But now it seems that equipping the new standard battle armor is equally unrealistic, at least there is a similar bottleneck with weight. If this problem isn't resolved, having the Tree Elf Archers wear these magic armors would be nothing but wishful thinking.

The solution could be to further enhance the 'lightweight' to 'light spirit', achieving a 30% weight reduction which would meet his requirements. However, the improvement work on the armor has already cost over thirty thousand Thor, and if this limitless expenditure continues, Brand suspects Antitina will come to hand in her resignation letter.

"No way." Master Buru lay on his workbench, his hair as messy as a bird's nest, saying feebly: "This is the limit. If you want to reduce weight further without additional investment, it will affect the defense capability."

"Let's first equip the elite of the Tree Elves." Tama also suggested, as he was invited midway into the plan by Brand. This future Alchemy Master had recently been helping Char and Antitina design and build the long-planned Mage Tower—the noble lady's Magic Laboratory was also part of this plan.

Magic is a significant productivity force in the world of Vorn. The importance of a Mage Tower to the territory is self-explanatory. Besides, the Mage Tower can gather a public Mana Pool, not only greatly strengthening the spellcasters under his command but also accelerating the training of mage apprentices. And even the lowest level Alchemy Laboratory can provide an additional alchemy level bonus to the alchemists working within it, with advanced Alchemy Laboratories almost directly providing a number of professional alchemists to the lord.

As long as there's a bit of money, no lord would refuse to build a Mage Tower in their territory. Moreover, a good Mage Tower can attract more mages to become one's subordinates and staff, so why not?

Thus, originally, Brand didn't want to delay Tama's progress, but with the black hole-like absorption of funds on his side, Antitina had no choice but to have Tama come over to help, or else she feared Brand would use all the territory's money to form some sort of super army.

In her view, her lord seemed like someone who revels in military affairs, as if he never feels safe, always prioritizing military development.

However, in response to Tama's proposal, Brand still shook his head. He wanted not just a small number of elites. In fact, he didn't lack such elites; he had the Travel Mage System and the Nest System. If he could, he himself could form an elite army. What he needed was a 'main force.'

Like the Centaurs, Cave Dwellers, and Tree Elves, this main force needs to stand firm in the upcoming war.

He thought for a moment and replied: "You guys continue to experiment to see if you can achieve better enchantment effects with the same materials, while I figure out solutions from other aspects."

Brand's solution was simple.

It was the Dragon Blood Potion.

As Queniel said, the Tree Elf Archers are not entirely unable to use their final product; it's just limiting their combat capabilities somewhat, mainly due to the weight issue. But thinking the other way around, why not enhance the load-bearing ability of the Tree Elves?

Speaking of increasing strength, other than the Dragon Blood Potion, Brand had no alternative ideas.

However, the first batch of Dragon Blood Potion was entirely given to the future officers of the White Lion Legion, and the second batch was used to deal with this war, given to the mercenaries, Centaurs, and Tree Elf Archers accompanying him on this expedition. There are very few of these Tree Elf Archers, only a hundred or two, and the Forest Tree Elves can muster an army of over a thousand at least.

Similarly, Brand's objective is not only to create third-tier troops for the Tree Elves but also for the Centaurs. Thus, the number of Dragon Blood Potions he needs might exceed several thousand bottles, which is not a small number. The blood obtained from that multi-headed dragon is definitely not enough, and Brand needs to find more raw materials.

Purchasing would be too late for now, and Brand didn't want this matter to delay the journey to Ambeser. He quickly thought of a way, which is to breed multi-headed dragons himself.

Speaking of breeding multi-headed dragons himself, it is naturally through the Nest. But the ordinary territory generally doesn't have a place to accommodate a nest; Lengshan Domain found it hard to find a natural magic convergence point, so Brand naturally set his sights on Valhalla.

It is also true that since he left the Black Forest, it seems to be the time to rebuild this once glorious fortress.

Brand simply handed over the tasks of the blacksmith workshop to Buru and Tama entirely, while he buried himself in researching the core array of Valhalla. The core array of Valhalla is not particularly complicated, but it requires a massive—an astonishing number—of magic crystals.

If this was in the past, Brand would probably go crazy, but by this time, the first group of people who went to the Black Forest had returned. The immigrants, under the protection of mercenaries, established a small mine in the forest. Although the first batch of mined magic crystals was not a lot, it was enough to meet Brand's initial needs.

However, although Brand was fully committed to arranging the array, he was not so engrossed as to ignore the outside world completely. He was fully aware that during this historical time, Princess Griffine should already be preparing to head to Ambeser, to negotiate with Anlek.

After the Spring Dawn Month of the Sword Year, Princess had actually reached some level of agreement with Duke Anlek. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

He was actually somewhat hesitant about whether to let the Princess interact with Anlek first, because with Anlek in the North acting as a barrier, Tonyger wouldn't plunge into the biggest whirl of the crown prince dispute immediately. But Brand quickly made a decision. As a supporter of the Princess, he absolutely could not allow history to repeat itself.

Having made up his mind to stage a grand spectacle when the Princess goes to Ambeser, this time's stage would naturally be the largest trading port of Erune. The timing was set, and everything he was doing now was actually in preparation for the upcoming journey.

He did not let go of his tasks at hand, but at the same time, he sent Char and his men out to find Travel Mage Cards. He knew very well that he couldn't bring a large army to Ambeser, not even the Black Wolf. What he could truly rely on was the Travel Mage System and his own strength.

But after the battle in the Black Forest, the Travel Mage System was in a semi-paralyzed state. To revive this system, Brand knew new tomb-digging methods were the priority.

He arranged all of this systematically. From the end of the Winter Zither Moon, the upgrading of the military, the reconstruction of Valhalla, and the search for Travel Mage Cards were all proceeding in an orderly manner. To outsiders, Tonyger appeared exceptionally quiet, but internally, there were slow yet astonishing changes occurring.

This calm persisted until the first week of the Spring Dawn Month, when a piece of news arrived at Brand's desk.

...(To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)