was why he only had these 500 pure-blooded Elven guards. As for the development of his military strength, this wasn't the time yet. Without money or food, he wouldn't be able to get it even if he sold himself.
They headed south. Eight kilometers away from the town, they finally arrived at the periphery of the Blackleaf Forest.
Three hundred Elven warriors were considered a mighty military force—at least in this remote corner of the world.
After all, to a small nobility in a human country, it was good enough to have a military strength of more than twenty people.
The moment they entered the forest, the skies seemed to darken.
William led the group, with Lautner following closely behind him, helping to navigate. There was an Orc tribe that was the closest to them if they headed straight. It was a most threatening Orc tribe.
Among the 300 Elven guards, 50 rangers had already spread out. They were the best scouts, as they were able to hang from tree to tree like a monkey while observing the vicinity. This prevented any accidents from happening. At the same time, they were amazing archers as well.
The Elven hunters spread out as well. However, they divided themselves into squads of ten, each carrying bows and arrows, accompanied by daggers while others carried large bags with giant, strong nets. All of the tools were used for hunting.
They were even able to make traps. Apart from their special items, they mostly used anything they could find around them to cast them into tools. After all, it was very hard for NPCs to have Space Treasures that could store items.
As for the Elven warriors and Elven witch bladers, half of them were strong in Physical Strength and power, while the other half were strong in power and agility.
The Elven warriors were either holding curve blades or hand-held shields as they played the role of shield warriors as well.
As for the Elven witch bladers, they held long blades, able to choose between single-handed blades or double-handed blades. They could choose to use spears as well, a rather cool occupation.
Besides, a witch blader had more battle energy. Their skills, no matter long-ranged or short-ranged, were able to release a relatively stronger battle-energized sword skill.
Only a short time had passed before three Elven rangers flew over and told everyone that there was a small Orc tribe 800 meters ahead of them.
Orcs, Death Souls, and Demons were considered part of the Dark faction.
Humans, Elves, and the Seraphkin were part of the Light faction. However, these three races rarely contacted or communicated with each other.
As for the half-blooded Elves, Gnomes, and Dwarfs, they were neutral.
However, being described as neutral was just in name. They rarely participated in the two factions' wars because they liked to take advantage of the situation and siphon benefits for themselves. If one side could give better benefits, they would lean towards that side more.
Also, town Lords, who were part of the neutral camp, would rush towards wherever there were benefits. So, saying that they had no relations with either camp was just being nice.
However, something interesting was that William actually triggered a mission.
[Mission: Crisis near the territory.]
[As a neutral Lord of a small town, if you want to develop your territory, you have to first ensure your people's safety. Only making them safe can you win their loyalty. If you want to continue developing, you would have to eliminate any possible dangers within a thirty kilometers circumference by either wiping them or taking them in.]
[Level: A-]
[First stage: Accidentally discovering an Orc tribe. The violent and bloodthirsty Orcs will never be your friends, so kill their men and take their women!]
[Reward: 5000 experience]
[Reward: Accidental news about the mine.]
William Blackleaf stared at the mission introduction, the corners of his lips twitching. This was indeed the mainframe of the game. It was still as playful as ever. However, William still felt extremely touched, because he never thought that he would really receive a mission. It was even an A- mission! If he could complete it, the experience points gained would be sweet.
Something he once anticipated had become real now. It was indeed exciting.
Then, in this case…
He didn't need to throw his life away grinding like in his previous life. After turning in and waking up early, his physical condition seemed to be getting better as well.
That was why he immediately said, "This Orc tribe once sneak-attacked us when I was taking over. It was precisely because of that incident that caused the loss of so many peasants.
"Besides, those dirty, violent Orcs will always be our enemies! We have to eliminate them all now!
"How many Orcs are left in this Orc tribe?"
"There are more than 700 Orcs, with about 180 warriors. From our observations, there aren't any other Orcs that have gone out to hunt, so most of them should be in the village. They have very few guards. If we can seize an opportunity, we can quietly eliminate those guards quickly," the Elven ranger said angrily. It was clear that they were very confident in themselves.
How could Elven rangers be so confident of their skills? It was because they were really strong.
The combat strength of the various races in the Gods continents were like this: At the same level, 1 Elf = 1 Demon = 1.5 Half-Elven = 1.5 Seraphkin = 2 Humans = 2 Dwarfs = 4 Orcs.
As for the Gnomes, Elves of the same level didn't even need to use their weapons to be able to handle more than ten of them at the same time.
There were also small mermen present all over the world. An Elf of the same level should be able to handle more than a hundred of them…
If the Orcs didn't have an alliance with the extremely strong Demons, on top of their crazy fertility skills, they would have long been extinguished…
When comparing the fertility rates, the Gnomes gave birth in huge batches while the Orcs produced in batches of three to four.
As for the small mermen? Have you seen a fish's eggs? There was no end to them as though they appeared out of nowhere.
After finding out about the Orcs' numbers, William immediately made some battle plans, before he pointed his blade towards the Orc tribe and began leading the charge.
I was just about to fall asleep and here you are, giving me something endearing. For the mines, I guess I'll have to count on the vicious rivalry between our people. William licked his lips, walking towards the Orc tribe with large strides.