novelraw Chapter 573: Spoils of War Distribution
Chapter 573: Spoils of War Distribution
"Rumble!"
Rolling thunder tore across the sky. The heavy, dark clouds looked as though the abyssal purgatory had been moved to the heavens.
A torrential downpour mixed with hail had been falling continuously for a day and a night.
This was the venting of Mana, as well as the backlash of nature magic.
The accumulated water within the entire Gumodo Basin had already skyrocketed to nearly five meters, and it was still continuing to rise.
This kind of heaven-and-earth anomaly made even a Rank 3 Caster like Hathaway feel shocked and deeply worried.
"Li Wei, I truly feel afraid now. Long ago, I knew about the effects brought about by magic losing control during the Ancient Era, but hearing about it is one thing; experiencing it personally is another."
"This massive torrential downpour is merely a minor chain reaction triggered by the nature magic cast by the Neanderthal Mages clashing with Adai and me channeling the Great Frost, yet its power is already this terrifying. It's hard for me to imagine just what the Ancient Mages did to trigger the loss of control over the Origin of Magic."
At this moment, Li Wei and Hathaway stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the window of this small Permanent Fortification. Watching the frenzied torrential downpour outside, they felt that they were truly too insignificant.
"However, in a certain sense, this is a good thing for us. At least right now, we are standing at the edge of the Tindal Plateau, with a passably sturdy small Fortress, rather than being situated within the Gumodo Basin. I can almost foresee the scene of the Neanderthals' Giant Crocodile Legion swarming over in overwhelming numbers to slaughter us."Li Wei also had lingering fears in his heart. Vigilance, introspection, self-criticism, and reverence for the future.
These were the virtues a Lord must possess.
Next time, they wouldn't have such good luck—although next time, they would be able to openly and righteously crush their enemies.
"Li Wei, has Sister Yue finished assessing the Military Merits back home?"
Hathaway asked at this time. This was the first battle of Li Wei's Territory since the system was changed a few years ago. Therefore, how to distribute the Spoils of War became a major issue that everyone needed to care about.
Originally, the rules were laid out right there, and it would be fine to just follow them by the book. However, many soldiers had Fallen in Battle. Currently, they were all undergoing a weakened Resurrection in the Divine Temple of Liwei Keep. Yes, even if the Purple Cards and Gold Cards had been returned via the original route, the ensuing weakness was still there.
They would need at least three to four months to recover to their peak condition.
With these people missing, how military merits should be determined required proper deliberation.
Especially now in the Ascension Continent, the preservation time of Gold Cards could be extended to seven days, making it even less urgent.
Therefore, Li Wei first used the Pioneering Card to transmit the situation of this battle back to Li Yue, letting her carry out a preliminary assessment of Military Merits in Liwei Keep first. Only after that would it be this side's turn.
Another reason was that the Spoils of War from those thirty-seven Samsara Travelers and Contractors hadn't been properly arranged yet. Among them, six were killed jointly by Li Wei and Hathaway. This belonged to them personally and didn't need to be included in the Military Merit system.
As for the rest, according to the rules, the Blazing Legion would enjoy a 50% distribution of the Spoils of War. Of course, taxes had to be paid. Among them, the five departments of the territory would take 5%; Second Aunt's Alchemy Department and Zhao Xuanxuan's Enchanted Blacksmith Workshop would each take 2%; and the All-Heavens Temple would take at least 5%.
In other words, the Blazing Legion would ultimately only receive 36%. This share would be specifically distributed to each person based on the circumstances in battle—who was the main attacker, who supported, who assisted, and who absorbed the most damage. Moreover, those who had Fallen in Battle would additionally receive a very considerable portion as a death-in-battle subsidy.
As for the remaining 50%, it belonged to Li Wei.
Similarly, although the Royal Guard was Li Wei's personal guard, and although they strongly requested not to abide by this set of rules, Li Wei still forcibly implemented it. That is to say, they must also receive a 50% distribution of the Spoils of War, which was actually only 36%.
Of course, as his own Royal Guard, guards that he personally commanded, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Li Wei paying out of his own pocket to provide them with special treatment.
This wasn't being hypocritical; it was a necessity to form a system to guarantee basic fairness as much as possible.
He couldn't just have his brothers brave life and death with him, yet not even get to enjoy this bit of fairness, right?
