Watching the ordinary ogres obediently follow orders and leave,
Lyle couldn't help but quip, "Dealing with these ogres, this method is indeed much simpler and more brutal."
These ogres clearly knew their leader was under his control, yet they still only listened to Ogre Gu's command. Such 'intelligence'…
It must be a racial trait.
"Now I'll have to stay here for a while."
Lyle surveyed the environment within this area and told Ogre Gu, "Help me clear out a clean area here."
"Alright."
Ogre Gu spoke in a rough voice, his terrifying, fierce eyes showing a hint of daze as he nodded.
"Charm-type" mental control magic, unlike hypnosis-type magic, makes the controlled person subconsciously perceive the caster as their most trusted and intimate individual.
This type of mental control does not cause stiffness or confusion in the controlled person's actions or consciousness.
As long as the controlled person isn't asked to do something completely against reason, like commit suicide, virtually anything can be made for the charmed target to do.
Ogre Gu's massive physique was not only suitable for combat but also excellent for labor. In just half an hour, he cleared a clean area.
Lyle then had Ogre Gu cut down a few large trees and casually built a simple wooden shed in the cleared area.
The next period was for waiting.
He didn't know how many ogres were in the entire eastern region of the Tob Forest, but he knew it would take some time for those few ogres to gather all the ogres in the entire region.
While waiting,
Lyle wasn't idle and began to replenish resources like magic scrolls.
His current magic power reached 48 points, allowing him to create Fourth-tier magic scrolls. However, Lyle planned to first replenish Third-tier "Summon Angel" scrolls.
When his magic power was insufficient,
Lyle would spar with Ogre Gu. Having such a strong, durable, and resilient opponent
was too much of a waste not to use for practice.
During this process, he naturally did not use the Power of Curse.
He was well aware of his shortcomings.
Up to this point, all his battles had basically relied on the enhancement of skills and magic to win.
To put it bluntly, it was through opportunistic means.
His true combat level.
Lyle was self-aware; compared to the masters in this world who trained step by step, the gap was much larger.
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
It wasn't until the evening of the second day
that the departed ogres returned, bringing with them ogres from various parts of the surrounding forest.
Seeing these returning ogres,
Lyle felt a slight relief. With no movement for a day, he had thought these ogres had all run away.
As the ogres gathered, the strong stench of various odors once again permeated the air, and the previously open area began to become crowded.
Looking from above,
this open area seemed to have gathered an army of ogres.
Facing the chaotic roars and shouts of this large group of ogres, Lyle impassively began to count them.
With these higher-ranking ordinary ogres present, there was no need to worry about the ogres losing control. This demonstrated the suppression of higher races over lower races.
Lyle now somewhat understood the advantage of the ogre race's low intelligence.
"271 ogres?"
After Lyle finished counting the total number of ogres, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
This number should not be the total.
He silently calculated that the average experience for an ogre was around 300. If all these ogres were killed, he could gain about 80,000 experience points.
"Excluding the outer areas, have this group of ogres capture all high-level—er, large beasts or magical creatures and bring them here."
"Not dead ones, live ones!"
A glint of fervor flashed in Lyle's eyes as he spoke to Ogre Gu.
After hearing Lyle's instructions,
Ogre Gu gathered the ordinary ogres to issue commands, and the ordinary ogres then dispersed to give orders to over two hundred ogres.
The commands were passed down layer by layer.
Over two hundred ogres quickly moved, dispersing into the forest.
"Now it's time for the harvest season." Lyle's eyes flashed with excitement upon seeing his plan was feasible.
He had these ogres capture large beasts or magical creatures, which were at the top of the food chain in the Tob Forest.
As for most ordinary beasts and magical creatures,
Lyle would not hunt them, nor did he intend to interfere with the outer regions, all to avoid attracting outside attention.
Moreover,
the deaths of these large beasts or magical creatures would better facilitate his subsequent plan.
Even if Ogre Gu was killed, with no powerful beasts or magical creatures in the core area, there would naturally be no need to worry about the chaos caused by the absence of Ogre Gu's authority.
Days passed one after another.
Lyle became busy. Besides crafting magic scrolls and sparring with Ogre Gu every day, the remaining time was spent dealing with various large beasts or magical creatures sent over by the ogres.
The average level of these beasts and magical creatures ranged from 12 to 17.
Initially,
in just three days, Lyle gained 10,000 experience points. However, in the following days, the rate of experience gain gradually began to decrease.
Lower Fire Moon, September 23rd.
Half a month had passed.
