As the last Grasshopper God let out a desperate cry before its death, Muria beheaded it. Nearby, the Abyssal Fiend Miles grinned as he extracted its soul, using his innate ability to condense it into a dazzling soul crystal.
"Go and offer them surrender," Muria commanded, looking at the Grasshopper legions below, who had endured three years of war and just witnessed the entire shocking scene. Their supreme ruler had turned into a super beast, their commander was killed on the spot, and the Grasshopper Legends they revered as gods had all fallen.
Panic, confusion, despair, fear... all these negative emotions clouded the minds of the tens of millions of Grasshoppers.
"Kill all those who refuse to surrender," Muria issued a seemingly merciless order. This was what a ruler should do. The future exploitation of this world's resources would undoubtedly be managed by his dragons, giants, or even lower-level humans. Leaving behind Grasshoppers who harbored hatred towards him would be irresponsible to his followers.
His kindness and compassion should be reserved for the giants who fought for him, those who would dedicate their lives to him, not these alien humanoid bugs.
The Grasshoppers only appeared pitiable because they were the weak and defeated. When they were strong, ruling over seven neighboring small worlds, they were arrogant and treated intelligent beings as livestock.
Of course, one couldn't say they were wrong. It was their right as victors. The strong preying on the weak was natural. But since they treated other intelligent races this way, they shouldn't resent Muria for reducing their entire race to slave status, making them mine and smelt metals.
They were simply receiving the same treatment they had meted out to others. It was fair, at least from Muria's perspective.
"Understood!" The ancient green dragon and Abyssal Fiend Miles accepted the order. This was what they excelled at and enjoyed most. In the main world, Muria strictly prohibited them from unleashing their nature in mass slaughter.
Thus, a massacre began in the Grasshopper world of Soros. Steel warships patrolled the world, five-colored dragons soared in the sky, and various giants and their battle pets roamed the Grasshopper cities, following Muria's orders to kill all who refused to comply.
From the day Muria's giant legion began sweeping the world, the Grasshopper civilization was doomed. They would lose their knowledge heritage, as Muria would confiscate everything and store it in the Synapse Library.
Though the Grasshopper race lost their heritage, they gained the chance to survive as Muria's slave race, due to the needs of Muria and the Synapse.
When Muria began accepting the eight worlds, a fatal weakness of his legion became apparent—they were far too few in number. Including all the intelligent beasts, they barely numbered over a million.
This number might be decent for a kingdom but was insignificant for a world. Therefore, Muria had to recruit the intelligent races oppressed by the Grasshoppers as his servant races to assist in management.
Even so, it was still not enough, as not every world around Soros had intelligent races. Some were still in a primordial, wild state. Moreover, during their conquest, the Grasshoppers had massively slaughtered native creatures, so there weren't many intelligent beings to respond to Muria's call.
Lacking management personnel, not to mention workers for resource extraction, turning the Grasshoppers into mining slaves was inevitable.
The growth of a powerful being, a force, or even a race always comes at the expense of the surrounding environment and creatures. Resources are limited; having more for oneself means others have less. This is natural.
"It seems I need to encourage reproduction in the Synapse and consider recruiting humans." Sitting in the newly established God-King Palace, Muria sighed, deeply troubled by the lack of manpower.
Thus, Muria began contemplating using humans to form legions to serve him. After all, he couldn't rely on his giants in the short term.
Among all prolific races, humans ranked top in potential. Low-level magical creatures like kobolds and goblins might reproduce more, but they were hardly useful. Muria wouldn't even consider them as cannon fodder.
Humans, on the other hand, were suitable. With adequate resources, their population could quickly grow, and from that base, he could select the best individuals to form a void legion to assist him.
"Humans seem almost created for war. Though their lifespans are short, exceptional individuals can achieve high power levels in a short time. And even if they suffer large-scale deaths, their reproductive ability allows them to quickly recover. Moreover, humans can bear the bloodlines of any powerful creature, a trait unique to them."
Muria pondered deeply. He hadn't thought of this before, but now that he did, he noticed some unsettling details. "Humans are too abnormal. Through special means, they can even carry Titan bloodlines. If a powerful race nears extinction, they can use humans to produce numerous hybrids, then select the best to convert into pure bloods, thus eliminating the risk of extinction.
"Vampires can turn humans into their kin, and werewolves can do the same. Some powerful dragonblood sorcerers can purify their bloodlines to the point of being indistinguishable from true dragons. Such a race couldn't have naturally evolved; it seems artificially created. How else could such a backup-like species exist?"
Various hypotheses emerged in Muria's mind, but he quickly shook his head, suppressing them. "These matters are irrelevant to me. I just need to use humans' ability to carry any creature's bloodline.
"I can modify the humans in the Synapse, implanting dragon or giant bloodlines, and quickly form dragon-blood legions and half-giant legions. This would meet my needs in the short term. Let humans earn this opportunity with military merit. No one values what they get for free."
While contemplating, Muria devised his next steps. His only concern was when he could return to the Synapse to implement his plans.
"How much longer until the interdimensional hub is completed?" Muria asked Gladys, a more experienced imperial princess, beside him.
"About three more years," Gladys replied with a figure that made Muria's head ache.
"I've already deployed all the cloud giant spellcasters to build this interdimensional hub. Why is it taking so long?" Muria felt frustrated.
According to Gladys' description of interdimensional expeditions, the most time-consuming parts were traveling to other worlds and conquering them. Returning to Erathia should be the shortest process, building an interdimensional hub to create a time-space rift connecting to Erathia. With prepared materials, this generally took a month to half a year, very short indeed.
"You lack a legendary mage to oversee the hub's construction, Lord Muria," Gladys explained helplessly. Most void expedition legions had at least one legendary mage. Muria's legion, almost entirely melee fighters, had none.
"Still short of people! I guess I barely count as a mage?" Muria stroked his chin, uncertain. In terms of mental power and element manipulation, he was confident he matched legendary mages, but in other aspects, he didn't even know one true legendary spell.
"If you have the ability and want to return quickly, you should help with the hub's construction," Gladys suggested.
"I understand!" Muria rubbed his nose. Even a half-baked legendary mage was still a mage...
While Muria reluctantly tackled something he had never tried before, in the Boundless Heaven, a beam of light shot up from a floating city resembling a continent, surrounded by crimson seraphic flames, exuding a majestic aura.
As the beam soared, the angels in the city stopped their activities—fighting, playing music, reading, conversing—and knelt on one knee, offering a unified hymn of praise.
"Too soon!" In the midst of the angels' hymns, a dignified eight-winged seraph looked up at the beam.
"Irvis, is there a problem? I don't sense anything wrong with Mikaela's aura."
"She awakened too early. After only five years of sleep, she couldn't have absorbed that much divinity. According to grandfather's prediction, she should have slept for about twenty years.
"Now, she barely crossed the legendary barrier and forced herself awake. My sister, she is so impatient? She couldn't wait for a mere fifteen years?"
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