Zong Shen held the reins in one hand and propped his chin up with the other.
He let the horse jog toward his territory.
He began to calm down and think about his plans for the future.
Expanding the territory was an urgent priority.
With Colby and Luna holding down the fort, dealing with the ten hostile targets within a five-kilometer radius shouldn't be a problem.
Unless he was incredibly unlucky and a powerful monster happened to pass by just as he expanded the territory.
Then it might be drawn in by the expansion quest, and they'd all be wiped out in one fell swoop.
Surely he wouldn't be that unlucky...
As for the other issues,
in the short term, his main focus would be on construction.
Besides, he absolutely couldn't stop exploring for treasure on a daily basis.
Exploring for treasure yielded far more than simply gathering resources conservatively.
And while out exploring, he could also kill some wild monsters and level up.
Time flew by as he thought.
A little over twenty minutes later, Zong Shen caught up with the farmers following Luna.
At their walking pace, it would take them at least another hour to reach the territory.
"Luna, I'll leave them in your hands. I'll go on ahead."
Zong Shen galloped past them, waving to Luna in greeting.
Luna smiled and waved back.
As a soldier summoned by Zong Shen, she had her own thoughts, but also possessed a basic loyalty to him.
"Everyone, let's pick up the pace!"
Luna called out.
She pointed toward the Lord's Courtyard, now faintly visible in the distance.
At the same time, she watched Zong Shen ride away.
With a flick of the reins, Zong Shen soon returned to his territory.
Seeing that the three dim-witted farmers hadn't been slacking off and were diligently gathering resources outside, he nodded in satisfaction.
He tied the Old Travel Horse up by the entrance and let it graze.
There was no doubt about the value of a mount.
It could save a great deal of travel time.
Take the Bandit Camp, for example. Walking there would take at least two and a half to three hours.
But riding a horse was much faster. It only took half an hour.
No wonder almost every option in the second-to-last origin selection came with a horse.
It was practically standard equipment for every lord.
Zong Shen went into the courtyard.
When he opened the storage box, he found that the supplies inside had increased quite a bit.
Clearly, the three farmers had been working diligently for the past two hours.
Zong Shen transferred all the supplies from his backpack and personal Storage Grid into the Territory Storage Box.
Just then, the three farmers returned with the resources they had gathered.
"You three, don't go back out yet. Stay here."
The quantities of supplies in the storage box refreshed once more.
[Money: 880] [Wood ×65] [Stone ×42] [Iron ×38] [Hemp ×49] [Mithril ×9] [Copper ×3] [Primary Elemental Crystal ×1] [Unknown Dried Meat ×15] [Hemp Rope ×5] [Iron Axe ×6] [Iron Pickaxe ×6] [Smoked Fish ×1] [Fresh Wolf Meat ×10] [Refined Wheat Bread ×10] [Crafted Rum ×10] [Fresh Wolf Blood ×500 ml] [Hardened Grassland Wolf Skull ×1] [Grassland Wolf Skeleton ×15] [Sharp Fangs ×2] [Complete Grassland Wolf Pelt ×1]
Compared to before he left, the supplies had increased greatly in both quantity and quality.
His coffers were suddenly full.
Zong Shen felt more confident too, as if he could finally stand tall.
"Tie Zhu!"
"Er Gou!"
"Gou Dan!"
Zong Shen called out beside the storage box.
"What are your orders, Lord?"
The three dim-witted farmers stood still, bowing as they awaited his instructions.
"Come with me!"
Zong Shen led the three farmers outside the courtyard.
There wasn't much usable space inside, and since he'd decided to expand the territory soon, he might as well build the structures outside.
First, he opened [Construction] and selected the [Level 1 Simple Stove].
A ghostly image of a stove appeared.
Zong Shen placed it outside the courtyard.
"Tie Zhu, you're in charge of building the stove."
Tie Zhu nodded at the order and walked over to the stove's ghostly image. A hammer appeared in his hand, and he began hammering away.
A countdown appeared beside it, showing the progress: [1h36m59s]. This was the time after the reduction from [Engineering].
As the countdown ticked down, the ghostly image gradually became more solid.
At the same time, the supplies in the Territory Storage Box were automatically deducted.
Next, Zong Shen placed the ghostly image of a market and had Er Gou build it.
The construction time was also 1h36m.
After placing the stove and market, Zong Shen directed them to place a [Tier 1 Thatched Shed] as well. After the reduction, it would take only 48 minutes.
Gou Dan was put in charge of building it.
Each construction project required one worker.
Farmers, lords, and soldiers could all be assigned to construction.
Watching the three farmers hammer away at their projects with their tools, Zong Shen's territory officially entered a period of bustling construction.
He felt a surge of pride as the resources rapidly dwindled.
Next, he placed the ghostly images of two more Tier 1 Thatched Sheds and took out six Iron Axes and six Iron Pickaxes.
After all that construction,
his resources had decreased considerably.
Only the following main construction materials remained:
[Wood ×10] [Stone ×32] [Iron ×30] [Hemp ×40] [Hemp Rope ×2]
It seemed that wood consumption far outstripped that of other resources in the early stages.
All the basic buildings required large quantities of wood. Perhaps he needed to focus on gathering it in the coming days.
With that thought, he set down the six sets of axes and pickaxes and instructed Tie Zhu.
"When Luna gets back, tell her to have the two new farmers help with construction. The remaining six farmers should all go gather resources, with a focus on wood!"
Tie Zhu kept hammering away, but turned his face toward Zong Shen.
"Lord, what about you?"
Zong Shen headed toward the courtyard as he replied.
"I'm going to get some water!"
Once inside the courtyard,
he sat down on the storage box.
He opened the [Crafting] function.
He found something in the list.
[Simple Wooden Bucket: Wood ×3, Hemp ×1] [Capacity: 10 L] [Crafting Time: 3m]
There were still 10 units of wood in stock, and plenty of hemp, so he could make three Simple Wooden Buckets.
Zong Shen started crafting.
A tool hammer and a ghostly image of a wooden bucket appeared in his hands, and he began hammering away.
It was a very strange experience.
After hammering for nine minutes,
three wooden buckets appeared at his feet.
With a wave of his hand, Zong Shen stored them in his Storage Grid.
Then he stood up, went outside the courtyard, and led the Old Travel Horse away.
After nine minutes of construction, the three ghostly building images had become much more solid.
The Tier 1 Thatched Shed had made the most progress.
Nearly a third of it had already taken shape.
Zong Shen mounted the horse and headed north, straight out through the courtyard gate, to look for water!
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