Chapter 81 Ecological Valley

The saber-toothed tiger was found in the territory of the Northern Frost Principality, in the baron's territory next to the river mouth town.

Rhodes had some trade dealings with the other party, but overall he was not familiar with them.

So he did not enter with his army.

Instead, he took advantage of the night and followed the saber-toothed tiger into the snowfield alone.

Be fast and make little noise.

The main thing is to avoid attracting the other party's attention and quickly bring back the group of wild black yaks.

If he was discovered by the other party, it would be difficult for him to seize the property on someone else's territory.

You can't just buy them from the wild, right? That would be a huge waste.

A man and a tiger left Hekou Town.

With the blessing of the raven's feather, Rhodes walked nimbly across the snow.

Following the saber-toothed tiger's guidance, they moved quickly through the woods and bushes.

The cold wind was howling, and the snowfield in the dark night lacked reference coordinates, making it difficult to determine the direction.

If an ordinary person steps into it, it is easy to get lost.

Under the guidance of the dominant foot, one thinks he is walking in a straight line, but in fact he is walking in a big circle on the spot.

Fortunately, the saber-toothed tiger is considered the most experienced hunter in the snowfield.

Once it locks on to a target, it can smell its prey from eight kilometers away.

If stained with its blood, with the racial talent [Blood Hunting], the tracking distance can be extended tenfold.

After running for more than an hour, the saber-toothed tiger slowly stopped.

Rhodes breathed a sigh of relief at this and stopped panting.

"Hu~Hu~" The first thing he did after stopping was to put his hands on his hips and take deep breaths, trying to calm himself down after the intense exercise.

"We ran about 60 kilometers, right? The cold and oxygen-deficient plateau environment in the north is really hard to bear."

Rhodes stood there feeling a little dizzy and covered his forehead uncomfortably.

The saber-toothed tiger on the other side was still full of energy.

When I turned to look at him, my big furry head was full of confusion. I couldn't understand how he could be so tired with such a short distance.
"Turn your head away. It's your fault that you can't ride." Rhodes pushed its head away angrily.

He missed his snowfield colt a little.

Compared to riding a horse, running by yourself is too tiring.

But it's just a thought, I don't regret not bringing it.

Compared with the development of the territory, my current physical strength is indeed a bit lacking, and I should exercise occasionally.

After resting, Rhodes took out a large biscuit the size of a brick from the backpack behind him.

The appearance is golden and crispy, exuding a rich cereal aroma.

This is not what Rhodes wants to eat.

The main ingredient of this biscuit is pounded high-quality barley straw.

It is made by combining animal fats, cereal bran, etc., and compressing them under the blending of magical powers.

It was the feed biscuits he used to tame wild herbivores.

【Name: Golden Roughage Biscuits】

[Quality: First-class inferior]

[Effect: Greatly improves the favorability of the fed animal, slightly improves the progress of animal evolution. ]

To be honest, this is also a kind of potion, not just a simple mixture of food.

Unlike white bread, saber-toothed tigers had no interest in cookies.

After seeing that Rhodes had rested, it lowered its body and crawled towards the woods ahead.

Rod bent down and slowed down to keep up with it.

This is a dense birch forest. After walking for several kilometers, Rhodes found a valley in front of him, blocked by upturned stone walls on both sides.

Pushing aside the birch wood blocking the entrance, Rhodes entered and discovered a whole new world.

"There's a lot of snow moss." Rhodes looked around the valley curiously.

There are no birches or shrubs growing here, but there are many rotten tree trunks.

The ground and the surrounding stone walls were covered with dense snow moss.

The color is gray-green, the shape is a bit like a sponge, and it feels very loose.

What’s magical is that at night these snow mosses emit orange-red fluorescence, giving people a fairy-tale-like dreamlike feeling.

Rhodes dripped the moon essence from the quartz tube into his eye sockets and observed the vegetation around him.

[Cold-resistant (weak)] [Fast-growing (weak)]

This was a trace of the magic of the snow moss, and Rhodes was not surprised.

Plants in the North are more or less resistant to cold.

What really interested him was what was hidden beneath the moss.

Carefully digging up a piece of moss, Rhodes discovered many glowing threads.

It looked like a kind of fungus, and he had never heard of the related name in the Principality of Northern Frost, but the traces of magic it possessed were extremely magical.

【Fever (mild)】

"I see. Is this the unique ecology of this valley?"

Rhodes transplanted the mycelium of these fungi into flower pots and then looked towards the center of the valley.

More than eighty black yaks live there, grazing on the moss on the snow.

From time to time, a black yak would drag in a piece of tree trunk from another entrance and throw it on the ground, which would be quickly occupied by the feverish hyphae.

In the ecology of this valley, this fungus is responsible for the rapid decomposition of dung and trees.

It nourishes the soil and generates heat, maintaining a suitable temperature in the valley.

Snow mosses grow rapidly above the fungi, attracting herds of yaks to the area.

The herds of yaks that come here will knock down the birch trees outside and drag them here to nourish the valley.

“Interesting sustainable cycle, kind of clever.”

Ordinary black yaks don't have this wisdom. Rhodes focused his eyes on the center of the yak herd and found the leader of the herd. It was a huge monster over four meters tall, comparable to an elephant!
There are huge milky white horns on both ends of the head, with spiral patterns like protruding drill bits.

