Chapter 20 Raven's Feather
In Baron Mansaru's castle, his wife Flynn was enthusiastically preparing lunch to entertain the guests.

Unlike the Baron's roughness, Mrs. Winter is a beautiful woman from the kingdom, and her lunch style is more inclined towards this.

The steaming barbecue is cut into pieces and placed on a plate, with milky white fish soup, freshly baked white bread, and Northern specialty jam. It is a familiar yet strange novel experience.

"I had my servants make this barbecue according to the royal palace recipe that was passed down from Fuxing City. Are you satisfied?"

Mrs. Winter, a plump woman with gorgeous red hair, sat opposite.

At this moment, her eyes were fixed on the handsome boy in front of her with an obsessive look, and her cheeks were abnormally flushed.

"It's a delicious lunch, thank you ma'am for the hospitality." Rhodes put down his knife and fork and responded politely.

Flynn's blush deepened when she saw his graceful movements.

When she noticed her husband's cold expression, she smiled briefly and turned to look at the child next to her.

Next to her sat a brother and sister.

The elder brother Hurst is a little older, eleven years old this year, and has inherited Baron Mansalu's appearance, with dark red skin and as strong as a calf. He is sitting in his seat and eating with big mouthfuls.

Sister Lucia is one year younger than her brother.

She has the same red hair as her mother, Flynn, and her fair skin has a sickly paleness.

The little girl is delicate and cute, sitting quietly in her seat like a petite doll.

After finishing the barbecue on his plate, brother Hester naturally snatched the plate from his sister Lucia and put all the food on his own plate.

Baron Mansaru did not stop it, but instead showed a look of satisfaction when he saw this.

Feeling that Flynn's eyes were still on him from time to time, Rhodes said goodbye to Baron Mansaru in advance.

The latter nodded, no longer as enthusiastic as before.

After walking out of the castle, Rhodes tugged at his collar uncomfortably and glanced behind him puzzledly before leaving.

"Strange malice," he whispered.

After becoming an official wizard and having initial contact with souls, Rhodes can now vaguely feel other people's emotions when they are in close contact with them.

During lunch, there was a strong sense of malice emanating from Mrs. Winter, which continued to emanate from him.

This was nothing, just the lust of ordinary people, and Rhodes could understand it.

What puzzled him was Baron Mansaru.

The other party had already stepped onto the first level, and the emotions he exuded were more hidden, but there was still a clear sense of malice towards him.

And it happened the first time they met, and had nothing to do with his wife, Flynn.

"This kind of malicious emotion, greed?" Rhodes frowned and did not stay here for long.

No matter what this inexplicable family wanted to do, his top priority was to determine the core location for the development and build the camp.

Rhodes returned to the team and left Hekou Town, accelerated northward and entered the Hanshui Valley.

As we go deeper into the valley and gradually move away from human habitation, the road begins to become rugged.

Large tracts of coniferous forests consisting of spruce, fir and larch are scattered around and block the road.

In September, the temperature in the Hanshui River Valley remained above zero degrees, and large-scale snowfall and ice had not yet begun.

There are a lot of animals living in the woods.

Along the way, white bread would suddenly pop out from time to time.

When you come back, there will be an animal corpse next to your mouth.

From ground squirrels, snow hares, reindeer, etc., Rhodes realized the richness of the prey resources here.

Turning his eyes away from the white bread spoils, Rod looked up.

Above the branches, a group of black figures were watching them, their feathers faintly flashing with a blue-purple metallic luster under the sunlight.

"Gah~gah~"

After noticing that humans had discovered them, they began to make calls one after another.

This was a group of ravens. Rhodes observed them and poured a few drops of strengthening potion made from high-quality black wolfberry from the quartz tube and placed it in his palm.

Pushing away the flattering dog face that White Bread was leaning towards, he spread his palm towards the crows. After a moment of silence, a raven bravely flew down from the branch and landed on his arm.

As it lowered its head, Rhodes pressed the index finger of his other hand on its head and began to conclude a contract.

He chose [Spiritual Contract] and filled the only slot with the raven race.

Compared with Snow Colt and Ice Blade Wolf, Raven's combat power is not strong.

But as an air unit, it has a natural and absolute advantage in obtaining information.

On the snowy plains of the North, ravens, as large birds that live in groups, naturally became Rhodes' first choice.

As an official wizard, the process of using [Spiritual Contract] on ordinary creatures goes very smoothly.

Rhodes could feel an invisible connection between himself and the raven.

He spread his magic power, using the raven as a medium to cover the range of the [Spiritual Contract] within the trees.

At the same time, organize the effects produced after the contract is signed into words in your mind.

[Spiritual Contract: Raven]

[Population size: 32]

[Talent Sharing: Raven Feather (Can reduce the weight of yourself and the objects you touch, the effect depends on the weight of the object)]

[Contract Control: Can directly control the raven's projected consciousness within one kilometer]

Rhodes tried to use the Raven Feather on himself. At this moment, his body became light and the gravity that bound him was only half of the original.

With the same strength, he can now jump higher and run faster.

Moreover, this talent consumes very little magic power. It is not very powerful, but very practical.

After the contract was signed, the crows on the treetops suddenly spread their wings and flew high, spreading in all directions.

At the same time, screens seemed to appear in front of Rhodes, showing all the images captured by these ravens.

This is the control effect of [Spiritual Contract].

After more than a kilometer, this connection is broken.

He could still feel the raven's presence, but he couldn't control it directly.

This isn't a big problem, as the range of control will increase as he levels.

And ravens are naturally very intelligent.

After being blessed by the contract, he was able to understand Rhodes' words and complete his instructions well even without his control.

From the crows' bird's-eye view, Rhodes quickly found a suitable location as the center of his territory.

That is a flat-topped mountain rising beside the Hanshui River.

Close to the water source, the top of the mountain is wide enough.

The road up the mountain is steep on three sides and gently sloping on one side, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

There are two cliffs protruding forward above the gentle slope, which can be used as natural sentry towers.

From top to bottom, throw a strike at enemies that try to attack from a gentle slope.

With the help of Raven's bird's-eye view, the open space on the top of Pingdingshan Mountain is about 50 hectares, or 750 acres.

It is more than enough to house the magic fields, build castles and gathering places for hundreds of people.

For subsequent development, we can take Pingdingshan as the center and expand to the surrounding areas.

After leading the team to Pingding Mountain, Rhodes took out the map and confirmed the location.

This place is twenty kilometers away from Hekou Town, which is neither too close nor too far, just the right distance, and there are no other pioneer knights stationed nearby.

Continue north along the Hanshui River for about thirty kilometers and you will enter the territory where the barbarians are active.

Two months later, the outer northern border will enter winter, with thousands of miles of ice and food shortages.

By then, the barbarians will plunder outward and attack the principality. Rhodes must take advantage of this window of opportunity to build sufficient defensive measures in Pingdingshan.

(End of this chapter)