This was indeed quite a pleasant surprise.
Previously, the caravans were truly genuine; it would take 10 to 15 days to complete trade operations between the two worlds.
It could be said that as long as the caravan trade time could be accelerated, allowing caravans to travel to the Mount & Blade World for trade and then return quickly, it would be a great help to Shen Mu.
After all, consider this: military consumables, such as feathered arrows and crossbow bolts, were major Consumption items and required a continuous supply.
Relying solely on Shen Mu's Low-Tier Supply Ring was already difficult for replenishment, and this special magical artifact could at most supply a force of 500 people.
It was simply impossible to effectively supply the current ranged archer forces, which now numbered in the thousands, so even if Shen Mu used the ring's function daily to store some arrows to compensate for wartime consumption, that alone wouldn't be enough.
Because there were simply too many battles now, basically one after another, leaving very little free time.
Therefore, normal supplies were still needed to provide a continuous stream of arrows for Shen Mu's current ranged archer forces.
And the ability to accelerate caravans traveling to the Mount & Blade World for trade and shortening the round-trip time was truly very important for Shen Mu right now.
Moreover, the most important feature was the crop growth function.
By consuming Faith Power, the growth rate of crops in the fields could be accelerated, increasing their time flow.
This meant that Shen Mu could be provided with a continuous supply of self-produced food, addressing Shen Mu’s food shortage problem.
And it truly solved his future food acquisition issues.
"Able to accelerate the growth of food crops."
Shen Mu looked at the description of accelerating food crop growth again, and a look of surprise and pleasant surprise appeared in his eyes.
After all, at a normal pace, the growth of those food crops indeed required a steady, step-by-step process of a day, a week, a month.
Just like the thousands of acres of wheat field outside Deherim, if the wheat within them were to fully mature, be harvested, and become food reserves in the granaries, it would require several months of waiting.
Because under normal circumstances, it takes seven or eight months for wheat, a crop, to mature from sowing to harvesting.
Now, if it could mature even a few months faster, that would already be enough.
At this moment, a dialogue box reappeared before Shen Mu’s eyes.
It was as if the Mount & Blade System knew Shen Mu's thoughts and popped up content about how much Faith Power to consume and how much time flow could be increased.
【Caravan Time: Consuming 10,000 Faith Power can accelerate the round-trip time of 1 caravan by 1 day.】
【Crop Time: Consuming 100 Faith Power can accelerate the growth time of crops in 1 mu of land by 1 day.】
The dialogue box clearly stated how much Faith Power was consumed and how much the time flow was accelerated.
Shen Mu nodded slightly at this, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"For caravans, it consumes 10,000 Faith Power to accelerate one caravan's round-trip time in the Mount & Blade World by one day."
Shen Mu stroked his chin.
He focused his attention on the crop time: "For crops, it's simpler; consuming 100 Faith Power can accelerate the growth time of one mu of crops by one day."
Looking at it this way, the consumption for caravans was relatively high.
After all, one day's time required the consumption of 10,000 Faith Power.
But thinking about it, this was understandable since the mount & blade caravans sent out needed to conduct commercial trade, traveling back and forth between this Different World and the Mount & Blade World, which was an interaction at the world level.
Therefore, requiring 10,000 Faith Power to increase one day of round-trip time was reasonable.
The most crucial point was that the mount & blade caravans, when dispatched to the Mount & Blade World for commercial trade, had a maximum round-trip time of only about 10 to 15 days.
Smuggling trade to Swadia Continent took about 10 days.
And commercial trade to Middle-earth only took about 15 days.
Even if added up, it would only be 150,000 Faith Power.
For Shen Mu currently, in Deherim, he still had many Blue Star Humans who could provide him with Faith Power, and according to his estimation, each person could provide one point of Faith Power per day as long as they prayed to him devoutly.
There were about twenty to thirty thousand people in Deherim.
If all of them prayed to him for one day, he could gain twenty to thirty thousand Faith Power.
150,000 Faith Power could be accumulated in 5 days.
This was a very good and stable income.
If Shen Mu acquired more Blue Star Humans to provide him with a continuous stream of Faith Power, then he would be able to accumulate a greater quantity of Faith Power.
