Transcendent Noble

The animal pen for swiftbirds is still some distance away from the mountain fortress. When Victor hurried to the animal pen, the sky was completely dark.

The hazy night can't stop Victor's keen eyes. With his dim vision ability, he clearly saw hundreds of large and small Swiftbirds, divided into four groups, lying on the ground and sleeping soundly.

Several particularly strong Swiftbird leaders were alert to the movement outside the animal pen, and looked up one after another. When they saw that they were familiar humans, they buried their heads under their wings.

The Swiftbird is a large omnivorous terrestrial bird unique to Centaur Hills. They feed on the purple cane leaves of Centaur Hills as their main food. They also prey on small animals like ground lizards. The average standing height of an adult Swiftbird is 2.4 meters, the back height is 1.8 meters, the body length is 1.6 meters, and the weight is generally no more than 350kg. It has an axe-like beak, huge wings and strong claws.

The Swiftbird is huge, muscular, flexible and agile, has a strong ability to climb obstacles and climbs, and is very adaptable to hilly terrain. They have a maximum speed of 90 kilometers per hour, even when crossing mountains. It can also maintain a speed of 40 kilometers per hour. The speed bird’s explosive power and speed are even better than that of a war horse, and its super balance and sharp turning ability are advantages that a war horse does not possess.

The human lord pioneered Centaur Hills Early-Stage. He also wanted to tame this large bird, but he quickly gave up.

The Swiftbird’s temperament is not ferocious, but it is definitely not to be trifled with. They are grumpy and surprisingly powerful. Their strong claws can easily kick off soldiers’ ribs. Their flexible necks allow them to quickly turn their heads and attack riders on their backs. The axe-like beaks are enough to shred hard cow leather armor. Cause fatal injuries.

The fast bird is tall and strong, has a large appetite, and likes to eat purple cane leaves. They dismiss the dry forages provided by humans. However, to open up Centaur Hills, humans must first clear the purple cane forest on the flat ground. Farmers can't plant their crops on the hills, right? Due to the destruction of the purple cane forest, the fast bird's food source was obviously insufficient, and they began to peck at the tender seedlings in the farmland. In order to drive away these crop-damaging birds, the farmer has been killed and injured from time to time. The priest of the church decisively defined the Swiftbird as a beast, and asked the lord to send soldiers to kill the Swiftbird.

The lord gave up domesticating the Swiftbird and there is a key factor, which is too poor to carry weight. Although the Swiftbird is large and can run well, it is a two-legged bird after all. Its weight-bearing capacity is far not as strong as the skeleton and four-legged cattle and horses. The noble scholars discovered that the weight of more than 230 pounds will affect the swift bird's ability to move, and the weight of 320 pounds can directly press them down.

Grumpy, dangerous, difficult to tame, picky eaters, high cost of feeding, poor weight-bearing ability, endurance is not as good as a horse, not suitable for being a mount.

Baita scholar's conclusion made the lord lose interest in Swiftbirds, and their meat aroused the interest of farmers. In the end, thousands of Swiftbirds were brought to the table, and only a few Swiftbird populations were struggling on whilst at death's door in the remote southern territories.

However, both the Baita scholar and the church priest overlooked a question. Since the swiftbirds feed on purple cane leaves, why do the forest people tolerate these giant birds eating their crops?

Victor learned from Renault that the swift bird of Centaur Hills is not a wild animal, but a war bird raised by halflings. Halflings and forest horses are symbiotic races, and forest horses certainly do not drive swift birds away.

In fact, Swiftbirds are omnivorous birds and are not picky eaters. Vegetables, berries, young leaves of sea buckthorn, and meat are all included in their recipes. It's just that the Swiftbirds of Centaur Hills are used to eating the sugar-rich purple cane leaves, which creates the illusion of a Swiftbird's picky eating. Moreover, Swiftbirds have much higher intelligence than horses. They have a strong collective consciousness, are good at cooperating, and will protect their companions. Their battle strength is not bad. Even if they can't become mounts, they are also very good combat partners.

If Swiftbirds cannot be domesticated, halflings will never dare to raise them as combat birds. Human soldiers still have a mortal danger in the face of the rapid bird's attack, not to mention the short and weak halflings.

Actually, the way to tame a Swiftbird is very simple. When the swift bird comes out of its shell and sees the first moving object, it will be treated as a companion by them, and then fed to them, even if the companionship is fixed. On the basis of mutual trust, animal trainers can teach Swiftbirds various instructions, making them qualified mounts and combat partners.

The first generation of Swiftbirds led by Randal only regarded halflings as companions. It took a lot of work for the alchemy assistants to get them to accept human orders, but they would still attack humans. Therefore, an ordinary person cannot ride the first-generation Swiftbird.

