“Captain, you don’t even know what you’re tracking up there,” a young man criticized as he followed a middle-aged man with brown hair.

“No, we do, Sicbert. The northmen wants us to track any and all large monsters holed up far north,” the middle-aged man replied with a smile which boasted an aura of confidence.

“But why, Captain?”

“You ask too much questions, boy.” The captain scratched his beard and continued, “Though, you ask very good questions. Indeed. Why would the northmen hire us to go northwards? There’s nothing but trees, snow, and the edge of the world up there.”

“So there must be something else!” Sicbert pointed out.

“Probably. Or maybe the northmen are just interested in looking over the edge of the world.”

“I heard Sallusists claim there is no edge of the world.”

“What nonsense. Do you suggest that the world would continue on and on? We’d run out of space for maps, then!” the captain laughed. “But seriously, Sicbert. In truth, we’re not tracking some bastard monster for some silver. I accepted the job to finally get into Varangia proper and find out what those northmen are up to. There’s something—or someone—else out there, and I intend on unearthing this mystery.”

Sicbert nodded and remained quiet as the pair walked through a hall and entered through a double door. The open room was more of a workshop, with equipment and workbenches occupying much of the space. It was also noisy, with men and women talking and laughing loudly as they drank beer or sharpened their blades.

The captain had to bang a ladle against a pot to get everyone’s attention. As soon as everyone quieted down, the man swept a pile of pots and weapons off a table. “Alright, men. It’s confirmed. We’ve got a contract from the Varangians.”

He held a white paper which caused many eyes to widen.

“What the bloody Purgatory? Those northmen use silk to write things on? How rich!” someone observed.

“Nay, you dolt. It’s some kind of parchment. Anyway, what’s important is that we get to do what we do best while getting paid for it. Silver and, of course, this beautiful beast.” The captain laid a Varangian crossbow onto the table for everyone to see.

After a few exhales of wonder, the trackers started inspecting the weapon closely. Whispers could be heard among the people as they touched and poked the contraption.

“It’s the northman weapon!”

“Looks like something the Greatians would have.”

“I’ve seen a few northmen with these.”

“I heard from the Rhanks that this thing could be used to puncture through the skies.”

“Sounds like a whole load of bull to me.”

“Now, the problem is, we don’t really know how to use it. It seems to be built for… northman strength,” the captain pointed out.

“You must be a blind, Captain. I can see a bow here, so you just pull- Erk!” a huge man tried to pull the crossbow back, but no matter where he held it from, it was tough to pull it back. “What in the name of Humanos? Is this fake?”

The captain waved his hand. “Nay. I thought so, too, at first. Then those inhuman northerners loosed an arrow from that same contraption. It appears to be the real deal.”

“We can’t even use these, what’s the point? Ask for more silver instead, Captain!” someone shouted.

The captain raised a finger. “Now this is why I’m the captain, and not you lots. My plan is to send these goods back to my home and have them studied and modified. My cousins got their fingers in quite a lot of places, so they should know a person or two who could get this done. Once we figure this beast out, we can make more of them for our own use.”

A hunter raised his beer mug and cheered, “‘Tis why you’re the captain, Captain!”

The middle-aged man nodded his head and placed another set of paper onto the table. The unassuming pile garnered as much curiosity and wonder as much as the crossbow. “The northmen are quite a generous employer, I can give you that. They gave us maps so we know where to go.”

The trackers took a copy each, and some started to experiment with the paper, causing the captain to warn them, “If you break those, you’ll be trapped in a mirror world.”

The people gasped and hurriedly placed the maps back onto the table.

“Ha! You dolts! I was joking. But these things are expensive from what I heard, thus if you break them, I’ll break your spine,” the captain declared.

“Are these maps accurate? It doesn’t seem right compared to the maps we’ve made,” someone asked.

“Bah. You might as well toss most of our maps to the fire pits. That way, you’ll give sacrifices to Humanos and not waste all our efforts.” the captain sighed and shook his head. “Right, lads. Let’s get to business. As usual, we’ll operate in packs.”

The company of hunters and trackers spent a few hours discussing their plans. Unlike the energetic and rowdy atmosphere from before, each and every one of the hunters were very serious.

As soon as they received their assignment, they grabbed their gear and left. By the end of the day, only the captain and a handful of assignment-less hunters were left.

“Aolgher and Fenricht. I need your groups to stay as reserves. We’ll send you to wherever we need you the most,” the captain ordered.

