Zong Shen pondered as he walked, and before he knew it, he had returned to the outside of the small courtyard.
He reached out and patted the old travel horse on its large head.
Its smooth fur felt very nice to the touch.
"Smart old fellow."
The old travel horse snorted, turned its head slightly, and fixed its large eyes on Zong Shen.
In that gaze, Zong Shen saw emotions of friendliness, intelligence, and harmony.
They say an old horse knows the way, and that saying is not false at all.
In Zong Shen's view, this old travel horse was actually much smarter and more sincere than the three silly farmers.
Zong Shen dismounted, tied the travel horse at the courtyard entrance, and let it graze.
At this moment, Luna and the others had not yet returned.
Among the three structures, the construction progress of the [Level 1 Thatched Hut] was already more than halfway complete.
If he had sufficient resources and population on hand, it would be built in no time.
Tomorrow's goal would still be focused on gathering resources, and Zong Shen planned to organize the farmers into groups.
Each group would be responsible for different resources to increase efficiency.
As the gathering team grew and the gathering range expanded, either Colby or Luna would have to stay behind to protect the gathering farmers and help transport resources.
The trees and resources here were too scattered.
If he could find a forest or a mine, Zong Shen could build a [Tier 1 Lumber Mill] or [Level 1 Mine] right next to it. Once the farmers finished gathering, they could deposit the wood and ore directly, converting them into various resources.
There would be no need to haul them back to the small courtyard, which would save a significant amount of efficiency.
Zong Shen plopped down onto the territory storage box, treating it as his lord's throne.
"Next, let's put on the new equipment. Also, after taking out those bandits earlier, I leveled up twice, so I should allocate my skill points and attribute points."
Zong Shen muttered to himself.
He immediately opened the [Personal] function.
He began to allocate points.
After leveling up twice, he had 2 assignable attribute points, 2 assignable skill points, and 10 assignable weapon proficiency points.
The fine-grade equipment [Verdant Leg Armor] that Zong Shen had obtained earlier required 8 Agility to equip, and Zong Shen was still one point short.
So, he decisively added 1 point to Agility.
He hesitated between Strength and Intelligence for the remaining point.
Strength would increase his personal combat power.
Intelligence would increase the team's strength.
Moreover, the four major attributes determined the upper limit of skill levels.
The level of a passive skill could not exceed one-third of its corresponding attribute.
Zong Shen's Intelligence was currently only 7, so all Intelligence-type skills could only be leveled up to 2.
Unless he could cultivate an Intelligence-type hero to be responsible for overall expeditions and internal affairs.
Charisma was also important, as it determined his command limit.
This really left Zong Shen feeling conflicted.
Strength and Agility leaned toward the individual.
Intelligence and Charisma leaned toward the team.
Just as Zong Shen was struggling with the decision, the golden strategy appeared once again.
(No need to struggle. In the early stages, development should be the priority. It is recommended to add points to Intelligence and Charisma. Let me emphasize again: don't worry about early-game point allocation. Once you have a hero capable of holding their own, you can allocate points according to your preferences. Additionally, lords can also strengthen themselves through learning or changing classes.)
Looking at this strategy, Zong Shen finally had a clear idea.
He added the other attribute point to Intelligence, which also increased his assignable skill points by one.
3 assignable skill points.
Zong Shen had wanted to add them to Engineering, but Engineering had already reached its limit.
Therefore, he added the 3 skill points to [Wound Treatment], [Inventory Management], and [Pathfinding], respectively.
His next goal was to get his Intelligence to 9 as soon as possible, which would allow the cap for passive skills to increase to level 3.
He did not regret choosing the Strength path at the start.
Now that he had changed his gear, his combat power was quite respectable.
If he had chosen Intelligence and Charisma at the start, he might not have even been able to kill that juvenile prairie wolf.
Being trapped at home by wolves would have made it impossible to explore as freely as he was now.
Next, he added all his weapon proficiency points to One-Handed Weapons.
After finishing the allocation, Zong Shen put on the [Verdant Leg Armor], and his attributes increased by another notch.
He opened [Lord Profile].
Zong Shen's attributes refreshed immediately.
[Name: Zong Shen]
[Age: 21]
[Race: Earth/Human]
[Level: LV3]
[Experience: 55/455]
[Health: 182]
[Command Limit: 14/39]
[Strength: 12]
[Agility: 8]
[Intelligence: 8]
[Charisma: 9]
[Remaining Assignable Attribute Points: 0]
[Remaining Assignable Weapon Proficiency: 0]
[Detailed Attributes: (Click to expand)]
[Weapon Proficiency: (Click to expand)]
He expanded the detailed attributes.
[Lord: Zong Shen]
[Equipment: [Tattered Leather Short-Sleeved Shirt], [Verdant Leg Armor], [Ragged Leather Boots], [Sharp Germanic Sword], [Hunting Crossbow], [Bent Crossbow Bolts], [Dented Simple Kite Shield]]
[Slashing Damage: 29 × (1.12 + 0.32 + 0.099) (Strength + Power Strike + Weapon Proficiency) = 44.63]
[Piercing Damage: 33 × (1.12 + 0.32 + 0.057) = 49.4]
[Head Armor: 0]
[Body Armor: 13]
[Leg Armor: 37]
[Magic Resistance: 13]
[Skills: None]
[Territory Level: 1]
Zong Shen waved his hand to dismiss the system subtitles in front of him.
He was very satisfied with his current attributes.
In terms of pure slashing attack power, he was comparable to a Wolf Rider.
It was just that he didn't have as many skills as Colby or Luna.
"Not bad at all."
"At least I have the power to protect myself."
Zong Shen stretched.
He was very satisfied with his current attributes.
After all, today was only the first day since he arrived.
The future is full of hope!
Let's go!
Zong Shen clenched his fists, pouring himself a bowl of "chicken soup for the soul."
It was now five o'clock in the afternoon.
The sun was setting, and the sunlight was no longer dazzling, becoming soft instead.
Luna finally returned to the territory with the eight farmers.
Colby had not yet returned.
This seemed to be a bit later than the agreed-upon time.
However, Zong Shen did not see any system notification about Colby dying in battle, so there shouldn't be any major issues.
He stood up to greet Luna.
"Luna, thank you for your hard work."
Then, he turned to the eight farmers.
"You are lucky; there isn't much work for you to do today."
"Now, go outside the courtyard. There are two [Level 1 Thatched Huts] waiting for you to build, and there are also six iron axes and six iron pickaxes."
"The territory is currently very short on wood, so gather as much wood as you can."
"You can rest once it gets dark."
This group of farmers had been held captive by bandits for several days, and their physical condition was poor.
But Zong Shen was not a philanthropist; the value of the population needed to be realized through labor.
Every bit of progress made was an extra bit of security!
His words caused some complaints among the farmers, but their loyalty did not decrease.
Obediently following his instructions, led by the farmer San Pang, they collected their tools outside the courtyard and went off to gather resources.
(End of chapter)