The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

This place was unlike any settlement he had seen since entering the Campbell Duchy. Whether it was the style of the buildings or the overall atmosphere of the settlement, everything felt remarkably unique.

What especially amazed him was that there was none of that overwhelming stench of excrement so common in most rural villages. The people's expressions didn't look like those of wanderers who had just arrived from faraway lands. Instead, they seemed like they had been living here for quite some time.

And then there were the roads.

The hard road surface seemed to be made of cement. But what baffled him was the absence of any nearby volcanoes—where on earth did they obtain these materials?

No matter where they got it from, using it for road paving was simply a waste!

In the southern regions of the Ryan Kingdom, plenty of lords were willing to purchase this material just to make their castle walls appear smoother, rather than resembling a pile of jagged, uneven stones.

Of course.

Transporting cement to such remote inland regions wouldn't be easy either.

Sodoc's face was a mix of envy and jealousy. Before long, a lumber mill came into view.

Processed wooden planks were stacked into small mountains there, neatly arranged into triangular piles.

It was only at this moment that he suddenly realized the rural cottages he had passed earlier were not using untreated logs but precisely cut and polished wooden boards!

"Unbelievable! Just how many people did you hire to process all this wood? Forgive me for asking, but do you have nothing better to do?!"

Seeing Sodoc's stunned expression, Brook knew exactly what he was shocked about. Grinning, Brook replied.

"If I told you we didn't hire that many people, you'd definitely think I was bragging."

Sodoc gave him a strange look, as if to say, "Isn't that exactly the case?"

Brook didn't answer his question. He had already explained this to countless newcomers visiting the settlement and had grown weary of repeating himself.

After a moment's thought, he casually said in a conversational tone.

"Trust me, it's really nothing surprising… anyway, your attention will soon be stolen by something else, and you'll realize it's not a big deal."

Sodoc looked at him skeptically.

But as it turned out, Brook wasn't exaggerating. This had indeed been his own most vivid impression over the past few days, until he had finally grown used to it recently.

The two continued toward the center of the camp. Before long, Sodoc noticed that a few simple wooden houses were hardly worth mentioning. Many of the homes here were actually made of bricks.

These houses were not only sturdier and better insulated, but their appearance was also far more refined and appealing.

And that's not all!

On either side of the street, there were even coal-burning streetlights—something he had only ever seen in the bustling districts of Thunder City!

For a brief moment, Sodoc felt a strange illusion—

As if he wasn't at the frontier of the Campbell Duchy but had somehow returned to the city center of Thunder City?

This was simply too incredible!

"Is this some kind of special magic…" Sodoc muttered, pinching his arm to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Brook glanced at him and joked.

"Magic? Of course, it's magic… and that's exactly the greatness of that lord. He made miracles once reserved only for the few benefit everyone."

Sodoc was briefly taken aback. Then, his expression turned thoughtful, and a look of deep respect appeared on his face.

"He must truly be an extraordinary person."

Of all the epic stories and legends of heroes he had heard, it seemed only one person in history had accomplished something similar.

And that was the last emperor of the Isaac Dynasty—Linte Isaac, who brought god-made steam machines to the mortal world.

Who would've thought that a thousand years later, in the very place where that spark first ignited into a blaze, a similar flame would appear once more...

"Naturally."

Though he knew Sodoc's words were likely just polite flattery, Brook couldn't help but smile genuinely.

Squinting his eyes, he gazed toward the highest point in the settlement—the cave nestled halfway up the mountain—and, lost in reminiscence, he said.

"If not for that lord, everyone you saw on your way here would've likely perished in the brutal snowstorm a month ago."

At that moment, Sodoc finally understood why the people here held their lord in such high regard.

The brief conversation ended, and he refocused his attention on the flourishing camp.

Just as the rumors had said, the camp was filled with undead. Skeleton soldiers wandered everywhere, and occasionally, zombies, undead rats, and even transparent ghosts could be seen.

However, unlike in other places.

The undead here did not harm anyone. In fact, they even worked alongside the residents.

Sodoc had never witnessed such an odd sight.

Especially when he saw a stone golem, under the direction of a ghost, lifting a large burlap sack of unknown contents and tossing it onto the roof of a building under construction... he truly didn't know what expression to make.

Truth be told.

After seeing so many bizarre things, he was starting to grow numb to it all.

Compared to the stone golem working at the site, he was actually more curious about the enormous building that occupied a vast area.

After hesitating for a long while, he finally couldn't resist asking.

"What is that?"

Following Sodoc's gaze, Brook smiled and replied.