Out of the Wasteland, Arrival Imminent

Five months later, the caravan finally crossed the border into the Maslow Alliance, bidding farewell to the desolate Visas Wasteland. As the terrain changed, the vegetation gradually grew more lush. It was now the turn of summer and autumn, with pleasant weather and a gentle breeze that refreshed the spirit.

In the border region, the caravan encountered many other groups heading for Ellendal Harbor. Most of them were minor nobles fleeing the Lodin Kingdom. Through conversations with them, Green gathered information about Ellendal Harbor.

Over the past half year, Green's physique had improved significantly. The continuous operation of the Breathing Method had brought him close to his limit. As a Formal Knight, Green could already control the life energy within his body and release it externally. Though conditions within the caravan were crude, Green had still cleared out a carriage and converted it into his laboratory.

This was Green's first in-depth exploration of the nature of this world. Previously, due to the lack of research tools and the harsh living conditions, he had been forced to set aside his thirst for knowledge. Now that he possessed the ability to protect himself, Green could finally return to his duties as a scientist and uncover this world's mysteries.

Although his knowledge of this world was extremely limited, Green could use the memories of his previous life to improve existing knowledge by modifying models, allowing it to adapt to this world's environment. Coupled with the extraordinary memory and analytical ability granted by the Chip, Green's research had entered an efficient, error-free state from the very beginning.

Across the vast green plains, a caravan moved slowly forward. Among the twenty-odd carriages that made up the caravan, one stood out in particular. It always remained at the very rear, keeping a certain distance from the carriage ahead, and its appearance was unlike the rest. The carriage was tightly sealed, connected to the outside world only through two specially designated windows and a locked door. This was Green's laboratory.

The laboratory's interior was divided into two sections. The left side was filled with flowerpots containing all sorts of strange plants, while the right side was lined with bottles and jars holding various creatures.

At the rear of the carriage, in a separate space, Green held a bottle and carefully observed the creature inside.

"Life energy affects animals and plants in completely different ways." Green rubbed his head as he pondered. Ever since he had gained the ability to control life energy, he had begun exploring how it worked, deliberately collecting large numbers of plants, insects, and animals for experiments.

Inside the bottle before him, a half-meter-long giant centipede slowly wriggled. Its flattened body was dark red, its shell as hard as armor. Its many legs lined its sides like sharp little sickles, while its broad, flat head bore compound eyes that flickered with a faint glow. Its mouthparts were exceptionally sharp, like a cluster of sickles. The protruding bone spines on its carapace secreted mucus, which was undoubtedly highly poisonous.

"Sigh, another failure." Green looked at the centipede with some frustration. Though it was enormous, it actually had little time left to live. Under Green's catalysis, it had grown rapidly, but it had already reached the limits of its cells and would soon die.

As soon as Green finished speaking, the centipede began to lose its vitality. In the end, it went limp inside the bottle and stopped moving.

[Chip, record the results of the fifth experiment and compare and analyze them against the inspection results.]

[Research Result One: After receiving life energy, plants tend to extend their overall lifespan, undergo less abnormal transformation, and rarely experience mutational evolution. Flowering plants tend to extend their blooming period in order to spread more seeds.]

[Research Result Two: After receiving life energy, insect creatures tend to increase in size and greatly strengthen their offensive organs, while their lifespans are drastically shortened. Even if an insect's growth is interfered with, once the interference is removed, it will still choose to increase in size.]

[Research Result Three: After receiving life energy, mammals experience an overall improvement in their abilities. However, because they cannot continuously generate life energy, these improvements will regress to their initial state once the external life energy is exhausted.]

Green took out a specially prepared liquid from beside him and poured it directly over the centipede's corpse. This was a potion he had formulated specifically to deal with failed experimental subjects. The moment the liquid came into contact with the centipede's body, it began to corrode it. The hard carapace dissolved as quickly as papier-mâché, while the once-transparent liquid turned murky from the organs spilling out of the centipede's body.

[Chip, establish a new interference method based on the fifth experiment.]

[Establishing.]

[Display the energy conversion analysis model between the body and the external world.]

[Model construction progress: 7%. A large amount of data is missing. Please supplement research regarding the properties of external energy.]

Still not enough? It seemed that once he reached Ellendal, he would have to find equipment capable of studying external energy.

After taking another look at the Chip's experimental simulations and sensing the carriage come to a halt, Green opened the laboratory door—or rather, the carriage door. The moment it opened, he heard a voice.

"Brother Green, you're out! Butler Ward has prepared the food. Come eat up front with me!" The speaker was Aishweil. Ever since Aishweil had helped Green handwrite the slave contracts, she had begun assisting him in managing the people in Candia's caravan. Aishweil herself was quite capable and kept the caravan in excellent order. Seeing how proactive she was, Green was happy to take it easy and handed all management matters over to her.

Aishweil was greatly encouraged by this, becoming even more conscientious in her work while using her authority to frequently spend time around Green.

The half-year journey through the wasteland had changed Aishweil's bearing. Her appearance had not changed much, because throughout the journey, nearly all the young women had wrapped themselves up tightly. Even in scorching weather, they were unwilling to uncover themselves, afraid their skin would be damaged by the sun, wind, and sand.

Aishweil's changes were more apparent in her temperament. The somewhat immature air she once had had now become steadier. Yet paired with her girlish voice and voluptuous figure, Green always found it somewhat strange.

"Let's go." Green responded before stepping down from the carriage. Aishweil immediately moved closer, taking Green's hand and pressing it against her chest. Feeling the softness, Green glanced at Aishweil but said nothing.

On the open ground beside them, the people from Green's caravan had already prepared the food and laid it out on a carpet. Several people were already sitting there. Green turned to look at the food on the carpet. Though there were only a few pieces of white bread, after half a year on the road, it was already quite precious.

Green could not help but sigh. Thankfully, Baron Candia's "delivery" had arrived. Otherwise, by the middle of the journey, the people in the caravan might have been gnawing on black bread.

After sitting down by the table and chairs, Aishweil very consciously took the seat beside Green and shot provocative looks at the two women nearby—Leila and Mia. Green had originally thought the two of them would give up, but they had continued openly and secretly competing with Aishweil, never once backing down.

Green could understand Mia's situation. Having held such a low status in the original castle, it was highly likely that the baron would no longer support her after they reached Ellendal. She needed to support herself, and Green was her best option, even if she could only become a maid.

At first, Green had not understood why Leila refused to give up, but he later learned the reason. The baron had already made up his mind that once they settled down in Ellendal Harbor, he would marry Leila off to a local noble in order to establish a foothold there.

Under such circumstances, Leila naturally wanted to resist. But this time, even Leila's mother could not stop the baron. In the entire caravan, there was only one person who could stop him: Green.

Green felt that if Aishweil had not kept such a close watch on him, Leila would have long since climbed into his carriage and offered herself to him.

Having already made his decision, Green had merely watched in silence and did not interfere too much. Since Green did not state his position, the three women continued circling around him. Green glanced at Old Green, who was smiling beside him. As a shrewd old hand, Old Green had long seen through the situation, but he was more than happy to see it unfold.

"How much longer until we reach Ellendal Harbor?" Green asked helplessly as he looked at Old Green's grinning face.

"Not much longer. We'll arrive in half a month at most. Once we enter the Maslow Alliance's territory, the roads will only get better, and we'll move much faster." Upon hearing Green's question, Old Green immediately lowered his head and began calculating.

"Half a month? That's not even enough time for one experiment. It seems I need to start considering life in Ellendal." Green lowered his head and began arranging his life after reaching the harbor based on the information he had gathered.