Volume One: The Infernal Lord's Realm Chapter 13: The Synthesis Nest

[You have obtained Spiritual Crow Breeding Manual (Green) x1.]
[Spiritual Crow Breeding Manual (Green): A guide for cultivating crows with spiritual qualities. Once bred, these spiritual crows can be used to create alchemical potions such as Elixir of Crow’s Wisdom, Crow’s Spirit Eye, etc.]

Looking at the green item before him, Chen Gu immediately understood where that crate of crow eggs had come from.

It seemed the elves of this village had been duped.

Or perhaps, it wasn’t exactly a deception—rather, there must have been an unnatural infiltrator lurking within this elven settlement.

It made sense that their alchemical recipes likely used various animals to craft potions with enhanced properties.

Just from what he knew, potions like Crow’s Wisdom and Crow’s Spirit Eye were most likely made from the brains and eyes of spiritual crows.

Back when the elves here were persuaded to raise crows, perhaps these were among the reasons.

But all that was in the past now.

Now that these things belonged to Chen Gu, a new idea took root in his mind.

He took out the building stone fragments he had collected earlier.

[Nest synthesis commencing...]
[Please provide a building stone with matching attributes or a City Core (0/1), a successfully synthesized formula (0/1), and ten synthesis materials (0/10).]

“Use Building Stone—Farm.”

[Warning: Building Stone is a fragment. Please repair before attempting synthesis.]
[Would you like to repair the Building Stone? If yes, please insert synthesis materials.]

“I knew it would be like this.”

Chen Gu laughed to himself, then took out the Spiritual Crow Breeding Manual.

[Building Stone—Farm (Fragment)] + [Spiritual Crow Breeding Manual] = [??? (Success Rate: 88%)]

Bringing his hands together, the two items vanished from his grasp, and a building stone radiating a verdant glow appeared in his hand.

Within the stone, Chen Gu saw vast farmlands, with two scarecrows standing amidst the fields, several crows perched atop them.

“No wonder the success rate’s so high—crows and farmland must be compatible attributes.”

[Building Stone—Crow Farmland (Green): Can be used to construct a Crow Farmland at a designated location, producing grain, crows, and scarecrows (can be built in non-undead, non-demon cities).]

He inserted the Crow Farmland building stone into the nest synthesis interface, filled in the Fire Spirit Crow formula, and fetched ten portions of magical flames from the laboratory.

In the next instant, the building stone in his hand ignited.

Chen Gu was startled and nearly dropped the stone.

Fortunately, he steadied his grip and didn’t let go.

Moments later, the stone’s appearance shifted.

Chen Gu inspected it.

[Building Stone—Fire Crow Farm (Green): Can be used to construct a farm producing Fire Spirit Crows at a designated location (can be built in non-undead cities or in the wild).]

Seeing the change, Chen Gu knew the production of his Fire Spirit Crow troops was now secured.

He put the building stone away, searched the area a few more times, but found nothing else of value.

He then had the Corpse-Eating Vine pack up everything from the laboratory and move it all to the surface.

Chen Gu wondered if there were any similar places in the village, so he carefully searched other areas.

But he found no other large secret chambers.

The few things he did find weren’t especially noteworthy, though he did come across some salt.

Though the salt had solidified into a large chunk after all these years, it was still edible.

Thinking he had already obtained a large cooking pot, it would be wise to bring some seasonings as well, so he added the salt to his haul.

After organizing his finds, Chen Gu filled two wooden chests.

The large pot he carried separately, placing many recently collected items inside it.

Finally, the removed defensive barrier magic array was stored alone in another wooden chest, separate from the rest.

As for the horse-drawn carriage he longed for, there was none to be found.

It seemed elves were accustomed to traveling the forest on foot.

With no other choice, Chen Gu set his sights on the Fire Spirit Crows.

He wove ropes into a net, secured the wooden chests and the lidded iron pot, and had thirty Fire Spirit Crows carry the load through the air.

He let the Fire Spirit Crows attempt a flight.

The cargo wasn’t overly heavy, and with thirty crows working together, they could fly at an altitude of three to ten meters, moving faster than a person walking on foot.

Once everything from the elven village was packed up, Chen Gu headed east.

His target was the largest group of ghouls he’d seen from the watchtower.

That spot was the furthest visible point from the tower, and judging by their appearance, those ghouls were not elves.

Chen Gu suspected they were a human unit that had entered the forest, died, and become ghouls.

He planned to check it out and see if there was anything useful to be found.

If the area was safe, he even considered resting there.

After all, he had traveled nearly seventy or eighty kilometers today.

By car, that might be an hour or two, but on foot, he was nearly exhausted.

Another thirty kilometers would be his absolute limit for a day.

If he didn’t rest, he wouldn’t be able to move at all tomorrow.

As he trudged onward, Chen Gu resolved that tomorrow he must synthesize a mount for himself. Relying on his own feet every day, he’d never reach the Black Fortress, even if he did nothing else.

Ideally, the mount could fly; perhaps it could even carry him to the skies.

Dwelling on these thoughts, Chen Gu almost forgot his fatigue, and his pace quickened.

As Chen Gu moved forward, a unit of undead emerged near the elven village.

This force consisted entirely of skeleton soldiers.

But unlike the ones Chen Gu had shattered before, these wore thick, dark armor and carried matching long spears and tower shields.

As they marched, the sound of armor and weaponry grinding together was clearly audible.

Within their ranks rode a skeleton astride a white bone warhorse.

At his waist hung a longsword, and in his hand he bore a black battle flag.

Reaching the outskirts of the elven village, he glanced at the now-abandoned settlement, then focused on the land at the village’s entrance.

There, many ghosts had been obliterated in an earlier explosion.

Though the ghosts had turned into orbs and beads, all collected by Chen Gu, some traces remained.

The leader dismounted with a fluid motion, probing the ground for a moment before raising his gaze in the direction Chen Gu had departed, ghostly blue flames flickering in his eye sockets.

“A living one.”