Chapter 9: Initial Development of the Territory

Lin Mu was dazzled by the countless blueprints. However, after checking the money in his pocket—19,190 Destiny Gold Coins—he realized it was very little, and he had to reluctantly abandon the blueprints that he found so captivating and unforgettable.

When faced with multiple-choice questions, Lin Mu had his own experience: first, choose what is most needed; then, what is best; next, what is most desired; and after that, what has the most potential...

Following his own selection rules, Lin Mu made his decision quickly! He chose the blueprints for refreshing the population.

After calculating, he bought three "Primary Vagrant Camp Building Blueprints" for 6,000, four "Primary Refugee Camp Building Blueprints" for 4,000, one "Intermediate Refugee Camp Building Blueprint" for 3,000, and one "Intermediate Vagrant Camp Building Blueprint" for 5,000. This consumed a total of 18,000 Destiny Gold Coins, leaving him with 1,190. It was a pity there weren't more primary refugee camp blueprints, or he could have bought one more with the remaining money.

He bought these blueprints because of the population issue. Now that the territory was initially established, the system had gifted one primary vagrant camp, which refreshed about 10 vagrants per day—completely insufficient to meet the development needs of the territory.

Now, with these blueprints, the territory's population growth would increase significantly.

The territory could now establish four vagrant camps. One of them, thanks to the intermediate blueprint, could be upgraded to an intermediate vagrant camp, which would refresh 50 vagrants per day.

Thus, with three primary vagrant camps and one intermediate vagrant camp, a total of 80 people would be refreshed daily.

Additionally, he could establish four primary refugee camps, one of which could be upgraded to an intermediate refugee camp. A primary refugee camp refreshed 10 people per day, while an intermediate one refreshed 50. This meant the refugee camps could refresh a total of 80 people.

In total, 160 people would be refreshed daily, which was quite high—comparable to the refreshing capacity of a town-level territory from his previous life.

The number of vagrants and refugees refreshed was the same, but their aptitude and the probability of special NPCs appearing were different.

To put it simply, a vagrant camp was for those who had been forced to become displaced, while a refugee camp was where the lowest-class farmers were most abundant.

Vagrants generally had higher aptitude, and there was a higher chance of NPCs with specializations or talents appearing; for instance, the NPCs that appeared were generally Rank 3. Refugees were lower in comparison, with most being Rank 1 or 2, and NPCs with other specializations or talents were much rarer. However, if one needed farmers to till the land, the chance of refugee farmers appearing was quite high, which was very helpful for clearing wasteland. Lin Mu was currently in urgent need of farmers to cultivate the land.

The chance of an NPC with Rank 6 or 7 aptitude appearing in a vagrant camp was much higher than in a refugee camp, but both had a chance; it just depended on luck. Perhaps one day a refugee camp would produce a Rank 7 NPC while the vagrant camp wouldn't—these things were unpredictable. Lin Mu had always treated probability as if it were a god.

He believed that with the territory's god-level attribute bonus, the general aptitude would be raised by one rank, giving them a fresh start and even greater potential. It was truly awesome—so awesome that Lin Mu couldn't put it into words; only the uncontrollable smile on his face could describe it. Haha.

With 1,190 gold coins left, Lin Mu thought for a moment and bought one primary blacksmith shop, one primary tailor shop, one primary shipyard, one primary carpentry workshop, one primary wharf, one primary mine, one primary logging camp, one primary fishery, and three primary residential blueprints that could house 5 people each. This consumed the remaining 90 Destiny Gold Coins. Money came fast and went fast.

Lin Mu didn't want to keep the last 90 coins in his pocket, so he exchanged them for 9,000 Great Han Dynasty copper coins, which was 90 silver coins. The exchange rate was 1 Destiny Gold Coin to 1 silver coin.

Actually, using Destiny Gold Coins to exchange for Great Han Dynasty copper, silver, or gold coins was very cost-effective. Take the primary tailor shop as an example: it cost 100 Destiny Gold Coins from the Destiny Merchant, but if traded between players or bought from the government, it would be very expensive at most at a few dozen silver coins. However, Lin Mu's territory was in the middle of nowhere, inaccessible, so he shouldn't think about going out for now; trading with the government was out of the question.

But with these things, he believed the territory's development would advance by leaps and bounds. Lin Mu felt the expenditure was well worth it.

In the setting of "Mythical Three Kingdoms," territory buildings were quite magical and slightly referenced reality. If a player had the building blueprint and sufficient resources, construction could be completed instantly. For example, Lin Mu now had the blueprint for a primary blacksmith shop. The territory's initial resources were: 500 units of grain, 500 units of stone, 500 units of wood, and 10,500 copper coins. Building a primary blacksmith shop consumed 30 units of stone, 20 units of wood, and 200 copper coins. By using the building blueprint and consuming the resources, the primary blacksmith shop would instantly rise from the ground. It was incredibly magical. Of course, in the eyes of other players, this was a common occurrence in games, so Lin Mu wasn't surprised.

If one didn't have a building blueprint, they would need the "Architect" profession to construct such buildings.

Architects could build basic territory structures without blueprints. As an architect's level increased, their architectural knowledge would also improve, allowing them to build more, sturdier, and more advanced structures.

Additionally, architects were an important profession for managing water conservancy. Its branch, the "Water Conservancy Supervisor," was a very high-end profession!

