Turning Waste into Treasure

"Hogg... Hogg, how did you rest last night?" Landen looked at Hogg as she walked up from the underground level. Even though it was Hogg's third day here, he still felt unaccustomed to calling her that. Facing such an incredibly cute beast-eared cutie, Landen couldn't force himself to associate her with the hobgoblin that had let out strange roars, had bloody meat shreds hanging from its claws, and reeked of foul odor.

"I am very well, my Lord!" The beast-eared cutie replied with a serious expression and an extremely solemn tone.

This brought another wry smile to Landen's face. He had already guessed this would be the answer, and he also knew that Hogg hadn't rested at all last night. In fact, she hadn't rested since she arrived.

And this all stemmed from one of Landen's orders.

Dozens of hobgoblins had been suppressed by Landen and were locked up in the underground levels of the bunker. Even the room where Aila had been held was emptied to imprison them. Landen's order to Hogg was to use her Interrogation Technique to make them truly submit.

Actually, Landen's original intention was for Hogg to just deal with the two hobgoblins with Black Iron strength. The other low-tier Black Iron hobgoblin had already been impaled by Mikhail, and the remaining one had become the absolute leader of the hobgoblin tribe. If those two listened, the rest of the hobgoblins wouldn't be a problem.

However, whether Hogg misunderstood Landen's meaning or was genuinely interested, after dealing with the two hobgoblins in a not-so-long time, she began the "re-education" of the other hobgoblins.

Pity these hobgoblins, who had just suffered nervous breakdowns from the Mind Storms of two Mind Flayers. Before they could even rest, they were subjected to inhuman torture once again. This time, it wasn't just mental. Hogg mastered Interrogation Technique, and physical torment was what she was best at and enjoyed the most.

Uh, don't ask Landen how he knew Hogg enjoyed this. Every morning when the beast-eared cutie emerged from the prison cells to report progress to Landen, she seemed immensely satisfied, her spirit even more energetic and uplifted than Landen's after a good night's sleep. Yesterday morning, Landen even saw a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth – this beast-eared cutie had maintained a very serious expression since her appearance, and this was the only time Landen had seen her smile.

Hogg's behavior of torturing others for her own amusement was quite effective. When Landen entered the prison cells again, the two hobgoblins with Black Iron strength led the way, crawling to his feet and kissing his boots – this group of hobgoblins was now completely obedient.

In fact, when Landen successfully captured them, the system had already determined they were successfully subdued. What was different now was the Popularity Value. This value represented the satisfaction of the residents in the territory. The higher this value, the more satisfied the residents were with the territory, and if it dropped below a certain level, it could trigger resident uprisings and rebellions; the lower the value, the more likely it was.

When Landen subdued the Mind Flayer family, the value was , which already surprised him, as his relationship with the Mind Flayers was a transaction, not even truly a lord-resident relationship. He guessed the system grudgingly gave him some.

And when the quest was just completed, the value immediately became , which was still a very low value. If Landen had ignored those hobgoblins, perhaps before long, they would have started a rebellion.

As for now, Landen was no longer worried at all, because the current Popularity Value, after Hogg's "training" of those hobgoblins, had surprisingly become !

This was an absolutely safe value.

"Detected that [number] hobgoblins can be converted into soldiers. Convert?"

This was a prompt that popped up after Landen "inspected" the residents. Hobgoblins, which was equivalent to half of the tribe, was a quantity that made Landen very satisfied. However, Hogg clearly didn't think so.

"My Lord, I don't understand. These wastes are useless except as slaves and food. Making them soldiers is irresponsible to you and your territory. I strongly advise against it!"

As Landen's first and currently only follower, only Hogg dared to say such things. The Minotaur Butler used to dare, but after witnessing these events firsthand, the Minotaur Butler became even quieter.

"Come on, your River Claw Gnoll Clan is just a bunch of beginner village noobs who haven't even reached level one. Moreover, the leader of that group of hobgoblins has Mid-tier Black Iron strength, just like you. You call them wastes, so what are you..."

The assessment of strength is based on the height of one's main attribute. Generally, a normal adult human has base stats of , and when their main attribute, which is the highest attribute, reaches , they have entered the Black Iron realm and achieved Low-tier Black Iron strength.

When the main attribute reaches , they enter Mid-tier Black Iron, and when it reaches , they enter High-tier Black Iron.

However, advancing from Black Iron to Silver is not so easy. It requires the main attribute to reach a full , which is double that of High-tier Black Iron. This process is naturally difficult, and during this process, when the main attribute reaches , one is qualified to be called Black Iron Peak.

Therefore, in this regard, Hogg, whose strength reached , indeed still falls within the Mid-tier Black Iron category, just like the strongest hobgoblin. This also aligns with her status as only a Green-tier talent.

Of course, these words only appeared in Landen's mind. He wasn't foolish enough to say them out loud, so when he spoke, he said something like, "There's no choice. You should know the situation of my territory. Even in the Underworld, this is considered a barren land. In such a place, let alone a group of hobgoblins, even a single goblin is a precious resource."

"Also," seeing that Hogg seemed to want to say more, Landen quickly spoke first. Facing such a beast-eared cutie speaking so earnestly was an overwhelmingly cute sight, and Landen feared he would soften his heart and agree to some unreasonable requests.

"You must know that in this world, there are no true wastes. These hobgoblins are called wastes simply because they haven't met someone who can make them shine yet. Coincidentally, I am that person."

"Moreover, if I can train such a group of waste hobgoblins into an elite force, wouldn't that also prove how capable I am as a Lord?"

"My Lord, you have a way to make them stronger?" Hogg stared at Landen with her big, cute eyes, clear disbelief written in them.

"Of course," Landen shrugged confidently. "This Omnipotent Lord System is only truly omnipotent when I use it. How could I, like this, be unable to solve such a simple problem? Have you heard of Dwarf Knights?"