Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 208: Guardian Otter Kappa and Laurel Blossom Gemstones

The scenery of the gem pool beneath Rainbow Falls is truly beautiful, with a touch of fantasy and tranquility.

Hidden amidst the lush vegetation of the forest and gardens, it evokes a sense of paradise and a whimsical dreamland for women.

This place is like a beautiful gem pool that every girl dreams of having, a stark contrast to the towering forest fortress outside.

After half of Limburg Farm's buildings were destroyed in the earthquake, the dwarven engineers rebuilt it, transforming Limburg Farm directly into a large stone castle.

The main reason the territory spared no expense in repairs was to garrison troops here, not only to deal with the Green Dragon War but also to defend against the Beastmen threat in these hills.

The style of this world has always been like this: knightly castles dotting the vast fertile lands and the strategic passes of rugged mountains and valleys.

The fertile lands and abundant resources of the Black Forest foothills support thousands of people in the Black Forest Territory, and also nourish countless wild monsters and raider warbands.

Especially in the Greenleaf Hills, with its undulating terrain and dense forests, as long as Beastmen consume enough blood under the Blood Moon, a month-long continuous rain will allow them to breed into massive groups.

In the six months since Su Li arrived in the Black Forest Territory, Limburg Farm and the farmland below have been besieged by monsters six or seven times. As a human stronghold in the Greenleaf Hills, they are too easily surrounded by the Beastmen hordes from all directions.

Su Li had to send troops to support them each time to clear out these Beastmen, Greenskins, and wolf packs.

Sending troops is easy enough; Su Li only needs to give the order. The key is that this information occupies an important slot in Su Li's daily intelligence, which Su Li cannot tolerate. This is wasting Su Li's opportunity.

So, taking advantage of this opportunity, he plans to expand Limburg Farm directly into a medium-sized [Iron Oak Fortress], garrisoning a company of knights and soldiers inside.

Many elite knights from the Flame Sun Knights travel alone as garrison knights, helping villages or farms repel invading Beastmen hordes.

A well-commanded company can completely annihilate a Howler Beast horde.

After all, in the battle Su Li commanded, he only used a little more than one company.

Garrisoning troops here is also to guard this sacred site, preventing thieves, burglars, smugglers, etc., from entering and stealing the territory's wealth.

As for the legions defending against the Green Dragon, that's beyond what these guards can do; it completely relies on Su Li's intelligence.

During Su Li's rest, the war between the territory and the Green Dragon legions did not stop; on the contrary, it intensified.

Although the Green Dragon, out of fear and suspicion of the Black Forest Territory's strength, has postponed the time to launch a war, its probing of the territory has become almost insane. Even with Su Li's daily intelligence system, he can barely keep up.

Saying it's one person on one road, dividing into 30,000 roads, and advancing simultaneously is an exaggeration.

But it really sends out dozens of troops, disregarding the lives of its soldiers. Each route has hundreds of soldiers at most, and only dozens of Tree Demons at least, scattered and lurking into the various foothills and forests of the Black Forest Territory, spying on every move of the Black Forest Territory in the shadows, probing all aspects of intelligence.

And contrary to Su Li's expectations, they are not afraid to fight the Black Forest Territory's army at all. This brutal Green Dragon tyrant seems to be intentionally using Tree Demons to wear down the strength of the Black Forest Territory.

The Black Forest Territory's knightly legions are exhausted from dealing with it, rushing around every day. Although each battle can shatter dozens or hundreds of Tree Demons, the most they've done is block a Tree Demon legion of over a thousand on the plains of the foothills and chop them all into pieces.

But in each battle, the knights also suffer some casualties, more or less. This piecemeal attrition accumulates into a significant number of casualties for the Black Forest army.

Su Li even suspects that this Green Dragon has given up on the idea of a quick victory and wants to wear Su Li down in a war of attrition. Relying on the vast Blood Pine Forest as a base, the Black Forest Territory may not dare to guarantee victory in a war of attrition.

But fortunately, its forest territory is like a grassland; when one area is empty, a large number of monsters can surge in. Su Li's farming here is also very effective.

The Rainbow Falls and Gem Pool are important results of farming and development.

Faced with Su Li's curious inquiry, Fandal explained in detail: "This gem pool is the companion sacred site of the Rainbow Falls spirit, a gathering place for many spirits. To talk about this gem pool, we must first talk about Rainbow Falls."

"As you know, after passing through the Obelisk Fragment, the spring water of this Rainbow Falls will carry magic. The followers of the God of Craftsmen, Val, will use this spring water to forge powerful cold-forged metal. This is one of the necessary metals for us to create God-Chosen weapons."

