Chapter 139: Preparations for the war

After that conversation, Sobek ordered his five companions to not say anything to the other dinosaurs, partly because he didn't want to create panic, partly because it was important that the image of the strong leader wasn't affected. None of the others had any objections: they all saw the importance of keeping silence until the preparations were completed. Now the relationship between the five was very different. Sobek hadn't just made them trust him; he had created a much stronger bond. It wasn't friendship: such a thing wasn't admissible in the hierarchy of the pack. But it was undoubtedly something strong, which united them in the common cause. From that day on, things changed a lot. Carnopo had taken control of the recruiting dinosaurs backed by Al. The two together had begun to coordinate the search for new members of the pack making it faster and more efficient. Now that they understood the challenge awaited them in the future, they both knew it was imperative to create the largest herd ever seen in the shortest amount of time. Now every day at least one hundred new dinosaurs joined the pack, and after less than a week even the largest sauropods such as mamenchisaurs or alamosaurs began to arrive. The number of dinosaurs under Sobek's command now exceeded twenty thousand. After being properly reprimanded by Sobek for his negligence, Rambo returned at the border. He had improved a lot with his work since that night. Although it was still the same chicken brain, it could not be said that it wasn't engaging in its task. He was much more serious and made an effort to think well before making a decision. Though he wouldn't admit it even under torture, Sobek was pleased with his progress. Buck had become a teacher and was training recruits in military discipline. Despite the initial failures he didn't give up and after a lot of effort he managed to get the dinosaurs to coordinate with each other. Even if they were slowly starting to act like a real army. The troop consisted mostly of tyrannosaurs, allosaurs and charcarodontosaurs, but there were also many herbivores such as triceratops and stegosaurs, as well as smaller animals such as utahraptors. Finally, Old Li was now spending a lot of time with Sobek. Sure, she left him his spaces when he asked him, but whenever he could, he approached him and started talking to him. Although initially bothered by it, Sobek found that the old ankylosaurus did not mind the company. The two often talked about his plans for the future and Old Li had made a great contribution to them. The ankylosaurus was certainly not a strategist or an expert in military tactics; it was more that uncle or that grandfather who, while listening to you, stops you if he notices that you are going too far. Old Li had helped him mitigate those parts of the plan that were too aggressive and reinforce those where he took a too mild attitude. He also started giving him advice on how to deal with dinosaurs, highlighting issues that Sobek hadn't initially thought of. For this, Sobek had decided to give Old Li the title of adviser. Buck had been the first to benefit from the titles. He had appointed him as strike commander just two days after their conversation. The title gave him several boosts: strength increase by 100% and defense by 30%, as well as an efficiency greater than 50% for all his skills. These were certainly not minor upgrades. To make it clear, if Buck's strength had been 1,000, with a 100% increase it would have doubled. And with all the skills he possessed Sobek suspected Buck's strength level was over 40,000, which made the number soar. Finally, a dinosaur that received a title enjoyed greater prestige towards all dinosaurs linked to Sobek through the [Contract]: part of their loyalty to the pack leader reflected on Buck, allowing him to have more control over his troop. Buck's choice as an assault commander had been obvious: no dinosaur was better than a t-rex when it came to a frontal attack. As for the other titles, the question was more thorny. Finding the right one for each of his companions was difficult. That was why it had taken him more than two weeks to decide to give Old Li a title. The title of advisor guaranteed an increase in intelligence by 50%, strategic ability by 30%, the ability to understand and evaluate problems by 100% and also an increase in charisma and diplomacy by 40%. These boosts were not accidental: an advisor's job wasn't to come up with grand plans or strategies, but to pinpoint the weaknesses of both his boss's plans and herd management. He had to notice those details that even a careful and calculating eye could escape. Furthermore, an adviser had to be able to quell disputes and open new avenues for diplomacy. Finally, he had to support his boss in moments of great tension. Old Li perfectly reflected all these characteristics. The old ankylosaurus was not a genius, but he could see those things that young people didn't notice; he knew when to be patient and when to be in a hurry. Sobek had not regretted his choice: Old Li had already helped him a lot. As for Sobek himself, obviously he was more dedicated to raising the levels of [Linguistics (2)]. Getting the help of the flying reptiles was of the utmost importance. This