Chapter 523: Minister Bierde

The commuting time between Valar Bay and Phoenix remains one and a half days.

Until the Valar Tunnel is built or the means of transportation changes, this duration will not significantly alter.

Biting winds swept ice crystals across the silver-gray Valar Mountains, adding a grim atmosphere to the land.

Only a month and a half had passed since Gao De last arrived at this end of the Valar Mountains near Phoenix, yet now he saw a newly opened, pitch-black hole stretching endlessly downward, emitting faint light.

This was the Valar Tunnel under construction.

On both sides of the entrance lay ice-rock debris piled half a person’s height—waste from excavation.

Since he was already here and passing by, Gao De immediately halted his journey to assess the current progress and specifics of the Valar Tunnel.

First out of curiosity, second because the Valar Tunnel was one of Phoenix’s key projects at this stage, and as king, he had every reason to monitor and inspect it.

Upon seeing Gao De arrive, the northern tribesmen wrapped in thick furs immediately knelt on one knee and bowed: “Your Majesty!”

His voice carried the ruggedness of the North, tinged with tremors of excitement.

This was his first time speaking face-to-face with the new king of the North.

Gao De used his Mage Hand to lift him up. “No need for such formalities.”

He pointed toward the tunnel’s interior. “I happened to pass by, so I came to see the current progress.”

“Your Majesty, I’ll notify Minister Bierde at once!” the man hurriedly said, a flicker of nervousness in his eyes.

Gao De gave a slight nod.

He wasn’t here on a covert inspection; to understand the tunnel’s specifics, he needed to speak directly with the project’s lead.

But Gao De noticed the title “Minister.”

When he last left the North, Phoenix had only four departments: Nongye Force, Jiaoyu Force, Public Security Bureau, and the Office.

The head of Nongye Force was Fuluola; the head of Jiaoyu Force was himself; Public Security Bureau had only two deputy directors; the Office Director was Aisha.

This previously unheard-of new minister must be the head of the newly established Jianshe Force.

This sparked a flicker of interest in Gao De.

In the North, the only person besides him who could directly appoint a department head was War Mother Su Nai.

Gaining Su Nai’s approval was no easy feat.

As Gao De pondered, hurried footsteps approached from afar.

Then a stout man stepped quickly out of the tunnel’s shadow.

Surprisingly young, he looked barely in his early twenties, with thick apple cheeks, small eyes narrowed into curved slits, and fine wrinkles at the corners as if he were always smiling.

His brown hair was wildly disheveled, dusted with grime, strands hanging over his forehead.

He wore a fur coat caked with rock chips and grayish dust, grinning at Gao De with a set of uneven white teeth, breathing heavily: “Bierde greets Your Highness.”

Gao De paused slightly.

In the North, Zhenbing people called him “King” directly; only outsiders referred to him as “Your Highness.”

Meaning this young man appointed as head of Jianshe Force was not Zhenbing?

What exceptional talent could have earned him such an extraordinary promotion from Su Nai?

Gao De grew even more curious.

“Are you the newly appointed head of Jianshe Force?” he asked first.

“No no,” Bierde quickly shook his head, grinning sheepishly. “I’m just temporarily filling in.”

“Finding the right person is complicated, but Jianshe Force’s work is urgent, so they put me in charge—I’ve done this before, built many houses, so I have some experience.”

“Oh?” Gao De raised an eyebrow, didn’t press further, and gestured with his eyes: “Show me the current state of the Valar Tunnel first.”

“Of course, Your Highness, follow me,” Bierde said without hesitation, leading Gao De into the tunnel.

As they entered, a gust of icy wind laced with ice shards struck their faces, like countless tiny silver needles pricking the skin.

At intervals, flickering lights—like bulbs—illuminated the tunnel’s interior, casting their shadows long against the icy walls.

Nothing high-tech—just a simple spell: “Light.”

Purely natural, harmless.

As they walked, Bierde explained the details: “The Valar Tunnel has been under construction for twenty-nine days; so far, about two hundred and fifty meters of tunnel are complete.”