This giant beast is the evolved form of the black yak and was named the Icebreaker by the people in the North.

In historical wars, it was often used by the army and was famous for being used as a battering ram to break through the ice walls of cities.

Due to the limitations of their ecological niche, herbivores find it more difficult to accumulate magic power and evolve than carnivores.

But some of them, due to their inherent huge size, once they evolve successfully, they become natural war machines.

The incomparable crushing force is far superior to the claws of wild beasts.

The Icebreaker Beast is the rarest first-tier magical beast in the North.

Due to its special significance in the war, its value is difficult to estimate.

What surprised Rhodes was that there were actually two ice-breaking beasts here, and they were in a state of confrontation with each other.

The two sides stood sideways facing each other, making themselves look taller and more majestic.

As they circled each other, they made angry noises, hoping that the other party would know what was best for them and leave.

It was their confrontation that had caused Rhodes to remain unattended by the yaks for such a long time.

"It looks like new icebreakers have arrived here since you left."

After Rhodes sensed the thoughts coming from the saber-toothed tiger, he understood the situation.

Although there is a lot of moss in the valley, it can only support one icebreaker.

There is a battle for territory going on here.

In the next second, the two confronting icebreaker beasts raised their upper bodies.

He raised his head high and then smashed it down on the other person.

Their huge horns collided with each other, creating a violent gust of air in an instant. The ground of the entire valley was shaking continuously, and gravel fell from the high cliffs.

The bulls' horns intertwined and the two entered into a wrestling match.

But one of them was obviously defeated and was pushed back step by step.

Not long after, it was overturned to the ground.

The victorious icebreaker blew out two streams of hot air from its nostrils, announcing the change of the owner of the valley.

It no longer paid attention to the loser and looked in the direction of Rhodes.

Seeing its red eyes staring at him, Rhodes quickly took out the biscuits.

"Um, do you want to try this? It's delicious."

The Icebreaker Beast did not appreciate it and raised its upper body again.

With furious roars, he charged towards the invader.

A wild and fishy wind blew in their faces. Rhodes and the saber-toothed tiger did not dare to delay and dodged to both sides.

After rolling on the ground, Rhodes could feel the earth shaking in pain and heard the sound of rocks breaking.

He looked in the direction of the icebreaker beast and saw a large area of ​​shattered stone wall.

"It lives up to its reputation. It's really a living battering ram." Rhodes exclaimed.

This is much more powerful than the Iron-backed Black Wolf and the Snowfield Colt. If it charges towards the army, the shield and spear soldiers in his hands will definitely not be able to stop it.

It just seems like it's not very flexible and can't change direction after running.

Rhodes was judging in his mind when the Icebreaker Beast pulled its horn out from the stone wall and charged towards him again.

This time Rhodes did not dodge.

He stepped on the ground and leaped onto the cow's back.

Put your legs around its neck and hold its horns with your hands.

He wants to try out the old cowboy tradition and tame this huge beast!
But not long after, a figure fell down from mid-air in a panic.

"Cough cough." Rhodes rolled on the ground helplessly and brushed off the dust on his body.

He found that he had overestimated himself. The strength of the two sides was completely not at the same level, and there was no possibility of a wrestling match.

"It looks like there's nothing to talk about." Feeling tired in his limbs, Rhodes shook his head and took off the first-level longbow on his back.

He bent his bow and shot an arrow, which hit the running icebreaker beast in the thigh.

But after making a tiny wound, he lost his strength and fell to the ground.

"The bow is powerful, but the arrow is not. It's made of such thick cowhide." Rhodes looked admiring.

Using this first-level longbow, the arrows he shot were powerful enough to penetrate plate armor.

But it couldn't penetrate the monster's thick hide.

It was as if a heavy truck was rushing towards him. Just when Rhodes was about to be knocked away, he drew out his sword Ice Blade.

With the speed of Raven's Feather, he dodged the impact of the bull's horns by moving sideways.

In turn, the impact force was used to pierce the ice blade into the belly of the ice-breaking beast.

Drawing his sword, Rhodes continued to retreat, keeping his distance.

The next second, the charging beast collapsed to the ground, leaving a bloody mark on the ground and raising dust that filled the entire valley.

More than ten minutes later, with a final cry, the ice-breaking beast's heart stopped beating.

After confirming that it was dead, Rhodes came over and processed the material while it was still hot.

First, use the solidified quartz tube of [Soul Anchor] to bind the soul of the Icebreaker Beast.

The ice blade then pierced into its brain, collecting the essence of brain matter, cerebrospinal fluid and heart blood.

Due to the lack of high-grade black wolfberry, [Evolution Potion] cannot be manufactured for the time being.

But these materials are equally useful and can help Rhodes speed up the research on artificial monsters.

In addition, other parts of the Icebreaker Beast are also treasures.

Horn and tendon are excellent materials for making extraordinary longbows.

Thick cowhide can be used to make leather armor, which has the same defensive power as ordinary plate armor and is perfect for longbowmen.

The training period for longbowmen is too long, and each one is extremely valuable.

But in order to ensure the shooting speed of the bows and arrows, they cannot wear armor. The lightweight ice-breaking animal skin armor can solve the protection problem.

Ironback Black Wolf's skin can also be used.
But it is much more troublesome to process than cowhide, and the leatherworkers in Rhodes Territory cannot meet the requirements.

(End of this chapter)