Exploration

Romain prepared to explore this land.

Sigg Town occupied barely a fraction of the entire basin, situated at the mouth of the basin gorge.

To the north lay tens of thousands of mu of reclaimed farmland.

Without those fields, viewed from above, Sigg Town would have been nothing more than an insignificant black dot on a sheet of white paper.

There were countless places to explore, but they were also fraught with danger.

The wilderness referred to primitive areas with dangerous environments, filled with vast wetlands such as swamps, streams, and lakes.

Swamps could swallow people whole, forests harbored fierce beasts, and those undeveloped, unexplored regions were even harder to traverse.

Romain, Gevra, and Green formed an expedition team.

They set out with two fine horses. Gevra could not ride, so she shared one with Romain. They also carried a small amount of supplies.

There were no attendants or cooks. Too many people would only become a burden and slow their progress.

The smaller the group, the easier it was to move.

After riding for more than ten kilometers, the three of them had to dismount upon entering the swamp. They carefully avoided natural traps and searched for passable routes. Sometimes they reached dead ends and had to turn back.

Sigg Town had also explored those wilderness areas, but progress was exceedingly slow. They could not even produce a detailed map.

If Romain had not come, then decades later, as Sigg Town's population naturally grew, they would very likely have crossed the northern swamps and forests to establish new towns and villages on the great plains beyond.

By noon, the three had only managed to advance thirty or forty kilometers.

Romain was not impatient. They found a safe campsite in the swamp. Green took down the iron pot while Gevra gathered firewood and lit a fire to boil water.

A short while later, Romain returned carrying two otters pierced by arrows.

Hunting Experience +1

Hunting mainly increased skill levels through hunting prey.

Romain had long gained a little wilderness survival experience by shooting wild beasts. He had also acquired a basic ability to process prey.

With clumsy movements, he skinned and butchered them, removed the heads and entrails, then skewered the meat on sticks to roast.

Gevra sat on a tree root beside the fire, her sparkling eyes fixed on the meat over the flames, practically drooling.

Romain's barbecue did not turn out successfully.

More specifically, it had the distinctive flavor of charcoal.

Romain frowned, thinking perhaps he should have brought Dota along. The man was an experienced hunter and surely knew how to barbecue.

But the notification of Cooking Experience +1 made him abandon that thought.

Green stared at the charred meat...

Could this even be called roasted meat?

Forgive him for saying so, but he had never seen anyone waste food so thoroughly in his life.

Romain tore off a leg, lightly scraped away the carbonized layer with his fingernail, then handed it to Gevra. The girl was not picky at all. Hugging the leg, she immediately began gnawing on it.

Easy to feed. It seemed her days at the manor had not spoiled her little palate.

Romain tore off a piece for himself as well. A mother never found her child ugly. He put it in his mouth, chewed, and said indistinctly, "Green, eat."

Green's mouth twitched. After two seconds of silence, he decisively said, "I'll eat rations."

"You're looking down on me? I hope you can maintain that same unyielding attitude in the future."

Green immediately burst out laughing. "Even if I, Green, starve to death, even if I die in this swamp, I will never eat something that even pigs would refuse to touch."

"You'd better remember what you just said."

Green was utterly dismissive. "I'm a knight. I have principles!"

Gevra blinked innocently.

While the two were arguing, she secretly stuffed another piece of meat into her cheeks, looking exactly like a little squirrel.

Romain merely sneered in silence at Green's bold declaration.

Just you wait!

I'll grind up my Cooking skill soon enough!

After a brief rest, they continued onward.

A small incident occurred along the way. One of the horses slipped and sank into the swamp. They had been as cautious as possible, yet they still got caught.

Romain and Green had no choice but to forcibly drag the horse out of the swamp. They wiped down its body and soothed it, preventing it from being frightened into illness.

Warhorses themselves were extremely expensive, while special warhorses could be considered magical beasts, capable of carrying several hundred jin of weight while running freely.

The Grand Duke Armor-Splitting Territory could breed such warhorses.

Otherwise, Romain would not have received those five fine horses when the family split.

After all, an ordinary warhorse cost 4 Gold Coins on the market, while some special warhorses were even more valuable, requiring more than a dozen or even dozens of Gold Coins.

This made Romain value it greatly.

Green and Gevra followed Romain forward, crossing the marshland.

In this era, traveling any distance was an extremely risky undertaking.

That was right—once you went forty or fifty kilometers beyond a human village or town, it was basically considered a long journey.

The wilderness was vast. Once you ventured deep within, unless you had a photographic memory and an excellent sense of direction, it was nearly impossible to retrace your route.

But Romain had no such concern.

He had never seen a farmer get lost on his own farm. Tale of Survival displayed a large map and his current location.

Before long, however, Romain discovered that his luck was not particularly good.

Just as they were about to leave the swamp, an adult magical boar charged at them in a frenzy.

Romain had the Armor-Piercing Greatbow on his back and had noticed the boar before it attacked. When it came within twenty meters, he shot an arrow straight through its skull, killing it cleanly and decisively.

Apparently, the wildlife around here had never been beaten down by terrifying upright apes.

It was time to broaden their horizons.

Happily gained Hunting Experience +1!

Unfortunately, Romain could not take it all with him. He simply cut off around ten kilograms of leg meat and tied it to the horse's back.

Then they came upon a dense forest. Thick shrubs covered the entire ground, leaving nowhere to step, much less allowing horses to pass through. If they ran into poisonous creatures like snakes or scorpions, that would be even worse.

Romain had no choice but to take a detour.

That afternoon, Romain noticed a resource-area icon appear on the Tale of Survival interface.

It was the icon for minerals.

Not every mineral had as clear a marker as iron ore.

Most mineral veins were like mixed woodland—mixed ore deposits could contain anything.

Romain possessed basic knowledge of geology and minerals.

After spending some time searching, he found a spot worth surveying.

The area was low-lying, with a jagged stone hill covered in loose rocks. Its slopes were extremely steep, devoid of all vegetation, and utterly bare.

Romain could only walk over and conduct a preliminary inspection.

He rummaged, picked through, and sorted the rocks, even digging into the soil beneath them. After more than ten minutes, he finally clawed out a stone from several meters underground, its surface faintly crystalline.

It resembled a block of ice, but its interior was cloudy white rather than translucent. Romain gave it a light sniff, then licked it with his tongue, his face immediately breaking into a grin.

Romain tossed the stone to Green. "Taste it."

Green froze for a moment, then licked a different spot. He quickly tasted an intense, bitter saltiness that made him spit repeatedly.

"What is this?" Green blinked, unable to process it for a moment.

Romain snorted. "Rock salt! There should be a salt mine beneath my feet, and the deposit is shallow—maybe only a few meters, or a dozen at most."

He suspected this lowland had once been a salt lake, buried underground through long geological shifts. Chemical precipitation had gradually crystallized it into this halide mineral.

Green suddenly realized what a salt mine meant to Romain, and his eyes grew heated.

His fine gold sword and Mithril armor were right beneath his feet!