Summoning Total War - Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Oak (Part 1)

Breakfast was porridge and jerky that was cooked into a rice-like paste. It was very fragrant.

Although Murphy felt slightly disappointed after the departure of Evanna, the harpy queen, he had never been a sentimental person.

So it didn’t affect his appetite, nor did it affect his plans to look for the ebony wood.

It was about nine in the morning.

Murphy ordered the troops to venture deeper into the forest and head toward the northern end, where the elf sprites gathered. They were about less than 10 kilometers away from the Karazan Mountains, which was the edge of the dense forest. This was also where the elf sprites had held their sacrificial ceremonies.

There must be hardly any ebony trees left, as Murphy still hadn’t caught even a glimpse of one.

In fact, he had recently come to the idea that this rare wood could have been retransplanted somewhere else by the elves during their great migration. But since he was already here, he still had to give it a try.

It was fortunate that Murphy always had the habit of having a plan B.

Oak trees were one of the holy trees that had long been admired by the elves. It was also a symbol of the elven druids. According to the legends, an oak that had stood the passage of time could be awakened by the druids. After the oak was awakened, it would become an ancient wose. Woses were the elven tribes’ most reliable ally. They were also the root of the incarnation of the ancient war trees and guardian trees from the past eras. The ancient wose had a large amount of energy and could use most of the natural magics. It was a legendary creature that was as strong as a dragon.

In fact, the ancient wose were very rare.

This was because awakening the wose required a druid with a high level of magic, and the ancient tree that was awakened had to be tens of thousands of years old! As everyone already knows, the elven druids’ heritage had been fragmented ever since the beginning of the second era.

Moreover, the history of mankind was only a few thousand years old.

The elven tribes had a habit of planting oak trees every year because oak trees were an indispensable part of their lives.

So under normal circumstances, there would be a large number of oaks ready to be found within the vicinity of the gathering grounds of the elves.

This was Murphy’s plan B!

Oak was hard and had good elasticity. It would be a good alternative for making the longbows if there weren’t any ebony trees left. According to Murphy’s estimates, since the oak trees of this world had been planted by the elves, they should have aged relatively well, and the wood shouldn’t be too bad.

In the event that ebony wood couldn’t be found anywhere, Murphy planned to send a batch of oak wood back.

Since he was already here, he couldn’t just go back empty-handed, right?

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The group of people continued to venture further into the dense forest.

They startled many beasts along the way, even some fearsome wild beasts. In the face of these many warriors, they could only run away.

The rumor that this foreign land was filled with magical beasts simply wasn’t true!

There was a saying in middle earth: “One mountain can’t have two tigers!”

Why was that the case?

Because there wouldn’t be enough food for the both of them!

Creatures that are very powerful are always few in number, just like the Karazan Hurricane Pterodactyls. In the entire Karazan Mountains, the population size of the Karazan Hurricane Pterodactyls wasn’t more than a few hundred. You had to know that the Karazan Mountain Range was a large mountainous area stretching a few thousand miles. It was almost able to connect the south and east of the mainland!

Just one matured Karazan Hurricane Pterodactyl was able to eat wild boars weighing between 100 to 200 pounds.

Assuming there were only 500 Karazan Hurricane Pterodactyls and one pterodactyl ate one wild boar per day, then that was 15,000 wild boars total per month. In one year they would have eaten 180,000 wild boars!

That was a terrifyingly large amount of food!

Just like the Southern Wilderness Earth Dragons that occupied territories as large as nearly half the provinces in the previous era, the stronger the creature, the larger the territory they occupied!

This was what Murphy observed at the moment.

The large majority of wildlife was comprised of just ordinary beasts. The so-called magical beasts weren’t as common.

The large group of prairie wolves was the biggest problem for the merchants. Encountering tigers, leopards, or brown bears would give even seasoned warriors a headache.

One thing that needs to be mentioned here is that gnolls were also part of the tiger’s diet!

Of course, tigers were also within the gnolls’ hunting range.

Murphy saw a team of adventurers who had previously hunted a tiger in this territory. The tiger was much larger than the ones on Earth, and it was estimated that they could reach up to 800 pounds, or more than 700 pounds at the very least. It was almost the size of a Siberian tiger, and from what the adventurers said, Murphy was able to gather that the beasts of the southern plains were generally smaller in size due to the living environment. Their combat effectiveness was also lower than those creatures found in harsher environments.

The relatively famous hill tigers and their like could reach a weight of more than 1,000 pounds!

Such beasts weighed nearly half a ton. Even the dwarves were apart of their diet, not to mention humans!

. . . . . . . . . . . .

It wasn’t until about twelve noon that the team reached their destination.

After a brief rest, Murphy ordered the soldiers to spread out and look for the ebony wood.

At about three in the afternoon, after searching through the surroundings, Murphy regretfully discovered that the legendary ebony wood hadn’t been left behind by the elf sprites!

This was because he found an abrupt open area about 500 meters south of the place where the elves had worshipped.

All traces of the elves had been erased by the passage of time.

But Murphy was still able to find some clues that helped him figure out what happened.

There weren’t any trees in a 300-meter radius, but it was covered with overgrown weeds. There was a not-so-obvious pit every 15 meters in the ground. Although a long period of time had passed, traces of the elves hadn’t been completely erased. The most obvious sign that they had been here was that other than the area within a 300-meter radius, other parts of the area had been planted with a lot of oak trees!

This gave him a lot to think about!

Deep down, Murphy still had some hope. He continued to wait until five in the evening, when the rest of the General Guards came back. Only then did he believe there weren’t any ebony trees left.

The elves hadn’t left any of their precious ebony trees behind.

The only thing that was fortunate was that Murphy found a large number of oak trees. The oak trees were more than 50 years of age and were enough to make an imitation of the centaur’s longbow.

There were still many things that Murphy had to personally check into in the territory. He couldn’t afford to allow the issue of finding ebony to drag him down.

As such, Murphy was only free to search for the ebony for two days.

After those two days, whether or not he could find the legendary ebony wood or not, he would have to go back to his town and take charge. Without him, there wasn’t anyone who could decide on many matters regarding the territory…

Although Lady Elizabeth was very capable, she was still an outsider, after all. Although she held a certain position in the territory, she couldn’t be recognized by the citizens in town. The high priestess had enough prestige, but the high priestess was a person who was too gentle and who wasn’t used to making decisions. In fact, Murphy was always amused at the way in which she handled the newer priests.

The only general who Murphy could trust was General Rio Darley, who wasn’t in the territory at the moment.

If something unexpected like a gnoll attack happened, it would be really troublesome.

Now that the oak wood had been found, the task was considered half-done.

In the evening, Murphy led the soldiers back out of the forest and rejoined the men who were guarding the horses. Then, they set out on the road back to the territory.

In the next few days, they would have to arrange for some manpower to get these oaks back to the town.