is because Sobek needed every dinosaur on the continent to answer his call, but many of them were far away. Although the dinosaurs were practically battle machines, the number they currently had was insufficient to fight a war. Only the army of Odaria, the closest nation, numbered the exceptional figure of 100,000 soldiers, without even considering the war machines. Since each dinosaur was worth at least ten humans, and some even a hundred, it would have been easy for Sobek to take down that army. But the other nations of the world were not so helpless. The Almagna Empire, which had the largest army in the world of Eden, possessed 1.2 million soldiers, not counting the navy and air force. To defeat such power, Sobek would need at least 100,000 dinosaurs. And the Almagna Empire were just one of the many powers of Eden. Once the world discovered the threat of the dinosaurs, it was very likely that any conflicts that humans had with each other would immediately vanish and all nations would unite to face the new adversaries. Since the pterosaurs had joined the pack, the number of dinosaurs under Sobek's command had grown a lot. But the bigger the wings, the farther they can fly. Sobek needed to enlist the help of the larger flying reptiles if he wanted to bring together as many dinosaurs as possible. It had taken three days to get [Linguistics (2)] up to level 2/5 and nearly ten to level 3/5. Then he had to find flying reptiles willing to help him. Fortunately the large number of dinosaurs under his control had brought results: given the abundance of prey a lot of large pterosaurs lurked every day in the vicinity of the herd. They had never dared to attack even the smallest dinosaurs, but they hadn't disdained stealing a lot of meat and fish. Both medium-sized and large pterosaurs had expanded recruitment to many tens of kilometers each day. Even though most of the recruits they found were still on their way, due to the long distance impossible to travel on a wingless day, the pack would at least double its individuals when they arrived. But Sobek was aiming higher. He wanted giant-sized pterosaurs. Beasts such as quetzalcoatlus or hatzegopteryx could travel hundreds of kilometers per day. With their help, the entire continent would hear his call. At that point, it would have been enough to wait a while and the numbers in his army would have grown enormously. Finally, after almost two weeks of work, Sobek managed to bring [Linguistics (2)] level 4/5. Once he gained that power he headed for the first giant-sized flying reptile he saw. Obviously he was frightened as soon as he heard him speak, but Sobek skipped the pleasantries and said: "I want to make a deal with you" The pterosaur was a quetzalcoatlus as tall as a giraffe. Sobek had caught him red-handed while he was stealing some fish from the feeders. He was obviously surprised by the situation, but he didn't ask too many questions. "What kind of deal?" he asked simply with an inquiring look. "Easy. This fish can be all yours" Sobek replied. "You can use it when and how you want, under two conditions" "Interesting. What conditions?" the quetzalcoatlus asked with caution. He was evidently smarter than Rambo. "The first one is that you officially join the pack. The second one is that you go and fly over the entire continent, and recruit any other flying reptile for me" Sobek said. If he wanted to recruit all the dinosaurs on the continent, he first had to focus on finding good recruiters. Giant-sized pterosaurs were not very common: generally the larger an animal, the rarer it was, especially if it was a predator. Sobek therefore needed someone to track them all down and bring them under his wing. The quetzalcoatlus looked doubtful. "Anything else?" he asked suspiciously. Sobek gave a chuckle. "If you join this pack you will naturally have other tasks one day. Or maybe you think you can keep yourself free?" he asked rhetorically. "You can take this as your first assignment. Serve me and you can have all the food you want without having to hunt for it. But know that I don't want freeloaders. If you want to eat, you have to earn it" The quetzalcoatlus seemed to grunt. "Yes, it makes sense to me" he said. "Ok, I will do it. But can you guarantee me that when I'm done I'll still can have food?" "Absolutely. If you are part of my pack, I take care of you. This is an absolute rule that applies to everyone in the herd" Sobek replied. "Then we have an agreement. I'll bring you all the flying reptiles I can find" "Good. How long will it take you to fly over the entire continent?" "The continent? Pff. Maybe it will seem great to you that cannot fly, but to me it is nothing. In a month at most I will be back" answered the quetzalcoatlus. For a flying animal, immense distances are nothing more than short distances. And if the animal is the size of a plane, then those distances become even easier to travel. According to many paleontologists, large flying reptiles like the quetzalcoatlus could make their way from Europe to America in just three or four days. Therefore even a continent like Maakanar, which was larger than all the continents of the Earth combined, was nothing to a quetzalcoatlus. The pterosaur ate a few more fishes and then took off. Sobek now had only to wait for his return.