“Business as usual. This is the life of the fastest hunters in the realm of mortals, aye?” the man named Aolgher boasted.

“Indeed,” Fenricht nodded and the rest of the hunters left, leaving Sicbert and the captain behind in the room.

“What now, captain?” Sicbert asked.

The captain pulled out a parchment, jotted something down quickly, signed it, and placed his wax seal on it. After blowing at the paper, he handed the paper to Sicbert. “Send a word to my favorite cousin. The Varangians are moving north.”

“Yes, Lord Marcoir. Do you have any messages for Count Marcoir?” Sicbert asked.

Captain Marcoir shrugged. “I don’t know. How’s my kid, I suppose? Lorferd rarely writes to me nowadays. I was sure I paid a hefty amount to get that boy to read and write.”

“As you wish, lord. I’ll be back in a few weeks.”

“Do hurry. You wouldn’t want to miss the fun.”

‘North-west section of the wall is completed, Master Custodian,’ Niner reported to his master. ‘We’re about 85.2344% done with creating a wall around Mount Varangia Village.’

‘Good. Anything else to report?’

‘We’ve determined that the food production areas would be hard to fortify. It took a lot of resources to get the farms up, it’ll take much more to put a wall around it. It’ll also limit potential expansions.’

‘I see. That makes sense. Just double patrol efforts around the food production areas. How do the humans protect their… farms?’ Custodian asked.

‘They don’t.’

‘Oh. That’s a bit underwhelming. There must be a book or something to find a better way to fortify things.’

As Custodian wasn’t exactly the greatest person-... thing to research the best non-production techniques, it had to use external sources to supplement its mediocre knowledge. For example, while it could easily figure out that hurling a huge boulder at a bunch of humans would create instant minced meat, it knew there were better ways to turn more humans into minced meat with less resources.

To truly improve, Custodian had to assimilate outside knowledge.

‘There must be a way to make food in a compact area,’ Custodian bemoaned.

[Main Databank Preview]

[3 Core Tokens: Basic Hydroponics]

[Basics of hydroponics for growing simple crops in a controlled environment.

Note: Agriculture Super-A.I.s already have this by default.]

‘What,’ Custodian muttered.

‘Master Custodian! I have dire news!’ Apoth’s sudden announcement pulled Custodian out of its shock.

‘What is it? I’m busy.’

‘We’re severely low on the resource known as holy water!’ Apoth reported. ‘I know you reserved a fraction of the holy water for my research, but I might actually need much more.’

Custodian pondered for a moment before asking, ‘What’s your progress on synthesizing holy water?’

‘Very slow. It’s not exactly a resource we are familiar with or very common in the outside world. It also doesn’t follow the laws of nature. As you know, water doesn’t split into multiple drops and start migrating across the room for no apparent reason.’

‘It seems impossible to synthesize the thing if it can’t be quantified.’

‘Though it might seem so, given time I will be able to put order into this chaotic element, but in the meantime, we’ll have to cease production of anything related to holy water. Also, I require more biologist drones. ’

Ever since Custodian could create semi-autonomous drones, it had been experimenting on creating a few drones which were capable of complex tasks such as researching, though they were very expensive. Just one of them would cost a seventh of a new Factory Core!

‘Very well. I shall do what you’re asked. But I expect results.’

‘Affirmative,’ Apoth replied then went back to his work.

‘Now, where was I? Ah, yes.’

[Main Databank Preview]

[Basic Botanics]

[Basic Hydroponics]

[Unknown number of other undisclosed data]

‘Undisclosed and unknown?! I have to figure them out myself?!’ Custodian exclaimed. Nevertheless, it got a new goal to aspire for, which would mean finding kojans to grind up and turn into currency. ‘Weaver, what’s the status regarding the organic mercenaries?’

‘I’ve managed to hire three companies and several groups. They’ll leave Vyssium and enter the northern forests in a few days,’ Weaver reported.

‘Make sure none of them get close to our base of operations.’

‘Affirmative. I’ve taken some precautions. We already have the demons to worry about, so a bunch of armed humans frolicking around our lands is not what we would want.’

‘Demons?’

‘It’s what the humans are calling the kojans. I’m still trying to figure out what these all mean. Spirits, humans, and souls. I might be able to know more if I meet with a priest. I still need time to arrange a meeting with one of them.’

‘I see. Continue with your research and eventually we’ll also find out how to process these things called souls into material. Perhaps they might be key to synthesizing holy water.’