"Your blacksmithing skills are indeed great. You'll probably catch up with your teacher in a few years." Zhao Changshou stroked his beard and smiled.
"It's just a basic operation. I'm still far from my teacher." Carter Jim reverted to his gnome form and said shyly.
This time, Zhao Changshou did not say anything.
Gibbon Vella was an Extraordinary-Tier Advance Grade Master Blacksmith! He was indeed far inferior comparatively.
At this moment, Zhou Zhou also came back to his senses.
He looked at Carter Jim with shining eyes, as if he was looking at a treasure.
"In the future, you will be in charge of upgrading and repairing the equipment in our territory. Our soldiers are all wearing the most basic Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade equipment. Many people's standard equipment can no longer match their strength. I need people like you to help them!" Zhou Zhou patted Carter Jim's shoulder, looking like he had entrusted him with an important task.
"I will do my best!" Carter Jim said seriously.
He was akin to a young man who had mastered the skills of a military craftsman. Even though he was shy, he yearned to follow a virtuous leader and create a great career.
This was also one of the reasons why he came here to train himself!
"How many sets of standard equipment can you upgrade in a day? You don't have to upgrade them too much, perhaps to Green Bronze-Tier Elementary Grade at best." Zhou Zhou asked.
"If it doesn't exceed the Green Bronze-Tier Elementary Grade, then it's very simple. I can upgrade about 50 sets a day." Carter Jim said.
Zhou Zhou clicked his tongue.
Upgrading 50 sets a day… This efficiency was ridiculous.
However, Zhou Zhou could somewhat understand given his mountain giant transformation just now.
Zhou Zhou asked for the list of ores and materials needed to upgrade the equipment.
According to Carter Jim, there were only two materials required.
Pure iron and fine steel!
"Forging low-level standard equipment mainly depends on the forger's skills and repeated tempering. There's no need for too complicated ores." Carter Jim said shyly, noticing Zhou Zhou's doubtful expression.
Zhou Zhou nodded. He immediately opened the Marketplace and used 10,000 units of Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade Desert Fog Lizard meat to buy these two types of ore materials.
The price he set was five units of pure iron or 10 units of steel for every unit of Black Iron-Tier Elementary Grade Desert Fog Lizard meat!
This price was still very high!
However, there were too many Cerulean Planet Lords so he did not have to worry about not being able to obtain the materials.
At this moment he noticed Ashburn wearing a doubtful expression on his face.
Zhou Zhou asked Zhao Changshou to arrange a place for Carter Jim to stay before he went to Ashburn's side. "What are you looking at?" Zhou Zhou asked Ashburn while patting his shoulder.
"My Lord, is he a gnome too?" Ashburn looked at Carter Jim in the distance and couldn't help but ask.
"He's a gnome with the blood of a mountain giant." Zhou Zhou answered.
"A gnome that actually has the bloodline of a mountain giant… I've learned something new." Ashburn sighed, feeling much better.
Zhou Zhou was also very emotional.
What was Carter Jim's Mountain Giant parent thinking?
"Lucky that I ran into you. Can you use this?" Zhou Zhou handed the formulas for the Antidote and Blood Cleansing Pill to Ashburn.
Ashburn was already used to seeing new formulas so he wasn't surprised.
He looked at it twice before he quickly shook his head.
"My apologies, my Lord. I'm an alchemist. Making some alchemy potions is my limit. This is a potion formula specially prepared for orthodox pharmacists. I can't learn it."
Zhou Zhou was stunned. Ashburn was dead loyal to him so there was no way he would lie to him. He must really be unable to learn it then.
Zhou Zhou could only put them away, even though he did not feel that it was a pity.
He could totally build a second monster ranch to nurture the Black-tailed Fog Scorpion now that he had Origin Crystals!
He could completely obtain antidotes and Blood Cleansing Pills through the monster ranch since Ashburn didn't know anything about them.
Not only was this method simpler, there was also no need to buy the corresponding medicinal herbs from the Marketplace.
"My Lord, I just made 50 mechanostriders. Would you like to take a look?" Ashburn asked.
"Let's go!" Zhou Zhou immediately said.
