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The hazy night could not stop Victor's keen gaze, and with the ability of dim vision, he clearly saw hundreds of swift birds, large and small, divided into four groups, each lying on the ground and sleeping peacefully.

The leaders of several particularly strong swift birds were alerted to the movement outside the pens and looked up, and when they saw that they were familiar humans, they buried their heads under their wings again.

The swift bird is a large omnivorous land chocoon endemic to the Centaur hills, which feeds on the purple cane leaves of the Centaur hills, and also preys on small lizards. The average adult bird stands 2.4 meters tall, has a back height of 1.8 meters, a length of 1.6 meters, and generally weighs no more than 350 kilograms, and has an axe-like beak, huge wings and powerful claws.

Large, muscular, agile and agile, they have a strong ability to climb obstacles and climb hills, and are very well adapted to hilly terrain, reaching a top speed of an astonishing 90 km/h, even when crossing mountainous terrain, they can maintain speeds of up to 40 km/h. The explosiveness and speed of the swift bird are better than those of the war horse, and the super sense of balance and sharp turning ability are the advantages that the war horse does not have.

In the early days of the human lords' development of the Centaur Hills, they also tried to tame this large bird, but soon gave up.

Swift Bird's temperament is not fierce, but it is not easy to mess with. They are short-tempered and surprisingly powerful, with powerful claws that can easily break a soldier's ribs, a nimble neck that allows them to quickly turn their heads to attack riders on their backs, and axe-like beaks capable of tearing through hard cowhide armor for deadly damage.

The swift birds are tall and strong, eat a lot of food, like purple cane leaves, and they are dismissive of the dry grass provided by humans. However, to open up the hills, humans first had to cut down the purple cane forests on the flat land. Farmers can't plant their crops on the hills, right? Due to the destruction of the purple cane forest, the birds began to peck at the young seedlings in the fields. Farmers are sometimes killed and injured in order to drive away these large birds that are destroying crops. The priest of the church decisively defined the bird as a beast of prey, and asked the lord to send soldiers to hunt the bird.

There is another important factor in the lord's abandonment of domesticating the swift bird, its weight-bearing capacity is too poor. Although the swift bird is large and can run well, it is a two-legged bird after all, and its weight-bearing capacity is far less than that of cattle and horses that walk on four legs with strong bones. Aristocratic scholars have found that weights of more than 230 pounds can affect the birds' mobility, while 320 pounds can directly crush them down.

Short-tempered, dangerous, not easy to tame, picky eater, high cost of raising, poor weight-bearing capacity, not as good as war horses, not suitable for mounting.

The conclusion of the White Tower scholars caused the lord to lose interest in the swift birds, and their meat aroused the interest of the farmer again. Eventually, thousands of birds were brought to the table, with only a handful of birds surviving in the remote southern territories.

However, both the scholars of the White Tower and the priests of the Church ignored the question, if the swift birds feed on purple cane leaves, why did the forest centaurs tolerate these giant birds eating their crops?

Victor learns from Renault that the swift birds in the centaur hills are not wild animals, but war birds raised by halflings. Halflings and Centaurs are symbiotic races, and of course Centaurs do not drive away Swiftbirds.

In fact, swift birds are omnivorous and are not picky eaters, with vegetables, berries, young leaves of sea buckthorn, including meat on their diet. It's just that the swift birds in the centaur hills have been accustomed to eating sugar-rich purple cane leaves, which has created a false impression that swift birds are picky eaters. Moreover, the intelligence of the swift birds is much higher than that of horses, they have a strong sense of collectivity, are good at cooperation, can protect their companions, and have good combat effectiveness, even if they can't be mounts, they are also very good combat partners.

If swift birds could not be domesticated, halflings would never dare to raise them as war birds. The lives of human soldiers are still in danger of being attacked by swift birds, let alone short and weak halflings.

In fact, the method of taming the swift bird is very simple. When the bird comes out of the shell and sees the first moving object, it will be regarded as a companion by them, and then feed them, and this companionship is fixed. Based on mutual trust, the Trainer can teach the Swiftbird various commands, making them qualified mounts and combat companions.

Randall's first generation of swift birds only regarded halflings as companions, and it took a lot of effort for the alchemy auxiliaries to get them to accept the humans' orders, but they still attacked the humans. So ordinary people can't ride the first generation of Xunniao.

The 30 adult swift birds provided by Busso are all second-generation swift birds, and they have come out of the shell to see alchemy humans, who have been trained by alchemy humans since childhood, and they have regarded humans as companions. These swift birds are comparable to trained hunting dogs, and generally do not actively attack others unless they are ordered to do so by their owners or to protect them.

Of course, as a large creature, the swift bird is not without a threat at all. However, there are times when war horses also throw their hooves, so you can't give up cavalry just because war horses will go crazy, right?

