Rising Light Island

The twelve children were in much better spirits than they had been ten days prior, their faces showing a healthy flush.

These half-grown children had been largely ignored by the Shadow Guild before, as there was little demand for individuals with inferior mage talents.

The reason they were worth over five hundred gold coins was primarily because the Shadow Guild needed to dispatch mages to test their mental power, a significant undertaking.

Although people with inferior mage talents were the most numerous among the five mage talent tiers, they weren't so common that everyone possessed them.

The ratio was roughly one in every thirty to forty people, meaning that to gather these twelve children, the Shadow Guild had to test the mental power of four to five hundred children.

This was also why Jon had only managed to rush these twelve children over by the time Roland was preparing to depart.

At this moment, on the shore of the island, the twelve half-grown children watched Roland, who had yet to give any instructions, their faces showing signs of unease. They stood rigidly, afraid to make any move lest they displease Roland.

"Young Master..." Seeing the children's nervous expressions, Alice couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. She gently tugged on Roland's sleeve and whispered a reminder.

Prompted by Alice, Roland snapped back to attention. He looked at the twelve somewhat timid half-grown children before him and a gentle smile appeared on his face. "From now on, this will be your new home. Here, you will not suffer oppression or bullying. Furthermore, you will learn many new things and even become free individuals, able to marry and have children."

Roland's promise immediately stunned the twelve children. Their eyes lit up with longing, but then their gazes slowly dimmed again. Their past experiences had taught them that this was merely a pleasant hope offered by their new master to make them work harder.

Roland didn't make any further promises. Time would slowly prove whether his commitments would be fulfilled.

"From now on, you will be under Alice's command. Her orders are my orders," Roland said to the twelve children, gesturing to Alice beside him.

"Yes, Master." The twelve children bowed again.

"Alice, for the time being, teach them to recognize the Common Tongue and the Elemental Language," Roland then instructed Alice.

Although she was also a slave, she was a slave from the Elf race. Before being captured by the Fantasy Guild, Alice had even been a high-level mage among the elves.

However, after being captured by the Fantasy Guild, all her high-level mage mana had been crippled. Recovery would be difficult. Although her strength was gone, the magical knowledge stored in her mind was far superior to Roland's.

Therefore, teaching such basic magical knowledge was not difficult for her at all.

Otherwise, an Elven girl alone wouldn't be worth five thousand gold coins.

"Okay, Young Master." Alice didn't refuse. Although this might reveal some Elven magical knowledge, the fear and control imposed by the Fantasy Guild made it impossible for her to refuse any of her new master's commands.

After dealing with the twelve half-grown children, the sky gradually darkened. A cold wind howled around them, and the temperature dropped below freezing, making it unsuitable for further work.

Seeing this, Roland immediately ordered work to stop and gathered everyone on the beach.

With the efforts of over two hundred people, including more than forty professional warriors, a small settlement had taken shape in less than a day.

Dozens of wooden house frames were neatly arranged on the edge of the plain on the east side of the island. However, they were not yet habitable. The houses were empty, lacking any furniture, and the weather was still too cold, requiring stoves to be built inside for warmth.

Therefore, Roland still chose to have everyone return to the merchant ship to live, to avoid any accidents among the slaves due to the cold.

Back on the merchant ship, Roland summoned O'Neal, James, and the other two once more.

Upon seeing the four arrive, Roland wasted no time and directly asked James, "Steward James, Commander O'Neal, at the current pace, when will our settlement be completed?"

"It will take another two days, but it will take five days to be fully habitable. Otherwise, it won't withstand the cold night weather," James replied immediately.

O'Neal nodded in agreement but did not speak.

"Alright, five days then." Roland nodded lightly upon hearing this. He then turned his gaze back to Feli and said, "Captain Feli, with your experience, how long will it take to build a dock capable of mooring a three-masted merchant ship?"

"With our current manpower, it will take at least a month, mainly because clearing the underwater reefs will take a long time."

"The weather is too cold now; even professionals can't stay in the sea for too long," Feli analyzed after a moment of consideration.

"Understood. As long as it doesn't affect the spring planting work this year, the progress can be slowed down appropriately, but we must ensure the safety of our people," Roland said seriously.

