After accepting the loyalty of the three, Bai Luo's gaze once again fell upon Hong Maru.
The young Leader of the Great Ogre Clan, with his blood-red long hair, was in a state of extreme conflict at this moment.
With his younger sister and two companions choosing to follow Bai Luo, Hong Maru also developed the idea of becoming Bai Luo's vassal.
Especially at the moment Bai Luo declared his desire to become a Demon Lord.
From a personal perspective, having been crushed by Egui Peng's overwhelming power, he had long recognized Bai Luo.
Serving such a powerful existence, Hong Maru felt no hesitation at all.
But the problem was...
"Sorry."
Hong Maru was very unwilling, but he had no choice but to make a decision: "I am the young Leader of the Great Ogre Clan; I cannot abandon everyone in the village."
"So, please forgive me, I cannot follow Bai Luo!"
"Is that so..."
Hearing Hong Maru's reason for refusal, Bai Luo was not angry; instead, he was quite appreciative, thinking to himself that he was indeed the man who would become the Grand Marshal of the Demon Country in the original work.
With such a sense of responsibility and duty, having someone like Hong Maru guarding the rear would allow Bai Luo to confidently leave the Cardinal World and seek opportunities in other worlds in the future.
"I think you misunderstood."
Bai Luo waved his hand and said, "I actually don't plan to leave the Great Ogre Clan's village."
"What?"
Hong Maru was stunned, and equally surprised were Zhu Cai, Zi Yuan, and Cang Ying.
"You mean..."
"I want to subdue the Great Ogre Clan!"
Bai Luo did not conceal his ambition in the slightest: "Then I will build this place into my base, serving as the foundation for my advancement to Demon Lord!"
"This!"
The four looked at each other, momentarily at a loss.
Subduing the Great Ogre Clan, in a roundabout way, meant conquering this place.
If anyone else had said this, Hong Maru and the others would have definitely fought them to the death.
The Great Ogre Clan would rather die than surrender; they would never compromise with violence.
However, with Bai Luo, things were a little different.
Firstly, there was the life-saving grace; it was Bai Luo and Egui Peng who saved the younger generation in the village, preserving the future of the Great Ogre Clan.
Then, not long ago, Egui Peng single-handedly defeated the entire Great Ogre Clan.
There was no fancy magic, just pure brute force.
A thorn vine stick, a pair of pink fists.
Egui Peng just rawly beat everyone flying in the field the Great Ogre Clan was most proficient in.
A superior Ogre of the same race, who had shown great kindness to the Great Ogre Clan's village, coupled with the aura Bai Luo displayed, and his friendly attitude towards the Great Ogre Clan.
Rather than saying this was a conquest, it was more like Lord Bai Luo and Egui Peng wanted to become a part of them.
"What conquest?"
Zi Yuan blurted out, "Clearly, Lord Bai Luo intends to protect us and lead us further!"
"That's right."
Zhu Cai tugged at her brother's clothes, her meaning self-evident.
If they didn't agree to such a good thing, wouldn't they be fools?
"Please accept my loyalty, Lord Bai Luo!"
Hong Maru did not hesitate either; he placed his hands on the ground and swore, "I cannot make a decision for the village, but I am willing to follow you!"
He was only the young Leader of the village; the true clan Leader was Hong Maru's father.
But so what?
On the matter of whether the Great Ogre Clan would pledge allegiance to Bai Luo, Hong Maru chose to stand with Bai Luo.
Moreover, Hong Maru did not believe his father was the kind of fool who couldn't see the situation clearly.
To receive the protection of Bai Luo and Egui Peng, the only cost was to hand over the position of Leader.
At this moment, Zhu Cai and Hong Maru exchanged glances.
Both siblings saw the words 'filial piety' in each other's eyes.
If their father didn't understand, then they, as siblings, wouldn't mind a little insubordination to let the Red Ogre Leader know what it meant to be a wise person who knows when to adapt.
"Welcome to be my companions."
After Bai Luo finished speaking, he raised his hand, and four invisible vows enveloped their heads respectively: "Here, I bestow names upon you."
"Hong Maru!"
"Zi Yuan!"
"Zhu Cai!"
"Cang Ying!"
Bai Luo did not change the names of the four, but chose to follow the original work.
On the other side, the four who received Bai Luo's names were filled with disbelief.
They had thought that Lord Bai Luo's talk of following was merely nominal, yet who would have thought that Bai Luo would actually name them.
"Bai Luo!!!"
While the four were shocked, they also worried for Bai Luo.
It was known that naming monsters would consume a large amount of Bai Luo's magic essence, which was undoubtedly detrimental to the master's interests.
"No need to worry."
"Feel the changes in your body carefully."
In Bai Luo's view, magic essence was like money.
Using Capturer, Bai Luo began to transform the four into his subordinates.
Hong Maru's initial magic essence was 7500, Zi Yuan's 7000, Cang Ying's 7200, and Zhu Cai's was a bit less, but still 6500.
Thus, 50% of the Leader's subordinates' magic essence would be added to Bai Luo.
This meant that Bai Luo gained 14100 magic essence out of thin air.
Then, there were two conditions for naming monsters.
First, there must be a fundamental difference in the magic essence of the naming parties.
In other words, since the magic essence of both Bai Lao and the Red Ogre Leader were below 10000, neither could break through to A-rank through naming the other.
In the original work, Rimuru named the Storm Dragon because they established an equal contract at the soul level through exchanging names.
This was not the same situation as normal monster naming.
In addition, for a single naming, enough magic essence must be given for the other party to complete their evolution.
This meant that to name Hong Maru and the other three, their magic essence had to be raised above 10000.
Only then could they evolve from the Great Ogre Clan to the Ghost-Human Race.
"10800 magic essence?"
However, considering that Bai Luo could later get half of this magic essence back from the four, the actual cost was only 5400.
"Calculated this way, I actually earned 9000 magic essence."
So, after this wave, Bai Luo not only did not consume magic essence, but instead increased his own magic essence from 18000 to around 27000.
If over 10000 magic essence was A-rank.
Then with nearly 30,000 magic essence, Bai Luo and Egui Peng could already be called mid-tier A-rank.
The advantage of subduing monsters from the Cardinal World as subordinates was that Bai Luo knew their initial rank and magic essence amount.
Unlike Egui Peng, who was like opening a blind box.
Only by bringing them back to the Cardinal World could their talent and potential be known.
Considering the possibility of traveling to dangerous worlds next.
Bai Luo intended to strengthen his side as much as possible.
After Zhu Cai, Zi Yuan, and the other four became Bai Luo's subordinates, he would be able to take them to new worlds through the Spirit Space, just like Egui Peng.
And with four early A-rank and one mid-tier A-rank combat power guarding him, the sense of security immediately increased.
"Boom!!!"
The commotion caused by the simultaneous evolution of four Great Ogres was even greater than Bai Luo's earlier.
Because no isolation barrier was set up, the commotion of the four instantly attracted the attention of the Great Ogres led by Bai Lao.
For a time, countless Great Ogres rushed towards the wooden house where Bai Luo was, quickly surrounding it.