On the solid wood table in front of Victor sat a pile of purifying crystals, these transparent crystals were stacked together, shining like diamonds, but they were far more valuable than any kind of diamond.

Victor didn't care about the pile of magical crystals, but stared at the two pieces of dry mud, his brow furrowed.

On the left piece of mud there is a human footprint, the footprint is 13 cm long, 5 cm wide, the sole of the foot is slender, the toe is rounded, from the shape and size, this is the right footprint of a human child.

The mud on the right is several times larger than the one on the left, and on the mud is a paw print 46 cm long and 38 cm wide, with four toes, the toe segments are obviously sharp claws, and there are webs between the toes, which is the paw print of a giant beast, and it is an amphibious giant beast.

"Jack, are you sure this is a human footprint, not a halfling footprint?" Victor looked up at the alchemy militia opposite.

"My lord, although the halfling is similar to the human form, they are all descendants of the demon rat Sepsis, the halfling almost does not leave footprints, and a few halflings can even walk on water, so these are human footprints!" Jack responded.

Victor nodded, just yesterday, the alchemy creature team that collected purification crystals returned smoothly and brought back a full 54 purification crystals.

The process of collecting crystals by alchemical creatures is unremarkable. With the help of alchemy crows, they avoided most of the dangerous creatures and did not encounter the lizardmen tribe, and upon reaching their destination, the alchemists dived into several waterholes and collected all the purification crystals inside.

However, they then found a strange set of footprints, the footprints of a human child and the paw prints of a swamp beast. This set of footprints shows that the human child and the swamp beast are close together, and sometimes the child's footprints disappear, indicating that the child has traveled some distance on the beast's body. Eventually, the footprints disappeared into a lake, and Jack and the others gave up tracking and dug up two pieces of mud covered with footprints and brought them back to the assembly point.

"Do you know what animal left this paw print?" asked Victor, pointing to the giant beast paw print.

"It's supposed to be a swamp dragon lizard, but it's three times larger than a normal dragon lizard. ”

Victor gasped, the swamp dragon lizard is 5-7 meters long, weighs more than 1 ton, has sharp teeth and claws, is strong, agile, and is a very fierce predator, especially their skin is very tough, which is the material for making top leather armor. It is said that the dragon lizard leather armor is difficult to damage with swords, and it can also effectively defend against blunt weapon strikes, which shows that the dragon lizard is a beast with high attack and high defense.

And this dragon lizard is three times larger than an ordinary dragon lizard, which means that this guy, with a body length of more than 12 meters and a weight of about 3 tons, is very likely to be an alien creature!

"Why did you bring these footprints back to me?"

Victor was puzzled, and he wanted to figure out why the Alchemy Militia were tracking these footprints and bring back the evidence.

"My lord, if we find traces of human activity in dangerous areas during our Level 3 collection mission, we should investigate the relevant information and report it to our master. This is what is on the side of our will. ”

Jack's answer made Victor silent, it seems that the execution standards of the third-level tasks of the Alchemy Militia are very relaxed, and even have a reconnaissance function.

"I already know the situation, let's talk about your next mission. ”

Victor reached out and gently pushed the two pieces of mud on the table, and the breeze surrounded, and the dry mud rose back like a feather, a few meters back, and landed steadily in the corner. Victor now has neither the ability nor the heart to meddle in the swamp, and it is such a strange gossip.

"Jack, those four guys should have infiltrated the temporary station, right?" asked Victor, touching his chin.

Yesterday, Victor ordered four other alchemy militia at the assembly point to infiltrate the temporary garrison as freedmen. The alchemical mastiff was still lurking at 40 kilometers, and Jack had infiltrated the upper camp at night, as he had ordered.

"Yes, my lord, I saw them enter the temporary station. Jack nodded.

"Jack, come and look at this map. Victor stood up, and behind him was a plank covered by linen.

Victor lifted the linen, and the whole wooden board was suddenly exposed, and a huge map was drawn on the wooden board, but this map was very rudimentary, and many places were vacant, but there were a few dots on it that said, Hill Camp, Chebman Camp, Pinghu Village, and the entrance to the Swamp.