The 30 adult Swiftbirds provided by Buso are all second-generation Swiftbirds. What they see out of their shells are Homunculus. They have been trained in Homunculus since they were young. They have regarded humans as companions. These Swiftbirds are comparable to well-trained hunting dogs. Unless they are ordered by their owner, or to protect their owner, they generally will not actively attack others.

Of course, as a large creature, the Swiftbird is not without threats at all. However, when war horses slap their hoofs, can't you give up cavalry just because war horses will go wild?

The terrain of Centaur Hills is not suitable for traditional cavalry maneuvering operations, but the fast bird light cavalry is not troubled by the hilly terrain. The rapid bird's climbing ability allows the light cavalry to climb over the hills and intersperse with the enemy. The excellent balance makes the light cavalry's bow and crossbow more accurate and lethal, and the excellent speed allows the light cavalry to attack quickly and then quickly evacuate.

Imagine a fast bird light cavalry composed of monkey militias, sitting high on the hills, accurately shooting the enemy’s elite soldiers, and then using the terrain to easily get rid of the heavily armored enemy Knight. When pursued by the enemy Great Knight, the Swiftbird Hussars immediately dispersed and evacuated. If the enemy Great Knight is chasing a fast bird cavalry, the rest of the light cavalry will continue to destroy the opponent's ordinary battle strength, and the lonely and deep Great Knight will face the thorium heavy crossbow encirclement and suppression.

A battle that can only be beaten and cannot fight back will cause a devastating blow to the morale of the enemy. The kite tactics of the fast bird light cavalry are sufficient to make up for the gap in high-end battle strength.

If the golden dragon fighting squad is a strategic force, then the fast bird light cavalry is a tactical force, and the fast bird light cavalry does not need to be covered, it is an elite that can be placed in the light.

In a state of non-war, the Quickbirds perform patrol and rapid support tasks. They use Flatlake Town as their origin and can reach any corner of Randal's collar within 4 hours. This elite cavalry will greatly enhance Victor's control over the territory and effectively relieve the pressure of the patrol team's shortage of manpower.

The most important thing is that Fast Bird Qingqi is very handsome and cool.

There is no problem with the domestication and supply of the Swiftbird. The most difficult thing now is its weight-bearing ability.

Victor asked: "Buso, do you have an equipment plan for the Swiftbird Cavalry?"

"My lord, according to your requirements for lethality and defensive power, the Swiftbird Cavalry is equipped Thorium leather armor, iron oak thorium one-handed spear, iron oak buckler, steel essence thorium dagger, thorium compound bow, thorium crossbow, iron essence 40 arrows, iron essence 20 crossbow arrows, tactics There is a satchel, the equipment weighs 52 pounds, and the average weight of the monkey militia is 173 pounds. The total weight is 225 pounds, and it will not affect the fast bird."

The equipment plan proposed by Buso made Victor frown again and again. Then he asked: "How many thorium types do these thorium equipment consume?"

Buso replied in a brief and terrifying way: "2.4 pounds."

"It seems that the thorium Silver is enough. However, this is not the time when Thorium comes out. This can only be used as an alternative."

Victor sighed, shook his head and said: "Remove Thorium equipment and take another plan. Come out."

Buso immediately gave another solution, "Steel ring mail with vine leather inner armor, crossbow, composite hard bow, iron essence 20 crossbow arrows, 40 ordinary arrows. , A tactical shoulder bag, equipment weighing 70 pounds, choose the monkey militia weighing less than 160 pounds, the total weight does not exceed 230 pounds."

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

Conventional cavalry is the elite of the elite, with flexible tactics, and must be capable of riding and shooting, as well as dismounting and fighting. They are very well equipped, with both offensive power and defensive power.

Because there are horses to travel, the cavalry is equipped with heavier, defensive power and better scale armor and bucklers. In terms of attack methods, in addition to crossbows and compound bows, cavalrymen are also indispensable for melee weapons, including cavalry lance, one-handed halberd, one-handed sword and mace, and they are all iron essence weapons.

The swift bird's unbearable load-bearing ability cannot bear the weight of elite cavalry at all. Sophisticated equipment is the greatest advantage of human soldiers. Without the advantage of equipment, the Swiftbird Cavalry becomes meaningless and can only be used as scouts and messengers.

The appearance of Thorium made Victor's vision of the fast bird light ride possible. However, this is not the time to take out Thorium equipment.

According to Victor's plan, we must first reserve one million gold coins so that Alchemy Tower can continuously produce alchemy creatures. Secondly, we must build the hill camp into a giant fortress to ensure that Alchemy Tower is foolproof. Then, taking advantage of the lord's lack of knowledge of Thorium, purchase Thorium ore from other territories at a low price, and reserve huge amounts of Thorium resources.

