517: Chapter 316: The Long-Lost Hard Road of Carrying Buckets 517: Chapter 316: The Long-Lost Hard Road of Carrying Buckets A warm family reunion had lasted for over a month.
As the snow in the valley began to slowly melt, the Earth Bears prepared to set out once more.
They needed to head south for hunting.
For the nearly invincible Earth Bears in the wilderness, venturing south for hunting posed no real danger.
The three little bears would be taken along to gain some experience.
Aurelio, however, stayed behind.
He was in a deep sleep, and when he awoke, he would be a demigod.
Hill felt a bit envious, but he also understood that even though Aurelio appeared unreliable, he had lived for ten thousand years.
His being sent to find Hill was a testament to his strength and caution.
Only when facing those they acknowledged as kin would the Earth Bears drop their external vigilance.
As for the three little bears, while they were not lonely with each other’s company and had Hill to clean up any messes, the return of many big bears made them very happy lately.
Over the past year, they had grown larger than Hill.
Oriana had already begun looking for a big bear willing to train her in hunting every day.
The clan’s willingness to take them out this time excited all the little bears.
Even the lazy Nils started practicing his fighting skills a few days in advance.
However, the biggest one, Hill, was not considered by Haiweirsen to accompany them.
High-level Magical Beast Meat couldn’t even be eaten by the child, let alone killed.
When Haiweirsen learned Hill couldn’t eat high-level Magical Beast Meat, Hill suspected that his expression indicated a desire to grab Natural Consciousness and have a fight.
Though he couldn’t find Natural Consciousness to beat up, Haiweirsen grumbled whenever he remembered it, feeling that this Nature Warlock was quite a waste and that abandoning nature’s favor might be better.
The free and unfettered life of an Earth Bear!
Why tether oneself with reins?
If Earth Bears weren’t immune to natural curses, Hill thought the Natural Consciousness surrounding him would constantly curse Haiweirsen to misfortune.
The Goddess of the Earth probably knew long ago that her beloved, lively, and competitive children would inevitably get into trouble.
Hence, these Earth Bears were enveloped by blessings from her, the Sun God, and the Goddess of the Silvermoon.
Free from temptation, curses, and ill fate were powerful blessings three natural deities could bestow.
When Hill discovered the obvious blessings on Oriana and the others, he was stunned for a long time.
No wonder; even before Natural Consciousness favored him, he had been doing very well after awakening his Earth Bear Bloodline.
Since becoming a Magician, Hill rarely made poor choices, easily obtained what he wanted, and avoided people he didn’t wish to see.
After Oriana and the others turned one year old, those blessings became less visible, probably hidden beneath their increasingly tough fur.
Hill placated Natural Consciousness for a long time before it calmed down.
Regardless, Hill belonged to nature.
Hill wasn’t sure what he said to lead Natural Consciousness to the peculiar conclusion that Haiweirsen was just impotently furious because he could do nothing to Natural Consciousness.
Natural Consciousness feeling smug because a demigod couldn’t deal with it left Hill unsure if he should be glad.
It showed that his ancestor’s status was indeed very high.
Luckily, when Haiweirsen learned that Natural Consciousness could help Hill discern lies and distinguish truths, he became more appreciative.
He felt that Natural Consciousness was somewhat useful to Hill, even if not eating high-level Magical Beast meat was a bit of a loss.
After such a long time, Hill’s warehouse reorganization concluded a week ago.
He found numerous precious materials, caught in the starry sky currents from the World’s End by the Earth Bears.
Some things were valuable enough even outside this world.
Hill placed these special materials at the very top of the warehouse, in the section for non-sellable goods.
Hill’s casual use of mithril was because he knew that once the world was whole, those Mithril Mountains would no longer be untouchable.
In reality, there was no shortage of mithril in this world.
Currently, there wasn’t a particular need for mithril mines, at most just exchanging some with William for superior space crystals.
After all, besides him, no one needed so many powerful weapons.
Mithril powdered and added a little into weapons made them hard enough.
With a fist-sized piece of mithril, William could provide ten thousand sets of top-grade standard weapons to the Undead Tribe.
Hill pondered deeply, planning to venture into the wilderness once Aurelio became a demigod.
There were many ordinary metal and earth system materials here, unused by the Earth Bears since their levels were so low that even the three little bears could easily crush them.
But they could be exchanged for food.