Outside the wooden shed,
"Woof." The little Evil Spirit Hound lay on the ground, its belly bulging, seemingly finding it difficult to even move.
During this time,
Lyle had almost filled his daily schedule. Besides crafting magic scrolls every day or replenishing "Orb of Death" with spare magic power,
he constantly fought with Ogre Gu to better integrate the powers he wielded.
The other busiest one was the little Evil Spirit Hound. The various powerful beast or magical creature corpses were like heaven and earth compared to the monotonous goblin food it had before.
Now, the little Evil Spirit Hound could no longer be described as "little."
Sufficient food and nutrition
allowed the little Evil Spirit Hound's size to grow to about a meter in height within half a month.
Its entire coat was shiny black, especially the two horns on its head, which had fully grown out. Faintly,
the little Evil Spirit Hound already exuded a dangerous aura.
Although the number of corpses was large, they were consumed quickly. The little Evil Spirit Hound itself couldn't eat much; the real bulk was consumed by the ogres. The appetites of over two hundred ogres easily consumed the large number of captured beast corpses.
During this process,
the number of ogres also decreased by over 20.
Bang!
A corpse of a fierce High-tier tiger, over three meters long with patterned stripes, was thrown by Lyle in front of the little Evil Spirit Hound.
"Don't waste it."
Lyle glanced at the little Evil Spirit Hound, whose belly was so full it could barely walk, and spoke calmly.
"Woof~" The little Evil Spirit Hound wiggled its body, didn't stand up, and let out a wronged whimper.
Lyle ignored the little Evil Spirit Hound, who was taking advantage and still playing coy, and his gaze swept to the attribute panel in front of him.
[Experience Slot: 74122 / 30000]
In just over half a month, his experience points increased by over 70,000, and the large magical creatures and beasts in the eastern region of the Tob Forest had also been mostly cleared out.
"The 'Totem Possession' skill is indeed not that simple." Lyle had experimented with the skill a bit during this time, using a large number of magical creature corpses, and gained a new understanding.
This skill, as long as the totem is not fixed, can interrupt the "Totem Possession" process at any time. As for whether a fixed totem can be canceled and replaced, Lyle was not sure since he hadn't fixed the first totem.
The information currently obtained is:
Depending on the magical creature or beast, the base attributes added by the totem are not fixed, but they can only increase a certain base attribute by a maximum of 50 points.
The value wasn't much,
but it was within expectations, as it was only a Mid-tier profession after all.
What Lyle cared about was "Specialty Acquisition." For example, he specifically experimented with the High-tier tiger just now.
This magical creature naturally possessed two abilities: night vision and accelerated movement in the jungle.
If the High-tier tiger were used as a totem, and "Specialty Acquisition" was chosen instead of "Totem Activation," Lyle could choose to fix one of the High-tier tiger's two specialty abilities.
Of course,
these two abilities were useless to Lyle, but what if they were replaced with higher-level magical creatures?
Geloin the "Fighting Ghost" couldn't hunt higher-level magical creatures due to his strength, but Lyle could.
At the same time!
During the half-month Lyle spent leveling up in the Tob Forest, a major event occurred in both the Bahaus Empire and the Re-Estize Kingdom!
Go Gin, the strongest "Martial King" of the Imperial Capital's arena, and a symbol of the Empire, suddenly resigned.
This event caused a huge impact throughout the Imperial Capital and the Bahaus Empire, even affecting the battlefield between the two nations, leading to a decrease in the morale of the Imperial army.
It is said that
the Blood Emperor personally sent people to persuade him to stay, and a conflict even arose, with one of the Empire's "Four Knights" appearing. Finally, with the mediation of the great merchant Osk, a larger conflict was averted.
After Go Gin the "Martial King" left the Bahaus Empire, his whereabouts became unknown. Subsequently, the Empire issued a warrant for his arrest.
The warrant was not for Go Gin the "Martial King,"
but for an alchemist from the Re-Estize Kingdom. The title "Black-Haired Genius Alchemist" also spread from the Empire and began to attract attention from various factions in the Kingdom.
On the other side,
Renners, who was heavily rewarded by the Empire and wanted for treason, fought against Gazef in the Royal Capital.
The battle ultimately ended in a draw.
King Lambuša III personally summoned both of them, bestowing upon Gazef the "Warrior Captain" a magical item, one of the Five Great National Treasures, and simultaneously granted Renners the noble title of "Knight."
This event was naturally learned by the Bahaus Empire, making the situation on the border battlefield even more intense.