Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Chapter 94: Chapter 36: The Gift of the Beautiful Forest Witch

After eliminating the vanguard of the cultists near Moonlight Highlands, Su Li led his team to Moonlight Highlands below and found the narrow barren area where the sacred seeds of the Holy Purple Vine were buried.

Actually, the soil here is very fertile, with abundant rainfall, and the surroundings are teeming with life, overgrown with weeds. Not far away, there is a patch of wild shrubs, with raspberry trees over two meters tall, and the fruits are very sweet.

But this particular area is bare and barren, with jagged rocks, weathered sand and stone, and if you look closely, it is indeed a bit strange.

So there is also a ditch here, it seems that some previous force tried to excavate here, but after digging more than ten meters deep, they gave up.

Su Li then instructed the territory’s soldiers to mark this place, preparing to recruit a team of Dwarf Engineers or a team of Green Skins to dig here.

The position more than seventy meters underground is a bit too deep for humans, and it is difficult to reach without professional drilling equipment. But for dwarves and green skins, this is their main area of activity.

Dwarves can even hollow out an entire mountain and build large structures like the Dwarven Oath Hall and Ancestral Courtyard below.

These two races often start wars underground due to tunnel marching. The Glory of the Eternal Kingdom of Eight Peaks Mountain was once occupied by Green Skins, goblins, and goblins. Even the most stubborn dwarves had to reluctantly abandon their most prosperous and glorious kingdom amidst endless wars.

Su Li explored here and confirmed that with the territory’s current power, they could not excavate the sacred seeds of the Holy Purple Vine, so he decisively led the army back to the territory.

There were still many matters in the territory that needed his attention. Although his talented Civil Servant could solve many problems for him, some matters related to daily intelligence still required his personal attention.

Not long after his return to the territory at sunset, Vandar strode into the training ground, reporting to Su Li with an eager expression: ”My esteemed Lord, you are truly the guiding light of the territory, the knower of everything in Hesse Territory. According to your instructions, we did discover a swamp forest in the northeast direction of Mirror Swamp, filled with dense birch trees and shrubs.”

”We encountered a reclusive Forest Witch who has the ability to sense the Essence of Nature. Based on the intelligence she provided, we found a Lady Logan in the low shrubs of the swamp. Our nuns from the Dawn Church are already communicating with her, and they told her that there are over two hundred acres of hemp fields in the territory, inviting her to come and help us develop according to the teachings of the Dawn Goddess.”

”I believe it won’t be long before she follows the nuns to the territory and settles in the hemp fields.”

The addition of the new Essence of Nature brought a smile to Su Li’s face, and he remembered Vandar telling him about the world of the Essence of Nature and their surreal abilities.

Lady Logan is an Essence Soul of hemp plants, living in fields where crops are grown. She looks like a tiny hairy old woman, amazed at everything. She can possess scarecrows to drive away intruders and unwanted animals.

With the addition of Lady Logan, the growth of hemp plants will become even more prosperous.

Su Li asked with interest: ”Besides revealing an Essence of Nature, did the visit to the Forest Witch’s hut yield any other gains?”

”Indeed. Due to our support, we gained the goodwill of a witch named Ingrid, who established a friendship with our territory. In the future, she will not only reside permanently in our territory’s marshlands but also open the swamp forest passage every Monday of each cycle, allowing our people to visit her. She will sell us some magical items and potions.”

While speaking, he took out a backpack from behind that looked very much like a miner’s bamboo basket used for transporting ore and said: ”This is called the Endless Ore Basket, a tool Lady Ingrid uses to collect ores. If you place it in a room, it can randomly produce a basket of precious ores every week, such as Star Iron, Obsidian, Crystal, Mithril, and even Vibranium.”

”Before, she lived in seclusion in the forest, relying on this Endless Ore Basket to obtain ores for her research. She also has an Endless Food Basket, which produces a basket of food every day. She left the Food Basket behind and gave us the Endless Ore Basket as a gift. In the future, if she needs ores, she will trade with us.”

Upon hearing this, Su Li couldn’t help but smile. This reclusive Forest Witch is quite interesting. It’s evident that she genuinely wants to thank Hesse Territory for their help, but she really has nothing valuable to give. She is a reclusive witch living a simple life, and there’s nothing of value in her small hut, so she could only offer the only ore basket she had as a gift.

This happened to be Vandar, a wrinkled Elder Druid. If it had been Su Li, a young and spirited Knight, she might have had to remove her black silk and hood to express her gratitude to Su Li.

