Now that Ben was once again close to the military classrooms he remembered he needed to make a stop there to purchase another lesson. He had given each of the Elven archers a compass but they had no idea how to use them.
Inside the school, he purchased a new lesson and added to their list of lessons they had already been learning.
[Land Navigation]: This lesson will teach recruits how to transverse through unfamiliar terrain on foot or by land vehicle. They will learn how to read maps and use a compass while traveling through adverse conditions such as the dark of night or in poor weather conditions.
'Once they learn this lesson I won't have to worry about them getting lost out in the wilderness if I'm not with them. While I am back over here near the barracks I should go ahead and buy more troops. I have enough money to buy a good number of men and I have already made a few preparations needed for a cavalry.'
As Ben crossed the training grounds he saw General Victor was keeping the troops busy running them through one of the obstacle courses. He left them to their training and went into the recruitment room on the first floor of the barracks.
'I could buy infantry but now that I have the incredible horse that Athena and I made I believe I will go with mounted knights instead. I could always have them dismount and fight as front-line infantry if we need to form a defensive line for any reason. Later when I get the knights fully equipped and have enough mounts then I can think about what type of infantry I should buy.'
Ben stood looking at the list of units debating which type he would buy first and how many. He soon had a rough plan worked out on too he should proceed.
Before he bought the regular troops he purchased an [Elite Dual Type Soldier] just like General Victor. Ben also gave him the [Mounted General] class and the [Mounted Knight] class.
General Victor had been doing a great job training the troops and putting in extra effort to learn the lessons provided for him through the system-link chair. The only reason Ben decided to purchase the second general was to alleviate the workload on General Victor.
If it was only him the poor guy would end up training soldiers from sunup to sundown and still not have enough time for his lessons.
Ben named the new general "Justinus". General Justinus was also a human with an imposing physique he had short cropped black hair and a stern expression. Once Ben had given him an explanation of what was going on he had Justinus begin to escort out the one hundred [Mounted Knights] that he purchased in groups of twenty.
This time around he had only purchased human males to make up the mounted knights division. There were plenty of human females out there and it would not be long before the fortress had enough human females for any men who were looking for a spouse.
They all met out in front of the barracks when Ben had purchased the last group. The whole group walked over to the Market and picked out civilian clothes and footwear. They would all have to make due until Ben could produce the proper fitting military clothing and armor they would wear.
The new group of one hundred Mounted Knights and General Justinus were introduced to General Victor. Ben asked General Victor to give the archers the rest of the day off so that he and his archers could find empty rooms for the Mounted Knights.
Ben had General Justinus follow him over to the house he built for General Victor and made a duplicate of General Victor's house with a system-link chair in the spare room. Ben taught Justinus how to use the system-link chair once he had added the lessons to the menu and left him to settle in for rest of the day.
The new human Mounted Knights measurements were sent out to every workshop by Athena while Ben went over to the foundry.
He wanted to create a lightweight full body armor that would allow his troops to move around unhindered and still be protected from the weapons of this world.
His first attempt was to make a Magnesium Aluminum alloy. The alloy plate hardly weighed anything but Ben feared it may not be hard enough to ward off the constant blows of battle.
The next attempt was to fabricate a Magnesium Steel alloy. It weighed twice the amount of the first alloy and seemed to be solid enough for battle. There was still one last combination that Ben knew would be the best combination.
He had wanted to avoid using too much Mythril in the troop's heavy armor. There was much more available since he had made the three new Mines and upgraded them. If he could cut back on using it in the armor that would allow him to also produce new Mythril weapons for the troops.
Ben went ahead with the next alloy experiment and made a Magnesium Mithril alloy. Mythril has twice the tensile strength of Steel while also having half the weight of Steel it is truly a fantasy metal.
Magnesium also has more tensile strength than steel when measured per unit volume. Combining these two strong and yet lightweight metals Ben could now fabricate a metal that would be ideal for armor of this era.
Ben took a newly fabricated sheet of Magnesium Mithril alloy over to the barracks and had an Elven archer fire an arrow at it with the compound bow they were issued. From twenty feet away the archer blasted a steel bodkin tipped arrow designed for piercing armor.
The Bodkin arrow ricocheted off the metal plate leaving a tiny indentation. It looked as if a nail was held against it and a hammer struck it with just enough force to leave a mark.
The archer asked Ben if he should fire another arrow, Ben shook his head and thanked the archer. Even if the archer fired a whole quiver of bodkin arrows at that metal it, Ben could tell it would have just been a waste of arrows.