The hilly terrain of men and horses is not suitable for mobile combat of traditional cavalry, but the Swift Bird light cavalry is not troubled by the hilly terrain. The Swift Bird's ability to climb hills allows the light cavalry to climb over hills and weave through enemy lines, its excellent balance makes the light cavalry's bow and crossbow more accurate and deadly, and its superior speed allows the light cavalry to quickly surprise and retreat.

Just imagine, the Swift Bird Light Cavalry, composed of the Spirit Monkey Militia, condescends on the hills, shoots the enemy's elite soldiers accurately, and then easily gets rid of the enemy knights in heavy armor with the help of the terrain, once pursued by the enemy knights, the Swift Bird Light Cavalry immediately disperses and retreats. If the enemy Grand Knight is in hot pursuit of a Swift Bird Cavalry, the rest of the Light Cavalry will continue to wipe out the opponent's normal combat power, and the lone Grand Knight will face the encirclement of the Thur Silver Heavy Crossbow.

A battle that can only be beaten and cannot fight back can be devastating to the morale of the enemy. And the kite tactics of the Swift Bird Light Cavalry are enough to make up for the gap in high-end combat power.

If the Alchemy Dragon Lizard Battle Team is a strategic force, then the Swift Bird Light Cavalry is a tactical force, and the Swift Bird Light Cavalry does not need to be concealed, it is an elite that can be placed in the open.

In non-war situations, the Swiftbird Light Cavalry conducts patrol and rapid support missions, and they are based in Pinghu Town, and can reach any corner of Randall's territory in less than 4 hours. This elite cavalry will greatly increase Victor's control over the territory and effectively alleviate the pressure of understaffing on patrols.

The most important thing is that the Xunniao light ride is very handsome and very stylish.

There is no problem with the domestication and supply of the swift bird, but the most difficult thing now is its weight-bearing capacity.

Victor asked, "Busso, do you have an equipment plan for the Swiftbird Light Rider?"

"My lord, according to your requirements for lethality and defense, the Swift Bird Cavalry is equipped with Thur Silver Leather Armor, Iron Oak Tse Silver One-handed Spear, Iron Oak Round Shield, Steel Thur Silver Short Sword, Thur Silver Compound Bow, Thur Silver Crossbow, 40 Iron Arrows, 20 Iron Crossbow Arrows, a Tactical Shoulder Bag, Equipment Weighing 52 Pounds, and the average weight of the Spirit Monkey Militia is 173 pounds. With a total weight of 225 pounds, it will not affect the swift bird. ”

Victor's proposed equipment plan made Victor frown, and he asked again, "How many types of Thur silver do these Thur silver equipment cost?"

Busso replied succinctly, "2.4 pounds." ”

"Looks like Therium is enough. However, this is not yet the time for Thursilver to come out, and this can only be used as an alternative. ”

Victor sighed, shook his head, and said, "Remove the Thur silver equipment and come up with another plan." ”

Busso immediately gave another solution, "Steel ring chain mail with rattan skin inner armor, cross crossbow, compound hard bow, 20 fine iron crossbow arrows, 40 ordinary arrows, a tactical shoulder bag, equipment weighs 70 pounds, select a spirit monkey militia weighing less than 160 pounds, the total weight does not exceed 230 pounds." ”

"In order to lighten the load, sacrifice the attack power and melee ability of the light cavalry? No!" Victor flatly rejected the plan.

Conventional cavalry is the elite of the elite, and its tactics are flexible and changeable, and it must be able to shoot on horseback and dismount on foot. They are very well equipped and have both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Because of the horses, the cavalry was equipped with heavier and better defensive scales and shields. In terms of means of attack, in addition to crossbows and compound bows, cavalry also had essential melee weapons, including cavalry spears, one-handed halberds, one-handed swords and maces, and they were all fine iron weapons.

The miserable weight-bearing capacity of the swift bird simply cannot bear the weight of the elite cavalry. And excellent equipment is the greatest advantage of human soldiers, and the loss of equipment advantage makes the Swiftbird cavalry meaningless, and can only be used as scouts and heralds.

The appearance of Thur Silver made it possible for Victor to envision the Swift Bird Light Ride. However, now is not the time to get out of the Thursilver gear.

According to Victor's plan, first of all, he must reserve millions of gold coins so that the Alchemy Tower can continuously produce alchemy creatures, and secondly, he must build the hill camp into a giant fortress to ensure that the Alchemy Tower is foolproof. Then, taking advantage of the lord's lack of understanding of Thoryin, he bought Thursilver ore from other territories at a low price and reserved a huge amount of Thorsilver resources.

After completing these three steps, Victor will reveal the Thorsilver gear.

