It's important to know that titles are quite significant for a person's reputation. For example, 'Sir Wolf' Ou Fuwei'er, and 'Cross Hand' Bujia—they immediately suggest something about the person's character and abilities. If a normal person were named something like 'Dead Maggot' or 'Rotten Toes,' Brand thinks they'd be better off smashing their head against a pillar.

Yet, while he finds vulgar titles disgusting, Caglis's eyes lit up upon hearing them, prompting him to complain: "Honestly, if I had known beforehand, by coming out with the Lord, maybe I would have gotten a title too."

"What sort of title?"

"For instance, the Lord is called 'Miracle-creating Brand.' I wouldn't dare compare myself to the Lord, so I'd be 'Caglis who follows Miracle-creating Brand,'" the young man mused earnestly.

Brand staggered, nearly fell to his knees, and immediately gave this Eruein noble descendant, the second son of Sir Min Tai, a disdainful look. Suddenly, he felt worried for the kingdom's future, thinking to himself, what kind of twisted aesthetic is this?

Considering his future Guard Captain and the White Lion Legion, he decided it was time to correct the other's aesthetic: "It's just minor skirmishes for now; there will be plenty of opportunities for combat later. Just don't complain about being too tired when the time comes."

"Really?"

"Of course," Brand replied. "Our enemies aren't just us; there's also Madara. Madara hasn't even deployed their regular legions in this war. Do you know why?"

"Madara didn't deploy regular legions?" Beru, having not experienced the first Black Rose War while in the dungeon, reacted less, but Caglis, having heard about the war, couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"Madara's invasion of Erune is due to internal discord and unequal distribution of interests, with the new emperor ascending the throne causing political upheaval. To shift internal conflicts outward, they expanded externally. In fact, the true war is merely a legal plundering, those who sprang into action were just the local nobles." Brand replied seriously: "But this expansion is an external manifestation of Madara's ten years of internal reforms—on our front, that Madara's Black Knight, Instarlon, gained support from the Tagus Family due to his talents to seek capital to appear on stage in Erune, and before that, he was just a local young man who had just inherited a territory."

"In this war, Madara has many such young people; Instarlon isn't the only one." This was the first time Brand seriously admitted to his subordinates the threat Madara posed, knowing he wasn't exaggerating.

Both Beru and Caglis drew in sharp breaths: "Just how strong is the true Madara?"

"Madara's regular army's main force consists of Black Knights, Dark Crusaders, Vampires, and High-level Corpse Witches. Especially the Black Knights and Dark Crusaders, they are grassroots roles within Madara's regular army sequence, their strength is at least above the Silver Middle tier, generally what I refer to as Third-tier soldiers." Brand replied: "As for high-order combat power, there's Bone Dragons, Revenge Banshee, Blood Throne Lords. If Erune could rely on the Holy Temple Guards, the earliest White Lion Guard, and the Iron Horse Knights established by Former King Ai Ke, there might still be the strength for a battle. As for now..."

Brand left some words unsaid, the fact was, Madara wasn't the strongest force in the world yet. Whether it's the Cruz Empire, Saint Ausor, or the craftsman Wizard Bujia, they're all more powerful than this newly-established Dark Empire.

At least Bujia's Stone Statue Ghosts and Gemstone Dragon surprise tactics once ran rampant on the battlefield—Bujia's sky is the world's sky—such arrogant words can only be spoken by the craftsman wizards.

"Unfortunately, the Iron Horse Knights' training methods have been lost for a long time." Master Beru sighed: "Even the methods for cultivating White Lion Infantry have lost much compared to previous years, and the combat power of trained White Lion Infantry is also much inferior to before."

Brand nodded, as he naturally knew. White Lion Infantry used to be the army that roamed the lands under Former King Ai Ke, but has now fallen to the point where it competes with the trusted aides trained by Jahndener, a sign of fate's whims. Erune deviated from Former King Ai Ke's path, receiving this punishment.

The Holy Temple Guards resulted from the covenant between Silver Elves and Erune; Medisha, for instance, is part of this product. However, this covenant has long disappeared, and even the Eruein's misinterpretation of the Holy Covenant brought about Martha's ire.

Nevertheless, the complex interrelations between Erune, Silver Elves, and Wind Elves are what kept the kingdom barely scraping by—Madara's invasion revealed the kingdom's weaknesses, leading to its gradual decline after this war.

But that's all history now.

Brand patted both on the shoulder: "Don't be afraid, we can take it slow, the kingdom isn't hopeless. The training methods for White Lion Infantry were lost during the war between the Kerkova Dynasty and the Xifah Dynasty (*), and it's said that heirs of the Xifah Royal Family divided the White Lion Infantry training methods into three parts and concealed them within Men'sgro's tomb raider zones. We could look into that when we have the chance."

(* Summer Year, New Moon War)

The Forging Master Beru thought Brand was just comforting him, unaware Brand was telling the truth, as the Xifah Royal Family descendants split the training methods into three parts, entrusting them to three princes and princesses at the time. One part was retrieved, Brand has definite news another part rests in Men'sgro's tomb raider zones, while the last part's whereabouts remain unknown.

The complete White Lion Infantry legend represents Fourth-tier troops, but acquiring two parts at least offers Third-tier strength. Brand can also find ways for the Iron Horse Knights' training methods—that's the advantage of crossing worlds, and indeed, now he's freed up, soon preparing to address these issues.

However, he first called Beru back to focus, asking: "Master, the armor of those Red Banner Cavalry is considered quite fine, could you find a way to improve it?"

"Improve?" the old man questioned, confused: "While the armor's defense is high, it's unsuitable for Heavy Infantry use. Especially since it only enhances defense against arrows, which contradicts the White Lion Infantry concept."

"No, I'm thinking of having you modify it to be wearable by archers." Brand shook his head.

"Archers?" Beru widened his eyes; he hadn't heard of anyone being so extravagant, making archers wear Magic Armor. It's not that archers aren't valuable, but they're positioned too far in the rear, using Magic Armor for them is just extravagant: "Isn't that too luxurious?"

"Not at all, what if they wear it?" Brand had the elderly man turn to look at the several tall figures with longbows wandering the 'Human World,' curiously gazing about—the Tree Elf Girls.

"Well..." This time, Forging Master Beru couldn't find a rebuttal.

Anyone knows, Elf archers are all Divine Archers. But he couldn't imagine what it means for archers to don Magic Armor.

Because theoretically, archers aim for agility.

...(to be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)