142: Learning technology

"The Arcane Sovereigns were truly formidable to be able to create such Wonders!"

"If I were given a few Gold Rank or even slightly lower Silver Rank cores, I could pull together a Silver Army in an instant. Then, everything would be possible!"

Melissa immediately shattered Renn's fantasy.

"The Arcane Empire has been extinct for who knows how many tens of thousands of years. The Noah Continent has experienced several Historical Ruptures in between. The lair cores left over from that time are few and far between. If you want them now, unless you find ruins from the Arcane Empire era, you can forget about it."

"Furthermore, even if you used an authentic lair core, recruiting those powerful Lair Creatures requires resources. Those resources aren't the bits of flesh and blood you're using now; they require Transcendent Materials."

"Even during the Arcane Empire era, compared to recruiting through lair buildings versus cultivating a Professional on one's own, the resources spent weren't much less."

Kapdo, who had been silent all this time, interjected at this point.

"Ms. Melissa is quite right. The most critical aspect of lair buildings isn't saving on resource investment."

"The advantage of lair buildings lies in saving a vast amount of time, allowing for the cultivation of a large number of loyal subordinates in an extremely short period."

"Absolute loyalty is an extremely scarce resource. The Grand Arcanists, who could be a nation unto themselves, needed absolute loyalty. They had no time to waste on internal power struggles and consumption. Pursuing eternal knowledge is the ultimate goal of every mage."

Kapdo yearned immensely for the Legendary Arcane Empire era, where powerful Arcanists were omnipotent and utilized knowledge to the extreme.

"The Holy White Academy has several Mage Towers and they all possess Tower Spirits, but compared to the Tower Spirits created by the Grand Arcanists in the records, they fall far short in every aspect."

"They certainly can't compare to the Tower Spirits made by the Arcanists. The raw materials they used were at minimum Legendary-level Soul Cores. The highest level you use now is only Legendary; can that be the same?"

"A Mage Tower with a Tower Spirit is a true Mage Tower. Without a Tower Spirit, it's just an ordinary building, at most with a few more Magic Arrays."

Melissa mentioned another secret.

"Take the Cold Wind Spire in the Cold Wind Territory, for example. Rumor has it that it's an Ancient Relic left over from the Arcane Empire era. I've heard its Tower Spirit is dormant, yet it remains incredibly powerful just by operating on basic instructions."

"If the Tower Spirit of the Cold Wind Spire were still functioning normally, how could it have been so easily seized by others?"

"Kid, work hard. In the future, you should also build a Mage Tower with a powerful Tower Spirit!"

"Ms. Melissa, those things are still a bit far off for me. First, I'll use these lair cores Alistair gave me to build up the territory and let the Red River Territory gradually grow stronger."

"This potion is for you, Alistair, as my return gift!"

Renn gave a bottle of clancias blessing to Alistair.

"A Gold Rank clancias blessing."

Melissa snatched the potion Renn handed over and opened it to take a sniff.

"Hmm, it's top-tier even among Gold Rank. This bottle of clancias blessing is very good. It must be your handiwork, Master Kapdo?"

Melissa now knew Kapdo was a Potion Master, so she immediately guessed that this potion came from Kapdo's hand.

"The raw materials provided by Renn were excellent, so the resulting potion's effect is very good."

"Alistair's strength has also reached a bottleneck. This potion can help her break through to the Gold Rank."

Melissa nodded happily.

"Exactly, exactly!"

"Although Alistair wouldn't have had much trouble breaking through to Gold Rank, and I had also prepared auxiliary items for her breakthrough, they are slightly inferior compared to this bottle of clancias blessing."

"You kid, you're quite good. Big sister Melissa likes you a lot."

"Aunt Melissa, don't talk nonsense. If Renn calls you big sister, then how should I address him and you!"

Alistair hurriedly told the loose-tongued Melissa to stop talking.

"Thank you, Renn. This potion is indeed very helpful to me!"

Having received the potion, Alistair prepared to go back and cultivate, while Renn also prepared to use the five cores as soon as possible.

He placed the Swordsman and farmstead cores next to the two previous farmstead cores.

Renn had the newly recruited Swordsmen go and guard the Medicinal Herb Field.

The scale of the Red River Territory's Medicinal Herb Field was growing larger and larger, and the potions planted inside were becoming more numerous and precious. Combined with the addition of Dora, the Spirit of Nature, the value of the Medicinal Herb Field had skyrocketed.

Although there was a Magic Array protecting it, the level of the Magic Array Kapdo had set up wasn't high. After all, it was a Magic Array built using only a hundred Magic Stones, so it was somewhat crude.

Dora had Gold Rank strength, but Renn would not let Dora expose herself unless absolutely necessary.

Dispatching a squad of Bronze Rank Swordsmen to guard it made Renn feel a bit more at ease. Later, he could add another squad of Bronze Rank Swordsmen every week.

The rapid growth of the territory's population also brought some unstable factors. Red River City had expanded many times over, and more guard forces were needed throughout the territory.

Renn planned to let these recruited Swordsmen handle these repetitive and time-consuming tasks, saving manpower so that the Guard Army would have ample time to cultivate and learn combat techniques to deal with subsequent higher-intensity battles.

"Melissa was right. Two Swordsman buildings producing ten Swordsmen per week is a big help for a low-level territory, but for me, the help is no longer that significant."

"When the territory gets even larger in the future, their help will be even lower. I still need to accelerate the training of the Guard Army and Magic Wolf Knights."

After setting up the Swordsman cores and farmstead cores, Renn went to the Forge Workshop and used the Blacksmith Shop core. As resources were invested, a Blacksmith Shop occupying several hundred square meters appeared before everyone's eyes.

Renn recruited all ten Blacksmiths and then had Arnold organize the other Blacksmiths to learn skills from these ten lair Blacksmiths.

"They possess superb forging techniques. You must learn well. Following these ten, learning even a little will be enough to benefit you for a lifetime."

"As you say, Great Lord!"

Arnold was now shocked beyond measure. His heart was racing violently, even more so than the day Renn brought Walt back.

He realized that he was now completely expendable. He couldn't compare to these newcomers in any aspect, and was even far inferior to Walt and the others.

Fortunately, in the end, Arnold did not hear Renn say anything about replacing him. He immediately organized people to follow these ten Blacksmiths who had suddenly appeared to learn their techniques.

Soon, the Blacksmiths of the Red River Territory were won over by the exquisite skills of the ten lair Blacksmiths and began to follow them thirstily to learn.

One must know that such family-inherited crafts were things they couldn't learn even if they paid money; in the past, these were the bottom-of-the-chest skills passed down only to one's own sons.

Now they could openly and legitimately follow behind these ten Blacksmiths to learn.

What made Renn feel it was a bit of a pity was that the Lair Creatures had low intelligence. They could complete the tasks Renn assigned, but they couldn't act as teachers to give explanations. Arnold and the others could only follow behind them, watching and teaching themselves.

Holland and Walt were also attracted by the techniques of the new Blacksmiths, following behind to learn, and they learned very quickly.

Renn assigned one lair Blacksmith each to Walt and Holland and told the others not to disturb the two of them while they were learning.

Looking at the Forge Workshop, which had expanded quite a bit again, Renn believed it wouldn't be long before it gave him a surprise.