“But that’s because we were inexperienced at first, encountering many problems—now that we’re more skilled, the pace is gradually increasing.”

Tunnels are typically dug and reinforced simultaneously: timely support ensures safety and prevents soil erosion and loosening from prolonged exposure after excavation.

Of course, Gao De knew little about this—he’d been a senior math major in his past life, with zero connection to civil engineering.

Gao De activated Mandora’s Magic Eye and scanned briefly, obtaining another precise figure.

The tunnel’s width was 12.5 meters, height 6 meters—barely three lanes in his past world.

But in the North, it could only serve as two lanes.

The reason was simple: the carts here were larger.

The technical complexity of tunnel construction was high—far beyond what the North’s near-tribal state could normally achieve.

But fortunately, this was a world endowed with supernatural power.

Many technical hurdles could be overcome directly by brute force through supernatural means.

For example, environmental surveys: though the North lacked high-precision geological instruments, it had detection magic; during excavation, [Rapid Excavation] could fully replace precision machinery and blasting techniques.

“What’s that?”

Gao De looked up and noticed a layer of gray-white vines covering the ceiling and walls.

The vines coiled through ice-rock fissures like living things, their crystallized surfaces reflecting cold light; faint blue dots pulsed along their veins at intervals.

“Permafrost vines, used for reinforcement and support,” Bierde rubbed his hands. “After tunneling, the biggest challenge is supporting the walls to prevent deformation or collapse later.”

“I first thought of lining it with Extreme Ice—but the flaw was obvious: if anyone cast a fire spell inside, melting the ice, it could severely damage the tunnel.”

“Wood? First, the North has almost no timber resources; second, ordinary wood becomes brittle in extreme cold and won’t last long; special wood? Too expensive.”

Bierde, it seemed, was a chatterbox—he launched into a detailed account the moment Gao De asked.

“Then I thought of permafrost vines. In cold environments, they secrete a sticky ice crystal—annoying to handle—but their bodies are extremely tough. We used to use them only as waste for tying firewood or weaving baskets, and each time our hands would stick painfully—so everyone disliked them.”

“But these very traits are perfect for the tunnel.”

“The sticky ice crystals bind rock fragments tightly; better yet, they grow stronger the colder it gets, and their vitality is incredibly resilient. Once planted, over time the entire tunnel becomes more solid.”

“Even if someone attacks with fire magic, the ice crystals on the vines insulate most heat—only the outer layer chars, never affecting the internal structure or damaging the tunnel.”

“All we need to do is periodically trim overgrown permafrost vines.”

“Now, every five meters we dig, we plant permafrost vines and have a nature mage accelerate their growth—within days, they form a natural reinforcement net.”

Bierde walked to a wall, tugged hard on the entwined vines—ice crystals chimed sharply. “Look, this vine was planted half a month ago; now it’s fused with the rock.”

Gao De’s mind stirred.

He noticed Bierde used “meters” as his unit when describing tunnel progress.

Regardless of anything else, the fact that this outsider had so quickly adopted and applied Gao De’s own measurement system proved he was a highly adaptable, fast-learning talent.

And this wasn’t even his greatest strength.

“Did you come up with this permafrost vine method for tunnel reinforcement yourself? And was this tunnel’s design your work?” Gao De pressed further.

His gaze swept over the crisscrossing vine network on the ceiling, then settled on the ditches dug along both sides of the tunnel floor.

The ditch edges were neat, their bottoms lined with stones.

From his experience, he recognized them as drainage channels.

But the problem was: this was the frigid North—most people wouldn’t even conceive of needing drainage pipes.

Bierde scratched his head, icy flecks still clinging to his brown hair, then pulled a curled parchment from his coat, depicting Phoenix’s road grid, and admitted frankly:

“Not entirely. The tunnel design was based on Your Highness’s blueprint for Phoenix’s expansion—you included detailed road structures, so I thought we could adapt them here.”

“And these ditches—how did you think of them?” Gao De pointed to the smaller channels beside the drainage pipes on the walls.

