Looking up from the top floor of a building, Gale could see a vast plain where a large number of soldiers had gathered.
Thirty prisoners sentenced to death were tied to wooden stakes in a row, each separated by about ten meters.
All of them had their eyes covered with strips of cloth, their mouths gagged with rags, and their bodies bound so they could not move.
Eren and Dina stood beneath a wooden roof, observing the people who were about to transform into Titans.
They would use the power of the Founder to give orders to the Titans that were about to be born.
The order was very clear; Eren held the manual in his hands.
Titans were divided into three categories: agricultural Titans, construction Titans, and mining Titans.
For now, they only needed to domesticate these three types.
The instructions and the size required for implantation varied depending on the type of thoughts held by those controlling the power of the Founding Titan.
For example, when creating construction Titans, it was sometimes necessary to build tall structures or bridges over deep ravines, which required the Titans to be quite tall. Agricultural and mining Titans required greater strength, but they did not necessarily need to be tall.
The size of Titans was a variable that was difficult to control even with clear commands, so they were classified according to the height they reached after transforming.
Titans over twelve meters tall could be domesticated and used for construction, while those under twelve meters were used for other purposes.
It took Eren quite some time to understand the meaning of Gale's words and to learn how to use the power of the Founding Titan to implant commands into these pure Titans.
This was not a simple matter. What Gale asked him to do was not simply to give orders to the Titans and make them obey humans.
The plan had been improved several times. Initially, it was decided to assign one person in charge of each Titan and use the power of the Founding Father to make that Titan obey the commands of the person in charge.
After all, Eren was only one person, and if he wanted to use Titans to build factories in different places, it would be impossible for him to control everything. However, this plan had many drawbacks, such as whether the person in charge could be trusted.
What would happen if the person in charge had a conflict with others and ordered the giant to kill someone?
What would happen if the person in charge died unexpectedly? Would Eren and Dina have to return to the area where the Titan was being used and assign someone else in charge?
After careful consideration, the idea of assigning a person in charge was abandoned, and instead, the current approach was adopted: assigning tasks to the Titans and implanting special instructions.
For example, Eren now wanted to domesticate a group of Pure Titans and turn them into agricultural Titans.
That is why, first, he needed to implant several "classes" into these Titans: [Enter standby], [Loosen soil], [Plant seeds], [Harvest crops], [Transport crops], [Move], [End action], among many others.
To activate the Titans' actions, special signals were required, like a remote control—using the sound of a special whistle and human movements to give them orders.
Once an agricultural Titan was domesticated, it became a machine that only responded to the commands implanted in it. Within its underlying logic, there were several fundamental rules, such as the prohibition against attacking humans or leaving designated areas.
A Titan of this type could be sent to any agricultural zone, and as long as its control method was learned, it could be ordered to act.
Not only did this greatly improve productivity, but it also prevented them from being used for purposes other than agriculture, avoiding unforeseen situations and making it far more practical than the original concept of "a person in charge."
The only drawback was that domesticating them was quite complicated, as some commands were fairly complex—especially those related to construction.
To manage different construction scenarios, there were dozens of commands.
Construction workers continued to provide feedback, and future instructions would become increasingly complex and precise, which could lead to the emergence of many smaller subsectors within the construction industry.
These first domesticated Titans were used through trial and error, and in order to turn them into flexible "great machines" across various fields, it was necessary to constantly improve their modes of operation.
Once the model was nearly perfected, the large number of Titans outside Wall Maria could be domesticated and classified.
Of course, that moment had not yet arrived.
What needed to be done now was to first test the use of Titan labor and take advantage of this time to quickly survey resources such as iron ore, coal, and iceburst stone, plan the area, and determine the course of action before putting the Titans outside the walls to work.
It was estimated that there were about 10,000 Titans outside the wall. Each Titan could become a powerful "machine" that required no energy and did not fear damage.
"Tell them they can begin," Gale said to Hannes, who stood beside him.
"Yes." Hannes nodded slightly and looked at a soldier, who shortly afterward sounded a war horn.
At the sound of the horn, the soldiers, under the watchful eyes of their officers, removed the seals from the wooden crate.
Inside the crate, the silver-white Titan fluid emitted a dreamlike glow.
Following protocol, the soldiers injected the needles into the prisoners' neck veins and, before the golden lightning flashed, used their vertical maneuvering equipment to withdraw.
Thirty Titans of varying heights appeared within the massive enclosure.
Eren took a deep breath and held Dina's hand.
The Pure Titans were subdued, frozen in place, then spread out and laid down on the ground.
Afterward, the soldiers used measuring tapes to determine the height of each Titan and recorded the data.
Titans over twelve meters tall stood up first and lined up in a row, followed by Titans between five and ten meters tall, and then Titans under five meters.
With the instruction manual in hand, Eren and Dina approached a twelve-meter Titan.
He was already quite skilled at this.
For others, it was only an instant—but for him, it was a moment, and he entered that strange space.
In that dusty place, his spirit connected with those six twelve-meter Titans.
He had only one thing in mind: to implant instructions into the Titans' instincts.
"Don't overthink it, just do what Gale says."
"This is the only thing I can do…" Eren looked into the distance at the girl carrying a bucket of sand.
"Don't think about anything else, just finish what you can do!"
"As long as we keep moving forward, we will reach freedom!"
Eren calmed himself and modified the Titans' movement patterns.
Once the first group of Titans was domesticated, Eren left the coordinate space.
Some construction workers who had participated in the recapture of Maria were there, testing the Titans' functions.
A worker blew a whistle to direct the Titan forward, then ordered it to stop so it could lift steel bars and transport stones…
Then came the unexpected test: obstacles were placed in the Titan's path to observe how it would react to construction materials, livestock, and human beings.
All tests were conducted under the control of the Founding Power.
Everything proceeded smoothly; the Titan handled all unforeseen situations perfectly, just as expected.
This group of construction Titans was successfully domesticated and handed over to the workers, who would take them to the nearest iron ore region to build iron smelting plants.
Without a doubt, they were developing at a speed impossible to comprehend for those outside that environment.