Chapter 426: Can I Return Defective Goods?

"Silver Coin... hits people?" Hearing Ange's words, Nai Ge Li Si was extremely surprised—Silver Coin hits people? That smiling-faced profiteer, since when does he hit people?

Admittedly, when he was beaten up by a mob in North Wind City, he had swung his coin pouch at people, but that was self-defense. Ange's words clearly meant Silver Coin 'actively' hitting people—completely different in nature.

A group of people hurried to the gate of Rapids Fortress and were stunned to see Silver Coin swinging his coin pouch, chasing down a dozen or so shifty, thug-looking fellows and beating them up, cursing angrily as he hit: "Still dare to charge me protection fees? Still dare to charge me management fees? Still dare to charge me occupation fees? You bunch of bloodsuckers, I'll beat you to death!"

Nai Ge Li Si wore a blank expression: "What's going on here? For such a small scene, you have to do it yourself, Silver Coin?"

After beating those small-time thugs until their faces were swollen and bruised and they knelt begging for mercy, Silver Coin walked back and said angrily: "When I was young, I set up a stall on the street, and I hated these guys the most. They bully us small merchants and peddlers all day long. Just now we were handing out vegetable dumplings, and these people actually dared to pop up and say I was occupying land for business, demanding management fees and occupation fees from me. I'm furious."

Nai Ge Li Si and Du Luo Ken, however, looked Silver Coin over with great interest and said: "How rare, you profiteer, to actually lose your composure like this. A few small-time thugs—just beat them to death, why bother?"

The thugs kneeling on the ground turned pale with fright. What!? Just for collecting some protection fees, they want to beat them to death? They thought Silver Coin was already fierce enough, but they didn't expect there to be someone fiercer.

Silver Coin scratched his head: "There's no need for that, I just found it annoying. Being bullied in the past is one thing, but today someone still dares to charge me these miscellaneous fees—I got worked up for a moment."

A rather arrogant voice rang out from the top of the city wall: "Paying taxes according to regulations, operating within designated areas, cooperating with management—aren't these perfectly normal things? Why can't we charge you fees today? What do you think you are?"

Looking up, they saw on the city wall of Rapids Fortress a swordsman wearing knightly armor, looking down at Ange's group from above.

Nai Ge Li Si and the others exchanged glances, momentarily at a loss for an answer. If they answered truthfully, people would surely think they were bluffing—were they supposed to say the goblin before them was the God of Profiteers, and this little yellow dragon was the God of Knowledge?

But if they didn't answer truthfully, what kind of identity should they fabricate?

They were tangled up over this, but Ji Li Ke wasn't tangled up over it at all. Now she knew her backers were rock-solid, and her courage swelled. She directly pointed at the fellow on the city wall and cursed: "What are you anyway! Yelling and screaming—who taught you manners, huh, %&#*￥#@……"

In that instant, everyone wondered if Ji Li had been possessed by lightning.

The swordsman was stunned by the cursing, and once he recovered, his face flushed red with anger. He pointed at Ji Li and shouted: "Shoot them dead!"

At his command, a dozen or so archers popped up on the city wall, drawing their bows and aiming down at them.

Nai Ge Li Si and the others wanted to laugh—archers? Wanting to hurt them?

Before Nai Ge Li Si and the others could react, Ange had already moved. He bent his body and let out a sharp shriek.

All the archers on the city wall screamed in unison, as if they had seen something terrifying. They frantically threw down their bows, clamped their hands over their ears, and fled in all directions in panic—like a nest of hornets that had been stirred up. One was so flustered that he even fell straight off the city wall.

Fear spell?

Nai Ge Li Si couldn't help but cover his face. He knew why Ange had cast Fear—to disguise himself as a necromancer—but this disguise was way too over the top. A single shriek causing group fear on a dozen or so targets was at least advanced-level magic.

Necromancers who could cast advanced magic instantly could be counted on two hands.

