Chapter 28: Trouble That Will Come Sooner or Later
While Maya was busy with the territory, Owen was moving things in the underground dungeon chamber.
The materialized Synthesis Furnace was quite large. If the underground dungeon chamber hadn’t been expanded to three hundred square meters with a height of three meters, it wouldn’t have been able to accommodate it. Even so, it occupied nearly half the area, so he had to clear out enough space. This disrupted the original layout of the underground dungeon chamber, with many things piled together, looking cluttered and crowded.
“It seems I need to re-plan and build a second level of the underground dungeon chamber,” Owen said helplessly, rubbing his arms after moving things for half a day.
“But let’s try out the Synthesis Furnace first.” Owen couldn’t wait to start experimenting, ignoring his sore arms. After all, he had finally redeemed it.
The capsule-like Synthesis Furnace was less of a furnace and more of a special alchemical synthesis array, with a very single function: synthesis.
However, being single-functioned also meant specialization, so the Synthesis Furnace’s effect was unexpectedly strong. Theoretically, as long as there were enough materials, he could easily obtain various synthetic materials, and even achieve biological transmutation. However, only non-humans like monsters could withstand the crude biological transmutation of the Synthesis Furnace. Normal people would either become idiots or lunatics even if they survived, because the Synthesis Furnace wasn’t designed for ordinary people at all.
As for the upper limit and limitations of the Synthesis Furnace, Owen couldn’t reach them with his current abilities. When he did, he would surely have better options.
The only problem was that the Synthesis Furnace wasn’t an infinite energy source. The energy it needed came from absorbing the surrounding magic power and the energy generated by the decomposition of matter.
The castle wasn’t a place with abundant magic power, it was just better than nothing. As for the energy generated by the decomposition of matter, ordinary matter wouldn’t do, it wouldn’t be enough to cover the consumption.
The only things that met the conditions were those that needed to be exchanged from the system using Progress Value. In that case, it was better to just use Progress Value to activate the Synthesis Furnace.
Therefore, before he found a suitable energy source, he couldn’t use the Synthesis Furnace too frequently. He had to try to use renewable magic power. Of course, if he was willing to use Progress Value, there wouldn’t be any problem.
Unfortunately, using Progress Value occasionally was fine, but he couldn’t afford the consumption in the long run. After all, the more the territory developed, the higher the demand for Progress Value. The self-sufficient territory he envisioned seemed far away for now.
Owen didn’t rush to study the Synthesis Furnace. After redeeming it, he had plenty of time to study it. Now, he mainly used Progress Value to exchange for troops and supplies to increase the foundation of the territory.
Because the less Progress Value he had, the faster it recovered, Owen redeemed ten horse archers before the autumn harvest. The remaining Progress Value was mainly used to supplement the Magic Horn Forest Wooden Fortress, where the forces were still a little thin.
Owen soon discovered how wise it was to redeem horse archers.
Horse archers were a type of light cavalry, especially good at riding. Not to mention bandits, even wild beasts couldn’t outrun them. As long as they were within range, death was only a matter of time, so the bandits were hunted down one after another.
The skulls on the gallows from last year, which had already dried up and rotted, were quickly replaced with new ones. At the same time, the territory also had some free laborers. He just hoped that they would last longer this time and not d*e out like the previous batch of laborers not long after winter started.
Owen would show mercy to the serfs, improve their living conditions, and let them survive the cold winter safely, not to mention forcing them to work in winter. But he wouldn’t show any mercy to bandits.
No matter what the reason for being a bandit was, when you chose to be a bandit, you were already prepared to plunder others’ wealth and lives through violence. Such people were a hidden danger if they lived. Unless they had special talents, how could Owen keep them for this little labor? So working to death was their only ending.
However, bandits were just a small trouble Owen had to face. The other problems that were about to come were not so easy to solve. The time Hydra I and Hydra II had bought him with their lives was running out. Next, he would have to face these problems one after another.
Although Owen had been prepared for this, being prepared didn’t mean he wasn’t worried. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so uneasy.
The most troublesome thing for lords in the Northland Border was not the barrenness, but the fact that almost everyone else was an enemy.
The endless bandits and ill-intentioned neighbors were a headache, but the real serious problems were the Northland Barbarians and the beast tide.
Although barbarians were human, they were taller and stronger than ordinary people, especially their bones, which were not only thick but also very hard. They had thick skin and flesh, a weak sense of pain, and a strong tolerance for harsh environments. At the same time, because they had always maintained the living habits of tribes, barbarians were not only brave and fierce but also easily got carried away. Once their blood boiled, they would act recklessly, and the most courageous among them were called berserkers.
Simply put, although barbarians drank, fought, and hacked people, they were actually very simple, and they had also made great contributions to humanity.
When humans were fighting for living space with many other races, the barbarians were humans’ best allies, the closest brothers. They shed their blood and sacrificed their lives, making great contributions. But when the fruits of victory were about to be obtained, and this half-brother had suffered heavy losses, humans predictably turned their backs on them.
The barbarians, who had suffered heavy losses from the successive wars, were driven to the cold Northland by the human army, along with the other races they had defeated. Along the way, the barbarians had to not only fight against the human army but also guard against the other races migrating north with them. One could imagine how miserable their lives were.
If the barbarians hadn’t been truly strong in combat, and if the strong among them hadn’t fought their way out with their lives, there wouldn’t have been any Northland Barbarians.
But hundreds of years later, when internal problems arose within the Empire, they still immediately shifted the conflict to the north, s*rewing the barbarians over.
The biggest loss of the Empire’s Northland Pioneer Group was in the battle with the Northland Barbarians. Fortunately, the barbarians had lost too much of their heritage and had no strong people to speak of. Coupled with the Empire’s blockade, they didn’t even have decent weapons. How could they fight against the unscrupulous Pioneer Group, let alone the Imperial Border Army watching from the sidelines? Therefore, the Northland Barbarians decided to continue migrating north.
The problem was that the further north they went, the colder it got, and the colder it got, the harder it was to survive. Even though the barbarians were brave and good at fighting, and highly adaptable to harsh environments, they couldn’t survive on just wind and snow. Therefore, the territories of the Northland Border nobles often faced invasions from the Northland Barbarians.
The reason why Hydra I was so famous in the Northland was that he had killed his way to fame by slaying Northland Barbarians. He was one of the few Northland experts who could k*ll Northland Barbarians as easily as ordinary people.
Unfortunately, the Northland Barbarians were not to be trifled with either. Although Hydra I appeared to be fine on the surface, his injuries were actually quite serious. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have died so easily.
Hydra I had established a territory for the Hydra family and left behind a glorious reputation.
Hydra II, Owen’s father in this life, although far from comparable to his father and brother, still used his life to eliminate the largest wolf pack nearby.
It was the sacrifice of these two members of the Hydra family that had bought Owen these few years of peaceful development.
But what was to come would come sooner or later. The vengeful Northland Barbarians, the migrating wolf pack, and the ill-intentioned neighbors, Owen’s future days would certainly not be lonely.
