Real-Time Strategy Mode
Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "You look terrible. I can have my siren priest heal you."
Sgelari (Hydra demigod): "No, it's no use. My body was severely damaged when I was captured, and my divinity was forcibly stripped away, leaving me weak."
Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Haha, it seems I made the right bet. This guy is so weak, I don't have to worry about him being overpowered for now. Once I get the other two Seed of Elements and advance to the Chaos Elemental, I won't be afraid of him rebelling."
Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "You can live freely, but I guess you can't go too far. You'll be safe here. I'll have my men keep away from you. Now, please excuse me."
After releasing Sgelari, Xiao Yu swam towards Hydra City. At this moment, the Water Elemental army had already occupied the city. The Naga who participated in the war were either dead or had fled, but many murloc slaves remained, trembling and huddled in their lairs, waiting for the conquerors' fate.
As they traveled, the Water Elemental paid their Xiao Yu, and Xiao Yu returned the greeting to his subordinates. It felt truly wonderful. Soon, he arrived at the Temple of the Ocean, located at the highest point of Hydra City. This was the heart of Hydra City, and occupying it meant the complete end of the Naga's rule.
Leading a group of bosses, both big and small, Xiao Yu entered the Temple of the Ocean.
World Announcement: In October of the 1375th year of the Azure Age, Water Elemental Prince Azathoth of the Water Elementals led his Water Elemental Legion to defeat the Naga Legion, thwarting the Naga's plan to invade the Water Elemental Plane. Subsequently, he led his Water Elemental Legion into the Prime Material Plane, where he once again defeated the Naga army and occupied Hydra City. This event has been recorded in the Firmament Chronicle.
System notification: Based on your performance in this event, you have gained 1753 reputation points.
System notification: Due to your command and victory in a battle involving tens of thousands of people, you have been awarded the title [Commander]. You can view the relevant information about this title in the title section.
System notification: Because you have killed more than 500 Naga in a single battle, you have been awarded the title [Naga Bane]. You can view the relevant information about this title in the title section.
Originally, the titles were just for show, but with the new patch, they now have an added special effect that reflects the title's abilities.
Xiao Yu currently holds four titles.
[Water Elemental Prince] Title Attributes: You are a member of the upper echelons of the Water Elemental race, with noble blood flowing through your veins. Ordinary elemental creatures therefore revere you, and your reputation gain speed in the Water Elemental Plane is increased by 30%.
[King of The Immortals] (Custom Title) Title Attributes: You are the ruler of the Immortals organization, and all members of the Immortals will pledge allegiance to you for this reason.
[The Commander] Title Attribute: When equipped with this title, you are more adept at commanding your subordinates, and they are more willing to obey your orders.
[Naga Bane] Title Attribute: Increases damage against Naga by 10%.
Each of these four titles has its advantages and disadvantages, but there's no need to change the title for now.
System notification: Based on your performance in this battle, you have obtained the following loot.
Xiao Yu opened the package and found an extra bag of spoils inside.
Upon opening it, I found quite a few items inside, dozens of pieces of equipment.
However, only two items were truly valuable; the rest were just junk.
The first item--
[Name: Shark Rider's Spear]
[Category: Weapons - Polearms]
[Quality: Epic - Story Weapon, No Level Requirement]
[Function: Attack 60-80, Armor Penetration +15]
[Equipment Effect (Active): Shark Beacon. Throws a Xiao Yu at a target. The target hit by the Xiao Yu will receive a Shark Beacon. Three seconds later, a shark will suddenly appear in a seemingly random manner and launch a devouring attack on the target, dealing massive damage. There is a certain chance to trigger Execute effect on small creatures.]
[Note: Whether you're at sea, on land, in the sky, or in a pub, always be wary of shark attacks.]
The second item--
[Name: Azshara's Royal Insignia]
[Category: Jewelry - Badges]
[Quality: Epic - Story Item, No Level Requirement]
[Function: Stamina +17, Spirit +23]
[Equipment Effect (Passive): Royal Token. When equipped, you will be revered by the Naga race.]
[Note: A small golden badge bearing Queen Azshara's mark, awarded to Naga warriors who have made significant contributions in serving the Queen.]
Both pieces of equipment are pretty good. Although I can't use them myself, I can put them in the loot box or use them as quest rewards when I give out quests to adventurers later.
System notification: You have completely defeated the city's garrison and captured Hydra City. As the conqueror, the fate of this city is now in your hands.
Option 1: Destroy the city.
Option 2: Plunder the city.
Option 3: Capture the city.
The consequences of these three choices are also quite different. Destroying the city will yield a large amount of strategic resources, which are extremely valuable in the game Sky World. These resources can be used to construct buildings, produce troops, and expand influence, making them arguably the most important thing for monster factions. However, doing so will completely destroy Hydra City.
If you choose to plunder a city, it will cause enormous damage, but the city's basic buildings can be preserved, and you can still obtain a large amount of resources, roughly equivalent to destroying 50%-80% of the city.
Choosing the third option, occupying a city, will only grant you access to the city's existing resources, but you can use the city for your own purposes.
Xiao Yu naturally chose the third option. He needed to establish himself in the Prime Material Plane, and that wouldn't work without a territory.
Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Reveal my command: Conquer this city."
