Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 325: Chapter 126: Explosive Circuit Quest

Hill had completely settled in, no longer stepping out of the Magic Tower in the short term.

Other than studying Wind Spells every day, Hill felt there was nothing else for him to do.

Even those from the Undead Tribe who entered the valley looked up at the Magic Tower on tiptoe daily.

Luckily, they still had their sanity and knew the most crucial were the rabbits.

From behind the flowing light grass curtains, Hill watched those undead below, who—not only sought to enhance their combat abilities—also recognized the key importance of being acknowledged by the high-level magical beasts.

But many girls, almost as soon as they entered the valley, rushed directly towards the rabbits.

For the rabbits, the Snow Cloud Peak Alliance was almost bursting at its seams with nearly every family near capacity. Yet, these clan leaders still preserved a shred of composure, not letting themselves be overwhelmed by the crowd. They even selectively chose certain attributes of the members joining them.

Though these people could now enter Hill’s Domain, they were not yet qualified to enter the valley; all were awaiting their family’s merits in the upcoming Elf War.

Those currently wandering in the valley were all original family members, all of whom had seen Hill.

Although most were driven by curiosity peering at the Magic Tower from time to time, trying to catch a glimpse of Hill and check on his current state,

the rabbits were still more important. Hill’s gossip could wait, as missing out on securing a rabbit would be truly despairing.

The fragrant, soft, fluffy rabbits beaming with faint colorful lights almost instantly captured the hearts of these undead young girls.

The first batch of colorful rabbits brought into the city stirred an unbelievable frenzy.

But joining the family, that part can be put aside for now since they are just desirous, not frantic, and can wait.

Knowing that even if they were in line, they would still be behind the veteran members.

Those impatient ones, wishing to obtain a rabbit right away, were all waiting outside Hill’s Domain.

The upgraded Srei was positioned at the edge of the domain, transformed into an L-shaped large store.

Undead seeking 200-ring tasks could find alchemy golems assigned tasks in a specially separated room within the shop placed outside the domain.

If it weren’t for List considering that the domain had no special needs and that the 200 rings were all collection tasks—just requiring some legwork—probably no tasks would be available by now.

Of course, List originally intended to create complicated tasks, but now it seems he might cultivate a group of professional merchants.

Outside Srei’s store, long stalls had already been set up, specifically selling large quantities of easy-to-dig materials.

In just three days, these undead merchants developed a wholesale and retail supply chain.

List was now talking to Hill about this matter, ”Sir, many have reached the 50th ring, and they have already identified several materials in inevitable demand. Should we intervene?”

”We can’t control that. Just make sure they travel more. Those items specific to a place, or stuff that becomes useless if carried away for a few days. Make sure there’s a must-need every 20 rings, don’t let them buy everything directly.”

”Why would the Undead Tribe be willing to spend so much money for a rabbit?” List was very puzzled.

When the 200-ring tasks were first released, not so many people came.

Even the frequently cursing End of the World Alliance actually sought eligibility to perform tasks, not necessarily to enter Hill’s Domain.

That changed after a group of girls at the Snow Cloud Peak Alliance displayed a rabbit parade in Royal City.

They formed several squads, each with giant rabbits of different colors, wearing dresses that matched the colors of their rabbits.

They created a rainbow.

That day, the grand screen was almost entirely broadcasting this parade live.

The docile adorable rabbits, large in stature but with gentle eyes, always kept their eyes on the animal friend in front of them, and even the little lolis were gently pushed on their heads by the rabbits.

Lying atop the rabbit’s head, pulling at the rabbit’s long fur—the cute, dazed lolis almost instantly captured the hearts of all who saw this joyful parade.

Since that day, the outside of Hill’s Domain was forever crowded with people.

Old Cat, the last time, mentioned to List that his friend who had purchased Doomsday was relieved to have died.

If he hadn’t reconciled with Hill, for the sake of these rabbits, his girls in the End of the World Alliance would have all run off.

Hill responded to List, ”Since when do we need to ask ’why’ when something becomes popular?”

Whenever something is rare, it’s always in demand.

Hill didn’t plan to intervene; these people weren’t that quick.

Don’t think that completing 50 rings in three days is fast. If the task rings were uniformly simple from start to finish, would it still be considered a task?

Of course, if someone is particularly lucky and all 200 rings randomly provide simple tasks, then there’s nothing that can be done.

The few permanent undead that stayed in Hill’s Domain didn’t plan to bring rabbits home.

Currently, they visited the valley daily under the pretext of finding magical beasts, became familiar with many magical beasts in Hill Valley, and had no plans to first bring a rabbit out.