Back at the foundry he began making more Magnesium and blended it with the Mythril. He used the remaining Mythril he had been saved to allow the foundry to continuously produce Magnesium Mithril alloy ingots. The final alloy blend he chose to use was around 30% Magnesium and 70% Mythril. This would help him to use less Mythril while keeping the armor lightweight.
The new ingots were added to the Warehouse after they were made by the Foundry. When Ben saw the first batch added into the warehouse he walked over the Armorsmith workshop and began producing his newly designed full body armor with those Magnesium Mithril alloy ingots.
This armor is a modified copy of his armor and would still have the locking mechanism on the left forearm that allowed the shield he designed to attach to the armor. This made it impossible to drop the shield or have it stripped away from you in a fight.
His mounted knights would also need a shield and this was the perfect setup for them. They could then attach the shield to their armor and hold the reins in their left hand while wielding a weapon in their right hand.
Production of one hundred of these special attachable shields was also put into production at the Armorsmith. Ben could only smile wryly knowing that all this armor and these large shields would eat up almost every scrap of the new alloy ingots he was making.
He still wanted to begin production of the knight's weapons but that would have to wait a few days until the Mythril supply began to restock in the Warehouse.
The sun was now descending toward the top of the western tree line and would soon set. Ben wanted to build another structure before he called it a day. Walking south some and staying on the western side of the main street that ran from north to south Ben found a clear area to build.
The place he was building would be used to make a version of [Meals Ready to Eat] or MRE which were used by militaries back on Earth. This new building was called a [Food Processing Facility]. It would allow you to vacuum seal most foods dehydrated or freshly made in a thick plastic bag.
[Food Processing Facility]: Produces dehydrated of fresh premade vacuum sealed meals from provided ingredients and recipes. Snacks like chips, popcorn, or crackers can also be made and bagged here. Recipes can be found in the interface or added to create meals that can then be packaged.
Ben could vacuum seal precooked meats, vegetables, snacks, fruits or any recipe he added the facility would cook and package it.
It took just over fifteen minutes for the Processing Facility to be constructed. Ben opened the interface and began producing ten different types of meals along with snacks and fruits. The facility would deposit them into the warehouse once they were made keeping them fresh until they were removed later on.
There was no hurry to make these meals. The soldiers could eat at the barracks or the restaurant near the keep on their off time. This was more for Ben wanting to get everything that his military might ever need to be squared away.
He was sure there was much more than he had missed and would still need to produce other supplies later. By staying on top of things and settling the problem when he discovered it Ben could avoid having them all pile up and drain his resources.
Now that he was finished for the day he went off toward the Gatehouse to find Chancellor Rayner. The two happened to meet each other on the main street near the Bathhouse. The group of civilians had finally finished the work on the road and they had spent the day cleaning up the lower rock piles created from the excavation work.
It was surprising how quickly these ex-slaves could complete the job with the steel tools that Ben gave them. People of planet Victus were much stronger than those of Earth and it showed in how quickly they could cut through the rock and soil.
Ben brought Rayner over to the Restaurant and they had a meal while discussing on how to send the civilians to the [Basic Education For All] school. They worked out a schedule to send them in two groups. Each group would have one day in the school then the next day the other group would attend each rotating through until they had learned how to read and write.
Now that they were going to learn the basics Ben would build another school to continue their education. He did not need a group of illiterate ex-slaves right now, Ben wanted the people to be educated under him that he could assign titles to and help him deal with the smaller tasks around the fortress settlement.
This new settlement was easy to deal with now but once he made it known to the outside world people would come to live here or possibly to attack the fortress. The farms right outside the fortress walls grew the food that had changed the capital of Goldcrest. If others were to find out where it was grown it wouldn't be long before some greedy noble or king sent an army to raid them.
When that day came Ben might be on the other side of the continent and he wanted his people to step up and defend the fortress along with his military when needed.
'The small jobs that need to be done around here will only continue to grow over time. I will need people who can register new citizens and find them a place to live. The new arrivals will need someone to teach them how to use the holographic menus and assign them schedules for the schools. I want everyone no matter how old to be educated that decides to live here. Having an educated populace will only help bring new ideas and enrich the area.'
Ben made his way over to his keep while he thought about what the future might bring for his small settlement. He shut the keep door behind him and went up to lay on his bed and cultivate. The thoughts and worries about the future and what needed to be done drifted away like clouds of smoke as he cleared his mind and concentrate only on circulating his Qi from one meridian to the next.