Dongzhua opened the village gate and trotted over to Qin Feng, who sat atop his Forest Wolf. He wiped his coarse palms on his animal-hide apron, his eyes full of admiration and respect for the powerful warrior before him:
"Lord!"
"Thank you for lending your aid!"
"You helped us drive back those damn Southern Rats!"
"If it's not an imposition, please come and rest in our village. I'll arrange for a few forest sheep to be slaughtered and bring out the fine human wine we've been saving in the cellar to celebrate your magnificent display of power today!"
Qin Feng's gaze was fixed on the dense forest ahead of the Wolf Pack, his voice like a blade quenched in ice:
"That won't be necessary."
"I have other business to attend to."
"First, handle the task I gave you. Then you can celebrate properly with your people tonight."
'Eat meat?'
'Drink wine?'
'How could such a fleeting dopamine rush compare to the thrill of grinding monsters in the forest to level up, capturing all sorts of strange Zoo Soldiers while I'm at it?'
'As for the Withered Leaf Tribe that just attacked the Poison Arrow Tribe…'
'There's no rush.'
'Let's let things play out for a while.'
'They lost over a hundred members in today's battle, not to mention their leader, Folckwin, who was on par with Bakadi in strength. They definitely won't be able to organize another attack anytime soon. They've probably suffered a devastating blow.'
'Besides, Diablo, the scout I sent out, is gathering intelligence around the Withered Leaf Tribe's camp right now.'
'Once he gets a detailed grasp of the Withered Leaf Tribe's troop strength and I confirm that we can take them on without any risk...'
'...it won't be too late to go and finish those guys off.'
"Understood."
"Lord."
Seeing Qin Feng turn his wolf around, as if to return to the forest to the north, Dongzhua couldn't help but look down at the group of Ratman prisoners cowering on the ground outside the stockade. He asked, his face full of confusion:
"But?"
"Lord?"
"These Ratman Warriors from the Withered Leaf Tribe, do you plan to spare their lives and take them with you?"
After a pause, Dongzhua suddenly recalled what Diablo had said before: this Divine Chosen Lord possessed a mysterious and unpredictable "Spiritual Control" Magic. It could directly affect an enemy's mind and body, rendering them unable to lift their weapons or even escape from an unlocked prison cell.
'Presumably, these Withered Leaf Tribe Ratmen who chose to surrender have already fallen into the Lord's magical trap. They won't cause him any trouble with his future plans.'
'And this kind of secret, one involving the trump card of an Extraordinary being, wasn't a good topic for discussion.'
He hurriedly apologized:
"I'm sorry..."
"Lord..."
"I've said too much..."
Qin Feng waved his hand dismissively:
"It's fine."
"I know what you're thinking."
"To be honest, I can indeed influence the spirit and mind of certain individuals. I make them glimpse their own deepest will to survive, as well as their craving for immense power. They gradually succumb to these feelings, eventually becoming soldiers eternally loyal to me."
"This is an ability granted to me by the Deities."
"It allows me to face any danger in this strange world."
"However."
"You don't have to worry."
"This terrifying Divine Power."
"It only works on creatures who are my enemies."
"As for Ratman Warriors like you from the Poison Arrow Tribe who willingly submitted to me, I can neither change your thoughts nor control your will."
"All of your souls and wills are free."
"Otherwise."
"If I could control your minds."
"I wouldn't have granted your forest tribe village such a high degree of autonomy."
"Right?"
Hearing this, Dongzhua's expression froze. He never expected that this terrifyingly powerful Divine Chosen Lord would actually take the initiative to tell him his secret.
'And what he said actually made a certain amount of sense.'
'He can influence an enemy's psyche, causing the desires deep in their hearts to erupt and gradually turning them into his loyal followers.'
'But he can't influence friendly forces who are already on his side.'
'In other words, while the skill is powerful, it has certain conditions restricting its use.'
'The ability's logic fits perfectly within a normal worldview.'
'And, most crucially, my own thoughts are still perfectly clear. I haven't turned into some fanatical believer willing to fight to the death for him.'
'It's just that our interests are aligned, so I'm willing to do reasonable things for him to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome.'
'So powerful…'
'It looks like our Poison Arrow Tribe is finally going to rise to power…'
'It's a shame…'
'Leader Bakadi wasn't as smart as Diablo…'
'He didn't listen to Diablo's advice back then…'
'He won't be able to witness our rise with his own eyes…'
'Sigh…'
[Admiration received from a village leader. Loyalty of your village, "Poison Arrow Tribe," has increased by 2 points!]
Seeing Dongzhua completely taken in by his bluff, his coarse face frozen in a daze, Qin Feng knew.
'My goal is achieved.'
'From now on, it will be very difficult for the Loyalty of these Alien Race Ratmen from the Poison Arrow Tribe to drop.'
'At least, it won't drop below 50 points into a "Rebellion" state.'
'Otherwise!'
'The "Divine Power" I wield can directly control their minds!'
'Who wouldn't be scared to hear that?'
...
「At the same time, in an oak longhouse in the Withered Leaf Tribe.」
A young man sitting at a dining table suddenly slammed the earthenware bowl of venison soup in his hand down onto the wooden table.
"What!?"
"The Withered Leaf Tribe's main force was actually wiped out!?"
"How is that possible!?"
"Doesn't the Poison Arrow Tribe only have a single Zero-star (Green) rated elite leader, plus seven or eight adult Ratman Warriors with decent fighting strength?"
"How could they possibly withstand the siege of over a hundred fully-armed Ratman Warriors from the Withered Leaf Tribe?"
"Could it be that other Lord Players intervened?"
"Or did they accidentally run into some boss-level Forest Magical Beast?"
Zhang Chuan slapped his head in frustration:
"Dammit!"
"I was careless!"
"I should have sent a militia member to follow the Withered Leaf Tribe's main force to oversee the battle!"
As a "King of Tactics" Lord, Zhang Chuan started with the treasure "Eye of All-Seeing," which allowed him to transfer his personal perspective to any of his subordinate soldiers and see everything that soldier's line of sight touched.
But now, he didn't even know what had happened, and the main army of the Forest Tribe he had pledged allegiance to had been completely wiped out.
This was utterly pathetic.
"Forget it!"
"Regret is fucking useless!"
"The priority right now is to hurry up and report this to Brother Long!"
"The Withered Leaf Tribe's Ratman Warriors are Elite Units whose strength is comparable to conventional Zero-star (Green) soldier types!"
"And they were even equipped with the Black Crystal Plate Armor and Black Crystal Longswords I forged for them!"
"Their actual combat power was almost at the very top of the Zero-star (Green) level!"
"Plus there were over a hundred of them in total!"
"And they still got wiped out!"
"Not even a single survivor was left!"
"This means the enemy is either a Lord Player who controls a large number of Zero-star (Blue) soldier types!"
"Or a BOSS-level creature whose combat power has reached the Zero-star (Purple) level!"
"Otherwise!"
"A mere BOSS-level creature at the Zero-star (Blue) level, or a group of Lord soldier types at the Zero-star (Green) level, simply couldn't have achieved such a terrifying feat of slaughtering over a hundred Ratman Warriors to the last man!"
"At least ten or so Ratman Warriors should have escaped!"
With that thought, Zhang Chuan opened the chat interface in the Lord System, clicked on a chat group named "FSC Alliance," and then tagged a player with the ID "Dragon King"...