In short, this battle had not been easy to fight. Therefore, distributing the Spoils of War and assessing Military Merits absolutely could not be treated carelessly.
"It should be soon."
As he spoke, Li Wei's heart stirred. Sure enough, speak of the devil and she shall appear. Li Yue had already completed the basic assessment of Military Merits; this was the main task of the department she was in charge of.
Li Wei took a rough look, then forwarded it to Hathaway, as well as all the soldiers of the Blazing Legion and the Royal Guard present.
All the standards, all the details, and the reasons for the Military Merit assessments were written clearly and plainly, without any flaws.
At the same time, there was also the distribution of the Spoils of War.
It involved the cooperative kills between the Blazing Legion and the Royal Guard, the defense and counterattacks they bore on the battlefield, and even things like constructing the Platform island—none of these were omitted.
The final adjudicated total distribution plan was: the Blazing Legion would receive 50 Eight-star Golden Cards, 60 Seven-Star Gold Cards, 90 Six-Star Gold Cards, and 150 Purple Cards of varying levels.
The Royal Guard would receive 15 Eight-star Golden Cards, 50 Seven-Star Gold Cards, 40 Six-Star Gold Cards, and 150 Purple Cards of varying levels.
Of course, these were all before taxes.
Because Hathaway and Adai had channeled down the Great Frost, they would jointly share 10 Eight-star Golden Cards, 10 Seven-Star Gold Cards, 20 Six-Star Gold Cards, and 100 Purple Cards filled entirely with essence beast meat. This was tax-free.
As the Lord, Li Wei obtained 75 Eight-star Golden Cards, 135 Seven-Star Gold Cards, 150 Six-Star Gold Cards, and 400 Purple Cards of varying levels.
As for the dropped Spoils of War from the Samsara Travelers and Contractors to be distributed in a few days, after deducting those killed individually by Li Wei and Hathaway, 50% would also be allocated to the Blazing Legion.
With the distribution plan in hand, it became simple. Quick and Decisive, Li Wei used the function of the Pioneering Card to rapidly send a portion of the Gold Cards and Purple Cards to be given out back to Liwei Keep, while directly handing out another portion to the Centurions for them to distribute to individuals.
The entire process was transparent!
As for how the soldiers used these, Li Wei didn't need to trouble his mind over it. None of them were fools; they had thoroughly understood these matters long ago.
And it is worth mentioning that after killing Samsara Travelers and Contractors, one would also obtain Faction Contribution Points from the Alliance of Heavenly Lords. Usually, this could be exchanged for a Six-Star Artifact.
If it were an individual, they would decisively exchange it. But for a legion, the optimal choice was actually to universally Upgrade everyone's profession prefix. After all, the guys were basically all Dark Knights. Even if they were just upgraded to the Dark Moon prefix, it would be of great help in boosting their combat power.
Therefore, after discussing it among themselves, Jocelyn, Victor, and the other Chiliarchs and Centurions spoke with every legion Soldier. Finally, they reported it to the Strategy and Tactics Department, where Li Yue adjudicated it before it was ultimately forwarded to Li Wei. Once Li Wei also agreed, only then would this collective promotion plan be considered approved.
Based on the Blazing Legion's returns this time, and through bargaining with the Nine-Star Council, in any case, it could roughly allow five hundred soldiers who were originally Dark Knights to Upgrade their prefix to Dark Moon Knights.
As for the soldiers whose turn didn't come, they would be prioritized during the next Spoils of War distribution.
And so on and so forth.
As for the Royal Guard's distribution plan, it naturally fell to Li Wei. The Royal Guard hadn't killed any Samsara Travelers or Contractors, so they couldn't get any Faction Contribution Points, but it was still considered abundant.
After pondering for a moment, Li Wei used the Six-Star Gold Cards in his hands to make an exchange for the Royal Guard's Eight-Star and Seven-Star Gold Cards.
Because in his view, the most important thing for the Royal Guard right now was to shore up their shortcomings—Upgrading the portion of Royal Guards who were still Four-Star Professions to Five-Star, and then making up for their Basic Attributes as much as possible.
After some tossing around, the number of Eight-star Golden Cards in Li Wei's hands reached 85, Seven-Star Gold Cards reached 150, and his Six-Star Gold Cards were completely exchanged away.
