Business Acumen

The Odyssey Region was a tangled web of factions, not a place entirely devoid of order.

Thugs and alien races each followed their own set of rules.

Take the thugs' sacred ground, the Pioneer Territory—that was a place of structured order.

The Pioneer Territory was a remnant of the Gewalt Federation's attempt to reclaim the Odyssey Region.

Back in those years, countless ambitious knights with dreams led their teams into the Odyssey Region to make their mark.

After that war, the Odyssey became a buffer zone between the Gewalt Federation and the Alien Kingdom. The Alien Kingdom couldn't just sit by and watch the Pioneers reclaim the Odyssey.

Without a doubt, they all failed. Some died in battle in the Odyssey, others fled back to the Gewalt Federation.

The men and settlers they brought with them were mercilessly abandoned in the Odyssey, becoming refugees—the precursors to the Odyssey's thug gangs.

Similarly, the Gewalt Federation wouldn't allow the Alien Kingdom to occupy the Odyssey.

Under the tug-of-war between multiple forces, the Odyssey became a home for refugees and native tribes.

The Pioneer Territories left behind by the Pioneers were seized by large refugee gangs. Some turned into thug groups, while others maintained self-governing fortress settlements.

The leaders of those big thug gangs and large fortress settlements had pacts among themselves, keeping up a facade of peace while jointly fending off external enemies.

Of course, thugs wouldn't call themselves thugs. In the Pioneer Territory, thug gangs called themselves mercenary groups.

A certain order existed in the Pioneer Territory, but backstabbing and scheming were the norm.

Over the years, some factions faded into history, while powerful thug gangs moved into the Pioneer Territory.

As time went on, the Pioneer Territory's area multiplied several times over, becoming humanity's largest stronghold in the Odyssey.

Most of the mercenary group leaders and fortress chiefs in the Pioneer Territory had ties to nobles in the Gewalt Federation.

They frequently took on noble bounties, engaging in lucrative trades like slave trafficking and smuggling.

Sometimes they acted as black gloves, taking money to help certain noble families dispose of exiled Pioneers.

Medivh's uncle by clan, Wester, had hired a Pioneer Territory mercenary group at a high price, planning to give him a nasty surprise.

Too bad Wester miscalculated. Medivh wasn't naive enough to head straight for the Pioneer Territory; he took a detour elsewhere.

"Chief, someone spotted skeletons roaming the wilderness."

That day, the Blood Crow Mercenary Group's intelligence chief came to their leader with freshly gathered intel.

"Skeletons? What's that got to do with us?"

The Blood Crow chief looked baffled. Necromancy was a non-entity these days, no longer a word of fear, hardly worth a second thought.

Skeletons appearing in the wilderness—what connection did that have with the Blood Crow Mercenary Group?

What, were the people they'd killed turning into skeletons?

That'd be a joke, wouldn't it? With those flimsy frames, could skeletons really come after them for revenge?

"Have you forgotten the Hobarton family's mission? That Pioneer named Medivh is a Necromancer apprentice!"

The Blood Crow chief clearly hadn't taken that matter to heart, so his subordinate gave him a reminder.

"Oh, you mean that business!"

"We already completed the mission. If Wester wants to kill his own nephew, he'll have to pay up!"

The Blood Crow chief suddenly caught on, a sly, incongruous grin spreading across his stubbly face.

It was hard to imagine this unkempt brute harboring such a bellyful of cunning.

They'd already followed Wester's additional orders, searching all the way from the Pioneer Territory to Winter Canyon, and found no trace of Medivh.

According to the mission contract, they'd fulfilled their end. Medivh was presumed dead.

If Medivh had seemingly risen from the dead, that was a whole new deal.

Unless Wester coughed up more cash, the Blood Crow Mercenary Group wasn't about to waste time scouring the wilderness for Medivh.

"Exactly right. I'll go contact the middleman to reach Wester of Hobarton right away!"

The Blood Crow intelligence officer's eyes lit up. No wonder he was the chief—he had a knack for seeing the big picture, a business sense worth learning from for a lifetime.

No hawk without a hare in sight. Until Wester added a new task, they wouldn't send anyone out to hunt.

Until then, they'd default to Medivh being dead on the road to the Pioneer Territory.

If Wester didn't pay up, then the skeletons' Necromancer was someone else, nothing to do with Medivh.

The Blood Crow Mercenary Group didn't think a Necromancer, already a relic of the gutter, had any wealth worth plundering.

Medivh had no idea that his roaming Skeleton Assassin had been spotted by a hidden lookout, nor that his uncle had prepared a "surprise" for him in the Odyssey Pioneer Territory.

At that moment, he was patrolling Kurd. After nearly a month of construction, the Livestock District in the southeast corner of the nine-grid layout and the Graveyard District due south were now enclosed by walls.

The walls of these two districts weren't finished yet; the skeletons were still stacking bricks to raise the height.

Still, a seven-meter wall was enough for now. The herbivores penned in Kurd City District had been moved to the Livestock District for grazing.

The bones buried in the Graveyard District were now protected from beasts digging them up.

The Graveyard District is currently undergoing renovation, with skeletons constructing according to the multi-layered underground catacomb blueprints drawn by Medivh.

The Graveyard District will feature vast underground structures, storing specially treated bones in layers.

This is the bone farm Medivh has planned, his future source of spellcasting materials.

Like aged wine stored in a cellar, the older and more historically rich the bones in the Graveyard District's catacombs become.

In the other grid zones of the Kurd Nine-Grid, excavation of the city wall foundations has already begun.

The Odyssey Region has no proper army, so the half-finished seven-to-eight-meter-high walls are sufficient as a temporary measure; stacking for height and thickness can be postponed.

Medivh intends to first build the prototype of the Kurd Nine-Grid, getting each zone operational.

In just over a month, the summer farming season in the Odyssey Region will arrive. If this planting is missed, the Kurd Farmland District won't be able to sow wheat until the second half of the year.

"Medivh, where are we supposed to get wheat seeds?"

Audrey followed Medivh as he inspected the territory, looking at the leveled farmland and asking the key question.

They had come here empty-handed, carrying no seeds.

Mentioning wheat seeds, Audrey felt a pang of nostalgia for the taste of honey white bread.

It had been exactly eleven months since she left Loran City with Medivh, nearly a year without eating bread.

Their daily meals consisted of high-quality beast meat, fish, and various wild vegetables, with no staple foods.

"Let's plant potatoes first."

At this moment, crossing through Winter Fortress to buy wheat seeds from the Gewalt Federation would be too conspicuous.

The land couldn't be left barren, and coincidentally, a Skeleton Assassin had recently scouted a potato field. He could make a move on it.

"Great! Mashed potatoes, fried potatoes..."

Before the potatoes were even snatched, Audrey was already envisioning various potato dishes.

This kid hadn't eaten a staple in too long and was craving it badly!

On a dark, windy night, a group of skeletons crept to the outskirts of the Drifter Stronghold that owned the potato field.

The Skeleton Assassin knocked out the farmland guards with a blow to the head, and amid the sound of the wind, the skeletons dug up the potatoes, loaded them onto carts, and hauled them away.

Early the next morning, the Drifter leader saw a sight he couldn't comprehend.