King
Chapter 196 - 196 123 Locust Plague_3

196: Chapter 123, Locust Plague_3 196: Chapter 123, Locust Plague_3 These were lessons learned from experience.

If a cub thinks it can’t be eaten, it will surely create a disaster.

In the past, countless animals have sacrificed their lives for Hudson’s scientific research.

The bear’s paw stretches out, seeming disgusted by the dark pill.

While Hudson watched, it was directly stuffed into his mouth.

So quickly, Hudson didn’t even have time to stop it.

“Belsden, I only let you look at it, not taste it.

I won’t be responsible if you get a stomachache!”

It is his own bear after all.

As naughty as it may be, it still qualifies as a good bodyguard.

If it gets hurt, who will be responsible for the safety of Master Hudson?

Arrange for guards?

It’s not Hudson’s arrogance.

Even if the strongest soldier in the Mountain Domain is brought over, they won’t be enough compared to a bear’s paw.

“The taste is a bit off, but it’s just about swallowable.

Hudson, surprisingly you have some talent as an alchemist.

Keep up the good work, improve the taste and presentation.

It would be better to add some honey, beast milk, and even some sugar…”

Belsden’s words allowed Hudson to finally relax.

He gave this food-craving creature a stare, then focused on his new round of potion refining.

The exact efficacy is still unclear, but two things are certain: It won’t kill a bear, and it apparently benefits the bear’s growth.

As for what happens if a human consumes it, that will require further experimentation.

After all, the resilience of an Earth Bear is far beyond that of a human.

Facts proved that Hudson’s guesses were spot on.

After ten rabbits and two deer exploded instantly upon consuming it, he had to admit that what he had made was essentially bear food pills.

Even when the dosage was diluted with water, none of the animals used for experimenting managed to walk out of the lab alive.

After wasting over five thousand gold coins worth of medicinal materials, Hudson finally stopped the experiment.

Now, he truly understands the phrase “Alchemy ruins a lifetime”.

It’s not a complete loss at least, because at the very least he produced a result.

Although it’s quite undesirable, and Belsden has some complaints about the pill’s taste, it’s still a success.

To produce results on his first experiment, no matter how insignificant, he can still be considered as a “talented alchemist” in the eyes of others.

This is how most alchemists grew.

Each Alchemist Master’s method of potion refining is unique.

Even if one wants to imitate, they can’t.

Even in master-disciple inheritance, the details will always vastly differ.

Finally, the purchase of Life Essence from outside solved the urgent need.

However, under the strong persuasion from Hudson, the clan’s plan to research Life Essence was temporarily postponed.

Without your own alchemist, it’s not cost-effective to pay someone else to do the research.

If a sensible person like him could so easily waste tens of thousands of gold coins, imagine how many those mad alchemists would spend?

Who knows how much they’d squander?

The most critical aspect is that as investors, they had no idea what was happening in the laboratory: whether they were researching Life Essence or something else.

If there is a Alchemist Master in charge, It’s still acceptable as they will eventually produce results once they nearly run out of money.

If the ability of a general alchemist is still uncertain, Hudson would rather do it himself.

After all, he is someone who has made some progress, unlike most of those so-called alchemists who only copy the achievements of their predecessors.

It’s good if they could plagiarize, but the most crucial point is that even if they copied directly they could only score fifty or sixty points out of a hundred.

Not because they aren’t trying hard, but because many things don’t have specific standards and require judgment based on experience.

In this field, talent and luck are both more important than effort.

Don’t even mention judging the efficacy of medicinal materials; even the same Demon Core can have completely different energy levels.

Unfortunately in the fine art of magic potion configuration, any deviation can affect the final result.

Hudson’s experiment is a prime example.

Originally aimed at producing Life Essence, it ended up only being bear feed.

…

“Master, we just received news.

A locust plague has broken out in the neighbouring province and is heading towards Southeastern Province.

It’s said there’s also an Insect King of Magical Beast leading the swarm – possessing significant intelligence, it’s managed to avoid several extermination attempts by the kingdom.

The Governor’s Mansion has issued strict orders for everyone to prepare for the locust plague.

At the same time, a bounty was set, offering a thousand gold coins for killing a single Insect King.”

Upon receiving this dreadful news, Hudson felt like he was about to spew blood.

Not only did alchemy fail, now even locust plague is coming to join in on the chaos.

If the locust plague impacts the Southeastern Province, an explosion in food prices is inevitable.

The Mountain Domain is still not self-sufficient in food, so it’s possible that the hard-earned profits of a year won’t even be enough to cover the losses brought about by the skyrocketing food prices.

Rising food prices isn’t the worst part; the real disaster is when you can’t buy food even with money.

Every previous locust plague has led to human hell.

Especially with the presence of the Insect King of Magical Beast, even with the nobles’ efforts to aid in disaster relief, it’s difficult to contain the locust plague.

When dealing with locusts, knights certainly can’t compare to magicians.

But if you look at the pitiful number of magicians, they can’t be relied upon either.

Even if one magic spell could easily kill tens of thousands of locusts, compared to their massive numbers, it’s still a drop in the bucket.

If locusts were ever to attack the Mountain Domain, at that time Hudson would only be able to lead his domain people to eat locusts.

He wondered what the locusts on the Continent of Aslante tasted like, and if they were even edible.

“Tom, immediately have people reinforce the warehouse, replacing all parts with stone.

Notify all keepers to temporarily halt the land reclamation activities, and organize people to quickly harvest maturing crops.

As much as possible, quickly harvest and dry store the vegetables in the fields and wild vegetables on the mountains, but remember not to damage the roots.

If there’s no locust plague, there could be another harvest later.

Also arrange for forage storage.

This is very important and leave it to Nick to handle.

Additionally…”