At present, the Swift Bird Light Cavalry cannot openly use the Thur Silver equipment, and ordinary equipment cannot be both offensive and defensive. If the second scheme of Busso is adopted, the Swiftbird light cavalry is equipped with steel ring chain mail and does not carry melee weapons, then they have basic defense, but lack melee means, and become simple mounted archers. However, it is difficult to kill a crossbow with a single hit unless it hits the vital point directly, and this is especially important when the sword is replenished.

The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. The tactics of this configuration scheme are too simple, and the lethality is limited, which seriously reduces the use value of the Xunniao light horse. Victor decisively vetoed.

Victor said helplessly: "The steel ring chain mail weighs 15 kilograms, which is equivalent to 33 pounds, which accounts for half of the weight of the equipment! ”

"My lord, then there is no need to pick a lighter spirit monkey militia. ”

"Well, the swift bird can also participate in the battle, so don't worry about the combat effectiveness of the light horse. Only the defense of the spirit monkey militia ......."|

The Spirit Monkey Militia is not weak in melee combat, but their physique is only 12 points, and even ordinary gnolls have the ability to tear through the vine skin armor and kill the Spirit Monkey Militia. With the Randall family's current financial resources, the death of an alchemy militia will make Victor feel distressed.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Swiftbird Light Cavalry and the militia are equipped with the same rattan leather armor, which has the slightest momentum of elite cavalry? This is really too disappointing for Viscount Randall.

"Isn't there anything other than leather armor that is both decent and strong?" Victor couldn't help but grumble.

"Yes," Bussoe said. ”

"Huh?!"

Victor was stunned for a moment, and then asked, "Tell me quickly, what leather armor?"

"Dragon-lizard leather armor!" replied Busso solemnly.

"Uh...... Doesn't that mean you didn't say it?"

Busso's answer made Victor laugh and cry. The dragon lizard leather armor is the best leather armor, made of the leather of the swamp dragon lizard or mountain dragon lizard, which is flexible and lightweight, and the defense power is still above the steel armor. Let's not talk about whether you can hunt a fierce dragon lizard with a dangerous intuition, each dragon lizard leather armor is worth no less than 25,000 gold soles. If Victor has dragon lizard leather armor, then it might as well be replaced with Kinsol and then make an alchemy dragon lizard

Although it is absurd that the Swiftbird Light Rider is equipped with dragon lizard leather armor, it still provides Victor with an idea.

"I can buy some giant rhino skins and let you make rhino vine armor. This must be much stronger than the cowhide vine armor!"

Busso said lightly: "My lord, rhino skin is the heaviest kind of leather, and its defensive effect is not as good as that of six-legged crocodiles and giant dragons. ”

"Six-legged crocodile?"

"The six-legged crocodile and the giant snake are both swamp creatures, with 14 and 13 physical stats respectively, which is higher than the 12 points of the giant rhinoceros. Their scales are exceptionally tough. The six-legged crocodile skin is used for the outer armor, the giant worm skin is used for the inner armor, and the rattan silk soft armor is added in the middle, the weight of this leather armor is slightly higher than that of ordinary rattan skin armor, and the defensive effect is better than that of stainless steel scale armor. ”

Victor's eyes lit up, and he asked repeatedly, "Are there many six-legged crocodiles and giant dragons? Are they ferocious animals?"

"My lord, the six-legged crocodile and the monitor snake are ordinary beasts with low intelligence and are not difficult to catch. According to Jack's investigation, the Swamp is home to a large number of six-legged crocodiles and giant cockroaches. ”

Since Victor's return, he has been riddled with affairs and has not had time to listen to Jack's investigation report on the Swamp. At this time, he developed a keen interest in the natural resources of the Everglades.

"Call Jack to meet me. ”

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"Adult, six-legged crocodile, also known as six-legged lizard, omnivorous social animal, 7 meters long, average weight 6,000 pounds, delicious meat, belongs to three types of food, their leather is brownish-red, indicating smooth, tied structure, very tough, belongs to three categories of natural resources. Six-legged crocodiles are powerful and have an extremely strong bite, and their tumbling bite is so powerful that it can kill swamp dragon lizards. ”

"Giant snakes, carnivorous snakes, 12-15 meters long, with an average weight of 3,500 pounds, belong to three categories of food. The leather of the giant beetle is black, scaly and carapace-shaped, and has a strong defensive effect against slashing and piercing damage, and belongs to one of the three natural resources. Giant snakes are capable of strangling most creatures, including adult ogres. They can also spew extremely corrosive gastric juice at the enemy, and have a range of 30 meters, which is very dangerous......."

In the dead of night, the candles are lit up in the study of the mountain fortress, and Jack, the first monkey militiaman, reports to his master about the situation in the swamp.

Victor listened with relish, and he didn't feel sleepy, he didn't expect the Everglades to contain such a rich and diverse natural resource.

