What a Great Rat

Haotian's face lit up with joy as he examined the blueprint in his hand. The [Dragon's Grave] wasn't a troop-building structure, but it could recruit troops much like one, with the price being dragon corpses.

In other words, if he had a substantial number of dragon corpses, he could recruit a vast army of undead dragons. Bone Dragons, Ghost Dragons—anything he wanted.

"This blueprint will be safely stored away," Haotian decided. "We'll build it when we have dragon corpses."

For now, the construction cost of 10,000 gold coins and 10,000 units of stone was significant. Especially the 10,000 gold coins; it was a daunting sum. Moreover, dragon corpses were rare treasures, not easy to come by. It would be better to wait until he had the necessary resources before constructing the [Dragon's Grave].

Time flew by, and soon it was afternoon. The sandy inhabitants had amassed a huge stockpile of wood and stone at the training grounds. Haotian decided to use some of this wood to build numerous houses within the territory.

The cost to build houses was minimal, with a single [Basic House] requiring only 100 units of wood. In no time, rows of neat houses appeared on the vacant land, totaling 600, all basic houses, each accommodating five residents. This would provide shelter for 3,000 inhabitants.

After constructing the houses, Haotian summoned a leader of the sand people who was chopping wood and instructed him to dismantle all the tents at the settlement once the work was done. These 600 houses were intended for the sand people of the territory. The Royal Griffon Knights, being high-level combatants, didn't need them. They were all at least level seven, and their physical strength and magical energy, coupled with their Golden Griffon mounts, made them impervious to the cold night temperatures.

"Thank you, Great Lord!" The sand people's leader knelt before Haotian, overwhelmed with gratitude. The benevolent lord not only provided ample food but also constructed homes for them as if by miracle, moving him to tears.

"This is what you deserve," Haotian said. "Make sure your people work hard. Only the diligent earn better rewards."

The leader promised that under his supervision, no sand person would slack off. They all took pride in contributing to the construction of the Golden Oasis.

Satisfied, Haotian dismissed the leader.

A mere level-four leader, and most of the sand people weren't even professionals, just ordinary folks. Despite their fervent loyalty, they weren't suited for military combat. Before meeting them, Haotian had considered forming a sand people army, given their numbers. But after interacting with them, he quickly abandoned that idea. War wasn't for them. They were better suited for contributing to the territory's basic construction work, providing him with essential resources.

Southern Sandy Forest Area

The nearly thousand-strong Royal Griffon Knight battalion was systematically clearing the area. No living creature was spared, whether ordinary desert animals or magically evolved beasts. Ordinary animals provided food for the territory, while magical beasts offered both high-nutrition meat and "experience" to level up the knights. Naturally, they killed everything in sight.

This wasn't a bloodthirsty massacre; it was the survival law of the Karar Desert, where resources were scarce.

Meanwhile, in the western part of the sandy forest area, near a rocky mountain range stretching thousands of meters, a lone figure was desperately fleeing. This figure was a lizardman, from the same lizardman tribe of the sandy forest area. When the war began, it received a call from its chieftain but hadn't even reached the battlefield before the tribe was annihilated. Terrified, it buried itself in the sand, motionless, thus escaping the Royal Griffon Knights' purge. Once the knights withdrew, it emerged from the sand and fled towards the rocky mountains without hesitation.

Soon, it reached a canyon entrance, faintly spotting several dark gray figures inside. Overjoyed, the lizardman shouted, "Take me to see your king!"

Hearing this, the dark gray figures approached—it was a group of large rats, each over a meter long, almost two meters including their tails. If Haotian were here, he might have exclaimed, "What a huge rat!"

"What happened?" The large black rats, standing upright like humans, surrounded the lizardman. They wore leather armor, had quivers on their backs, and held bows.

The lizardman quickly explained, "A powerful and evil enemy invaded the sandy forest. My tribe was overrun, and all my kin were killed. I barely escaped!"

The rats were startled and immediately led the lizardman into the depths of the canyon. After passing through a narrow rock crevice and a winding tunnel, they arrived at their destination—a vast underground world.

This subterranean realm was filled with numerous wooden structures, and the cave walls were riddled with countless holes, each housing several rats. Some were sleeping soundly, while others cooked meals. This underground world housed at least tens of thousands of large rats.

This was the Ratmen Kingdom!

Desert ratmen, also known as cave ratmen, were part of the half-beast spectrum like the lizardmen. The ratmen of the beast plains were human-bodied with rat heads, true beastmen with high intelligence. The desert ratmen, however, looked almost like ordinary rats but possessed greater intelligence. They could speak human language and had established their own societal civilization.