Naturally, what Ange cast wasn't magic, but Soul Intimidation—relying on his powerful soul. The effect was very similar to Fear, and one could only say Ange's advantage in disguising as a necromancer was too great.

Under 'Fear,' the archers couldn't loose their arrows. Ange flicked both hands, and two Wailing Spirits shrieked as they pounced up along the city wall. Then Ange reached out into empty air, conjured a Death's Scythe, and leaped up swinging it.

An endless stream of wind cradled his body, lifting him up onto the city wall, and the scythe hooked toward the swordsman's neck.

Nai Ge Li Si covered his face again: "If you're going to impersonate a necromancer, then impersonate one. Why did you have to bring out the Death's Scythe? Is this a mage, or a skeleton?"

The others didn't have as many thoughts as Nai Ge Li Si. A 'living, breathing' Ange—who would associate him with a skeleton? They just took it as some kind of special weapon. These days, melee classes who worshipped undead and used scythes and hammers weren't few.

Clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang! Clang! Amid a string of clashing sounds, the swordsman's throat was hooked and severed by the scythe blade.

If his soul had awareness, he probably wouldn't dare let anyone shoot at Ange again—this guy was especially sensitive to others' attacks.

The remaining archers who had recovered from Fear didn't even dare pick up their bows, and fled screaming in all directions.

"Well, we've just taken the city wall like that? Can we open or close the city gate now?" Nai Ge Li Si flapped his wings and flew up, looking at the empty city wall and saying somewhat unrealistically.

A puff of smoke rose at the city gate's portcullis and transformed into Du Luo Ken. He saw him tap lightly with his Midas Touch Rod, and the city gate slowly descended and opened.

The refugees inside the city swarmed out, while the refugees outside desperately tried to squeeze in—a scene of utter chaos.

Silver Coin organized the people who had cooperated with him earlier, continued to maintain order, and used the vegetable dumplings in his hands to lure more combat-capable people to join in.

The original group maintaining order were promoted on the spot, put in charge of managing the rest. A rough management system took shape.

This system had food, combat power, and organizational ability, and the chaotic Rapids Fortress actually calmed down just like that.

It was very unbelievable—after all, this was a great city with a population of over ten thousand—but that's just how things happened.

It wasn't that no one wanted to do something about it. A group of outsiders had inexplicably taken the city, and the batch of people who had been fighting it out inside the city were immediately displeased.

But unfortunately, none of them were worth Du Luo Ken taking seriously. He took them out in a couple of moves, and they couldn't even get in front of Ange.

The next morning, all the personnel of the Du Wright family arrived.

The people of the Du Wright family had now become devout believers of Du Luo Ken. They used to think their family founder was a powerful alchemist, but now they felt Du Luo Ken was a god—the God of Alchemy.

Originally, it was already quite good if the prosthetic limbs could replace missing ones and allow one to take care of themselves without affecting daily life. But under Du Luo Ken's enhancements, their alchemical limbs had become powerful weapons.

Wright's alchemical arm could easily crush a gold bar flat. Luona's legs were like two spring swords. The others also had different types of enhancements.

Relying on these alchemical limbs, they could easily defeat mid-level swordsmen, and even assassinate enemies stronger than themselves by surprise.

"If we had this kind of thing back then, the family wouldn't have been wiped out, and we wouldn't have had to flee for our lives like kobolds." Every time Wright maintained his alchemical arm, he would mutter such words, unable to put it down.

In reality, his arm didn't need maintenance. The internal moving structure had a graphite-lubricated coating, and even if the arm was used until it was scrapped, the lubrication effect wouldn't disappear.

Moreover, the outer shell was seamlessly joined, so he couldn't touch the inside at all. He could only polish the surface with deerskin until it shone brightly.

But this habit of maintenance was something he had developed in the first half of his life. The old alchemical prosthetics would start creaking after a few days without maintenance.

So, with nothing better to do, and in order to rebuild the Du Wright family, Wright began taking in orphans with missing limbs, planning to train them into loyal students of Lord Du Luo Ken.

