Chapter 363: Calus

The few Calus in the enclosure (as Bond got the name by asking the Cryptmen), the black beetles raised by the Cryptmen, were eventually killed by Leitch and the others, but except for the first one, which was due to Niza's hatred, the rest were used as test subjects.

The so-called experiments were mainly aimed at figuring out the resistance of Calus, a black beetle, to various attacks, as well as its aggressiveness. After all, on the next road, Leitch and they may still encounter this black beetle, and it is always good to be prepared.

In order to find out Calus's resistance, Bill, Lawsky and others successively carried out various attacks on these black beetles under the command of Leitch, among which physical attacks included sword slashing at close range and crossbow arrow shooting at long range. Later, Leitch ordered Arthur and a group of Lyra Raiders to perform a magical attack on Calus.

After repeated experiments, the experiment was not stopped until several of the Calus were so destroyed that they were completely unable to see their shape.

In the end, Leitch came to the conclusion that this black beetle named Calus has a very high physical and magical resistance! This resistance mainly comes from the pitch-black and shiny carapace on the surface of Calus! This carapace has amazing elasticity and flexibility, and it is difficult to break through it with physical attacks of the same level!

As for why Niza was able to cut a Calus in half with a single sword before, it was because that Calus was only at the level of a boss (third-order), while Niza was a fourth-order wild hunter and still shot angrily, so it was not surprising that Calus couldn't even block Niza's sword. But if you switch to a physical attack below the third order, it's a different story - without using magic at all, a high-level Witcher-level Lyra Patrol Female Guard would have to cut at least fifteen swords in the same place to break through Calus's carapace!

In addition, Leitch also found that these carapaces of Calus are immune to 50% of magical damage! Of course, this data may not be accurate, after all, there are not many test subjects that can be used for experiments, but Leitch estimates that Calus's immunity to magical damage should fluctuate between 40% and 60%! Most people don't have much idea of what 40% or 50% is, but if it were an enchanter, he would be surprised to drop his eyeballs— Because the magic resistance armor made by ordinary enchanters may not be able to reach this level!

And think a little deeper-what if you add magic resistance enchantment on the basis of this carapace?What level of magic resistance will it reach?! If you enlarge the brain hole a little more, you don't necessarily have to have magic resistance, you can add enchantments such as increasing the load, eliminating the weight burden, and eliminating noise, and the enchanted armor you will get at that time will have more than two characteristics, so just thinking about it is enough to make an enchanter feel excited!

However, after investigation, Leitch found that these carus beetles have a very poor affinity for the elements, which makes it extremely difficult to enchant, after all, the essence of enchantment is to attach magic arrays and soul energy to the sample!

But in any case, with a little modification, Reitch believes that these carapaces of Calus will definitely become an extremely good light armor! As for how to transform this carapace into light armor, there is no need for Reich to worry at all, Reich believes that the gray goblins in Thumb City must be quite interested in this proposition!

With an idea in mind, Leitch carefully interrogated the growth cycle and physiological habits of those caveman captives Calus through Bond, and finally Leitch learned that Calus is an oviparous insect, and the birth time is not specific, as long as it is in a dark environment, Calus can theoretically be born all year round. The growth cycle of a cannon fodder-level Calus is 3~5 months, and the elite level is 12~18 months, that is to say, theoretically, the fastest only 15 months can give birth to a boss-level Calus, and the slowest is 23 months, less than two years!

This speed is undoubtedly extremely terrifying, you know, if you change to a Star Soul Warrior, break through from a brave to a demon slayer within two years, and then be promoted from a demon slayer to a demon sealer within five years, you are a well-deserved genius! The famous civilian genius Hade in Thunderman City is at this level! But now, Leitch has found that in less than two years, he can raise a leader-level Calus, how can this not make him feel terrified?!

In addition, Leitch also learns that Calus is a carnivorous insect, as long as it is meat, they can eat it, and the caveman also discovered that Calus is extremely fond of human meat, and human flesh can also speed up Calus's growth cycle! For a while, Leitch could not understand the reason, but if he really intended to raise Calus secretly, he would never accept the use of humans as 'feed', which was contrary to his basic values.

As for why the above does not mention Calus's growth cycle after the boss level, it is because according to those cryptman captives, the boss level is a turning point for Calus - after spending 10~20 years of life, Calus will pupate, and most of Calus will die after pupation, only a very small part of them can break through the shackles of the chrysalis and get a new life, and successfully advance to the fourth-order creature - Calus Hunter!

According to the Cryptman captives, the Calus Hunter has changed dramatically in form - if Carlus is like a large flat cockroach, then the Carus Hunter is like an oversized mantis!

Ratchet didn't really care about this - living in the closed and cramped environment of the underground for a long time, even if those Calus hunters could really fly, they wouldn't be much faster.

