Pioneer Wizard's Notebook

The post-war cleanup work is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The list of casualties was sent to Lind.

Besides himself, the manor defense involved a total of 1 knight, 2 soldiers, 92 militiamen, and 134 residents.

After the battle, 12 militiamen and 7 residents died, and 18 high-grade sunflowers were consumed.

A total of 1 Icefield Ghost Knight and 54 Icefield Ghosts were eliminated.

In terms of the result, it was undoubtedly a resounding victory, a truly exhilarating win.

After all, the so-called militia were just ordinary residents who had been trained for two or three days and couldn't even form a proper formation.

Defeating the Ice Demon with such a rabble will only be seen as a fantasy before someone's head is gnawed off.

Linde, however, was not satisfied.

The Sunflower Manor is surrounded by deserted areas, and he only has so many people at his disposal. Losing even one of them would be an irreversible weakening.

If every act of resistance results in death, the manor cannot hold out for long.

"The advanced sunflowers need to be replenished, the overall quality of the militia must be improved, and all weapons and equipment must be updated."

"And the manor walls are too low and rough, making it difficult for the Icefield Demons to provide effective protection."

The issues that need to be addressed are listed in my mind.

Linde did not rush. He first directed the militia to arrange the bodies of the victims neatly, and then burned them in flames while everyone was in silence.

This is a tradition in the northern ice fields, where the dead are cremated, and only their ashes are placed in underground crypts.

This is mostly due to the influence of the Icefield Demons, which prevent the bodies buried in the ground from being desecrated.

He distributed compensation to comfort the families of the victims—the manor was currently short of funds, so Linde directly mortgaged the noble decorations in the rooms to them, promising that they could sell them themselves or come to him for money in the future.

"Philip, Judd, each of you take a superior sunflower and a wolfhound, and lead a squad of militia to inspect the town. Make sure there are no Ice Demons hiding inside."

Linde gave the remaining superior sunflowers to two soldiers and sent them to scout the town with their wolfhounds.

Once the town is safe, the reconstruction of the damaged houses must begin.

Temperatures in the North are dropping steadily, and the only way to get through the night is to huddle by the fireplace.

Before the houses were rebuilt, the homeless were housed in the servants' rooms on the estate.

As orders were issued one by one, everyone understood that they concerned their own safety and did not complain.

After a short rest, the residents got busy again.

Linde then went to the warehouse where the corpses of the Icefield Demons were piled up.

He first went to the corpse of the wolf-shaped Ice Demon, stroked its fur and fangs, and then examined its internal skeleton.

Soon, a satisfied look appeared on his face.

The magic of the ice storm completely transformed these monsters.

Although the meat is inedible, the ice-blue wolf pelt is exceptionally tough, making it ideal for crafting high-quality leather armor.

Wolf fangs are sharp and bones are strong; with a little polishing, they can become natural arrowheads and daggers.

A major problem is that these materials become brittle rapidly within the range of the solar wind.

It will take some time after leaving the area for it to regain its toughness.

"Looking at it from another angle, it's actually a good thing. Otherwise, the manor's tools simply wouldn't be able to process these incredibly hard materials."

Lind chuckled.

Sometimes the world is like that; there's no clear line between good and bad, it all depends on how you deal with it.

After examining the wolf carcass, he went to the corpse of the humanoid Ice Demon and focused on examining the Ice Demon Knight.

Complex and wondrous magical runes appeared before Lind's eyes.

Linde used a scalpel modified from a wolf fang to cut open the Icefield Ghost Knight's abdominal cavity, caressing its exposed skin and dark red internal organs inch by inch.

He lowered his head to study it, and before he knew it, he was engrossed in it, revealing a look of fascination.

"The frost runes of nature, so beautiful yet deadly, resonate with flesh and blood, enhancing physical attributes while bestowing upon them a unique kind of life."

"Wait a minute, something's not right. Why does this feel like a strange patchwork?"

Linde analyzed the situation bit by bit, but was still somewhat uncertain, so he began experimenting on other humanoid Iceborne demons around him.

As its own magic permeated the area, it followed the traces of magic remaining within these Icefield Demons, circulating its power while simultaneously exploring its underlying effects.

After continuous experiments, consuming five Ice Demon corpses, he was finally able to confirm his idea.

There's a problem with the runes.

He discovered that the upper part of these frost runes focused on strengthening the body, adapting to the cold, and conforming to the physical structure of normal organisms.

But the second half is suddenly distorted, like the struggle of a drowning person, which is forcibly strengthened from the body and deformed into the resurrection of the dead.

The upper and lower parts of the rune conflict with each other, filled with a kind of disharmonious distortion, which is what created the appearance of the Icefield Ghost.

"The upper half of the runes resembles a gift of nature bestowed upon living beings by a deity? The lower half resembles the whispered curses of an undead god? Hmm?"

Linde racked his brains, but unfortunately, there were large gaps in his knowledge, making it difficult for him to understand the reason for this phenomenon.

I shook my head and put my doubts aside for the time being.

He refocused his attention on what mattered most.

That is, to analyze and extract the most essential parts of these runes.

They can adjust the runes according to the body structure of a living person to obtain the desired frost enhancement runes and further improve the knight's strength.

Upon cutting open the heart of the Icefield Ghost Knight, Lind discovered a unique ice-blue crystal inside, unlike any other humanoid Icefield Ghost.

"A product of highly concentrated magic power, the manifestation of frost runes."

A happy smile appeared on Linde's face.

With the existence of this crystal, his research time, which was originally measured in years, will be greatly reduced, and he is expected to be able to analyze the results within a month.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

That afternoon, in front of the manor gate, which had been cleaned up.

William rode back, bringing back good news.

Within a 20-kilometer radius of the Ice Mist Forest, there were only a few scattered traces of Icefield Demons, and no large-scale gatherings were observed.

This means that for at least half a month, the manor will not have to worry about being suddenly attacked by these monsters.

Upon hearing the news, the militiamen embraced and celebrated.

Linde also breathed a sigh of relief.

Upon welcoming William's return, he eagerly opened the Wizard's Journal.

The list of witchcraft spells above has been updated once according to his needs.

This period of spiritual growth also allowed Lind to revisit a form of witchcraft.

[Retrospective Magic: Earth Leyline Transformation/Bloodline Modification/Fossilization into Mud]

[Earth Leyline Spiritification (Crop Branch Spell): Using flesh, blood, and vegetation as offerings, this spell awakens the spirit of the earth through its own spirituality, forging a magical field pact with it to create unique magical fields that accelerate crop growth.]

[Bloodline Modification (Animal Husbandry Branch Witchcraft): Using magic as a sculptor, permanently modify the flesh and blood of a creature, solidifying runes into its bloodline.]

[Fossil to Mud (Alchemy Branch of Witchcraft): Utilizing the penetrability of magic, construct mud-melting runes within rocks to temporarily alter their physical properties.]

Current security is guaranteed.

Just as Lind was considering his next choice of witchcraft.

The butler, Pullman, suddenly rushed in, and the problem he reported forced him to take it seriously.