499: Chapter 479 Harvesting Faith

After the brief chat with Avril, Zhang Mu still had no clues regarding the method for Epic advancement; he feared the truth could only be obtained from the Church.

Zhang Mu figured this matter couldn't be rushed. He needed to properly conduct the upcoming wars of national extinction first, preparing the necessary supplies for the campaign against the Gangnuo Empire and to handle the subsequent chain reactions.

Lake had been judged as a heretic by the gods yet hadn't suffered a siege from the Empire. This wasn't because the Empire was kind-hearted, but because they didn't believe Lake could cause much of a stir, even if Lake had wiped out the Allied Forces, captured Lagu, or even toppled the various Kingdoms of the Eastern Border.

The root cause lay in the fact that Lake had no God's Blessing and no Epic-tier powerhouses.

In the eyes of the Empire, a Kingdom without a God's Blessing Epic was no different from weeds by the roadside. Lake defeating those nations was just one weed beating another.

No matter how brilliant or outstanding Lake's performance was, it didn't change its essence as a weed. One stomp would make it bend and lie flat; a gentle tug would pull the roots and stem right out of the soil—it was utterly fragile.

The Empire didn't care about Lake at all, despising it to the point of being unwilling to assemble a legion for a dedicated crusade. The only one to intervene, the Gangnuo Empire, had also come because they were invited, and they only sent a single First-Tier Legion, arriving with the mindset of a bored person looking for some fun in a game.

The fact that the Bauhinia Legion and the Wyvern Cavalry Regiment were wiped out without any sign of Ganno sending troops for revenge was proof of this.

But if Lake eliminated the Gangnuo Empire, everything would be overturned.

Lake would prove it had the ability to face an Empire head-on and completely defeat it. Due to the divine oracle, Lake was destined to be the enemy of the entire continent; the other Empires would find it hard not to imagine the day they themselves were attacked, leading to a collective assault.

Zhang Mu certainly wouldn't be so stupid as to wait until the day the various Imperial legions allied to charge Lake's borders before remembering to expand the military factory production lines and recruit more Soldiers to form legions.

Preparations had to be made early.

War cannot be waged without the support of supplies. One of the trump cards for dealing with Saint-level or even God's Blessing-level enemies was the magic guidance sniper rifle, whose Core manufacturing raw material was rhenium metal. Zhang Mu hoped to increase his reserves as much as possible before the anticipated final battle arrived.

Turning to leave the royal palace, he summoned a Portal in a deserted alley and returned to Blue Star.

As soon as he landed, Zhang Mu flew to the moon without stopping to check the mining progress of the various countries.

As the first country to launch a spaceship and establish a base and mine on the moon, China's progress was naturally ahead of the other three nations.

After Zhang Mu helped clear the mine shafts several months ago, China's xuan niao ship and the newly built Xuan Niao No. 2 had been constantly shuttling between Blue Star and the moon, transporting large amounts of mining equipment and materials for building warehouses.

Under the efforts of workers fighting day and night, in just half a month, warehouses had already sprung up around the base.

The squads responsible for mining worked hard, and specialized transport vehicles with huge buckets carried the mined raw ore into the warehouses, waiting for the xuan niao ship to transport it back to Blue Star for refining.

America also didn't dare to neglect Mr. Gao's task. Their spaceships were busy with transport, and after several months, the base was completed. Equipment for exploring ore veins was parked inside, just waiting for professional personnel to arrive so work could begin.

Ying Country's spaceship had just taken off a few days ago. During that time, Zhang Mu took a moment to return to Blue Star to accompany the flight as promised. Because its national strength was weaker than the first two countries, its engineering progress was slow, and even the base had not yet been completed.

Russia was out of the question; their spaceship hadn't even been launched yet.

Using the Shadow Technique, Zhang Mu sat in a hollow on a small slope, looking down at the base situated on the silver-white desert not far away, muttering to himself.

