Chapter 144: Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [144]

King Joe divided into three separate units, launching a carpet-bombing assault on the young orks. These orks, still in their primitive state and barely awake mentally, were blasted straight into the sky. Many of them, freshly born and not even having the chance to shout their first "WAAAGH!!", were already dead. The reaping plan continued, with entire swathes of young orks being killed, their deaths converted into system gold coins absorbed by Rhodes. Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, five days had passed. The last ork warlord on the Ork Planet was finally taken down. That's right! The last one to fall was an ork warlord, not just an ordinary young ork. This guy, born only five days ago, had already grown into an ork warlord: 3.5 meters tall, wielding a massive axe, and clad in steel armor. Mefilas was right—these ork youngsters are at their most fertile and easiest to harvest and clear out when they're just born. The war potential of this race is simply enormous! Their evolution speed amazed even Rhodes. It was no wonder they could go head-to-head with the Tyranid Swarm. Even in their primitive, newly-born state, they were able to mount quick counterattacks against Rhodes' monsters. And their evolution speed was unimaginably fast. On the first day, many young orks had already evolved into ork bosses, and a large number of orks took up wooden clubs and stones. They launched a grand "WAAAGH!!" against Rhodes' giant monsters. By the second day, more powerful ork bosses had appeared. The orks had even started smelting, collecting ores to perform basic ironworking. They crafted simple armor and swords for their young orks. By the third day... These guys had created firearms and launched assaults on Rhodes' giant monsters and mechanical beasts. By this point, however, 70-80% of the ork population had already been cleared out. Had there been steel or remnants of human technology near their birthplace, Rhodes could confirm that these orks would have been able to craft firearms and start fighting back on the very first day. Thankfully, the Tyranids had consumed all human technological remnants and steel, turning them into biomass. These primitive orks were forced to start from scratch. The "WAAAGH!!" field was incredibly powerful, but it couldn't create something out of nothing! By the fourth day, the orks had even managed to build primitive war vehicles. The first ork warlord was born amidst this high-intensity warfare. Once the ork warlord appeared, he quickly subdued all the ork bosses at an astonishing speed. With a leader in place, the orks launched a ferocious counterattack. By the fifth day, these orks had even built rudimentary airplanes. They strapped goblins to the bomb bays, turning them into small guided missiles for precision attacks. But unfortunately, it was already too late by then. This ork warlord had just been born. He lacked extensive war experience, had no Painboyz to modify his body, and no Big Meks to forge advanced weapons for him. Rhodes launched the final sweep, and the ork warlord was killed by Rhodes' giant monsters, ending the harvest. The entire planet was stained green, and Rhodes gained over 200,000 system gold coins in one go. Previously, when Rhodes exterminated a planet-wide swarm of Tyranids, their numbers weren't as dense, and they only provided less than 50,000 system coins in total. Even when Rhodes slaughtered an entire planet of invading daemons, complete with two Chaos Champions, it only yielded 200,000 system coins. But the orks—their planet-wide population provided Rhodes with over 250,000 system coins in one go. The sheer scale of this was terrifying. From their birth to their annihilation, it had only been about a month! If Rhodes were to cultivate orks on ten planets, the results would be unimaginable—at least 3 million system coins per month! "Master, after clearing the battlefield, these ork spores can be replanted tomorrow. About two months from now, you can harvest them again. Over the next year, you should be able to harvest four or five times before moving on to another planet," Mefilas said, inspecting the soil. "Why wait two months? Didn't they grow back in just one month this time? By that logic, this planet should be able to yield 10-11 harvests of orcs per year," Rhodes asked. "Good question, Master! While these orks grow quickly, they consume massive amounts of rainwater, sunlight, and nutrients from the soil. Rainwater and sunlight are abundant, but the nutrients in the soil are not so easily replenished. Look at this land—previously, it was rich due to organic residues from the Tyranids, which made the orks grow exceptionally well, allowing for a one-month harvest cycle." "But if the land is