Fortunately, this problem didn't trouble Eric for long.
Under the bartender's watchful eye, Eric awkwardly clambered onto the horse. More than once, he caught the man looking ready to jump in and help him up.
But the moment Eric finally settled into the saddle, a familiar sensation washed over him.
It was like cooking—when everything just clicks.
Whenever Eric thought about moving, the horse seemed to read his mind perfectly. A simple nudge of intention, and the horse responded immediately.
The system was helping him again.
Eric could feel that the system's assistance could be interrupted at any time—he could ride on his own skill if he wanted to. But honestly? Not right now. He wasn't about to give up this magical help.
With the system on his side, Eric suddenly felt confident.
The next morning, he set out early, riding one horse and leading another, heading back to the farmer's house to pick up the two chickens he'd arranged to get. Once the chickens were secured in a cage, he hit the road.
Surprisingly, the return trip wasn't any quicker than the journey there.
Sure, horses could run faster than Eric could walk, but they needed rest and feeding along the way—grass doesn't eat itself.
When the fortress finally came into view, Eric let out a relieved breath.
The gate showed no signs of tampering—things had stayed peaceful, at least for now.
He settled the two horses and two chickens, then headed back inside the castle to organize supplies.
First on the list: smelting.
Eric dumped the pile of gold trinkets William had bought into the furnace. Luck was on his side—he ended up with four solid gold ingots and a few gold scraps.
He quickly crafted two golden carrots.
Back outside, Eric offered a golden carrot to one of the horses.
The horse eyed the shiny treat curiously, sniffed it carefully, and after confirming it was just a carrot with a fancy color, took a tentative bite.
Almost instantly, a few red hearts appeared above its head.
Not wasting a second, Eric fed the second golden carrot to the other horse.
The two horses soon leaned against each other comfortably.
Before long…
[Achievement unlocked: "Where Did I Come From?"]
Description: Successfully bred a pair of animals.
Looking closer, a somewhat bewildered foal had squeezed its way between the two big horses.
One of the adult horses, clearly startled by the sudden appearance of this little newcomer, took a few steps back, eyes wide.
Eric, however, was grinning ear to ear.
Luck was on his side.
This foal inherited the fastest horse's speed stat of 11 points, and a healthy 26 hit points.
As the two adult horses stared curiously at their surprise offspring, Eric pulled out the two chickens and fed them some wheat seeds.
Before long, a little chick with bright, intelligent eyes hatched.
Looking into those wise little eyes, Eric couldn't help but chuckle.
"Dumb kids always look the same," he muttered.
With a foal in his left hand and a chick in his right, Eric felt the future was bright.
No time for rest that day—he grabbed his pickaxe and stone blocks and set to work on the castle walls.
In just one day, he expanded the territory to more than double its original size.
He also laid out new agricultural and livestock zones, plus a dedicated horse paddock with feeding troughs.
The territory was now impressively large—several thousand square meters—and anyone passing by might mistake this for the estate of a powerful lord.
While expanding, Eric didn't forget to keep breeding animals. Once he had at least two of each species, the original two horses and chickens were no longer needed for breeding.
He decided to fence off a separate area to keep the originals apart from the offspring.
With that done, Eric moved on to planning the farmland.
Pumpkins, wheat, potatoes, carrots, corn, onions, garlic…
Another day passed, and Eric gazed at the neatly organized fields with satisfaction.
The crops were growing strong. Though the pastures still looked a little empty, as breeding progressed, they'd soon fill up.
As for the horses, having bred only two golden ones so far wasn't enough to expand that area yet—so he'd put that on hold. Still, having horses that didn't need rest and could keep running was a huge advantage. They barely ate—just three bites of grass per hundred kilometers, and even then it was mostly symbolic.
All in all, the roadside fortress was thriving.
That night, after using bone meal to speed up growth, a square pumpkin appeared on its vine for the first time.
Eric placed it atop an iron block and summoned his territory's first iron golem.
Clang!
At the instant the iron block and pumpkin touched, they fused into a towering iron giant over three meters tall, covered in moss and vines.
Unlike the blocky creatures from video games, this golem had a more realistic, rounded appearance, though it still looked adorably dopey.
No sooner was it summoned than the iron golem began patrolling the grounds.
Its targeting system was simple:
If hostile, attack.
If not, ignore.
A day later, there were twenty iron golems standing guard inside the fortress.
With so many golems around, a small squad of under a hundred could be handled easily—and even a few hundred orcs wouldn't be an impossible fight.
The territory's security was well on its way to being solid.
A week went by.
The crops were harvested, and seeing the neatly stacked vegetables in the warehouse filled Eric with a deep sense of satisfaction.
That night, he picked a few stalks of green onions and cooked a delicious stir-fried beef with scallions.
It was heavenly.
Life right now was simply idyllic.
That same day, Eric went mining as usual. Suddenly, he spotted three wild bulls drinking at the lakeside.
He quickly changed course, sneaking closer—not drawing his sword this time—and after a herculean effort, managed to corral and knock out one of the bulls, then dragged it back to the fortress.
[21/30]
These wild bulls were tough—thick-skinned and hard to handle.
The next day, Eric hid by the lake again, and caught another one the same way.
With two bulls now sharing the pasture, Eric enjoyed unlimited fresh milk, and bred two wild calves from wheat seeds, ensuring a steady supply of meat in the future.
This was a win-win—Eric won twice over.
After the bulls, Eric noticed wild boars in the area.
He repeated the same routine:
Sneak, approach slowly, corral, knock out, drag home.
Once the boars were settled, Eric even built a simple egg collector.
Basically, he placed some funnels under the chicken coop, connecting them to a chest.
Now, no more hunting around for eggs.
Since returning from the city, Eric's days had been packed.
He was either mining or managing his crops and livestock.
Despite using so much iron, his stockpile wasn't shrinking—in fact, it was growing.
The iron vein he was mining showed no signs of running dry; it looked like an abundant source.
Everything was running smoothly, the territory was developing well, and resources were plentiful.
A couple of days later, Eric prepared to head east.
Early morning, he saddled up the faster horse and equipped it with iron horse armor, ready to set off.
Then, unexpectedly, a visitor arrived.
Farodan.
"Hey there!" Eric greeted from a distance, dressed neatly and leading a slightly dopey-looking horse.
"How've you been?"
"Alright," Farodan replied, scanning the roadside fortress with surprise. "This place looks… different. Much bigger. And…"
He glanced at the farm and pasture inside the walls. "I don't think these were here last time."
"Oh, those? I planted them a few days ago."
"A few days?" Farlodan squinted. "Those corn stalks look like they've been growing for two months!"
Eric just shrugged. With this guy, normal logic didn't apply.
The wanderer was getting used to Eric's antics.
Looking at Eric's neat outfit and the not-so-bright horse he was leading, he asked, "Looks like I'm not catching you at a good time. You're heading out?"
"Yeah, I'm going to check out the Shadow Valley."
"Shadow Valley…" Farlodan looked Eric up and down. "I know the place. There's a little trail through the wasteland that leads there. Hope you don't get lost."