Ever since learning he would leave the forest and develop toward the civilized world, Al had intensified the purging of Chaos beastmen.
The previous three thousand Chaos beastmen held in captivity had basically been fully processed. The few hardheaded, brainless ones that were truly difficult to convert were simply dragged out for sacrifice. Al had also discovered that the sacrifice did not require a one-time transaction. He could continuously invest offerings and then, when needed, call upon the New Four Gods for a big one.
He had also learned that the second sacrifice had actually been manipulated by Reveler Mom. She had briefly twisted the rules, allowing him to obtain the Stone of Gestation at a tiny cost. He could not do this often in the future, or it would easily be discovered by the Four Gods or other deities.
So except for the first test and the second urgent need for tribal development, Al had not initiated a third draw. Instead, he chose to continuously accumulate the quantity and quality of offerings, waiting to use them at the next critical moment.
Now Al's tribe had already broken through the ten-thousand mark. There were over a hundred outposts and sentry points scattered outside the main settlement.
The main body of the legion was still the Bloodmother believers. Strictly speaking, ever since the arrival of the Stone of Gestation, the mainstream faith in Al's tribe had always been centered on Bloodmother worship.
Out of the need to maintain tribal development and governance, and also because of Al's private speculations about the connection between the All-Things Shepherd and the New Four Gods, he had taken protective measures toward the Shepherd believers, who had become a minority faction. The New Four Gods had shown no reaction to this, apparently approving it by default.
Because the faith and doctrines of the New Four Gods were not as extreme as those of the old Four Gods — strictly speaking, they themselves were gods born from positive, less extreme emotions — their exclusivity was much lower.
In Al's tribe, it was now possible for a single beastman family to have three or even more different faiths — a situation that would seem far too chaotic even to the relatively open and tolerant Southerners.
The father might be a red-skinned beastman who believed in the Furious Mother. The old father might be a Shepherd believer. The female beastman might pray to the Loving Mother for a bountiful harvest, or believe that the Lord of Reveler could bring long-term happiness to her family. The young beastman might worship any of the Four Gods or the Shepherd, or even treat Al as the Fifth God.
There were differences between the faiths, but under the New Four Gods' overall goal of unity and Al's control, they had not developed into hostility. At most, Bloodmother believers thought their Reveler-worshipping compatriots were a bit weak, while the latter thought the former were too crude and quick to anger. The wisdom-tainted beasts thought the Loving Mother believers were too stubborn and unwilling to innovate, while the latter thought the former were too changeable and always had wild ideas.
Overall.
Under the leadership of the Eternal Champion, the entire Al tribe was in a state of vigorous vitality where all things competed to flourish.
Great!
Bloodmother believers were responsible for military affairs, Loving Mother believers for farming, Reveler believers for culture and promoting overall happiness, All-Knowing believers for internal affairs, diplomacy, and all kinds of planning…
An extremely joyful scroll!
Even better news arrived at the Beastlord's tent.
At this moment Al was lying in Goat Mom's arms. The large griffon mother lay in front of him, allowing Al to groom her feathers. From time to time she would fish a piece of raw meat from the large basin beside her and swallow it.
Perhaps because she was very wary of Alina, the griffon mother was willing to get close to Al and even allowed Goat Mom to approach. She could even tolerate the holy knight Claudia, who was temporarily locked in the tent. The only one she did not want or dare to let touch her was the mare.
This made the mare sullen. She ran out intending to kill something and drag the corpse back as a sacrifice to the Bloodmother.
And the holy knight Claudia, who had been entered and done all sorts of things by Al that night, finally passing out from the triple forbidden pleasure with her eyes rolling back, was now sitting silently on a new fur blanket, hugging her knees and burying her face in them to escape the outside world.
"Divine Son, Your Highness."
The long-awaited good news finally arrived.
"The first batch of blessed beastmen is about to be born."
Thunder Warriors!
The first batch of Al's Sons that Al had created using the Stone of Gestation had finally reached the moment of birth after a long (actually accelerated) six months of gestation.
He wanted to personally witness the birth of these offspring who, in a sense, carried his blood!
"I hope the Stone of Gestation has not disappointed me…"
Although the earliest activation had been the Stone of Gestation's ability to bestow bloodlines, later it had mostly been used to attract Chaos beastmen and convert them to the New Four Gods.
But these offspring were a very important piece of the puzzle in Al's future grand plan.
They would be warriors, commanders, and also officials and leaders.
Beastmen carrying the Eternal Champion's blood and the Four Gods' blessings — what kind of power would they display? Just thinking about it made Al excited…
"?"
Al was surrounded by a group of cubs that were already larger than their peers the moment they hit the ground, able to crawl and walk. Active ones kept trying to climb onto him.
These offspring, whose vitality and size far exceeded their peers — and who had nearly caused the deaths of several pregnant women from difficult labor if not for the continuous abundant nutrition from the mothers and the desperate prayers and spells from the Shepherd shamans — showed extraordinary vigor right from birth.
They babbled meaningless sounds. Because of the bloodline attraction, the moment they were taken from their mothers' arms, they immediately focused their attention on Al.
They could feel the innate blood and mental connection with Al. He was their blood father, their genetic lord.
Al bent down, picked up the largest and strongest among all the primordial offspring. It had very obvious minotaur features — this was the child born from the first minotaur woman who had accepted the Stone of Gestation's bloodline bestowal. She had also been the first to receive it.
It was very large. Relative to Al, it was already nearly half his size. At this moment it was using its pitch-black, curious eyes to examine the boy before it, recording his appearance. An indescribable connection rose between the two.
"From now on, your name is Minotaur… Theseus!"
Al announced to everyone. This was the first of Al's Sons, his blood offspring, and should have a special status.
"Waaaaagh!"
The cub wailed loudly, seemingly sensing its blood father's joyful emotions.
Then Al put the minotaur baby Theseus back on the ground, picked up the little one tugging at his robe from behind and placed it in front, then turned his gaze to the pregnant women.
"You have made tremendous contributions. Tell me, what do you need? How can I repay you?"
The female minotaur's husband stood beside her — a red-skinned minotaur whose face still retained some honest, reformed Blood God traits. He exchanged a glance with his wife, stepped forward, and knelt on one knee.
"Everything is already a reward. How can there be talk of repayment?"
All the beastmen present — whether Bloodmother vanguards, Loving Mother believers, or Shepherd followers — knelt on one knee around the Chosen.
"Everything is already a reward. How can there be talk of repayment!"
The newly named Theseus, who was still ignorant of everything in the world, also learned from the adults, lay on the ground, and raised his head to look at his blood father.
"Waaaaaaaagh!"
Al's lips trembled. He didn't know what to say.
After a long pause, he finally managed to squeeze out:
"Then all I can do is not let any of you down."