[+5.5 Earthia Mana]
[+5.5 Earthia Mana]
[+5.5 Earthia Mana]
[+5.5 Earthia Mana]
[+5.5 Earthia Mana]
"This is kinda nice." Adrian expressed his joy.
At present, they are on the way back to the city riding on the back of crested goshawks. Thankfully, the birds are enough for each of them. From behind, the sound of shouting and cheering can be heard. Nothing serious actually, just four dunirrs experiencing flying for the first time.
With the help of Adrian's [Mental Mapping], they save so much time in figuring out the return path. Based on his mental map, they were approximately thirty kilometres to the northeast of the city.
Since the flying option is available, why opt for a time-consuming method of walking through a variety of terrains? Not to mention all the danger lurking on the ground can easily be avoided.
Having nothing to do, Adrian thought why not absorb mana rather than stay idle?
His threshold doubled every time he levelled up.
It'll get harder and harder the higher he climbs. Even though he had a long time to live, he was curious about what would happen to him once he reached the level limit.
The wind hit his face hard. Moving at this high speed reminds him of riding a motorcycle.
To prevent the bird from fatiguing, he occasionally sends a small amount of mana into its body. Obviously, it's not a foolproof plan. Mana doesn't solve hunger and fatigue, it only delayed them. When someone runs out of mana or stops using it, one will experience all the fatigue accumulated at once.
It was a terrible experience he doesn't want to go through it again. Sometimes he wondered how he was able to stay alive until now.
His hand tightly gripped the nape of the bird. Riding an animal without any stirrup in sight was very uncomfortable, there simply isn't any place to rest his feet.
To solve this problem, Adrian decided to create the saddle specifically for birds. Having a saddle and stirrup will improve his manoeuvrability in the sky.
He slowed down his goshawk to let Haja catch up to him.
Once Haja arrives beside him, Adrian asks, "Haja, I want to make a saddle for these birds when I get home. Have you ever seen any cows, sheep or deer in the forest?"
"You mean those big four-legged animals?"
"Yeah, do they exist in this forest?"
"I don't know about cows or sheep, you can probably see them at the border of the forest. According to old hunters in our group, that area is near human settlement after all. Some might manage to escape but those animals never went deep into the forest. However, I see deer in a deep forest on a few occasions while going for the hunt."
"So, it's not easy to find them, then?" Adrian slumped his shoulder.
"Why do you ask, Chief?" Those animals are enormous for us to hunt. Moreover, our total population can't possibly consume all that meat even if we stuffed everyone. The leftover meat will either rot or attract other predators to our city. Either way, it is not good for us."
Listening to Haja's reasoning, Adrian agreed with him. It's kinda wasteful to hunt big-size animals when there's no way to prevent the meat from rotting.
Unlike humans, dunirrs never worried about the lack of food. On the contrary, they often faced the problem of oversupply food. Due to their small size, the total meat of one normal size cow is sufficient for several weeks. As for vegetables, they simply harvest them from the forest. This is the reason why despite being persecuted by humans, dunirrs still thrive and multiply.
On the dark side, the technique and technology of agriculture activities and animal husbandry have fallen too far behind other species.
It is hard for dunirrs to cultivate crops or raise livestock by themselves. Size restriction plays a huge role in it.
'Wait a minute! It is impossible before but it might be possible to raise a small size of livestock now by using taming. Imagine just how many workforces in hunting teams can be liberated and redirected elsewhere.'
"Chief?... Chief?..."
Adrian snapped out of his reverie, "Huh? Did you say something?"
"Sigh..." Haja still hasn't gotten used to the new chief habit of falling into deep thoughts. "I am asking the reason behind your question about the animals earlier."
"Ohh! I am planning to make a saddle and stirrup from their skin."
"Saddle? Stirrup?" He doesn't understand.
"Have you ever seen knights riding a horse before?"
Haja shook his head, "I only heard rumours about them. Never seen one with my eyes."
"I guess so. It would be a foolish act to venture into uncharted land on a horse when the risk of a sneak attack is everywhere. Let see...Did you not notice how uncomfortable riding this goshawk was?"
This time, Adrian received a nod.
Now that the chief mentioned it, Haja indeed realized his body needed to stay in place to avoid falling.
"Good. Saddle helps you sit comfortably and stabilize your body on the back of this bird. Imagine what kind of crazy move you can do while flying without ever needing to worry about falling down. Imagine attacking your enemy while moving at a high speed."
Haja's imagination went wild. He imagined a group of dunirrs riding a bird to attack the enemy.
Like a bulb suddenly lights up, he has a novel idea. "Chief, why don't we have a team of warriors launching a volley of arrows from the air."
"You're talking about establishing an air force. Nice idea, Haja! I'll put it in our future development plan." Adrian showered him with compliments.
Although it's nothing new to him, it's nice to praise his underlings from time to time.
'Hey, Aries. Is it possible to shoot a small ball of the earth at a high speed like a bullet?'
[Not at the moment, you can't manipulate wind. How do you want to propel it?]
'Err...Gunpowder?'
[It's worth a try but remember, this world has magic. A straight up copied rifle from Earth isn't gonna make much difference in battle.]
....
Adrianopolis.
It has been two days since the new chief departed for the test. In the meantime, Tombas takes over for a while. He doesn't know when the chief is going to return. Finding special beasts isn't an easy task, especially for Adrian who in Tombas's eyes is not a full-fledged hunter. It required a dunirr to push his hunting skills to the limit and put him on edge the entire time.
However, Tombas can't ignore the tradition simply because Adrian is otherworldly. There are 18,000 dunirrs in this place, some dunirrs may not approve of him.
This test will be a chance for Adrian to build credibility and shut the mouth of those old retired hunters.
Right now, his main priority is to complete the construction of the houses inside the wall.
Adrianopolis is ninety per cent complete.
It is a city with a grid layout plan, dedicated districts and areas, sophisticated housing design, tall wall and alarm system, a wide range of road networks made out of stone, a draining system and a farm at the outskirts complete with an irrigation system.
Looking at the planned city by the new chief, Tombas feels exhilarated. It is a city in a league above their former settlement.
Adrian has proved Tombas's decision for appointing him was right.
The dunirrs had taken the first step toward becoming a civilized society.
To his despair, today marked the end of the peacefulness for Tombas ended when he heard multiple shouts outside the city.
Believing a threat is approaching the city, Tombas grabs his stone spear. He doesn't forget to take a bow with several arrows with him. He then proceeds to the east gate where everyone points toward a certain direction in the air. It's probably a bird again.
At first, he sees only one silhouette. Soon later, a few more emerged at the back. Tombas readied his bow and arrows, aiming to shoot at the right moment.
"Tombas!! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! It's me, Adrian!" A pleading voice could be heard in his ears.
"Chief, is that you?! What the heck?!!"