Chapter 166: Completion of the Crocodile King Palace

Furthermore, Lu Chen intended to select another one thousand elite individuals from among his subjects to form a standing legion, which would be placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Crocodile King's Palace.

On one hand, this would reinforce the authority of the Crocodile King's Palace; on the other hand, it would assist him in practicing his military formation domain. When facing foreign invasions, they could be deployed at a moment's notice, preventing the entire crocodile race from being caught off guard. Naturally, Lu Chen would undoubtedly reward these fellows from time to time in the future.

As for the various vassal states—yes, Lu Chen felt that the previously loose form of the saltwater crocodile tribes was no longer suited to current demands. Therefore, he planned to undergo a restructuring, dividing them into ten vassal states. He would then select ten individuals from among the saltwater crocodile chieftains to serve as administrators of these vassal states, helping him govern the respective tribes. Each vassal state would encompass around one hundred tribes, totaling over ten thousand subjects.

Of course, this was only temporary. As the population of crocodile subjects grew in the future, the number of vassal states would increase accordingly. As for the territories of the vassal states, that was completely unproblematic—the waterfall space was vast enough. To say nothing of accommodating ten million crocodiles, even if the population grew to one hundred million, it would still be more than sufficient.

Even so, Lu Chen still spent an entire week settling all the crocodile tribes. Today, his territory extended outwards along the major river toward the surrounding water systems, with a river basin area approaching five hundred thousand square kilometers, already surpassing the land area of many small nations on the Blue Star. In fact, as powerful fierce beasts continuously emerged, those small nations on the Blue Star that had once lived quite comfortably had become imperiled. They either merged with other countries or were directly obliterated by fierce beasts.

To be honest, developing at this rate, Lu Chen could not be certain what the crocodile civilization would eventually evolve into. According to the trajectory of human history in his past life, once an upheaval occurred at the Crocodile King's Palace, drastic changes among the vassal states would soon take place. It was not entirely impossible that someone else might eventually rise and replace him. However, Lu Chen was not someone obsessed with power, nor did he intend to rule the crocodile race indefinitely. Compared to this, Lu Chen was much more willing to elevate his own strength. His goal had always been the stars and the vast sea, and he had even harbored plans for a long time. Once the crocodile civilization evolved to a certain stage, he would use the teleportation array to visit other stellar regions, or perhaps follow the footprints once left behind by Zhang Sanfeng to eventually return to Earth. Compared to the vast and mysterious universe, the entire crocodile civilization and even the Blue Star were simply too small—mere drops in the ocean, entirely unworthy of excessive attachment on his part.

***

In Lu Chen's eager anticipation, and lasting over a month, the Crocodile King's Palace was finally completed. The overall architecture did not differ much from the blueprints; it was shaped like a yurt and constructed entirely of piled stones. The main framework stood nearly fifty meters tall, with dozens of giant stone pillars of varying lengths erected inside for support.

The Crocodile King's Palace looked rustic and primitive, one might even say extremely crude, resembling a blockhouse casually built by a child. Yet, many of the details were astonishing, causing Lu Chen's eyes to light up when he inspected it. First, the stone slabs on top of the palace roof were not solid; instead, numerous grooves had been left, filled with soil and planted with brightly colored flowers and vegetation. He believed that after some time, the entire roof would become a world of blossoms. As for how to water them on a daily basis, that was naturally no problem, as many crocodiles possessed water-type elemental abilities. Lu Chen even suspected that the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon in his past life might have looked just like this.

Additionally, relief carvings were etched onto the massive outer stone walls of the palace. After browsing through them briefly, Lu Chen felt a slight flush of shyness. He had always thought of Big Brother Crocodile as a simple-minded oaf, never expecting that this sharp-eyed fellow had also learned to flatter, and quite smoothly at that.

Lu Chen's growth experiences after reincarnating as a saltwater crocodile had been meticulously carved and depicted one by one by Big Brother Crocodile. The first relief panel near the grand entrance portrayed his life and hunting scenes in Willow Lake Park. The composition clearly distinguished between primary and secondary elements, with Lu Chen's glorious image occupying the most prominent position, accompanied by a giant northern snakehead, a red-banded snake, egrets, and other supporting characters. Big Brother Crocodile truly had an extraordinary memory; events that happened several years ago were still vividly remembered.

The second panel depicted the events that transpired after Lu Chen led the three fellows to migrate into the Tiannan Mountain Nature Reserve. It showed him setting traps to hunt clouded leopards, befriending monkey troops, and battling fierce beasts such as the Burmese python and the wolf king... Looking at these familiar scenes, Lu Chen's heart was flooded with memories. He felt that all his previous efforts had been entirely worthwhile, and that treating those fellows well had truly paid off. Further along were scenes of Lu Chen receiving homage from the various saltwater crocodile chieftains and officially establishing the crocodile civilization. In short, across all these relief murals, Lu Chen's image was portrayed as exceptionally tall and mighty, clearly marked as extraordinary by birth.

Upon finishing his inspection, he was thoroughly satisfied. To commend Big Brother Crocodile and the other builders, Lu Chen once again produced a portion of spiritual stones as a reward. With the completion of the Crocodile King's Palace, Lu Chen finally had a dedicated venue whenever he convened meetings with the administrators of the vassal states. The only flaw he found slightly regrettable was that Big Brother Crocodile had failed to account for natural lighting when designing the palace. Consequently, even during the daytime, the interior remained somewhat dim. However, since crocodiles possessed naturally superior vision, this drawback was entirely tolerable.

The construction of the Crocodile King's Palace could only be considered an episode; recently, Lu Chen's primary energy remained focused on mastering his mutant ability, the "Military Formation Domain." He always understood deep down that accumulating other things was merely adding flowers to brocade. Possessing supreme personal strength of one's own remained paramount.

***

"Hiss, hiss-hiss! (Guards of the crocodile legion, heed my command! Form the cone-shaped formation!)"

Hearing Lu Chen's order, the scattered saltwater crocodiles rapidly converged toward the positions designated by their respective squad leaders.

Just three minutes later, assembly was complete. Viewed from the sky, the entire military formation resembled a massive triangle, which was further subdivided into ten smaller triangles. The position Lu Chen occupied was precisely at the very apex of the triangle. Big Brother Crocodile, leading Second Brother Crocodile, Little Sister Crocodile, and the others, formed the vanguard echelon of the formation.

Though the thousands of saltwater crocodile guards simply stood quietly in place, a fierce and murderous aura instantly surged into the sky. The air within a radius of several miles stagnated, and countless chirping insects in the grass fell abruptly silent.

This was the result of Lu Chen's training over the past half-month; it was already several times more formidable than when he first began.

"Awooo..." With a roar, he activated his military formation domain.

"Awooo!" One thousand crocodile warriors responded in unison with a joint cry.

The surging aura rapidly condensed above the military formation into the illusory image of a giant crocodile. With a colossal body, crimson eyes, and robust limbs, it radiated a majestic, terrifying, and primeval aura, as if it intended to swallow the heavens and devour the earth.

"Awooo..."

Roaring aloud, Lu Chen slammed his claws violently into the ground, instantly releasing his energy laws. Almost simultaneously, the giant crocodile illusion mirrored his movement.

Rumble...

The vast expanse of land dozens of yards ahead of the military formation rapidly transformed into a colossal swampy mire spanning thousands of yards. The grass, trees, and stones caught within it were completely swallowed up and vanished without a trace.

Yet, this was merely the beginning.

Bolstered by the pooled energy of a thousand saltwater crocodile guards, Lu Chen was capable of achieving far more. Leveraging the power of the collective, he continued to unleash his energy laws.