The Adventurers were in high spirits, their mouths full of colorful language aimed at Bloodthroat, whose expression grew increasingly grim and terrifying. Though he was only a low-level first-tier regional ruler, Bloodthroat was still a Dark Lord in his own right, the local emperor of Gloomy Valley. Never had he suffered such indignity.
These impudent rats dared to insult him!
Bloodthroat wished he could immediately dismember the humans and grind their bones to dust. However, Blackwind Pass had fallen too suddenly, and with his limited forces, it was impossible to retake the pass. Additionally, the Chaos Tide was about to return, leaving him with very little time—not enough to start another war.
No need to waste time here!
"Good, very good. Since you're so eager to die, this Lord will grant your wish. Enjoy the taste of your final victory fruit, for tomorrow this place will turn into a purgatory!"
With those harsh words, Bloodthroat led his subordinates and retreated from the valley without looking back.
Black Stone Hammer King scoffed, "What's the situation? Saying the fiercest words but being a coward?"
Mandy added, "I thought he was going to launch a direct attack. I didn't expect him to just leave like that. It's truly shameful!"
"Don't be careless!" Feng Zhong Mian warned. "There's not much time left today. He clearly won't launch an attack at this time."
White Crane Hermit nodded solemnly, "Tomorrow, there will likely be a decisive battle, determining whether Miracle City can annex Gloomy City and quickly rule the entire Gloomy Valley!"
The other Adventurers were all in high spirits.
"Holy crap!"
"No way."
"Are we going to develop the second city already? This speed is unmatched!"
"The Lord truly has great methods!"
"If Miracle City's troops directly attacked Gloomy City, the difficulty of this battle would increase by at least several times."
"This surprise attack with elite troops took Blackwind Pass in one fell swoop, attacked what the enemy must save, lured the Goblin main force out to duel with us, directly turned the tables, and greatly reduced the difficulty!"
"Awesome!"
"Will the Goblin Lord really come?"
"Blackwind Pass is equivalent to the gateway of Gloomy City. Whether it's counterattacking Miracle City or attempting to go out for reinforcements, this place must be cleared!"
"So he has to come!"
"We just need to be prepared to meet Gloomy City's attack!"
The more the Adventurers discussed, the more amazed they became. Lord Jack was truly an unfathomable genius of his generation!
Miracle City was established around ten days ago and had only been officially operational for about a week. Not only had it refined top-tier secret realms, but it had also made great progress in territory development. After the Adventurers reviewed each action under Lord Jack's leadership, they were surprised to find that Miracle City proceeded step by step, and every action was frighteningly precise and efficient!
Tomorrow is key. White Crane Hermit thought of this and became excited and emotional: "This old man has never heard of a territory that could develop a second city in such a short time. I hope Lord Jack can lead us to create this Miracle!"
"I think there's difficulty! Miracle City's military strength isn't enough!" Feng Zhong Mian said. "Gloomy City probably still has around a thousand combat power. Although we captured the pass and have a defensive advantage, the difference in combat power numbers is still too great."
"What are you afraid of?"
"Let's fight for it!"
"Let's work hard to farm soul crystals today!"
Black Stone Hammer King agreed, "Right, everyone unite. Today, collect all the soul crystals you've farmed and prepare for tomorrow's big battle!"
Luna Snow added, "Agreed. Once Miracle City successfully expands, it will be a great thing for us too!"
Pig King chimed in, "With a new core, we can not only build a second secret realm but also introduce more population!"
Mandy concluded, "We will definitely have a part in this development Miracle!"
"Let's work together!"
"Charge, charge, charge!"
The Adventurers reached a consensus to work hard without rest for the next two days, to farm more spirits for Miracle City, and to contribute a force to the expansion of this Underground City!
...
The battle ended, and Jack returned to the main city to summarize the gains. Miracle City's territory resource reserves before the war were:
- Soul Crystals: 3,177
- Mental Power: 6,054 points
- Material Essence: 0
Summoning Tanks and Trackers consumed a total of 600 soul crystals and Mental Power. In addition, recruiting one hundred and eighty mercenaries consumed 900 Mental Power and soul crystals. Resurrecting fallen contract soldiers cost an extra 90 Mental Power. Reactivating Black Bone Camp, activating the Blackwind Pass divine stone, and learning the Lord skill "Summoning," cumulatively consumed another 450 points of Mental Power.
