Chapter 51: Massive Construction, The Infrastructure Maniac [Requesting Recommendations and Collections]

She began her report with a serious expression.

"Lord, one of the three portions of Moon Spring Water you listed in the market this morning has been sold."

"The area surrounding the territory has been generally peaceful throughout the morning; no unexpected incidents have occurred."

Zong Shen nodded with a smile.

"Very good. You've worked hard."

"By the way, help me find a good spot around the territory to plant this."

As he spoke, he tossed out a seed emitting a purple glow.

Luna caught it deftly.

A look of shock appeared on her face.

"This... this is an Ancient Guardian Seed!"

"The powerful guardian Treants of our Night Elf race!"

Seeing Luna's surprised expression, Zong Shen felt like laughing.

The Night Elf race was a powerful branch of the Elven race.

And the Ancient Guardian was a type of Treant.

The buildings of the Elven race were essentially living great trees, also known as Treants.

An Ancient Guardian was equivalent to a guardian for a territory or a city.

It possessed powerful defensive and counter-attacking capabilities.

That was why Luna was so astonished.

She held the [Ancient Guardian Seed] reverently in her palms.

"Rest assured, My Lord, I will plant it with the utmost care."

"However, the growth of a Treant requires irrigation with Moon Spring Water..."

"It needs approximately 200ml of Moon Spring Water daily, for three consecutive days."

"Then the Treant will grow rapidly and contribute to the protection of the territory."

Luna knew that Moon Spring Water was a true treasure and hard currency for the current territory.

Therefore, she had to seek Zong Shen's permission once more.

Zong Shen, however, waved his hand with grand generosity.

"It's fine. Use the Moon Spring Water as you see fit."

He had activated the effect of the "Spring of the Moon Well" just before heading out today.

Currently, there were nearly 2 liters of Moon Spring Water available.

He was truly wealthy with ample reserves.

After receiving Zong Shen's permission, Luna filled a container with Moon Spring Water and departed with the [Ancient Guardian Seed].

Zong Shen went to the market and extracted ten Basic Elemental Crystals.

He wondered which big spender had actually traded ten Basic Elemental Crystals for just 40ml of Moon Spring Water!

However, the other listing had failed to sell.

These ten Basic Elemental Crystals were just enough to construct a [Tier 1 Elemental Arrow Tower].

As a fine-grade defensive building blueprint, its alert range reached 500 meters.

It only occupied 10 square meters, making it perfect for placement within the small courtyard as internal defense.

Once the three-day novice protection period ended, this tower would be sufficient to cover the current building range of the territory before walls were established.

Zong Shen consumed eighty units of hemp to craft eight hemp ropes.

Then, he directly opened the [Build] menu and selected the [Tier 1 Elemental Arrow Tower].

A phantom image of a twelve-meter-tall arrow tower appeared.

Zong Shen moved it to the center of the small courtyard.

He summoned a farmer at random and tasked him with the construction.

The construction time for the arrow tower was not short; it took a full 6 hours and 24 minutes, and that was even after being reduced by [Engineering].

He would let the farmer take his time hammering away.

Next, Zong Shen selected a [Tier 1 Blacksmith Shop] and placed it on the empty grassland outside the courtyard.

Since there was already a Dwarf uncle serving as a professional blacksmith in the territory, the blacksmith shop needed to be built immediately.

Under Zong Shen's guidance, another farmer was ordered to begin construction.

This building only required 1 hour and 36 minutes to complete.

Next, Zong Shen selected a [Tier 1 Territory Technology Research Institute], also placing it in the open space for a farmer to build.

As for the [Basic Fertile Field], he already had the complete blueprint, so he could place it directly.

He did it himself, spending four minutes to hammer out the plot.

It was a square farmland measuring 10 meters by 10 meters.

The total area was 100 square meters.

It didn't look very large.

Zong Shen called over two female farmers, Erya and Xiaoping.

He handed them some wheat seeds and told them to begin farming immediately.

Among the remaining buildings, the Tavern had no immediate use.

It would be better to gradually upgrade the six existing [Tier 1 Thatched Huts] into [Tier 2 Dwellings].

Upgrading a building only required the resource difference between the two tiers.

Even so, it still required twenty units of wood, eight iron, fifteen stone, and three hemp ropes.

The other resources were fine.

However, the hemp required for the ropes was running low.

He had previously crafted eight ropes, leaving him with only 114 units of hemp.

He could only craft eleven more ropes at this point.

Zong Shen calculated and decided to upgrade three [Tier 2 Dwellings] first.

Then, he would build two more [Tier 1 Thatched Huts].

Although thatched huts were inferior to dwellings—only accommodating two people and being drafty on all sides—they were cheap to build.

They were perfect for transitioning.

Thus, Zong Shen crafted nine hemp ropes.

He upgraded three dwellings.

Then, he added two [Tier 1 Thatched Huts] next to them.

Including the farmland, all ten farmers were now in either a construction or labor state.

There were no longer any farmers in the territory in a standby state.

The surroundings were filled with the "clink-clank" sounds of hammering.

The building phantoms were becoming more solid, creating quite a spectacle.

Under this wave of massive construction by Zong Shen, the entire territory was beginning to take shape.

It was many times stronger than it had been on the first day of arrival.

The future looked promising!

A sense of achievement and pride welled up in Zong Shen's heart.

He felt like an infrastructure maniac.

Watching the once-empty grassland gradually fill with buildings, and seeing the busy, hammering farmers, filled him with pride.

The territory was like a child, growing step by step.

In the future, this place would become a town, a small city, and eventually, perhaps, a vast metropolis.

Of course, Zong Shen's future might involve more than just one territory.

Everything was full of possibilities.

This wave of construction had consumed a significant amount of resources, depleting the territory's reserves.

Zong Shen returned to the courtyard, opened his storage box, and took a look.

[Wood × 171] [Stone × 87] [Iron × 83] [Hemp × 18] [Mithril × 30] [Basic Elemental Crystal × 14]

Hemp was starting to become scarce.

Infrastructure required vast amounts of resources and time.

Even a "big spender" like Zong Shen found his inventory much emptier after a single round of construction.

It went without saying for other Lords; they likely had to calculate every single move just to build a Tier 1 structure.

There was no way they could start building a whole bunch of structures at once like Zong Shen.

Zong Shen filled another small bucket with Moon Spring Water.

He went to the [Market] and withdrew the other listing for elemental crystals.

Then, he began browsing the [Market].

After this half-day of development, the variety and quality of items listed by Lords had increased significantly.

Clearly, many more people had obtained [Market] blueprints.

Market trade could only become sufficiently developed if enough people participated.

Zong Shen began to attempt to find some valuable items within the [Market]!