I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Klaus ignored him, turned around, and pulled out a stack of blueprints that had been lying around for a long time from the cabinet behind him, spreading them on the table.

After the first invasion of the Great Ghoul, he began preparing these things, reforging and improving them one by one, and they were all stored in the warehouse untouched.

"Perfect timing, you can see my preparations."

"Alchemy cannons." Klaus pointed to the top blueprint. "Several cannons, equipped with specially made alchemy shells, capable of causing widespread and large-scale damage. They can be disassembled for transport; if the collapse breach is large enough, the cannons can be moved down. Once the direction of the bronze pillar is determined, the rest of the area can be bombarded at will."

"You actually have this thing?" The Ascended One leaned forward as if he had seen something rare.

Klaus didn't explain, but instead flipped to the next page, "Mithril. There's a lot of mithril in the supplies we exchanged this time, which will be used by the Holy Armor Army to clear paths. Fire is obviously effective against forest species, not to mention the alchemical flames of mithril."

"Yes, mithril is very effective against this kind of thing."

The Ascended One glanced at the quantity, then froze, "Several thousand portions?!"

"You ransacked the entire supply depot??"

"The Iron Guard's furnace fire-spraying pipes." Klaus looked up, his gaze falling on the Great Ascendant. "Infused with the power of the furnace fire, they spray continuously, and their effect on Forestfolk is even stronger than mithril. The Iron Guard doesn't have many men, but they're enough for clearing paths."

He pulled a copper box from under the table, opened the lid, and inside were a dozen or so fist-sized copper balls, their outer shells covered with old, recycled gunpowder.

"Copper bait minefield. It's specially prepared for those things that swallow copper. The smell of copper attracts them, and they explode as soon as they touch it. It's laid out at night to serve as an early warning system, so there's no need for someone to watch over it all the time."

All four items were laid out on the table. The Great Ascendant scanned them, his mechanical eyeballs darting back and forth between the blueprints and the bronze box.

"With this firepower, I think it'll be enough to deal with those things down there."

Klaus put the drawings away, folded them neatly, and put them back in the cabinet.

"The rest is about finalizing the personnel." He sat back in his chair, picked up a pen, and wrote down a few names in the blank space on the loss list. "The team for the second attack, finalize that today."

The office was quiet for a few moments.

"Let me go?"

Klaus didn't say anything, he just stared straight at him.

The ascendant had no choice but to turn around and walk out, but stopped at the door.

"Everyone will be here tonight."

The door closed.

Klaus put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and noticed that the sky outside the window was even darker than before. He heard hurried footsteps coming from the branch office, and someone was shouting something in a low voice in the corridor.

His gaze fell on the last line of the loss list on the desk, and the office light flickered.

A very slight vibration came from the ground, traveled up from the soles of the feet, along the chair legs, and onto the table. The charcoal pencil in the pen holder wobbled slightly.

It was a sound from underground, very deep and heavy, as if something enormous was simultaneously changing direction.

As Lu Yuan sat up after lifting the covers, there were two knocks on the door.

Through the wooden door, the voice outside was neither hesitant nor polite. "Captain Lu, this is the breakfast from Oak Forest City that the city lord asked me to prepare for you. Would you like to eat now?"

It was the armored knight who led the charge yesterday.

Lu Yuan rubbed his eyes and called out towards the door, "Bring it over."

He quickly washed up, and the knight pushed open the door and came in, carrying a wooden tray.

There were a few oil stains on the silver-red armor, which looked like he had done it himself at the stove.

On the tray sat a large piece of meat, smoked over wood. It was dark brown in color, with a slightly charred skin, and emitted a rich smoky aroma.

Next to him was a bowl of vegetable soup, with a few green leaves he had never seen before floating on the surface, and a few red fruits at the bottom, with steam still rising.

Lu Yuan didn't have much of an appetite at first, but the smoked meat made him taste it again as soon as he took a bite.

The meat is firm and savory with a layer of herbal sweetness, completely different from the dry jerky from Qing Tong Cheng. The vegetable soup is also good, with slightly sour red berries and a sweet broth that soothes the throat.

He unusually added an extra bowl.

After finishing my meal, I put down my bowl and sat for a while.

The sound of two pairs of boots clattering on the stone slabs outside the gate never ceased. The knight paced back and forth at the courtyard gate, chatting idly with his companion.

Unable to leave, they were still stuck in Lilin City for the rest of the day.

Lu Yuan leaned back in his chair and pondered for a while, then suddenly realized that he didn't need to waste his time.

If you can't leave, you can't leave; there's no use in rushing.

We might as well use these next couple of days to do something worthwhile. Isabella has plenty of medicinal herbs, and Oak Forest City is overflowing with raw materials.

He can make medicine himself, and medicinal herbs are what Bronze City lacks the most. Now that they've been delivered to his doorstep, it would be a waste not to use them.

The fields of pharmacology and pharmacology have been stuck for so long, so this is a good opportunity to push them forward.

He rose and went outside, beckoning to the knight at the courtyard gate. "Take me to Isabella."

The knight hadn't expected him to leave so early. He nodded, turned around, and led the way. Another knight followed behind Lu Yuan, and the metallic clang of his silver-red armor rang out again.

