Level 5 Farmland

The sky had turned gloomy since morning.

Before long, a fine drizzle began to fall. Mist rose through the forest, making it impossible to tell where the sky ended and the ground began.

This was already Zhang Yang's tenth day in this Fantasy World, and also the day the Village Building Order successfully completed its third upgrade.

Inside the fortress, Zhang Yang stood silently in the rain, his expression solemn. Behind him stood Wu Yuan, the Four Berserker Bears, Qin Yidao, and the fourteen Archer Captains, along with the six newly advanced Spearman Captains and five Shieldsman Captains.

Farther away, in the Training Ground, fifty new recruits had finished training and were marching over. Next, Zhang Yang would upgrade them.

Twenty Spearmen were upgraded into twenty Elite Spearmen.

Twenty Sword and Shield Soldiers were upgraded into twenty Elite Sword and Shield Soldiers.

Ten Archers were upgraded into ten Elite Archers.

Finally, Zhang Yang would select ten Archers, ten Sword and Shield Soldiers, and seven Spearmen to advance to Captain-Level Soldiers, because that was all the Captain-Level remnants he had left.

Even so, Zhang Yang's forces would instantly possess sixty-six Captain-Level Soldiers, one quasi-hero, and one Ghost Priest.

With such strength, even compared to the two factions of the deer demons and Jackalmen, they could be considered a formidable, heavily armed force.

Buzz!

A burst of white light suddenly erupted. It was dazzling even through the rain and mist—the Village Building Order had finally completed its upgrade.

Countless white threads began to reassemble, expanding the area of Zhang Yang's village directly from its original one square kilometer to five square kilometers.

At the same time, three brand-new buildings were completed one after another.

The Level 5 Residential House stood on a patch of flat ground behind the Training Ground. It covered five hundred square meters and had a style Zhang Yang was extremely familiar with from Earth: a siheyuan courtyard compound.

There were some changes, however. Tall walls surrounded all four sides, while the inside was filled with two-story buildings. The space seemed rather cramped, but that was only natural, because this Level 5 Residential House came with twenty households of residents.

Next was the Level 5 Farmland. This building had appeared directly in front of the fortress. The area had been repeatedly cleared of trees before and was already a vast empty stretch of land, roughly ten mu in size. The Level 5 Farmland happened to be exactly ten mu, and it had already been cultivated. Five small wooden houses also came with the farmland at its edges; those were where the twenty farmers provided with the farmland would live.

The final building had been randomly provided because Zhang Yang had used the Great Horned Deer Civilization Code Blueprint fragment.

The Level 5 Deer Horn Barracks could be used to recruit new soldiers of the Great Horned Deer Civilization. The recruitment requirements were one complete deer demon soul, fifty units of deer demon essence blood, and one thousand points of energy.

At once, Zhang Yang thought of the Heavy Armored Deer Horn Cavalry. He still had six complete deer demon souls in his possession.

Of course, there was no hurry.

He first upgraded all the soldiers who had finished training into elites. At this stage, he had enough demon souls. He still had twenty complete Azure Wolf Demon Souls, as well as the elite Jackalman demon souls from the ones he had killed yesterday.

Next, he upgraded thirty-seven Captain-Level Soldiers.

At this point, Zhang Yang began reorganizing his soldiers.

First, he established a fixed patrol and hunting squad, with Wu Yuan as its commander. Its members included the Four Berserker Bears, four newly advanced Spearman Captains, four newly advanced Shieldsman Captains, and four Archer Captains.

Their task was to take charge of the forest within a ten-kilometer radius centered on the village. Wu Yuan could also carry two Ghost Eyes each day and place them wherever he deemed worthwhile, which was equivalent to gaining two additional fields of vision.

Of course, the Ghost Eye's effective duration was six hours, and its maximum placement distance could not exceed five kilometers from the mother body.

Next, he established a logging and land-clearing squad, led by the newly advanced Shieldsman Captain Liang Short-Legs. Its members included five newly advanced Shieldsman Captains and ten Elite Sword and Shield Soldiers. They would be responsible for felling most of the trees around the fortress, digging out the roots, and clearing the land into flat ground for future construction or farmland.

