247: You're the best, Ryan!

Red River Territory, Crimson Glory Mage Tower.

Cecilia was explaining things to several Potion Masters beside her while concocting a potion.

The Potion Masters following Cecilia were mostly very young, the younger generation raised by the Red River Territory itself; these young people stared intently at Cecilia's movements, afraid of missing a single detail.

Potionology is a very precise discipline; even the slightest error during potion concoction can lead to failure.

The consequences of a failed concoction range from a significant reduction in efficacy to, at worst, not only having no effect but producing toxicity that could kill the user, so the students were all extremely serious.

Kapdo, watching his granddaughter teach skillfully from the side, felt very gratified; Cecilia had surpassed her teacher, reaching the Middle Gold rank at only twenty-one years old, and her attainments in Potionology were nearly equal to his own.

Kapdo didn't have to worry about anything else now; the only thing on his mind was Cecilia's marriage. Cecilia was already twenty-one, and Kapdo had a premonition that he might not have many years left to live.

"Sigh, I don't know what that kid Renn is up to."

Was Renn not good to Cecilia?

Renn was very good to Cecilia; there were always top-tier potions for her, and he had given her many law crystal shards to increase her strength, which was a major reason why her power had grown so quickly.

But none of this was what Kapdo wanted; he wanted a definite attitude from Renn, yet Renn always avoided and delayed when facing emotional matters, which made Kapdo somewhat irritable.

As he was thinking, Kapdo suddenly sensed that familiar aura arriving at the Mage Tower.

"Renn!"

Cecilia sensed Renn's arrival even sooner; seeing that figure she hadn't seen in a long while, she ran over excitedly.

"You're back?"

"Mhm!"

Running up to Renn, Cecilia carefully looked up at his face, then stood before him with her head lowered, not knowing what to do, her small hands behind her back tightly pinching the corner of her clothes.

"You've worked hard lately. I heard your strength has increased; it seems you've been very diligent. You haven't exhausted yourself, have you?"

As Renn spoke, he habitually rubbed Cecilia's small head. Unlike the tall Alistair, Cecilia was barely 1.6 meters tall and relatively petite; Renn, who was nearly 1.9 meters tall, could easily pinch her cute face and rub her head.

After ruffling Cecilia's hair, Renn naturally pulled her into his embrace.

Cecilia's body stiffened for a moment before quickly going soft; her hands that were pinching her clothes also rose slightly to hug Renn, her grip gradually tightening as if she wanted to melt herself into him.

Renn held the girl in his arms, feeling the hands that were gradually increasing their grip; that intense emotion was being vented silently.

Then, he heard a faint sobbing sound coming from his chest.

"Why are you crying? Who bullied our cute Cecilia? I'll go teach him a lesson for you."

"No, I'm not crying."

Cecilia responded softly, her pretty face buried in Renn's chest as she moved to wipe away her tears.

Not far behind them, Kapdo watched the scene with gratification.

"Damn, this kid finally saw the light. If he'd delayed any longer, this old man would have really gotten angry."

Feeling refreshed, Kapdo lay on a specially made high-grade lounge chair, feeling much more energetic all of a sudden. Meanwhile, among the Potion Master apprentices on the other side, the eyes of several young men grew dim.

Cecilia's charm was not something these young lads could resist; not just these Potion Masters, but most of the young men among the Spellcasters in the entire Red River Territory had fallen for her.

However, everyone knew Cecilia was devoted to the Lord, and the Lord's feelings for her were also unique. Coupled with the fact that Cecilia's own formidable strength far exceeded theirs, these young people were completely unable to keep up with her footsteps, so no one dared to show their feelings for her.

Before this, some people still held a sliver of a fantasy in their hearts, but now that fantasy had been shattered.

With their naive fantasies shattered, they quickly came to terms with it; it was an impossible thing to begin with, and the boys' dreams turned into silent blessings.

Renn stayed with Cecilia at the Mage Tower for half a day and also had a chat with Kapdo.

Afterward, he took a tour of the Mage Tower to check on its operational status.

Although the Crimson Glory Mage Tower hadn't been expanded with more floors in the past few years, the internal upgrades and renovations had never stopped. After Renn broke through to the Legendary Realm, some structures within the tower were also improved by his hand.

Some powerful magical equipment can only be manufactured by a Legendary Mage. Renn and Dora teamed up and spent some effort to create this equipment and add it to the Mage Tower.

The Magic Arrays within the Mage Tower were also constantly being optimized. As the number and strength of the Red River Territory's Spellcasters continued to grow, the optimization of the tower would continue indefinitely.