“In Your Highness’s Phoenix expansion blueprint, there were some strange lines. I asked War Mother—she said these were Your Highness’s envisioned necessary designs, but conditions weren’t ripe yet to implement them.”

Bierde traced the channels with his finger: “I observed that these lines appear on all roads.”

"Though I still don’t know their purpose, I figured that since this tunnel is a vital artery between the two places, it must need these lines too—so I reserved corresponding ditches."

Gao De’s eyes lit up.

He now understood why Su Nai had appointed such a young outsider as temporary head of Jianshe Force.

Whether it was his willingness to join the laborers on-site, his familiarity with engineering, or his ability to devise solutions during construction without any prior reference—everything showed he was a thoughtful, logically sharp, composite talent.

Especially his insight in translating abstract blueprints into practical engineering, and his reasoning ability—rare even in the North, and among the fewest on the entire Nolande Continent.

He’d truly struck gold!

As they spoke, the two reached the tunnel’s innermost point.

Here, twenty ice-blooded mages wielding [Rapid Excavation] were laboring to dig forward.

Naturally, they were now the backbone of Jianshe Force.

Seeing Gao De, they immediately turned and bowed.

Gao De waved, signaling no need for formality, then encouraged them briefly.

Tunnel digging was grueling work.

As he surveyed everything, Gao De felt considerably reassured.

This reassurance came chiefly from Bierde’s demonstrated competence.

After the inspection, he mounted his snow wolf again and headed toward Phoenix.

Bierde watched Gao De depart from the cave entrance until his figure vanished completely, then turned to a trusted subordinate from his own tribe: “Quick, help me clean off this filth!”

The subordinate hurried forward, brushing dust and rock chips from Bierde’s fur coat, muttering as he worked: “Young Chief, none of us Northeners are this fussy!”

Bierde tapped his subordinate’s head. “You talk too much.”

“The Prince arrived without warning, leaving me no time to prepare—did I look presentable enough when I came out?” He paused, then asked his confidant for confirmation.

“More than enough, Young Master. You’re covered in dust and dirt—clearly worked yourself to the point of forgetting meals and sleep.” The confidant nodded vigorously in agreement.

“Good.” Bierde revealed his signature “innocent smile.”

“But Young Master, your abilities speak for themselves, and you’ve truly been diligent. You simply like to stay clean—why go to such lengths for appearances?”

“Ability is one thing; attitude is another. The Prince didn’t know me before and has no understanding of me. If he sees me spotless, he might assume I talk big but do nothing.”

“Yet the Prince became the new ruler of the Northern Frontier—his ability and cultivation must be extraordinary. Even if he thinks that way, he won’t say it aloud, since I was appointed by the War Mother—he must show her respect.”

“In that case, I’d have no chance to explain myself and would leave him with a bad impression for no reason.”

He patted his confidant’s shoulder, still wearing that earnest expression, and said solemnly: “In this world, having ability alone isn’t enough—you need appearances too.”

After a day and a half of travel, just before dawn on the second day, as the eastern horizon turned pale with the first light of morning, Gao De finally saw the faint, massive silhouette of Phoenix, lying across the flat snowplain like a slumbering beast beneath the rosy glow of dawn.

The wheat fields on the snowplain had expanded immeasurably since a month and a half ago, stretching endlessly to the horizon.

The wind stirred the wheat, its rolling waves like the breath of the earth itself.

The fresh scent of wheat, tinged with a chill, swept over him, lifting his spirits.

Gao De rode his snow wolf into the city, passed through the quiet streets, and headed straight for his residence—the very heart of Phoenix’s core spiritual ground.

Stepping inside his residence, Gao De took a deep breath, feeling the rich, vast magical energy of the Gao Jie spiritual ground. Without pause, he hurried into the cultivation chamber.

Gao De sat cross-legged and pulled from his robe a wooden box containing the Dragon Bird Blood Fungus.

He intended to consume the Dragon Bird Blood Fungus and first break through to the First Circle’s peak.

(End of Chapter)