Magical Beast Eggs and Iron Ore

Magical Beast Eggs and Iron Ore

Ryan still possessed the physique of a Formal Knight. With ample preparation, he took a few steps off the wall and landed on the ground.

By then, the nearly fifteen-meter-long Frost Serpent was already lying quietly on the ground. Blood and flesh poured from its abdomen, while Brandt and Harrington still clung tightly to its head and tail.

"We killed it that easily?"

Disbelief showed in Harrington's eyes. As he looked at Brandt, covered in blood from head to toe, a rare trace of reverence appeared within him.

"Am I really that weak?"

At that moment, Ryan finally realized that he seemed to possess more of a noble's qualities than a knight's. Had the peaceful life of his previous life left him utterly unprepared for danger?

"Good thing I'm still young."

Ryan thought this to himself. It seemed he could no longer be a noble who only knew how to indulge himself.

In those few short minutes, Brandt's performance had fully lived up to that long list of traits.

From keeping watch in every direction and helping Ryan evade the Frost Serpent's most dangerous attack, to quickly devising the best response afterward and using the Knight's Greatsword swallowed by the Frost Serpent to kill this powerful Magical Beast, he had even considered Harrington, who would be sent flying if he tried to block with his greatsword.

Using the Knight's Greatsword to kill the Frost Serpent, while having Harrington restrain its tail, had minimized casualties to the greatest extent. Otherwise, if the giant serpent had gone mad and violently swung its terrifyingly powerful body around, someone here would definitely have died.

"Have you hunted Magical Beasts like this before?"

Ryan asked curiously. This was his first time encountering the Magical Beasts that nobles spoke of with such fear, yet from beginning to end, this Frost Serpent had never even cast a spell.

It never had the chance. It died at Brandt's hands.

Brandt nodded and said, "On the Axeniel Continent, only powerful beasts and Magical Beasts have a chance of surviving Fierce Winter. They are especially skilled at lurking within wind and snow to hunt."

After enough experience, one naturally knew what to do.

"In that case, the Frost Serpent's flesh and blood will go to you and Harrington."

"Thank you, Lord Ryan."

Brandt's eyes lit up. After expressing his gratitude, he drew the dagger from his body and sliced open the serpent's head from the corner of its mouth. A moment later, he pulled a blue, diamond-shaped crystal two fingers wide from its skull.

"A Magic Crystal!"

Brandt handed the Magic Crystal to Ryan, who was also pleasantly surprised. This thing was hundreds of times more expensive than gold of the same weight.

This tiny Magic Crystal was worth at least two thousand Gold Coins.

"Hahaha! We've struck it rich this time."

Ryan laughed, but at that moment, another soldier called out, "Lord Baron, there are three eggs here!"

The soldier's cry of alarm made Ryan's eyes light up. He quickly came to a pile of scattered dead branches. Inside the nest built by the Frost Serpent lay three large, snow-white eggs, each as large as an adult's head.

"Frost Serpent eggs."

Ryan's breathing became hurried. Many nobles wanted to tame Magical Beasts, but the vast majority of them could not be tamed. The only way was to brand them with a magic array before they had fully come into being, then completely subdue them through extremely high-standard rearing after they were born and while they grew.

After all, Magical Beasts were no less intelligent than humans.

"It seems this Frost Serpent came to the Frozen Earth Territory because of these three eggs."

More than ninety percent of young creatures required relatively warm environments while being conceived and born. For a Frost Serpent that should have lived deep within the Northlands, its young also needed to survive in the milder South until they adapted to the bitter cold and gradually returned to colder regions of the Northlands.

"This hole shouldn't have been dug by it."

Harrington staggered over with the support of a soldier and said to Ryan, "Young Master Ryan, this should be a mineral vein."

"The temperature around mineral veins is often higher than elsewhere. A Frost Serpent that thrived in Fierce Winter should also be extremely sensitive to temperature."

Ryan nodded and ordered several soldiers to dig farther away.

Sure enough, before long, a fist-sized chunk of Iron Ore appeared before Ryan.

"Northwind Province may be lacking in everything else, but it certainly doesn't lack Iron Ore. Just as expected, my territory shouldn't be without a mineral vein either."

Ryan smiled. His territory could finally have a stable source of income.

Of course, Iron Ore was more important for meeting internal demand at the moment.

Besides, now was not the time to begin mining.

"Guard this place first. Then go to Zero Crossing Prefecture and buy several Spell Scrolls. Once these three eggs hatch, we'll begin mining the Iron Ore."

Ryan looked at the three quiet Frost Serpent eggs, wondering whether one or two of them could hatch successfully.

"That hole was probably left by someone secretly mining here in the past. The Frozen Earth Territory had no lord for decades, but the people living here weren't completely ignorant of their surroundings."

Upon hearing Ryan's words, Rosen, who followed behind him, asked, "Should we arrest the original villagers of the Frozen Earth Territory after we return?"

Ryan waved his hand. "No need. Besides, all the carpenters and blacksmiths from the Frozen Earth Territory fled to warmer places before this. The ones who knew about this place should have been those blacksmiths."

"More importantly, if they knew, they would have told me long ago after seeing how the Bain Family was treated."

Good news came one after another. With the discovery of the Magical Beast Eggs and the Iron Ore vein, one of the serfs Ryan had brought with him unexpectedly noticed land and soil suitable for planting on the way back.

"Very good. From this day onward, I absolve you of your status as a slave. From now on, you and your family will become my subjects."

The rough man named Dudley immediately dropped to his knees in excitement, repeatedly kowtowing to Ryan.

"Thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord!"

After all, the Frozen Earth Territory was different from other places. Commoners could be allotted their own homes. Although commoners who had risen from slavery only received the right to use those homes rather than own them, through hard work, they could make the houses completely theirs in ten or twenty years.

Such favorable conditions meant that, up to now, not even when Ryan was away had any fierce conflicts occurred in the Frozen Earth Territory.

Looking at the vast stretch of mountainous land before him, Ryan felt no concern over the trifling rewards he had handed out. He only hoped this land could be reclaimed into more fields suitable for cultivation.