William’s royal and national farms, spread across the former territories of the three Saral kingdoms, could provide enough food for three times the current Undead Tribe.
Hill had long noticed that this king had no interest in selling low-rank food to other nations and stored it all instead.
Surprisingly, Noah and Dionysio, who once offended him, could buy some back.
Sometimes, a defeated enemy who has knelt before you holds a higher place than an ally with hidden intentions.
In the center of the warehouse, Hill set up a large alchemical tool station.
Most materials for building houses were almost ready.
He began calculating the appropriate magic arrays silently.
The most important were the isolation and purification arrays.
Beyond these, Hill hoped to add some arrays for daily needs and alerts.
Also, elemental-sensitive types couldn’t be chosen.
Despite their usefulness, such arrays easily caused external elemental resonance.
Even with mithril casing protection, Hill didn’t want to take risks.
Hill worked diligently, hoping that when the Earth Bears returned from hunting, they would see the framework of their future home.
On the day the Earth Bears set off to hunt, Hill finally left the warehouse.
After working day and night, he stood under the sunlight, feeling a rare moment of confusion.
He realized he had grown accustomed to working in dim environments.
Hill sighed, thinking that bear eyes could see as if it were daytime in the dark.
Hill had long agreed with the Earth Bears to pack away the uninhabited Alchemy Huts and move the useful ones and the main house to the front of the warehouse.
Although summoning elemental creatures here was impossible and digging the foundation was hard, Battlefield Heather still had some utility.
Hill’s mastery over earth system laws rarely caused large storms anymore.
With just minor tidal movements, Hill’s body could easily withstand them without even breaking the skin.
But the spellcasting range needed to be controlled within small distances, and it took Hill three whole days to lay the foundation.
Three meters down was manageable, but any deeper, and it became too solid, making excavation difficult for Hill.
Fortunately, he didn’t plan on building high-rise structures.
A five-meter-deep foundation was sufficient as the material, mithril, was exceedingly heavy even in small amounts.
Compared to the past when he could conjure a house with a thought, Hill’s current project required much more physical labor.
Used to completing tasks with the Hand of the Mage, he now had to manually do most of the work.
When he finally completed the three-story circular house, Hill felt proud.
Unexpectedly, after so many years as a Mage, he had regained the hard labor skills of carrying buckets.
Hill still prepared a large number of thick mithril plates, despite the building already being strong enough with the mixed-in mithril dust.
Better safe than sorry—who knew when a massive storm might suddenly descend from the sky?
Mithril Crater had no defense against elemental storms falling directly from the sky.
Hill recalled many memories from the past, including the Mohist Mechanism Art he had once studied, which now found new relevance.
With his remaining knowledge of mechanisms, he designed mithril skylight panels that could be opened with a step and mithril plates that could block windows and doors with a slap.
These windows were made from a transparent legendary tortoiseshell, remaining clear and providing a view outside even after countless layers of compression.
Then came the most challenging task of expanding the entire structure with supreme quality space crystals.
Hill was very cautious, understanding the building’s potential depended on harnessing the space crystals’ power.
The semi-plane laws he had learned from the Mage Association helped a lot, familiarizing him with space law usage.
Perhaps his heartfelt earnestness brought good fortune, as he managed to expand the initially 500-square-meter house to an internal space of 100,000 square meters.
Satisfied, Hill started constructing small rooms inside, though each “small” room was about 400 square meters.
He sectioned off 218 rooms, an 800-square-meter entrance hall, a 1,000-square-meter kitchen, and a 1,000-square-meter small warehouse.
Most importantly, he left a 10,000-square-meter central space in the ring-shaped house for the Earth Bears to gather comfortably.
The uncomfortable main house had left a deep impression on Hill, so he designed this area with the softest grass, emitting a faint sweet fragrance that could relax the mind.
Perfect for the sweet-toothed Earth Bears.
Hill never counted the exact number of Earth Bears, but there were definitely no more than 200, probably just over a hundred.
Initially, he thought their number was considerable due to their strength.
Over a hundred demigod-level Earth Bears could indeed overlook any other race.
But their numbers weren’t enough to challenge a deity system.
This forced the Earth Bears to hide in the wilderness, resorting to tree planting to help their Mother Earth as a last-resort measure.
After all, their only potential allies, the Moon Elves, had already joined the enemy.