Old Nick gave a flattering smile, repeatedly wiping his hands on his apron while gazing eagerly at John.
"When others co by, I'm certainly busy for a while, but since it's you, Commander, my workload seems to lighten."
Old Nick chuckled as he eyed the wine bottle in John's hand, silently swallowing his saliva, his expression pitiful.
"Who was it last ti that said they could summon a few people to help out?"
"If we could have a few more hands around here, wouldn't our master blacksmith be less busy? Perhaps even have so ti for a drink, right?"
John swayed the wine bottle, and Old Nick's eyes were glued to it, his eyeballs following every movent of the bottle as if all his attention was fixed solely on it.
The amount of monkey wine was actually not much; a bottle could only offer four or five sips, but the aroma was incredibly enticing.
Even John couldn't help but take a sip upon slling it, let alone a wine lover like Old Nick.
"As for getting help…"
"Rest assured, leave it to , and I'll definitely find you the right people! Old Nick's recomndations are never wrong!"
"Of course, the helper will surely want so good wine too, and they'll need two bottles a month!"
John had initially thought the paynt was two bottles per day, and worried he might not have enough.
But to his surprise, it was just two bottles a month?
John suppressed his joy inwardly but displayed a regretful expression on his face.
"That won't work, I don't have that many on hand. After all, as you know, there are only three bottles in total. If I give him two, then that would leave only one for you, right?"
Three bottles!
Old Nick's eyes lit up instantly, he rubbed his hands together and chuckled slyly.
"No problem, no problem, just give it to . I'll dilute it a bit with water, it'll still be fine wine."
"A single bottle can easily be split into two, and then the other two bottles will be mine, thank you, Commander!"
John looked at Old Nick with curiosity.
Could this NPC actually possess intelligence?
His actions didn't seem programd but rather like those of soone with their own intelligence.
Regardless, if he could recruit another NPC with master blacksmith skills, it would be beneficial for him.
John hesitated briefly, feigning difficulty, and then handed the bottle of wine to Old Nick.
"Alright then, I'll leave these three bottles in your hands. How you manage them is up to you, but I do hope there will be another blacksmith as excellent as you."
The mont Old Nick got his hands on the wine, he couldn't resist taking a big gulp.
As the delicious brew spread from his mouth down to his stomach, he burst into hearty laughter.
Hesitating before taking another sip, he realized such fine things were scarce.
"By the way, I wanted to ask, is it possible to hire a healer for the dical ward as well?"
Although John had seen the option on the commander panel, he felt that a dic recomnded by Old Nick might be different.
"Yes, indeed," Old Nick, in a good mood from the wine, responded cheerfully.
"If the Commander needs it, I do have a recomndation, though the person is quite annoying."
Old Nick wrinkled his large nose and his beard twitched as if recalling sothing unpleasant.
"Old Nick really dislikes tall elves, but if the Commander insists, I could speak to them for you."
"However, those tall elves demand energy stones as common currency, about one per day. Commander, would you be willing?"
John winced upon hearing Old Nick's words, feeling a pang of discomfort.
After all, hiring a healer through the commander panel only required contributing dicinal herbs.
But now, Old Nick's recomndation would cost energy stones, and at a rate of one per day!
It felt like a cut to his heart, painfully sharp.
"As long as it's worth the price, of course, I'm willing," John said, suppressing his dismay and feigning nonchalance with a smile.
Old Nick wiped his large nose and carefully placed the wine bottle down.
"Old Nick's recomndations are always spot on. Although that tall elf is indeed a bit annoying, in the field of healing, he claims to be second to none—and nobody dares claim first!"
"Rest assured, Commander, he will be here tomorrow."
John nodded in understanding, then pulled out the borax and black iron ore.
_emp _yr novels.
"Last ti, we agreed on so inlay work; please help with that first."
Old Nick wiped his hands on his apron again and took the materials John handed over.
"It will take about 12 hours, Commander. Co back tomorrow."
John handed over his Bloodthirsty Blade sowhat reluctantly.
Since acquiring the Bloodthirsty Blade, he had never once handed it over to anyone else; this was indeed a rare occurrence.
After settling things here, John went to check in with Archibald to oversee so affairs within the fortress.
The warehouse was now fully stocked, and lifestyle players had begun actively concocting potions.
After all, MP recovery potions and HP recovery potions were what they were most short on now.
Archibald briskly approached John and led him to inspect the contents of the warehouse.
"We now have nearly 100000 arrows and are still forging more intensively. Timber has been arriving steadily, and all the dicinal herbs have been processed into potions."
"The herbs from that valley are quite good, but they can't support our mass production needs. I've arranged for people to continue searching."
"We currently have about 30000 bottles of HP recovery potions, 40,000 MP recovery potions, and stamina recovery potions are a bit fewer, only about 20,000 bottles."
"At the sa ti, we have raised the integrity of the city walls and towers to over 95%, using about 20% of the black iron ore and borax."
"The energy stones you sent back have also been loaded into the energy cannon. Should the need arise, we can fire the energy cannon imdiately."
"I've also assigned combat squads to different sections of the wall, each responsible for a specific area, with the logistics team managing their supplies."
Archibald thodically explained the situation, causing John to nod involuntarily.
He had to admit that Archibald was indeed a very strategic thinker.
Although so aspects might still seem a bit rough, things were being managed exceedingly well.
John picked up a bottle of MP recovery potion, which was just a basic potion; there were very few interdiate potions.
Archibald seed to understand what John was thinking and smiled awkwardly.
"Currently, only the alchemy room's NPCs produce interdiate potions. Most of our team can only make basic potions, with only five people capable of making basic ones, which is why the number of interdiate potions is so low."
Although there are plenty of basic potions now, they are still just students.
Given more ti to develop, they will undoubtedly be able to produce even better potions.
John did a quick calculation; the supply of basic potions was sufficient for many, and each person could be given one or two interdiate potions to keep on hand for ergencies.
Moreover, he had just hired a healer, and he wondered what the healer would be like and how different it would be from a priest.
He hoped the healer would justify the cost of one energy stone per day.
The thought made John's heart ache— an energy stone a day! How many small bats would he have to kill to earn just one?
After another round of inspections and finding no other issues, John finally breathed a little easier.
Ti was getting tight; they had just over two days left to prepare.
They had to make the most of every mont, otherwise, they could face a shortage of supplies when it mattered most.
Better to have too much than too little— that has always been their principle!
As the countdown drew nearer, everyone's nerves tightened.
The mont of decisive battle was fast approaching!
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