"Uh…"
Looking at the calculated results, not only Damien but even Shuna was stunned.
What was going on?
Naming monsters didn't just avoid losses... it made him stronger?
Truly, a billion here, a billion there, a fortune impossible to spend in a lifetime.
"As expected of Lord Damien!!"
What else could Shuna say? At this moment, admiration was enough!
"Ahem!"
Damien hadn't expected a day when he'd want to spend magicules but couldn't exhaust them. "Anyway, everyone getting stronger is definitely a good thing."
"Mm-hmm!"
Shuna nodded eagerly, already envisioning the village's skyrocketing strength.
Of the 270 Kijin, excluding minors, at least 200 could be deployed as combatants.
The Ogre had no concept of weak females.
They were all warriors.
If not for the reluctance to send children to battle, every single one would fight for Damien.
Then there were the 8,000 hobgoblins, easily forming a 5,000-strong army.
5,000 soldiers, 200 elites.
Add in paired male and female wolves to create StarDirewolves cavalry.
With that, an elite force, cavalry, and regular soldiers formed a nearly 6,000-strong monster army.
"Before I knew it, I've amassed enough to form an army."
Soon, the Snow Empress and Shion completed gathering everyone.
When they learned Damien had called them for universal naming, the monsters erupted in deafening cheers and praise.
No need for words... Damien was already accustomed to their simple, heartfelt devotion.
"Everyone, line up orderly, one at a time, no rushing."
Seated at the head, Damien faced a long queue of monsters eagerly awaiting their names.
Naming around 8,500 monsters at once was a massive undertaking.
It wasn't the magicule consumption that bothered him... Damien was used to that.
The real headache was figuring out what names to give them.
"Um…"
Damien started, "You, you'll be Cyanwave."
"For you, a female from the Red Orges, how about Blooddance?"
Honestly, Damien hadn't anticipated that the greatest challenge in naming wasn't the magicule cost but the 8,500 names themselves.
It was fine at first, but by the end, he'd completely run out of creative ideas.
With no other choice, he resorted to Rimuru's approach, throwing out names like "Gobeast." "Gobwest." "Gobnorth" To get by.
Fortunately, the monsters didn't mind.
Any name from Damien was cherished from the heart, never failing his expectations.
'Honestly, I had no expectations.'
Luckily, Damien could remember every monster he named.
This spared him the embarrassment of forgetting their names in person.
"Phew~~"
The naming process lasted nearly an hour.
Exhausted, Damien sprawled on the bed in a starfish pose, longing for a good nap.
"So tiring."
"Who knew naming monsters was such hard work?"
"Violet, don't you have an auto-naming function?"
To Damien's question, Violet replied, "It's simple to generate names, but naming monsters involves establishing a soul corridor, so shortcuts won't work."
Not only could Violet not assist, but even flipping through a dictionary wouldn't do.
The best method was brief thought followed by an instinctive name.
"Naming... fated names, huh?"
To Damien, it was just a casual remark.
But to the monsters, a name from him was a lifelong treasure.
"Fine."
Even so, the thought of potentially naming tens of thousands of Lizardmen or hundreds of thousands of Orcs in the future sent shivers down his spine.
200,000 names... pure torture!
He felt he should get a dictionary early, just in case.
"Forget it, future problems are for future me."
Dictionaries were useless anyway.
Violet had made it clear: names had to come from a spur-of-the-moment inspiration to carry the soul corridor.
Naming while flipping through a dictionary wouldn't work.
"No choice but to leave it to future me to stress over."
For now, after a hard day's work, Damien just wanted to slack off.
Two days passed since subduing the goblins and wolves.
That noon, while savoring Shuna's latest culinary creation, Damien received a telepathic message from Souei.
"Lord Damien."
Souei reported, "Regarding the Lizardmen's stance."
"Go ahead."
Damien wiped his mouth with a napkin. "What did they say?"
"The Lizardmen rejected our alliance proposal."
"Is that so?"
Damien wasn't particularly surprised.
Regarding subduing the monster tribes in the Jura Forest, his plan was to start with cooperation, showing goodwill.
When the Orc Lord's crisis arrived, he'd integrate them.
Of course, the simplest method was sending a team of A-rank Kijin to the Lizardmen's tribe.
Subjugation boiled down to martial intimidation and incentives.
"What do you think of the Lizardmen, Souei? Can they be recruited?"
"Well…"
Souei hesitated. "The Lizardmen are… peculiar."
Damien sensed Souei's reluctance, wondering if he'd run into trouble.
With 7 million magicules, Kijin, hobgoblins, and Star Wolves as three elite forces, Damien lacked neither magicules nor strong followers.
The Lizardmen, frankly, were somewhat redundant to him.
In fact, he'd rather recruit the Tengu.
Their ability to fly made them a natural air force, something he lacked.
Unfortunately, the Tengu's region was too far from the Kijin village, and Benimaru and Hakurou hadn't yet made contact.
"What do you mean?"
"It's hard to describe."
Souei sighed. "If I had to, I'd say the Lizardmen lack awareness of facing stronger beings."
To Souei, most Lizardmen seemed… not quite right in the head.
And far too fearless.
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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