"And after this spring water gathers here, the first to arrive is the Guardian of Water Nymphs, the Otter Kappa. It has the ability to control water flow and water elements, building nests here and intercepting the flow to form a beautiful waterfall pool with powerful magic."

"It possesses a huge body and excellent intelligence, able to drive away snakes, spiders, swamp goblins, and river trolls that would make the river water rot and stink."

"It is a loyal guard of Mannan, protecting Mannan's beloved children: Tritons, Water Nymphs, Ocean Spirits, Sirens, and some other sea monsters."

A huge otter?

This is really beyond Su Li's expectations; he thought otters were relatively small.

"Can I see it?"

"Of course," Fandal replied immediately. "Lord Kappa is also very interested in you; it mentioned wanting to see you before."

"This is a natural spirit that isn't afraid of strangers? It's my first time seeing one," Su Li said with a smile. "Then let it come over."

Soon, at the call of several Dawn Church priestesses, a rustling sound came from the dense bushes. Before long, a behemoth waded over. Its body was indeed very large, three to four meters long and nearly two meters tall. Its dark brown fur gleamed with the otter's unique luster, its body lines were smooth and strong, and there was a tuft of distinctive white hair on its forehead, shaped like a crescent moon.

Although it was huge, its voice was very childish, like a bear child whose voice was changing. When it saw Su Li, it took the initiative to greet him: "Master of the Black Forest Territory, the powerful Kappa greets you, welcome to the home I share with my other friends, as long as you don't steal our things like a thief."

Su Li was amused by it and asked, "Why is this the home you share with your friends, and not also my home? We can be friends too."

Kappa was obviously stunned by this question. Its short, stubby front paws wanted to scratch its head, but their length only reached its thick neck, making it look a bit comical.

It instinctively felt that something was wrong: "How can it be the same? My friends and I live here, but you humans don't live here."

"But…" Su Li pointed to the beautiful scenery around him, with its singing birds and fragrant flowers, and said, "Every plant and tree in the territory is my property. You've turned this place into your home with your friends, but you don't let me live here. Isn't that inappropriate?"

A hint of confusion appeared in Kappa's eyes. It seemed to have never considered this question. Its primitive thinking and honest nature made it unfamiliar with the human world and the concept of territory.

It shook its huge head, trying to understand Su Li's words. "Um, this…" Kappa's voice carried a hint of hesitation, and its short, stubby front paws unconsciously scratched the skin under its neck again, as if searching for a suitable answer. "We otters and other natural spirits just live here, without thinking about whose territory this is. If you like this place, you can live here too. But the premise is that you can't steal the gems in the gem pool."

Su Li said with a smile: "You've mentioned stealing twice. Is this something particularly important? Perhaps we can guard this place together."

"Oh, I see. You mean, we can protect this place together, like… like a team?" Kappa's voice carried a hint of excitement: "This is exactly why I wanted to find you. This is my most important gem pool, capable of producing Laurel Blossom Gemstones."

Su Li couldn't help but find its excited appearance a bit funny. This was really a large-sized adorable pet: "So what are the effects of the Laurel Blossom Gemstones?"

Kappa didn't know what Su Li was laughing at. Hearing his question, it raised its head with a somewhat arrogant and disdainful air: "I say, human lord friend, you are too ignorant. You haven't even heard of Laurel Blossom Gemstones? This is a famous product of the Laurel Forest, supporting an entire Elven kingdom."

"Its effect is that when soaked in magical water or a wine jug, it can restore all magic, divine power, and even bloodline power."

The Laurel Blossom Gemstone isn't named because of its shape resembling a laurel blossom. It is indeed golden and gorgeous, but its shape looks like a golden rhombus leaf, not a flower.

The most important reason for this name is that 80% of the Laurel Blossom Gemstones on the entire continent come from the Laurel Forest, which is also called Aenor by the local elves, meaning memory, wisdom, and the power of gemstones.

The local political ecology is different from the Empire; the political power structure is relatively democratic. Although Queen Marist leads, the actual decisions need to be discussed with the Supreme Council and its Triumvirate (Council of Three).

They control the production capacity of the Laurel Blossom Gemstones, and obtain a large amount of wealth in trade with other forest elves, high elves, and natural churches. Legend has it that the height of the local Eternal Oak goes straight into the clouds, and the huge canopy covers hundreds of miles around. Sunlight shines through the gaps in the canopy, illuminating the entire forest under the canopy. The powerful Gyren Wind gathers here, thick and unyielding, and no creature can destroy the trees inside.

