Chapter 107: Recruiting Soldiers

What could 7,853 gold sols accomplish? It could purchase one hundred sets of weapons and armor, enough to equip a hundred soldiers. It could buy 2,700 head of cattle, or 1,500 tons of barley. In short, with such a sum, Victor could greatly strengthen his domain. Yet, for the Alchemy Tower, this money held a special significance.

Creating alchemical creatures required a certain amount of gold coins. The Alchemy Empire believed that money contained the laws of creation; Victor interpreted this as fortune or fate, and expending money was therefore the consumption of one's fortune. Victor had once conducted an experiment: the villagers of Pinghu offered him supplies as tribute, effectively transferring their wealth to Victor. Sure enough, when comparing identical resources, the Alchemy Tower deemed the tributes from Pinghu to contain more wealth than those Victor had simply purchased. This indicated that, when Victor bought goods, part of his own fortune was transferred to the merchants. Wealth, after all, represented resources. Therefore, Victor concluded that wealth equaled fortune.

To obtain wealth, one must either create or seize it; in terms of seizing, there was war, and then there was trade. However, Victor had just shot down a peculiar antman, and the Alchemy Tower immediately increased his fortune by 7,853 gold sols. This sudden windfall left Victor with many questions. Where had this wealth come from? What did it have to do with the laws of creation?

For now, Victor didn't dwell on these mysteries. He admitted that his understanding of this world was still shallow—especially concerning matters involving its deepest secrets, which were far beyond his current grasp.

He only wanted to know one thing: were the antmen truly alchemical creatures?

A corpse of an antman lay upon the elemental extraction platform. Victor asked, "King, are these half-man, half-ant monsters alchemical creations of the Narell Empire?"

"Master, I cannot be certain whether these creatures are alchemical beings, but they are undoubtedly connected to the Alchemy Tower," the King replied.

When an alchemical creature died, its soul-fire would return to the Alchemy Tower—a crucial hallmark of such beings. But if the antmen were indeed alchemical creatures, the implications were terrifying. Victor had no desire to become enemies with the Alchemy Empire; that was a hopeless prospect.

Frustrated, Victor demanded, "Why would an alchemical creature attack me? Wasn't it said that our own kind do not fight one another?"

"Master, I do not know," the King answered seriously, then added, "I truly do not know."

Victor was left speechless. In the end, the King was just like him—a mere inheritor of the Narell Empire’s remnants, whose knowledge was limited to what was preserved in the Alchemy Tower. As for the Empire's deeper secrets and legacy, he knew little.

"Can you at least hazard a guess—one that’s closest to the truth?" Victor pressed, unwilling to let it go.

After a pause, the King replied, "Master, I suspect these antmen might be alchemical creatures, and that perhaps something has gone wrong with their Alchemy Tower. This could have caused a deviation in their core programming, leading them to attack us recklessly."

"What confuses me," the King continued, "is that the soul-fire of an alchemical being should return to its tower upon death. Now, however, I am the one absorbing it. Moreover, alchemical creatures cannot reproduce—how have they endured for tens of thousands of years? If these antmen truly were created by an Alchemy Tower, our own creations should recognize them. Therefore, I cannot conclude that they are alchemical creatures; I can only be certain that they are somehow connected to the Alchemy Tower."

"Now, tell me—can the Alchemy Tower be damaged? I mean, if those monsters destroy this place, what will happen to you?" Victor asked, patting the elemental extraction platform. This was his greatest concern. The antmen would soon breach the camp—who knew if these monsters would destroy the tower?

"Master, the Alchemy Tower can indeed be damaged; some functions may cease if the rune crystal is damaged. But the core function—the binding of soul-fire—will never fail. In fact, the core function is tied to the world's laws and does not reside within the tower itself."

"As for the elemental extraction platform, even if it's destroyed, it doesn’t matter. It is merely a manifestation of earth-element energy. As long as the extraction function within the rune crystal remains intact, the platform can alter its shape and size as needed, though this does require spending some money."