Where there are expenses, there are also revenues:
- Income from Black Bone Camp: 585 soul crystals, 1,684 Material Essence
- Income from Blackwind Pass: 204 soul crystals, 918 Material Essence
Current reserves are:
- Soul Crystals: 2,466
- Mental Power: 4,014 points
- Material Essence: 2,269
Jack was very satisfied. This battle was a great success. Not only did he achieve a strategic victory in territory development, but he also earned back a large amount of Material Essence, allowing the territory to once again have construction capabilities!
Jack first built two arrow towers in Blackwind Pass. The first consumed 50 soul crystals, and the second consumed 100 soul crystals. This type of small stronghold can build a maximum of two arrow towers. Territory arrow towers are the most common and basic offensive defensive facilities. A first-tier tower is fifteen meters high, has an automatic heavy crossbow that fires every three seconds on average, and has a range of one hundred and twenty meters. Although its performance is weak in the long run, it is still a very useful facility in the early stage.
Although the deployment on the front line is important, the main city is the core of the Underground City. Jack always prioritizes building the main city. Only by building the main city well and expanding its scale further can more resources be produced and the territory have stronger competitiveness.
Miracle City's biggest problem is insufficient basic infrastructure, so there is a large space for expanding the territory's capacity, and various basic functions must also be completed as soon as possible.
To quickly build a territory, blueprints are of utmost importance. Currently, the acquisition channels are still too few. Either develop territory and seize land, opening blueprints from Chaos Treasure Chests, or intensively patrol the novice Lord market and post messages seeking to purchase blueprints, hoping to obtain useful ones.
Although these two channels can yield blueprints, what kind of blueprints are obtained depends entirely on luck. It's impossible to get whatever you lack or whatever you want. No way. You can't get fat with one bite. Any territory development has a gradual process.
If Jack wants better purchasing channels in a short time, the only way is to build a teleportation station to facilitate returning to the Lord City, where there are many offline trading markets. Although it will be much more expensive, there is a greater chance of buying urgently needed or rare items. The problem is that although a teleportation station is basic infrastructure, its construction cost is as high as 10,000 soul crystals. At this critical juncture, even with so many resources, it's better to build the territory to increase the population.
No choice. If he wants to buy blueprints, he can only browse the novice Lord market and try his luck. Although the market quality is a bit poor, common blueprints are not difficult to buy.
Jack had been intensively patrolling the novice market for several days and had also repeatedly called out in the chat channel to purchase. Finally, he found a decent blueprint that the territory greatly needed.
**[Blueprint: Tower of Refining]**, transaction price 1,200 soul crystals, construction cost: 800 soul crystals, 300 Material Essence, 300 Mental Power.
Thus, he had two blueprints in hand. The other was the Adventurer Guild blueprint that dropped in Blackwind Pass.
**[Blueprint: Adventurer Guild]**, construction cost: 700 soul crystals, 500 Material Essence, 100 Mental Power.
Currently, he only had 1,266 soul crystals left. Although both facilities are very practical, he could only choose to build one for now.
The functions of the Adventurer Guild need no further explanation. The Tower of Refining, on the other hand, is a crafting facility. To put it simply, it's a place for refining equipment. It can refine three types of equipment for the Underground City. The first type is regular general equipment, the second is monster soul artifacts customized for monster soldiers, and the third is Adventurer soul artifacts specifically for Adventurers.
However, as the current territory resources are not very abundant, it cannot immediately function effectively. Moreover, this type of facility does not significantly increase population capacity. Compared to the Adventurer Guild, it is less practical at this stage.
Jack decisively built the Adventurer Guild. With this, he could create more Package services for Adventurers, develop monster bestiaries, achievement systems, collection systems, ladder functions, etc., to further increase the fun during secret realm challenges and promote contribution and consumption.
Furthermore, the Adventurer Guild's class change function will enable Miracle City to have the ability to train foreign race Adventurers. And this is undoubtedly a very important long-term ability.
Thanks to the big boss Fafa Ah for the 10,000 reward and becoming a protector of this book. Also, thanks to the quiet bookworm and 08a for their rewards.
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