After a laugh, Su Li curiously asked: ”With her trading with us, what can be traded?”

”Oh, mainly some witchcraft items she crafted, including an Anti-Cold Necklace, which can slightly increase cold resistance in winter. Reconnaissance Guard, a small totem that provides warning when Beastmen approach. These items could become specialties of our territory, costing us only 1~2 Golden Crowns, but if we sell them, we can make at least a fifty to a hundred percent profit. In the flourishing future of commerce, the wealth we harvest from the forest hut might not be less than 10 Gold Coins each month.”

A Witch’s Hut producing at least ten crowns of revenue each month is more than the taxes paid by dozens of farmers within a month.

It seems that in this world, if you want to get rich, you still need some fantastical paths.

Su Li was in a good mood, but this was all about internal affairs development. Winning against the Green Tide was the only hope to unlock all this potential.

Su Li asked with concern, ”Does her hut have anything that can enhance the army’s combat power?”

Vandar’s expression turned serious and he said, ”There is something, and Lady Ingrid can produce it. However, she’s a Forest Witch, loves peace, and opposes killing. Every time she makes one of these for us, her favor towards us decreases a little. If her favor drops too low, she might leave this swamp wrapped in a mist.”

Su Li no longer had the energy to focus on the witch’s favor. Under the immense military pressure, he was just thinking about how to win.

against 5000, he’s no Zhang Liao, he didn’t have much confidence at all.

So he immediately asked, ”What is it? What effect does it have on the army?”

Vandar pulled a few rings that glowed with a vibrant green light from the backpack hung on his robe and said to Su Li, ”This is the Ring of the Wild, a powerful piece made by Lady Ingrid. It can evoke the strong wildness in soldiers’ hearts. Elite Knights wearing this ring can have a higher chance of gaining the Wild Blessing in attacks, launching ferocious combos.”

”Equip the ring?” Su Li couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. He remembered clearly, the Dwarf Master Belos Dragon Hammer once said, although the world has many messy items, those can at most be called ornaments on knights, unable to resonate with the knight’s bloodline, so they can’t be considered equipment.

A strong knight primarily has five pieces of equipment: weapon, armor, ring, protective talisman, and badge.

Belos Dragon Hammer’s massive warhammer can forge weapons and armor, but can’t forge delicate rings and badges.

So the knights in the territory were only equipped with weapons, armor, and mounts. Now finally, there was a powerful ring.

Vandar said, ”There are a total of four Wildness Rings. Ingrid, upon hearing about the upcoming invasion of the evil Green Skin on the Hesse Territory, said she could make an exception and forge another ring for us to fight against these cruel monsters.”

Su Li nodded happily and said, ”Later, express my gratitude to Lady Ingrid on my behalf and give her one of our precious Dragon Blood Stones as a token of our friendship.”

With five Wildness Rings soon in hand, Su Li immediately made the distribution. Besides giving one to the Military Commander, Knight Oerstein, the remaining three were given to Beast Slayer Jerald, Frost Female Knight Amorri, and Hilude.

Exactly two men and two women, equally distributed. These four should be considered the most promising knights in the territory to contend against an Anaric Giant Spider.

In the evening, Su Li personally put the Wildness Ring on Hilude’s finger. Seeing the cat’s eye-like crystalline ring, a trace of joy appeared on Hilude’s heroic face.

Then she gently threw herself into Su Li’s arms, her snow-white arms encircling his neck, whispering in his ear, ”My Lord, you’ve been under too much pressure these days, I really feel sorry for you. It’s all my fault for being so useless, too weak to help you much on the battlefield. The only thing I can do now is assist you in cultivation. Let me serve you.”

Su Li indeed felt that the pressure in his heart was too great and needed a good way to vent.

Tomorrow was the last day before the monster’s arrival, he had no intention of sleeping, so he kept venting under Hilude’s care until late at night.

It wasn’t until he was completely exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep in Hilude’s embrace.

Hilude gently stroked his hair, wrapping his head with her full and soft embrace.

This finally soothed his mood, and he drifted into a dream amidst Hilude’s shallow breathing.

Before falling asleep, his last thought was that after Hilude’s strength enhanced, both her endurance and resilience seemed to have improved substantially!

She cried for a pause noticeably fewer times than before. The effect of the Divine Grace was indeed remarkable. It seems it’s also necessary for him to receive several Divine Graces, to enhance his own combat power.