160: Small wizard military fortress

The team of over a thousand people followed the new road planned by Ryan, walking a short distance south, then directly west.

This widened and flattened military road stretched west, leading to the south of Candlekeep, and not far north of there, one could see the Lion's Avenue to the east of Candlekeep.

Another north-south military road connected the two T-junctions of the eastern Wan'an Highway into a straight line.

The completion of the new military roads formed an irregular "field" character in this area.

Kordor Ironanvil, the Minister of Craftsmen, had already led people several days ago to build eight new inns—a comprehensive structure including walls, an inn, stables, and supply depots—at the central "cross" intersection, excluding the easternmost node near Gorebest, but at the other four nodes and the midpoints of the four sections of road.

The inns even sold new maps of this area.

The entire interior and surroundings of the "field" character were designated by Ryan as his sphere of influence.

This land, re-measured by the druids of the city planning department using Ryan's new measurement methods, surprisingly covered over 200 square kilometers.

This was equivalent to over 800 square li in local units of measurement.

This was even larger than the area within the Third Ring Road of Ryan's hometown, the capital city.

The north-south trade companies even used the new roads and inns earlier than the Allied Forces.

Marching on the flat main road was several times faster than on the Wan'an Highway.

The cavalry reached the first inn by the afternoon of the first day.

Ryan inspected the condition of the various buildings within the inn.

The comprehensive inn, built basically according to the local construction model, had no issues.

Within the inn's walls, there was also a wooden and stone arrow tower, but the interior of the arrow tower was designed as a simplified mage tower, while its exterior was connected to the wooden walls.

After dinner, Ryan, accompanied by several mages and Tyrantier, began drawing magic runes inside the arrow tower and within the walls.

With more people, the completion speed was much faster.

In less than half an hour, Ryan connected to the system, beginning the assimilation of the entire inn.

The system prompted that assimilation would be complete in six hours.

Expected system space increase: 7682 cubic meters, anchor point stability increase: 2.8%.

Outpost No. 4... theoretically cannot be destroyed by any force, unless external force instantaneously exceeds 168 tons (composite converted value of all force types);

In places without physical objects (such as the empty space on top of the wall and the open courtyard gate)... if the instantaneous external destructive force exceeds 16.8 tons, it can break through the force field defense of these areas.

Reduce system energy dissipation rate by 0.03%...

Once assimilation is complete, this inn will become a wizard military fortress.

Because it needs to maintain the basic functions of an inn, several key entrances will be set up as force field gate openings that require a password.

Ryan planned to convert eight inns into military fortresses using this standardized model.

Once all conversions are complete, the total estimated system available space will be 646,353 cubic meters, anchor point stability will increase to 36.5%, and the total system energy dissipation rate will be reduced by 1.24%.

After completing the rune drawing, Ryan left 20 cavalry to protect the inn's conversion from interference, instructing them to rejoin the infantry unit the next day.

He himself, along with the mages and the rested cavalry, set off again for the next location.

At midnight, they arrived at the crossroad where the two military roads intersected.

They replicated the process at the inn there.

Subsequently, everyone set up camp next to the inn.

By the next morning, this inn's conversion was complete.

During the inspection, Tyrantier proposed several improvement suggestions to Ryan, which Ryan found excellent; a few small changes could significantly enhance the wall's defensive power, counter-attack capability, and magical energy absorption capacity to a certain extent.

Over the next few days, whenever they reached an inn, they made small improvements to the newly drawn magic runes.

The cavalry team of over 200 people encountered almost no wild beasts daring to provoke them along the way.

Before the sound of hooves even approached, animals of all sizes would hide.

Ryan's rune drawing ability improved very rapidly during the transformation of the eight "small magic fortresses."

Even at the last inn, which was the T-junction where Ryan and his group encountered the Anm Trade Company nearly two months ago and is now a crossroads, most of the magic runes were completed independently by Ryan.

When Tyrantier saw the finished product, he no longer offered any suggestions for modification.

The main force was to rendezvous with them here two days later.

Five days ago, Ryan received military rations transported by the Seven Suns Merchant Alliance at the northernmost inn.

Last night, before drawing the runes for the last inn, Ryan received military rations transported by the Anm Trade Company at this location.

A portion of it was teleported back to the Mage Tower via the Dragon King and handed over to Wesley, who was defending the city.

The remaining portion was stored in the system space.

After improvements along the way, the defensive power of the eight inns, now "small wizard fortresses," ranged between 168 and 200 tons, the total anchor point stability increased to 38%, and the total system energy dissipation rate decreased by 1.32%.

And after the completion of the last inn, the system defaulted that within the polygonal area enclosed by Ryan's multiple mage building points, the host could use a small amount of system energy to enhance his spell power, with a maximum equivalent to +2 spell level.

At the same time, this area was defaulted as the host's territory, and the host's spell power, weapon power, and advantage in checks increased by 16% within the territory, effective immediately in this area.

During the two days waiting for the main force, in addition to handling government affairs and studying, Ryan also intentionally honed his martial arts, spells, and hunter skills in the wilderness.

Aside from a few close individuals like Randall, who followed him from a distance and would not intervene unless he called for help, Ryan was left alone in the wilderness to deal with rapidly multiplying Kobolds, small groups of Gnoll, large forest spiders, a few wild wolves, and ghouls and skeletons near distant graveyards.