His words brought a warmth to the faces of the four men. After all, encountering a leader who valued his subordinates' lives was certainly fortunate.

However, their thoughts were somewhat superficial. Roland didn't have much affection for them; he was merely concerned about his gold coins.

Most of the people in the territory now, especially the slaves, were his assets. Losing even one meant a reduction in his assets.

"Captain Artur, for the upcoming period, you and your team members will not participate in the house construction work," Roland turned and instructed Artur.

"Yes, Apothecary Roland," Artur replied quickly, a hint of joy flashing across his face.

After all, they were guards, and their profession was to protect Roland's safety, not mercenaries, nor slaves.

However, his joy didn't last long. Roland continued, "Tomorrow, you will take your men and Captain Feli to survey the distribution of reefs near the east side of our island, to prepare for future work."

After receiving Roland's further orders, Artur's expression clearly soured. Going into the sea in this season would undoubtedly be more arduous than building houses, not to mention the danger if they encountered sea magical beasts.

However, seeing Roland's serious expression, Artur swallowed hard and reluctantly nodded in agreement.

Upon receiving Artur's agreement, Roland's expression softened slightly. He knew this task would be difficult, but it was precisely because it was difficult that Roland assigned it to Artur. Roland had been greatly disappointed by Artur's performance when facing Scarface Henry previously.

Therefore, even if there were casualties during the reef clearing, Roland wouldn't feel any heartache. After all, they were technically Leslie's people, and it was best to use them without cost.

"Commander O'Neal, tomorrow morning, bring your men to craft a stone monument and engrave 'Rising Light Island' on it. From now on, my island will be called Rising Light Island."

"Rising Light Island... Alright, Apothecary Roland." O'Neal murmured the name. Although he didn't quite understand the meaning, he immediately agreed.

Roland didn't say much more. The work for the next few days was set, and there was no need for a lengthy speech.

The meeting concluded, and Roland began his daily meditation.

Due to the rough and unstable sea, Roland couldn't refine potions. Therefore, for the past ten-plus days, almost all his free time had been devoted to meditation and studying magical knowledge.

"Nuwa, open my status panel."

"Understood, Master."

[Strength] 1.2

[Constitution] 1.1

[Agility] 1.3

[Spirit] 7.353/8.512

[Mana] 8.1/8.1

[Level] Tier 5 Mage

It had been over a month since Roland was promoted to a Tier 5 Mage. During this time, he had consumed over a dozen Tier 4 Spirit Agility Potions and Tier 3 Fire Element Resonance Potions.

However, after Roland's promotion to Tier 5 Mage, the effect of the Tier 4 Spirit Agility Potion had diminished significantly. The last time he took one, it only increased his Spirit by 0.08 points, so Roland was still far from reaching Tier 6 Mage.

Compared to the Tier 4 Spirit Agility Potion, the Tier 3 Fire Element Resonance Potion had an even more reduced effect on Roland, causing his Mana growth rate to lag far behind his Spirit growth.

This was why Roland was so eager to move to Rising Light Island and resume his potion-making work. After all, every day he delayed now cost him hundreds of gold coins.

"Nuwa, have the Tier 5 Spirit Agility Potion and Tier 5 Element Resonance Potion been analyzed?"

"Master, they have both been analyzed."

Roland's face showed a hint of satisfaction upon hearing this.

This task wasn't actually difficult. Nuwa merely analyzed the most reasonable potion-making steps for Roland based on the potion formulas and magical data currently available.

It was equivalent to creating a draft before brewing a potion. Whether it was correct would need to be verified through continuous experimentation.

Only after final success would it be thoroughly recorded by Nuwa. For subsequent potion-making, Roland would merely replicate the process of the first successful attempt under Nuwa's guidance.

This was also why Roland's success rate would greatly increase once he successfully brewed a new potion.

In reality, it was just that Nuwa's current knowledge base was too limited. Otherwise, with her computational power, she could have simplified the potion-making steps or even optimized the formulas.

However, Roland currently had no good way to supplement Nuwa's knowledge reserves.

"Good, I'll start brewing Tier 5 potions in a few days," Roland secretly resolved in his heart.

Then, Roland slowly closed his eyes and entered a state of meditation.