Others decided on the details of the expansion, and I left the following day. It only took me two days to get to the Acies forest without much issue. Garth told me the routes he thought slavers would take, so I would look until a caravan came through.
A caravan could take many different paths, but by reshaping parts of my body into reconnaissance drones, I could easily search a kilometer in all directions.
I waited for a caravan for the next two days. I saw a merchant caravan pass through, but that was a legitimate business, so I didn't bother with it.
On the third day, a slaver caravan finally came through. As it set up camp at night, I would free all the captured people and take the equipment.
This slaver group was more robust, with the leader at the seventh rank and five rank six guards. Seeing the higher ranks, I knew there would also be better loot.
It didn't take me long to kill all of the guards. If any of them escaped or I captured them, they would just cause more trouble and might even get someone else killed.
The leader didn't put up much of a struggle either. Unless they had some secret technique or equipment, it would be tough for people to cross ranks to fight.
Garth was the only one I knew with something like that, but even he couldn't defeat someone of a higher level. His technique allowed him to hide, but it wasn't suitable for fighting unless it was an assassination.
This group captured 50 slaves, and they all came with me. The promise of a safe place rather than a guess made them more likely to come.
This group had 20 warhorses and, instead of dogs, a pack of hunting birds. The horses were all fifth or fourth-ranked, but Arion was better. I also kept the leader of the birds, a falcon I named Vesper, who was also fifth-ranked.
This group had four carts and the boss's coach, just enough to fit everyone. All the captured people were in the same rank as the beasts, rank five or below.
The boss didn't have much loot, but I acquired more money papers, and he had a well-crafted greatsword I took for myself. It was a manasteel and orichalcum alloy sword similar to Zweihänder with the main two-handed hilt and a secondary hilt which was a part of the blade.
The blade was almost two meters long, with the hilt adding around a foot. The bottom five inches of the blade were dull, allowing for additional holds and acting as the secondary hilt.
The blade was also six inches wide at the base, only tapering at the last foot of the edge to a point. Being so big, the blade was heavy but reasonably balanced. I added a drop of my nanomachines to strengthen and integrate the blade.
I couldn't make the blade out of nanomachines as the edge and support had to be solid. I once tried, but any weapon I made wouldn't hold up to my full strength.
-----
Over the next two weeks, we traveled back to the village with everything. This time was much more stressful as I had to do everything Garth did the first time.
When I returned to the village with everybody, a visible stress lifted off my shoulders. Rex was also happy to see me.
I had left him to Garth to babysit while I was out. When I left, Rex was around the same length as Arion, but now he was as big as the chimera eagle and twice the length of Arion at wing length.
While smaller than Arion and as strong as the chimera eagles, Rex was getting there with a Yellow core and approximately the fifth level of tempering.
Like a dragon would age, Rex would most likely grow to a cap until adolescence before properly cultivating. Rex was getting big and couldn't sustain his current growth rate, so I suspected he would grow slower and reach adolescence in a year or two. He would take decades to reach adulthood if he was like dragons.
When I was free, I also analyzed his shell and realized it was impossible to replicate. It contained but also rejected mana so that I couldn't see past it with my magic sight.
It also blocked any aura, even up to my level, so I placed it inside my body to continue analyzing and see if I could integrate it.
-----
I continued going in and out of camp for a year, bringing more people with me every time. I was seventeen this fall, and my birthday was just a week ago.
Over this year, the village grew from 32 to 700 people. I brought back approximately 45 people every three weeks for a year, so the town grew considerably.
Not only had the village grown, but I reached the ninth rank with a Teal core, and Garth had an Emerald core. He was an eighth-rank warrior now. The villagers also became more powerful, with ten people at the seventh rank, 50 at the sixth rank, and many others.
The average rank of people worldwide is one, but in this village, the average is three. The beast population and strength had also grown.
Arion, Greyhound, and Vesper were at the seventh rank, partly due to my proximity and the high mana density. Rex was also at the peak seventh rank, needing only a little push to get to the eighth.
The eighth rank was more challenging, so it would be a while before any beasts or villagers, except for Rex, reached that level.
The village itself was also progressing nicely. The meeting room had turned into an entire Mayor's building, and the roads were paved with brick. The town was becoming a city with a bustling town center.
A couple of stores had appeared with luxury goods. The village still controlled the supplies, with everyone doing their part, but soon, we would become a money-based civilization. I had racked up quite a bit of gold through my slaver runs.
The stores still run on the barter system, with people giving additional things they had for constructed goods. Most people were either huntsmen or farmers, but a few craftsmen worked with the material we got.
I was also constructing a mountain mine to obtain our metal and materials. I only use it as a testing ground, but soon, after we get the currency set up, I will recruit some workers.
The farms were also doing fantastic, with some on either side of the river after constructing a bridge. Seeds were scarce, but fruit seeds were obtained easily from the slavers' supplies. We just needed grain and vegetable seeds.
A few wild vegetables were being grown, but we need food diversity. That was why I was going into a city. We had several required supplies, and I was the obvious choice, being the best at disguises.
Garth, while a daemon, was too recognizable. I would go into town with Holone and Zarith, the daemon leader. Some of the slavers had even captured a few of their own. Holone and Zarith were both seventh ranks, and Holone needed to negotiate prices while Zarith knew the cityscape.
I would be going as their escort to check out a few things, including the missions and deeds some slavers had. Setting up a forward base of operations in the Empire would greatly benefit Greyhound.
'Feels weird calling the town that. It also confusing with Greyhound, my dog. Maybe I should call him Grey for short.'
The expedition would leave in two days, so I needed to prepare.