Lord of the Scourge: Become the Demon Archduke In the Beginning

City of Glory Moon.

While the residents were talking about the arrival of the rock giant, Lauren returned to the Santo's Manor.

After leaning comfortably on the armchair, he turned his head and looked around, looking at the familiar environment around him, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

Before I knew it, it had been almost two months since I came to this strange world.

From being at a loss at the beginning to being determined and indifferent at this moment, there are not many experiences in it.

His strangeness to Noel's main plane is gradually disappearing, especially as the city of Huiyue grows stronger, his bond with this world has become deeper and deeper.

It seems that he should belong to this world.

In a blink of an eye, the modern world full of tall buildings and busy traffic began to become strange...

He is no longer nostalgic.

After contemplating for a long time, he put Groot on his shoulders on the table and looked at the magical life that could not exist on this earth.

"There are countless wonderful things waiting for me in this world with extraordinary power..."

"In the future, it won't stop here."

His eyes gradually regained clarity.

And Groot on the desktop sensed that Lauren's interest was not very high through the mental imprint, his mouth pouted slightly, his eyes blinked a few times, and finally he seemed to think of something, and showed a happy look .

Grit your teeth.

Stretch out your right hand.

Then, under Roland's gaze, a scene that surprised him appeared.

The pale golden light on Groot suddenly surged, and then swarmed into the palm of his right hand.

A mysterious metallic mineral began to condense rapidly under the golden light.

The power in the little guy's body surged like running water, and the mysterious substance in his hand seemed to be condensed from him.

After a dozen or so breaths, the light on Groot's body gradually dimmed, and an irregular golden mineral the size of half a little finger appeared on his hand.

Groot held the mineral in both hands like a treasure offering, and raised his big eyes above his head, blinking.

"Owner......"

There was a bit of weakness in the joyful tone that could not be concealed.

It seemed the move had exhausted its strength.

Lauren touched the little guy with some distress, and then picked up the mysterious metal mineral from the opponent's hand.

The eye of truth.

fine gold

Quality: premium

Features: Necessary for forging weapons above level B, allowing weapons to obtain properties such as sharpening, sharpening, cutting, armor breaking, and piercing.

Rating: Rare and expensive metal.

Lauren gasped.

Some looked at Grant in disbelief.

This little guy can actually condense fine gold directly?

In the main plane of Nuoer, this precious metal has a wide range of uses. Although it is not as rare as Mithril, it is not bad at all.

Especially when it comes to forging weapons, the ability to make weapons sharper makes this kind of metal a rare gem in the market.

"Owner......"

Groot saw that Lauren hadn't spoken for a long time, and couldn't help feeling a little anxious, and looked at him pitifully.

It was only then that Lauren came back to his senses, and looked at this unintentionally harvested treasure in surprise.

"Groot, is this what you condensed from your body?"

Sensing Lauren's joy, the little rock giant immediately smiled and nodded obediently.

"Uh-huh......"

"How much can you condense every day?"

Groot froze for a moment, then thought for a long time with a sad face before whispering.

"Master, three days..."

"Can you condense once in three days?"

It seems to know that some are missing, the little guy said quickly.

"When Gru grows up, there can be more..."

Lauren was thoughtful.

Groot has just been born, and at his current level, condensing once every three days should be the limit.

If you want to get more, you can only wait until the little guy's level rises.

But this was already a pleasant surprise, and he was not disappointed.

After thinking about it, his expression was quite happy.

Calculated in this way, wouldn't the city of Huiyue obtain a vein that can stably produce fine gold?

And as Groot's level increases, the output of this vein will increase day by day.

This little guy is an inexhaustible treasure.

Just when Lauren wanted to know more about Groot, there was a sudden rush of footsteps.

Then Ariel, who was wearing a long white dress and had a clear and pure demeanor, hurried over.

Lauren, whose thoughts were interrupted, smiled slightly at the well-behaved and lovely girl in front of him.

"Ariel, what's the matter?"

The slightly shy Ariel was about to speak when she saw Groot standing on the table, her eyes lit up.

Full of curiosity.

"Master Lauren, is this also a rock giant?"

Lauren nodded, thinking of the picture of the little guy condensing pure gold from his palm, he was full of admiration.

"That's right, Grant is a newly born rock giant..."

Then I told Ariel about the miracle of the little guy.

The girl's eyes were full of amazement when she heard the last sentence.

"Can you refine pure gold? It's incredible..."

Then he asked eagerly, "Can I touch it?"

Lauren smiled, stretched out his hand to let Groot climb into his palm, and handed it over.

Ariel happily took it, and gently stroked it like a baby. The soft touch that was completely opposite to the outside of the rock made her almost unable to put it down.

