The straight-line distance from Rivendell to Garrett's stronghold was approximately fifty leagues, roughly two hundred and forty kilometers.
With him traveling day and night at full speed without rest, it actually didn't take overly long to cover such distance. He departed Rivendell in the morning, and by the time night had barely begun to fall the following day, he had already reached the vicinity of his stronghold.
In theory, if there were no obstacles and he could travel in a direct line, he could have reached home within a single day.
However, the path he took was far from straight, he made numerous detours. And along the way, there were always impediments both large and small: fallen trees, boulders blocking the road, rough terrain, and the occasional stray orc patrol.
All of these factors added considerably to his travel time.
"If only I had a faster horse," he couldn't help but muse.
In his gaming experience, the fastest horses could reach incredible speeds. If he possessed such a mount, not only could he reach Rivendell within a day, he could ride there for breakfast and return home by supper.
The horse he was currently riding was still somewhat sluggish by comparison. But there was no urgent need. A superior horse would come eventually. Even without using enhancement methods for a temporary boost, two horses still had potential to produce swifter offspring.
As long as he selectively bred them generation after generation, an exceptional mount would eventually emerge.
Clop-clop.
The sound of hoofbeats gradually faded as Garrett halted at his stronghold's gate. Before even dismounting, he sensed something was amiss.
"What's that smell?"
It carried hints of iron and decay.
Huh?
Why was the small postern gate beside the main entrance standing open?
What was that dark shape... an orc?
His heart sank. He dismounted immediately, strode quickly to the iron gate, kicked aside a dead orc, and entered his courtyard.
By the Valar—
Upon seeing the ground littered with corpses, he immediately understood what had transpired and rushed to check his livestock first.
Thankfully, nothing had been harmed.
"You guys really don't value your lives, huh."
With a rough count, including both orcs and warg-riders, there were over a hundred corpses scattered within his stronghold walls. He found it difficult to even find clean ground to walk on.
It wasn't just the courtyard, there were even several bodies draped over the tops of wall towers, clearly hurled there by iron golems. Now he understood where those reputation points had originated.
"How deep must this grudge be, to chase me all the way to my home to fight?"
He opened his faction interface for examination.
[Misty Mountains Orcs Reputation: -344 (Mortal Enemy)]
That was quite the vendetta indeed.
Clang.
Several iron golems, their frames covered in cracks and dents, lumbered past. It seemed his defenders hadn't emerged entirely unscathed either.
He collected a few iron ingots from the ground along with a small red flower, shook his head, and planted the poppy on the lawn near his stronghold's entrance.
No matter how formidable an iron golem might be, it still possessed a health bar that could be depleted.
Twenty iron golems against a hundred mounted orcs, this casualty ratio was actually quite impressive.
If these orcs had been disciplined warriors with proper formation and tactical leadership, they might have managed to mount a genuine threat against the golems. But clearly, they lacked such organization. He could easily imagine the orc formation disintegrating the moment the iron golems launched their assault.
A territory required constant maintenance.
He spent considerable time dismantling the warg carcasses, harvesting bones for fertilizer, then dragged all the orc corpses outside and burned them in a massive pyre. He scrubbed the stonework thoroughly with buckets of water to wash away the blood and lingering stench.
After completing these grim tasks, the first thing he did was check on the normal animals, those without special traits, especially the two horses.
"Well done, you two."
He patted one of the horses affectionately.
Both mounts remained healthy. Before departing, he had ensured they had ample hay and water, so they hadn't suffered during his absence.
After completing a thorough cleanup within the stronghold walls and repairing the damaged iron golems with spare iron, he surveyed his territory.
It felt... rather confined.
All the previously expanded areas had already been converted into farmland and pastures. Now, if he wanted to designate space for an industrial district, there wasn't even a suitable location to plan it.
"Time for another expansion."
No sooner said than done.
Right then and there, he stored everything from his inventory back into the warehouse, retrieved a massive pile of building materials, and began dismantling and reconstructing the stronghold walls, steadily pushing them outward.
The expansion required over a week of intensive labor. This time, the project was substantial, he doubled the wall's perimeter and increased the height by several meters.
His territory grew exponentially, creating vast stretches of open ground.
This effort nearly exhausted the entire stockpile of cobblestone he had spent the last two months quarrying. The once-packed storage chests now stood empty. Even that proved insufficient, later sections of the wall had to be constructed with thinner profiles, with plans to reinforce them after future mining expeditions.
To be honest, at this scale, the area was enormous for a private stronghold. It was large enough to house a substantial settlement.
With walls over twenty meters tall and proportionally thick, stretching several hundred meters in all directions, this wasn't something a typical war-band could realistically assault. Most would likely be intimidated by the sheer scale of the fortification.
Now, nearly half of the relatively level terrain on this small plateau was enclosed within his walls. The remaining open space might accommodate one final major expansion. Beyond that point, he would need to begin manually reshaping the surrounding landscape.
"There—"
After expanding his territory, Garrett immediately sectioned off a new area to serve as his future industrial district.
Furnaces, blast furnaces, alloy forges, anvils, crafting tables... He called it an industrial district, but for now, there wasn't much equipment to install, so the area still felt rather barren.
What was it lacking?
He felt it needed a massive smeltery constructed with specialized fire-resistant materials.
Although the newly unlocked mod was intriguing, he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed, after all, when it came to smelting, Tinkers' Construct was hard to beat.
Perhaps he hadn't fulfilled some specific requirement yet.
He didn't dwell on the matter. Without delay, he fed iron and coal into the alloy forge. Small orbs of experience drifted from him into the apparatus.
Before long, gleaming Elven Steel was being produced.
From this point forward, Garrett could begin crafting elven-quality equipment.
He immediately forged a complete set of Elven Steel armor. Upon donning it, he noticed the protection value was a full level higher than iron armor. Unfortunately, it remained considerably weaker than the legendary diamond equipment.
Even so, it wasn't disappointing, after all, the materials were merely iron and coal, very economical, so expectations had to remain reasonable. As for appearance, unlike the ornate, ceremonial armor the elves wore, this set was similar in design to standard iron gear. Upon closer inspection, there were subtle differences in detailing, and the color was a lustrous silver-grey.
He didn't bother crafting weapons, the +9 attack blade he already possessed was far superior, but it was worthwhile upgrading his tools. Implements made from Elven Steel proved slightly more durable than iron versions and demonstrated marginally faster material processing speeds.
If only they could be enchanted.
This wasn't the first time Garrett had entertained such thoughts. But the components for an enchanting table remained a significant obstacle.
Considering the matter, he realized just how many resources he still required, diamonds, obsidian, blaze rods, a brewing stand...
Especially brewing equipment. At least the materials for an enchanting table existed somewhere in Middle-earth and could theoretically be obtained. But as for the more esoteric magical components? He had no idea where such things might be found.
Unless this world somehow contained connections to the Nether. But would such dimensional bridges even be possible in Arda?
If the opportunity ever presented itself, he would certainly investigate such possibilities.