"In any case, let's put this task aside for now."
The mission rewards were certainly generous, but it was also obvious that he couldn't handle it right now.
Colin immediately turned his attention elsewhere and began taking stock of his other gains.
This time, he'd gained thirty-nine Servants. Adding the four Survivors brought the total to forty-three people.
Including Colin's own team, the number of people under his control had reached fifty-seven.
Their numbers had exploded in an instant!
But more important than the increase in manpower were the nine Hurricane Lamps, nine Synthesis Tables, and nine Parchments.
Those were the key to expanding his forces.
Colin pulled out a somewhat battered chair and sat down in the middle of the wilderness. Narrowing his eyes, he sank into thought:
"If I use a Synthesis Table to synthesize Ordinary Blood once, that should trigger the condition for synthesizing Ordinary Blood on that table.
"The Servants themselves can use Synthesis Tables. We've already confirmed that.
"So that means these nine Hurricane Lamps don't have to be limited to a handful of people like Number One's team. I can expand them into a large force, with fourteen people arranged in each team, just like mine!"
Colin's eyes narrowed and his breathing grew heavier. He hadn't realized the scale of it until he did the math: ten teams, fourteen people per team, for a total of over 140 people. His numbers would nearly increase tenfold.
That would immediately solve his urgent problem of not having enough people to mine.
Thinking of this, Colin looked at the other Survivors with gratitude in his eyes.
They'd come through for him in his hour of need!
But the four of them couldn't help shivering in unison, a chill creeping down their backs.
"Come to think of it, why do I feel like I've suddenly gotten stronger without doing anything?" Colin wondered.
He continued thinking. The Parchment's friend feature—both parties had to take out their Parchments while nearby to add each other—would let him transfer supplies remotely. Even if he wasn't at the mining site, he could still receive private trades from afar.
Put simply, Colin could assign several teams to mine here. Once they finished, they could send the goods straight to him through the friends list in the personal channel.
As long as they mined fast enough, Colin could fight at the front with virtually no worries.
"The only risk is that Servants aren't allowed to operate Parchments. For a trade, a Survivor has to put the explosives in their Inventory before they can send them over."
That was the only risky part of the entire plan.
But the risk was manageable, because the Servants could also see what was written on the Parchment.
And thanks to their absolute loyalty, they were unlikely to do anything that would harm him, which helped prevent accidents.
"I'll leave three to five teams here at the mining site, along with the corresponding number of Synthesis Tables and two Parchments—one for regular use and one as a backup. This place is crucial, so I'll need to keep it under strict control."
"Then I can free myself up, leave this place, borrow a few territories to build a War Chariot, and sweep through the Crow Mountain forest."
"I remember War Chariots need a lot of iron ore."
"But it's been a while. The miners should have dug up some by now."
"Right, there's still room to improve the team structure. After this, I think each team could have sixteen or seventeen people: four three-person squads, one Lamp Bearer, and three Lamp Guards."
Colin sketched out a rough plan for how to arrange things later, but then he suddenly remembered something.
This wasn't the only group that had come to his rescue.
Once he'd dealt with this group, there were still people approaching from four other directions.
They'd probably reach this area before long.
Even if there was only one person in each group, that would give Colin four more teams and add over fifty people to his fighting force.
They'd come all this way to offer up their heads. Colin didn't know how to thank them.
He wasn't too worried about food. His supplies were enough to last a day, and he could get a lot done in a day.
Even if they didn't last that long, he could always barter for more on the Trade Market.
He'd led everyone in harvesting chives this morning. Four or five hours had passed, so surely some fresh shoots had grown back by now?
"Besides that, I've got over five thousand milliliters of Tainted Dim Blood. I can synthesize more than 1,600 milliliters of Ordinary Blood from it, which should last me a while."
"Then there's over two hundred Black Breads and more than a hundred portions of fresh and not-so-fresh meat, weighing over a hundred pounds in total. Tsk, someone even went out of their way to kill a wild boar and bring it here. How thoughtful."
Colin checked his Inventory as he spoke, marveling at the haul.
He was making money almost as fast as he'd be if he were robbing people.
Oh. This was pretty much robbery.
As he thought, ten minutes passed in a flash. The five Servants on the ground opened their eyes and looked at Colin with gratitude.
They were still relatively weak, and their newly reattached legs made it hard to move, but they'd survived the crisis.
They understood their own worth, and they knew how much Colin had sacrificed to save them.
The only way they could repay him was with loyalty.
Even though loyalty meant little when a Lord had absolute control over his Servants, it was all they had to offer.
Shana, meanwhile, had grown weak from using Wind of Recovery for so long. She stood there waiting for Colin to speak.
"Can you all walk?"
As he asked, Colin opened their status information for a look. Their base attributes hovered around 1.5, and even without adjusting them, the word "Inspired" appeared.
"Yes, Lord!"
They stood together, trembling slightly. Their broken legs had only just healed, and they were still in intense pain.
But by tomorrow at the latest, the pain would ease considerably.
Compared with ordinary people, the Servants' greatest advantage was their faster recovery.
And perhaps because they'd spent so long doing hard labor, their bodies made especially efficient use of food.
"Eat something and get some rest first. Shana, you too."
After speaking, Colin turned to Number Two, who had been with him the longest, and began preparing for his second expansion.
Before long, nine carefully selected Servants stood in front of Colin, lined up and facing forward.
The loyalty shining in their eyes seemed almost tangible, impossible to shake.
Number Two was among them. Colin had chosen all of them to be Lamp Bearers, as well as the leaders of their respective teams.
"You'll each take charge of one of my teams, from Team Two through Team Ten. You have only one objective: follow my orders and do whatever it takes to keep the Hurricane Lamps in your hands burning."
Colin spoke in a low voice. "Any questions?"
Thanks to Guangzhi Yinqing for the tip.
Before you continue