Territory Panel

Early morning, Wild Boar Cave.

The moment Nord opened his eyes, he discovered Cindy sprawled across his chest, her two little eyes staring at him blankly. Who knew how long she had been watching him? Seeing that Nord was awake, Cindy immediately stood up and let out a cry.

"Meow~"

Then she nimbly jumped off the bed, went to the campfire, and stood beside the wooden bowl from yesterday's meal, looking obediently at Nord.

The warmth that had just risen in Nord's heart instantly vanished. He had thought a thoughtful Little Mountain Cat was waiting for him to wake up. Who would have thought she was simply hungry and asking for food? Nord did not know whether to laugh or cry.

He had no choice. Who told her to be so adorable? Nord got up and instructed a hunter to cook some meat porridge for Cindy. After settling the Little Mountain Cat, Nord went to the stronghold's training ground and began his daily training.

Once he finished training, he found that Marco had arrived and was standing behind him as though he had been waiting for Nord.

"Marco, when did you get here? Perfect timing. Let's spar."

"I only arrived a short while ago, Lord Nord. When did you return? Yesterday, Village Chief Colin said that if you came back, I should tell you that the estate had been renovated. Steward Abel is already waiting for you at the estate."

A smile appeared at the corner of Nord's lips. Another piece of good news. Good news had been arriving one after another these past few days. Nord could not help thinking, Had his luck finally changed? Things had gone badly for him before, and every search for the Distant Mountain Stronghold had ended in vain. Now, good news was coming one after another. Nord thought for a moment, then gestured for Marco to loosen up.

Since he was already back, there was no need to rush. He might as well spar with Marco first and see whether he had improved over the past few days.

After Marco finished warming up, Nord charged at him with a wooden sword in hand. The two fought for a long time before stopping, both panting heavily.

"I can't... Marco... I still can't beat you."

"Lord Nord... you're improving so quickly... We have to keep up with you."

Nord wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled at the unconvinced Marco. He could tell that Marco had gone all out this time. Nord believed that it would not be long before he could defeat him. Besides, Marco was right. Everyone was improving, but Nord was confident that he would improve the fastest.

Nord tossed the wooden sword onto the ground, took a deep breath, and calmed his tense body before giving Marco his orders.

"In a while, I'll return to Tami Village with Ryman and the others, so I'll leave the Wild Boar Cave to you for the next two days. Once everyone has rested enough, I'll assign new tasks."

"Don't worry, Lord Nord. I'll follow your orders. But when the time comes to assign tasks, could you let me go into the deep mountains too? I'm going to die of boredom staying here and guarding the place every day."

Seeing Marco acting coy, Nord could not help scolding him with a laugh.

"Quit trying to be clever! We'll see how you perform. It's not impossible."

Nord looked at Marco's silly grin with some helplessness. Why had he never noticed this side of Marco before? Or had he simply let his true nature loose? Still, this was indeed something Nord needed to consider. They were all young men. Watching others venture outside while being forced to stay behind and guard the place would inevitably leave them feeling unbalanced. Nord had not forgotten that there was another young man in the village waiting for him to reassure him.

After giving Marco his instructions, Nord returned with Ryman and the others. Ryman in particular was eager to get home. He had had no time to return before when they were busy, but now that the task was complete, he deeply missed his wife and children.

Without wasting any time, Nord arrived before the estate and told Ryman and the others to disperse and return home to rest for a few days. Now, Nord was the only one standing at the estate gate.

Looking at the gates of the estate, Nord could no longer suppress the excitement in his heart. He lowered his head and stroked Cindy's soft fur, speaking as if to himself.

"Cindy, we're home."

"Meow~"

Nord had not expected Cindy to answer him. A brilliant smile spread across his face. Looking at Cindy's puzzled little eyes, Nord smiled and stepped through the gate.

The instant Nord entered the estate, a string of system messages appeared before his eyes.

Construction Quest: Noble Estate (Completed)

Reward issued.

A estate has been detected within the territory. The Territory Construction Panel has been unlocked.

Current Territory: Tami Village (Unlocked), Distant Mountain Stronghold (Locked)

Nord stopped mid-step. Completing the quest was within his expectations, but he knew nothing about this new Territory Construction Panel function. Moreover, it seemed that only Tami Village had been unlocked. As for what was going on with the Distant Mountain Stronghold, Nord was even more clueless.

After finding the Territory Construction Panel, Nord carefully examined every line of information with a curious mindset.

Territory Name: Tami Village

Scale: Village

This was an extremely impoverished village. Its scarce farmland could not meet the people's daily needs. Fortunately, it was backed by the resource-rich Amon Mountains, which left this small village with a sliver of hope. However, the beasts deep in the mountains posed a serious threat to the villagers' safety.

Prosperity: 9 (Commerce: 2, Agriculture: 6, Industry: 1)

Public Support: 74, Security: 54

Population: 283 (people), Farmland: 86 (mu), Taxes: 13 (Silver Thaler)

Available Buildings: Apothecary, Market, School, Watchtower, Workshop, Weapon Shop

Nord gave it a brief look. The Territory Construction Panel seemed to have many functions. Not only could it display village data such as prosperity, public support, and population, but it could also construct all kinds of buildings. Nord was even more interested in those buildings, as he felt they would be the most helpful to him.

Nord casually opened the workshop page and discovered that it was not simply a workshop. He first had to select a product before choosing from various workshops to construct. For example, when Nord thought of animal pelts, information for a Fur Workshop appeared. Every workshop would also come with a professional master to provide guidance. However, if the workshop was to operate, workers had to be recruited in reality. In other words, the workshop master only taught the villagers knowledge. It was absolutely impossible to run a workshop with a single master alone.

Nord also discovered that these buildings were merely blueprints. The workshops had to be built according to the blueprints before the system would assign a professional master. It was not like a game, where a building could simply appear out of thin air.

This disappointed Nord somewhat. It seemed that from the very beginning, the system had never possessed the ability to alter reality. Its only powerful feature was providing Nord with specialized personnel, such as stewards and blacksmiths.

These people could only be used to develop the territory and had no combat ability whatsoever. In other words, the system could not offer Nord much help in battle. Everything depended on Nord himself.

Shaking his head, Nord decided to study these things slowly in the future. Looking at the empty estate, he suddenly felt that he still had a long way to go.

There might still be issues with the settings in this chapter. Everyone is welcome to offer suggestions. Also, please vote, bookmark, reward, and invest. Please, please.