Chapter 5: Imagination of a Sand Sculpture Player

"Lord, when we were out searching for food, we discovered three resource points...

"One was a logging field, the other was a quarry, and the other seemed to be an iron mine. However, we didn't dare to approach any of them, so we didn't confirm it…"

Hearing the older man's words, Richard immediately perked up.

Resources were the core of the game "Shining Era".

With resources, one could purchase troop lair, buy food, recruit soldiers, and level up their territories...

The most important tasks were to occupy the surrounding resource points, obtain resources, and strengthen their territories as soon as possible.

The world in the game "Shining Era" wasn't safe. The struggle of all races was the primary theme for the future.

Not to mention the 20 billion players, this world also had a huge number of natives. There were even countless dimensional planes outside of the main plane.

Demons, angels, dragons, titans... All of these legendary beings were present.

"Is there a map?"

Richard asked casually, but he did not expect the older man to instantly take out a map.

Although the map drawn with charcoal looked very simple, a few key points were marked out.

[Ding~ You have obtained a rough map. Would you like to sync it to the system map?]

"Oh?"

"There is such a function?"

Richard was delighted.

"Sync."

After making a choice, a system map containing a large part of the area covered in fog appeared in front of Richard's eyes.

The rough map that the older man had given him had a few dots that appeared on it.

"Very good, you did well. However, I still don't know your name."

The older man answered excitedly.

"Respected Lord, Karu is always at your command!"

Richard nodded. With one look, this older man was the person in charge among the hundreds of people.

He opened the attribute panel curiously.

[Karu]

[Level: 3]

[Potential: D-rank]

[Skills: Internal Affairs (D-rank) -- Capable of handling the affairs of the territory more efficiently.]

[Management (D-rank) -- Capable of managing subordinates well.]

[Persuasion (D-rank) -- Capable of easily persuading others.]

[Racial Talent: Able to learn the knowledge of other races.]

[Fetters: When in charge of internal affairs, work efficiency increases by 30%.]

[Description: Used to be a powerful hero unit. After old age, his strength deteriorated, and he lost the power of a hero unit.]

Richard only understood after reading Karu's introduction.

He did not expect that Karu was once a hero.

Unfortunately, he was old now...

But no matter what, the old man could be considered a decent talent.

Richard's expression became serious as he spoke in front of all the residents.

"Karu, in the name of the Lord of Twilight City, I will appoint you as the Administrative Officer of Twilight City."

"While I am away, you will be in charge of managing the other residents and protecting the safety of Twilight City."

Karu was stunned for a moment. Then, he raised his head in disbelief. His old body seemed to have returned to its youth.

He spoke loudly in a trembling voice.

"My Lord, thank you for your grace. I'll protect your glory with my life!"

Richard consented.

"Let them go. You can walk around the territory with me."

"As you wish."

After the crowd dispersed, Richard and Karu began to inspect Twilight City under the protection of the mummy.

At present, only a few buildings can be found in the territory. There were only a few—the Lord's mansion, residential houses, blacksmith's shop, and barracks.

Apart from that, only 10 unoccupied spaces were left.

Empty spaces were the foundation for new buildings in the territory. Without empty spaces, it was impossible to build new structures. Each space had an area of ​​10 meters by 10 meters.

Depending on the buildings, the number of empty spaces occupied varied.

[Lord's Mansion: 30 spaces]

[Residence: 1 space] 

[Blacksmith's Shop: 4 spaces] 

[Barracks: 20 spaces]

When constructing a building, it must comply with the required number of spaces to build.

This was because subsequent upgrades will expand outwards.

If the vacant lot does not meet the requirements, subsequent buildings cannot be upgraded.

This is detailed in the public records of the game "Shining Era".

The number of spaces in the territory would increase with the level of the territory.

Treasures could also be used to expand the area of ​​the territory and increase the number of spaces.

In the center of Twilight City was the Lord's mansion. Outside the gate, to the west, there were 10 residential buildings.

To the east was the blacksmith shop, and behind the Lord's mansion was the barracks.

The 10 empty spaces were distributed in the blacksmith shop area.

When Richard came to the blacksmith shop that opened its door, he found that it was full of dust. It had been a long time since anyone had used it.

[Blacksmith Shop: 4 spaces]

[Level: Beginner (Requires 1,000 units of iron ore, 1,000 units of wood, and 1,000 units of stone to level up.)]