However, as he took them in, the people were no longer limited to 'orphans.' As long as they had a physical disability, whether adult or child, he took them all in..

Du Luo Ken designed different prosthetics tailored to each person's missing parts, then had Wright, Luona, and the others craft them. For the finished products, Du Luo Ken would explain them to them, explaining while correcting the errors and improving the work into a finished product.

So during this period, Wright, Luona, and the others made rapid progress in alchemy. Because they specialized in the small category of prosthetic alchemy, the prosthetics they made were getting better and better, and more and more powerful.

Now, this team had been summoned to Rapids Fortress.

Feiwo also transferred some people with management experience over to assist with administration.

The next day, Ange still provided the food. Yesterday, Silver Coin had seized the granary and gotten all the grain into his hands.

However, the granary only had fifteen days' worth of grain reserves. In the current situation, they had to ration it carefully, otherwise after fifteen days, everyone would still go hungry.

Having Ange provide the food was much more convenient. The bag of elf beans from yesterday hadn't been finished yet, so today they continued eating vegetable dumplings, but with flour added, turning them into vegetable flatbreads.

"The amount doesn't add up. Didn't you say one bean per meal? A bag of elf beans, all told, is just over thirty thousand beans. Three meals a day, they should be finished in one day. Why can they still last a day?" Nai Ge Li Si asked, puzzled.

Silver Coin said: "Eating one meal a day won't kill anyone. Eating too much will only cause trouble. Keep them hungry, and one, they won't have the energy to make trouble; two, they won't lose their drive to improve. If they want to eat their fill, they have to work. I'm planning to recruit people tomorrow to dig for Life Gems and repair the bridge."

"... Why do I feel like you're not here for disaster relief, but to get rich? A few vegetable dumplings and you want to recruit people to dig gems and repair bridges?" Nai Ge Li Si was quite speechless.

If things really go on like this, the disaster relief in Silver Coin won't lose money at all—on the contrary, it'll make a killing. Whether it's mining gems or repairing bridges, both are extremely dangerous jobs, so the pay has to be much higher than ordinary work. But right now, a few vegetable buns are enough to recruit enough people.

Silver Coin spread his hands helplessly: "Nothing to be done. There's no work here that can take on a large number of hands, and leaving them idle makes them prone to causing trouble. Paying too much makes me feel like I'm losing out. We originally just came here to sell vegetables, but now not only can't we sell the vegetables, we've even thrown in so many spirit beans on top of it. What a loss."

While complaining, taking advantage of everyone lining up to receive the vegetable buns, Silver Coin also called out loudly:

"Buying, buying! Life Gems, ten soul crystals each, as many as you have, I'll take them all!"

"Hiring, hiring! Hiring people to mine Life Gems, meals included, mined Life Gems bought at ten soul crystals each, as many as you have, I'll take them all."

"Hiring, hiring! Hiring people to repair roads and bridges, meals included, twenty copper coins a day."

"Hiring, hiring! Hiring textile workers, those who know how to raise silkworms, spin yarn, and weave cloth are preferred, meals included, woven cloth purchased at market price."

After the vegetable buns were distributed, Silver Coin had also traded back ten Life Gems.

Seeing Ange threw all nine Life Gems into the flowerpot, leaving only one in his hand.

Inside the gem flowed an emerald green. It was already known that this bit of emerald green belonged to some kind of power, but no matter how Seeing Ange looked at it, he couldn't actually touch it, as if only the little sapling could absorb it.

Taking the flowerpot down to look, the little sapling had already absorbed the emerald green from one gem, and the flower bud on its head had grown a little bigger. However, the little sapling didn't absorb the rest of the gems; instead, it moved its roots and rolled the gems into the soil of the flowerpot.

Seeing Ange tilted his head. Full?

Probably so. Seeing Ange felt the life force brimming on the little sapling, like the moment just before a seed shows its sprout.

