Draven had always known that the elves possessed an almost innate affinity for plants, but he never imagined that they also knew how to brew alcohol—especially wine. This news surprised him somewhat.

  To truly advance the development of Black Flag Territory, Draven understood deeply that he had to start by understanding the resources and potential of this place.

  So starting the next day, he decided to have Sylvia stay by his side constantly, to speed up her familiarity with Black Flag Territory.

  That day, while Draven personally guided Alaric in brewing cassava liquor and fruit wine, Sylvia finally revealed to him her secret: she knew how to make grape wine. She said confidently that it was a traditional craft passed down in her family.

  When Draven lifted the crystal-clear bottle and took a sip of the wine, his eyes immediately lit up. The liquid was vibrant in color, rich and delicate in taste, carrying an indescribable sweetness with a subtle hint of acidity.

  What surprised him even more was that the wine seemed to contain a certain kind of energy, comparable to the famous fruit wine of the Monkey Tribe.

  Sylvia proudly told Draven that drinking this kind of wine regularly could gradually enhance one's affinity with natural elements, especially benefiting mages.

  The Fire Fox Tribe was one of the few demi-human races gifted with magical talent, and drinking this wine made it easier for them to awaken and boost their magical potential.

  However, Sylvia also admitted that this grape wine was by no means something ordinary people could brew casually. The key lay in the Moonlight Grapes.

  The seeds of these grapes had to first be soaked in the legendary Moon Spring water, using the spring's magic to mutate the seeds into ones with magical properties. Only grapes grown from such seeds could be made into this magical wine.

  Draven listened with growing interest, calculating in his mind: since this was a seed-grown crop, could Black Flag Territory also plant some?

  With Sylvia being the Holy Maiden Princess of the Elven Kingdom, how could they not get at least a few seeds?

  Unfortunately, he soon discovered that the plan wouldn't work. Besides the seeds themselves, they also needed diluted Moon Spring water for irrigation, and the water of the Moon Spring was extremely precious and sacred. No matter how important the Holy Sword was, it was impossible to relocate the entire spring for use.

  But Draven did not lose heart. This discovery actually inspired another idea: if magical grape wine couldn't be brewed, what about ordinary grape wine?

  In fact, there were quite a few wild grapes in the forests of Black Flag Territory. Although their taste was sour and astringent and they couldn't be eaten directly, they were suitable for brewing wine. It was summer now, and the wild grapes were about to ripen—the perfect time to harvest them.

  The ordinary wine brewed from them wasn't valuable, but it could be blended with blood wine. In contrast, mixing cassava liquor with blood wine was tricky—if the ratio was off, it would become harsh and taste like pure alcohol.

  More importantly, cassava was a staple food; the demi-human villagers depended on it to stave off hunger. Using grain to brew alcohol always felt a bit wasteful.

  Draven decided firmly that he would not personally handle the grape harvesting. He knew that gathering wild grapes scattered over the mountains required a lot of manpower, and the Monkey Tribe was perfectly suited for the task. The monkeys were agile, familiar with the forests, and skilled at foraging wild fruits—they would definitely do a good job.

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  After confirming these points, Draven praised Sylvia a little, affirming her first contribution to the development of Black Flag Territory.

  Sylvia smiled happily at the praise, secretly thinking that perhaps repaying the werewolf leader for returning the Holy Sword wouldn't take too long.

  Afterward, Draven took Sylvia to Village No. 3. The Serpent Tribe's village had been completed during his absence, just in time to test the abilities of the old fellow called Serpent Ancestor.

  When going out, Draven jokingly referred to Serpent Ancestor as being used like a belt.

  The Serpent Ancestor was tightly coiled around Draven's waist like a belt. Feeling its master's movement, it slid down smoothly and landed flexibly on the ground.

  Today, its mission was clear: to engrave strengthening defensive formations on the newly built houses and stone walls of Village No. 3.

  Draven had a very clear purpose for Village No. 3—it was mainly a military camp, so there was no need for overly complex facilities, and the building designs were relatively simple and practical.

  The entire village was enclosed by a stone wall. Inside, there were more than thirty stone houses arranged neatly, each housing about two to three people. Around twenty Serpent Tribe members lived in these houses, which were all built from sturdy stone blocks.

  At the village center stood a larger house, which was the residence of the Serpent Tribe leader, Green Serpent. It also served as their meeting place.

  Although Gregor was a living puppet—an artificially created life—he could never match the real Green Serpent leader in terms of closeness.

  Unfortunately, Gregor only had the strength of a high-level bloodline warrior and could not enjoy better treatment than the other serpents. He lived in an ordinary single room.

  Although Draven himself did not reside there permanently, he could always keep track of the Serpent Tribe's situation through Gregor's secondary consciousness.

  Overall, under Green Serpent's leadership, the Serpent Tribe was relatively stable for the time being, with no serious unrest.

  After all, serpents without a leader found survival difficult, and although their chief was originally a traitor, he was now an indispensable head.

  Draven patted Green Serpent on the shoulder, expressing satisfaction with his recent performance. He also laid out detailed plans for the upcoming tasks. After all, with over three hundred serpents, their daily food and drink needs were substantial.

  Draven wanted them to accumulate wealth for Black Flag Territory and naturally could not let them idle.

  The village had been completed, so the next step was organizing hunting and patrols. Draven decided not to separate these two tasks but combine them into one unified operation. He had Green Serpent reorganize the Serpent Tribe's squads.

  Besides Gregor, there were currently fourteen bloodline warriors among the serpents. Draven's plan was for these fourteen warriors to each lead a squad composed of twenty ordinary serpent warriors. The remaining dozens of serpents would be directly commanded by Gregor.

  The main task of these fourteen squads was to hunt on the Serpent Tribe's old territory while simultaneously patrolling to prevent invasions by other forces.

  Gregor's squad was responsible for collecting the hunting yields and smoking any surplus meat into jerky, to be stored as reserves for Black Flag Territory.

  The leader Green Serpent could not rest either; he needed to handle emergencies at any time and coordinate the management of these fourteen hunting squads. At present, he had no choice but to obey orders.

  In fact, Draven was not harsh with Green Serpent, providing treatment appropriate for a leader. If Green Serpent behaved himself, he still had a chance to attain a higher position in the future. Green Serpent clearly understood this and took notes of Draven's instructions obsequiously.

  After finishing these matters, Draven finally had time to check on the Serpent Ancestor's progress.

  He saw the Serpent Ancestor lying against the stone wall, its body like a black ribbon slowly moving along the wall's surface.

  Its movements appeared casual but were driven by internal magical power, precisely leaving mysterious engravings on the stone wall.

  These carvings contained the magic infused by the Serpent Ancestor. Legend said that once the formation engraving was complete, the magic would guide the surrounding magical energy to be gradually absorbed by the formation, thereby enhancing the wall's defensive capabilities.

  However, the increase in defense was not unlimited; it had an upper limit largely determined by the engraver's own magical power level.

  For example, the Serpent Ancestor's current strength was only that of a low-level magical beast, so the formations it engraved could at most resist attacks from low-level magical beasts.

  In contrast, the formation in Village No. 2 was much stronger. There, the formation had been laid out when the Serpent Ancestor was at the leader level, so the defense was naturally higher.

  Draven watched for quite a while but still couldn't discern the secret structure within the formation. Sylvia, on the other hand, was completely fascinated, her eyes fixed and unblinking.

  When asked why, she simply said,"This formation has a rustic style, with the aura of an ancient era."