Chapter 96: Gaining Command Authority

"What shall we do with this giant elephant's corpse?"

After the group rested for a while, they found handling the giant elephant's corpse difficult.

Of course, everyone still considered the druid's mindset.

After all, they were comrades who had just fought side by side and defeated a powerful foe.

But such a prominent spoil could not be ignored, and everyone fell into silence for a moment.

"Life and death are both part of nature's cycle; the giant elephant's sins should be repaid by those Abyss Demons that corrupt nature. You need not mind my presence; strengthen yourselves as much as possible to confront future demon threats!"

Ai Wengli calmly broke the silence, then shapeshifted into a crow and flew toward the camp.

He wasn't that extreme a druid, but seeing Mu Yi and the others dissect the elephant was something he could not accept, so turning away was a good choice.

Ai Wengli's departure let everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

On Zongwang, people often clash violently over differing beliefs, ideals, or faiths, and they did not wish to do that to comrades who fought side by side.

Ai Wengli's proactive concession eased everyone considerably.

"Unfortunately, none of us are necromancers; otherwise this big fellow could certainly be useful in the future!"

The tradition of wizardry study dates back far, even to the time when mortals first discovered magic, and its intricate curriculum is divided into various scholarly traditions.

The current mainstream eight branches are: Protection, Curse, Divination, Enchantment, Necromancy, Shaping, Illusion, Transformation.

The necromancy school is devoted to exploring the forces of life, death, and the undead in the cosmos.

Because necromancy is closely linked to death, most people consider necromancers to be terrifying evil beings.

In fact, although their powers are taboo in many societies, many necromancers are not on the evil side.

However, necromancers are seldom seen, so they can only sigh at Treasure Mountain.

If they could harness this big fellow, they could accomplish more.

Mu Yi thought for a moment, cut a large chunk of meat from the giant elephant's body, and planned to place it in his backpack.

"Meat from a corpse infected by Abyssal aura has mutated; in most cases it is inedible, and eating it may cause the consumer to also be infected by the Abyssal aura!"

The catfolk Ai Lier noticed Mu Yi's move and whispered a reminder to him.

"Just for some experiments!"

Mu Yi shook his head, knowing just by looking that this thing couldn't be eaten by ordinary means, but he wanted to try using idealist combat techniques to see if he could make something out of it.

Mu Yi gave the catfolk who kindly reminded him a smile he thought was friendly.

The catfolk darted behind the female mage Klei, sticking its head out to watch Mu Yi; although she knew Mu Yi was a good person, her heightened perception still made her fearful of him.

After a brief discussion, they only took a pair of tusks, auctioned them using Zongwang Disaster Coins, and the female mage Klei and another mage each claimed one, apparently planning to make some kind of artifact.

The Zongwang Disaster Coins from the auction were split among the other squad members, and Mu Yi received 3,700 coins, prompting him to remark that the old wizards really do have money.

Mu Yi, seeing this, wanted the elephant's heart; they had destroyed the brain, so in theory the heart should still be intact.

No one was interested; what use could a heart corrupted by Abyssal aura have?

But since Mu Yi brought it up, they symbolically took 5,000 Zongwang Disaster Coins from him and then handed the item directly to Mu Yi.

Mu Yi stored the massive elephant heart in a Zongwang void warehouse, a convenience of Zongwang: by spending a portion of Zongwang Disaster Coins, one can store items within Zongwang.

Compared to any other storage space, Zongwang's void warehouse is absolutely safe.

The massive magical elephant corpse may be difficult for material‑world people to handle, but for Zongwang players they have a universal method.

That is to sell it to the Zongwang Trading Center, and a Transcendent‑peak magical elephant corpse, perhaps only one step from Legend, can obviously fetch a good price.

After all, for humans like Mu Yi, Abyssal aura is a toxin, but for Abyss Demons it is not only harmless but also advantageous.

