In the center of Burgundy City, the fifth floor of the replica of the Tower of Heaven is Edward's exclusive training ground.
At this moment, the psychic is standing in the center of this wide stone hall.
In front of him were two ferocious beasts.
In appearance, this thing looks a bit like a praying mantis, but it is extremely huge, as tall as a person. It has blood-red eyes and a black carapace with a faint smell of sulfur. It has a pair of long, narrow and sharp bony forelimbs, shining like sickles.
The dark luster is particularly frightening.
This is the Purgatory Mantis, a creature powerful enough to confront a formal knight head-on.
In the corner of the hall, Anna Sui was pushing the door open and was surprised to notice this scene that made her nervous.
In the next breath, the two huge monster insects' forelimbs swung their sharp blades as sharp as saw-toothed scimitars, just like that, they drew a series of afterimages of electric light in the air, sweeping towards the black figure, so fast,
The force was so fierce that even the female staff member standing quietly dozens of feet away felt the cold wind blowing on her face. She had to hold her breath, squint her eyes, and even cover her face with her hands to barely watch.
In nature, the insect population is the most powerful, and the power of the purgatory mantis is even more powerful. Their special body structure is obviously easier to amplify power than muscles. It is difficult for nature to allow such a creature with an amazing appetite to survive, so there is only one thing in the endless abyss.
Only under the nourishment of the chaotic magic power of the middle and lower realms can it be possible for demonic insects like this to grow to such a huge size.
The waving forelimbs of these two giant insects, which are as tall as a person, can almost cut a human wearing chain armor in two with one blow. The blades are covered with saw-like fine teeth. Even if they touch a little, it is enough to kill a flesh and blood body.
Losing a lot of blood, their species can survive in chaos
The bottomless abyss where countless demons are raging relies on this fierce and terrifying killing to survive. Thousands of years of evolution have completely transformed them into existences suitable for slaughter. It is a murderous weapon without wisdom.
Demonic insects with only bloodthirsty and warlike instincts.
But now, the massacre cannot be realized.
In an instant, the two praying mantises had tried their best to spin their sword arms back and forth, creating fine waves, but the figure was flipping up and down, flashing left and right, like a small boat in a giant boat, carrying ups and downs, but swaying, predictably.
Follow the trajectory of each blade, avoid it easily, and face danger with ease, without any hindrance.
Madman, truly madman.
The female staff member retreated to the corner, widened her eyes, held down her rapidly beating heart, and was slightly trembling from this extraordinarily wild stimulation. In addition to being surprised, she couldn't help cursing her master in her heart,
Sixty breaths have passed.
The purgatory mantis looked up to the sky and let out a sharp scream, angry that it could not cut flesh and blood. Unfortunately, the twisted energy of the magic network had been exhausted, so they could only stare at the unharmed black-robed figure and let their bodies gradually disappear.
in the air.
"Is something wrong?"
The psychic turned around, breathing a little quickly, but within three breaths, his heartbeat returned to normal.
In fact, just one or two days ago, Edward did not have the courage to try such training. After all, once these summons were lifted from the restrictions, it would be difficult to control them and it was impossible to determine what actions they could make. But now, these summons
It seems that things are no longer a problem. With the help of an acceleration spell, Edward can achieve a speed that is almost equal to theirs. With the all-round visual experience given to him by the spiritual forehead eye, coupled with the precise control of the body through self-hypnosis,
It's not difficult to dodge a swing of this magnitude.
It's just that the effect is not as good as expected...
Although the Purgatory Mantis is powerful, it only fights based on instinct. They have no brain, and simple ganglia obviously cannot make it understand what tactics or traps are. It can only rely on its fighting instinct. Although the fighting instinct allows it to It has effective offensive means, but it cannot have tactics.
It is completely incomparable to the sword edge of the Blazing Sky Divine Attendant.
They don't even know how to change the direction of attack midway. With this level of training, it is indeed a bit insufficient to achieve the effect of competing with a swordsman master. What's even more pity is that Claudia's swordsmanship focuses too much on strength. , the adaptive training of skills is also insufficient.
Well, in my memory, the ancients summarized the eight techniques of swordsmanship: sweeping, splitting, poking, cutting, plundering, nabbing, cutting, and thrusting. In fact, most short weapon moves are inseparable from these moves. The so-called sword To put it bluntly, the magic sword technique is just a slashing and stabbing attack, so it should at least be useful if it enhances your reaction ability.
The thought came to an end, and Edward turned his attention to his staff.
"Your Excellency City Lord, the caravan heading underground has already set off. Since it is a fixed route, it is expected to be able to turn back within ten days. It is estimated that the resources such as spider silk and metal exchanged and returned should be sufficient for use, but Recently, food consumption has bottomed out again. I think you need to think of some more ways. Just buying food can no longer fill this bottomless hole.