"Jack, two days ago, I ordered the Brute Bull to them, by the way, the Brute Bull is the new alchemy militia. ”

"I ordered the Brutes to build a free private land in this location and recruit the mountain people scattered in the territory. Victor clicked on a location on the map.

"Your first task is to take the 5 big dogs and 2 big crows and patrol the whole territory and drive the wild people to this area, but you can't let people find out about the big dogs and you. Secondly, I want you to draw a detailed map of the entire territory, including remote areas, and investigate the fauna, monster communities, and plant distribution and vein distribution of the entire territory. Do you have any questions?" asked Victor, turning to York.

"My lord, if the wildlings don't wander into the designated area, can we kill or injure them?" asked Jack.

"No, I just want the wildlings to not be able to set up a gathering place, and besides, if the wildlings threaten your safety, you can kill them. ”

For Victor, it doesn't matter whether the wild people take refuge in Pinghu Village or the mountain camp, sooner or later they will be the dishes in his bowl.

"My lord, when should I leave?"

"You check your gear, grab your supplies, and you're good to go. ”

Jack immediately took action, two short swords, a dagger, a hunting bow, two arrows, a set of leather armor, and no dry food, and walked towards the secret door of the forbidden area.

Victor watched Jack's crisp movements, secretly proud in his heart, strong melee ability, accurate archery, a few dogs, two birds, he can perform tasks alone in the field, such a powerful warrior, he will have a lot.

After Jack disappeared through the secret door, Victor headed for the cave, this time heading straight for the heart of the alchemy tower, the Elemental Extraction Table.

"King, report on the current production status and capital reserves of the Alchemy Tower. Victor connected to Taling and teleported.

"My lord, the No. 7 Alchemy Pagoda has produced 7 alchemy militias, 6 alchemy auxiliaries, 15 alchemy crows, 5 alchemy mastiffs, 177 soul fire points, 4823 soul fire remaining, and 11550 gold coins in reserve. ”

This data made Victor smile bitterly, he really didn't know that chai and rice were expensive, he had a full 40,000 gold soles at the beginning, and now with the reserves of the alchemy tower, his money is less than 15,000 gold soles.

"King, I need to discuss with you the planning behind the territory, so that I can decide on the alchemy life that needs to be produced. "Victor has no staff, so he can only pull Taling to help him pick up the gaps.

"My lord, could you please tell us about your current situation? "The king, who has turned on his own wisdom, will naturally not refuse Victor's request.

"I currently control a population of about 900 people, and the food reserves are almost depleted, and the whole camp is now dependent on gathering and hunting for sustainment. Victor said with some embarrassment.

Originally, there were only 400 people in the hill camp, and they were completely self-sufficient by relying on food reserves and gathering and hunting. But as more and more people came to Victor, food became a big problem at the camp. In order to feed the bellies of these people, more and more people were sent out to gather and hunt, and the places they traveled farther and farther, and some teams did not even return to the camp until the next day.

Victor also discovered a terrible situation, the renewable resources around the hill camp have been devastated, that is, the nearby crops that can be harvested have been harvested! This is also the reason why the surrounding wild boars have begun to eat purple cane, while humans can't just eat meat.

"Now, more and more people are going out to collect people, and the places are going farther and farther, and the number of guards and militias sent out is also increasing, but the efficiency of collecting is decreasing. Victor shook his head and sighed.

"The farther away you are, the more supplies are consumed, and the gatherers and guards have to eat. The king responded.

"It's because I'm too anxious, those free private lands are scattered around the territory, and they have their own reasons. The Free Folk relied on the resources near their camp and a small amount of cultivation to meet their needs, and the surrounding natural crops would not be devastated by the extraction. ”

"I gathered them before I was ready. I should have sent men to take over the free people's land, break them up, and then resettle them. So that my hill camp can develop benignly. ”

Victor was annoyed that the freedmen had been demolished for fear of regrouping, and even the materials had been used to build the garrison and the village.