Damage to the forest and roads opened up by humans, beastmen, greenskins, chaos warbands, and even dwarven siege engines will be completely re-covered by densely growing trees the next day.

The number of Laurel Blossom Gemstones produced on the entire continent is not even a quarter of that of the Laurel Forest. Su Li was of course overjoyed that the Black Forest Territory could produce this kind of gemstone.

He immediately asked Fandal with concern: "How is the recovery effect?"

Fandal answered in detail: "Soaking one of these Laurel Blossom Gemstones in a barrel of wine is enough. After a few days of settling, the entire barrel of wine will have a restorative effect."

"This fine wine can be called a source of magic. A cup down the hatch can restore one use of magic or divine spell."

Su Li raised an eyebrow and asked, "Wouldn't that mean that each knight carrying a flask of wine would double the bloodline abilities and divine spell abilities they can use on the battlefield?"

Under normal circumstances, an elite knight will have two bloodline abilities and one divine spell ability.

The blessing of three active or passive skills, used in turn, can already show very outstanding combat power.

Therefore, some powerful elite knights, in the case of bloody battles, can kill twenty or thirty monsters to the limit, and even kill one or two powerful ogres, centaur chiefs, and other elite monsters.

It's just that most knights don't have such extreme performance on the battlefield. They need to weigh the distribution of power and can't output at full strength, otherwise they can only wait to die in some emergency situations.

With this Laurel Blossom Gemstone, the knights can undoubtedly fight more freely. If they can use their skills ten times in a battle, that's basically enough to fight from beginning to end.

Fandal said with a smile: "But it's not that simple. The effect of this Laurel Blossom Gemstone is diminishing. A pot of wine can basically only take effect four times, and even the fourth time, it can only restore half of the magic power. It needs to wait until the next day to regain the powerful effect of the magic power source."

"The biggest effect of this Laurel Blossom Gemstone is still to increase the selling price of our [Golden Amethyst Brandy]."

"As for letting the soldiers drink this level of magic potion wine, I think even with our territory's wealth, it would be too extravagant."

This is indeed a problem.

You should know that this fine wine is a specialty of the Black Forest Territory.

According to Annelise's estimate, the territory's amethyst vineyard can only produce a maximum of 260 bottles of brandy, priced at around 2660 gold crowns.

Brandy at 10 gold crowns a bottle is already enough to buy the value of most knights and soldiers, especially for armed servants. For them, such a bottle of wine buys most of the money for their armor. As for themselves, they are worth at most a bottle cap.

This is still the price of Golden Amethyst Brandy before it has made a name for itself. When this fine wine becomes famous in the Empire in the future, and the effect of Laurel Blossom Gemstone is added, it is not impossible for a bottle of wine to sell for 100 gold crowns like other fine wines.

At that time, in all honesty, most knights may not be worth a pot of wine.

Fandal continued: "This Laurel Blossom Gemstone is still used with magic spring water in most territories. Although the effect of magic spring water is not as strong as magic potion wine, it is better than the drug resistance and side effects are not so great. According to our experimental results, the medicinal effect of Laurel Blossom Gemstones soaked in Rainbow Falls spring water is about half that of potion wine, but it can be taken five times and still have an effect."

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"Hehe! My brother, that's also one of the reasons I was looking for you." Kappa the otter brought its massive head close to Su Li, winking its eyes. "We're a team that guards this water together. I'll tell you a secret that even the Dawn Church doesn't know. The more mixed magic springs there are, the stronger the effect, and the more times you can use it!"

Su Li smiled, reaching out to pat its smooth head. This big otter was really like a mischievous child, shouting in a voice like a croaking duck, 'Brother, do you remember our bond?'

So Su Li said with a smile, "My brother, you truly are my most reliable team bond. This secret is too important! Tell me more about it, what are the specific effects?"

Kappa proudly shook its head, saying, "You guys don't know, right? Actually, the effects of the medicine can be superimposed and prolonged through complex magic. For example, one type of magic spring water only has half the effect of magic medicinal wine, but two types of magic spring water have 60% of the effect of magic medicinal wine, and the number of uses increases to 6 times. With three types of magic spring water, the recovery effect is 70% of the magic medicinal wine, and the number of uses reaches 7 times!"

"I heard that you have three types of magic spring water in your territory. I've always wanted to go and see them, but Viduggur never agrees to me running around."

Su Li raised his eyebrows, overjoyed.

This was indeed very important good news.