Jack led the Alchemy Militia on a 117-day journey to explore the 23,000-square-kilometer Swamp, discovering hundreds of available resources, including animals, plants, and minerals.

The area of more than 20,000 square kilometers is only the tip of the iceberg of the swamp, which is inhabited by countless animals, including six-legged crocodiles, giant cockroaches, capybaras, giant shadow spiders, snake demons, swamp dragon lizards, barlow turtles, sawtooth tiger sturgeons, etc., and various turtles, fish, shrimps, and birds are innumerable.

Many of these animals are valuable species, such as the blood of the Shadow Spider, which is the main material for making color-changing dyes, which can make the Cersilver Leather Armor change its color with the environment like a chameleon, which belongs to a class of potions. The most important thing is that the Alchemy Militia can make color-changing dye!

The botanical resources in the swamp are also abundant, and there are 17 kinds of medicinal herbs that can be used, 7 of which are related to the alchemist's recovery potion, that is, the restoration potion based on the sunflower root of the dark forest.

However, Victor paid special attention to two non-medicinal plants.

It is a staple food for capybaras. The form and seeds of the reed resemble sorghum, which are harvested twice a year and can be used as food for humans.

Blue taro, an extremely delicious type of ingredient, is very scarce in quantity, only grows in the soil of a swampy island, and belongs to the rare ingredients that the alchemy militia must collect.

Since the alchemist revered blue taro so much, Victor was also interested in tasting this delicious food.

In addition, Jack discovers a special mineral, and he repeatedly asks Victor to issue an order to mine it. That's the Salonite Ironmine.

The Salonite Iron Ore is extremely rare and can be used to refine Salon's steel, which belongs to a class of materials in the Alchemy Empire.

At the beginning, the alchemy militia found a fragment of a one-handed rune greatsword made of Salon's steel in the dark forest, and only then did they deduce that there were relics of the alchemy empire nearby. The alchemists are unaware of the properties and uses of Salon's steel, but on their side of the will, Salon's magic iron is a material that must be collected. Suppose that Victor follows the general practice of the Alchemy Empire and allows alchemy humans to freely collect resources. Then, mining the Saron Demon Iron Ore is the highest priority task of the Alchemy Militia.

The materials that the Alchemy Empire attaches great importance to, Victor is of course interested. However, the iron vein of Saron found by Jack is located near the ogre's lair, only a small section is on the surface, and the rest is deep into the pool, which is not usually difficult to mine. Victor is temporarily unable to mine the Salon's Magic Iron Ore.

When Jack finished recounting the capture of the wizard, Victor couldn't help but jump.

"That one named Imerson is a wild mage? second only to alchemists? under the jurisdiction of the mage agreement?

Jack said respectfully, "My lord, Your Excellency Imerson is indeed a mage, and he is under the jurisdiction of the Mage Association. I don't have any information about the Mage Guild here, and I don't have any information about ghosts. ”

Victor shouted in frustration, "You never told me that a wizard is a mage of the Alchemy Empire!"

"Your Excellency, you never asked. I also didn't know that mages were called sorcerers in this era. ”

Victor pondered silently, the alchemy militia's title for wizards had given him many conjectures.

Jack claimed that the status of the alchemist was higher than that of the mage. Suppose, the pinnacle knight is an alchemist. In the era of the Alchemy Empire, knights had a higher status than wizards. By the time of the Chosen One, the positions of the two sides were reversed, and the knight became the sorcerer's servant and assistant. After the rise of the Radiant Church, wizards have become street rats that everyone shouts and beats.

What is the reason for such a drastic change?

The alchemist has lost his power, and the mage has risen to prominence? What role did the wizard play in the destruction of the alchemy empire? Could it be that the wizard united with the devil to overthrow the rule of the alchemist? Why didn't the wizard kill all the knights' bloodlines and protect them in the era of the Chosen One?

The candles burned, and the erratic light in the room interrupted Victor's thoughts.

Victor turned his gaze to Jack and asked in a deep voice, "You just said that Imerson can communicate with the lizardmen?"

"Yes. My lord. ”

"I see. You go down first. ”

Jack bowed to leave, and Victor walked to the window, looking up at the silver moon in the sky, and a bold idea came to his mind.

Victor came to the mountain fortress this time, and was going to secretly execute the wizard master and daughter.

Witchcraft is unpredictable, unpredictable, and terrifying. God knows if this Wizard Emerson has a means to fight back, not to mention that he has already discovered the secrets of the mountain fortress. Victor didn't want to joke with his own life, let alone get into trouble, so he still killed to save trouble.

However, Imerson's ability to speak led to Victor's change of heart and the lives of their father and daughter.

If you can trade with the lizardmen, you can take a little risk!