Chapter 387: Hoplite v2.0
It would have been hard for him to forget the betrayal he suffered. In his past, there had been more than a few times hed nearly died, and most of them were caused by a betrayal. Hed taken to lowering himself before others, presenting himself as non-threatening. If he wasnt feared, or respected, as long as he didnt show off too much wealth there should be no reason for others to wish to harm him. Hed been using this slippery persona for so long that when he finally stepped forward and took the position of a leader, he forgot how vulnerable it would make him, especially to his own subordinates. Like a fool, hed trusted that the promise of profits and high positions would satisfy the cultivators in the Jade Horde. Even so, they wouldnt have succeeded without first subverting the thousands of Hoplite soldiers.
The Hoplites are flawed.
Even without Guan Zhenyan pointing it out, he already had experienced enough pain because of it. Hed lost a friend because of his failure, and if it wasnt for how useful they were, he might have already wiped them all out from his Inner World. Breeding creatures using the Mutate technique had multiple levels of intervention on his part and usually he relied on volume instead of micromanagement. Merely by starting the process a dozen or so times, the insects would usually end up with thousands of eggs. Of those thousands he let them grow up on their own and only then did he sort through them to pick out the most successful. The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.
At least, that was his usual process. One of the exceptions was the Winged Snake Worm that he had developed from the bloodline of Ruanfu and King, when he was trying to gain their abilities. At that time hed carefully guided the breeding process to ensure their natural abilities were passed down while also ending up with a mindless worm that would reduce the impact on his mind. The other had been the Emerald Hoplite Beetle, the very insect that he had bestowed with the Human Seal and decided to base a force around. For the Hoplites, the goal was merely to create an intelligent insect. Reptiles and Amphibians were naturally a bit stronger willed than insects, and ironically, he wanted his minions to be easy to control. It seemed like a good medium between worms, amphibians, and reptiles. From what he knew, the smaller and simpler a creature was, the more ridiculous their reproduction rates were. On the downside, such small and simple creatures usually had the lowest intelligence, so thats why all he focused on for the Hoplites were improving their intellect.
The most important, and most difficult to implement, changes were of course to the final caste: soldiers. They were going to make up Sages replacement for the Jade Horde, the force hed use to get his revenge. For the most part, they were very similar to the original Hoplite. Appearing mostly human except for the emerald green exoskeletons from the elbow and knees down, and insectoid heads save for the tentacle mouths and mohawks of hair on top. Human, but with a bug-like head, hands and feet. The new version was the same, except for the addition of a bug-like rib-cage. There was now another layer of exoskeletal armor just like their hands and feet layered over their upper torso. Their stomachs and shoulders were still flesh like before, but they no longer had ribs and instead had armored chests. Additionally, the most eye-catching change was that they had two pairs of wings on their backs.
Sage already knew what his main enemy would be and he would be a complete fool to not plan his revenge with his foe in mind. The Jade Horde fought with large shields in phalanx like formations. They were further propped up by the equipment hed developed. Shields that block arrows, polearms that can act as long spears or short axes, armor that can create Formation Arrays, crossbows that can rain down supporting fire, and even giant winged lizards to use as mounts. If he was going to beat them, hed have to beat all of his old tricks.
After many trials, he was finally successful in making the new soldier caste as he wanted them and they became the inspiration for the name of their new species: Emerald Dragoon Ant. To combat a phalanx, the classical solution was to target their low mobility. A forest of spears and a wall of shields didnt mean anything if it wasnt pointed towards you. By putting all of his new soldiers into the air, they would be many times more mobile than the Jade Horde. They could also combat the Vulture Gecko by nature of their sheer number, which meant he now only needed to come up with a way to handle the Formation Armor and Stumblebow.
Its only a matter of time until I get my revenge. They are all going to be sorry they crossed me, and god help them if any of them went after my friends.