"How much is left in stock?" Edward raised his hand and rubbed his sore brow.
"Originally, there were supposed to be 30,000 bushels left, which can be used for about three months, but recently, there is no longer enough." The female staff member replied. She saw the expression of the 'little madman' having a headache as she wished, so the corners of her mouth turned up involuntarily.
Of course the psychic noticed the joy in her heart, but he had no interest in exposing it.
Food, metal, wood and stone are the most common strategic resources even on the earth where Edward was originally located. They were reserved for war. Therefore, current procurement has to face another problem. This is because as we all know The reason is that the war in the north has just ended, but the war in the south is about to break out, and the sky in Tuminis can be said to be covered with dark clouds at the moment.
A related consequence of the war is that grain has become more stable than precious metals as an equivalent. In other words, the price of grain has risen massively. Now even the main grains produced in Tuminis are transported through rivers. At this point, everything has begun to get busy - businessmen's noses are always the most sensitive, and there is no organization or business association to supervise them in this plane. It is impossible for these profiteers to slow down their hands and feet just a little bit out of pity. , they will only take the opportunity to drive up prices.
Therefore, the prospects for purchasing grain are indeed bleak.
And the most important thing is that the population in Edward's territory is still rising.
Now some refugees in the surrounding areas have begun to get the news. There is a city nearby called Burgundy. Here, as long as you work honestly, you can get a place to live and fragrant white bread.
What is the concept of a house and white bread? For those poor people who are half-starved and naked all year round, this is simply the temptation of the devil! You must know that many of them work as cattle and horses for the lord, and in the end They can barely get a roof over their heads and eat black bread mixed with sand and sawdust to fill their stomachs, which is already happiness for them.
So in addition to those free people who were almost dying, the hunters and semi-robbers who were hanging around the noble territories began to gather in this city. Even yesterday, a small mercenary group came to seek employment.
Of course, the main increase in population came from half-elves. After the first batch of several thousand half-elves, the second and third batches of people began to flow into Burgundy with the Lenobili family's caravan.
In this world that hates them everywhere, a country that can tolerate them
The place where they settle down is no different from heaven. According to legend, Burgundy has now become the legendary holy land of half-elves. Within ten days, nearly 3,000 people arrived with the caravan.
The generous housing allocation has experienced another storm.
In fact, Edward wouldn't care at all if he just let these people deal with the situation casually.
It is a trivial matter to build twice as many wooden buildings on the land within the layer, and it has to be said that the ability of earth elemental creatures to shape things like soil and rocks is really terrifying, and those dwarf lands in Baroque Yeyu's memory
The sewer project is also staggeringly huge, and the two combined
As a result, the underground passages in the city of Burgundy now extend in all directions and are connected to underground tunnels with a depth of three to five miles. It is almost like a maze. Solving the drainage problem of a city with a population of more than 20,000 is simply overkill. No, it should be
It sounds a bit like anti-aircraft guns to fight mosquitoes.
So Edward simply cut out a part from it, modified it slightly, and turned it into a pretty good underground gathering place to house those drow who occasionally come here, as well as those Minotaur slaves exchanged from the Underdark.
It couldn't be more appropriate. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that drow are extremely cunning creatures and don't trust anyone, Edward could even bring hundreds of them into this dungeon and keep them as a standing army.
.
But this can only be said.
If these hundreds of drow are raised like this, these guys who believe in assassination don't need to do work and construction, and they will most likely kill them all within a short time. Moreover, Rose's orders are now gradually being transmitted to the darkness.
In every corner of the region, a large number of drow are ready to attack.
He began to look for a way into the ground. So after thinking about it, Edward just connected an underground passage between the city under construction and Burgundy, and also strictly prohibited the residents of the city from wandering in the forest to the west.
Let them solve the rest by themselves.
But no matter how powerful the earth elemental creatures are, they can't get food from the ground, but Edward is collecting more and more mouths——
For example, those Minotaurs.
Creatures like the Minotaur are born warriors. They are over eight feet tall and have muscles all over their bodies that are far superior to those of human bodybuilders. With a team behind them, they are enough to carry a group of dandy nobles with ordinary human warriors wherever they go.
Jealousy... And the power of this monster makes them second only to those giants in popularity in terms of work. Twenty or so Minotaurs can clear a forest land in one day, including digging out tree roots,
Leveling the land…
But this power and majesty does not come without a price) These guys need at least thirty pounds of food for three meals a day, and it is completely unscientific and completely contrary to the brain characteristics of that herbivore.
Mostly meat!
At least four pigs have to be slaughtered a day. What is the concept? You must know that meat is not a commodity that can be purchased in batches like grain. There is actually no mature breeding industry in the world. It is impossible for pigs to be slaughtered in seven or eight months.
