Chapter 1: Territory - Mage Tower (Ruins)

[Due to forces beyond our control, the world has been destroyed. Congratulations, you have been granted the qualifications to play "Lord Era".]

[You have been allocated to server: Magic Continent number 9527, with a total of 1000 Lords on this server.]

[You have obtained a bound item: Territory Stone.]

[Please note: Use the Territory Stone as soon as possible to acquire territory. "Lord Era" will semi-digitalize you and generate your territory. Otherwise, there is a chance of being attacked by wild creatures in the wilderness.]

[Please note: Deploying the Territory Stone in different regions and terrains and other external factors will result in different buildings, troops, and other initial resources.]

[Please note: If the Territory Stone is not used within one hour, your qualification to play the game will be revoked.]

Qin Muye opened his eyes, looked at his surroundings as well as the purple, rhombus-shaped stone in his hand, and for a moment, he felt like crying without tears.

"I had just started on the road to becoming a winner in life and it's gone before it even warmed up; who did I offend?"

"If you really had to do this, couldn't you wait just two more days? Could've taken me away after I got rid of my single status."

Qin Muye quickly adjusted his mindset. Since he couldn't change the world, he had to adapt to it.

He looked around; the starting point was actually quite good, with mountains, water, and plains, and more importantly, he spotted a dilapidated ruin not far away.

It looked like some kind of tower with two and a half stories; only half of the third floor remained, as if it had been smashed by something.

"My server is Magic Continent number 9527, could this tower-like structure be a Mage Tower?"

Memories of his past life flashed through his mind as he looked around once more. Qin Muye decided to take a gamble and set his territory within that tower.

Based on his surroundings, the location of this suspected Mage Tower wasn't chosen randomly; the environment was nice, with a water source and plains, and there was a mountain range behind it, so at least in terms of resources, there was no need to worry.

So practically, there was no better place than this, at least in Qin Muye's view.

It wasn't impossible to choose another place, but there wasn't enough time. There were many places to choose from, but he only had one hour, and the time was gradually decreasing; he didn't want to gamble and lose his qualification to play, not knowing what the consequences would be.

So, he decisively headed toward the suspected Mage Tower.

He ran toward the Mage Tower at a jog, trying to breathe evenly.

As someone who focused on studying and seldom exercised, he knew how poor his physical condition was; he needed to maintain a steady pace, neither too fast nor too slow.

The Mage Tower seemed close, but the saying "looks can be deceiving" is absolutely true. With his own physical condition, it took him a full fifteen minutes to get there. Although he wasn't panting for breath, it was still a rather uncomfortable experience.

Fortunately, it was all plains along the way, without any obstructive vegetation. He was also worried about suddenly encountering a wild creature, in which case he really would have been in trouble.

Along the way, he also saw some resources scattered on the ground, but he didn't pick them up since he had tried and found out that he could pick them up but couldn't take them away unless he wanted to carry them with him, so it was better to set his territory first and then come back to collect them.

Arriving at the entrance of the ruined Mage Tower, only half the door remained, as if it had been sliced by some sharp blade. Qin Muye followed the door inside, where the dust was thick. On closer inspection, there was nothing much apart from a few scattered tables and chairs.

The natural light was good, not too dark.

"A hidden gem, this ground floor must cover at least a thousand square meters," Qin Muye couldn't help but be a little impressed.

The first floor appeared to be a hall and then, following the staircase on the side, he went up to the second floor. There were quite a few rooms here, but most were severely damaged.

There wasn't much of value, except he found two books written in a text that looked like squiggles, which made him feel a bit dizzy.

Glancing at the countdown, he still had thirty-two minutes, so he wasn't rushed. He needed to keep looking to see if there was anything else valuable.

After entering, his examination of the various damaged equipment scattered on the ground led him to strongly suspect this was a Mage Tower. If he placed his territory here and the Mage Tower was reset, what then? So if he could scavenge something first, maybe he could exploit a bug.

Since there was plenty of time left, half an hour, he couldn't waste it.

But after going through the whole place, the only finds were the two books, which was quite regrettable for him.

So, in the end, he could only return to the first floor and place down the Territory Stone.

[Do you wish to deploy your territory here? Yes/No]

"Yes!" Qin Muye looked at the floating text before him and decisively chose yes.

[Deploying your territory...]

[Detection: Your location is identified as Mage Tower (Ruined). After you expand your territory, your initial resources will be specified as relevant resources and include certain inherited constructions.]

[Your Lord Talent is being digitized and awakened.]

Qin Muye watched the scene, his expression filled with sheer excitement.

"Awakening Lord Talent? I get that, a hundredfold increase, text prompts, upgrading troops, right? I love this kind of thing."

Watching the Territory Stone merge into the ground, an invisible radiance unfolded, forming a protective barrier.

[Territory expansion complete, semi-digitization complete, welcome to "Lord Era".]

[You have received: 7-day Newbie Protection (Other lords and wild monsters cannot initiate attacks or pursue you and your territory for 7 days, remaining time: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes.)]

[You have received: 30-day Adaptation Period (Wild monsters will not attack the territory for 30 days, and you are granted Basic Reconnaissance Skill for 30 days, remaining time: 29 days 23 hours 59 minutes.)]

[Basic Reconnaissance Skill: Can investigate enemy information up to your own rank.]

"So that barrier is for protection. There's a newbie period and an adaptation period too, sounds like the world is pretty dangerous."

Qin Muye first opened his territory panel to see what was special about his Mage Tower territory.

[Territory: Mage Tower (Ruined)]

[Rank: 1]

[Repair: 1000 units of Minerals, 1000 units of Wood]

[Note: Mage Tower is in a ruined state and cannot be upgraded; it requires repair first.]

[Buildings]

[Supplies Warehouse LV1: For storing various supplies (Expansion: 10 units of Minerals, 10 units of Wood)]

[Magic Pool (Dried up): The energy core of the Mage Tower (Repair: 1 Earth Element Core/Water Element Core/Fire Element Core/Wind Element Core, 10000 units of Minerals, 10000 units of Wood, 100 units of Gemstones, 100 units of Crystals, 100 units of Sulfur, 100 units of Mercury.)]

Qin Muye looked at the building list, especially the long string of repair materials for the dried-up Magic Pool, and was a bit dumbfounded. Apart from the first four cores, the rest of the materials looked kind of familiar.

"From the Basic Reconnaissance Skill, I could tell, this is Heroic Unrivaled." Qin Muye commented sarcastically.

The Magic Pool can't be upgraded right now, likely because it, just like his Mage Tower territory, needs to be repaired first.

However, he guessed the difficulty wouldn't be small, considering it an unexpected surprise of moderate scale. It wasn't in vain that he had traveled so far.

[Ordinary Resources]

[Food: 100]

[Minerals: 100]

[Wood: 100]

[Special Resources]

[Gemstones: 0]

[Crystals: 0]

[Sulfur: 0]

[Mercury: 0]

"Alright, the initial resources are probably the same for everyone, and the next step should be construction."

Qin Muye looked over to his item bar, where there were two building blueprints, which he guessed were related to the Mage Tower.

[Farmland Blueprint: Learn this to be able to build a farm, requires: 10 units of Food.]

[Spirit Monster Workshop Blueprint: Learn this to be able to build Spirit Monster Workshop, requires: 50 Minerals, 50 Wood.]

"Ah, this... isn't quite what I was imagining." Qin Muye looked at the two blueprints and felt he might have become one of those extras who shout adulation to the big shots.