Chapter 224: Harpy Evolution

“Master, don’t worry. I will restrain those Harpies,” Alexis nodded.

Su Lun and Alexis came out from the cave. Outside was already surrounded by Harpies. It seemed the entire sky was filled with them. A quick estimate showed at least a thousand. When Su Lun appeared, all the Harpies stared at him with red eyes, making him feel nervous.

Alexis spread her wings and flew up. She quickly calmed all the Harpies. After a while, the Harpies finally dispersed. However, a few Harpies still followed Alexis. Their eyes were full of alertness when they looked at Su Lun.

These Harpies were quite different from ordinary Harpies. They also had beautiful fiery red hair. Their appearance was closer to humans. Their arms were separated from their wings, and the lower part of their bodies had smooth legs. Only the lower part of the legs had bird-like sharp claws. This type of Harpy was called a Harpy.

Ordinary Harpies had lower bodies more similar to an eagle’s legs and claws. Their arms and wings were connected, and their feathers were mostly gray-brown.

Su Lun did not pay attention to the hostility of those Harpies. He asked Alexis about the surrounding environment. Many other underground creatures lived around here. Thirty kilometers away, heading north through two tunnels, there was a stone forest. A group of Basilisks lived there, numbering around ten.

To the northeast, there was an underground lake. Many fish grew there, along with some underground magic fish. A group of Manticores also lived around the lake.

As for mineral resources, Alexis was not clear, since Harpies did not mine. The tunnel to the southwest was the one Su Lun came from. Soon, after the Harpies packed their belongings, they set off. The Harpies had very few items, so their travel speed was very fast.

It did not take long to reach the place where Su Lun and the Drow Elves had agreed to meet. When they saw the sky full of Harpies, the Drow Elves instinctively hid. Fortunately, Su Lun appeared quickly.

Seeing the Harpies flying all over the sky, the Drow Elves looked at Su Lun with even more awe and respect. After all, in such a short time, Su Lun had single-handedly subdued this Harpy tribe. When the Harpies saw the Drow Elves, there was a slight commotion. Many Harpies were eager to try. Their old habit returned – they liked to capture males for mating.

Luckily, Alexis restrained them, so the Harpies calmed down.

“Lord, did you subdue all these Harpies?” the leading Drow Elf looked at the Harpies and said hesitantly.

“Yes, don’t worry. Alexis will restrain them. There won’t be any problems,” Su Lun said with a smile.

“But there are too many of them. Moreover, during their mating season, Harpies capture large numbers of males. Most of the time, they follow their instincts,” the Drow Elf said.

In fact, the Drow Elves had once thought about taming some Harpies to serve as a flying unit. Ordinary Harpies had intelligence similar to beasts. Although they could understand commands after training, once the mating season arrived, these Harpies would follow their instincts. They would capture any male they saw. In the end, the Drow Elves gave up on taming them.

“Their settlement will not be near Zhenbei City,” Su Lun knew the Drow Elves’ concerns and explained.

With this group of Harpies, Su Lun did not go to Orlando City again. Instead, he returned directly to the surface. The large group of Harpies and Drow Elves advanced along the narrow underground passage. The commotion from the large group scared away all the monsters nearby.

The entire team advanced in an orderly manner. A team of several thousand people, plus some logistics carriages, needed strong organizational skills to pass through the narrow passage only about ten meters wide. Su Lun also relied on the Strategic Map to command.

The team’s movement was a bit messy. One could not expect Harpies to have discipline. After all, not long ago, they were still a group of monsters. The Drow Soldiers, however, were orderly and stern-faced. They could be said to be the best-disciplined troops in Zhenbei City. Next were the Half-elves. The ones with the worst discipline were the Barbarians and Centaurs.

The Barbarians were due to their nature, and the Centaurs due to their race’s military needs. But now, the title of most chaotic was taken by the Harpies. These Harpies chattered non-stop. Some even played around in the air, completely unaware that this was a march. Fortunately, Alexis restrained them, otherwise this group of Harpies would definitely be a big problem.

Su Lun did not take the Harpies back to Zhenbei City. He chose a new habitat for them in a valley near the Lotas Mountains.

Su Lun found this valley while inspecting the surrounding territory. The valley had only one exit. The entire valley was shaped like a trumpet, with a small exit about twenty meters wide. The valley had lush vegetation, and a waterfall flowed down from the mountain, forming a small lake in the valley.