Not far away, Isabella wasn't in the city, but in a small medicinal field outside the city corner.

The medicinal herb field wasn't large; it was carved out right next to the city wall and surrounded by a low stone fence. Inside, there were more than a dozen rows of medicinal herbs, which were growing very well, with thick, moist leaves covered in a layer of fine down.

Isabella squatted in the middle of the field, her palm pressed against the root of a medicinal herb, her hand glowing with a pale green light.

The light was thin, brushing against the skin and seeping into the soil along the fingertips. The leaves of the herb unfolded slightly as the light penetrated, making the veins more distinct.

Isabella sensed the movement behind her, the light in her hand dissipated, she opened her eyes and turned around, seeing Lu Yuan, her expression relaxed. "Captain Lu, you're here early."

"I've got nothing better to do anyway." Lu Yuan didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point. "I'd like to ask you for some medicinal herbs from Lilin City, high-grade or low-grade, it doesn't matter. I'm planning to try making a few batches of medicine. I have some experience in alchemy, and I'd also like to see what the medicines here are like."

Isabella stood up and brushed the mud off her knees. "I've heard you're good at brewing potions and have some skills in it," she smiled, speaking frankly. "Don't worry about the herbs; I'll have them ready for you anytime."

She turned her head and instructed the knight, "Take Captain Lu to the apothecary. Ibea and Ibel are over there. Have them prepare everything we need."

Lu Yuan thanked the knight and followed him away.

The pharmacy was near Isabella's residence, a three-story wooden building with a gray-white paint finish on the outside and dark brown wood trim on the window frames and door lintels, making it much more elegant than most stone houses in the city.

Even before you get close, a rich aroma of medicinal herbs wafts out of the building. Several kinds of herbal scents are mixed together, some bitter and some sweet, with a heavy woody smell underneath.

He had been in Bronze City for so long, and this was the first time he had ever smelled such a strong medicinal aroma.

The knight pushed open the door and stepped aside to let him in.

The first floor is the operating room, which occupies most of the hall. Three rows of wooden shelves against the wall are filled with bottles and jars, with labels written all over them.

In the center were two long tables, on which lay mortars, distillation apparatus, knives, and mallets—a complete set of tools, even more than the one he had at the alchemy workshop in Bronze City.

The two people were busy working with their heads down.

They were all very young, even younger than Lu Yuan.

What first caught his attention was their hair; both of them had long, silvery-white hair with a beautiful sheen that shone softly in the indoor light.

Their eyes are golden with bright pupils, and they are petite; you can tell they are sisters at a glance.

The one further inside was grinding medicine with a mortar and pestle, his movements skillful and his rhythm even. The one further outside was arranging medicinal herbs on the table, with a row of processed herbs neatly bundled up beside him.

The two stopped what they were doing when they saw Lu Yuan enter, and their gazes swept over the knights behind him.

"Who is this?" the one on the outside spoke first, with a hint of curiosity.

"Captain Lu Yuan from Bronze City," the knight stepped forward and said.

Lu Yuan stepped forward naturally. "My name is Lu Yuan. I'll be staying in Oak Forest City for two days. Isabella asked me to come. I'd like to borrow this place to make some medicine."

The one on the outside reacted quickly and smiled. "My name is Ibea, and this is my sister Ibel." She tilted her head towards the one on the inside.

Iber looked up at Lu Yuan, nodded, and then continued grinding the herbs.

Hearing that the name was only a few syllables different from "Isabella," Lu Yuan casually asked, "What's your relationship with Isabella?"

"We were adopted by the Earl," Ibea answered readily. "My sister and I have some talent for medicine making, so the Earl arranged for us to work here."

Lu Yuan nodded knowingly.

"Captain Lu, what kind of medicine are you making?" Ibea steered the conversation back to business.

"I'd like to see all the medicinal herbs here." Lu Yuan glanced at the bottles and jars on the shelf, his gaze lingering on several unfamiliar labels for a few moments. "Easy or difficult, it's fine, mainly those I haven't encountered before."

Ibea became interested, put down what she was doing, walked to the row of wooden shelves against the wall, and began to identify each item for him one by one.

"Lilin City has many kinds of medicinal herbs, but the most distinctive one is oak." She took a piece of dark brown dried bark from the shelf and handed it to Lu Yuan. "Oak bark is the base for several kinds of medicines, the most commonly used being restorative ones. The piece you have here is of medium quality; higher quality ones are darker in color and have denser fibers."

Lu Yuan took it, weighed it in his hand, and brought it closer to smell it. A calm, woody, sweet fragrance filled his nose.

Lu Yuan followed Ibeya to identify seven or eight kinds of medicinal herbs, some of which were local specialties of Oak Forest City and had never been seen in Bronze City.

He memorized the smell, texture, and cut color of each type, and his hands were busy too. Ibea let him process two batches, and he was able to get started as soon as he took the knife. His cutting and grinding techniques were much more skillful than Ibea had expected.

Iber didn't say much beside him, but occasionally when Lu Yuan was processing a certain medicinal herb, he would quietly add a word about the dosage or precautions, and then he would lower his head and continue doing his own thing.