"Too slow, too sluggish. I've already fed the food into their mouths, yet they can't even chew fast. It's really frustrating."

He was very dissatisfied, but someone had to do the work. These four countries were the top nations on Blue Star, and Zhang Mu had no room to kick them out and change candidates. He could only step in again to push things forward.

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Mu decided to abandon the previous support strategy of providing technology and transcendent materials and waiting for the countries to conduct their own research. He switched to a more direct and faster method—doing it himself.

Time was tight. Once the plan was settled, Zhang Mu didn't delay at all. He got up and flew back to Blue Star, expanding his massive Mental Energy. Simultaneously, he controlled the Puppets stationed in each country to find their leaders, made up a few random excuses, and notified them that he intended to take action personally.

The reason the engineering projects of the various countries were as slow as a snail's crawl was mainly because the carrying capacity of the spaceships was limited.

Even China, which had the largest cargo holds and two spaceships, couldn't carry enough total weight in a single trip compared to the heavy machinery. Zhang Mu only needed to solve this one difficulty.

Solving it was simple: Zhang Mu would take responsibility personally.

The service life of large-scale equipment wasn't short. Once the quantity reached a certain level, having a few units as backups would suffice.

The various countries were overjoyed upon receiving the news from their respective Puppets. They stayed up all night to draw up the list of equipment needed for their bases, and by the next morning, the collection was complete, with everything neatly parked in designated open spaces.

Zhang Mu transformed into the transcendent images of each country, visited them one by one to collect the items into his inventory, and then flew to the moon to deliver them to the bases.

With the equipment all there, the engineering speed suddenly exploded. The moon, which had been lonely for billions of years, suddenly became lively. Transport vehicles came and went along the established routes. When drivers belonging to different countries met at intersections, they smiled and nodded to each other through their windows.

Zhang Mu didn't linger on the moon. He returned to Blue Star that same day to check on the statues of gods placed in each country.

With the endorsement of transcendent beings, the public and officials both held full trust in the statues, and the crowds of worshippers were endless.

Even late at night, one could see people holding flashlights that shot out beams of light, lining up in long queues, talking with their companions and families about the excitement of seeing the statue with their own eyes and their expectations for receiving a blessing.

Although no more lucky individuals had received divine grace since the statues bestowed gifts upon humanity when they first descended, everyone's enthusiasm showed no sign of weakening. The stream of cars driving to the statue sites on the highways continued year-round.

Such a massive crowd of pilgrims provided Zhang Mu with a vast amount of faith power.

He tried to establish a spiritual link with the statues and, sensing the pool of faith as vast as the sea, he showed a smile that said, "Finally, some good news."

Faith power currently couldn't provide any positive assistance to Zhang Mu, but it also had no negative effects. It had to accumulate to a certain limit for a quantitative change to produce a qualitative change, after which it would exert miraculous effects.

For example, it might unlock entirely new god-related authorities for Zhang Mu—perhaps controlling rules or comprehending truths. In short, it would certainly be an existence beyond the reach of mortals.

Disconnecting the spiritual link, Zhang Mu summoned a Portal on the spot to go to the Saul Continent, then landed in the Eastern Border through "The World" light gate.

"All the cities of Lagu have been captured, and the Saint-level King is missing. It's basically considered destroyed."

"Hmm... consolidating the rule afterward will take a lot of energy, but that has nothing to do with Domit. He should already be planning to attack the group of Kingdoms outside the eastern border. I'll go see if he needs my help."

Zhang Mu intended to step back and cultivate Domit's independent ability. After several years of persistence, the current Domit, when launching a war, could arrange all matters properly on his own, except for needing to request Zhang Mu's permission.

Thinking that he might not be able to stay in Lake permanently in the future, Zhang Mu placed more emphasis on improvement in this area. Therefore, he didn't plan to disturb Domit and instead flew alone to the border to scout the current state of the war.

The first place he went was the Ninth Legion's camp.