[Characteristics: Forging efficiency increased by 10%.]

[Capacity: Minimum of 2 people -- Maximum 10 people]

[Description: An ordinary blacksmith shop. You can forge farm tools or low-level weapons here.]

The leveling up requirement of a blacksmith shop was practically higher than that of a residential house, and it also had unique attributes.

"Minimum of 2 people. There should be at least 2 people to operate the blacksmith shop then."

Richard was a little curious. He looked at the attributes of the Lord's mansion and the barracks.

[Lord's Mansion: 30 spaces]

[Level: Beginner (Requires 2,000 gold, stone, wood, and iron to level up.)]

[Characteristics: Efficiency (10% increase in efficiency when working in the mansion). Stamina Recovery (20% increase in stamina recovery speed).]

[Capacity: 30 people]

[Description: The core building of the territory with special powers.]

Richard was a little surprised. He did not expect the Lord's mansion to have two unique features which were very practical.

He looked at the barracks with some anticipation.

[Barracks: 20 spaces]

[Level: Beginner (Requires 1500 gold coins, stone, wood, and iron ore to level up.)]

[Characteristics: Training (There is a slim chance for soldiers to comprehend F-rank skills during training). Strong Physique (Increases the training effect by 10%. It can slightly increase the physical fitness).]

[Capacity: 100 people]

[Description: Ordinary barracks]

That's right, other than the residential buildings, the other buildings all had corresponding characteristics.

However, these buildings needed quite a lot of resources for an upgrade.

After recruiting 14 mummies, the resources in Richard's hands have reduced from 4,000 to more than 2,000.

Richard was afraid that he would not be able to level up in a short time.

"Karu, go immediately and select the blacksmiths and tailors among the residents. I have great use for them."

"In the future, when new residents will join us, we must make similar statistics. You are fully responsible for this matter."

Karu, who was following behind him, immediately nodded respectfully.

"As you wish, my Lord..."

After giving a few more instructions, Richard let Karu leave.

He thought for a moment before opening the [Forum Chat] again.

He did not know how the others were progressing during this time.

The moment he entered the [Forum Chat], it was as if he had returned to the modern world.

It was filled with comments from sand sculpture players.

[F*ck, there are 300 refugees from outside my territory! Damn it! They are all like beggars. They want to join me. How can I give them food? I can't afford to feed them!]

[Hahaha, I recruited a hero from the residents! And she's a cute girl! That is so awesome! I must develop silk stockings in the future and train an army of cute girls with high heels!]

[How can I get food? My territory is running out of food. The remaining provision can only last for two days. Is there still time for me to farm?]

[Everyone, please don't leave the territory! I'm a f*cking idiot. The territory has a one-month protection period. If you leave the territory, the protection period will be reduced to seven days! Damn it! This rubbish game is ruining my life!]

[I don't believe the authorities will ignore us! Anyway, there's a protection period. I won't leave this month even if they beat me to death!!!]

[I'm going to throw up. The monsters outside are so powerful!! My ten human swordsmen were killed by a fucking ogre. What the f*ck!!! I've already bought food with all my resources. I don't have anything to recruit new soldiers. What should I do now?]

[Why are the orcs so good at eating? They wiped out all the food in my warehouse in one meal. Oh my god, where am I going to get so much food to feed them!!?]

[Hahaha, the undead is still the best. They don't need to think about the food at all. It's just that looking at the bone fragments is a little disgusting, and I can't raise a maid. What bad luck...]

[Hahaha, so many little elven brothers. I'm going to die! Ahhhh, I won't retreat even if you beat me to death! I want to take all the little elven brothers into my harem! I want to sleep ten times a day!!!]

******

Many lord-tier players on the [Forum Chat] had already walked out from their initial bewilderment and started discussing how to develop their territories.

Some of the more ambitious players were already preparing to raise harems...

However, they also encountered all sorts of problems.

Most of the complaints were about the lack of food and the danger outside the territories.

After looking at it for about ten minutes, Richard had an idea.

It seemed that the food problem was typical and not unusual.

Many people mentioned that the system was protected for a time, which made him ponder.

If someone didn't step out of the territory for a month, the security period would not drop to seven days.

Was it the same in Richard's territory?

If it was the same for everyone, then the choice given by the system might be a turning point...