In that case, using these various mount & blade functions that consumed Faith Power would be effortless!
"Hmm." Shen Mu raised an eyebrow slightly at this.
He found that the greatest effect obtained this time, after the Mount & Blade Rules swallowed the Hell Rules, seemed to truly be how to use Faith Power!
Shen Mu sincerely sighed, "It’s truly perfect!"
He was genuinely happy.
Especially looking at the rule below, that accelerating crop time only cost a mere 100 Faith Power, his entire being felt an unreal sensation.
"100 Faith Power can accelerate the growth rate of 1 mu of crops by 1 day." Shen Mu raised an eyebrow slightly.
Although he understood that 100 Faith Power could only accelerate the growth time of 1 mu of crops by 1 day, if it were 1,000 mu, it would require 100,000 Faith Power to accelerate 1 day of growth time.
For food crops that are often calculated in months, at least 6 months, this 1 day is basically like a tickle.
But one must know that Shen Mu's Faith Power could accumulate over time.
Moreover, the Blue Star Humans under Shen Mu's command were not a fixed number; they could continue to be recruited.
They could continue to be gathered and become a part of those protected by him, providing him with a continuous stream of Faith Power!
Even now, Shen Mu's entire Deherim had 1,000 mu of farmland in each direction, totaling nearly 5,000 mu of farmland.
One day of growth would require 500,000 Faith Power, which was an astronomical figure.
But who said one couldn't make small, quick gains?
Accelerate the growth of a few mu of wheat first, then provide some urgent rations.
Combined with the incoming and outgoing caravans providing him with food trade, this dual cooperation could satisfy the food needs of the populations in both Deherim and New Rivadin.
Everything was simple.
Accelerating 1 mu of land by 1 day of growth only costs 100 Faith Power.
In this conversion, 30 days would be 3,000 Faith Power.
Half a year, 180 days, would be 18,000 Faith Power.
Given the slow growth rate of wheat, a full 200 days to mature would only be 20,000 Faith Power.
10 mu would only be 200,000 Faith Power.
For Shen Mu, it was affordable!
As long as those over 30,000 Blue Star Humans were gathered, they could provide 30,000 Faith Power in one day.
This meant that in about a week, 10 mu of wheat field could be harvested.
And the food harvested from 10 mu of wheat field was enough to feed 1,000 people for 1 week!
Coupled with the food seized from the Orc forces, the Blue Star food scavenged from the Blue Star World, and the food obtained from caravan trade, it could be said that the food problem had been solved!
Subsequently, as long as he continued to work hard and gather more and more Blue Star Humans into his castles and towns for protection, it would mean that more and more Faith Power could be obtained.
This would, in turn, feed back into his Mount & Blade System and Mount & Blade Rules, allowing his forces to develop even more smoothly!
"Yes, this is truly excellent."
Shen Mu now imagined the beautiful life ahead, and the corners of his mouth curved into a slight smile: "No wonder those Spiritual Realm Lords regarded those Blue Star Humans as treasures, and no wonder those Spiritual Realm Lords ordered their Spiritual Realm Commanders to never, under any circumstances, bully or kill the remaining Blue Star Humans. So, Faith Power is actually this important."
This was also a point that Shen Mu had been confused about before.
After all, it was already the end of the world.
For the Blue Star World, the current world was equivalent to an apocalypse where all order had collapsed and civilization had crumbled.
Even various forms of oppression and crime were commonplace.
However, the memories left by his predecessor showed that such crimes and oppression were very rare.
At most, it resembled the underdeveloped regions of Earth in his previous life.
Faintly, there were even some rules and order preserved.
There were even forces that acted as enforcers, secretly maintaining the necessary outline of civilization.
Even the unruly Orc Tribe, acting like thugs, actually maintained the gray area rules of a 'gangster' level, rather than being 'terrorists' or 'anti-social elements' who completely trampled on rules and order.
Now, connecting this to the effect of Faith Power, Shen Mu finally understood.
Those Spiritual Realm Lords truly needed this Faith Power too much.
He himself could now obtain a continuous supply of resources and various manifested effects through Faith Power.
Then, those Spiritual Realm Lords who had received the Spiritual Realm inheritance, who were the source of more ways to use Faith Power, and who knew more of its marvelous uses, naturally regarded this Faith Power as more valuable than gold!
