Just then, Shawn happened to be riding Domesticated Sow as she swam to Gold Coast, where he saw the scene.
Shawn clamped his legs around Princess's belly, held the reins in his right hand, and gripped his staff in his left. Muttering a jumble of incantations, he summoned three newly produced Harvest Watchers and charged into Gold Coast.
A mage was a walking cannon!
Frostbolt!
Fireball!
Arcane Missiles!
Shawn's only three combat spells were all he had, but he used them in rotation to kill one Murloc caster after another!
Domesticated Sow, however, was brutally domineering.
With her unparalleled bulk, superhuman strength, extraordinary speed, and one-of-a-kind skills, Domesticated Sow embarked on a path of terror that the Murlocs would never forget—not in this life or the next, not even from their bloodline. It was a fear that would leave an indelible mark on them.
When it came to lethality, the domineering Princess, Domesticated Sow, was the real killing machine!
No, Princess was a pig, not a machine.
The real killing machines were those three Harvest Watchers.
Domesticated Sow at least knew to snort when she got tired, but those three Harvest Watchers had no idea what fatigue was.
The upgraded Harvest Watchers not only had the Harvest Golem's indestructible claws but also wore a suit of impregnable wooden armor.
Switching from straw to wooden armor was a revolutionary leap that directly raised the Harvest Watchers' defensive capabilities by an entire tier.
Though it was only wooden armor, it had undergone special treatment. Made from specially compressed particleboard produced by the Space Garrison and processed through at least thirteen steps, it had hardness and resilience on par with ordinary steel, as well as natural resistance that ordinary steel lacked. Even Fireball couldn't set it alight, and even Frostbolt couldn't freeze it solid.
The Harvest Watchers also each had a Watcher Longsword specially made for them.
These were true longswords, three meters in length. Combined with the Harvest Watchers' own height of over three meters, they looked like three humanoid Gundams—or miniature Gipsy Dangers from Pacific Rim.
According to the Space Garrison's ratings, the three swords were green-quality, excellent equipment.
Draw your blades!
Once the killing machines entered the fray, they were truly unstoppable! After all, there wasn't a single Murloc on Gold Coast with a challenge rating higher than 7!
Spellcasters couldn't hurt them, and Warriors couldn't budge them. Who could stand against the Harvest Watchers' swords?
In short, the Murlocs were finished. The Murlocs of Gold Coast were done for!
The few Murlocs still left were slaughtered by the 150 soldiers under old Grian, Shawn and Domesticated Sow, and the Harvest Watchers under his command.
Some did manage to flee, and a small number ultimately escaped.
"Old Grian, hurry and take your men after them! This is the perfect chance! Strike while they're down!" Shawn shouted, urging him on.
Old Grian sneered. "You think I'm stupid? I'd go after them just so you could loot the battlefield? Soldiers, get to looting! Don't let the little fox beat us to it!"
As soon as old Grian finished speaking, the soldiers—exhausted but brimming with excitement—began snatching up everything they could see. They gathered a heap of junk, spotted something better, and immediately tossed aside what they were holding to grab the better stuff.
Forgive them. They'd been poor for far too long!
Shawn's mouth twitched.
He'd known it would turn out like this!
Two fists couldn't fend off hundreds of hands, so Shawn gave up. Even if he joined the scramble right away, how much could he grab? Forget it. He might as well keep some dignity.
Clamping his legs against the pig's belly, Shawn rode up to old Grian, his face wreathed in smiles. "Well, Lord Grian, you can see how hard I've worked. I had the Kobolds ambush the Murlocs, and even personally led our strongest fighters into battle. I've saved you so much trouble and made such a huge contribution! Don't you think I deserve a bigger cut?"
At the mention of money, old Grian rejected him without a second thought. "No! I won't add a single copper. We agreed on the terms already. Are you trying to go back on your word?"
Shawn chuckled. "I'm not going back on my word, I'm not! I was just thinking that I'm not getting any younger, and I want to build myself a Mage Tower. But I don't have anyone to help. If I have to rely on myself, who knows how long it'll take? So..."
Old Grian shot Shawn a sidelong glance. "So you want my men to help build your Mage Tower? Sure. Just pay them!"
Shawn waved a hand grandly. "Money's no problem! Take it out of my share from Jangolode Mine! The materials, too! Deduct every expense from that!"
Old Grian's mouth twitched.
This little fox really was something. He even had to work that into the deal...
After thinking it over, old Grian agreed.
"All right, but I have one condition... The Mage Tower has to be built between Sentinel Hill and Saldean Farm. Don't rush to refuse. Hear me out. We've wiped out the Kobolds, and I'll clear out the remaining Murlocs soon. That leaves the Defias Brotherhood as our final enemy. Its leader, Edwin VanCleef, may be a little obsessive, but he's no fool. He'll definitely find a way to deal with us."
Old Grian casually cast a blessing on Shawn and continued, "If the Mage Tower is built between Sentinel Hill and Saldean Farm, we'll be able to support each other at any time. If anything happens at Saldean Farm, you'll be able to rush over and save it. Doesn't that sound good?"
Shawn nodded.
He had to admit, old Grian's plan made sense.
Even with a Mage Tower, Shawn alone wouldn't have much ability to defend it. When the time came, he'd still need old Grian's support. So Shawn nodded in agreement.
The great battle ended just like that.
Old Grian took charge of all the final cleanup. He was also given the task of hunting down the Murlocs, along with developing Jangolode Mine. In an instant, Shawn had become completely idle.
Since he had free time, he might as well get started on his own project.
Of the 300 soldiers under old Grian, 150 elite troops had taken part in the battle. The remaining 150 were either poor fighters, injured, or simply old, weak, sick, and disabled. They would have struggled to form a powerful fighting force, but they could certainly serve as carpenters, stonemasons, and bricklayers.
And so, construction on Shawn's Mage Tower began in earnest, proceeding in an orderly fashion.
After he offered twice the market rate, the soldiers were highly motivated. They weren't the only ones, either; quite a few of the vagrants from Saldean Farm joined in.
Some of those vagrants had even once belonged to the Stonemason Guild in Stormwind City. They'd only taken to wandering because they refused to run with VanCleef and his gang.
They were all construction professionals, so Shawn immediately entrusted them with important roles as chief engineers on the Mage Tower project, paying them five times as much as the others.
The timber and stone were being extracted by dedicated crews, and Fablon's Shredder finally came in handy.
Cutting, polishing, hauling, building—everyone had their own job. According to the engineers' estimates, construction would take about two months.
The reason a project involving more than a hundred people would still take two months was that Shawn was being a little ambitious.
That's right. He didn't think much of Elwynn Forest's seven-story Mage Tower, so he decided to build a 24-story one instead. At four meters per floor, it would stand over a hundred meters tall, easily the tallest building in Westfall.
The Mage Tower's floor plan was a regular pentagon. Connecting its five corners would form a perfect pentagram, a symbol of mystery and magic.
The Mage Tower narrowed as it rose. Each side of the first floor was 30 meters long, while each side of the twenty-fourth floor was only 10 meters.
That day, Shawn was tending his pigs near the Mage Tower when an unexpected visitor showed up.
Before you continue