The little sapling was a one-of-a-kind life. Seeing Ange had no planting experience that could be applied to it, including the growth experience of the old Tree of Life, which also couldn't be applied to the little sapling.

Because even the old tree couldn't figure out why the little sapling maintained its current "sapling" state. It had clearly already grown a powerful life force—you could tell from its branches that it was already a massive Tree of Life—but its main body remained in a sapling state, rooted in this little flowerpot.

The emerald green inside these Life Gems was the only thing the little sapling was interested in and could use to spur its growth, but what it would give rise to, no one knew.

……

On the cliff beside Rapid Fortress, Silver Coin pointed at the terraced fields on the cliff face and said: "My lord, all of Rapid Fortress's farmland is here. It used to be a mining area. After the mine was exhausted, the people here hired earth-element mages to summon mud-rock giants from below the mountain, who climbed up by sheer force and covered this place to turn it into farmland."

Seeing Ange nodded indifferently. He had even grown soilless rice without soil, let alone terraced fields with soil like this. As long as there was a place for him to plant things, that was fine.

He reached out and grabbed a handful of soil, and found that the fertility of the soil had already been lost. The dirt here was spread over rock, a thin layer of about one meter. Once the nutrients it carried were exhausted, it was done for.

Unlike ground soil, where the layer is thick, so after the surface nutrients are exhausted, fallowing for a few years lets the nutrients in the lower layer leach out under the soaking of rainwater and become fertile again.

This was no trouble for Seeing Ange. Bone meal, plant ash, farmyard manure, there were also phosphate mines nearby, and a little insect ash mixed in, and the fertility of the terraced fields was improved.

He selected the ge-shu suited to the temperature and humidity here and planted them. Seeing Ange turned his gaze to the cemetery beside the terraced fields.

The biggest difference here from the main plane might be that outside every city, there was a cemetery. The number of graves in the cemetery might be more than the number of living people in the entire city.

For example, the cemetery outside Rapid Fortress had over a hundred thousand graves, ten times the population of Rapid Fortress. If just one percent of the skeletons inside came out, it would be enough to maintain order in Rapid Fortress.

However, starting two months ago, no more skeletons or zombies came out from inside. Rapid Fortress lost the force that maintained order. After running on inertia for two months, it could no longer be sustained.

It was heard that this kind of situation had appeared all over the world. No one knew what to do, but everyone was clear that the collapse of the old order would inevitably bring destruction and death.

A burst of hoofbeats sounded. At the end of the mountain path, five knights riding undead bone horses came galloping swiftly toward this side.

The leading knight shouted anxiously: "Quick, quick, quick, not a single person to be seen on the mountain road. Rapid Fortress must have had an incident. Luckily we got the Undead Scepter, which can summon the undead creatures from the cemetery. As long as no one in the fortress has died, everything can be salvaged."

The five knights galloped swiftly to the front of the cemetery, dismounted and rushed through the cemetery gate. The leading knight took out a skull scepter and held it high: "Arise, undying souls, heed my command, wake from the slumbering realm!"

In the eye sockets of the scepter's skull, ghostly blue flames rose.

Seeing Ange's location was not far from the cemetery gate, but he was on the terraced fields, separated by two or three tiers. The scepter's power actually affected him too—a faint force spread to his body, seemingly trying to press him to his knees on the ground.

Seeing Ange felt baffled. With a slight struggle, that faint force was immediately broken apart by him.

In the eye sockets of the skull scepter in the leading knight's hand, the flames burst apart with a "squeak"… burst apart…

The knights were stunned for a moment. The leading knight reached out and patted the scepter, muttering in puzzlement: "Why did it go out? Is there wind?"

He raised it again and shouted loudly: "Arise, undying souls, heed my command, wake from the slumbering realm!"

The cemetery was silent. The flames in the skull did not reignite. The leading knight muttered: "It seems we got a defective one, it went out right away. What do we do?"

"Can… can we return it?"