Chapter 22: Blacksmith Shop

The great fire in the barbican burned until midnight before gradually extinguishing. The prolonged blaze heated the surrounding walls and ground to the point they were hot underfoot. It was only the next morning that Su Lun dismantled this simple barbican and began clearing the corpses inside.

After seeing the scene inside the barbican, even though he was mentally prepared, Su Lun still felt an urge to vomit. The barbican was piled high with all kinds of charred black bodies, and the air was filled with a burnt, foul smell.

This situation caused no one in the camp to eat any meat for the next few days.

They dug a large pit, threw all the bodies inside, and buried them. Then they had the slaves wash the ground with clean water. Even so, the east gate of the camp still had a faint smell of blood.

After dealing with the monster army, the camp entered a period of rapid development. The native army they destroyed was the most powerful Gnoll tribe nearby. The complete annihilation of this tribe left the surrounding tribes deeply fearful.

The rule in the Wilderness was simple: the strong ruled. Su Lun wanted ownership of this land, so he had to defeat all the forces around it, thus gaining the right to rule.

Now that the largest tribe near Su Lun’s Territory was wiped out, no one dared to challenge him for the time being.

With over a thousand slaves, the construction of the camp sped up again. Three days later, the camp’s Port was finally completed. With the Port built, the daily fish catch increased.

Next, some slaves were assigned to continue clearing farmland, while others built the Blacksmith Shop and the Lord’s Castle. Due to frequent battles recently, many people’s armor and weapons were badly damaged and needed repair before they could be used again.

However, no iron ore had been discovered in the Territory. Su Lun needed to find a source of iron ore to truly establish the Territory’s Blacksmith Shop. Though the Wilderness seemed barren, it actually had many resources, such as iron ore. Most of the Gnolls that attacked Su Lun’s Territory had metal weapons.

These metal weapons looked very crude, with many even containing lots of slag, but they were still metal weapons. Even a human blacksmith’s apprentice could make better weapons than these crude ones.

In fact, these weapons were produced by the Gnoll tribe themselves. Gnolls were also intelligent beings with considerable intelligence. They knew how to smelt iron and steel, but their skill level was very poor.

Since they could make metal weapons, where did the raw materials come from? Humans had long blockaded the Wilderness, and iron ore and weapons were not allowed to be sold to these monsters. So the most reasonable explanation was that the Gnolls in this camp had discovered an iron mine. They happened to know some smelting techniques but were only half-skilled, so the weapons they made were naturally very crude.

Because the Gnolls had found iron ore, Su Lun wasn’t worried about lacking raw materials after the Blacksmith Shop was built. As for seizing that iron mine now, he wanted to, but with only a little over a hundred people, he simply couldn’t manage it. He had to wait until his camp’s population grew before he could take that iron mine for himself.

Besides iron ore, Su Lun also needed to find a coal mine, as it was the fuel for smelting iron.

Temporary Lord’s Manor.

“How many supplies do we have left?” Su Lun sat in a reclining chair, squinting slightly as he asked his scribe. This scribe was chosen from among the slaves; he was literate and knew arithmetic. Though his skills were average, he would have to do until a better one was found.

“Lord, our supplies are dwindling fast. You’ve captured many slaves recently, and our food consumption has doubled. We don’t have much money left either, only three hundred Gold Nar. The Mercenaries’ pay has been given out, and what’s left isn’t even enough to buy supplies in Karlt City,” the scribe said, holding a notebook.

“We need to build the Territory and buy slaves to increase the population. Three hundred Gold Nar is just a drop in the bucket,” Su Lun rubbed his chin and said.

The development of the Territory had hit a bottleneck due to the population problem. Even with over a thousand slaves, they wouldn’t work diligently without supervision. But if he spread his men too thin, Su Lun would face a shortage of available hands.

“Johnson! Johnson!” Su Lun called out directly.

“Boss, I’m here,” Johnson came in from outside.

“Take some men and go back to bring your wives and children here. It’s safe now,” Su Lan said with a smile.

“Really? I’ll arrange for men right away!” Hearing that he could bring his family back, Johnson was overjoyed.

“Be quick,” Su Lun waved his hand impatiently.

The Barbarian women and children were probably doing fine. Though they were considered the elderly, weak, women, and children, the fighting ability of these women should not be underestimated.

“Oh, and when you go back, spread the word that Lord Su Lun has successfully established a Territory in the Wilderness and is in urgent need of various supplies,” Su Lun added after a moment’s thought.

He planned to lure merchants to come and trade. As for what to trade, he hadn’t decided yet.

Johnson left the camp with two Barbarian Greataxe Warriors. Su Lun did not go out to capture more slaves after that. In fact, the monster tribes around his Territory had taken notice, and many had already left the area.

The Blacksmith Shop was finally completed after several days of construction.

“Blacksmith Shop construction completed. Equipment data importing! Metal smelting process importing, metal casting technology importing… Import progress 10%, 20%, 50%… Import completed. System Mall weapon and equipment section unlocked.”

Just as the Blacksmith Shop was finished, the cold prompt of the System sounded in his ears. Su Lun was delighted and quickly checked the Empire Rise System in his mind.

[Blacksmith Shop: The Blacksmith Shop can forge higher quality weapons for the Territory’s Warriors. The skills of the blacksmiths working in the Blacksmith Shop will improve, and the quality of the ironware they produce will also increase. Blacksmith learning speed +2, production speed +1, ironware quality +1.]

Besides these basic descriptions, the previously grayed-out mall button in the System interface was now lit up. Opening the mall, a dazzling array of items appeared, such as bows, iron swords, spears, armor, etc. There were not only ordinary items but also many fine weapons. Of course, there were none of the divine weapons like the Cangtian Emperor Sword, Emperor Sword, Zhangba Snake Spear, or Fangtian Painted Halberd.

But that made sense. Even in the game, they weren’t for sale, so in this real world, they were even harder to obtain.