Zongwang generously paid a sky‑high price; after deducting the cost of transporting the elephant, everyone received 10,000 Zongwang Disaster Coins.

It turned out to be a rather fruitful outing.

Just as the group, in high spirits, returned to Camp Seven, a Zongwang squad from another direction delivered bad news.

"What did you say?" Kailier said, unable to believe his ears.

"The Wanderer discovered an Abyss Succubus; she's gathering a tide of corrupted beasts, and we may be in big trouble!" Maen Xue Ti reiterated his words.

"That really is terrible!"

Kailier's back broke out in cold sweat; if this corrupted giant elephant were also summoned by the succubus, the camp would likely be beyond rescue.

"We should now go find Camp Leader Weikdu Ke Li; it's time to request reinforcements from the rear—this is no small trouble!"

Mu Yi said gravely, that after witnessing the corrupted elephant's power, he was quite cautious about this world‑scale war.

It doesn't require much; just a Transcendent creature similar to the corrupted elephant, paired with the dense beasts of Twilight Forest, and the camp would seem on the brink of disaster.

"We've already notified the camp leader, but communications seem to have issues; he can't contact the rear for now!"

The orc shaman shook his head; they had immediately notified the other side hoping for assistance, but it seemed the situation was worse than they had imagined.

It's only the first day, and they've already encountered so many troubles; only heaven knows how they'll manage to last a month.

Their mission this time is closely tied to Camp Seven; if Camp Seven falls, their contribution value will be deducted by ninety percent.

Such matters, tightly bound to their interests, cannot be ignored.

"I'll go talk to him!" Mu Yi said.

Kailier and Maen Xue Ti both nodded, the orc shaman opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

He was displeased by Mu Yi's lone‑wolf tone, but recalling Maen Xue Ti's words and seeing Kailier's reaction, the orc shaman ultimately swallowed his doubts.

In the center of the camp stood a Gothic spire clock tower, the camp's mage tower.

Weikdu Ke Li stood beneath the tower, his face solemn as he stared at the tightly shut tower doors, silent.

Creak, the tower doors opened, a robed mage frowned as he stepped out, looked up at Weikdu Ke Li, and couldn't help but smile wryly and shake his head.

"Still a failure?" Weikdu Ke Li asked, somewhat numb.

"The Abyssal aura has completely severed our communications with the rear; any transmission will be swiftly polluted and rewritten. The array's power here is too weak to break through!"

He gave a brief explanation, and the mage was somewhat annoyed at his own incompetence.

Shall we gather those Zongwang mages together? Perhaps they could help? Weikedou·Keli proposed a solution.

Go post the mission, I hope these miraculous apprentices can bring me a surprise!

Saying that, the Robed Mage again slipped into the mage tower; although annoyed, he did not want to give up, he still needed to keep trying.

Weikedou·Keli sighed deeply, the sun was slowly setting, the light shone on him, not a bit of warmth, instead a chill welled up.

"Camp Chief, someone is looking for you!" the soldier reported to Weikedou·Keli.

I know!

He let out a slight breath of foul air, Weikedou·Keli regained his calm expression; at least at this moment he could not waver.

Today's news is already bad enough; I hope the next brings good news.

"Long time no see, Your Excellency Camp Chief!" Mu Yi looked at Weikedou·Keli and greeted him.

"It's you, let me see your contribution!" Weikedou·Keli had an impression of this Zongwang player who asked him for troops.

The lesser fear aura emanating from Mu Yi struck his will, but only for a moment, he shook off its influence.

A soldier's will is often firmer than an ordinary person's, and he himself is also a strong warrior.

How is this possible?

After he transcribed the Zongwang data via the Magic Crystal, he raised his head in surprise and looked at Mu Yi.

Nearly thirteen thousand contribution points, and this was only in one day.

What on earth happened, how did you get so many contribution points?

An Evil God's Altar, a demonized giant beast, and some scattered demonized creatures!

