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The slowly shifting smoke before Liszt’s eyes brought him a sense of satisfaction. Starting with the extermination of Magical Beasts to the middle of October, after nearly a month of cutting, the Lumberjack Team had finally chopped down every tree on Thorn Ridge.

The once lush but not overly dense woods had turned into bare, undulating slopes of soil.

If there were environmental organizations here, they would undoubtedly lodge a serious protest against Liszt—accusing him of destroying vegetation and causing soil erosion, crimes against humanity—but unfortunately, this was Liszt’s territory, and he could do whatever he wanted. Besides, with Coral Island lush and thriving, what did a few trees matter!

In a world with Elves, there was no fear of land desertification.

Moreover, there was no industrial development here; whether on the islands or the continent, no matter how poor the soil, at least 70% of the land was covered by forests. At least 95% was covered by vegetation, whether it be farmland or weeds, there was never a shortage of plants.

Therefore, Liszt never paid attention to environmental protection.

“Mutated wood? What does that mean?” It was the reward for the Thorn Bug chain quest; previous rewards had been for thorn mutations with spikes or poison—both spikes and poison were easy to understand. But now the wood aspect was a bit baffling, “Does wood… could it be about the quality of the timber?”

His sharp mind quickly rotated: “Trees differ from each other; some are suited for making furniture and are exorbitantly priced, while some are not even good enough for paper production… Does Mutated Quick-Growing Thorn Species mean that the wood properties of the thorns have changed?”

Ordinary thorns were useful for nothing more than hedges.

They could neither bloom nor bear fruit, and were not particularly hard, quite a useless feature.

“I can’t figure it out by thinking alone, I need to see the actual item and research this ‘Rapid Growth Wood Thorns’ to determine its value,” Liszt named the new thorn variety in the blink of an eye.

At that moment.

The smoke before him also transformed into a new chapter.

“Task: The commercial district of Fresh Flower Town is gradually prospering, but the workshop area has been idle for a long time and lacks enough workshops to support it. Craftsmen should not waste their talents on cutting trees and farming. Please build three new workshops to increase town prosperity. Reward: Bottleneck of Dou Qi.”

“Hmm?”

Liszt’s eyes widened; he saw the odd reward of “Bottleneck of Dou Qi.”

But in his heart, there was no surprise, only excitement, “My first task’s reward was the sublimation of Dou Qi, which enabled me to break through from Apprentice Knight to Earth Knight smoothly. This time, it’s the Bottleneck of Dou Qi, does this mean I am about to become an Elite Earth Knight? It must be!”

Knights are categorized as Apprentice Knights, Earth Knights, Sky Knights, and Dragon Knights, according to the levels of Dou Qi: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and Dragon Dou Qi.

Within Earth Knights, one can roughly divide them into two stages—Common Earth Knights and Elite Earth Knights.

Those who’ve just broken through to Earth Knight are Common Earth Knights; during this time, if you continue to train, the total amount of Dou Qi in your body will slowly increase.

Liszt was in this stage, feeling the growth of his Dou Qi every day.

When the total amount of Dou Qi reaches its peak and stops increasing, it signifies reaching the level of an Elite Earth Knight. At this stage, it is very difficult to increase the total amount of Dou Qi through mere cultivation alone.

Many knights are confined to this stage, unable to advance further, only continuously developing their technical use of Dou Qi. As they age, around their fifties, their physical functions will start to decline, the total amount of Dou Qi will gradually decrease, and they will regress from Elite Earth Knights back to Common Earth Knights.

Now in his forties, Marcus was still at the peak of his physical abilities. In another decade or so, he would likely begin to decline, and his strength would greatly reduce. This was the urgent reason he yearned for distinction on the battlefield—honors needed to be gained early so that he could enjoy them when old.

Half of the Elite Earth Knights shared Marcus’ mindset.

Honors.

Yet, there were some Elite Earth Knights who were not in a rush to achieve distinction. Instead, they preferred to continue enhancing their own strength, such as Levis and Li Vera.

However, relying solely on cultivation was no longer very effective.

At this time, a copious amount of magic potions was needed to stimulate the body’s functions and continue to increase the amount of Dou Qi until the quantitative change led to a qualitative leap, breaking through to become a Sky Knight.

One Sky Knight could easily handle a hundred Earth Knights.

If they had good mounts to cooperate with them, they became killing machines on the battlefield, constantly collecting honors.

“After completing this task, will I officially step into the phase of an Elite Earth Knight?” Liszt still found it hard to believe, “Originally, I thought it would take at least three to five years of cultivation to enter the ranks of the Elite Earth Knights. Unexpectedly, in just over half a year, I’ve completed this process.”

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

It was as if he could see himself radiating with the light of a genius from top to bottom.

“To construct three new workshops in the workshop district is too simple. Currently, there are six workshops in the district: a smithy, tanners’ shop, mill, carpenter’s shop, tailor shop, and locksmith store… According to the current number of craftsman serfs, I can build a soap-making workshop, a brewing workshop, and a cooperage.”

The soap-making workshop had a soap maker, Bunier, who had drifted from Little Papa Island. He could not only make scented soaps but also undertook the task of making lye soap arranged by Liszt. Though he hadn’t finalized the ultimate lye soap formula, he had produced a barely usable lye soap.

A soap-making workshop would be his reward, and after all, it would earn money for Liszt.

The brewing workshop had among the artisans who had drifted from Little Papa Island a brewer named Frank Dregs who could make fruit wines; there were also two purchased serfs who knew how to brew rice wine and beer, respectively.

Now, Liszt had a good relationship with the heir of the hops family, Aubrey Lycra, whom he contacted frequently through letters and could obtain hops at a relatively low price for his own beer brewing.

Not aiming to make a profit, a brewing workshop could barely sustain itself if it produced for its own consumption.

As for the cooperage, among the purchased artisan serfs, there were several coopers—a common skill combining woodworking and blacksmithing. Barrels were indispensable in daily life, so there would be no problem with sales once the cooperage was built. Even without the task, he had plans to construct a cooperage.

“The only question is, does a cooperage count as a workshop? It should be considered a handicraft workshop, right?” Liszt pondered in uncertainty, not clear on whether establishments like cooperages and tailor shops should be classified as shops or workshops.

“If it doesn’t count, I’ll just build an additional workshop, which will need to be built sooner or later… maybe a peanut processing workshop. Boiled peanuts, five-spiced peanuts, fried peanuts, salt-and-pepper peanuts, sauce-flavored peanuts, peanut butter—I’ll produce whatever can be produced. Fresh Flower Town shouldn’t be directly selling raw agricultural products.”

The value of raw agricultural products was too low.

At the very least, they needed to undergo initial processing before being sold.

Thinking of this, he immediately summoned Goltai, who was growing visibly busier day by day, “Consultant Goltai, I need to see results in the development of the workshop district. Arrange to start construction on the soap-making workshop, brewing workshop, cooperage, and peanut processing workshop immediately, with direct investment from the castle.”