To Unlock Bonus Chapters:
Reach 40/50/100/200/400 Power Stones! 3 Extra Chapters!
Reach 800 Power Stones to activate NP!
Resets Weekly! [Monday]
—————————————————————————————————————————
Other than Leo, the first one to notice Bobak was his disciple Freya.
This marmot stretched out its front paws, struggling to move its stubby legs, wiggling its big bottom, and running in such a way that it seemed to make the ground shake.
She shouted "Master" excitedly as she "thumped thumped thumped" towards him, her childish voice thick with sobs.
Ever since she managed to weaken the Wild Boar Men, Freya had been clearly feeling homesick. Every morning right at dawn, she would climb to a nearby hilltop and let out a scream, even more punctual than a rooster's crow.
Whether her master heard her or not, no one knew, but the surrounding beasts clearly did.
Usually, brown bears and snow leopards could be found just a few miles outside River Bend, but now none could be seen.
Seeing that something bad was about to happen, Bobak stretched out his arm and firmly grabbed the fat on the marmot's cheek, yanking her down.
Freya took the opportunity to lie down, burying her huge head in her master's arms and bursting into tears.
"Don't cry like this. It makes it seem like I've been mistreating you," Leo said, feeling a bit flustered while listening to Freya's miserable sobs.
Sure enough, due to Freya's crying, Bobak's gaze towards Leo turned even colder.
In response, Leo could only give an awkward smile.
"Master, I've missed you so much."
After crying for a while, Freya finally finished venting and instantly switched to a state of happiness and excitement. She nudged Bobak's bottom with her forehead and started walking towards the settlement camp.
"Master, master, I'll take you to eat wheat cakes. Sister Olivia bakes wheat cakes for me every day. They're so delicious!"
"Master, master, have I grown taller?"
"Master, master, have I gotten stronger?"
When they reached Leo's side, the tall druid stretched out his hand towards Leo. "Elven druid, Bobak Marimotas."
Leo quickly reached out to greet him, grasping each other's arms. "Master, my name is Leo. I'm Freya's friend."
Other identities weren't important. The first thing was to show that he was a friend, not an enemy.
Ulyan, Olivia and the others also rushed over upon hearing the news and greeted Bobak one by one.
The villagers who were working near the settlement camp watched from afar, curiously looking at this stranger with huge antlers.
"I've troubled everyone during this time with my disciple."
"No trouble, no trouble at all," Ulyan waved his hand repeatedly, answering with a smile.
In front of her master, Ulyan heaped praise on Freya: "Freya is so hardworking. As soon as she arrived at the settlement camp, she started helping with the work. She's been a great help. She's obedient and capable. Everyone who sees her likes her!"
This made Freya beam with joy. She squatted down obediently, waiting for her master's praise.
Bobak just reached out and stroked Freya's back fur, nodding and saying, "That's good."
Just these few words made Freya extremely proud.
She wagged her tail rapidly, squinting her eyes comfortably as she accepted her master's soothing, wishing she could lie on her back and let him scratch her belly.
After living with the kobold cubs, Freya was becoming more and more like a dog.
After they took their seats in the settlement camp, Ulyan, in the capacity of the master of the settlement camp, exchanged some polite greetings with Bobak, but could merely talk about trivial things and didn't have much substantial content to exchange.
After all, he was just an old and slippery soldier. Although his knowledge could completely outshine that of a farmer who had never left the village in his entire life, but in front of an elven great druid who had lived for five hundred years and traveled across the entire continent, he really didn't measure up.
Surprisingly, it was Leo, this reckless young man, who, to everyone's surprise, was able to chat with Bobak for a few words.
"Your composting techniques are truly remarkable. Back when the Atlantis Empire was yet to rise, by making use of the bird droppings on the islands within the kingdom and coupling them with the heavy Malian plow, the average grain yield exceeded that of neighboring countries by three times. This led to a population explosion and rapid rise. From a small border country, it became the most powerful human empire on the continent."
Leo nodded and said, "Agriculture is the foundation of a country. Whether a country thrives or not depends on how many people a single farmer can support."
"If a farmer can support one more person, there'll be one more person to spin, weave, and reclaim wasteland. If he can support one more person, there'll be one more person to dig for minerals and work as a blacksmith. If he can support one more person, there'll be one more person to enlist in the army and go to war."
Leo didn't use the knowledge from textbooks to explain the relationship between agriculture, light industry, heavy industry, and military power. He just simply echoed and then asked following the topic, "I heard that druids have the ability to control plants. Can they boost the yield of crops?"
Bobak was quite surprised by Leo's insights, which a mountain village villager wouldn't be expected to have. Thus, he became more interested in the conversation and was willing to disclose more knowledge.
"Druidic spells can indeed boost the yield of crops. However, the magic power of each druid is limited, and they can't take care of too many crops. The most practical approach is to keep cultivating crop seeds and improving the crops to boost production."
Leo sighed and said, "It's a pity that humans aren't as adept at cultivating plants as the elven druid masters. Half of the wars humans wage stem from a lack of food."
Bobak laughed. He shook his head and said, "Human wars have nothing to do with food; they stem from innate greed. If half of the wars are caused by a lack of food, then the other half are due to an abundance of food."
"Whether they're hungry or full, they're all eyeing what others possess."
After building up for so long, Leo finally showed his hand: "At least most of the wars in the North are caused by a lack of food. If the elven druids can pitch in and cultivate higher-yield seeds, maybe there'll be far fewer wars."
"How do you know that the druids haven't pitched in? A thousand years ago, when the wheat seeds from the south were sown on the north bank of the Anzerno River, the seeds that grew were even fewer than the weeds. Therefore, the Beast Race could only survive through hunting and plundering, and the human clans also halted at the south bank of the Anzerno River."
Leo asked curiously, "Did the elven druids improve the wheat seeds?"
"That's right. It was the great elven lord and grand druid Kithair Calsgrandar. Unable to bear watching his Beast Race friends go hungry, endure suffering, and loot one another, he cultivated and improved the wheat seeds of the southern humans to make them suitable for the northern soil and then gave them to the orcs."
"Unfortunately, the result didn't get better. The surplus of food led to a population boom. After growing more powerful, the Beast Race started to invade the elven forests and also clashed with the humans. Thus, the war started."
"Ultimately, the elven race withdrew to the Trahir Heights, the Beast Race was driven north of the ice river, and the human empire seized a large expanse of territory before descending into internal strife."
Bobak sighed and said, "Not just humans, but any race that's innately greedy and prolific will bring about destruction once it grows stronger."
As he said, he turned his gaze towards his disciple. "Even the marmots on Trahir Heights, once they lose their natural enemies and have an ample food supply, will reproduce in such large numbers that they'll damage the entire highland ecosystem."
Leo felt a little disappointed. All he had been talking about was to get this Druid Master right in front of him to bring some good stuff to the settlement camp.
Some wheat seeds that could yield two thousand catties per mu (about 666.7 square meters), big trees with bread-like fruits, and livestock that could grow meat without consuming food.
He wouldn't turn down anything!