Mu Yi briefly summarized his experience, then detailed the information about the Demonized Giant Elephant to the other party.

The evil god's curse? On behalf of all soldiers, I thank you for your contribution!

Weikedou·Keli gave Mu Yi a military salute.

What a piece of good news for this terrible day!

At last he brought him a piece of good news, at least eliminating a future formidable foe for them.

Although the camp had siege equipment and magic scrolls, even if they could kill the enemy, they could not stop the enemy from destroying the camp.

Without the camp dispelling the abyssal aura, all soldiers would be exposed to its erosion; even if they could repel the beast tide unleashed by the succubus, this region would surely be lost.

Without their suppression of the camp, once the abyssal aura is allowed to spread outward, the consequences are unimaginable.

If all three defense zones fall, Modelos will surely see its people suffer.

Striving to suppress his inner thoughts, Weikedou·Keli turned his gaze toward Mu Yi.

You came to see me, there must be something else, right?

I have a special method that can raise the soldiers' combat power; with their help, I can accomplish much more!

Mu Yi straightforwardly demanded command authority.

After the incident with Kaili'er, he also doubted the command ability of this Camp Chief before him.

Based on your contribution, I could originally only give you command of 260 soldiers, but considering the circumstances… I can allocate five hundred men!

Weikedou·Keli recalled everything that happened today and made an extraordinary decision.

This is also one of the advantages of the real world—negotiation and consultation usually yield some extra help, unlike the rigid settings in a Dungeon.

Mu Yi glanced at his Zongwang Panel's legend level, vaguely feeling that this thing seemed to be taking effect.

After a moment's thought, Mu Yi came up with a compromise.

Formations require training; he could not simply make a group of untrained recruits stably maintain a formation unless they kept them stationary.

But to let them retain the formation's buff in battle, ensuring the smooth flow of Cloud Energy and heavenly-earthly essence when it circulates, he must train these troops.

"If you are willing to believe me and entrust all the troops to me for training, I can guarantee to improve their combat ability to a certain extent, how about that?"

Faced with Mu Yi's request, Weikeduo·Keli hesitated for a moment.

Mu Yi's strong desire to lead troops and his own contributions made Weikeduo·Keli finally nod.

If Mu Yi could truly enhance the troops' strength, then for the impending major battle, this would be good news.

He could not hand over all command authority of the troops to Mu Yi; his duty was to hold the camp, and he could not risk everything by placing the camp's safety in others' hands.

But if the training were conducted within the camp, he would still be willing to give it a try, after all, for the impending yet unavoidable war, he and the Seventh Camp needed to do something.

"I appoint you as acting deputy camp chief!" said Weikeduo·Keli, taking out a medal from the tent and handing it to Mu Yi.

"This is proof of your identity; I will announce this appointment to everyone shortly. Before I revoke your identity, you may mobilize all troops, but you may only take five hundred troops out of the camp!"

Mu Yi took the medal, nodded at Weikeduo·Keli, feeling his inner trust, and he would not betray that trust.

"To deal with the impending trouble, I suggest we send someone to immediately contact the rear!"

After pinning the medal to his chest, Mu Yi quickly entered the state and began his advice on war preparations.

"The communication array is temporarily unable to communicate; I am preparing to gather your mages to solve this problem." Weikeduo·Keli shook his head.

"If the array is useless, just send someone!" Mu Yi said decisively.

Having not planned for victory, first consider defeat; the ideal situation is still having reinforcements from the rear.

"This place is too far from the rear; even if we send cavalry back, nonstop it would take over ten days!" Weikeduo·Keli said, pointing to the nearest city on the map.

"You write a letter, I will go persuade a player to return and deliver the message! With his speed, he can get back in five days." Mu Yi added, saying he already had a suitable candidate.

Kailier, his griffin would be an excellent means of transport, and Kailier has maxed out his social attributes, so even if something happens in the rear, he will surely be able to do something.

The remaining three chapters will be released in the afternoon.