The little guy resisted at first, but after being touched for a while, he seemed to start to enjoy it.

The topaz-like eyes narrowed slightly, without the slightest resistance.

Seeing Ariel's adorable expression, Lauren couldn't help but smile.

He reached out and rubbed the girl's little head.

"Will you take care of Groot for me when I'm not in City of Glorious Moon?"

Ariel nodded in surprise. After feeling the touch of that big hand, her face blushed slightly. She lowered her head, not daring to look directly into Lauren's eyes.

After Lauren withdrew his hand, Ariel reluctantly put Groot on the table, watching the little guy slowly climb from Lauren's arm to his shoulder.

After Ariel recovered, her face became serious.

"Master Lauren, there is a gap in our current labor force."

"The projects under construction in Huiyue City have already absorbed all the population in the city, and they will not be able to flow out of these projects in a short time.

Now it is time to face the pressure of mining veins..."

"We're seriously understaffed."

Although Fianna led a team to plunder more than 1,500 refugees last time, with the expansion of Huiyue City, these labor forces were quickly consumed.

It can be predicted that with the development of iron ore and gold mines, the shortage of manpower will become an obstacle again.

Lauren frowned slightly.

The city of Huiyue is hundreds of kilometers away from the border, and it is impossible for normal humans to pass by here.

Population is bound to have problems due to geographical reasons, and he has already been mentally prepared for this.

"Tell me what you think."

Ariel whispered.

"Actually, this problem is not difficult to solve... There are many other races on the endless wasteland.

Kobolds and half-rats are suitable to be miners.

Why don't we go catch some and bring them back? "

Lauren froze for a moment, then held his forehead dumbfounded.

This wave is dark under the lights.

There are not many things in the endless wasteland, and there are not as many orcs as rice.

He fell into a misunderstanding this time.

Subconsciously thinking about plundering human beings, using their ingenuity to make Huiyue City quickly and powerfully.

But the development of a city does not necessarily require human beings in everything.

The hard work of mining can be done by enslaving some orcs.

Wouldn't it be possible to assign human beings to the top, high-tech industries?

Life like the half-rat man has physical characteristics suitable for mining, and it is also easy to feed. It does not have high requirements for food. As long as it can eat enough, it is no problem to eat wild vegetables every day.

After getting out of the misunderstanding of thinking, Lauren felt that the labor problem that plagued the city of Huiyue was solved in one go.

"Okay, I will leave this matter to you to arrange. The troops that need to be deployed can be freely transferred after reporting to me."

The policies of Luna City are formulated by the city hall, but the transfer of troops must be recorded and approved by him.

He can devolve other powers, but the army must be in his hands.

But the problem Ariel reported made him think of more, not just limited to the lack of manpower...

After pondering for a moment, Lauren stared at Ariel with a serious face.

"The city hall is the administrative system of Huiyue City. The fundamental reason why I established this system is to coordinate resources and make Huiyue City develop better."

"Ariel, I appointed you as the deputy speaker of the city hall so that you can show off your talents and contribute to the development of Glorious Moon City.

You will definitely encounter more problems in the future, and you can make independent decisions on some of the problems you have already noticed. "

This incident reminded him that the city hall must be put on the right track.

During this period of time, he has been personally giving orders in order to make Huiyue City develop faster.

This directly caused the city hall to rely on him. Any problem should be reported to him first, and then executed after receiving instructions.

The advantage of this is that he has great power in his hands, and he can precisely control the development of Huiyue City.

But the shortcomings are also obvious, it will take up a lot of his time, and many things that should be decided in time will also be delayed because he can't handle them, and even lead to forgetting.

He is not very interested in dealing with government affairs. Those trivial matters happen every day, and he can't finish them at all.

He needs the assistance of Ariel, a talented internal affairs officer.

"In the future, the city hall will have autonomy. Except for important matters, it does not need to report everything to me. It only needs to record the policies that have been formulated and report to me once a week."

"Ariel, I have always firmly believed in you, and believed that the City Hall, under your control, can take on the responsibility of leading the City of Glorious Moon."

"From today onwards, you will formally lead the city hall, and make the city hall the real administrative department of Huiyue City, a system that can function normally without me."

Ariel was shocked when she saw Lauren's serious eyes.

I was both touched and a little apprehensive.

"Master Lauren..."

Lauren waved his hand, stopping her next words.

"Be obedient, just do as I say, no need to doubt, I will support you behind, no one will affect your control of the city hall."

The girl has reached 99 points of loyalty, so he is very relieved to delegate power.

The words of almost unconditional trust made the girl's eyes water, and her heart almost melted.

In this world, what happiness can come from the absolute trust and support of the object of admiration and admiration?