"Perhaps it won't be long before Crimson Glory needs a few more floors."

Thinking of Alistair preparing to attempt a breakthrough—once she successfully promoted to Legendary, the current Mage Tower would be a bit small, and increasing the number of floors would need to be put on the agenda.

In the past few years, the Red River Mage Academy had recruited over a thousand apprentices, of whom hundreds had already successfully promoted to Black Iron Rank Mages and mastered many basic spells.

Many of these low-level Spellcasters might only reach the Bronze Rank in the future, but the productivity they unleashed was immense.

The Engineering Mage team expanded rapidly after the first batch of Mage Apprentices grew up, which significantly boosted the speed of engineering construction in the Red River Territory.

Over the past three years, countless new villages, towns, and cities had been built across the territory, thousands of kilometers of roads had been paved, and the dredging of river channels and construction of new fish ponds and reservoirs went without saying.

Behind these successive large-scale projects were the busy figures of mages; from the Legendary Realm to the Black Iron Rank, every Spellcaster in the territory participated without exception, including Renn and Dora.

At the top of the Mage Tower, the twelve-story Crimson Glory was not much shorter than the Red River Fortress and likewise offered a view of the entire Red River City.

Holding Cecilia while looking at the bustling Red River City, a sense of infinite pride welled up in Renn's heart.

In these three years, by purchasing Slaves through trade and encouraging the territory's subjects to marry and reproduce, the population of the Red River Territory surpassed two million last year and has now reached over 2.1 million.

In the coming years, the newborn population of the Red River Territory would see explosive growth; as living standards rapidly improved and the territory remained free of any chaos, a large number of infants would be born in concentration.

Renn kept a tight grip on both major methods of population growth.

The Red River Territory's caravans had long since taken root in Rage Bear Fortress and grew rapidly; additionally, the caravans continued south to establish their own business channels in the Royal Capital.

The Red River Territory's high-quality crystal salt and specialty black stone were very good goods and sold very well; with the territory's production greatly increased, the surplus could be exported.

In addition, Renn also specifically prepared some transcendent weapons and potions to be sold in the Royal Capital; although the quantity wasn't large, they could generate significant revenue due to their high prices.

In the Royal Capital, the Red River Territory's caravans could purchase some magic plants not commonly seen in the North; after being brought back and cultivated with Dora's blessing, their value increased greatly, significantly enriching the Red River Territory's Magical Plant Garden.

There were also all kinds of Transcendent Materials in the Royal Capital, some of which were urgently needed by the Red River Territory and could be exchanged for using transcendent weapons and potions.

The benefits brought to Renn after the Red River Territory's caravans entered the Royal Capital were extremely obvious; the Royal Capital was indeed worthy of being the core of the Kingdom of Asriel, where any rare item could be found.

The space stones Renn obtained in the Ancient Tree world had been sitting idle because there was no Space Mage to process them; Renn was a bit reluctant to sell them directly, as large space stones could be used to maintain teleportation arrays, and small ones could be used to make space equipment, both of which were of great use to him.

Finally, the caravan found an Archmage in the Royal Capital proficient in space magic to process the space stones and manufacture some space equipment.

This space equipment was eventually distributed to the high-ranking officials of the Red River Territory and those in charge of special positions; their utility was very obvious and played a major role in the subsequent development of the territory.

Finally, the caravan also established a fixed trading post in the Royal Capital; because of the active Chaos Demons, a large number of refugees appeared on the Golden Plains, and Renn had the caravan take the opportunity to buy many people and transport them to the Red River Territory.

Although the costs of transporting people along the way were high due to the long distance, Renn didn't care at all; compared to that small expense, the population gained was more useful.

The rapid development of the population trade was also a major reason for the quick increase in the Red River Territory's population.

Cecilia, in Renn's arms, gazed blankly at the man she loved; she admired Renn too much, and no one understood Renn's efforts in developing the Red River Territory to its current state better than she did.

In Cecilia's eyes, the fact that the Red River Territory could be what it is today was entirely due to Renn alone; without Renn, there would be no Red River Territory.

The man she loved had allowed one or two million people in the territory to live happy lives; all the people of the Red River Territory sincerely praised and admired Renn, and every time she heard someone praise him, Cecilia felt delighted in her heart.

A few years ago, the ideal goals Renn had told her about were now being realized one by one; Renn hadn't lied to her, and Renn would never lie to her.

Cecilia hugged her beloved tightly; as long as she felt Renn's body heat and heartbeat, she would feel very at peace.

"You are the best!"

"Renn!"

"I love you!"