Chapter 93: A Flood of Notifications! A New Title!

Author’s note: Firstly, I’d like to thank our friend FirewallStories for his subscription and support – I’m extremely grateful – and I apologise for not having sent a welcome message yet, as today’s chapter was incredibly gruelling; I spent eight hours straight writing it. Secondly, see you on Saturday, everyone… Enjoy the read!

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Once Ibla set off on her task, Kaiden asked Asra to head out as well, to search for ruins.

"As you wish, Master!" Asra felt as though she'd just been granted a great pardon. She'd been feeling nauseated by the smell of oil, and in under two seconds, she vanished into the horizon.

Kaiden shrugged with a smile, watching his pet beast flee. He'd barely managed to tell her to be back before dark before she disappeared. He then turned and looked at the crowd behind him — with both his pet beasts gone, their formation looked a lot more ordinary now.

Before the journey back, Kaiden used Terrain Shaping and Terrain Adjustment to conceal the oil pool. In its place, an ordinary, unremarkable-looking hill soon appeared from the outside, but if you looked inside it, you'd find it hollow, like nothing more than a shell.

Patrick watched this scene with his eyes practically bulging out of his head. Solid ground behaved like pliable dough in that lord's hands. He felt eyes burning into his back, and turned his head to find his territory's residents all staring at him in collective silence.

The meaning in their stares was clear, as though they were asking him: why could someone else's lord create hills with such ease, while their own lord had been proud of himself for carrying a twenty-pound stone on his shoulders to seal a gap in the walls?

Patrick felt a surge of anger and wanted to shout at his people to educate them that he possessed the Knight Seed, which granted him high physical strength, and that every lord he knew of had the same Knight Seed as him — so it wasn't that he was weak, it was completely normal. That lord was the anomaly, so the comparison wasn't fair at all!

"Hmph!" In the end, Patrick didn't dare shout, settling instead for a cold exhale as he turned his head away. He didn't want to look at his people anymore, or he'd explode with frustration.

Once all the arrangements were finished, Kaiden clapped his hands together, and the group set off on their journey home. As they had on the way there, they took a roundabout path. But this time, with their larger numbers, the return trip took longer, taking them over three hours to reach the Territory's borders.

At the sight of the familiar walls, Kaiden broke into a light smile. There was no feeling better than coming home. He wasn't even sure when exactly this barren land had become the place dearest to his heart.

As for Patrick, he'd felt astonished from the moment they drew close, seeing the towering walls stretching across such a vast area. The archer towers were more than he could count in a short glance, though they at least looked normal. But what about those giant ballistae? And what about that tower with the eye of fire at its top? And that other tower, with small bolts of lightning crackling at its peak?

Had he not seen human defenders standing atop the walls, Patrick would have thought they'd arrived at the wrong place entirely. Then, once the massive gate opened to receive them, Patrick was even more stunned by what lay hidden behind the towering walls.

A large city unfolded before his eyes. Rows of near-identical wooden houses created a striking visual effect. On the other side, there were countless workshops, only a handful of which Patrick could even recognize.

*How many beasts did it take to kill for him to acquire all this?!* Patrick muttered to himself, looking at the young lord being warmly welcomed in this moment, as though gazing upon some rare beast himself.

But what stunned him most of all was the farmland. He hadn't expected to see such diverse crops nearly ready for harvest on land this barren. It should be noted he'd secretly tried before to plant fruit seeds he'd bought from the World Market, and the result had been a cold system notification bluntly informing him that his dry land was unsuitable for farming.

Near the farmland, he saw a stable housing several types of livestock, then another stable where several strikingly handsome silver horses were playing around, stretching their muscles. Patrick pinched his own chubby thigh, and the sting of pain reminded him he wasn't dreaming — what stood before him was real.

Yet it was still hard to believe. How long had it been since their arrival? Only eight days! Even if this young lord had been mainlining steroids, this result still wouldn't make any sense, would it?

Kaiden asked Casper to arrange lodging for Patrick and his people, and told him to have Sidra prepare enough food for everyone. He then turned to the chubby man and spoke with him briefly, but was puzzled to find the other party responding with listless indifference.

Kaiden didn't think much of it, assuming the chubby man was still reeling from the defeat and enslavement, so he left him with Casper and headed off with quick steps. He still had plenty of things left to take care of.

...

Kaiden looked at the deep well Ibla had carved out and nodded with satisfaction. Even though he couldn't see the bottom of the well without activating Earth Sight, he knew its base connected to a tunnel that eventually led to the oil source. Tomorrow morning, he'd begin the process of hardening the tunnel starting from the well, converting the dirt floor into tiling. Then this currently dry well would automatically fill with oil under the pull of gravity.

Once he'd confirmed Ibla's work was proceeding without any issues, Kaiden started searching for a groundwater source, making use of the last threads of daylight before darkness fell.

Even in the modern world, despite all its technology, finding a groundwater source could still be surprisingly difficult, especially in rural areas. Luck played a decisive role, and people relied on strange methods, like feng shui experts or someone carrying stones and performing rituals. The main reason was to put local residents at ease before drilling began, since bringing in a drilling rig cost a lot of money. And even after going through every step, they might still not find water in the end, meaning the drilling site would have to be moved, doubling the costs.

But for Kaiden, there was no need for rituals, no need to drill first and test his luck. All he had to do was activate Earth Sight. And that's exactly what he did. After changing locations dozens of times, Kaiden suddenly exclaimed, "Finally found you!"

[System Alert: Congratulations! You have discovered a small-reserve Groundwater vein through the "Earth Sight" skill. You have gained 777+ Experience.]

[System Alert: You have discovered three different resource veins within less than 24 hours. Evaluating achievement...]

[System Alert: Achievement evaluated. Congratulations! You have gained a special title: Baron of Resources (Number of lords who have earned this title so far: 7). Please open the title's description for further details.]

End of Chapter 93.

I hope you’ll subscribe and support me, lads. Each chapter takes many hours of writing whilst I’m racking my brains – especially the chapters after number 100, where the plot has become more complex and the workload on me has increased. Thank you all.