Cavens Rat Farm.
After Remlu had given them a thorough tongue-lashing, the gnoll chieftain Huozi and the psionicist Garvin nervously began their second breeding experiment.
This time, they had learned their lesson and no longer tried to determine the Cavens Rats' sexes by their appearance.
Instead, they followed the principle of seeing for themselves and sticking to the facts. They lifted the rats' tails one by one and checked their anatomy to tell them apart.
But the untamed Cavens Rats were extremely aggressive about this. Whenever Garvin tried to lift their tails, they attempted to bite his hand.
If Huozi hadn't been quick to react, Garvin would probably have been devoured by the rats already.
"General Manager Huo, could I make a small suggestion? Would you hear me out?"
Once Garvin had gotten past his initial misgivings, he had clearly accepted and adapted to his role with surprising speed. It was just the newly coined term "general manager" that he still found a little awkward.
Huozi waved a hand and laughed heartily. "You don't have to be so formal with me. Any sound suggestion that could help Hogg Mining or Cavens Rat Farm grow is worth respecting and discussing. Those are the Master's exact words. I'm just passing them on to you."
After saying that, the gnoll chieftain couldn't help chuckling to himself. Had he been acting like such a big shot these past couple of days?
Thinking back to just a few days ago, before they had met the Master, their daily lives had been like those of wild gnolls roaming the barren night: hunting wherever they could, or seizing nearby territory under the Black Dragon's orders.
Day after day, year after year.
Comparing those days to the present, he seemed to be gradually understanding that when a primitive little tribe could barely even fill its stomachs, it had no room for anything beyond finding food.
Things like wisdom, or the creation and transmission of knowledge.
After a long silence, Garvin finally spoke, his voice thoughtful:
"Look at all the bite marks and blood on these Cavens Rats. I don't know whether they used to attack each other before they were captured, but from what I've observed, the ones biting each other are mostly males. If we let this continue, it could lead to infections or even an outbreak of plague."
Huozi hadn't paid much attention at first, but at the mention of infection and plague, his expression grew serious.
Having lived in the Gloomy Wasteland, he knew all too well how terrifying such diseases could be. He looked at Garvin with newfound seriousness and respect.
He considered himself an uneducated illiterate, and so he yearned for knowledge. Those who possessed it were people he admired and respected.
"You mean we should separate them? But there are so many..."
"Exactly. I recommend raising all the males separately."
Garvin said it decisively. Then his gaze swept across the empty Mine Plain before settling on the cratered ground. "There's a simple way to do it, though it'll take a bit of manpower."
"Ha! Manpower is the one thing we've got plenty of." Huozi laughed casually. The Didi Miner reward program had just been announced, so more and more people were sure to come work in Zelandia every day.
"We can dig directly into the bedrock, making square holes about half a foot across for the Cavens Rats to nest in. Their claws might be good at digging through soil, but they'll take a while to get through rock. As for the females, we can raise them together. Then we can observe them and periodically pick out the males that are strongest, don't fight, don't eat much, are less likely to get sick, depressed, or agitated, and have the prettiest fur. We can put those males in with the females to breed. If we keep this up, we'll be able to raise and breed a group of easy-to-care-for Cavens Rats as quickly as possible."
As he spoke, Garvin didn't even notice the slightly sinister smile creeping onto his lips. Perhaps he wanted the Cavens Rats to experience for themselves the hardships he had suffered.
Huozi bared his fangs and nearly slapped Garvin into the ground. "That's a brilliant idea! Let's do it! If it works well, I'll report it to the Master."
Then he turned and ordered his gnoll subordinate, "Go! Bring a hundred of our tribe members here. By the end of today, I want every male rat to have its own mansion!"
Just as the gnoll had hurried off with his orders, Remlu came rushing over in her fishfolk form. "Gugaga! Huozi, the Master wants you to find a few mages for him—preferably ones who've also studied the arcane arts. He's working on a Big Iron Box and says he wants to gather the wisdom of the people."
"Mages? Preferably ones who've also studied the arcane arts? Mages? Arcane arts, Psionics... Why are all these magic types so complicated?"
Huozi chewed over the terms, seemingly unable to tell the difference between the arcane arts and Psionics. Then he suddenly turned to the bewildered Garvin. There was a mage right in front of him!
"Livestock Officer Garvin! Put your Cavens Rat breeding research on hold for now and come with me! The wise Master might have a use for your knowledge."
"..." Livestock Officer Garvin.
In Zelandia, it was easy to gather enough former mages to form a Spellcasting Team, but there weren't many who had studied the arcane arts.
Ever since Netheril's glory had turned to ashes in that world-shattering explosion, the new Goddess of Magic, Mystra, had forbidden access to all magic above the ninth circle of the Weave. Since then, the number of Arcanists studying the arcane arts across Coriel had plummeted.
That was the tragedy of a great divide in knowledge.
All knowledge was part of a systematic, interconnected whole. Without a solid foundation, it was nearly impossible to study the higher levels on one's own.
So the search took a little longer this time. By the time the fluorescent light in the cavern was beginning to fade, Huozi finally arrived with two other burly mages.
Garvin, whom he had left there earlier, was already fiddling with the strange Big Iron Box, talking to the Master with eager excitement:
"This is a brilliant idea! Aha, converting the energy of expanding steam into mechanical energy that drives other machinery—perhaps even the great Arcanists of Netheril never thought of that!"
Garvin clearly wasn't some blockhead who only knew how to study and mine. Once he realized that the larger gnoll in front of him was the real boss behind Hogg Mining, he hadn't held back on the praise.
And the device in front of him truly deserved it. It gave off no Magic Fluctuation at all, yet it could generate mechanical energy using nothing but the steam produced by boiling water!
It was practically a glimpse of the truth of the universe!
But Li Wei clearly wasn't impressed by this level of flattery. Folding his arms, he smiled calmly and said with certainty:
"No. One of Netheril's great Arcanists must have discovered this phenomenon. But after inventing the Mythallar, they probably didn't think much of such a small amount of mechanical energy."
Thanks to [DK Qin Ge] for the five hundred-reward donation, and thanks to [xiaotang246] for the hundred-reward donation.
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