As the territory's construction and development grew faster and larger, more architects would be needed, and the requirements would be higher. Lin Mu placed great importance on this profession in his plans. Whenever he had time to discuss territory chores with Chang Yin, he would bring it up to ensure Chang Yin prioritized it while managing the territory, especially since Lin Mu wasn't managing the territory much for the time being, thanks to the system-gifted Chang Yin.

The architect profession was the legendary mason of ancient times, but "Mythical Three Kingdoms" combined it with reality, changing the titles and professional characteristics. There were many such professions in "Mythical Three Kingdoms."

Lin Mu knew most of them. Common ones included: Blacksmith, Tailor, Lumberjack, Miner, Architect, Inscriptionist, Priest, Sailor, Scholar, Groom, Beast Tamer, Alchemist, Physician, Herbalist, Farmer, Hunter, Butcher, Cartographer...

There were also rarer ones, such as Mechanist, Geomancer, Sword-smith, etc., which Lin Mu wasn't very familiar with and didn't know if he would encounter.

Players could also take on these professions as a secondary or primary job. They could change jobs at private schools or academies in system-controlled places like commandery cities or county towns. There was no limit to the number of jobs one could take; as long as one had the energy and stamina to manage and level them up, it didn't matter.

Lin Mu's requirement for himself was to be a General as his primary job, and he planned to choose Alchemist as his secondary job, though he could make changes later if needed.

After spending the Destiny Gold Coins, Lin Mu took Yuan Zhi and left the [Dragon Temple], returning to the village's council hall.

After all, Yuan Zhi couldn't stay in the [Dragon Temple] for long.

Compared to Lin Mu's rush, Yuan Zhi was now leisurely.

Back at the village council hall, they found Chang Yin, who was registering the newly refreshed vagrants. Lin Mu counted carefully: there were 11 of them. Not bad; the territory now had 15 people. Reaching double digits could be considered a breakthrough.

Lin Mu said to Chang Yin, "Yuanjian (Chang Yin's courtesy name; those close to him usually addressed him by his courtesy name to show respect), please arrange for Yuan Zhi to rest in the side room of the council hall later. By the way, this is Yuan Zhi, a special merchant for our territory who will be very helpful to our village!"

Lin Mu gave a slight hint, believing that with Chang Yin's intelligence, it would be easy for him to understand and know how to win over this merchant named Yuan Zhi.

"Alright, no problem!" Chang Yin looked up and replied. Chang Yin didn't ask whether this Yuan Zhi would be naturalized.

On the way back, Lin Mu had asked Yuan Zhi if he could be naturalized into [True Dragon City], but the answer was no; they were unable to be naturalized.

Lin Mu was a bit disappointed. If he were naturalized, he could view all his attributes, which might allow him to analyze some things, but he didn't force it.

Naturalization was a very important setting in "Mythical Three Kingdoms." Lords could view the attributes of naturalized players or native NPCs. Because skills like "Detection" had a relatively low drop rate in "Mythical Three Kingdoms," many players couldn't learn such skills and could only stare helplessly, unable to obtain information on many characters. If it were special items, they would also need identification, which players couldn't view either.

Therefore, naturalization became very important, as it allowed one to view attributes. However, not all attributes could be viewed. For example, if someone was a spy, how could Lin Mu detect that? Such things were indistinguishable, which was a flaw, but the naturalization function was still very important to many players.

Regarding the management system for naturalization, there were different treatments for players and native NPCs.

Native NPCs had great freedom after naturalization and had no restrictions. If an NPC was naturalized and later felt he wasn't being treated well, he could renounce his citizenship, and the system wouldn't punish him. Of course, if the player pursued the matter and assassinated him, that was another story.

If a player was naturalized, the intangible resources such as reputation, merit, and titles gained during their time of naturalization would be subject to huge penalties upon renouncing citizenship. It wasn't a complete reset, but the penalty was severe, depending on the specific player's situation.

When Lin Mu had left a large guild, he had also received a huge penalty from the system because his strength and equipment within the guild were quite formidable, and his reputation was high. Once he left the guild, he was basically reduced to a nobody; the penalty was very severe.

Lin Mu recalled the past for a moment, but it didn't matter. Now that he was so powerful, he didn't need those things; he would have better pursuits.

Suppressing his thoughts, Lin Mu continued to handle basic territory affairs. After all, he was quite idle now, and many plans from his memories couldn't be unfolded due to his low strength. For now, he would be a busy little bee.

Lin Mu used both the vagrant camp blueprints and the refugee camp blueprints. Eight buildings immediately rose from the ground in the village. The primary vagrant camp gifted by the system was there when the village was established; in principle, it didn't count as a territory building. However, after Lin Mu upgraded it using the intermediate vagrant camp blueprint, the gifted camp became a territory building that he had to maintain and manage himself.

Three primary refugee camps, one intermediate refugee camp, three primary vagrant camps, and one intermediate vagrant camp—this was the current source of population for Lin Mu's territory. An increase of 160 people per day was quite considerable. He wasn't afraid of not being able to support them; although Lin Mu's territory lacked the convenience of the system's government, there were many resources in the wild: beast meat, wild fruits, and the aquatic products from the Yinglong River in Yinglong Valley. Grain would certainly not be as scarce as it was for other players.

(End of chapter)