185: Cultivating talent

Gold Era 1239, June 24th.

This was the one-year anniversary of Reyn's arrival on the Noah Continent.

A year ago, Reyn took over the dilapidated Red River Territory, and a few thousand old, weak, and sick people were all that the Red River Territory had.

A year later, Reyn's strength had broken through to the High Gold Rank, and the Red River Territory had transformed from a small territory of a few thousand people into a powerful Viscounts Territory occupying the entire Red River Valley with over 700,000 people.

At this moment, Reyn was in his study, listening to the news of major events coming from the south.

Klimp, a new talent discovered by Reyn, originated from the Sub-plane Sacred Mountain. He was originally an unpopular Sacred Mountain steward, responsible for collecting daily affairs of the Sacred Mountain and various tribes, and compiling historical data.

After joining the Red River Territory and working in the Government Affairs Hall for a few days, Klimp's talent quickly became apparent and was subsequently noticed by Reyn.

After Reyn personally investigated, Klimp was secretly appointed by Reyn as the commander of the Shadow Guards. This newly established Shadow Guards had no personnel other than the money and supplies provided by Reyn; Klimp was a bare-bones commander.

But even under such conditions, in less than a month, Klimp completed the recruitment of the first batch of personnel, and he personally led people on a trip to Rage Bear Fortress.

After gathering information in Rage Bear Fortress, Klimp settled that group of people in Rage Bear City, and he himself rushed back to Red River City with the intelligence he had gathered.

"According to the latest news released by the Rage Bear City Government Affairs Hall, it can be confirmed that the Grand Duke of the Raging Bear personally led the grizzly bear fief nobles coalition army to defeat the army led by Count Trokewen of the Stag Territory in the border region not long ago."

"The target of their dispute is said to be a Plane Passage of extremely high value. It is rumored that there is a rich Magic Stone Vein in the Sub-plane, but the source of this news is somewhat low, so the intelligence may not be accurate."

"Grand Duke Federico of the Stag Territory was killed in battle with the Chaos Demons, and the Stag Family has fallen into internal strife over power."

Reyn fell into thought after hearing Klimp's report.

Klimp brought a lot of news, of which the two most crucial points were:

One was that the Rage Bear Territory and the Stag Territory had a considerable war in the border region due to conflicts of interest. Currently, the Rage Bear Territory was at an advantage.

The other was that the Grand Duke of the Stag Territory was killed by Chaos Demons, and the Stag Family had fallen into internal strife.

In Reyn's view, these two matters were one. The Grand Duke of Stag's death in battle and the family's internal strife led to Rage Bear's personal expedition; the two were causally related.

"A Legendary has fallen. This is the first time I've heard such news. It seems the Northern Region is truly about to descend into chaos."

"You've worked hard. The construction of the Shadow Guards must be expedited. I need the Shadow Guards to spread throughout the Northern Region as quickly as possible."

"Lord, I am confident I can spread the Shadow Guards throughout the Northern Region. However, if you need to expand the Shadow Guards' scale in a shorter time, please place Wolfs Nest and Eagle Fortress under the Shadow Guards' command."

Wolfs Nest was the Wolf Pack intelligence network established by Reyn, and Eagle Fortress was Reyn's newly established aerial reconnaissance intelligence agency, temporarily managed by Ranke, the Eagle Tribe's eagle trainer.

The trained eagles by Ranke could detect every movement on the ground, and it was also a part of Reyn's intelligence gathering.

It was reasonable for Klimp to set his sights on Eagle Fortress and Wolf Pack now.

"Alright, I can give you Wolf Pack and Eagle Fortress. However, Trump, the commander of Wolf Pack, is a Gold Rank expert, far surpassing you in strength, so you need to be careful with your methods if you want to command him."

"Although Eagle Fortress is newly established, Ranke's strength has also broken through to Silver Rank under my cultivation, making him equal to you in strength. Moreover, he comes from the Eagle Tribe, and Eagle Fortress has recruited many eagle trainers from the Eagle Tribe, so their strength is growing very quickly."