Victor breathed a sigh of relief. He had seen rune crystals before—these palm-sized crystals were the true heart of the Alchemy Tower. Normally, they appeared as crystalline objects hidden within the extraction platform. When the tower was in use, they would present a runic form: four basic runes at the core, evolving into others, arranged in a sphere—simple at the center, increasingly complex toward the outside. The outer runes formed the tower's various functions. Number 7's Alchemy Tower's rune crystal was defective, so many functions could not be used. The rune crystal itself was the physical embodiment of the laws of creation; it couldn’t be destroyed by physical means, nor could it be removed by anyone without the Empire’s authority.

"King, open the elemental extraction platform," Victor ordered.

The altar-like platform glowed with a gentle white light, then split into many square stones that hovered in the air, revealing a rhombic crystal to Victor.

Mist-shrouded, dreamlike, the crystal radiated secrets, power, and authority. Victor hesitated, reluctant to claim this priceless treasure.

In theory, the rune crystal was the Alchemy Tower. Yet, the location of the tower was critical—it had to be built at a place where the four elements converged. Neither Victor nor the King knew how to detect the void element, so Victor had planned to take the rune crystal away and return to rebuild the tower once the monsters had been cleared.

But now, it was clear the monsters were deeply connected to the tower. Were they after the rune crystal? If he took it with him, would he be hunted by hundreds of commander antmen? The mere thought of their formidable abilities sent chills down Victor’s spine.

"King, restore the elemental extraction platform."

Victor ultimately decided not to take the rune crystal. If the antmen were after the crystal, taking it would not help him escape their pursuit. If not, then leaving it in place was fine—and he could still create alchemical creatures for reinforcement.

The floating stones reassembled into their original form, and the light in the cave faded. Victor rapped his knuckles on the iron-hard stone and sighed, "King, how much funding remains in the Alchemy Tower?"

"Master, including the 7,853 coins just added, the tower now holds a total of 9,653 gold coins," the King answered honestly.

"I recall the tower has a rapid-construction function," Victor mused.

"Master, Number 7’s rapid-production runic array is unstable. Activating it may result in a permanent loss of that function."

Rapid production was designed for emergencies: creature production speed would increase by 30%, but resource consumption would climb by 50%. Number 7's Alchemy Tower could only use this function once. But if not now, in such a dire moment, then when? With 9,653 coins left, Victor was determined to spend them all.

"Cancel the alchemical militia production. Set a new production sequence: initiate rapid construction. Produce fifty alchemical warhounds. Each is to seek me out, avoiding the antmen," Victor ordered.

Of course, 9,653 coins were not enough to produce fifty warhounds. In rapid mode, each cost 1,200 gold sols and took two hours and forty-seven minutes to make. These formidable creatures were strong, swift, sharp of sense, and highly mobile—perfect for evading the antmen and ideal for the current crisis. Victor did not know when he would return to the tower; he might as well queue up a long production order. With enough warhounds, his chances—whether for slaying commander antmen or making an escape—would be greatly improved.

Victor had resolved to counter cannon fodder with his own cannon fodder.

————————————

Lilia lay across Karn’s back, the wind howling in her ears as the landscape blurred by on either side. Karn carried her in great strides, each step spanning four meters, the earth cracking beneath his feet.

He had been running at this speed for a full hour, yet showed no sign of fatigue—his extraordinary stamina was enough to astonish anyone.

Lilia, oblivious to this, was filled with anxious urgency. She longed to reunite with Nelson as soon as possible, so her brother could rescue Victor. Although Victor had his own escape plan, the area around the hill camp was teeming with antmen monsters, and the risk of the last evacuees being surrounded was high.

The moment Lilia left the hill camp, she wasted no time speaking with the village elders and hurried away with Karn along the predetermined route toward the northernmost safe zone. But she was only human; after running some distance, she was out of breath, so she let Karn carry her.

By now, Karn had carried her nearly thirty-five kilometers, and they were still far from the freedmen’s settlement. Lilia was dissatisfied—Karn kept taking detours. But she understood: Karn was constantly altering their path to avoid the antmen, guided by three Dust Hawks scouting ahead. These alchemical ravens soared high, their wide view perfect for reconnaissance. With their help, as long as they had the stamina, they’d almost certainly avoid being surrounded.