Because it was in a valley, even in winter the temperature was not too low. Although it was not suitable for building a town, it was a good place to build a nest for the Harpies.

After Alexis joined Zhenbei City, the entire Harpy tribe was incorporated into Zhenbei City’s system. The total number of Harpies was three thousand one hundred fifty-six. Among them, the number of Harpies was only about a hundred. The rest were all ordinary Harpies.

Of course, Harpies were also different. There were ordinary ones and elite leaders. It was easy to tell them apart. One just needed to look at the changes in their human-like features. Generally, the more human-like a Harpy was, the higher their intelligence and strength.

Su Lun planned to build a dwelling in this valley. He specifically mobilized a thousand-person team from Zhenbei City to carry out the construction. Su Lun’s design was for a large Eagle Fortress, which involved transforming a mountain cliff.

Not long after Su Lun left Zhenbei City, the remaining Gray Dwarves could no longer bear life without Vodka. If they had never experienced it before, it would have been fine. But after experiencing it once and then having it cut off, the Gray Dwarves knew the feeling all too well.

So after a few days, these iron-willed Gray Dwarves, who would rather die than surrender, appeared in Zhenbei City’s construction team. When Su Lun wanted to build the Eagle Fortress, Chris sent them along with other craftsmen.

The Gray Dwarves were very experienced in digging into mountains. The construction of the Eagle Fortress essentially relied on the mountain. They hollowed out the inside of the mountain and built many lofts. The construction process was not too difficult. With the Dwarves, who were masters of digging, it only took one week to complete the Eagle Fortress. They even carved many mythical statues and other decorations on the Eagle Fortress.

These carved deities were the legendary Ancient Gods, the Wind Goddess, and some Demigod-level Harpies. These were basically the faith of the Harpies.

The exterior of the Eagle Fortress was not very fancy. It was entirely carved from rock. Su Lun checked the Eagle Fortress’s attributes and found that this building was really good.

[Eagle Fortress: An important building constructed by Dwarf masters and human master craftsmen working together to carve out the mountain cliff. It is a habitat for Harpies. Harpies living here long-term have a chance to undergo bloodline evolution. Growth+10, Cleanliness+12, Indestructible+14, Robustness+8, Comfort+13, Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer+12, Enlightenment+5, Evolution+3]

Although the overall attribute bonuses of the Eagle Fortress were not high, even low, the attributes it added surprised Su Lun.

This Eagle Fortress had a total of eight attribute bonuses. Although the bonuses were not high, two attributes were very rare: Enlightenment and Evolution. Either of these attributes appearing alone was very uncommon. Unexpectedly, they both appeared on one building. Growth, Robustness, Cleanliness – these were normal attributes. But Evolution and Enlightenment were very special.

Both attributes could change the attributes of a race. Enlightenment could increase intelligence, turning originally beast-like Harpies into intelligent beings. Evolution allowed their bloodline to evolve, enabling them to evolve into High Harpies. Although the success rate was pitifully low, there was still a chance to evolve into Harpies.

After incorporating the Harpies into Zhenbei City’s system, Su Lun could also recruit Harpies. Similarly, the Harpy troop tree appeared.

According to the System’s statistics, Zhenbei City now had over three thousand Harpies. The vast majority were low-level Harpies, with a small portion being elite Harpies. After becoming an elite Harpy, advancing further led to becoming a Harpy leader.

Then came the Harpies. These Harpies were the guards around the High Harpy, and finally the elite Harpies. The appearance of elite Harpies was already very close to that of the High Harpy.

Each advancement brought them a comprehensive improvement in intelligence, body, and attributes. By the time a Harpy advanced to an elite Harpy, compared to the earliest Harpies, they were almost completely different species.

What surprised Su Lun even more was that the elite Harpies had already mastered elemental abilities. Although the power was limited, if all these Harpies actually advanced to the level of elite Harpies, Zhenbei City could dominate the Wasteland relying solely on these elite Harpies.

There would be no need for ordinary troops to take to the battlefield. Just the air force could easily crush the enemy. Of course, this process would likely be very long. Although the early advancement of Harpies was not too difficult, requiring about twice the Experience Points of humans, after advancing to Harpies, the Experience Points required for further advancement skyrocketed to a very surprising number. Advancing to elite Harpies was not that easy.

But thinking about it, it made sense. The difference between an elite Harpy and a Harpy was huge in appearance. This was already equivalent to bloodline evolution.