It's just like a myth, not to mention that no one is willing to do this kind of work. The pig farms in the city are all built by Edward. There is no feed and the stock is not good. Although the meat is tender, the piglets will not grow in a month.
They are still piglets, and they are not more than a year old, so they don’t want to be slaughtered.
Of course, Minotaurs are not shy about eating cold food, and they can still eat even dead people without spitting out their bones - in the Underdark, most of the food used to feed them is the corpses of enemies and unlucky prisoners, but in cities
If Edward dares to do this, within two days the paladins from all the major temples will have to assemble an army and come to defeat the devil.
Ah, as for the food of those giants, let’s not go into details.
"Lord, even if the price of food is raised to one gold coin and seven silver coins per bushel, it is already difficult to collect. Now the food cost in the city alone will exceed three thousand gold coins in one month. Although the first batch of
The price we earn from stone carvings is much higher than this amount, but the salary paid to the stonemasons will greatly reduce our income, and now..."
The staff lady dutifully began to describe the situation and express suggestions, her words were sincere, but unfortunately the young lord was just absent-minded.
As for food, there is a solution now, which is the teleportation array.
Once this thing is built, it only needs to consume some of the magic energy prepared by the wizard every day for short-distance transmission. As long as the distance is not too far, Edward can at least buy and sell food within a few hundred miles.
And it can be done almost within a day.
However, we should not be too optimistic. After all, commercial trade in this world is not so free, especially for military supplies such as food.
Of course, Edward didn't care much about this - it was nothing more than spending more, and problems that could be solved with money were not problems.
I have acquired a lot of assets in the empire, and have saved a lot of money from all the subsequent battles. Although there may not be a high-level magician who is rich now, he is much stronger than ordinary magicians. Of course, most of them are
There are some marketable and priceless things, for example, dozens of scrolls of various types, more than a dozen various magic weapons, and metal ingots of fine gold and mithril. Just the parts of the Dragon Tablet,
It was enough to make his wealth exceed one hundred thousand... platinum coins.
It's just that those scrolls and magic items cannot be exchanged for money. At this stage, he has too many enemies to deal with, and no amount of strength is too many.
So, should we get some money from Thomas? Or let James think of a way?
Thinking of a more reliable solution, he waved his hand to stop the staff lady's report, took out a stack of things from the space bag, and shook it open.
Anna Sui was stunned.
She noticed that what the other party handed her was a pair of leather armor. It was simple in shape, similar to clothing, but she had only seen that kind of gray leather once. It was soft and light, but it faintly exuded a strange feeling.
feeling
"Dragon skin?"
Dragon skin armor has always been the most advanced equipment. Its protective properties are almost as good as an armor mixed with fine gold, and it is far softer and closer to the body than that kind of armor. And some key parts of this piece of soft armor are even more lining.
It is covered with fine silver metal threads. Although there is no magic luster shining on it, the gentle silver light belongs to mithril.
"Try it on and try it on. It will be a reward for your work during this period of time." He said, but the power of mind control had already unfolded the leather armor and put it on her body.
The leather armor was extremely delicately designed, with no buckles, but it covered her chest and abdomen all the way to her slender waist. The size was just right. It was only after she put it on that the staff lady noticed how closely it fit her body.
Her curves were perfectly outlined without any gaps, although Anna Sui's figure was
Her body is slender and cannot be compared with the astonishing scale of Dahne. As something designed by Edward, it naturally has the effect of being plump and upright. The summer dress worn by the staff lady is thin and delicate, and the chest is restrained by the armor, which makes her look even more upright.
A few minutes. It attracted the man's gaze to stay there for a few minutes longer.
"Eh? You...you!"
Anna Sui, who didn't have time to think about it, was stunned for a moment. She had already noticed his "malicious" gaze and the half-smiling look that was extremely hateful, so she blushed and gritted her teeth. She threw the stack of reports over and stamped her feet.
Rush out the door.
The power of mind control spun in the air, gathering up all the scattered papers. Edward smiled, and opened a random door. The next moment, he appeared in the city square.
A group of peasant soldiers were meticulously circling in the slogan. After two days of training, these guys from civilian backgrounds were pretty decent. The training given by the city lord was relatively simple. It was nothing more than running ten miles in full gear every day, and then holding
It's just chopping with a broadsword. This kind of training won't produce any immediate results. It can only be regarded as the basics and just a temporary fix.
It's just that the half-elf mercenaries noticed Blackhawk's movements before, which made the whole Burgundy a little nervous. Now two or three days have passed, and His Highness the Duke seems to have returned from his lost way, and there has been no movement.
Let alone siege the city, there was not even a single deserter who accidentally ran in front of Burgundy. The second batch of elven mercenaries who were lurking around and keeping an eye out for any movement had no returns, which was somewhat strange.
But as soon as Edward turned his eyes, he noticed the small figure in the shadow in the corner not far away.