Across the Three Thousand Dynasties, whether it's the top-tier ones or the weakest, their systems of governance and methods of waging war all follow much the same pattern.
Typically, seventy percent of their forces are sent out to fight or garrison conquered star-regions, with ten percent left to defend the dynasty’s base, and the remaining twenty percent rotating between external campaigns and home defense. This not only keeps the legions battle-ready, but also ensures there’s always spare strength to handle emergencies.
A high-tier dynasty usually commands over five hundred thousand troops, while the top-tier ones surpass a million.
But right now, even if you add up all seven legions of the Frostbane Dynasty, it barely comes to three hundred thousand. And with four star-regions that need permanent garrisons, most of their strength is already spoken for.
Right now, the dynasty’s base must keep one legion behind for security, so sending two legions to fight for Monroe Legion’s old territory is already their absolute limit—they simply don’t have any strength to spare.
That’s exactly why the Phantom-Star Dynasty and Rivengrace Dynasty have always been able to keep Frostbane suppressed—because both of them control five star-regions each!
Five star-regions—so vast they’re the biggest in the southeast of the Star-River Dominion—produce countless medicines and minerals, but what really keeps those dynasties strong is the sheer abundance of Starstone mines.
Mining Starstones is the top priority. Without powerful personal stars, even Thrones and elite warriors in the dynasty have to rely on Starstones to cultivate. So whether a star-region is rich in Starstones directly determines the dynasty’s peak combat strength.
"Sure, going alone to conquer the Sky Tiger Legion’s old star-region is risky as hell, but if I succeed, all the Starstones in that region are mine to dig up—and I won’t be sharing them with a whole legion. It’ll be just me!"
A sharp light flashed in Evan Chu’s eyes—this was his real plan all along!
To grow stronger, to power up fast—he had to take this risk. Besides, he wasn’t completely without options; at least he already had a plan forming in his mind.
As long as the first step went smoothly, there shouldn’t be much trouble after that.
"The Sky Tiger Legion’s star-region is at full saturation—they can’t possibly spare extra troops for outside campaigns. According to the intel, the Rivengrace Dynasty has six legions, each with between 130,000 and 150,000 soldiers. The numbers are huge, but the quality is all over the place—real elites are just a tiny fraction.
Otherwise, the Blazing-Flame Legion—with just thirty thousand men—couldn’t possibly have held out against them for over a thousand years."
"Looking at Rivengrace’s current setup, their base definitely has one legion stationed there, and each of the other four star-regions is also garrisoned. So with the Sky Tiger Legion wiped out, one of Rivengrace’s five star-regions is bound to be left without a legion defending it."
Evan Chu silently recited the intelligence Lord Jun Yang had given him, already running the calculations in his head.
With no other legions to send as reinforcements, the only force Evan Chu will face in this star-region is the original Sky Tiger Legion garrison—about thirty thousand defenders, by his estimate.
If Frostbane sent a full legion, they could wipe out that force in no time—but then what? They still couldn’t hold the star-region. The hard part isn’t conquering a star-region, it’s making sure the enemy doesn’t go all out and either loot or destroy the most precious assets before you take control.
The real challenge is keeping the star-region intact—and making sure the mining systems keep running after the conquest.
That’s why, most of the time, you only need one legion to garrison a star-region, but conquering it takes double the force.
That’s why Evan Chu insisted on conquering the star-region solo—because everyone else thought it was flat-out impossible!
"You can’t just brute-force your way through this kind of thing. If I can pull it off quietly... I’ll still need to build up a force of my own!"
Thinking it over, Evan Chu suddenly realized a problem. Sure, he was confident about conquering the star-region. But after he took it, then what? He could attack alone—but could he defend it alone?
No way! Defending it takes a legion’s strength—and real deterrence!
Evan Chu went to Trenton Zhan’s War God Hall, drew ten thousand mid-grade Starstones from the logistics office as supplies for his campaign, then promptly absorbed them all—his cultivation jumped straight to peak late Saint Lord Realm.
Even Evan Chu found it a little absurd. For most people, that many Starstones at the Saint Lord level would be enough to break through a whole realm. But for him, it just bumped up his cultivation a bit—and that’s only because he could absorb every last drop of power thanks to his Star-Soul mastery!
Ordinary people can only absorb about seventy percent of a Starstone’s power, at best.
Three days later, two legions—or actually, with Evan Chu’s side, three separate forces—were gearing up to march on the star-region.
On one side, two legions—flags flying, troops brimming with energy, star-boats and warships lined up in full display—looked absolutely imposing.
Meanwhile, Evan Chu was just sitting on Old Goldwing’s back, looking as calm as ever.
Originally, the Blazing-Flame Legion had planned to assign Evan Chu a mid-sized Star-Boat warship, but Evan quickly realized that piloting one would burn through a ton of Starstones just for fuel. Compared to that, he'd rather just confiscate those Starstones and feed them to Old Goldwing. Old Goldwing’s speed is even faster than a Star-Boat warship anyway.
Plus, when Old Goldwing eats Starstones, his cultivation grows—why not take the win?
So Evan just casually pocketed all three thousand low-grade Starstones Jun Yang had loaded into the Star-Boat, and tossed them straight to Old Goldwing. Watching these two freaks in action, the legionaries could only sigh: their commander is a monster, and his divine beast is just as monstrous—how is this even fair?
Saying they weren’t jealous would be a lie. But at the same time, everyone felt genuinely relieved—at least this monster belongs to Frostbane Dynasty. If he served another dynasty, his power to wipe out a whole star-region single-handed would be a nightmare. Just the thought of him leveling a small star-region with that terrifying force was enough to make them shudder.
“Senior Brother, are you really sure about this? I still think you’re being a bit reckless.”
Lord Thunder just couldn’t relax as the Blazing-Flame Legion was about to set out—he still wasn’t at ease about Evan Chu.
“If I’d known, I would’ve asked to go with you—at least you’d have someone watching your back.”
“No need. Just relax, okay? You know what I’m capable of. Stick with Jun Yang, fight hard, and rack up some battle merit—get yourself promoted. That way you’ll be able to help me when the time comes. Honestly, I’m starting to think Frostbane’s upper ranks are way more complicated than I thought… The sooner you climb up, the better it’ll be for me.”
“Alright, Senior Brother’s words—I’ll remember them! But you have to be careful, seriously!”
“Haha, it’s fine! Not that dangerous. Acting solo is actually pretty convenient. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll just come back. And if I can’t get my hands on that ‘fat meat,’ nobody else will either. Worst case, I’ll just blow up the whole star-region!”
Evan blurted this out without even thinking, and Lord Thunder instantly swallowed whatever he was about to say. Senior Brother, you’re insane—I surrender!