"Are you sure you can make Wolfs Nest and Eagle Fortress play a stronger role under your command?"

Reyn's meaning was simple: he questioned whether Klimp had the ability to coordinate and mobilize Wolfs Nest and Eagle Fortress.

"Everything in the Red River Territory belongs to you, Lord. With your command, I fear nothing, and I am confident that I can make Wolfs Nest and Eagle Fortress the two wings of the Shadow Guards, allowing the Shadow Guards to soar rapidly."

"Then I shall wait and see!"

Reyn immediately wrote down the order for Klimp to take, placing Wolfs Nest and Eagle Fortress under the Shadow Guards' overall planning.

Reyn was extremely bold in employing talents like Klimp. Besides Klimp and Ranke, Reyn also discovered Mondo, the flying eagle knight from the former Eagle Tribe, and Lasga, the talented young man from the Wind Riding Tribe.

Both of them possessed excellent talent and were considered top-tier existences in the Red River Territory besides Reyn. Their recognition of the Red River Territory was also very high, and they held great trust in Reyn.

Lasga was still young, only fifteen years old. Previously, in the Wind Riding Tribe, he was not valued due to his humble origins. After coming to the Red River Territory, he displayed extraordinary talent at the Red River Territory Academy, drawing Reyn's attention and subsequent focused cultivation.

Reyn planned to have him train in the academy for a year before sending him to the army for experience.

As for Mondo, he was already a somewhat famous strong practitioner in the Eagle Tribe. At thirty years old, he had just broken through to Silver Rank, which was definitely considered a genius in the Eagle Tribe.

Upon arriving at the Red River Territory, with abundant resources, he made rapid progress. Reyn recruited him into the newly established Storm Steel Feather Legion as a middle-ranking officer.

As long as Mondo passed Reyn's assessment, his minimum position would be Deputy Commander of the Storm Steel Feather Legion.

The Eagle Tribe, under the leadership of its chief, had performed well since submitting to Reyn, and Reyn was very satisfied with them.

The Eagle Chief's injuries from the battle in the Sub-plane were too severe. Although his life was saved after coming to the Red River Territory, he lost his combat ability, causing Reyn to lose a Gold Rank combatant.

Besides these two geniuses, the siblings Prague and Fiona, who surrendered to Reyn early on in the Sacred Mountain, also received important positions from Reyn.

Prague served as the Commander of the Fourth Legion, while Fiona became the Red River Territory's Chief Enchanter, responsible for daily management of the Mage Academy and teaching Mage Apprentices enchanting and magic array knowledge.

Reyn invested a considerable amount of resources in the siblings, and their speed of improvement also greatly satisfied Reyn.

Among the people Reyn brought back from the Sub-plane, many possessed exceptional talent, and many were successively given important positions, making rapid progress under Reyn's cultivation.

In addition to the talents brought from the Sub-plane, many talents were also discovered among the people Reyn rescued from the Dragon Legion.

These talents generally came from humble backgrounds. In the past, due to lack of resources, Breathing Techniques, and other reasons, they could only remain obscure and blend into the masses. After arriving at the Red River Territory, they quickly distinguished themselves, like dragons encountering a storm.

Reyn didn't care about their origins; as long as they were loyal to him and capable, they were worth investing in and entrusting with important tasks.

Under Reyn's intentional cultivation, these individuals quickly supported various newly established departments and organizations in the Red River Territory, allowing the Red River Territory to operate at high speed.

The news brought back by Klimp plunged Reyn into deep thought: a Legendary had fallen, the Stag Territory was in internal strife, two major ducal territories in the Northern Region were at war, and the once strongest family in the Northern Region, the Cold Wind Family, had just suffered a severe blow not long ago.

These major events made Reyn feel an impending storm and a sense of impatience that time was against him.

"Time, time is still the key. I hope I can have a few more years to develop."