Chapter 51: Expanded Fortress
Looking at it, a thought crept into his mind. ’How are they surviving without a sun?’
Edgar crouched beside the patch of farmland. The dark soil looked healthy.
Rows of green crops swayed gently despite the complete absence of sunlight.
There wasn’t even a hint of yellow on their leaves.
’Strange...’
He plucked one of the leaves and rubbed it between his fingers.
The texture, feeling, and colour all matched the plants he had seen back on Earth.
But that phenomenon alone was enough to make him crunch his mind with questions.
’Plants need sun for photosynthesis. Without it, surviving is nearly impossible.’
Edgar knew there were plants that could survive without sun, but those in front of him were not one of those.
’Just like I thought before, nothing in this world should be alive without a sun...’
When his hand grazed past the black soil, a slight warmth made him pause and pat the soil more.
’...Why is the soil so warm?’
Edgar turned around to find someone, and his gaze quickly landed on Lady Viera, whom he called.
"Yes, young master?" Lady Viera asked, blinking her eyes.
"Do you know why the soil is warm in this land?" Edgar asked, looking at her.
The middle-aged lady blinked her eyes, unable to understand why he was asking that.
"Isn’t the Agricultural Land always warm?" she replied as if it was a matter of fact. "As far as I remember, even my grandmother said it was normal."
"....."
Edgar nodded his head and slowly stood up.
Raising his hand, he relaxed his tensed brows and mumbled, "So, the people of this world had just accepted it as fact..."
His words made Viera curious, but she didn’t have anything to add, so she remained silent.
"Oh, the land does cool down once every year in winter!" Lady Viera exclaimed, startling him. "But I have heard it only happens to low-level Agricultural Land."
"I see..." Edgar acknowledged. "Would you mind bringing me something to drink?"
"Of course."
The lady walked away, leaving Edgar alone with the Agricultural Land.
Whether he understood the concept behind the plants or not didn’t change the initial plans.
’I still need to create a big Agricultural Land to farm different types of grains and seeds.’
Even though the Yamhad Clan was helping him right now, it couldn’t always be the case. Being independent in everything from military to food was his priority.
The Fortress Wall, as of now, was spread over a total area of 30 metres. Most of it was in use with various buildings on it. To create a bigger field, expanding it was a must.
’I need to spend a lot of Nightmare Stones....’
Edgar thought to himself and began making a mental calculation of the total cost.
’To bring the Fortress from 20 metres to 50 metres, I would need to spend a total of 2,500 Nightmare Stones...’
Edgar rubbed his temples at the large number of Nightmare Stones that he needed to spend at a time.
Only then did he remember something from the previous upgrade of the Fortress.
’I have a 25% discount on all construction, so that would lessen the total burden.’
Edgar let out a sigh and stretched his body before he looked around. ’I wonder what will happen to the corpses around the Fortress... Will they get pushed back?’
Putting those thoughts aside, Edgar called the other three members close to him.
He explained his plan for expanding the Fortress Wall to fifty metres.
"When are you going to start, young master?" Oswald asked softly.
Edgar looked toward the massive pile of White Nightmare Stones stacked beside the warehouse.
"...Right now."
He slowly raised his hand toward the Fortress.
With a single will of his to expand the Fortress, a familiar translucent screen immediately appeared before his eyes.
---
⟨Dismantle & Reconstruct⟩
Current Territory: 20m × 20m
Target Territory: 50m × 50m
Additional Area Required: 2100m²
Total Cost: 1650 Nightmare Stones (Discount added)
⟨Confirm?⟩
---
Edgar drew in a deep breath and gave the pile of Nightmare Stones one last look.
"Confirm."
BOOMM!!
The entire Fortress trembled violently.
Andrew nearly lost his footing as the ground shook beneath him.
Before anyone could react, one thousand six hundred and fifty White Nightmare Stones shot into the air.
The sky above the Fortress turned white.
Thousands of stones floated silently overhead before cracks spread across every single one.
CRACK!
CRACK!
An enormous river of milky-white liquid poured down from the sky. Every drop flew toward the Fortress Wall.
The ancient stone walls began dissolving before everyone’s eyes.
The stone melted into the flowing white liquid before spreading outward in every direction.
The Fortress boundary expanded rapidly.
The white river continued surging across the earth, laying down a brand-new foundation as it advanced.
The black soil outside the Fortress was swallowed by the construction.
Trees and dead bodies were pushed out by the river of white liquid. They gathered into massive piles outside the expanding territory.
The river of white liquid finally consolidated at the fifty-metre mark, leaving a massive space behind.
Andrew immediately got excited as he ran around the empty place.
"This is so big!" he yelled. "We can do so much more now!!"
Edgar smiled, looking at the young boy dancing in happiness.
"Don’t rest now," Edgar said. "We still have a lot of work to do."
Andrew immediately nodded his head.
"I am ready for it, young master!"
Edgar shook his head and walked around the place as well, without hiding his happiness.
Even though he spent a lot of stones, he still had a lot in his warehouse.
The ⟨Watch Tower⟩s he had created were still on top of the Fortress Wall, standing tall.
’...I really need to create a city blueprint now.’
He thought, looking at how uneven the place appeared now.
If he really needed to make a city out of this place, a pre-planned blueprint was a must.
After walking around for a while, Edgar finally stopped at the Southern side of the Fortress, which was mostly plain.
Taking in a deep breath, he mumbled, "Time to create a field."