A Calm Before A Storm

The next day in the morning, the sweet smell of drifting breakfast was running fast to my nose. I was staring at Lillie which was greedily munching a pancake buttered with honey. It was a rare occasion, as I didn't have much sweet food in my storage to begin with.

Hmm-hmm… drinking a cup of lemon tea while staring at the cute Lillie is enjoyable, nonetheless. Strangely, however, she prefers to use the cream-white sweater and short skirts over the medieval dress.

As time passed, I realized that her cheeks bloated up like a squirrel, full of pancakes. "Lillie, you can't bite off more than you can chew."

"Mmhph… th-mhph… so mhmmy…" She tried to talk while munching at the same time, thus making her cheeks smeared by honey and cake. Despite that, I knew what she tried to say as her eyes were twinkling in delight.

Shaking my head in frustration, I advised, "Choose, whether to talk or eat."

Lillie continued to eat without worrying about anything else. Making me flinched as she chose to eat over talking to me. Well, not that I care but it does make me annoyed.

"Anyway, I want you to follow me to the outskirts of the base after this. Is that okay?"

"Uh-huh~," She nodded with a delightful smile.

After that, I looked at Brown that was standing at the side, not minding too much of Lillie's gluttonous habit. Curious, I inquired, "Brown, does Lillie always been this gluttonous?"

"Reporting to milord. Although little miss does indeed eat much and fast, this habit of her seems to explode after tasting milord's incredible food." While saying that, I noticed a twinkle in Brown's eyes. Hmm? Why is he saying that like he was saying it for himself?

"What does made you think so?"

"The food called chocolate that milord had given me a few days ago, taste brilliant and better than anything I ever tasted before. Even though I'm old, my mouth just couldn't forget the mix bitter and sweet taste of chocolate." Brown's face changed to like someone that was addicted to a drug.

"I-is that so...?" Sweat trickled down on my back over Brown's overacting. "Ahem… I want you to follow us to the outskirts of the base as I want to show you something."

"Yes, milord!" Brown nodded subserviently.

Thus, after having breakfast, we went to the outskirts of the base. Not a second passed after we came out from the wall of the base. Brown's calm facial expression transformed into bewilderment as he observed the camp of the refugees.

"Milord, is that…"

"Indeed, they're refugees. Yesterday, a group of refugees escaped from the north. Finding that they're refugees from the Brightmoon territory, I saved them from the chasing cavalry."

"Thank you for saving them, milord." Brown bowed with a thankful tone.

Already been used to seeing that, I replied nonchalantly, "No need to thank me, I've my own selfish reason for saving them. For now, let's find the former village head as the reason for me able to convince them was because…"

I had my eyes landed on Lillie which was curiously staring at the camp. Noticing my stare, she blushed and tilted her head in confusion. "What is it, Victor?"

"It's nothing, let's get going."

Shortly, we reached the settlement. The people in the settlement had mostly settled down, as the robots were helping them set up temporary tents. Although there was still worry and uncertainty on their faces, they were no longer looked so malnourished, and a trace of hope burning upon their eyes.

In the middle of the settlement, the elderly man Gillian was busy inspecting and controlling the place. Upon seeing him, Brown was shocked and swiftly approached Gillian.

"Village head Gillian?"

"Hmm?" Gillian turned to Brown before a surprised expression pervaded him and he burst out, "Howhou… Butler Brown! How come you're here? I thought you—"

"Yes, milord here save me from the camp where I was imprisoned." Brown subserviently directed at me.

"Milord? Milord!" Just when the elderly Gillian was about to bow at me, he froze as he gazed at Lillie. "Milady… I-I thought… So, milord didn't lie."

"Eh… aren't you the old man Gillian?" Lillie blurted from the side.

"Yes, it's me, milady. I recall it was when milady's 10th birthday, a few months ago when we met." He then gazed at me with a grateful look before thanking me, "Milord… forgive me for having a slight doubt, and I'm very grateful to milord for saving the heir of the previous lord."

In response, I had my head nodded in acceptance. "In any case, I want to hear the state of the settlement."

"Yes, milord!" With that, we started chatting about the situation in the settlement. I was relieved after hearing that it ran smoothly.

After much consideration, I had Brown helped Gillian on handling the place. As for Lillie, she was already dozing off the moment we had a difficult talk, thus I had her went back to the ship. The moment I told her that, she immediately woke up and agreed as she was eager to continue reading all kinds of books.

After days of boredom, Lillie complained to me and hence I gave her knowledge holo-books and novels so she could learn. It seemed that she fonds of reading fantasy novels. Of course, I restricted what she was reading so as to not lead her astray.

Subsequently, I went back to the base to inspect the newly built Synthesize Hall. A few moments later, a big building shaped like an advanced factory entered my eyesight. This time though, it resembled more of a chemical factory plant rather than a workshop factory. Even the interior had all kinds of chemical devices.

After looking at the hologram list at the pedestal, I finally had a full understanding of Synthesize Hall. Different from the MFS which could split and fused atom and simple molecule, Synthesize Hall worked on complex substances and able to make microscopic devices.

Yup, I'll make the High Nutrition Liquid and Advanced Nanobot firstly. As for the ingredients used to make High Nutrition Liquid, a magical beast like Clearwater Giant Crab and rare resources from the nearby forest should be enough....

Wait a minute, it was an unknown substance and foreign for the Synthesize Hall to use. Guess, I would need ATA to do some research on this before proceeding with the making.

Now that the Synthesize Hall has been built, I could make the robots focused on making more and bigger Assembly Hall. In case that the new lord of the Brightmoon territory send a troop here, I would be fully prepared.

I couldn't play with the unknown, there might be beings in this world where advanced technology is simply not enough to fight them.

After having myself drifted in contemplation, I went back to the ship and continued my training and knight breathing practice. Only by having power and not depend too much on others, would one not be betrayed and be able to control one's fate.

***

Five days had passed before me knowing it. The new settlement for the refugees had just been made. Since it was planned to be big, it had many different sections. For now, however, there was only the residential section.

Additionally, I had given Brown and Gillian an advanced nanobot. The nanobot could monitor them and able to detect if they were going to betray me, it could also do many other things. For Lillie though, I only gave her a simple one. There was no way that she would ever betray me. Even if she did, I had promised her a lifetime of happiness.

Anyway, it's not that I couldn't bring myself to do that. Yeah, definitely…

ATA had also researched the magical beast and rare resource; thereby, making the Synthesize Hall able to produce High Nutrition Liquid and even improved it. After taking the improved High Nutrition Liquid, my progress on the breathing technique had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Is this what it feels to be at the cusp of the 1st Rank Warrior? I'm confident that I'll achieve the 1st Rank in three days if it were to progress at this speed. I wonder how much my body had improved in strength by then.

Curious by that fact, I took out the Universal Measurement Device before using it to myself. Subconsciously, I had my eyes widen in surprise by how much my strength had grown.

98? That's insane! I'm almost as strong as people that were genetically engineered to be a fighter. I wonder how much stronger I would get after having a breakthrough.

At that time, I noticed that the color of the sky had become dim-gray. Smells of wet dirt drifted into my nostrils as the blowing wind whooshing on my face. Breezing coldness that it brought, foretold me that something big will happen in the near future.

"Is it going to rain? I believe it would be the first since I came to this place." As I said those, a small drop of water splashed onto my nose.

More and more drips then emerged as time passed. It was accompanied by a strong wind, foretelling me the coming rain. "Guess, it's better to go back to the ship."

Since I couldn't wait to have a breakthrough, I went back to the ship and continued my practice. Completely ignoring the signs that were telling me something whatsoever.