After the task of clearing out the internal nobles was completed a few days ago, he had ordered the Ninth Legion to return to their station. However, upon arrival, he was surprised to find that only recruits were in the camp, being led by instructors to practice shooting skills on the sand; the main force was nowhere to be seen.

He turned around and rushed to the Tenth Legion's camp, finding the same situation.

Judging by the stable emotions of the recruits and instructors, it was clearly impossible that the main force had been wiped out by an attack. So what was going on?

Zhang Mu was puzzled. He revealed himself and found the Vice Legion Commander who had stayed behind to ask for the reason.

Domit had shown photos of Zhang Mu to the legion's high-ranking officers, so the Vice Legion Commander recognized the Marshal at first glance. After hurriedly rising to salute, he answered the question.

It turned out that Domit had carried out Zhang Mu's plan. After breaking through the Lagu Royal Capital and confirming that its Saint-level King had fled the territory, he immediately mobilized the various legions to set out, racing toward the Eastern Border.

Then he contacted Avril, who was far away in the Royal Capital, requesting her to send the idle Second-Tier legions and the city lord reserves who hadn't been assigned posts yet to Lagu to take over the work of the First-Tier Legions.

At the same time, he ordered the Ninth and Tenth Legions to serve as the vanguard and set off that very day, heading to the borders of various Kingdoms to conduct exploratory attacks and gather intelligence on their legions, while also deploying drones to map the terrain of their territories in preparation for the general offensive after Domit's arrival.

Zhang Mu instructed the Vice Legion Commander not to reveal his whereabouts and flew toward the borders of the various Kingdoms.

...

...

By the time Domit led the army to camp by a river a hundred kilometers behind the front line, twenty days had passed since their departure.

It sounded slow, taking almost a month, but in reality, the speed was already terrifyingly fast.

One had to realize he wasn't a single person traveling light with just a pack on his back; it was a march of hundreds of thousands of Soldiers from different branches. Aside from the personnel, there were also food and weapons to ensure survival and combat effectiveness, tents and supplies for resting, and so on.

Avril had done her best to add more military factories and open new schools to train qualified workers. The growth rate of Lake's military production had not stopped for a single second, but it still seemed strained to supply the ever-increasing number of legions.

The most obvious sign was the persistent and severe shortage of troop carriers. Most of the trucks in the legions were loaded with heavy howitzers and ammunition crates, so the infantry could only follow on foot.

Domit lifted the door flap and walked into the newly pitched tent, asking the Sixth Legion Commander who followed behind him, "How is the situation on the Ninth Legion Commander's side?"

"I heard it's going fairly smoothly." Domit circled around from the side and sat behind the table. The Sixth Legion Commander stood in front of the table and continued, "Those Kingdoms are far worse than the Allied Forces."

"Oh, really?"

The Sixth Legion Commander nodded and smiled. "The Allied Forces at least understood that disunity equals suicide. Although a few mid-level officers defied the Marshal's orders, they could still achieve unified coordination on the surface.

"But the Kingdoms to the east, hah, the enemy has already attacked their borders, yet they are still fighting each other, only using border guard legions to keep an eye on us."

Domit raised an eyebrow. "Are they really that idiotic?"

"Uh." The Sixth Legion Commander scratched his head, his expression looking confused. "To be honest, I find it hard to understand as well.

"If they hadn't had contact with us or heard of Lake's battle record, it wouldn't be strange for them to look down on our combat power. After all, we are only one Kingdom and they are more than a dozen; they have the advantage in numbers.

"But we have already eliminated the Allied Forces and Lagu in succession, and our territory far exceeds theirs. Moreover, we wiped out over a hundred thousand of their elite legion troops, yet they still don't take us seriously. This..."

Domit pinched his chin and thought for a moment. "Could there be some kind of conspiracy?

"Contact the Ninth Legion Commander and have the signalman patch the call through to me."

"By your command!" The Sixth Legion Commander saluted and hurriedly walked out of the tent.