Because spies had appeared around the Experimental Field, Landen had been forced to station more men there to prevent any accidents. All the Lizardfolk Spearmen who had followed him there were left behind.
In addition, a Dark Elf remained stationed there every day. With such strength in place, ordinary scouts no longer dared approach recklessly, much less tamper with the Experimental Field.
However, this also disrupted some of Landen's original plans.
Landen had originally intended to modify this Lizardfolk Warrior the way he had modified the Hobgoblin Knight. There were no absolutely useless races in this world. Many races were considered useless for two reasons: first, they had innate weaknesses in character, like goblins; second, they had yet to find the profession most suited to them.
Landen, however, knew a great deal about these professions.
That included information about the Lizardfolk.
The Lizardfolk were a highly intelligent race, far cleverer than goblins. Of course, compared with the few basic professions available to goblins, the Lizardfolk had many more. History had even seen legendary Lizardfolk Sword Saints who stood at the very pinnacle of strength.
Aside from such exceptional individuals, the Lizardfolk also had many more soldier professions. There were professions like spearmen, who could launch long-range attacks in close combat, as well as Shortbowmen and bowmen, who could attack from a distance.
Among some of the larger Lizardfolk tribes, professions that wielded magic had even emerged, such as Lizardfolk Shamans, Lizardfolk Witch Doctors, and Lizardfolk Druids. Once any Lizardfolk army was equipped with Lizardfolk Shamans, Lizardfolk Witch Doctors, and Lizardfolk Druids, its combat strength would increase severalfold.
But Landen was still dissatisfied with this Lizardfolk army. In his view, these Lizardfolk were indeed quite powerful, but they had not yet reached their full potential. And with the biological resources of his territory extremely scarce, what Landen needed was to maximize the role of every single unit.
Take these Lizardfolk soldiers, for example. The spear throwers and Shortbowmen already formed a fairly good army, yet in Landen's eyes, their strength was actually being scattered by these professions.
The spear throwers could not even be arranged in two rows, leaving them with only one row. The drawback was that after thrusting out their spears with all their strength, they had no chance to retract the spears, which were over a meter long, and launch a second attack.
The interval was simply too long. If there was no defensive line in front of them, the enemy would already have reached them and launched an attack by the time they pulled back their weapons.
The problem with the Shortbowmen was even more obvious. It had already been exposed in full when Hogg led the Hobgoblin Knights to smash through the Qivita Family's defensive formation in that passage.
This problem could be summed up in two words: too few.
Leaving aside the powerful bowmen who had entered the high-level realm, even among ordinary soldiers, the source of truly devastating damage in battle had never been the damage from a few arrows.
It was the widespread, multi-target damage caused by dense volleys.
Just imagine: if the Hobgoblin Knights had charged the defensive formation from the mountain walls on both sides while a rain of arrows blanketed the entire area, then even if they managed to break through, at least half of the Hobgoblins would have been turned into pincushions.
Large-scale, concentrated strikes had always been the most effective form of ranged attack, whether with arrows, magic, or something else.
As for Landen's troops, if these Lizardfolk soldiers were all bowmen, the damage dealt by a single volley would be even greater than the damage caused by bowmen firing several volleys in succession.
Therefore, after obtaining these Lizardfolk soldiers, Landen had already decided to turn them all into multifunctional troops capable of both close-quarters and ranged combat.
However, because of the spies, Landen had been forced to send some Lizardfolk to guard the Experimental Field. As a result, he could only begin by modifying that Lizardfolk Warrior. Losing one-fifth of the troops would inevitably affect the army's strength, but there was no other choice.
"My master, you called for me?" Kazvito stood before Landen. His tall body remained imposing even while he bowed, leaving him still looking down at Landen. His voice was extremely respectful, but his true thoughts were impossible to know.
If Landen did not have the Lord System, he might have been deceived by that deferential expression. But the - loyalty displayed in the Lord System constantly reminded Landen that these fellows might rebel at any moment.
"Kazvito, how much do you know about your race's history?" Landen set down the book in his hand. It was the book he had taken with him when he left Solennord, though now he was merely using it for show.
"Our race's history?" Kazvito was taken aback. Clearly, he had not expected Landen to ask him that. He tilted his head, thought for a moment, and said, "I'm sorry, my lord, but I don't know much. I only know that our race once ruled this world."
"Uh... All right, you don't need to continue." Landen stopped Kazvito from going on. What the powerful Lizardfolk chieftain had said with such a proud expression was actually the "shared history" possessed by most highly intelligent races in this world.
Put simply, they claimed that their race had a glorious history and had once ruled the world, and so on. In reality, aside from the few races, including humanity, that had truly ruled the world, the histories claimed by the others were nothing more than wishful thinking born of wounded pride.
"Let's get to the point," Landen said. "Have you ever heard of Lizardfolk Javelin Throwers?"
Kazvito thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, my lord."
"It's not strange that you haven't heard of them. The last time this profession appeared was at least years ago. Your tribe probably didn't even exist back then." Landen continued, "Your race has existed for no less time than the Orcs or Minotaurs, and history has seen quite a few of your people reach the pinnacle of strength. But if we're talking about the strongest Lizardfolk army, it would have to be the Lizardfolk Javelin Throwers."
A brilliant light flashed in Kazvito's vertically slit eyes, which were framed by extraordinarily thick eyelids. He hurriedly said, "Please teach me how to train them, my lord! I need them!"
"No, you've misunderstood, Kazvito. I need them." Landen corrected him calmly.
A flash of killing intent passed through Kazvito's eyes. Landen merely smiled indifferently and paid it no mind before continuing, "Of course, I can let you lead them."
After a pause, Landen continued, "Next, I'll first teach you some basic principles. Then you'll train them. So, are you still going to speak to me like this?"
Kazvito was silent for a moment before finally squatting down obediently. He looked up at Landen, appearing just like a pet dog—or rather, a pet lizard...
Before you continue