Among these, he gave every single Advisor in the Territory—oh, except for Hathaway and Li Yue. The rest, including Second Aunt, Tucker, A Su, He Yibo, Jocelyn, Victor, Zhao Qingshan, and the others, each received one Seven-Star Gold Card. It was considered the territory dividend for the past nine years.
Dividends could be small, but they couldn't be non-existent.
As for Hathaway, her returns this time were already more than enough; she didn't need a dividend. She even paid out of her own pocket, giving Li Yue two Eight-star Golden Cards, two Seven-Star Gold Cards, and five Purple Cards filled with essence beast meat.
Oh, the division of Spoils of War between her and Adai was that she took all the Gold Cards, while Adai exclusively enjoyed the vast majority of the Purple Cards.
Adai expressed great satisfaction with this.
"Darling, I need to go exchange for the Resources I need. It might still take me several decades to promote to a Fourth-Tier Mage, but I guarantee that Liwei Keep will soon have at least two Level 3 Mage Towers, as well as two Tier-2 Mage Towers. I want to make our little nest Impregnable!"
Hathaway went off joyfully to busy herself with her own affairs.
Meanwhile, Li Wei used the name of the Lord to prepay the Spoils of War distribution for the Ice Legion and Ranger Legion, giving the Ice Legion 100 Seven-Star Gold Cards and the Ranger Legion 50 Seven-Star Gold Cards.
This was the fastest method to boost combat power. Of course, this was recorded and kept on file; the Ice Legion and Ranger Legion wouldn't receive a distribution of Spoils of War in the next battle.
At this point, not daring to slack off in the slightest, Li Wei patrolled and stood guard in the Fortress until all the soldiers had completed their enhancement Upgrades and Hathaway had finished her exchanges. Only then did he return to his room, preparing to open the Nine-Star Council's exchange Platform.
This was an exchange Channel opened for all Seven-Star and Eight-Star Gold Cards. Normally, one would need to travel to the Royal Capital to exchange them, but since they were currently in the Ascension Continent, the conditions weren't met, so the process was simplified.
Including the Campaign Points and Faction Contribution Points that used to be required to promote to the Fourth Tier, all of it could be substituted with Mana.
It was very flexible.
In the blink of an eye, several option messages surfaced before Li Wei's eyes.
[Because you possess 80 Eight-star Golden Cards at once, and your subordinates have continuously consumed 70 Eight-star Golden Cards, you, as a Lord, will unlock special exchange options limited only to the Lord status. Please choose the exchange terms you consider reasonable. You may select single or multiple options.]
[A: Exchange for specific Origin Particles. One Eight-star Golden Card can be exchanged for ten particles at once. Can be exchanged multiple times.]
[B: Consume fifty Eight-star Golden Cards and 100 Origin Particles to perform a holy enhancement on your Six-Star Artifact Bow. After the holy enhancement, your Six-Star Artifact Bow will Upgrade to a Seven-Star Holy Origin Ranger Bow. Thus, in future battles, you will not need to consume Origin Particles, and can cumulatively shoot ten Origin Arrows per day, without any other costs such as Destiny Grid consumption. (Only appears after cumulatively exchanging over 50 Eight-star Golden Cards.)]
[C: Consume one Eight-star Golden Card to exchange for a four-star juvenile Griffin. Requires consuming one Seven-Star Gold Card to enhance it into a five-star adult Griffin. No exchange limit. Friendly Reminder: The enhancement Success Rate is only 50%; you must find a way to increase the rate yourself. (Only appears after cumulatively exchanging over 50 Eight-star Golden Cards.)]
[D: Consume five Eight-star Golden Cards to exchange for a five-star adult Griffin. Description: Griffins are ultra-formidable Magical Creatures left over from the Ancient Magic Era to this day. A single five-star Griffin possesses strength comparable to a Six-Star Hunting Pet, or a Level 7 Sky Hawk. No exchange limit. (Same condition as above.)]
[E: Consume one Eight-star Golden Card to exchange for one six-star Enchanted Light Armor, or one Enchanted Heavy Armor, or one mage robe.]
[F: Consume one Eight-star Golden Card to exchange for one Magic Crest with two built-in Sequence Six Abjuration Magic spells.]