162: Solo Kobold Tribe

Early in the morning, Holy Knight Randel, Dragon Sorceress Edeline, Barbarian Grom, Sword Saint Green, Shaman Prima, Water Sprite Vera, Forest Nymph Sally, and Druid Vivofenson watched the young man in the wilderness from 300 meters away from High Lord Ryan Black.

At this moment, Lai'en was hidden behind a tree, observing a group of Kobolds structures in the gully ahead.

More than twenty crude shacks were haphazardly scattered in a narrow, long gully.

Various kinds of trash were piled up inside the gully; Lai'en, dozens of meters away, could still smell the stench.

It seemed that birds and most small animals in this vicinity had become extinct.

Given the terrifying reproduction rate of wild Kobolds, Forest Nymphs, druids, and even nearby villagers would typically try to eradicate such a large wild Kobolds settlement as quickly as possible upon discovering it.

However, Lai'en stopped the actions of the druids and Forest Nymphs.

He decided to do this himself, and at the same time, hone his various upgraded abilities and the spell effects related to his magical equipment.

The boy drank a bottle of Potion of Insight he purchased from Tyrantier.

Potion of Insight:

Drinking this potion feels as if a higher existence has entered one's mind.

The drinker can perceive all things.

Its effect is to raise the drinker's perception to 18, and its duration is 6 hours unless dispelled.

...

He then activated the fifth-level divine spell, Ice Shield, which randomly appeared on the Pearl Dragon Scale Armor today.

His own defense rating was stacked to -4, while he gained 30 temporary hit points, and the magical defensive field on his body had the effect of deflecting melee damage (randomly deflecting 1% to 100%), lasting for 8 hours.

Next, the young man cast the random fourth-level divine spell, Wrath of the Sea; a gigantic wave suddenly appeared in mid-air ahead, crashing towards a distant, dirty, and chaotic Kobolds shack area.

The stench-filled shack complex was washed away by the waves, and the small gully transformed into a murky little riverbed.

Most of the Kobolds inside perished; dozens of Kobolds who narrowly escaped death came charging at Lai'en with wooden sticks, stone daggers, and homemade bows and arrows.

Lai'en cast the second-level arcane spell, Acid Fog, towards the gully exit.

A 20-foot cube of acid fog immediately enveloped most of the enemies.

The vision-impaired Kobolds began to wander aimlessly within the acid fog, and every six seconds, all Kobolds remaining within it began to take 1d6 points of acid damage.

Immediately after, the young man raised the Dragon Might Scepter, which had transformed into a short bow, and shot magic arrows at the Kobolds who had run out of the acid fog.

One, two, three...

Three Kobolds fell under Lai'en's arrows.

The arrows of the few bow-wielding Kobolds in the distance could not penetrate Lai'en's defense at all.

If it had been the Blackclaw Bandits' flaming arrows before, Lai'en would certainly have been injured.

However, the crude wooden arrows of these few bow-wielding Kobolds, when they occasionally hit and touched the boy's magical force field, were simply deflected.

There were still seven or eight injured Kobolds wielding wooden sticks and stone daggers, seemingly only a dozen meters away from approaching the boy.

Lai'en began to circle around with his agile movements, running to one side while practicing spinning his body in the air and shooting arrows backward.

After circling the small gully, another 5 Kobolds fell under his arrows.

Of those who had run out of the acid fog and were still able to chase him, including Kobolds who had abandoned their bows and switched to daggers, there were still sixteen in total.

Lai'en walked in a Z-pattern, gathering these Kobolds into a group.

When the furthest Kobold was less than 10 meters from him, the young man activated "Dragon Might Stun" from the "Dragon Might Shortbow."

A 30-foot radius fear aura instantly enveloped the sixteen Kobolds.

All the Kobolds fell into a panic, throwing their wooden sticks and stone daggers all over the ground.

Lai'en followed behind, harvesting these panicking lives with "Flying Sword" and magic arrows.