"My lord, for now, you can only rely on buying food to survive. ”

"It's inevitable, the fields reclaimed by the camp have been planted with barley and beans, but they won't be harvested until the windy season, and the offerings in Pinghu Village are not enough to feed so many people. ”

"The problem now is that there are only two places where I can buy food, one is the York's house and the other is the Chebman's house, and the Chebman's house doesn't have to think about it, and I can't expose my weakness to them anymore. Then there's only one option for Blackcastle, so what are the odds that the Yorks will control us?"

"One hundred percent. The king replied without hesitation.

In fact, Victor also understood the thoughts of the big family, but Sylvia supported him with 40,000 gold soles (50,000 and 10,000 was knocked out by the countess) and sold a batch of equipment to him at a low price, so that Victor still had a trace of fantasy about the beautiful count's wife.

"Then we can only speed up the construction of villages and divert the population as soon as possible. But the freedmen are not yet fully cultivated, so how can we ensure control over them?" asked Victor again, to the king.

"My lord, I suggest that you temporarily loosen your control over the populace and let them develop freely, while you can produce enough auxiliaries to set up a secret camp, concentrate the auxiliaries, let them burn special bricks, and quickly build castles. As long as your castle is built, you can control the entire territory. In addition, auxiliaries can also craft Thur silver equipment to increase the combat effectiveness of your army. I think it's the best option. The king suggested.

"That's a bad idea!" said Victor coldly.

"King, I am afraid you don't know what special bricks mean to the lords? This kind of brick can change the entire human world, and if I expose this technology now, I will soon be destroyed. The same goes for the Thorium gear. So I won't come up with these sensitive technologies until I have the ability to protect myself. ”

Special bricks allow lords to build more forts and castles, so they can control more territories, and all lords will go crazy about this technique and will not hesitate to start wars. However, in the king's cognition, special bricks are just the most common technology of the Alchemy Empire, which is not worth mentioning, because the Alchemy Empire is mainly attacking, while the current human world is mainly defense, which is a miscalculation caused by the difference in civilization.

"Moreover, in your eyes, the alchemy auxiliaries are only the most basic labor units, but in this era, they are all master-level talents, so it is better to let them concentrate on low-end labor, and it is better to lead ordinary villagers to play a greater role through them. Victor added in his consciousness.

"However, your suggestion has made me think of a way to control the villages, and that is to let those villages develop deformed!"

"What do you mean, my lord?" asked the king, puzzled.

"Abnormal development is about the specialization of these villages, such as a village dedicated to the production of linen in an area rich in sisal resources, a farm in a fertile area, and a village dominated by iron production near the veins. These villages are not self-sufficient, and when they are less populated, they can supplement their food deficit by collecting crops from the surrounding area, but when the population increases, they will depend on my control. Victor excitedly messaged the king.

The villages under the common lord's administration were administrative units composed of lords or vassals, and they had no problem being loyal to their lord and self-sufficient. But Victor's roots are too shallow, and it is likely that the self-sufficient villages of the freedmen who have only been with them for a few months will get out of hand, so they must be allowed to develop deformally.

"It's a good idea, specialized villages are more dependent on advanced technology, and the alchemy auxiliaries who master advanced technology have also gained supreme authority, and adults can firmly control those villages with a small number of administrators. The king approved of Victor's plan.

"King, start the construction quest and produce 12 alchemy auxiliaries, each of which is loaded with the Monkey Secret Form and ranged weapon mastery. These auxiliaries are then divided into three groups, each loaded with a different production skill. ”

Let the alchemy auxiliaries also have a certain combat effectiveness, which is more in line with Victor's needs, and long-range weapon mastery and spirit monkey secret form are good choices.

"As you wish, my lord, this production consumes 84 units of soul fire, consumes 6,000 gold coins, 4,739 soul fire points remaining in alchemy, and 5,550 gold coins remaining. "The king reported to Victor about the consumption of production.

I'm really going bankrupt now, I just don't know how much money Nelson can bring back for me?" Victor lamented in his heart.

And Nelson is already on his way back.