No, not gold.
Gold had already lost its original effect with the collapse of civilization and order.
Now, Faith Power was basically equivalent to life-sustaining food!
It was a crucial resource!
"Thinking about it this way, no wonder there were various forms of resistance and alliances among those Spiritual Realm Lords."
Shen Mu pursed his lips.
Thinking back to the previous Bali River Street, and the antagonistic relationship between Diesel Company and Green Leaf Group.
Originally, his predecessor thought it was merely a case of two tigers not being able to share one mountain.
Now that he thinks about it, it must have been due to the distribution of Faith Power among Blue Star Humans that they were so hostile, even engaging in several small-scale battles.
After all, the Orc Tribe sheltered over 30,000 Blue Star Humans.
And that Wood Elf Village also sheltered over 10,000 Blue Star Humans.
When anyone looked at the other side's Blue Star Humans, it was like looking at human-shaped Faith Power generators.
Wouldn't that naturally lead to conflict?
Cutting off someone's financial path is like killing their parents.
Moreover, this was no longer just about cutting off a financial path.
It was about the critical ability to survive in this Blue Star World, which was already overrun with Undead Monsters.
Now, Shen Mu also firmed up his resolve to strive for more Blue Star Humans to serve as his human-shaped Faith Power generating machines.
“However, for now, I still need to wait two or three more days in this Vikia Castle, New Rivadin.”
Shen Mu pondered at this moment.
Because tonight, he didn't know if the Hell Devil in those subway stations would launch another attack on him.
After all, last night, he had engaged in an extremely fierce battle with the Hell Devil that surged out of the subway tunnel, and he had even repelled their attacks twice, completely annihilating them on the flat fields above ground.
And now, when Shen Mu turned his head, he saw his Swadian Skirmishers cleaning up the battlefield outside.
They were stripping the Hell Devil' weapons and leather armor from their corpses and gathering them together.
Then, they were piling the Hell Devil' bodies together separately.
It almost formed a gruesome scene, like a morgue.
Looking down from above, it was essentially a most filthy slaughterhouse.
Furthermore, from a great distance, as the breeze blew, Shen Mu also faintly detected a putrid smell.
It was precisely the nearly 5,000 Hell Devil killed last night, their bodies sprawled haphazardly, forming a large pile of corpses that looked terrifying.
After all, 5,000 Hell Devil piled together truly created a massive visual impact.
And it was a shocking effect that directly impacted the soul.
Of course, for the Viki Guerilla Shooters who were cleaning up the battlefield, still moving Hell Devil' corpses in pairs, these scenes were commonplace.
After all, for them, while a battlefield with 5,000 casualties at once was relatively rare, it wasn't unheard of.
In confrontations between nations and national-level armies, in extremely brutal frontal battles, horrific scenes of over 5,000 deaths at once had indeed occurred.
Moreover, they were the victors now; as the winning side moving the corpses of the defeated, they naturally carried a sense of disdain and self-satisfaction.
Therefore, not one of them was afraid.
They quickly moved the Hell Devil' corpses, even whispering and commenting on the Hell Devil' appearances.
Especially when looking at their human-like appearance, but with dark red skin all over, slender small horns on their foreheads, slender tails behind them, and even atrophied bat wings on their backs that couldn't serve as true wings but only as decorations.
Their eyes held a hint of strangeness.
After all, these Hell Devil looked exactly like the monsters that appeared in their myths and legends.
It was said that these Hell Devil were terrifying creatures that judged souls after death.
However, no matter how terrifying these Hell Devil were, they were still easily killed by them outside the city walls; these Hell Devil seemed no different from the Bandits or robbers in the wilderness.
As long as they dared to approach their city walls, they would be shot dead on the spot by arrows and crossbow bolts.
They were even treated like cattle and sheep to be slaughtered in the wilderness by the Kujit light cavalry and Swadian heavy cavalry, ruthlessly massacred on the flat land outside the city walls.
And then they left behind so many corpses.
It seemed particularly ridiculous.
Indeed, in the eyes of these Viki Guerilla Shooters, these Hell Devil truly seemed particularly ridiculous here; their impression of the Hell Devil had changed from initial apprehension to current disdain.
