Chapter 226: The Holy Shield Infantry Corps

“From now on, this place will be dedicated to character transformations. For the next batch, I plan to select some highly loyal members from the guard militia and my lord’s personal guard for transformation!”
After everyone completed their transformations, Donald announced his next plans in public.
“After I select the initial candidates, you will conduct a thorough background check. Once they are transformed, our territory’s armed forces should be systematically established. The knight order, the infantry regiment, and the expanded musketeer guard will form the three core forces. The knight order will be under Uther’s command, while the musketeer guard will be integrated into the infantry regiment and led by George and Bush together! The number of knights may be limited, so Uther, you must find those suitable for mastering the power of holy light. As for the infantry regiment, it will be Dalaran’s main force in external battles. I intend to build it into an army as strong as the Holy Sword Legion. Its name has already been chosen—it will be called the Holy Shield Infantry Regiment!”
“Besides the musketeer guard, other troop types will also be incorporated into the Holy Shield Infantry Regiment in the future, but for now, the number will be kept below three hundred, focusing on elite troops. After all, with our powerful mage defenses, direct combat opportunities are rare. In the future, they will also be sent out as mercenaries for practical training.”
After giving these instructions, Donald ordered William, Barn, and Tik to gather all armed forces in the lord’s palace square.
Currently, the official and unofficial armed forces in the territory total over five hundred people. There weren’t that many originally, but with the expansion of the hunting party and the establishment of the Adventurer’s Guild, many low-level adventurers and mercenaries joined the militia guard, greatly increasing the number of candidates Donald could select.
Through the spiritual connection of the Tree of Life, Donald could easily discern everyone’s loyalty to him and to the territory of Dalaran. Those who became armed personnel were all selected carefully, so there weren’t even those with slight hostility. Donald chose only the top three hundred based on loyalty, regardless of background or strength.
Next, William and other territorial officials conducted identity checks on these three hundred people. After half a day of work, dozens more were dismissed, leaving nearly three hundred in the end.
“From today onward, you are soldiers directly under my Merlinna family. I provide you with the opportunity to grow stronger. Whether you become knights, nobles, or even generals depends on your own efforts.”

After those who weren’t selected dispersed in disappointment, Donald delivered a short speech before leading the nearly 300 soldiers, who were both surprised and confused, to the sacred site for their role transitions. The process of transitioning over 280 people took several hours and wasn’t completed until evening. None of them received a profession inheritance, which was expected—after all, these soldiers had passed the initial screening to become full or reserve armed personnel, meaning they must have considerable natural talents in terms of physical strength and other aspects. There were no ones like Kord and Katherine, whose ages exceeded the optimal range or whose physiques were weak. Even the least talented among the nearly 300 were second-tier infantrymen. In addition to the regular combat professions such as musketeers, archers, and hunters, there were also a few rare talent inheritances like assassins, priests, and wizards, similar to those seen before with Tikk. Those who obtained the wizard (witch) profession proved to have some magical talent and were immediately assigned by Donald to work under the three mages—Mory, Russell, and another—to learn basic magic knowledge while assisting them with the alchemy shop and the work of the adventurers’ guild. As for those who received priestly inheritance, showing potential to comprehend the power of holy light, they were directly assigned to Uther to train them as future members of the Silver Hand Knights. Unlike the priests and paladins in Warcraft, who are priests and holy warriors of this world’s god-based faith, paladins cannot be replicated from the Book of Truth but can be cultivated through training. Although they certainly can’t compare to the true heroes created by the Book of Truth, if developed on a large scale, they would form an extremely powerful and formidable force. Therefore, Donald didn’t intend to train any priests—after all, he wasn’t a demi-god—and cultivating priests would be a major taboo for the Church of the Gods. The origin of paladins, on the other hand, was much easier to explain—mere self-discovered strength—so even if someone suspected something, they wouldn’t delve too deeply into it. As for the assassins, Donald placed them under Tikk’s command, planning to use them as a foundation to integrate previous intelligence agents and establish Dalaran’s intelligence department, directly reporting to Donald as its lord. This department would be led by Tikk, who was clever and possessed the cunning typical of mountain dwellers. Tikk, who had finally been promoted from deputy to head of the department, was overjoyed and suggested dividing the intelligence department into a visible and an invisible faction—the visible faction responsible for planning and the invisible faction for operations. He also recommended several acquaintances with excellent strategic skills to join.

Thus, the establishment of the Dalaran Intelligence Department took a lot of stress off Donald, who simply left it entirely in the hands of that kid, Tik. Finally, it was announced to the inhabitants of the territory that the main armed force of Dalaran—the Holy Shield Infantry Corps—had been officially formed. Due to racial restrictions, nearly three hundred people were converted into human infantry, with 155 of them becoming infantry members, all possessing strength ranging from mid-black iron to high-black iron levels. The Musketeer Guard was expanded to 41 members, archers to 65, and hunters to 27; the latter two groups were mostly composed of young mountain folk skilled in archery and hunting. George and Bush were appointed as the chief and deputy leader of the corps. These 288 soldiers were divided into squads of ten, with the remaining 20 who had advanced to the knightly class and possessed bronze-level summoning abilities serving as squad leaders. Those who were lacking were filled by a few soldiers who stood out for their strength and intelligence. In this way, the total number of members in the Holy Shield Infantry Corps, including the chief and deputy leaders, exactly reached 300—a coincidence, not something deliberately arranged by Donald. With ample divine support, the now wealthy Donald spent energy to provide the corps’ soldiers with complete sets of armor, weapons, and equipment. Three hundred sets of equipment, each consisting of thousands of individual items, only required three drops of divine energy—partly due to the savings from having ready-made iron ore and other materials. Equipped to the teeth, the Holy Shield Infantry Corps, right from its inception, matched any of the kingdom’s three major military forces in terms of equipment and treatment. The only differences lay in the lack of combat experience, the soldiers’ morale and coordination, and insufficient preparation of auxiliary units. The Militia Guard would later serve as a reserve force for the Holy Shield Infantry Corps, with outstanding soldiers selected to replenish its ranks.