Green Monster Epic

Fort Fatter maintained a relatively dry environment, yet the essence of life was ever-present. At every intersection, a stone-carved fountain flowed with alchemically purified water, irrigating the city's flowerbeds and serving as a water source for the residents.

The inner core of the fortress had completely transformed since Allen's last visit. An artificial lake, spanning over five to six square kilometers, was home to the tallest structure in the fortress: the Spire Mage Tower.

The abundant moisture in the Fatter Canyon brought countless water elements. The mages in the Mage Tower, through clever design and layout, absorbed these water elements into magical devices for storage, using them as a source of magical power to dispel the moisture in the canyon passage, reducing the daily consumption of the mages on duty.

The magical aura in the lake was significant, indicating a high concentration of water elements. Occasionally, white dolphins leaped out of the lake, playfully spouting water arrows, revealing themselves as low-level magical beasts.

Allen, carrying a letter of introduction and wearing a mask, strolled through the unfamiliar fortress, observing its various planned features with interest. While he inevitably attracted the attention of the local residents, no one deliberately approached him to cause trouble.

Compared to the other towns of the Green Field Tribe, this city, with an area larger than even the Moore Fortress, felt rather deserted.

According to the information Allen gleaned from the roster, the Green Field Tribe population living in the entire Fari Marsh area did not exceed ten thousand. Including the foreign natives who had gradually migrated and settled, the total wetland population was no more than fifty thousand.

Of these ten thousand Green Field Tribe residents, including conscripted vassals and slaves, most lived in Fort Fatter. Only a standing army of two thousand soldiers was stationed at the western seacoast fortress for guard duty.

Although the garrison at the West Sea Mouth Fortress was relatively small, this army was considered the elite of the Green Field Tribe. At least half of the warriors who came to serve here were accumulating combat experience and seeking breakthroughs.

Moreover, the fortress had a professional culinary mage team as the army's logistics cooks, transforming the corpses of marine creatures that attacked the fortress, as well as the relatively abundant seafood and magical plants along the coast, into low to mid-tier magical dishes, providing them to the tribal warriors at regular intervals to aid in their breakthroughs.

This resulted in the proportion of advanced professionals among the warriors stationed in Fort Fatter being far higher than outside. Approximately forty percent of this two-thousand-strong army were advanced professionals, a luxurious configuration even by the standards of the Four Great Civilizations.

Such an elite army, though small in number, was certainly not enough to fill the gaps in guarding a fortress spanning dozens or even hundreds of square kilometers. However, with the assistance of many exiled criminals and unfree slaves, they were sufficient to deal with the banished creatures of the sea.

Although the flow of people in the fortress was sparse, the necessary basic facilities were complete. Blacksmith shops, potion shops, alchemy shops, and other stores were filled with a wide array of goods, and the prices were even cheaper than outside. This was because the various resources obtained from the marine creatures at the front lines, as well as those scavenged from the sea, were plentiful. Coupled with the tribe's own care for this place, the fortress lacked no materials and even had surpluses.

It was clear that the tribe's leaders had put thought into this. Knowing that Chief Allen valued talent cultivation the most, and that this border region was a gathering place for tribal warriors seeking breakthroughs, they had seized the opportunity to define its role and increase investment and supplies.

To fully explore this fortress without revealing his strength and identity would likely be difficult. However, Allen had not intended to conduct a thorough inspection. He had only come to take a look on a whim. Moreover, after this pleasant surprise, he planned to visit important towns such as Aurora Town and Mustang Slope, along with the surrounding scattered manors and villages, on his way back. This would allow him to relax his tense mind and also see the tribe's development and changes over the years firsthand.

After staying in the fortress for a day or two and hearing many heartfelt words from the grassroots tribesmen about the tribe, Allen at least did not feel any obvious dissatisfaction among the tribesmen towards the current tribe. From this, it seemed that the current tribal high command had not completely decayed, and there was no need to rush to cleanse them.

Subsequently, Allen left the fortress through the west gate. After undergoing a rather strict inspection, he headed west towards the endless sea along the Green Field Tribe's most magnificent engineering feat to date: the Fatter Canyon.

The canyon was no longer a barren and lifeless place. Apart from the main road, which retained a width of several dozen meters, the areas extending from the canyon walls to the cliffs on both sides had been divided into ponds of various sizes, or simply filled with soil transported from outside, forming terraces held together by bricks, cultivating various water-loving and shade-loving organisms.

The only thing that made Allen feel somewhat uneasy was perhaps the unpredictable rain that fell from time to time, as well as the overly humid atmosphere that bred venomous insects such as leeches, poison dart frogs, and wolf spiders, which would unknowingly crawl all over people's bodies, posing no small danger.

The rain in this canyon was truly extreme. It would start as a drizzle, not even wetting people's clothes before a ray of sunlight suddenly appeared overhead. However, before the light filtering through the clouds could bring any warmth to the earth, a torrential downpour would ensue, soaking people to the bone.

Allen did not deliberately display his strength. He simply endured the heavy rain for hundreds of miles. Only now could he not help but feel proud of his initial decision to have the entire tribe carve through the mountains.

But in addition to pride, he also felt rash and unreasonable for making such a decision. Even though the north-south width of the canyon exceeded twenty miles, the sky above, compressed by the cliffs on both sides, was barely wider than a slit. The terraced cliffs, based on high mountain ranges, soared into the clouds, with an average vertical height of over a thousand meters. Even though the project had been completed for many years, Allen still felt a sense of awe.

Half a day later, wading through the water, he arrived at the border fortress. Before he even approached the city gate, a stern shout came from afar: "Halt! Who goes there?"

"..."

Compared to the fortress at the eastern entrance, the defenses of this border fortress were even stricter. The strength of an ordinary guard warrior standing before the city gate, as perceived by Allen, was close to the peak of the mid-tier. And the four or five auras on the city wall, which had not yet revealed themselves, belonged to individuals with a minimum strength of mid-tier level 9-10.