A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 183 Totem

Jiang Shuzhou's method was to first kill a group of stubborn people, then force the weak to submit, and finally win over a group of wavering people with food.

Classics never go out of style, but to Jiang Shuzhou's surprise, nearly half of the orcs chose to die in battle, while the rest chose to surrender.

This more or less proves that the orcs still have a lot of backbone. After all, for a typical army, a casualty rate of 30% is already on the verge of collapse.

The fact that half of the orcs died in battle already indicates that they were an elite force.

Jiang Shuzhou's side has about 800 wounded soldiers, but there have been no deaths yet. This is mainly because the hunting dogs killed most of the superhumans, which is why there were not many casualties among the ordinary soldiers.

"Headmaster, the soldiers have found a totem pole."

An officer reported to Jiang Shuzhou.

These must be Hamlet's military academy students; they probably haven't graduated yet.

However, it's not a big problem. It's perfectly normal to learn military skills while fighting a war.

Especially given that Jiang Shuzhou currently lacks junior officers under his command.

As long as one can read and write, has normal intelligence, and is admitted to a military academy, one will be a junior officer upon enrollment. After graduation, one will be guaranteed job placement and will seamlessly transition into a mid-level officer. If one performs well, one may even become a senior officer.

"Take me to see it."

It is said that some totems can generate totem spirits, similar to demigods or false gods. These totem spirits are good things, much easier to kill than true gods.

Once you successfully kill the totem spirit, you can obtain valuable materials such as divinity and faith crystals.

This is the hard currency between the Holy Realm and the Legendary Realm. It is said that burning these things with the Mage's Fire can slightly deepen one's understanding of the laws.

The totem of the Bear Tribe is a giant white bear with a ferocious face and a majestic body.

However, to Jiang Shuzhou's disappointment, although the totem contained some power of faith, it was far from being able to generate a totem spirit.

This may also be related to Gruush, since after he shattered himself, the orcs would continuously provide him with faith, even if the orcs had other faiths.

An orc follower gains far less faith power than a human follower.

This is why the Alliance of Saints has never paid any attention to the orcs.

After all, if cooperation is to be pursued, the orc god Gruush's current state makes such a deal impossible.

If you want to spread your religion and gain followers, you're just doing all the work for Grush. After all, if you don't offer him any benefits, who will listen to you?

Having received benefits, Grush was also able to take a share, truly making him feel utterly smug.

However, the Mage Alliance is even more ruthless.

They simply exploited Gruul's power, using rituals to not only remove his influence but also to collect the power belonging to Gruul from the orc bloodline.

Then it is made into pure faith crystals and other items.

Otherwise, why would the Mage Alliance hold such a ceremony?

The high mortality rate is because the mages only need to collect the power from the blood to return the orcs to normal; it's just a side effect.

Besides, doesn't this open a door?

As long as a mage takes action, even an ordinary mage who knows nothing, the success rate will immediately skyrocket as long as they input magic power.

This is the wisdom of the monks.

This information was also found by Jiang Shuzhou later when he was researching information about orcs.

He had previously thought that alchemists invented this thing, but now he realized that it was actually a planned obsolescence.

If the survival rate is high, won't the orcs take over the living space of humans?

Jiang Shuzhou had nothing to say about this; he was truly a veteran, a master of Machiavellian tactics.

He casually took the totem pole away. Although it didn't contain a totem spirit, the power of faith it contained still had high research value.

Even if you sell them, you can still make a lot of money.

Unfortunately, the main plane does not allow the gods of cultivation to harvest the power of faith.

Otherwise, Jiang Shuzhou would definitely find a way to gather a large number of people to worship the totem and then harvest them regularly.

Although the main plane doesn't allow it, other planes don't have such restrictions. Once Jiang Shuzhou reaches the level of a high-level mage, he can freely unleash his unconventional skills.

And this is the opportunity to quickly become a high-level mage.

As he raised the Emperor's Banner and saw the golden aura emanating from it, Jiang Shuzhou chuckled. Today was another day for accumulating merit and virtue.

This is still not enough; the flag hasn't turned purple yet, so we still need to work harder.

"Let's go, to the next place."

Leaving some soldiers and hunting dogs to guard the prisoners, Jiang Shuzhou led the remaining soldiers to the other marked tribes.

This time, Jiang Shuzhou plans to establish a large White Wolf tribe with approximately 300,000 people.

Based on experience, if around 200,000 orcs were killed in battle, these orcs would likely surrender.

This is also the largest tribe in the vicinity, bar none.

Once this tribe is conquered, Jiang Shuzhou's Emperor Banner should be complete and radiating purple aura.

Meanwhile, his newly built camp was nearing the limit of its management.

After all, Jiang Shuzhou only brought 30,000 people in total, most of whom were hunting dogs created by the Blood and Flesh Mother Tree.

There were only about 10,000 human soldiers.

But it's not a big problem. With 30,000 against 300,000, the advantage is mine.

The lads of our Mage Alliance are all outstanding; one mage can easily take on ten beasts.

Jiang Shuzhou led the way, leaving everyone else in the dust, followed by a large, dark mass of cavalry.

The hounds ran all around, serving as both scouts and vanguards.

Every soldier was on horseback and wearing armor; the quality of this army was such that they could compete for the throne in ancient China.

Jiang Shuzhou made no attempt to conceal his movements, as such a large force would be difficult to hide unless powerful magic was used.

He was able to sneak into the vicinity of the tribe undetected because of the cover of night and the fact that the Bear Tribe was not on guard.

Now that the sun has risen and swords are drawn, it's virtually impossible to conceal one's whereabouts.

In addition, Jiang Shuzhou had previously investigated and found that there were no high-level superhumans in the nearby tribes, so he did not hesitate and headed straight for the White Wolf Tribe.

After all, the longer it drags on, the greater the variables become. Perhaps if Jiang Shuzhou rests for a day, a tribe will come to ask for help the next day, and then they will find a high-level superhuman.

Therefore, Jiang Shuzhou's main tactic is a highly mobile blitzkrieg, since it is the tactic that requires the least amount of strategy.

As long as the troops are of high quality and highly mobile, then a direct attack is sufficient.

There aren't that many twists and turns.

Inside the White Wolf tribe.

"What? Why would a mage lead an army to launch a proactive attack?"

"Aren't they all just playing defensively?"

Because Jiang Shuzhou made no attempt to conceal his destination, Lupus, the wolf lord of the White Wolf tribe, quickly received the news.

"How long until they arrive? I'm going to find reinforcements right away."

"It's too late, Your Majesty, they're almost here."

The shaman standing to the side had a worried look on his face.

"I will draw battle runes on you, which will enhance your combat power."

The shaman picked up the special paint and began to paint on Rupus's body.