Thinking of Lauren's unwavering support and encouragement after meeting her, pushing her, a girl from a slave background, to the height of the deputy speaker of the city hall, her inner emotions rose to a higher level again.

If Lauren opened the attribute panel at this moment, he would find that the loyalty of the weak girl in front of him had quietly reached 100 points.

"Ariel will not let you down!"

Lauren looked at the girl with firm eyes, smiled, and rubbed her head with his hand.

The language contains encouragement.

"I am looking forward."

After the energetic Ariel left the hall, Lauren stretched comfortably.

And the little Groot on the shoulder also followed suit and stretched, looking quite cute.

He looked funny, put the little guy on the table, and after teasing this cute pet for a while, he turned his attention to his own property panel.

After sweeping his gaze, he stopped on the Bauhinia breathing method.

S-level skill - Storm Slash.

Behind it, the three words "unlearned" surrounded by brackets are particularly conspicuous.

When he was planning to learn this powerful skill this morning, the spies reported the gold mine and it was delayed.

Taking advantage of the time, Lauren didn't hesitate, took a long cross sword from the weapon rack and went to the back garden.

He has personally experienced the inheritance memory of Storm Slash.

The image of the first Grand Duke Bauhinia beheading thousands of troops with one sword in the thunder storm still circulates in his mind.

Storm Slash, gather strength, and use the momentum of the storm to slash thousands of enemies.

This powerful group attack skill aroused his great interest.

Once learned, it will definitely greatly increase his influence on the battlefield.

After all, no matter how strong Broken Steel Slash is, it is still a single skill, and it is not enough to face hundreds of troops.

After sinking his heart, Lauren realized the memory of Storm Slash again, and then calmed down.

He began to breathe rhythmically in his mouth.

Huh~huh~

Bauhinia breathing method, the biggest hole card of the Bauhinia family.

With each breath, the magic of the surrounding air swarmed and was consumed by his body.

After the magic power around him became stronger to a certain extent, Lauren's figure moved.

The cross sword began to swing awkwardly...

The moment he moved, the unique blood circulation route of the devil's breathing method also began to rotate.

While the bauhinia breathing method is strengthening his spirit, the devil breathing method is also strengthening his body.

Lauren's body seemed to have turned into a black hole at this moment, frantically devouring all the energy around him.

Under such a terrifying absorption, a tide of magic power was formed, and the magic power outside the city lord's manor began to flow here.

In the end, the surrounding magic power could no longer meet his cultivation needs.

The soul power left in the early 3000s has become a source of energy.

Shhhhh~

The cross sword cut through the void, and Lauren was silent in the study of Storm Slash, not noticing the changes in the outside world.

After his soul power started to be consumed, his 15% upgrade progress also began to climb slowly.

15.1%, 15.2%...

The next day, May 14th.

Lauren continued to practice for a day, but still failed to master Storm Slash.

And on the same day, with his consent, Ariel sent 50 dark blood knights and 50 bee hunters to the endless wasteland to capture the orcs.

The main targets are kobolds and half-rat people who can dig mineral veins.

On May 15th, with his powerful talent, Lauren initially mastered the basic skills of Storm Slash, but he was still far away from success in cultivation.

On this day, the army that captured the orc miners did not gain anything.

On May 16, after spending a lot of soul power, Lauren made rapid progress and began to master the essence of Storm Slash.

On the same day, the army that captured the miners brought back 300 half-ratmen, but because the number was too small, they left again shortly after returning to Glorious Moon City.

On May 17th, Lauren used Storm Slash completely for the first time, but the power was still unstable.

On the same day, the cat-eared girl Windsor, who was sent by Laurent to find flying monsters, returned to Glorious Moon City depressed.

The whisperer who can communicate with Warcraft has not gained anything these days.

Unwilling not to be able to eat dessert after failure, the cat-eared lady and the devil bee queen Yi Lingo returned for a wave of supplies, and then set off again.

The time has progressed to May 18.

weapons department.

More than a dozen craftsmen were sitting together, looking in shock at the pictures drawn with charcoal on the table.

"Heavy armor, this is the real heavy armor! It is much stronger than the armor we designed before... at least it has been improved a few grades!"

"This earthquake-resistant structure, this concealed buckle structure...it's amazing!"

"Who designed this? Which group is it from the Weapons Department?"

"..."

The head of the arms department, who was sitting at the main seat, coughed lightly after discussing with the craftsmen below for a long time, stood up, and patted the table.

The crowd immediately turned their heads to look at the source of the sound, and after seeing that it was the table taken by their boss, they immediately fell silent.

Minister of Arms Drew said in awe.

"I picked up this blueprint at the entrance of the weapons department this morning...

According to inference, the person who designed the drawings was not a staff member of the Weapons Department. "

The crowd was in an uproar. They thought it was designed by a certain technically powerful deputy minister of the Weapons Department.