Their psychological changes were the same as Bestour's and Lezalit's internal shifts.
If something could be killed, then it wasn't to be feared.
It certainly wasn't terrifying.
The Hell Devil, once so terrifying in myths and legends, were now easily killed by them on the spot.
Naturally, a subtle change occurred in their hearts.
In fact, it wasn't just these newly promoted Viki Guerilla Shooters who experienced this subtle change in their hearts.
The Khergit who had also just arrived, having personally shot many Hell Devil, whether Inferior Devils or Lowly Devils, also felt the ridiculousness of these so-called Hell Devil, along with a deep-seated disdain and contempt.
After all, the Viki Guerilla Shooters hadn't directly participated in close-quarters combat with these Hell Devil; they hadn't had close contact with them.
But the Kujit Steppe Bandits were different.
These Steppe Bandits had clearly seen these Hell Devil within 10 meters and had shot them with their Nomadic Bows.
But precisely because of this, these Steppe Bandits felt a sense of ridiculous absurdity, stemming from easily killing them, towards the Hell Devil, who were said to be extremely terrifying and powerful in myths and legends, almost on par with gods.
It was as if they had always heard that someone was very powerful, but upon meeting them, they discovered that person was a coward.
The fear and apprehension they had felt because they had heard others say he was powerful instantly turned into ridicule and absurdity.
That was their psychological state.
And so, they felt no fear towards these so-called Hell Devil whatsoever.
Because in the hearts of these Kujit Steppe Bandits, these so-called Hell Devil, whether Inferior Devils, Lowly Devils, or Medium Devils, were no different from ordinary people on the Calradia continent in their eyes.
They were just physically more robust and strong.
However, because they didn't wear effective armor as protection, their actual combat effectiveness was relatively poor in terms of defense compared to the troops on the Calradia continent who were generally equipped with chainmail after reaching Tier 3.
Instead, they would be killed faster on the battlefield by ranged shooter units.
This is why the Kujit Steppe Bandits were even more disdainful, more mocking, and felt these so-called Hell Devil were more absurd.
This level of enemy.
In the Kujit Steppe, even a small tribe could probably wipe out all these Hell Devil.
After all, the flat and vast Kujit Steppe is very suitable for cavalry to run, and these Hell Devil, being infantry without armor or high-level shields, would face a terrible end once targeted by Kujit cavalry.
The Khergit are best at endless harassment and kiting tactics.
And the Khergit totem is the Steppe Wolf.
They would stalk these Hell Devil like wolves, then charge in for a fierce bite when the Hell Devil exposed a weakness, and then leave.
They would not engage in prolonged entanglement.
And so, bite by bite, they would completely devour these Hell Devil.
And when facing the other five kingdoms, the Khergit generally gained battlefield advantage and victory through this tactic.
When the enemy was exhausted and mentally weak, due to a huge tactical vulnerability, the fierce Khergit veteran heavy cavalry would charge in with their long spears, completely tearing apart the enemy's formation and utterly dismembering them.
Except in the Rodok Mountainous Region, where they couldn't deploy this tactic, in other places, they were predators like wolf packs.
And now, these Khergit watched the sun gradually set in the sky.
They knew it would be dark soon.
But not a single one of them showed any fear; instead, they were eager, excited to re-enter combat.
They were not afraid of the coming battle.
They were not afraid of the so-called Hell Devil, nor were they afraid of any Undead Monsters.
Comparatively, these Kujit Steppe Bandits, who already knew the true nature of the Hell Devil, even had thoughts of wanting to fight those Undead Monsters.
After all, they wanted to see what the Undead Monsters were made of.
After all, skeletons and zombies crawling out of graves really made them a little excited just thinking about it.
“Wait, what’s that sound?”
Just as these Kujit Steppe Bandits were galloping under the setting sun, they arrived at the Su Family Village Station.
Upon arriving, they suddenly noticed a peculiar sound coming from beneath the Su Family Village Station.
Their faces showed confusion.
The sound wasn't loud, but it was quite rhythmic, and there was a faint, hard clicking sound.
It sounded as if...
It was the extremely dense sound of... bones being struck!