System notification: You have chosen to occupy Hydra City. The city now belongs to you. You can view the city's information and manage the city at the Temple of the Ocean in Hydra City.
System notification: Your faction has occupied a territory, and your faction type has been upgraded from an unaffiliated faction (Level 1) to a city faction (Level 4). Your faction's population cap has been increased from 100 points to 5000 points.
Xiao Yu skillfully opened the monster faction interface.
[The Immortals (Elemental Legion)]
[Faction Leader: Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince)]
[Capital City: Hydra City (Ocean City)]
[Power Level: City Level]
[Population: 37/5000]
[Power Assessment: Great Ambition in Progress]
This faction rating is also a new addition in the latest patch. Each faction will have a general rating, ranging from extremely weak (like Goblin Camps) to very powerful (Throne of the Tides), and then to invincible (Alliance and Horde). Currently, the Immortals' faction rating is either a promising start or a long and arduous road ahead.
Then Xiao Yu opened the Hydra Transformer's management interface.
Hydra City (The Immortals's Royal City)
Tier 3 Ocean City: Existing Buildings --
Naga Temple (Unique): Provides a population cap of 100, allows territory control, and can recruit a special unit – Naga Witch (Unavailable).
Queen Azshara's Temple (Unique): Provides a population cap of 100 (Naga Royals only) and allows recruitment of Naga Royal Guards (Unavailable).
Naga Nest x14: Provides a population cap of 100 (Naga only) and allows training of Naga Warrior, Naga Raiders, Naga Shark Riders, and Naga Scouts (not available).
Murloc Nest ×: 6: Provides a population cap of 100 (Murlocs only) for training Murloc Slaves and Murloc Raiders.
Sea Beast Lair x4: Provides a population cap of 100 (Sea Beasts only) and attracts nearby Sea Beasts to join your ranks.
Coral Cave x14: Provides a population cap of 100 (unlimited).
Spawning Grounds x6: Produce baby fishmen.
Coral Reef x13: Attracts surrounding Marine Life to this location, providing them with food.
Fish Workshop x4: Construction tools, crafting weapons.
Reserved Resources: Shells x43567, Coral Rocks x33674, Pearls x5478, Food x6798583, Baby Fishmen x672.
Population limit: 4195/5000.
Xiao Yu thought for a while before he understood the uses of these resources. Obviously, seashells corresponded to wood, coral rocks to stone, and pearls to gold coins, because the strategic resources stored in the ocean were different from those of the monster forces on land.
As for why there are 672 Murloc babies, it's because Murlocs are everywhere in the ocean. They are weak in combat and easy to enslave, so whether it's Water Elemental, Naga, or mermaids, they basically use Murlocs as vassals.
These 672 Murloc babies can be trained as Murloc slaves to be used as farmers, or trained as Murloc raiders to be used as cannon fodder.
System prompt: Due to changes in city culture, some building functions are no longer usable. You can destroy these buildings to recycle materials and construct buildings that reflect your culture.
Here are the buildings you can build.
Water Elemental Temple (Unique): Provides a population cap of 100, allows for city management and control, and enables the recruitment of Siren Priests, Water Priests, and Ice Priests. Construction requires: 3000 Shells, 2000 Coral Rocks, and 500 Pearls.
The Path of Whirlpools (Unique): A dimensional portal leading to the Water Elemental Plane. Construction requires: 500 Shells, 4000 Coral Rocks, 1000 Pearls, 50 Arcane Crystals, and Time-Space Magic Technology (this technology can be purchased from magical factions such as Dalaran).
Water Elemental Temple: Provides a population cap of 100 (Water Elemental creatures only), allows training of Water Elemental, sea elementals, water sprites, and sea sirens. Construction requires: 1000 shells, 2000 coral rocks, and 500 pearls.
Frost Palace: Provides a population cap of 100 (ice elemental creatures only), and allows training ice elementals, ice fairies, and ice golems. Construction requires: 1000 shells, 2000 coral rocks, 500 pearls, and 100 Frost Essence.
Primal Pool: Produces Water Spirits. Construction Requirements: 1500 Shells, 3000 Coral Rocks, 500 Primal Water.
Hydra Nest: Provides a population cap of 100 (Hydra only), and trains Hydras. Construction requires: 4000 Shells and 5000 Coral Rocks.
Ice Tower: A defensive building that can release ice magic orbs that travel extremely far to attack. Construction requires: 200 Shells, 400 Coral Rocks, and 50 Ice Ore.
Xiao Yu studied the building list for a long time, and finally realized with dismay that he couldn't build most of the buildings at the moment.
Shells, coral rocks, and pearls are common materials, but things like arcane crystals, frost purification, Primal Water, and ice ore are rare materials. You either have to buy them from other players or spend in-game currency to buy them from the system. Of course, he had collected some when he was adventuring in the Water Elemental Plane, but the amount was pitifully small, which was just a drop in the ocean.
These materials can also be bought at the auction house, but they are generally not cheap. If you were to open up the entire Hydra City's building sequence and build it to the maximum, it would probably cost at least several hundred thousand.
That's why people say monster forces are something most people can't handle; the investment alone can scare away a lot of people. But the rich have their ways, and the poor have theirs. Because of his experience, Xiao Yu knew what to do.
P. S.: This chapter has a lot of data, so I've added 300 extra free words. Please don't accuse me of padding the word count!