One minute later, 6 Kobolds who had regained consciousness and were still alive remained.

The unarmed Kobolds no longer dared to attack the seemingly weak but "incredibly powerful" boy.

Lai'en used the mist crystal to unleash a dense white fog, separating and trapping these 6 Kobolds who had stopped attacking.

After dealing with all the immediate troubles, he called out to Randall and the others, instructing Shaman Prima to tie up the 6 Kobolds and send them back to the camp for the Kobolds of the Redemption Legion to persuade and educate.

In New South City, Kobolds in the prisoner camp were allowed to reproduce.

Kobolds, with an average lifespan of 55 years, might live even longer in the future with good medical care.

Unlike human education, Lai'en adopted a militarized, brainwashing-style education for the captured Kobolds.

Compared to the human and Goblin reproduction efficiency of 1 to 2 births per year, female Kobolds can produce 3 to 4 litters per year, with 6-8 eggs per litter, and an egg incubation period of approximately 21 days.

The survival rate of wild Kobolds young, due to predation by natural enemies and competition from their own kind, is only 30% surviving to adulthood.

But in Lai'en's territory, conservatively estimated, their survival rate can reach over 90%.

Given the current Kobolds population base in his territory, with sufficient food, he can increase the number of Kobolds young by over 1200 per year.

By 13 years later, at the average maturity age of Kobolds, assuming no large-scale wars or diseases causing losses, he will have over 15,000 Kobolds.

Among them, over 1,300 will be adult Kobolds.

26 years later, a Kobolds population of over 1.5 million, with over 60,000 adult Kobolds.

39 years later, a Kobolds population of over 100 million, with over 3.5 million adult Kobolds.

According to Lai'en's vision, this large "field" shaped area, when built into a city slightly larger than his old hometown of Beijing's Third Ring Road in the future, with a population of tens of millions, is a relatively ideal state.

The larger plains to the north of the city, using a rotating crop system for different seasons, can basically meet the basic needs of tens of millions of people.

Later, with the addition of marine fisheries, and hunting and animal husbandry in the surrounding forests and wastelands, these tens of millions of people could live a moderately prosperous life.

Coupled with the wealth brought by trade, a considerable portion of the population could live a relatively affluent life.

Whether this can be achieved depends on the speed of Kobolds' civilization evolution.

Typically, Kobolds under the suppression of dragons are of the Lawful Evil alignment, with a few wild Kobolds being Neutral Evil.

In the books Lai'en read, he also saw Kobolds tribes that had been civilized by good-aligned creatures, such as silver dragons, potentially shifting to the Lawful Neutral alignment.

And in the current situation, Lai'en is similar to that good-aligned giant dragon.

If he can civilize these Kobolds, make them clean, learn knowledge, farm, and build cities, then in a few decades, Lai'en might have a city with a population of tens of millions.

To his knowledge, the largest city on this continent, Baldur's Gate, has a population of only about 100,000.

And among the vast tens of millions of Kobolds, a large number of professional classes can also emerge.

Kobolds have high agility, so they can produce approximately 10% or even a higher proportion of rogues, rangers, and other professional classes;

According to some data, Dragon Sorcerers among Kobolds also account for 3% to 5%;

Kobolds inventors or mages account for approximately 1% to 3%;

Kobolds Shamans 3% to 5%;

Totaling over 15% to 20% of professional classes.

It is said that if a Kobolds tribe serves a true dragon, the proportion of Shamans can increase to 10%, and if the true dragon personally teaches magical knowledge, the proportion of mages can increase to 5%.

Then, theoretically, can Lai'en's systematic military education cultivate 20% to 30%, or even a higher proportion, of powerful professional classes?

Among ten million Kobolds, besides ordinary laborers and common soldiers, 2 to 3 million professional classes might emerge.

If he had such an army of several million professional classes, Lai'en thought, his planned super-large city, whether for self-preservation or territorial expansion, would have few rivals in this wilderness.

Having just annihilated an entire Kobolds tribe, Lai'en felt some regret.