As for whether there are any higher-order life forms above the Carus Hunters? According to several cryptman captives, yes, this fifth-order Carus was made Baron Carus by the Cryptmen! However, in the last few hundred years, they have not given birth to a single Baron Carus, so that many cavemen doubt the authenticity of the existence of this fifth-order life.

Ratche's detailed questioning of Calus from these cryptman captives was naturally not just for some magical experiment - perhaps Leitch would make a lot of noise and win him prestige by writing and publishing his findings in a document, but Leitch didn't care about this, what he really cared about was the economic and strategic value that Calus possessed! Yes, by now, Leitch did have the idea of raising Calus secretly on a large scale! Now, in Leitch's eyes, Calus is the equivalent of a mine that can continue to grow taller!

It is foreseeable that in the years to come, the Valley of the Dawn will be in constant war! Now anyone with a little vision and insight can see this. But as a lord, Ricky not only needs to be able to see clearly, he also has to be prepared for how to deal with this situation, especially since Starmisty Valley is still in the land of four battles!

This so-called preparation is not simple to say, but it is complicated, but it is not complicated in fact -- nothing more than 'allies, elite soldiers, and resources'! Only with elite soldiers can we win battles, and only with enough resources can we support the war to continue, and as for allies, they can increase their momentum, and of course, they can also be used to carry knives when necessary, right?

But in the final analysis, the key to war lies in attrition, and whoever can't hold out first will fall first! And this kind of attrition is mainly embodied in two aspects -- the source of troops and war materials! Needless to say, the larger the territory and the more the population, the more abundant the reserve of troops! Although the participants in the war in the Valley of the Dawn are all Awakened, after all, the Awakened also come from the population of the territory, and the larger the population base of the territory, the greater the number of the Awakened will undoubtedly be.

How to increase the population base of the territory is not something that Leitch should consider at present, after all, his territory is currently so large and the capacity is limited, even if he is given a large number of people, he may not be able to swallow it.

The second is war materials. War materials is a broad term, and its scope is quite wide, such as food reserves, such as weapon armor reserves, such as ore reserves, and magic resource reserves, etc.; and the largest consumption of them is undoubtedly food and weapon armor! For food, Leitch is not worried, Starfog Valley is the famous land of fish and rice in the former Abidjan Kingdom, and its annual grain production accounts for 10% of the entire Abidjan Kingdom!

But in terms of weapons and armor, Starmist Valley seems to lack stamina - mainly due to the lack of mine resources! There is no doubt that in order to make weapon armor, you must first have enough ore! And with Leqi's current territory, including the colony in the Succubus Sea, the most important thing is a Hellfire Demon Gold Vein located in the depths of Thumb City! It is indeed a very good ore vein, with excellent quality and considerable reserves! If this vein can be fully mined, with the current scale of the Black Wind Territory, it will definitely be enough to support more than twenty years of war, and there will be an absolute surplus for export!

But unfortunately, that vein can't be exposed to people at all for now, and even mining has to be done carefully, and because of the sudden appearance of the huge change of the Red Demon Empire in the Valley of Dawn, this has undoubtedly greatly frustrated the Federation's colonization plan in the Succubus Sea! Although Leqi still doesn't know the specific situation of the Succubus Sea, it won't be too long before the Federation withdraws its troops. According to Lei Qi's estimate, the best situation of the Federation in the Succubus Sea will at most maintain the results achieved so far, and it depends on whether those ancient kings in the Demon Continent are willing or not! If those ancient kings fight back, it is estimated that it is extremely likely that the Federation Army will completely withdraw from the Succubus Sea! After all, once the war starts at both ends, in the long run, I am afraid that even the ten major lords will not be able to bear it (or should be renamed the nine lords now...... At that time, Richy will want to mine the Hellfire Demon Gold Vein under Thumb City again, and the difficulty can be imagined!

And this urgent situation has strengthened Leitch's idea of creating "artificial ore - the shell of Calus"!

"Is every mage like the head of the regiment - when they encounter a novelty, they have to study the whole thing? It is said that many mages still have the habit of slicing?!" Looking at the miserable Calus on the ground, Lawsky couldn't help but shudder, and whispered to Bill Dao next to him with a slight hint of trill.

"Hey, I think you can say that to the regimental commander! Didn't the regimental commander say it—if you have an opinion, you can still be very democratic!" Bill patted Lawski on the shoulder encouragingly.

"You can ask for something, but you can't blame anyone else for your own death—don't think I don't remember the second half of the sentence!" Lawski rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Just as the two were arguing with each other, they suddenly heard Lei Qi say in a deep voice: "Everything you see here today is classified as the highest secret, leaker, behead!"

Although this abrupt order shocked and puzzled Bill and the others, in the end, everyone still said solemnly: "Yes, my lord!"

"Bill, I have to warn you here - if I find out in the future that you wrote about today's incident in some infringing book like "Viscount Black Wind II", haha, I will be happy to teach you how to roast meat with honey sauce from the Highlanders!"

Looking at Reich's 'amiable' smile, Bill's head suddenly shook into a large afterimage......