Mechanostriders were a very important part of his development plan!
They arrived at the alchemy warehouse that housed a total of 50 neatly arranged mechanostriders, making this place look like an armory.
"Well done." Zhou Zhou could not help but praise Ashburn.
"It's my duty to serve the lord." Ashburn said elegantly.
Zhou Zhou smiled and nodded.
Then, he asked Bai Yi to call someone over to bring the 50 mechanostriders out. He ordered for 10 of the mechanostriders to be used specifically for the transportation of loot.
The remaining 40 of them were given to the scout team and were in charge of exploring the surrounding environment of the territory.
Bai Yi was already prepared for this. She immediately found 40 smart soldiers to join the scout team and got them familiarized with the mechanostrider.
More than an hour later, all the soldiers had mastered the operation of the mechanostriders.
Zhou Zhou got them to head out of the territory under Bai Yi's lead to explore the environment outside the territory.
Wu Tu, the cartographer recruited this morning, was among them.
"My Lord! I will definitely become the vice-captain!"
Wu Tu shouted at Zhou Zhou in the distance before they left.
Zhou Zhou smiled and nodded before looking for Zhang Cang again.
At this moment, Zhou Zhou's first subject and also the first Sword Shield Soldier in the territory was already at the Green Bronze-Tier Elementary Grade.
Zhou Zhou asked him to leave 100 soldiers behind and lead the remaining 890 soldiers in clearing the remaining fog monsters outside the territory.
Zhang Cang accepted the order and left.
Half an hour later, in the Lord's wooden house, Zhou Zhou, who was diving in the world channel, suddenly realized that the two deals he had set up were completed.
He had obtained a total of 60,000 units of stone, 50,000 units of wood, 110,000 units of fine sand, and 80,000 units of metal!
600 Mechanostrider Crafting Materials, 2,000 Life Potion Crafting Materials, 800 Energy Potion Crafting Materials, 600 Golden Corpse Water Crafting Materials, 1,200 Blood Eye Crafting Materials!
36,000 units of pure iron and 28,000 units of steel!
500 sets of antidotes!
250 sets of Blood Cleansing Pills!
Other than that, he also bought some random materials.
He could trade all 40,000 units of meat, leaving him with a little less than 20,000 units.
Zhou Zhou looked at the materials he had bought, feeling a little emotional.
This was the disadvantage of desert territory.
He had to buy raw materials if he wanted to make something.
He could be completely self-sufficient if he was in a territory rich in resources.
However, he did not blame anyone.
He was already in a much, much better position when compared to the Lords who could not even solve their survival problems.
Zhou Zhou found Zhao Changshou again before they jointly looked for Mu Gu together to discuss the construction of the second monster ranch.
Zhao Changshou was pleasantly surprised when he knew that he was going to participate in the construction of a special building. This was left unnoticed by Zhou Zhou as he waved his right hand.
3,000 units of wood, 3,000 units of fine sand, 3,000 units of metal, 3,000 units of stone ingredients, and 1,000 units of Black Iron Mist Core appeared out of thin air.
Then, he took out an Origin Crystal and handed it to Mu Gu.
"I'll leave the second monster ranch to Elder Zhao and you. The second monster ranch will be used to nurture the Black-tailed Fog Scorpions. I've left you 100 soldiers, get them to build it for you. Can Monster Ranch be built by tonight with them around?" Zhou Zhou asked.
"No problem." Mu Gu and Zhao Changshou exchanged confirmation nods before replying to Zhou Zhou.
Its current grade would just be a little higher than Black Iron-Tier Advance Grade even though the Monster Ranch was a special building.
They were confident that it would be completed before night fell with enough manpower.
Zhou Zhou nodded and left.
…
Time passed quickly. Night gradually fell.
The scarlet fog gradually appeared in the air. However, since the surrounding Scarlet Lords had been destroyed, no new monsters were born.
Not long after, Zhou Zhou, who was shopping in the Lord's wooden house, suddenly received a report from a soldier.
Bai Yi had already brought 50 soldiers back to the territory with information they had obtained about the surrounding environment of the territory.