For other territories, possessing magic springs was very rare.

Most territories' lakes and streams were ordinary springs of the mortal world, without any special effects.

A special healing spring, moonlight spring, etc., were enough to become important landmark buildings of the territory, attracting countless tourists and travelers to visit and try to touch them.

But in Blackwood Territory, the Rainbow Waterfall, Healing Hot Spring, and the water of Lake Liefeline all possessed surging magic and psionic energy.

Especially the water of Lake Liefeline, there was enough to irrigate the vast plains below and tens of thousands of acres of fertile land.

Su Li might not be able to afford to supply magic medicinal wine to the soldiers, but supplying spring water was definitely endless.

By then, every transcendent professional in Blackwood Territory could carry a wine pot with them, and if their magic or psionic energy was severely depleted, they could take a sip to restore a portion of their state.

A wine pot could provide 7 sips of nectar; even the most powerful monster could be worn down.

If it contained not spring water, but some powerful magic medicinal wine that could restore life, the effect would be even more amazing.

A sip of medicinal wine could restore 20-30% of life and psionic energy. Wouldn't that turn them into a killing machine on the battlefield?

It felt like just a team of elite knights could surround and kill a powerful champion knight.

But the value of this thing in battle was still the weakest and could be ignored. After all, there was no saving money on important military equipment. To maintain the knights' life state, Su Li was willing to spend heavily, letting each of them carry professional potions, one of which could restore a large amount of life and stamina.

The greatest effect of this magic spring water was still in farming. Basically, it could guarantee that the priests of the Dawn Church and the knights of the Medical Church could all use up a day's worth of energy and still recover easily the next day.

The feeling of running out of psionic energy was still very painful. The body and mind felt as if they were being eroded by the chaotic winds.

So the priests of the church usually wouldn't overspend their abilities.

With this laurel gemstone, the territory's productivity could be improved again! Whether it was the care of spirit herbs and spirit grains, or the growth of herds and griffons, all could be accelerated.

Su Li said with a smile, "I allow you to go to the vicinity of these three magic springs. I look forward to you creating more gemstone pools."

"Create gemstone pools?" Kappa shook its head, with a ghostly expression: "My brother! What strange things are you saying? I just surrounded this place and used Manann's water control technique to gather the magic here, so the laurel gemstone was formed. The real gemstone pool wasn't created by me."

"Kappa! How many times have I told you, don't easily trust humans. You've leaked all our secrets."

A clear and lovely voice came from the pool. Su Li and the others immediately turned their heads in surprise. So many of them hadn't sensed that there was actually a lurker in the water.

It should be known that not only were there elite knights present, but also two champion knights and one chosen knight!

The fact that the other party could perfectly hide their aura was truly unbelievable.

If she wanted to assassinate, it would be impossible to defend against.

All the knights drew their swords at the first moment, guarding Su Li.

It wasn't that the knights were making a fuss or overreacting. The main reason was that Blackwood Castle had been practicing how to prevent assassinations during this time, especially preventing assassinations by small people.

The intelligence that four chosen assassins were about to arrive weighed heavily on the knights.

They were constantly on edge, but they didn't expect that there would still be this kind of unavoidable existence.

But as they clearly saw who it was, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

Because the person was really harmless, only about four or five years old like an ordinary human girl. She only used vines and leaves to cover the three important parts of her body.

Facing so many awe-inspiring swords, she immediately protected herself with the wings behind her, fearfully shrinking into the water, her face full of vigilance, but still stubbornly staring at Su Li, unwilling to retreat.

Su Li didn't know what was going on, but he felt very clearly that he saw a strong jealousy in her eyes.

It was as if he had snatched her most beloved toy.

Then Su Li reacted, she should be here to find her big cat!

She was afraid that Su Li would continue to deceive her and abduct her best partner and guardian, Kappa the otter.

So Su Li smiled and waved his hand to the knights who were making a fuss, saying, "Put away your weapons, you've scared the little girl."

Then Su Li walked to the pool and stretched out his hand to the little girl, saying, "Hello, are you Viduggur, the water fairy?"

Although the little girl was very jealous, she was still very kind. Her sapphire-like bright eyes blinked as she looked at Su Li, stretched out her hand, and shook hands with Su Li: "I am... ah!"

Then she cried out in pain, painfully holding her right hand to her chest, looking at Su Li with a frown.

Su Li was stunned. If he didn't know better, he would have thought he deliberately plotted against this little girl. He looked at his right hand, there were no hidden weapons.

"Your ring. Iron will burn fairies," Viduggur said weakly.