Arrival at Hot Spring Valley

The entire unit was temporarily stationed at this outpost. After such a long march, most of them were exhausted. If they went directly into the Snow Mountain -capped mountains, there was a risk of many wounded or sick soldiers. Victor decided to take a portion of the troops into the Hot Spring Valley first.

Fortunately, the main force is currently in good condition. Although they are somewhat fatigued, they still have the ability to cross the Snow Mountains at this point.

Victor would set off first with his personal guards, while the rest of the army would stay behind at the outpost to protect the others, rest for a week, and then catch up.

Early the next morning, Victor led his team to set off first.

This time, besides his own guards, he only brought a few members of the medical expert team and several young scholars from the Research Institute.

Victor went to the Faith Order ahead of schedule this time because he was worried about the condition of the Faith Order's 'Venerable Lord'. If he didn't make it before the medical experts arrived, it would be detrimental to the integration between the two sides.

Victor still values Faith Order highly. Although it is a religious organization, it is not superstitious, which may be related to their unique internal structure and doctrines.

The followers of the Faith Order are relatively loyal but not radical, and most of the people under Keledu's command were able to easily integrate into life in Two Rivers County.

After all, the doctrine of the Faith Order is mainly about overcoming suffering and achieving a happy life.

Therefore, Victor believes that these believers in the Faith Order should have the potential to successfully integrate into the territory, especially since the Faith Order has many talented individuals. If these people could join the Golden Sunflower Family and become a force within the family, it would undoubtedly be a very good thing.

Furthermore, the entire Faith Order Headquarters only has a few hundred thousand people, which is indeed not many compared to the population of the entire Golden Sunflower Family's territories. It would be very easy to assimilate them, and Victor is not worried that they will have any negative impact on the entire territory.

At this stage, Victor simply hopes to increase the goodwill of the Faith Order's followers towards the Golden Sunflower Family through various means, laying a better foundation for future integration.

After trekking across the Ice Field for three days, Victor successfully led his team to the Hot Spring Valley.

Santos, who already knew that Victor was about to arrive, came out to greet him with Mizhene, along with the four apostles of the Faith Order.

After all, the person who came might be their future lord, so they had to show their attitude. Besides, the four apostles also wanted to see for themselves what kind of person this mysterious Duke was.

The moment the two sides met, the four apostles realized that Victor was indeed extraordinary.

Victor has a great appearance; he is tall and upright, handsome, and, most importantly, has an imposing presence.

What puzzled the apostles even more was that they could vaguely sense that this person also possessed great power, like the 'Venerable Lord' in his youth, who could bring great pressure to people.

However, the four apostles did not say much, after all, they were now considered to be subjects.

After everyone gathered together, Santos immediately knelt before Victor and said, "Duke Grace, I am truly sorry that I cannot greet you from afar."

Victor helped Santos, who was kneeling on the ground, to his feet and said to him, "You are on a long expedition, and you will inevitably have many things to do. It is only right to do your job."

Besides, I have plenty of guards, so you don't need to worry about it.

Victor was also very satisfied with Santos' performance.

This time, Santos led his troops on an expedition and, at a relatively small cost, captured the entire headquarters of the Faith Order, Hot Spring Valley, bringing great gains to the territory.

It was a great achievement regardless, and Victor wanted to use this opportunity to promote Santos.

Of course, this promotion only refers to Santos's position; Santos is still a long way from being promoted to Count.

Moreover, given the vassal structure of the Golden Sunflower Family system, it is not yet suitable for a new Count to emerge under his command.

Victor's decision to promote Santos was also related to his own plans.

Victor plans to reform the existing army. Currently, the Golden Sunflower Family Private Army alone has nearly 40,000 troops, including regular legions and Garrison Army.

Moreover, the army will need to be expanded in the near future, and it's not far from reaching 50,000 troops.

Victor plans to reform the Golden Sunflower Family's private army, not only to realize his long-held idea, but also to turn the army into two regular legions, one stationed in the Northlands Two Rivers County and the other in the Qinghe County of the Eastern Sea Province.

Victor had also discussed the future development of the Vela Nobles with Alex, and the conclusion was still to continue south.

Therefore, it is quite normal for the Golden Sunflower Family to shift its military focus southward.

Currently, the garrison in Qinghe County, which the Golden Sunflower Family has newly occupied, consists of only two regiments, half regular troops and half Garrison Army, with a total strength of about 10,000 men. This force is still far too weak.

After expanding the army to 50,000, Victor plans to merge the current Garrison Army and regular legions to form two legions, one of which will be stationed in Qinghe County.

In addition, the Golden Sunflower Family's naval forces will also move south on a large scale, with Qinghe County as their main anchorage.

Fortunately, Qinghe County has sufficient deep-water ports for the current family navy. At that time, most of the Golden Sunflower Family's navy will be stationed in Qinghe County, while Two Rivers County will be completely transformed into a naval logistics base and research and development center.

The biggest advantage of this southward shift of military forces is that it makes it much easier to launch an invasion, whether it's crossing the sea to attack the Liege Archipelago occupied by the Xister Kingdom or attacking the Chaos Lands. Troops can move more quickly, and supply lines are shorter.

The legion commander Victor, who remained stationed in the Northlands, was to be handed over to Santos. Santos was calm and composed, Northlands legion would most likely focus on defending their homeland in the future, while also being responsible for monitoring the Barbarians on the grasslands.

James, Ron, and others will join the legions on the southern front, becoming the future leaders of the Qinghe County Legion and commanders of the invading forces.

Santos's outstanding achievements this time can serve as an important basis for promoting him to Legion Commander.

However, Santos and the others were unaware of this; at the moment, Santos was only happy to have gained the lord's approval.

Seeing that it was almost time, Victor didn't want the group to stand in the cold wind any longer, so he quickly ordered everyone to enter the Hot Spring Valley.

Victor wanted to see this natural paradise, but Victor was greatly shocked when he passed the fortress at the mouth of the valley.

Outside the valley, it was still a world of ice and snow, while inside, although it wasn't exactly spring-like, the temperature had risen by at least 10 degrees Celsius.

Especially after he left the fortress and entered the valley, Victor saw with his own eyes that the world behind the fortress was still covered in greenery.

Victor was struck by the wonder of this world; he had no idea how many such wondrous sights existed.

You should know that such a place could not possibly exist on Earth in the previous life.

Such a large-scale hot spring, which can even converge into a water system and nourish thousands of square kilometers of fertile land, is contrary to the laws of nature.

The fact that it could be done here puzzled and intrigued Victor greatly; otherwise, he wouldn't have come here to investigate.

As he ventured deeper into the valley into the Revelation City, he increasingly discovered its unique characteristics.

Aside from the unusual weather, what he noticed most was the extremely high concentration of magical energy particles inside the Cha Valley, which was easily perceptible to him, given that he had already embarked on the path of the Transcendent.

Victor could tell from the physical presence alone that the concentration of magical energy here was at least three or four times that outside the valley.