What if they weren’t allowed in afterward?

After considering for a while, Hill instructed List to inform them, ”If you want to be able to enter the valley daily, you can also take up the ring task. Once you complete it, you won’t need to queue and can enter directly.”

This was a special assignment given only to them. Others, even if their reputation reached friendly, were only eligible to queue to enter the valley.

These people had been in Hill’s Domain for quite some time and had never caused any trouble, not to mention they always returned to check on the town whenever there was an issue, firmly sticking to their own faction without wavering, and had good relationships with the villagers in his domain—they deserved a reward.

It wouldn’t make sense for them to receive the same treatment as those who would arrive later, would it?

There should be a sense of relative fairness, after all.

In any case, he wasn’t going to open up the town’s residency rights anytime soon.

Old Cat and a few others’ friends had already built their homes, amounting to over 30 households in total. For a small town, that was enough.

These people might be all the settlers he would ever have.

After all, Hill knew he couldn’t possibly accommodate any more people from this world.

Counting a few children born to two shop-owning families, there were already 15 natives in his domain.

The ratio between the Undead Tribe and the natives shouldn’t be too large.

Hill had also given those female knights some time off to visit the Western Border City.

He had thought they would choose good men to marry and leave, but in the end, they stayed in Hill’s town.

Although he didn’t know why—whether it was because of past experiences or a distrust in men—Hill always told the people in his domain that they could leave whenever they wanted.

Unexpectedly, even the two merchant families who had children didn’t plan to leave.

He had merely inquired with List about the King’s Academy within the borders of Saral Country—the age for enrollment and the necessary qualifications.

When Adrian first sent people over, he must have chosen carefully as these people were all without much ambition but very self-aware.

Apart from the future of their children which had swayed them a bit, once they learned that anyone could attend the King’s Academy if they wished, they went back to dutifully doing their work.

Most matters of the domain, List could handle; the Undead Tribe were actually the type of people who, as soon as rules were established, would find a loophole, so as long as List’s 200-ring setup was reasonable, there generally wouldn’t be any issues.

Moreover, List wasn’t stingy with payment; he also rewarded them for running errands, even though it was only with Gold Coins and Crystal Stones.

Once these people completed 100 rings, although they still couldn’t enter the domain, they were allowed to enter the main part of Srei’s Store to shop.

List told Hill that the Crystal Stones earned in Srei’s Store were enough to cover the errand running expenses.

The materials traded by the Undead Tribe were mostly taken to the Alchemy Workshop in Hill’s Magic Tower to be made into Alchemy Potions and tools, and then sold in Srei’s Store.

There was already a balance; the domain didn’t need to provide anything extra.

Since Hill no longer needed to do anything, he immersed himself in Wind Magic.

He was close to completing the Archmage portion.

In William’s Academy, no Archmage had yet been trained, and Hill thought he could soon finish inscribing this set of Magic Books and give them to William.

Ensuring the Mages’ Association’s plan failed was Hill’s biggest wish lately.

Hill knew this was a one-time deal; the Mages’ Association was just used to being high and mighty, indifferent to other mages.

What mage would freely teach a Spell they had painstakingly researched to someone else?

Even if it was just to spite them, he wouldn’t do it.

In the eyes of those people, the academy was just another form of apprenticeship.

William made those apprentices produce simple Alchemy Products, which also misled people.

The Mages’ Association was used to being elitist, so even if the branch president reported a lot, they wouldn’t notice that King’s Academy hardly earned any money from these Alchemy Products.

Apart from the cost of materials, King’s Academy had no other commissions.

Each apprentice’s finished product was sold at the Alchemy Shop outside King’s Academy.

William set this rule in place for the future students of King’s Academy after he was gone from this earth.

He didn’t think everyone would act selflessly.

But a fee set by a deity couldn’t be easily changed by anyone under the guise of King’s Academy running at a loss.

He even specified in the lengthy rules of the academy that material fees must be collected at wholesale market rates and absolutely no increase was allowed.

The academy didn’t gain much, as not all materials could be bought at extremely low prices, but it wasn’t nil either; that was enough.

It only seemed little now because there were few students.

In a few hundred years, the academy might be able to sustain itself with that money.

Sometimes, Hill thought, William must be very satisfied with this world, where going against a signed contract is unthinkable.

Especially the academy’s teachers, including Adrian who was persuaded by William, all had to sign.

After signing, Adrian complained to him, ”The God of Contract should really learn from the king; where did all these ideas come from?”

Yet William insisted on one thing—set a baseline first, and leave the rest to the World Will and the deities.