Chapter 20: Land Reclamation and Experimentation

“Happy birthday! Congratulations, you are 12 years old today.”

Back at home, Marina prepared a sumptuous dinner, and the family celebrated happily. Ace felt as if he were in a dream. He had lived in this world for 12 years. If counting from the moment he awakened his past life’s memory, he had lived here for 5 full years.

The detailed memories of his past life were becoming increasingly blurred, while the memories of this life were becoming clearer. He smiled at his family here, thinking with some nostalgia, I can’t go back.

Based on Peter’s suggestion, Ace organized the content of his recent speech, especially the parts about concepts and their relationships, into a volume, named it Logic Book (Volume One), and gave it to Romon for printing.

In recent days, a whirlwind of Logic had swept through the city-state’s academic circles. Nobles and Citizens alike took pride in discussing Logic. Ace acquired the complimentary title of “Ace the Wise,” and people rumored that he had received enlightenment from the Goddess of Wisdom, making him one favored by the Goddess of Wisdom.

Ace did not dwell on the honors. On a subsequent day, he left Medimus City-State at dawn, just as the city gate opened, taking advantage of the moonlight. Accompanying him were 20 veterans hired by Romon, the 400 slaves he purchased (200 men and 200 women), and a large amount of supplies. Ace was eager to establish his own “experimental field.”

After a brief rest at the estate, Ace acquired a large tract of barren land through the local public office, extending all the way to the river’s mouth. In the barren land, he also found plants similar to hops, and one of the hills contained a small iron mine.

The city-state does not prohibit private mining and iron smelting, only requiring a tax of one-tenth of the smelted iron ingots to be paid.

Land outside the city in this world is cheap because it is unsafe and sparsely populated; everyone longs for the city center, and the First District is especially valuable. Although low-level Monsters outside the city have been cleared many times, they still grow like weeds.

This did not bother Ace. He actually needed low-level Monsters as research subjects. With 400 slaves and 20 hired veterans, he had enough military and human power to survive. After several months of observation, the farming methods in this world were relatively primitive. Many areas used slash-and-burn agriculture, lacking intensive farming and hydraulic irrigation technology.

Ace could now implement techniques from his past life on a small scale: developing water conservation projects on the estate, practicing intensive farming, mining and smelting steel, upgrading iron tools, distilling alcohol, training slave warriors, and capturing low-level Monsters. Furthermore, he could experiment with his New Medicine on his own estate without worrying about any interference.

In short, he intended to establish an economic entity with himself at the top of the pyramid.

The goal of this economic entity was to achieve his path to the supernatural. Ace re-measured and integrated the newly acquired land, establishing a new settlement adjacent to the river, near the estuary, where the land was fertile and not far from the iron mine.

He planned that in the future, this settlement would grow into an estate town capable of housing two to three thousand people.

According to city-state law, a Noble or Citizen family has a maximum slave limit of 3,000 people. Any excess slaves must be sold within three months, or the city-state will forcibly acquire them at a price of 50 Silver Thales.

An able-bodied slave can be sold for 1 to 2 Gold Thales, and one with a skill can be more expensive. Only children are worth 50 Silver Thales. No one wants their slaves to be acquired by the city-state.

The slaves Ace purchased were all trained, experienced slaves. Even the Barbarians had undergone half a year of conditioning and could speak the language roughly. Combined with the 20 hired mercenaries, there was basically no need to worry. He divided the slaves into 10 production teams, 40 people per team, to reclaim the fertile land surrounding the river.

He promoted docile, obedient, and hardworking individuals from the slaves to be captains. He applied the lash to troublemakers, quickly establishing authority. Groups of 10 people formed two rotating shifts of supervisors. The top three production teams in progress were rewarded with dinner, while the bottom three in progress received no dinner.

After several rounds of combined management tactics, the land reclamation in Ace’s new settlement progressed smoothly. He tasked Marina to manage the slaves according to his methods, concentrating efforts on reclaiming the land in preparation for spring planting.

After the spring planting was finished, Ace planned to draw one production team to mine, and draw skilled slaves to form a craft team responsible for smelting the iron tools necessary for intensive farming and manufacturing hydraulic irrigation facilities.

The remaining people were divided into eight production teams. Three teams were responsible for intensive farming, and four teams were responsible for building the master’s residence and the slave living area in the settlement. This was the initial phase, and continuous expansion would be required as more slaves were acquired later.

Ace finally had some free time. He took a few slaves and two hired veterans back to the old estate and began his experiments on the Corrosion Jackals.

He selected two seemingly simple-minded slaves to assist him with the experiments. He found that the five Corrosion Jackals, having been bound and fed liquid food in cages for a long time, were quite weak and listless.

He instructed a tall barbarian slave to drag one of the jackals out of the cage and tie it to the prepared support frame. After firmly securing its head and four limbs, Ace ordered the slave to remove the iron clamp from its mouth.

The moment the iron clamp was removed, the Corrosion Jackal suddenly turned vicious from its listlessness. It opened its mouth, ready to spray corrosive acid at the slave.

Ace keenly sensed a strange rhythm, and the Corrosion Jackal’s mental power also fluctuated violently. Ace perceived a peculiar power gathering in the jackal’s throat.

The slave also scrambled and rolled away. “Poof!” A little black smoke was sprayed from the jackal’s mouth, but no acid liquid. The poor jackal seemed a little stunned and tried again. The same rhythm resulted in only black smoke, no acid liquid.

Ace had the two slaves drag the other jackals over one by one and found that none of them could spray acid liquid.

A detail from The Guide of Low Level Monster flashed through Ace’s mind: The Corrosion Jackal is widely found in the plains across the continent, lives in packs, usually 3 to 5 animals per pack, likes to eat sulfur, is cunning and highly aggressive, and can spray highly corrosive acid liquid 3-5 meters away from its mouth.

It likes to eat sulfur! Ace thought. He could try that condition.

There was no sulfur on the estate. Ace took the two slaves to Buku Town and bought two large bags of sulfur, which the slaves carried back.

“Tall one, go feed some sulfur to this jackal. Don’t feed too much, just half a scoop with the large iron spoon.” Back at the estate, Ace commanded.

The seemingly simple-minded tall barbarian slave obediently scooped half a spoon of sulfur and fed it to the jackal. The jackal ate the sulfur but remained somewhat listless, without moving for a while. The other jackals were the same.

Ace thought quietly. All the jackals had experienced several strange rhythms and mental fluctuations. Perhaps this exertion had depleted their mental power, just like when he overused his own mental power and could no longer use it. It seemed they couldn’t continue today. He would let these dogs rest and conduct a control experiment tomorrow.

“The two of you, clamp the mouths of these five dogs with the iron clamps and drag them all back into the cages.” Ace commanded. He then began recording today’s experiment conditions and data on parchment. The experimental data and the inspirations at the moment were very important and must be recorded at all times for easy reference.

The next day, Ace divided the five dogs into two groups. Group 1, consisting of one dog, would be immediately provoked to see if it could spray acid liquid. Whether it could or could not, it would not be fed sulfur. Group 2, consisting of four dogs, would be immediately provoked to see if they could spray acid liquid. If they could not, they would each be fed different amounts of sulfur.

After several experiments, Ace reached a conclusion, which he wrote in his experiment diary.

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