Level 5 Farmland

From early morning, the sky had been overcast.

Soon, a drizzling rain began to fall, and the forest filled with mist, making it hard to tell where the sky ended and the ground began.

This was Zhang Yang's tenth day in this fantasy world, and also the day the Village Building Order successfully upgraded for the third time.

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 14 other archer captains, along with six newly promoted spearman captains and five shieldman captains.

Further away, in the training ground, 50 new recruits had finished their training and were marching over. Next, Zhang Yang would upgrade them.

20 spearmen would upgrade to 20 elite spearmen.

20 sword-and-shield soldiers would upgrade to 20 elite sword-and-shield soldiers.

10 archers would upgrade to 10 elite archers.

Finally, Zhang Yang would select 10 archer captains, 10 sword-and-shield captains, and 7 spearman captains from them, as he only had that many captain-level Demon Souls left.

Even so, Zhang Yang's forces would instantly possess 66 captain-level soldiers, one quasi-hero, and one ghost priest.

Such strength, even compared to the Deer Demon and Jackalman factions, was quite formidable.

"Buzz!"

A sudden burst of white light, incredibly bright even in the rain and mist, signaled the successful upgrade of the Village Building Order.

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

At the same time, three new buildings were completed.

The Level 5 Residential House, located on a flat area behind the training ground, covered 500 square meters. It was a type of building very familiar to Zhang Yang from Earth: a courtyard house.

However, there were some variations. The four sides had tall walls, and the interior consisted of two-story small buildings, making the space seem small. But this was normal, as this Level 5 Residential House came with 20 residents.

Next was the Level 5 Farmland. This building appeared directly in front of the fortress. This area had been repeatedly cleared of trees previously, leaving a large open space, about ten mu (approximately 1.65 acres). The Level 5 Farmland was exactly ten mu in size and was already cultivated. The edges of the farmland also came with five small wooden houses, which were where the 20 farmers provided by the farmland resided.

The final building was a random bonus because Zhang Yang had used a Great Horned Deer Civilization Code Blueprint fragment.

The Level 5 Antler Barracks could be used to recruit new soldiers from the Great Horned Deer civilization. The recruitment conditions were: one complete Deer Demon Soul + 50 units of Deer Demon essence blood + 1000 energy points.

At this moment, Zhang Yang immediately thought of the Heavy Armored Deer Horn Cavalry. He currently still had six complete Deer Demon Souls.

Of course, there was no rush for that.

He first upgraded all the trained soldiers to elite status. At this stage, he had enough Demon Souls. He still had 20 complete Azure Wolf Demon Souls, as well as the elite Jackalman Demon Souls he had acquired yesterday.

Then, he upgraded 37 captains.

At this point, Zhang Yang began to reorganize his soldiers.

First, he established a fixed patrol and hunting squad, with Wu Yuan as the commander. The squad members included the Four Berserker Bears, four newly promoted spearman captains, four newly promoted shieldman captains, and four archer captains.

Their task was to patrol the forest within a ten-kilometer radius centered on the village. Wu Yuan could also carry two ghost eyes daily, placing them where he deemed appropriate, which would provide two additional fields of vision.

Of course, the ghost eyes were effective for six hours, and their maximum placement distance could not exceed five kilometers from the main body.

Next, he established a logging and reclamation squad, with the newly promoted shieldman captain, Liang Short-Legs, as the commander. The squad members included five newly promoted shieldman captains and ten elite sword-and-shield soldiers. They would be responsible for clearing most of the trees around the fortress, digging out roots, and leveling the ground for future construction or cultivation.

Then, he established an anti-air squad, with Qin Yidao as the commander. The squad members included all 19 existing and newly promoted archer captains. They would build very sturdy arrow towers at the four corners of the fortress, at least thirty meters higher than the fortress, and take turns guarding them. This was to counter potential sneak attacks from airborne monsters, who might discover the exposed ground after extensive logging.

Finally, he established a construction squad, with the craftsman Zhao Tiezhu as the commander. The squad members included the remaining soldiers. They would continue to expand the fortress, solidify its foundation, and add a roof to it.

After all personnel were assigned, Zhang Yang brought out the half-body iron armor they had previously captured for everyone to choose from. This armor wasn't enhanced through upgrades but was forged by the Jackalman village itself and offered a certain degree of defense.

From this perspective, the Jackalman village had developed quite rapidly.

Even the Deer Demon's subordinates earlier had worn iron armor. At the time, Zhang Yang hadn't paid much attention, but now, thinking back, it seemed both the Deer Demon and the Jackalman factions definitely possessed iron-smelting capabilities. This meant their villages' development was already on the right track.

If the Deer Demon hadn't foolishly led his army out personally, only to stumble and die at Zhang Yang's hands, then even one or two defeats wouldn't have been too detrimental to them.

I built the village too hastily, didn't find any iron ore nearby, and lacked personnel. It's probably too late to go down the iron-smelting technology tree. So my next priority is to conquer the Iron Wall Battle Rune on Wang Mumu and successfully enchant it. Before that, I'll just have to make do.

At this point, after some selection, none of the captain-level soldiers chose the armor because they couldn't wear it comfortably. Even elite soldiers found it very uncomfortable to wear, so the matter was dropped.

After another round of instructions, each squad went about its business.

Zhang Yang didn't rush to research Iron Wall Battle Rune enchantment or craft Imprisonment Spears. There was no hurry. He first went to the Level 5 Farmland.

In the Village Building Order, this Level 5 Farmland also had attributes.

Farmland: Level 5
Area: Ten mu
Crops that can be planted: Wheat, potatoes, sorghum, millet, rice, buckwheat, naked oats, soybeans, vegetables, etc.
Growth and harvest time: Two harvests per year.
Recommended crops for current time: Wheat, yield about 540 kg per mu; Naked oats, yield about 600 kg per mu.
Incidents occurred: 0

"What the hell? Only two harvests a year? That's totally unscientific! Don't normal games harvest every month?"

Zhang Yang instantly felt a chill of malice. He now had more people under him, and they needed to eat. Especially the captain-level soldiers, who required at least 2 units of meat per day. Although he had accumulated nearly 20,000 units of monster meat before, it couldn't withstand such rapid consumption.

Calculating at two kilograms of food per unit, these ten mu of land truly weren't enough to feed everyone.

"We need to prioritize cultivating fields and hunting," Zhang Yang mused, then suddenly realized something: he had no seeds.

He hurried over to the small wooden house by the farmland and found the 20 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 true NPCs. He opened the Village Building Order's attribute template and randomly pulled up one farmer's stats.

Name: Zhao Xiaomao

Profession: Farmer

Talent: None

Skill: Planting Lv5

Skill: Weeding Lv5

Skill: Harvesting Lv5

Current Status: Standby

Zhang Yang thought about it and realized his only option was the Fragment of Hope, because otherwise, he couldn't think of anywhere else to get seeds.

Fortunately, he had collected a total of 67 Fragments of Hope from the previous battle.

He took out a gray Fragment of Hope and solemnly stated, "I want wheat seeds for one mu of land."

Shhh!

The Fragment of Hope turned to ash, indicating it exceeded the hope limit.

Zhang Yang wasn't surprised and continued, "I want wheat seeds for half a mu of land."

Whoosh!

The Fragment of Hope transformed into flames, then his hand felt heavy as a small bag of wheat seeds appeared in his grasp. It even had "Shan Dong Jinan Licheng District Seedling Company, Phone No. XXX..." written on it. Zhang Yang was speechless.