Chapter 149 Quietly reaching the bottleneck of fighting spirit

"Complete the task, reward: thorny variant with enhanced wood quality."

The slowly shifting smoke before Liszt's eyes brought him a sense of comfort. From clearing out the monsters to mid-October, after nearly a month of cutting, the Logging Team had finally cleared all the trees on Thorns Ridge.

The once lush forest, though not overly dense, was now completely transformed into barren, undulating slopes.

If there were environmental protection organizations here, they would certainly protest against Liszt—destroying vegetation and causing soil erosion is a crime against humanity. Unfortunately, this was Liszt's territory, and he could do as he pleased. Besides, Coral Island was lush and green; what did a few cut trees matter?

In this world, with elves around, desertification was not a concern.

Moreover, there was no industrial development. Whether on the islands or the mainland, even if the land was barren, at least 70% of the area was covered by forests. At least 95% of the area was covered by vegetation, whether it be farmland or weeds. There would always be plants.

Therefore, Liszt never paid attention to environmental protection.

"Enhanced wood quality? What does that mean?" This was the reward for the thorny worm chain quest. Previous rewards included the spiked variant and the toxic variant of thorns. Spikes and toxins were easy to understand, but the current "wood quality" was puzzling. "Wood quality... Does it mean the quality of the wood?"

His clever mind quickly turned: "Trees differ from one another. Some are suitable for furniture and are incredibly expensive, while others are even rejected for papermaking... Could the 'enhanced wood quality' of the fast-growing thorny variant mean that the wood properties of the thorns have changed?"

Ordinary thorns, besides serving as hedges, had little use.

They neither flower nor bear fruit, nor are they particularly hard, making them quite useless.

"It's hard to figure out without seeing the actual thing. I need to study this 'fast-growing wooden thorn' to determine its value." In the blink of an eye, Liszt had already named the new thorny variant.

At that moment.

The smoke before his eyes shifted into a new chapter.

"Task: The commercial district of Flower Town is gradually thriving, but the Workshop Area has been idle for a long time, lacking enough workshops to support it. Craftsmen should not waste their time chopping trees and farming. Please build three new workshops to increase the prosperity of the town. Reward: Breakthrough in Aura."

"Hmm?"

Liszt's eyes widened when he saw the strange reward of "breakthrough in aura."

But he was not surprised, only delighted: "My first task reward was the elevation of aura, which allowed me to break through from an apprentice knight to a great knight. This time, it's a breakthrough in aura, meaning I'm about to become an elite great knight? It must be so!"

Referring to the division of aura into primary, intermediate, advanced aura, and dragon aura, knights are divided into apprentice knights, great knights, sky knights, and dragon knights.

Among great knights, there are roughly two stages—ordinary great knights and elite great knights.

Newly promoted great knights are all ordinary great knights. During this period, constant practice will gradually increase the total amount of aura within their bodies.

Liszt was in this stage, feeling the growth of his aura every day.

When the total amount of aura reaches its peak and stops increasing, it means reaching the level of an elite great knight. At this stage, it is difficult to further increase the total amount of aura solely through practice.

Many knights are stuck at this stage, unable to progress further, and can only continuously develop techniques to utilize their aura. As they age, around their fifties, their physical functions decline, and the total amount of aura gradually decreases, regressing from an elite great knight to an ordinary great knight.

The current Marcus, in his late thirties, is still in the peak state of his physical functions. In another decade or so, he might regress, significantly reducing his strength. This is why he desperately wants to achieve military merit—accomplishments must be made early to enjoy later.

Half of the elite great knights share Marcus's thoughts. Achieving merit.

However, some elite great knights are not in a hurry to achieve merit. They hope to continue enhancing their strength, such as Levis and Lvera.

But relying solely on practice is no longer effective.

At this point, a large amount of magic potions is needed to stimulate physical functions and continue increasing the total amount of aura until a qualitative change occurs, breaking through to become a sky knight.

A single sky knight can easily defeat a hundred great knights.

With a good mount, they become killing machines on the battlefield, constantly earning honors.

"Will completing this task officially bring me into the stage of an elite great knight?" Liszt still couldn't believe it. "I thought it would take at least three to five years of practice to enter the ranks of elite great knights. I didn't expect to complete this process in just over half a year."

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

It felt like he was radiating the brilliance of a genius.

"Building three new workshops in the Workshop Area is too simple. Currently, the Workshop Area already has six workshops: blacksmith, leatherworker, miller, carpenter, tailor, and locksmith... With the existing artisan serfs, I can build a soap-making workshop, a brewery, and a cooperage."

The soap-making workshop has a soap maker, Bounie, who came from Papa Island. He can make scented soap and has taken on the task of making soap (lard soap). Although the final soap formula is not yet complete, he has already produced usable soap.

A soap-making workshop is a reward for him, anyway, it also earns money for Liszt.

The brewery also has a brewer, Frank Malt, who came from Papa Island, capable of brewing fruit wine. Additionally, there are two purchased serfs who can brew rice wine and beer.

Now that Liszt has a good relationship with Aubrey Hops, the heir of the Hops family, he can get hops at a cheaper price and brew his own beer.

Not aiming to make a profit, a brewery can barely sustain itself with self-production and consumption.

The cooperage has several cooper artisans among the purchased serfs. Coopering is a common skill combining woodworking and metalworking. Buckets are indispensable in daily life, so sales won't be a problem after building the cooperage. Even without the task, he would still build a cooperage.

"I wonder if a cooperage counts as a workshop. Should it be considered a craft workshop?" Liszt was slightly puzzled, unsure whether a cooperage or tailor shop should be classified as a shop or a workshop.

"If it doesn't count, I'll build another workshop sooner or later... A peanut processing workshop, producing boiled peanuts, five-spice peanuts, fried peanuts, salted peanuts, and peanut butter. We should produce everything we can. Flower Town shouldn't directly sell raw agricultural products."

The value of raw agricultural products is too low.

At least they should be processed before being sold.

Thinking this, he immediately summoned Gort, whose hairline had been receding due to his busy schedule: "Advisor Gort, I need to see results in the development of the Workshop Area. Start arranging the construction of the soap-making workshop, brewery, cooperage, and peanut processing workshop, funded directly by the castle."