Territory Expansion

However, this question didn't trouble Li Wei for long.

Under the barkeep's watchful eye, Li Wei steeled himself and clumsily mounted the horse, catching several glimpses of the barkeep reaching out to help.

Yet the moment he successfully got on, a familiar feeling surged through Li Wei.

This feeling was similar to cooking.

When Li Wei wanted to act, the horse beneath him seemed to share his thoughts—the instant his mind moved, it responded accordingly.

It was the system, the system assisting his control!

Li Wei could sense that this assistance process could still be interrupted at any time; he could rely on his own real skill to take over if he wanted, but right now he certainly wouldn't do that.

With the system's help, Li Wei suddenly had confidence.

Early the next morning, he rode one horse and led another, went to the farmer's house to pick up two chickens, loaded them into cages, and set off.

The return trip took no less time than the journey there.

Although the horses ran faster than Li Wei, they still needed rest and had to be fed fodder.

When he spotted Roadside Fortress, Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief.

There were no signs of disturbance at the city gate, meaning things had been peaceful during this time.

After temporarily settling the two horses and two chickens, Li Wei returned to the castle and sorted through his supplies.

First, smelting.

Li Wei tossed all the gold items he'd bought from William into the Anti-Smelter. His luck wasn't bad—he ended up with four gold ingots and one Gold Grain.

He immediately crafted two Golden Carrots.

Li Wei went to the horses and placed a Golden Carrot by one horse's mouth.

The horse found the Golden Carrot a bit novel but didn't bite right away. It sniffed first, and after determining it seemed to be just a slightly different-colored carrot, it chomped down and started munching.

Before long, a few red hearts appeared above its head.

Li Wei wasted no time, pulling out the second Golden Carrot to feed the other horse.

The two horses unconsciously drew closer together.

Soon after.

[Achievement unlocked: "Where Do I Come From?"]

Description: Successfully bred a pair of animals.

Looking again, a somewhat dazed-looking foal had squeezed itself between the two adult horses.

One of the adult horses seemed startled by the sudden appearance of the foal, its eyes wide as it bolted back several steps.

But Li Wei was overjoyed.

Lucky break.

This foal had a speed of 11 points, inheriting the genes of the fastest horse.

Its health was 26 points.

While the two adult horses stared in amazement at their suddenly materialized child, Li Wei grabbed the two chickens and fed them wheat seeds.

Before long, a chick with eyes full of wisdom was born.

Staring into those wise eyes, Li Wei couldn't help but sigh:

These dull-witted kids all look the same.

With a foal in his left hand and a chick in his right, Li Wei felt the future was bright.

He didn't even bother resting that day, directly grabbing a pickaxe and cobblestone to start demolishing and rebuilding the city wall.

In just one day, he more than doubled the territory's size.

Along the way, he also set up new agricultural and livestock planning zones, plus a separate horse paddock and stable.

By now, Roadside Fortress's territory was already quite large—roughly tens of thousands of square meters. Anyone who saw it would wonder if this was the home of some Great Lord.

While expanding, Li Wei didn't forget to keep breeding animals. Once the number of bred animals reached two, he no longer needed the original two horses and two chickens.

After some thought, Li Wei simply fenced off a separate area to raise them, keeping them apart from the later-bred animals.

With that done, Li Wei continued planning the agricultural zone.

Pumpkins, wheat, potatoes, carrots, corn, onions, ginger, garlic...

Another day passed. Looking at the neatly divided areas before him, Li Wei felt a wave of satisfaction.

The crop seeds were growing strong. The pasture was a bit empty now, but it would fill up as breeding continued. As for the horses, he'd only bred two before running out of gold, so he had to put that on hold for now. Still, at least he had horses to use—and ones that could run forever without rest, with a fuel consumption of three blades of grass per hundred kilometers, and even those three blades were just symbolic nibbles.

All in all, Roadside Fortress's development was thriving.

That night, a pumpkin vine ripened with Bone Meal produced the first square pumpkin.

Li Wei placed it on top of Iron Blocks and summoned the territory's first Iron Golem.

Clang!

The iron blocks and pumpkin fused together in an instant, transforming into a three-meter-tall long-armed Iron Giant covered in moss and vines.

Unlike the blocky version in the game, this Iron Golem was closer to a realistic style, looking a bit rounder, though that dull expression remained unchanged.

As soon as it was summoned, the Iron Golem began wandering around the territory, patrolling.

The Iron Golem's method of detecting enemies was simple.

If hostile, it attacked. If not, it left them alone.

A day later, there were twenty Iron Golems inside the castle.

With so many Iron Golems guarding the place, even a squad of a hundred could be easily dealt with. Even if several hundred Orcs came, it wouldn't be impossible to fight them.

In short, the territory's safety had a preliminary guarantee.

Another week passed like this.

The crops in the territory had been harvested once. Looking at the several stacks of vegetables stored in the warehouse, Li Wei felt a genuine joy of harvest.

That night, he pulled up a few scallions and made a dish of scallion stir-fried beef.

So delicious.

This life was practically like that of an immortal.

That day, Li Wei went out mining as usual and suddenly spotted three Wild Bulls drinking by the lake.

He immediately changed course, quietly approached the lake, and this time didn't just draw his sword and chop. Instead, he went through great effort to circle one, knocked it out, and brought it back to the castle.

[21/30]

You had to admit, Wild Bulls were different—their health was so thick.

The next day, Li Wei continued lying in ambush by the lake and finally caught another Wild Bull.

Same routine: knock it out, drag it back.

Just like that, the two Wild Bulls had company in the pasture, and Li Wei gained an unlimited supply of milk. He also used Komugi to breed two calves, securing meat for the future.

This was a win-win—Li Wei won twice.

After the Wild Bulls, Li Wei discovered Wild Boars appearing.

So he did the same thing.

Lie in ambush, slowly approach, circle, knock out, drag back.

After settling the Wild Boars, Li Wei took time to build a simple egg collection device.

He just placed some hoppers under the chicken coop, connected to a chest below.

That way, he wouldn't have to pick up eggs himself anymore.

For half a month straight since returning from Bree, Li Wei's days were incredibly fulfilling, with not a moment idle—either mining or tending to the crops and animals in the territory.

As a result, even though he used iron every day, his stockpile increased rather than decreased.

And that Iron Vein showed no signs of being mined out, as if it still had plenty of ore.

Seeing everything orderly, developing smoothly, and supplies abundant, two more days passed, and Li Wei prepared to head east.

Early that morning, Li Wei saddled the faster of his two horses, equipped it with Iron Horse Armor, and was about to set off.

But unexpectedly, a guest arrived.

Falrodan.

"Hello there!"

Fully dressed, Li Wei greeted from a distance: "How's it been lately?"

"Not bad."

Falrodan glanced at the Roadside Fortress, a look of surprise on his face: "I feel like this place has changed somehow. It seems much bigger, and..."

He looked toward the farms and pastures inside the walls, adding: "I remember last time, these weren't here..."

"Oh, I planted those a few days ago."

A few days ago?

That Corn looked like it had been growing for two months already!

Forget it, facing this guy, you couldn't judge by normal standards.

This Ranger was gradually learning to get used to Li Wei. Looking at Li Wei, who was neatly dressed and leading a horse that seemed less than bright, he asked: "Looks like I came at a bad time. Are you heading out?"

"Yeah, I plan to check out Rivendell."

"Rivendell..." Falrodan glanced at Li Wei.

"I know that place. There's a path through the wilderness that leads there. Hope you don't get lost."

The experienced Ranger shared the shortcut to Rivendell.