One of the leading Dust Hawks suddenly circled in the air. Karn stopped at once.

"What is it? Don’t tell me there are more antmen ahead?" Lilia frowned. They were already far from the hill camp; if there were still antmen out here, then the number of these monsters must be well over ten thousand.

Karn shook his head. "Not antmen—human cavalry. Our own people."

The hawk’s posture in flight showed that it had sighted not only human cavalry but another alchemical raven as well.

Delighted, Lilia leapt from Karn’s back. "It must be my brother!"

Guided by the Dust Hawks, Lilia and Karn soon spotted a troop of cavalry—at their head rode Nelson atop a swift bird.

Nelson also caught sight of Lilia and led his men quickly over. Just as she dismounted, Lilia burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

"Brother, you must go save Victor!"

Nelson embraced his sister, emotions swirling within him. He had been the first at the freedmen’s settlement to receive intelligence from the Dust Hawks. Because the parchment was small, Victor had kept his message brief: the camp was surrounded by monsters and Nelson was ordered to evacuate the villagers of Brick Kiln Village.

Nelson took his guards and hurried for Brick Kiln Village, encountering the retreating villagers en route. From Dean, he learned that many monsters were pouring in from the great marsh, but Dean had little detail. In the end, Nelson told Dean to lead the villagers to the freedmen’s settlement while he and ten cavalrymen would scout the hill camp from the east to avoid the monsters coming from the west—which was how he ran into Lilia.

"Lilia, what happened?" Nelson asked, holding her by the shoulders.

Knowing time was short, Lilia choked back her tears and quickly recounted the situation.

"Brother, Victor plans to evacuate last. You must find a way to bring him back," she said, her voice breaking again at the thought of Victor facing death.

Nelson’s face grew grave. Never had he imagined thousands upon thousands of monsters besieging the hill camp. In human history, mustering such numbers for war was rare—the last time was the Battle of Whitewater Fortress launched by the Sasan Empire.

"Lilia, Victor wants you to seek help from Blackfort Town. Go there at once, and tell Dean’s group to retreat there as well," Nelson instructed.

With the situation so perilous, Nelson did not want his sister at risk. Sending her to Blackfort Town was the safest course—likely Victor’s intention as well.

Seeing her anxiety, Nelson comforted her: "Victor is extraordinarily capable, and he has Reno and the others to protect him—he’ll be fine. Besides, these Dust Hawks are his trained companions; they’ll be able to find him. Don’t worry."

He glanced at the taciturn Karn, wisely refraining from questions—the burly man reminded him of Reno. Nelson believed Victor’s hidden strength was formidable and these warriors were likely the secret force cultivated by the Wimbledon family.

"You all escort Lady Lilia to Blackfort Town. I’ll scout the hill camp alone," Nelson instructed his guards.

"Brother, be careful—don’t let yourself get surrounded by monsters!"

Nelson’s plan made Lilia anxious once more.

He patted his swift bird. "I’ll ride; I won’t be caught."

Swift birds were perfectly suited to the hilly terrain, gliding over obstacles with ease. But adult swift birds were ill-tempered and hard to ride—only Nelson and the alchemical militia in Victor’s domain could handle them.

"Oh, brother, the Dust Hawks can scout the enemy too," Lilia added, turning to Karn. "Karn, show my brother how to command the Dust Hawks."

Karn nodded blankly. Escorting Lilia to Blackfort Town was his main mission; obeying her commands was secondary. Teaching Nelson to understand the Dust Hawks’ signals fit his purpose perfectly.

Within minutes, Nelson had a basic grasp of their methods and secretly felt relieved. With the Dust Hawks, Victor’s chances of survival had greatly improved.

"Let’s go!"

Nelson tugged the reins, and the swift bird let out a piercing cry before racing toward the hill camp. He could not rest until he had seen the situation with his own eyes.