After that, he established an air-defense squad, led by Qin Yidao. Its members consisted of the original and newly advanced Archer Captains, nineteen people in all. They would build extremely sturdy Arrow Towers at the four corners of the fortress, each at least thirty meters higher than the fortress, and take turns guarding them. This was to deal with the possibility of flying demons discovering and ambushing them after the large-scale logging exposed the ground.

Finally, he established a construction squad, commanded by the craftsman Zhao Tiezhu. Its members consisted of the remaining soldiers. They would continue expanding the fortress, reinforcing its foundation, and adding a roof to the fortress on that basis.

After assigning everyone, Zhang Yang brought out all the half-body iron armor he had seized earlier and let everyone choose. This equipment had not been produced through upgrades; it had been forged by the Jackalman village itself and possessed a certain degree of defensive power.

From this, it was clear that the Jackalman village had developed at an astonishing speed.

Even the deer demon's subordinates had worn iron armor before. At the time, Zhang Yang had not thought much of it, but looking back now, both the deer demon and that Jackalman had certainly acquired the ability to smelt iron. In other words, the development of their villages had undoubtedly entered the right track.

If the deer demon had not insisted on recklessly leading an army into battle personally, only to die in Zhang Yang's hands after its horse stumbled, then one or two defeats would not actually have damaged them too severely.

"When I founded the village, I was too hasty. There was no iron ore discovered nearby, and I was short on manpower. It would probably be too late to take the iron-smelting technology route. So my focus going forward should still be conquering the Iron Wall Battle Rune on Wang Mumu and successfully enchanting it. Until then, I'll just have to make do."

At this point, after everyone had picked through the equipment, none of the Captain-Level Soldiers chose any. They could not fit into it, and even the elite soldiers found it uncomfortable to wear. The matter was dropped.

After giving them a few more instructions, the squads went about their own business.

Zhang Yang did not hurry to study enchanting the Iron Wall Battle Rune or to make the Imprisonment Spear. Neither was urgent. He went to the Level 5 Farmland first.

The Level 5 Farmland also had attributes listed in the Village Building Order.

Farmland: Level 5

Area: Ten mu

Plantable crops: Wheat, potatoes, sorghum, millet, rice, buckwheat, naked oats, soybeans, vegetables, and so on.

Growth and harvest time: Two harvests per year.

Currently recommended crops: Wheat, approximately 540 kilograms per mu; naked oats, approximately 600 kilograms per mu.

Number of accidental events: 0

"Damn it, only two harvests a year? That's not scientific at all. Don't normal games let you harvest every month?"

Zhang Yang instantly felt the system's bone-chilling malice. His population had grown considerably, after all, and they needed to eat. Captain-Level Soldiers in particular required at least two units of meat a day. Although he had previously stockpiled nearly twenty thousand units of demon meat, even that could not withstand such rapid consumption.

At two kilograms of grain per unit, these ten mu of farmland were truly not enough to feed them.

"Clearing land and going out hunting have to be expedited."

As Zhang Yang pondered this, he suddenly realized something: he had no seeds.

He ran to the small wooden houses beside the farmland and found the twenty farmers chatting inside.

Hmm—

Farmer A: "Have you eaten?"

Farmer B: "I have."

Farmer C: "What did you eat?"

Farmer D: "I ate meat."

Farmer A: "Have you eaten?"

It seemed these farmers were the real NPCs. Zhang Yang opened the Village Building Order's attribute panel and randomly pulled up the attributes of one farmer.

Name: Zhao Xiaomao

Occupation: Farmer

Talent: None

Skill: Planting Level 5

Skill: Weeding Level 5

Skill: Harvesting Level 5

Current status: On standby

Zhang Yang thought about it, then realized he could only set his sights on the Fragment of Hope. Aside from that, he could not think of anywhere else to obtain seeds.

Fortunately, he had obtained a total of sixty-seven Fragments of Hope in the previous battle.

Taking out a gray Fragment of Hope, Zhang Yang said solemnly, "I want enough wheat seeds for one mu of land."

Hiss!

The Fragment of Hope turned gray. The request exceeded the hope limit.

Zhang Yang was not surprised. He continued, "I want enough wheat seeds for half a mu of land."

Whoosh!

The Fragment of Hope transformed into flames. Then his hand suddenly grew heavy, and a small sack of wheat seeds appeared in his palm. It even had a label on it that read: Shandong Jinan Licheng District Seedling Seed Company, telephone number and so on. This was truly—

Zhang Yang was speechless.