Watching the obedient trolls shuffle off into the forest, following Guu's orders like loyal little goblins, Lyle couldn't help but sigh.
"Honestly," he muttered, arms folded, "the best way to deal with trolls really is the good old-fashioned brainwash-and-boss-around strategy. Simple, crude… effective."
Even though the lesser trolls clearly knew their leader was under his control, they still followed Guu's commands without question. That kind of… loyalty? No. That kind of dumb devotion could only be described as species-level stupidity.
"Guess it's just a troll thing."
Lyle took a glance around the dense forest clearing. "Looks like I'll be here for a while."
He turned to Guu. "Clear out a decent area around here. Something clean."
Guu, the hulking mountain of muscle and drool, blinked at him. "Okay," he rumbled, his deep voice making the trees shake a little. His bloodshot eyes had a faint haze to them, almost like confusion but not quite.
Lyle smirked. Charming magic. Never gets old.
Unlike hypnotic spells that left their victims acting like badly written puppets, charm spells like the one Lyle used nestled into the subconscious. They convinced the target that the spellcaster was someone important, trusted, loved even. The result? Full cooperation without the awkward side effects. Unless, of course, you asked them to do something absurd like walk off a cliff.
So far, Lyle had found trolls like Guu to be excellent minions. Big, durable, and surprisingly handy at manual labor. In just half an hour, Guu had cleared out a sizable patch of land. Lyle even got him to chop down some trees and cobble together a makeshift wooden shelter.
It wasn't glamorous, but it would do.
Now came the real wait.
Lyle didn't know exactly how many trolls were scattered throughout the eastern half of the Great Forest of Tob, but he knew that sending out just a few runners to gather them all would take time. Still, time was something he had plenty of.
He kept busy.
With his mana now at 48 points, he could technically craft Tier 4 scrolls. But for now, he focused on restocking his Tier 3 [Angel Summon] scrolls—solid, dependable, and great in a pinch.
When he ran low on mana, Lyle used Guu as a sparring partner. A giant, obedient punching bag was too good to waste. Obviously, he didn't use any of his cursed magic during these sessions, just raw skill.
Because if he was being brutally honest, he had a glaring weakness.
All his victories so far? Smoke, mirrors, and clever use of magic and skills. Without them, he'd get flattened by any proper warrior who actually trained the old-fashioned way.
Real combat skill?
Let's just say Lyle wasn't quite ready for a one-on-one tournament arc.
The first day passed in a flash.
By the evening of the second day, the trolls who had left finally returned, dragging with them dozens, no—hundreds of ogres from across the forest.
When Lyle saw them emerge from the trees, he let out a breath. For a minute there, he'd honestly thought they'd just ditched the mission and gone mushroom-picking.
As the ogres gathered, the stench of sweat, blood, and bad hygiene thickened in the air. The empty clearing quickly became a swamp of grunting, confused giants.
From above, it looked like a small army of ogres had assembled.
Lyle stood at the edge of the mob, expression unreadable, as he tallied up the numbers.
Fortunately, the presence of the upper-tier trolls like Guu kept the crowd from turning into a mosh pit of fists and clubbings. The hierarchy was clear: big troll in charge, big troll scary, so listen to big troll.
Sometimes, low intelligence came with perks.
"Two hundred and seventy-one trolls?" Lyle blinked. "That's… a lot."
And it wasn't even all of them.
He ran the numbers in his head. The average troll gave about 300 XP. Kill them all and he'd net roughly 80,000 experience points.
But why rush it?
Lyle turned to Guu. "Round up the trolls. I want them to capture every large beast and magical creature they can find in this region. Alive. Bring them back here."
"Alive?" Guu echoed, one eyebrow twitching in confusion.
"Yes," Lyle replied firmly, eyes glinting. "Alive. No squashing."
Orders trickled down. Guu barked to the regular trolls, who then passed orders to the trolls. Soon the entire horde marched back into the forest, clubs dragging, hunting for apex prey.