After completing these three steps, Victor will display Thorium equipment.

Currently, the Swiftbird Qingqi cannot openly use Thorium equipment, and ordinary equipment cannot achieve both offense and defense. If Buso’s second plan is adopted, the Swiftbird Hussars are equipped with steel ring armor and no melee weapons, then they have the basic defensive power, but lack the melee methods, and become pure horse archers. However, unless the long-range attack of the bow and crossbow directly hits the key, it is difficult to one strike certain kill. At this time, making up the knife is particularly important.

The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. The tactics of this configuration plan are too single and the lethality is limited, which seriously reduces the use value of the Quickbird Qingqi. Victor decisively vetoed it.

Victor reluctantly said: "The steel ring mail weighs 15kg, equivalent to 33 pounds, which accounts for half of the weight of the equipment! It seems that the steel ring mail can only be replaced with iron oak bucklers and iron. essence is a scimitar."

"My lord, then there is no need to choose a lighter monkey militia."

"Well, the fast bird can also participate in the battle, Qingqi Don’t worry about battle strength. Only the defense of the monkey militia is..."|

Leather armor, kill the monkey militia. With the current financial resources of the Randal Family, Victor will feel distressed if an alchemist militia dies.

Of course, the most important thing is that the rapid bird light cavalry and the militia are equipped with the same vine leather armor, so there is a little imposing manner of elite cavalry? This really disappointed Lord Randal.

"Apart from Thorium leather armor, isn't there a decent and strong leather armor?" Victor couldn't help complaining.

Buso interface said: "Yes."

"en?!"

Victor froze for a moment, and asked: "Quickly, what leather armor? "

"Dragon lizard leather armor!" Buso replied solemnly.

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

Buso's answer made Victor didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Dragon lizard leather armor is the highest leather armor, made of swamp dragon lizard or earth dragon lizard leather, flexible and light, defensive power is still on top of steel essence armor. Let’s not talk about whether we can hunt down the dangerous and intuitive Tyrant Dragon lizards. The value of each dragon lizard leather armor is not less than 25,000 kinsor. If Victor has a dragon lizard leather armor, it might as well switch to Golden Dragon, and then make a golden dragon lizard

Although the fast bird light cavalry equips the dragon lizard leather armor, it is absurd, but it still provides Victor with an idea.

"I can purchase some giant rhino skins and let you make rhino skin vine armor. This is definitely better than cowhide vine armor!"

Buso lightly said: "My lord, rhinoceros Skin is the heaviest kind of leather, and its defense effect is not as good as the leather of hexapod and giant anaconda."

"Six-legged crocodile? Giant anaconda?"

" Both hexapod crocodile and giant anaconda are swamp creatures, and their physical attributes are 14 and 13 respectively, which is higher than that of giant rhinoceros. Their horny scales are extremely tenacious. Use hexapod crocodile skin as outer armor and giant anaconda skin. The inner armor is made with vine silk soft armor in the middle. The weight of this leather armor is slightly higher than that of ordinary vine leather armor, and its defense effect is even better than steel essence scale armor."

Victor's eyes lit up. , Repeatedly asked: "Are there many hexapod crocodiles and giant anacondas? Are they ferocious animals? Can you catch them?"

"Sir, hexapod crocodiles and giant anacondas are ordinary wild beasts, intelligence It is low and not difficult to capture. According to Jack’s investigation, there are a huge number of hexapod crocodiles and giant anacondas in Great Swamp."

Since Victor’s return, he has been struggling with affairs and has not had time to listen to Jack’s comments on Great Swamp. Investigation report. At this time, he developed a keen interest in the natural resources of Great Swamp.

"Call Jack to see me."

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"My lord, the six-legged crocodile is also called six -feet lizard, an omnivorous social animal, 7 meters in length, an average weight of 6000 pounds, delicious meat, belongs to three types of food, their horny leather is brown red, indicating smooth, board structure, very tenacious, belonging to three types of natural resources. The hexapod crocodile is powerful and has a strong bite force. Their rolling and biting formidable power is huge and can kill the marsh dragon lizard."

"Giant anaconda, carnivorous snake, 12-15 meters in length With an average weight of 3,500 pounds, it belongs to three types of ingredients. The horny leather of giant anacondas is black, scaly and armoured, and has a strong defense effect against chopping and puncture damage. It belongs to three types of natural resources. Giant anacondas can strangle most creatures. Including adult ogre. They can also spit highly corrosive gastric juice at the enemy, with a range of 30 meters, which is very dangerous..."

