152: Chapter 152 Development Plan

"Understood. Mark this location as a priority target, but not for now." Lin Tian had a plan in mind and made a note of it. He turned to Lin Feng: "What about the south? Any movements from that group of Minotaurs?"

Lin Feng sat at Lin Tian's right hand, his posture as straight as a spear. Upon hearing the question, he reported in a deep voice, his tone carrying the metallic texture characteristic of the battlefield: "Lord, there has been unusual activity today from that large Minotaur tribe in the southern plains."

"They dispatched an elite squad of about a thousand, heading in our direction along the path where the Kamo Tribe was destroyed. The squad was led by two low-star Gold-grade Minotaur warriors."

A flash of cold light crossed his eyes: "They discovered the traces of the Kamo Tribe being razed. To prevent them from bringing this intelligence back and alerting the entire tribe, inciting retaliation, I ordered them to be completely annihilated on the spot. The battle took place thirty miles away, and not a single one escaped."

Completely annihilated… Lin Tian raised an eyebrow. This was very Lin Feng—decisive, clean, and eliminating the root of the problem. But problems followed.

"Well done." Lin Tian affirmed first, then frowned.

"But with a squad of over a thousand going missing, including Gold-grade individuals, the opposing tribe cannot possibly be unaware. We've alerted them."

"Yes." Lin Feng nodded, his expression serious. "Because of this, I believe the enemy will definitely dispatch a larger, stronger force, possibly even led by a higher-ranked Minotaur commander, to investigate by tomorrow at the earliest, or the day after at the latest."

"They might even launch a direct retaliatory attack. We need to make a decision early."

The council hall was silent for a few seconds. A Minotaur tribe of 100,000 in the south, suspected to have a Platinum-grade existence—this was definitely a tough nut to crack. But the opponent had already reached out and had their hand broken; the grudge was now settled.

Lin Tian leaned forward, elbows propped on the table, fingertips pressed together, his gaze flickering in the light of the dancing candles. He weighed his options rapidly.

Passively waiting for them to attack? That wasn't his style.

While they hadn't fully figured out his true strength and their main force might not have assembled yet, why not strike first and catch them off guard?

"He who strikes first gains the advantage; he who strikes later suffers disaster." Lin Tian repeated the old saying in a low voice, his eyes gradually becoming sharp and firm.

"That principle applies everywhere. Besides, we… are not afraid of them now."

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the generals present: "That Minotaur tribe in the south cannot be left alone. If they can send a thousand people to scout today, they might send ten thousand tomorrow."

"Since we will clash sooner or later, let's strike while our fist is hardest! Tomorrow, our main target is to flatten that large Minotaur tribe!"

He paused, then added: "Of course, this isn't reckless. Lin Yin, Lin Feng, you are the sharp blade. Lin Yan, your Earth Spirit Guards are responsible for building the defensive line to counter potential counter-charges."

"Lin Yan, your Mage Corps and Archer Corps are the guarantee of covering fire. Commander Lin Yu, keep the healing up; don't be stingy with energy."

"This battle must be fought with prestige, and we must minimize our own casualties."

Everyone responded in unison, their eyes burning with fighting spirit. With their current strength, as long as they didn't encounter an unstoppable individual, flattening a tribe wasn't a difficult task.

Next, Lin Tian briefly touched upon the situation in other directions around the territory with Lin Yin and the others, as well as the progress of internal refugee settlement and production construction.

The initial feedback from Yang Xu was decent; although the tens of thousands of refugees were settled simply, at least there was no chaos, and they had already begun organizing land reclamation and production.

"Alright, the basic situation is clear. That's it for today. Everyone go back and get some rest, recharge your energy, because tomorrow…" Lin Tian waved his hand, ending the meeting, "there is a tough battle to be fought."

The group saluted and withdrew. Lin Tian sat alone in the council hall, thinking quietly for a moment. He pulled up the panels of his generals to take a look.

The continuous battles during this period, especially the high-intensity fighting around that spatial anomaly, had yielded huge rewards.

Lin Yin's strength had soared to Gold 9-star, just one step away from Platinum. Lin Feng was Gold 7-star, Lin Yan was Gold 5-star, and even the main healer, Commander Lin Yu, had reached Gold 2-star.

Among the soldiers under his command, nearly a thousand Epic-tier units had broken through to Gold-grade, most of them being 1-2 stars. This high-end combat power could no longer be underestimated.

"Tomorrow, when we attack the Minotaur tribe, Lin Feng will activate 'Command of a Thousand Armies,' which can provide explosive power close to Platinum in a short time."

"Coupled with Lin Yin's absolute strength at Gold 9-star and her Legendary-quality foundation, the cooperation of two top-tier combatants should be enough to deal with a low-star Platinum-grade Minotaur leader without much trouble," Lin Tian deduced silently.

"As for the other Gold-grade and large numbers of Silver-grade units the opponent might have… under the cover fire of our 100,000 Archers and 100,000 Mages, I estimate not many will be left to reach our front line."

"After destroying the Minotaur tribe, Lin Yin should be able to use this to advance to Platinum. By then, when we go to explore that spatial anomaly, we will have a much better chance of success."

His train of thought gradually cleared, and Lin Tian felt more confident.

With the strategic planning settled, another realistic problem surfaced: money, or rather, spirit crystals. He rubbed his temples with a wry smile and opened his friend list again, finding Lord Su Wan, Chen Hao, and Master Blacksmith Li Zhenguo.

Another round of "haggling" transactions followed, replenishing various consumables and scarce supplies.

"You really don't know how expensive daily necessities are until you're the one in charge…" Lin Tian sighed sincerely, looking at his spirit crystal balance, which had shrunk by another chunk.

Now he wished he could split a single spirit crystal in two to spend it. The Realm of Replication was useful, but its "money-swallowing beast" attribute also made his heart ache immensely.

Today's series of crazy operations—expanding the city wall by fifty kilometers, recruiting and performing Fusion on 200,000 Dragon-Blood Steeds, mass-producing 500,000 troops, and sweeping the trading market—had almost completely drained the remaining 20 million Low-grade Spirit Crystals and the vast majority of his mid-level spirit crystal reserves!

Thinking of the spirit crystals disappearing like flowing water, Lin Tian felt his heart ache with every throb. That was all real money… No, it was real spirit crystals!

But when he stood up, walked to the window, and pushed it open, a cool night breeze rushed in, carrying the faint sound of horns and the scent of campfires from the distant barracks.

He looked into the distance—the Inner City, Middle City, and Outer City… lights flickered like stars, stretching all the way to the horizon, under the shadow of the newly built, majestic city wall.

The majestic aura of over 500,000 troops stationed, the quiet neighing of 200,000 Dragon-Blood Steeds, the tiny glimmers of light where countless refugees could finally find shelter… All of this was something he had built by throwing massive amounts of spirit crystals at it.

"Forget it, it was worth it!"