Due to Austin's slumber, when constructing the second stronghold, the Dragon Nest Tribe began to shift a large portion of the tribe's resources towards that location. The goal was to create a secure environment for Austin, who was still in slumber, to ensure safe and secluded conditions. For the His Highness, who created everything for the Dragon Nest Tribe and lifted the beastmen out of hardship, no amount of reverence from the beastmen could be too much. Thus, within a short month, the Dragon Nest Tribe constructed a sizable gathering place at the junction of the forest and the volcano. Almost half of the military forces of the entire Dragon Nest Tribe were stationed here. Plans for expansion and consolidation, along with clearing dangerous areas, were essentially canceled, focusing instead on providing the utmost protection for His Highness Austin at the second stronghold. Meanwhile, deep within the volcano, beneath the defensive fortifications atop the volcano where Austin had fallen asleep, gathered the vast majority of beastman officers. This portion of the military power accounted for more than half of the Dragon Nest Tribe's forces. Aside from the necessary guard force, most of the defenses at the first stronghold and the tribe's main city were assembled here. The highest alert of the entire Dragon Nest Tribe! During this period, some powerful magic beasts passed by, but before anything could happen, they were slaughtered by the formidable Dragon Nest Beastmen, becoming food for the beastmen. Preventing magic beasts from entering was also one of the protective purposes of the beastman army. While the Dragon Nest Legion guarded Austin's slumber, the second stronghold expanded day by day. Simultaneously, agricultural efforts began around the stronghold, considering it was quite distant from the Dragon Nest Tribe Main City, and relying solely on buffalo transport to bring food was not viable. Relying on transportation alone was too demanding. Self-sufficiency and establishing a food source were imperative for the second stronghold. Fortunately, there was a substantial river within the forest, allowing for land reclamation and cultivation with abundant water supply. Furthermore, due to the volcanic cluster domain nearby, the plentiful volcanic ashes erupted in prior years enriched the soil in the forest land with rich minerals, making the soil extremely fertile. As a result, the first season of arrowroot yielded a bountiful harvest. This marked the entry of the second stronghold into a state of self-sufficiency. The Dragon Nest Beastmen, while cultivating land, also searched and explored nearby areas for useful resources. During this process, the Dragon Nest Beastmen discovered the various refined gold and mithril magic minerals embedded within the volcanic rocks, which were carried from the deep earth veins by volcanic magma, with particularly abundant reserves. Additionally, the beastmen found gold, iron ore, sulfur, and various other common mineral materials. Such rich volcanic mineral deposits, if found in the human world, could potentially incite a frenzied kingdom war. However, for the beastmen of the Kawa Great Forest, these items were neither edible nor drinkable, and their current forging technology could not utilize refined gold and mithril to craft weapons. The Elf Kingdom was very poor, having hidden in the Secret Realm Space for a thousand years to evade the Beastman Royal Court's pursuit, thus lacking any opportunity to encounter such high-tier magic mineral materials like refined gold and mithril. The newly established Dragon Nest Tribe was even more so; the entire tribe's forging industry was initiated by Austin. Consequently, these incredibly rare materials, difficult to find in the outside world, were merely lamented by the Dragon Nest Beastmen, who then ignored them. The greatest wealth in the eyes of humans was thus disregarded by the Dragon Nest Beastmen. Compared to those temporarily useless dead objects, the Dragon Nest Beastmen valued far more a type of crop that could serve as food, growing among the many red plants in the scorching dry land of the volcanic cluster domain. A plant referred to by indigenous beastmen as the Mountain God Fruit. This plant grew vine-like stems similar to arrowroot, sprawling across the ground, with fiery red leaf stalks, and roots beneath the soil that bore fist-sized fruits rich in starch. If Austin were present, he would realize that this Mountain God Fruit closely resembled the sweet potato from his previous life. Thriving in the hot arid region, a single Mountain God Fruit plant could yield a significant amount of food, comparable to the output of arrowroot. It's foreseeable that the Mountain God Fruit would inevitably become another novel grain crop for the Dragon Nest Tribe. Incidentally, the discovery of the Mountain God Fruit owed to the reckless actions of a local indigenous beastman tribe chief. The fiery red Mountain God Fruit was not absent in the volcanic cluster domain, but the Dragon Nest Beastmen would rarely consider digging up each plant to assess its suitability as food; if no accidents occurred, they might not discover this secret for several years. But as the Dragon Nest Tribe constructed the second stronghold, the noise stirred up alarmed a nearby indigenous beastman tribe. This indigenous beastman tribe chief recently became a quasi-silver Beastman Transcendent, about to step into the Silver Tier level realm, feeling extremely spirited, gathering population, leading the tribe to expand to over a thousand members. Since there were no other powerful Beastman Transcendents nearby, this indigenous chief, based on his continuous undefeated myth, developed an illusion that he was immensely strong, surely born to be the Beastman King. Indeed, he considered himself the Beastman King. He could be called the Dragon Beast Heaven. Therefore, when the Dragon Nest Tribe established a stronghold on his territory without his consent, the tribe chief became furious. He led the whole tribe of over a thousand people, heading aggressively towards the second stronghold of the Dragon Nest Tribe. As a result, he encountered a Dragon Nest Beastman Officer leading a patrolling elite team midway. Thus, this indigenous tribe met a tragic fate. The Dragon Nest Beastman Officer effortlessly crushed the tribe chief, killing him within a few moves. Afterwards, the Dragon Nest Beastman Officer ordered his team to round up the remaining trembling beastmen, tying them up with ropes one by one, annexing the tribe that had delivered itself to them. Pitifully, the indigenous tribe chief died before achieving victory, his towering ambitions instantly flowing downstream. During the annexation of this tribe, the Dragon Nest Beastmen discovered that the tribe's location was in a highly concealed mountain pass, and the site was easy to defend but hard to attack; had the tribe chief not acted recklessly, the Dragon Nest Tribe might not have managed to annex this beastman tribe in a short time. Also, during the takeover process of this tribe, the Dragon Nest Beastmen uncovered the secret of the Mountain God Fruit, adding it to the various grains being cultivated. The Dragon Nest Tribe's second stronghold was thus successfully developed amidst minor upheavals, smoothly allowing the Dragon Nest Beastmen to establish themselves nearby. And the second stronghold, like the first stronghold, was interconnected with the Dragon Nest Tribe Main City, with the three locations forming a strategic triangle, greatly expanding the territory accessible to the Dragon Nest Tribe. In such tranquility, the Dragon Nest Tribe developed steadily and expanded reliably. Time flowed gently, and before long, half a year had passed, as several seasonal harvests arrived, the year reached its conclusion. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵 Cold winter, quietly arrived one night.