It is quiet at night, the study room of the mountain fortress is bright with candles, the first monkey militia Jack is reporting the situation in Great Swamp to his owner.

Victor listened to with keen interest pleasure, without drowsiness. He didn't expect Great Swamp to contain such rich and diverse natural resources.

Jack led the alchemy militia and explored the 23,000 square kilometers Great Swamp for 117 days. He found hundreds of available resources, including animals, plants and minerals.

The area of ​​more than 20,000 square kilometers is just the tip of the iceberg of Great Swamp, which is home to countless animals, including hexapod alligators, giant anacondas, capybaras, giant shadow spiders, Snake monsters, marsh dragon lizards, Barlow turtles, serrated tiger sturgeons, etc., and there are countless tortoises, fishes, shrimps, and birds.

Among these animals, there are many species of great value. For example, the blood of the shadow spider is the main material for the production of color-changing dyes, and the color-changing dyes can make Thorium leather armor change itself with the environment like a chameleon. The color belongs to a class of medicine. The most important thing is that the alchemy militia can make color-changing dyes!

The plant resources in Great Swamp are also very rich. There are 17 medicine ingredients available, 7 of which are related to the alchemist's healing potions, which are based on the dark forest sunflower roots.

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

Qianquwei, a mosquito plant, is widely distributed, with edible rhizomes and seeds, and is the staple food of capybara. The shape and seeds of Qianqu reed are similar to sorghum, which can be grown twice a year and can be used as food for humans.

Blue yam, an extremely delicious kind of food, is very scarce. It only grows in the soil of the marsh island. It is a rare food that must be collected by the alchemy militia.

Since the alchemist admires blue yam so much, Victor is also very interested in trying this delicious food.

In addition, Jack also discovered a special mineral, and he repeatedly asked Victor to issue mining orders. That is Saron Felite Ore.

Saronite magic iron ore is extremely rare and can be refined into Saronite steel, which belongs to a class of materials of Alchemy Empire.

At the beginning, the alchemy militia found fragments of a one-handed rune giant sword made by Saroner Steel in the dark forest, and then inferred that there are relics of Alchemy Empire nearby. The homunculus class does not understand the characteristics and uses of Saron steel, but in their will side, Saron magic iron is a must-gather material. Suppose, according to the general practice of Alchemy Empire, Victor allows the homunculus class to collect resources freely. Mining Saronite is the highest priority task of the alchemy militia.

Of course, Victor is interested in the materials that Alchemy Empire values. However, the Saronite ore veins discovered by Jack are located near the ogre lair. Only a small section is on the surface, and the rest is deep into the pond. The mining difficulty is not ordinary. Victor is temporarily unable to mine Saronite Ore.

When Jack finished describing the process of capturing the wizard, Victor couldn't help jumping up.

"The Imerson is a wild mage? The status is second only to the alchemist? Under the jurisdiction of the mage agreement? What the hell is the Mage Association?"

Jack said respectfully:" Your lord, Your Excellency Imerson is indeed a mage and is under the jurisdiction of the Mage Association. I have no information about the Mage Association or ghosts here."

Victor exclaimed in annoyance: "You never told me Yes, the wizard is the wizard of Alchemy Empire!"

"My lord, you never asked. I don’t know that the wizard is called the wizard in this era."

Victor was silent in thought , The title of the alchemy militia for the wizard gave him many conjectures.

Jack claimed that the status of alchemists is higher than that of wizards. Suppose, Peak Knight is an alchemist. In the Alchemy Empire era, Knight's status was higher than that of wizard. In the Chosen One era, the status of the two parties was reversed, and Knight became the servant and assistant of the wizard. After the rise of Radiance Church, the wizard has become a rat crossing the street.

What caused such a dramatic change?

The alchemist lost his power, and the mage took advantage of the situation to rise? What role did the wizard play in the destruction of Alchemy Empire? Could it be that the wizard united with the devil and overthrew the rule of the alchemist? Then why didn't the wizard kill the Knight bloodline, and still protect them in the Chosen One era?

The candle fire exploded, and the erratic light in the room interrupted Victor's thoughts.

Victor turned his gaze to Jack and asked solemnly: "You just said that Imerson can communicate with lizardmen?"

"Yes. My lord."

"I see. You go down first."

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

Victor came to the mountain fortress this time and planned to secretly execute the wizard father and daughter.

Witchcraft is weird and unpredictable, you can't guard against it, it is scary. Heaven knows whether this Imerson wizard has a backlash method, not to mention that he has discovered the secret of the mountain fortress. Victor didn't want to make jokes about his life, let alone cause trouble, so he killed and saved trouble.

However, Imerson's ability to understand languages ​​made Victor change his mind and saved the lives of their father and daughter.

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