Lyle crossed his arms, satisfied. "Now this… this is what I call farming."
He didn't want to stir up the entire forest ecosystem. Regular beasts and minor monsters? Untouched. The outer region of the forest remained undisturbed, no need to attract outside attention. He was only interested in the big fish: the kings of the food chain.
The stronger they were, the better.
Even if he ended up killing Guu later, the absence of those high-level predators would ensure no major power vacuum formed. No predators, no chaos. Just peace, quiet… and loot.
Days rolled by in a strange, satisfying rhythm.
By day, Lyle crafted scrolls, refined his spells, and experimented with mana manipulation. By night, he sparred with Guu until his arms ached. And in between?
Feeding time.
The trolls returned daily, hauling in corpses of powerful monsters like proud hunting dogs. The prey averaged level 12 to 17. In the first three days alone, Lyle racked up 10,000 XP.
But after that, the pace slowed.
September 23rd — Half a month later.
Outside the wooden shack, a bloated barghest lay sprawled in the dirt, belly distended like a balloon.
"Arf," it wheezed, too full to even twitch.
This was the same 'little' barghest that had once gnawed goblin bones for breakfast. Now? It had grown to over a meter tall, fur pitch black and glossy, with two fully formed horns curling from its skull. Its aura radiated danger—real danger, not the 'I-bark-but-run' kind.
Lyle had fed it well.
In truth, the barghest had eaten far less than the trolls. Most of the corpses were devoured by the trollish horde, twenty or so had died from overeating or brawling over food. But the little pup had definitely gotten the VIP menu.
Thud!
Another large corpse dropped onto the ground, a massive tiger-like beast with jagged fangs and striped hide.
"Don't waste it," Lyle said, giving the barghest a side glance.
"Whiiine…" The beast let out a pitiful groan, legs twitching. Too full to move.
Lyle ignored the guilt-trip. He was more interested in his system screen.
[Experience: 74,122 / 30,000]
Seventy-four thousand XP in just under fifteen days. Not bad. The eastern part of Forest of Tob was almost entirely cleared of high-tier monsters.
He opened another tab, his skill interface.
"Totemic Possession… Definitely more complicated than I thought."
Lyle had used the abundance of monster corpses to test out the nuances of the skill.
Apparently, as long as he didn't finalize a totem, he could freely interrupt the possession process at any time. However, he wasn't sure if he could change totems once one was locked in.
He'd learned something else, too.
Totem bonuses varied by creature, but none could add more than +50 to a base stat. Expected, given it was only a mid-tier class skill.
But the real gold was in trait absorption.
Take the tiger he'd just killed, for example. It had two natural traits: night vision and enhanced jungle movement. If he used it as a totem without activating possession, he could choose one of its traits and permanently integrate it into his skillset.
These traits were mediocre for him personally, but imagine what he could gain from higher-level monsters?
And far away from the forest…
While Lyle was busy transforming the food chain into his personal buffet, the world outside began to shift.
In the Baharuth Empire, something shocking occurred, the legendary "Warlord" Go Gin, undefeated champion of the capital's arena, abruptly resigned and vanished.
The event sent ripples through the empire, even affecting their military campaigns. Rumors flew. Soldiers' morale plummeted.
The Bloody Emperor himself dispatched envoys to retain Go Gin, and one of the Four Imperial Knights even appeared. The situation nearly escalated to civil conflict before being defused by the merchant lord Osk.
Shortly after, a bounty was posted, but not for Go Gin.
No, the empire now hunted a certain alchemist from the Re-Estize Kingdom. A black-haired genius, whispered to be at the center of it all.
At the same time, on the kingdom's side…
The fugitive Leinas, branded a traitor by the Empire, faced off against Warrior-Captain Gazef in the capital.
Their duel ended in a draw.
King Ramposa III summoned them both, awarding Gazef one of the five national treasures and granting Leinas a noble knighthood.
The news spread quickly.
Tension on the border surged.