Now you say you're not from the Weapons Department?

These craftsmen immediately burst out with strong curiosity.

"Minister Drew, not from the Arms Department, who is this person?"

"And why does he know that we are designing the blueprint of the Bear Cavalry? And what's the matter with throwing the blueprint to the weapons department?"

"yes......"

"This person must be found!"

Drew patted the table and made the artisans quiet again.

"According to my guess, this person should want to join the Weapons Department, but he has no way out, so he made such a bad move, trying to use this blueprint to attract our attention!"

"As for why we knew that we were going to design the armor of the Angry Bear Cavalry... The lord did not ask for this to be kept secret."

"Presumably all of you here have mentioned this matter to your relatives and friends more than once. Since you can spread the word, what's the secret?"

The crowd was suddenly a little embarrassed.

Although the armor of the Angry Bear Cavalry is important, as long as the blueprint is not spread, no one cares whether the news is known to the residents.

So most people have more or less mentioned it to their friends.

"Minister Drew, what should we do now? Use the original design or this new design?"

Drew shook his head.

"Although our design plan is very good, it is far from this design.

Of course, this new drawing also has many shortcomings that need to be improved. The best way at present is to integrate the two design schemes.

But before that, we need to find the person who designed this equipment blueprint..."

This is a rare talent.

With the strength of one person, he can compare the entire weapon department, and his ability is not weak.

——

In the residential area of ​​Huiyue City, a middle-aged man in his early forties pushed away a slightly dilapidated house on the corner of the street.

cough cough~

But as soon as the door was pushed open, before stepping into the room, the man bent over and coughed.

He covered his mouth, trying to suppress his cough as much as possible.

But the muffled cough still inevitably entered the house.

A petite girl who was only seven or eight years old heard the movement, and quickly poked her head out of the attic of the house, looking down with worry and joy.

"Uncle Nake, why are you back, don't you need to work today?"

When Nanke outside the house heard this, he straightened up quickly. Although his face was a little pale, he still walked into the house pretending nothing happened.

"It's okay, I asked the supervisor for leave today, and I will come back to rest for a day."

Sensing the strangeness on the other person's face, the little girl with her head exposed on the attic felt a little guilty.

"Uncle Nake, it's all my fault. If it wasn't for taking care of me, you wouldn't have to work two jobs, and you wouldn't be hit in the chest by a falling rock..."

Nack fell silent upon hearing this.

Then he took a few steps forward, climbed up the stairs, and entered the small attic.

The attic is very narrow and can barely accommodate two beds.

Looking at the depressed girl, he touched her head with some distress.

"Shirley, it's okay, I went to find a new job today.

If we can pass the interview, we can get a higher paying career.

At that time, we can change to a big house, and we can eat delicious soft bread with honey every day..."

The little girl's eyes were red, she pursed her mouth and shook her head stubbornly.

"I don't want to live in a big house, and I don't want to eat bread..."

After speaking, he stretched out his hand and grabbed the hem of Nake's clothes, and said weakly.

"Uncle Nack, I don't want you to have another accident, do you remember those hyenas?

If it weren't for Sister Angel, we wouldn't be able to live in Glorious Moon City..."

They were the residents brought back when Fianna led the half-orcs to plunder the refugees.

On the way to Decker City following the wave of refugees, Nak fainted due to lack of water and food.

Dozens of hyenas followed closely behind the refugees, and if any refugees fell behind, they would become food for the hyenas.

Nak, who was unconscious on the ground, was naturally targeted by the hyena.

If Fianna hadn't arrived in time at the critical moment, the two would have died a long time ago.

Nak's heart trembled when he heard this.

He couldn't forget the scene where the little girl in front of him wouldn't leave even if she was buried in the mouth of a hyena with him.

Silence fell again.

After a long time, he said in a hoarse voice.

"Xue Li, City of Glorious Moon is a great city, we have never been bullied or humiliated when we came here.

As long as you work every day, you can get enough salary to support yourself. Compared with Decker City, I don't know how many times better.

And that's why I applied for the job. "

Shirley looked at him with tears in her eyes, and her voice was still a little choked up.

"Uncle Nack, is it related to what you have painted these days?"

Nake nodded, a flash of memory flashed in his eyes, "I have done similar work for a long time...

If it wasn't for some reason, I might still be doing that job right now. "

After speaking, he shook his head.

"It doesn't matter anymore, if we can pass the interview, we will be fine."

Shirley, who was only seven or eight years old but already very sensible, stopped her tears and nodded fiercely.

"Uncle Nack, the lord is a good man, we will not be like before..."

Na Kexin touched the girl's head, and there was hope and anticipation in his eyes...