Lord of Winter: Beginning with Daily Intelligence

Taking a brief stroll around the Red Tide Territory, he found that compared to two months ago, the Red Tide Territory had been completely renewed.

Even though he had been absent for a while, the overall situation did not fall out of sync in the slightest.

However, he was well aware that the larger the territory, the less feasible it was to relinquish management.

There were too many affairs that inevitably required him to set the direction and make decisions, especially those related to future layouts.

Louis pondered for a moment on where to begin today's work and finally decided to place the "Shadow Moss and Lizard Beast Plan" at the top of his priorities.

Such strategic resources are not suitable to be left for too long, and certainly not for others to handle.

Thus, he strode towards Hillco's laboratory.

It was still a mess here; as soon as he entered, he saw metal shells strewn across the floor, charred crucibles, and some twisted pipes of unknown function.

In the corner, there hung a half-burned iron bird doll, emitting smoke with a sizzling sound.

"Long time no see, Lord." Hillco leaned against the experiment table, holding a stirring rod in one hand and spinning a small black crystal with his fingers in the other.

His short hair was disheveled, he wore a white alchemy robe, and the graffiti-covered scarf around his neck was said to have never been washed.

Louis chuckled, ignoring his disrespect, pulled a chair over and sat down, placing a pouch of moss samples on the table.

"Got new work for me?" Hillco's face turned serious immediately, "What's this?"

"Shadow Moss," Louis tapped the package, "If you can develop semi-artificial cultivation, I'll build you an alchemy tower."

"Deal." Hillco grinned, but his eyes were already fixed on the moss samples.

Louis then took a solid little box from the inner side of his cloak, opened it to reveal a deep purple crystal core about the size of a thumb.

The exterior of the magic crystal was smooth as glass, with a swirling spiritual fluctuation inside, as if countless whispers were entangled within.

He gently placed the crystal core in front of Hillco, speaking calmly with a hint of sharpness: "This is a magic crystal extracted from the Soul-devouring Lizard Beast."

"How is it to be used?"

He extended two fingers, speaking while looking into Hillco's eyes:

"First, a shock bomb. After exploding, it can create a powerful 'Fear Domain' in a localized area, disrupting the enemy's command system and psychological defenses.

Second, an interrogation device. Utilizing its hallucination interference properties, it induces suspects to immerse in their most feared illusions. Psychological defense collapses, with no need for torture."

After speaking, Louis said blandly: "These are just my basic intended uses. The subsequent derivative designs are up to you."

The bomb enthusiast Hillco was quite excited, licking his lips and lowering his head to re-examine the magic crystal: "Understood, Lord. Give me a month, and I'll make the entire Northern Territory know what Red Tide-style fear strikes are."

"While research on this is certainly important," Louis shifted his tone, "what's even more crucial is breeding."

Hillco was taken aback; the smile at the corner of his mouth froze: "You mean...?"

"I want a sustainable resource supply." Louis walked to the window, hands behind his back, "One-off trophies are not the goal of Red Tide. What we want is a system."

"Shadow Moss and Soul-devouring Lizard Beasts are naturally catalytic sources of spiritual fighting energy and controllable weapons of spiritual interference, respectively. They were originally threats.

Now, they must become assets of the Red Tide Territory. Domesticated, harvestable, trainable, standardizable for deployment."

He turned to look at Hillco, his gaze clear: "I want you to form a team, bring along alchemists, pharmacists, cultivators, and a bit of spirit-training beast trainers you can trust, and move to that cave north of Mai Lang Territory."

"That is a natural greenhouse, a closed ecosystem with a stable spiritual environment, and it can produce its own magic power fluctuations, currently the most ideal 'Symbiotic Magic Plant-Magical Beast Research Field' in the Northern Territory." Louis said expressionlessly, "You didn't know how to do livestock farming when you were modifying the lab."

"...Alright then." Hillco sighed, "Even though I don't like moving, but since you explicitly named me...I'll just take it as a vacation."