relatively barren, the rainfall is scarce, and there isn't enough sunlight, then these orks won't be able to absorb sufficient nutrients, and their growth will slow down. I conducted some experiments in the lab. After reducing the nutrients in the soil, as well as limiting sunlight and rainfall, the same batch of planted ork seedlings still hasn't been born yet! Some have only formed an embryo, and it's estimated that it will take two months for them to fully develop." Mefilas explained the current situation to Rhodes. The ork race is indeed not picky about the environment. As long as there's water, land, and sunlight, they can grow strong. However, if the nutrients in the soil are abundant, they grow quickly, but if the nutrients are insufficient, their growth slows significantly. This planet has already been harvested once. A large number of orcs have died, leaving no biomass behind. You could say the nutrients of the entire planet were harvested. If we plant ork again, the nutrients in the soil have already been severely depleted. It would take two months for them to grow, and the third batch might require even more time. Continuous planting like this will destroy the fertility of the land. "By your logic, wouldn't that mean that after planting orks four or five times in a year, this planet would no longer be able to grow orks at all?" Rhodes asked in surprise. No wonder the orks in the Octarius region all live on barren desert planets. It turns out that the nutrients in the land here have been over-extracted. The ork race doesn't just appear out of thin air; they also need to consume nutrients to grow. "Exactly, master! Based on my estimates, after planting orks four times in a single year, the land on this planet would be severely depleted. A few years later, it might take an entire year just to grow one batch of orks," Mefilas replied. There's no way around it. On other ork planets, the corpses of dead ork seedlings can serve as both seeds and nutrients. But with the system harvesting method, the corpses of ork seedlings leave nothing behind. There are no residual nutrients at all, and the planet itself has to provide everything. "Is there any solution?" Rhodes asked. "There is," Mefilas replied. "You could raise some animals and plants on the planet to create a simple ecosystem. The organic matter from dead animals, plants, or their waste would form new biomass. After a period of recovery, the planet could be used for planting again." "I see! For now, we don't have a better solution. Just continue planting on this planet, and I'll find you a new planet later," Rhodes said. It looks like an ork farm can't sustain unlimited planting on a single planet. It seems I'll need to continue expanding my territory. After raising another batch of troops, I'll either go after the Tyranid bugs or the Chaos Demons. "Master, you need to think long-term. Once you have 1,000 planets under your control, you could rotate planting across them. Some planets would be used for planting, while others would recover, forming a perfect cycle," Mefilas explained. This would allow for fast harvesting, but it requires you to expand your territory further. With only one planet, there's no better option. Rhodes nodded and returned to his spaceship, using the warp network to travel back to Commorragh. With the rewards contributed by the Grey Knights and the loot gained from slaughtering the Dark Eldar, Rhodes now had over 500,000 system coins. He began to ponder whether to spend the coins on five rounds of 100 draws from the basic store or go for 50 draws from the intermediate store. If he chose the 500-draw option, he could expect to obtain at least 10 random ordinary monsters, though they'd mostly be basic ones. The strongest might be something like Birdon, Behemoth Stein, or Ultraman Ace, but there was also a high chance of getting some useless monsters. If he opted for 50 intermediate-level draws, he'd be guaranteed at least one powerful monster, and possibly even two. Rhodes wasn't short on ordinary monsters at the moment. Once he had more ork-planting planets, he'd need plenty of them. For now, since he was about to head to the Imperial capital of Holy Terra, it was better to improve his combat strength. After some thought, Rhodes decided to use the 500,000 system coins for 50 intermediate-store draws. This time, he avoided choosing cosmic beings or super-beasts and instead selected the mechanical monster upgrade option. Mechanical monsters would be easier to explain when he arrived at the Empire, while biological monsters might raise too many questions. The intermediate system store emitted a burst of golden light as 55 intermediate boxes were opened. Inside were 25 mechanical monster fragments, 30 other monster fragments, and a new mysterious gift box.