He'd already made that decision for the dwarves. After the brutal battle last night, the city was nearly leveled.
"Emi, assign elite forces to guard the Mithril Vein. No one is allowed near it."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Li De nodded. He could already envision the vampires clad in Mithril-forged transcendent gear, slaying dragons on the battlefield.
After giving his orders to Emi, he turned to Stanley with a more solemn tone. "Stanley, report the casualties."
Stanley gave a slight nod and, after a moment of thought, spoke slowly.
"Your Majesty, the vampires didn't join the battlefield immediately last night. We only intervened after the Beastmen began to rout.
By then, their will to resist had plummeted, and the damage they inflicted on us was minimal.
Over the entire night of combat, 34 vampires were wounded, none were killed, and we lost 17 Whispering Bats."
Li De nodded with satisfaction.
Because the spellcasters of the Lionmane Tribe weren't present, his plan had gone extremely smoothly.
Not only had he maximized the effectiveness of Kosso and Castro, crushing the enemy through equipment superiority, but he also successfully coordinated the vampires to cast composite large-scale magic, breaking the Beastmen's morale.
The Whispering Bats that were lost had mostly died in the later melee, compared to the Beastmen's casualties, the vampires' losses were negligible. This loss ratio was something worth boasting about under any circumstance.
"Has the harvest been tallied?"
"Of course," Stanley's expression visibly relaxed, his tone carrying delight as he recited like a well-prepared inventory.
"The gains fall into several main categories.
First, population gains.
We captured 582 Beastmen, all Level 5-9 Intermediate Professionals, including two top-tier Beastmen, the Level 16 wolfman Craig and the Level 18 Beastman King, the lion warrior Kap.
Additionally, we will be relocating 642 dwarves to Dawn City."
Li De nodded. The Beastmen captives could be thrown into Giant Valley to mine, or used for city construction. He felt no guilt enslaving foreign races with blood-soaked hands.
The dwarves went without saying. In his plan, the future of Dawn City's weapons and equipment would be forged by these guys, they were absolutely a strategic asset.
"Second, resource gains. The Dwarven Valley contains two rich large-scale iron mines, one nearly exhausted Mithril Vein, and another untouched Mithril Vein.
There are also several small copper and silver mines awaiting development."
Two large iron mines too?
No wonder the dwarves built their city here. With such a dense cluster of mineral veins, it was the perfect habitat for a race that loved forging and mining.
"Third, equipment gains. So far, we've tallied roughly 2,000 sets of dwarf-forged armor and 3,000 various weapons, plus additional property worth around 30,000 Gold Pucks."
Compared to the first two categories of spoils, this wealth, enough to make a noble's heart race, was, in Li De's eyes, barely worth mentioning. Whether it existed or not made little difference.
Stanley's report wasn't highly detailed, but it was well-structured, and Li De instantly understood the full extent of his gains from this campaign.
Without a doubt, the most valuable prize was the Mithril Vein. Second was the 600-plus dwarves. Third were Craig and Kap, the two Beastmen with overwhelming combat strength.
The importance of the Mithril Vein needed no elaboration, a rich vein could prompt wars between two nations.
The dwarves were a vital labor force. For Dawn City, which was currently suffering from a severe population shortage, they were a perfectly timed reinforcement.
As for Craig and Kap, even though Craig was taken down in a single round, he was still a Level 16 top-tier combatant.
If he hadn't been unlucky enough to face a pincer attack by top-tier forces like the Bone Dragon and Betty, he wouldn't have fallen so quickly. So as a Level 16 elite, the value of this wolfman couldn't be ignored.
Kap, on the other hand, required no explanation. This Beastman King, powerful enough to make Li De drool, was simply too domineering.
One-on-one, Li De was even certain that not even an 18th-level Bone Dragon could hold Kap. At best, it would be an even match between two Level 18 powerhouses.
A Bone Dragon, that was still a dragon, even in undeath, immensely powerful beyond reason.
For the Beastman King to match a Bone Dragon blow for blow spoke volumes.
In last night's battle, had it not been for the extreme side effects of Berserk Mode, Kap would have acted far more aggressively.
If he had gone all-out from the start, throwing his life at Grote and Betty, it was truly uncertain how things would've ended.
Of course, hypotheticals were just hypotheticals. The one who ultimately claimed victory was not this mighty Beastman, but him, the Lord of Dawn, Li De Kachar.
And now, the thought that excited Li De most was the possibility of turning this Beastman into one of his own, just like Witherbone.
That would be beyond satisfying.
Just imagining that scenario made Li De's heart race.
A Level 18 Beastman King.
The very definition of 'brutally domineering.'
This would undoubtedly be his trump card, a trump card even stronger than Betty.
While the Bone Dragon was powerful, its massive size limited its usefulness in many situations. With a wingspan of twenty blades, that colossal beast was better suited for large-scale battles.
But Kap was different. No matter the setting, the strength of this lion warrior would shine dazzlingly.
However, the biggest problem now, just like with Witherbone, was that although faith energy could assimilate someone's soul and make them a perfectly loyal subordinate…
He was broke.
Completely, utterly broke in terms of faith energy.
And with Kap's level of strength, the amount of faith energy needed would likely be no less than what was required for Witherbone.
Witherbone had needed over ten thousand points of faith energy to be assimilated. Right now, the necromancer was only under threat, eventually, he'd have to be fully converted with faith energy, or Li De wouldn't feel secure.
By comparison, assimilating Kap would require no less.