Jack received a notifications
[You have lost 'Black Bone Camp'!]
Miracle City lost an outpost. The divine stone there has been corrupted. It cannot be used unless it is recaptured and reactivated.
"That was quite fast!" he thought, though it wasn't unexpected.
The territory's forces are too few to defend all outposts. Black Bone Camp, lacking high strategic value, was tactically abandoned. Though not worth defending, it serves as excellent bait.
See? The fish took the bait.
Through the Lord's perspective, Jack saw approximately two hundred Goblin Warriors enter the camp—a considerable force. If they stayed in Gloomy City, they would pose a significant threat. But coming out of the fortified city makes them much easier to eliminate.
If they can be completely annihilated, Gloomy City will be severely crippled. This will be beneficial for the upcoming siege campaign.
However, the Raging Tide of the Chaos World is about to rise. It's highly probable there won't be any more battles today.
Jack nodded slightly: "That's good too. With one more day to prepare, my chances will be even greater."
The main city currently has fifty overnight Adventurers. If Maggot Eye attacks Red Rock Mountain or Red Claw Village, Jack can immediately form fifty mercenaries or combat forces, which is enough to defend the mine or Red Claw Village.
Repelling them is easy, but fighting an annihilation battle is not very realistic. Don't alert them yet. With one more day of preparation, the chance of complete annihilation will be much greater. This will both significantly weaken Gloomy City and yield a sum of soul crystals and materials through recovery.
Having only one 'Doomsday Frenzy' Secret Realm is far from enough for Miracle City. The most important task at this stage is to build a second Secret Realm and simultaneously open up more Adventurer towns to fully enhance the territory's development potential. Achieving this goal is not far off.
Jack withdrew his attention and began focusing on territory construction.
Currently, there are still quite a few resources available. Actually, to increase the scale of the Underground City, it's not necessary to build new structures. The Lord can achieve the goal of increasing population capacity by upgrading old facilities.
Among the many buildings in an Underground City, upgrading special buildings requires corresponding blueprints or items, while the territory's basic buildings have no such requirement, as long as there are enough materials on hand.
Jack upgraded the Mercenary House, Monster Camp, Soldier's House, and Warehouse.
Total consumption: 2400 soul crystals, 1000 spiritual power, 500 material essence.
Current resource inventory:
- Soul crystals: 735
- Spiritual power: 1589
- Material essence: 0
At the close of business today, spiritual power once reached a peak of 5521!
Jack spent a total of 2682 to build the third level and story chapters, 100 for stocking the Secret Realm Shop, 150 for contracting five new Adventurers, plus the 1000 for this upgrade, leaving only 1589.
Soul crystals are the largest expenditure during territory construction. However, there are also more income channels. Besides the most important Secret Realm output, they can also be obtained through war and treasure chests.
Furthermore, the territory itself has begun to generate income, such as the Adventurer's Inn and Secret Realm Shop. Although the current income share is not large, it can already cover miscellaneous expenses like territory Secret Realm crystals and territory divine stones.
The growth potential of this type of income is worth looking forward to as more supporting facilities are added in the future.
Currently, the most scarce resource is materials. The territory only had 486 materials, but this construction required 500. Jack had to purchase 14 portions from the Lord market at an average price of 3 soul crystals per portion to barely complete this round of construction.
If not for running out of materials, further construction could have been done.
It's clear that building a territory is not easy; the expenditure of various resources is too large. But all the effort is worth it.
This upgrade brought significant improvements to the territory. For example, a Tier 1 Mercenary House can only increase the Adventurer population by 25 and provide 30 Tier 1 mercenary slots.
After upgrading:
**[Mercenary House (Tier 2)]** can increase Adventurer population capacity by 60 and recruit 30 Tier 2 mercenaries or 150 Tier 1 mercenaries.
One Tier 2 unit is roughly equivalent to 5 Tier 1 units. Jack can recruit 30 Tier 2 mercenaries, choose to recruit 150 Tier 1 mercenaries, or combine them in any proportion, such as recruiting 10 Tier 2 mercenaries and 100 Tier 1 mercenaries.
Now there are Tier 2 Mercenary Houses, Soldier's Houses, and Monster Camps. Miracle City can now have Tier 2 combat power!
But the biggest problem is the lack of Tier 2 spirits!
Hopefully, the Adventurers will be more effective and clear the second level of the Tidal Secret Realm sooner!
After this wave of strengthening, the territory's capacity increased from 440 to 550, a jump of 110. The overall strength has grown significantly, and income tomorrow is expected to increase significantly as well.
After construction was completed, Jack summoned the little web administrator, Nancilia.
"What are the Adventurers doing?"
Although Black Bone Camp was taken back by the Goblins, the Adventurers were temporarily unaware since no immediate counterattack was launched, so Jack was curious about what they were doing.
"Reporting, Lord, most people are holding banquets at the Inn. Some are researching Secret Realm information and holding story and tactical discussion meetings. Additionally, several contracted Adventurers have gone out to explore the vicinity."
Adventurers do not completely die in the Chaos World. This is the confidence and reason why these guys are so unrestrained and fearless.
However, it's difficult to kill them completely. But that doesn't mean death is without cost. If they are not blessed by the territory's power and their main body is killed directly, it will loosen the contracted spirit, causing the fusion degree to drop significantly, which is what's called losing a large amount of experience. They will also be forced to exit the Chaos World, equivalent to disconnecting.
It is clear that the death penalty is not light, and Adventurers' main bodies are generally very weak. Generally, they don't casually run out to wander unless necessary.
The difference between contracted Adventurers and tourist Adventurers is that they get one free transformation opportunity through the Soldier's House, allowing them to transform into any existing spirit form. This is equivalent to having an extra life available every day.
With this benefit, Luna Snow, Violent Little Chicken, and others naturally couldn't sit still. They transformed into various troop types of the territory and voluntarily patrolled for Miracle City, hoping to kill some Dark Kind to earn merit. However, they failed to achieve any results due to lack of intelligence support.
This is a good opportunity...
Nancilia took the opportunity to report various intelligence about the Adventurers, especially mentioning the threat posed by White Crane Hermit.
"Black Stone Town has such a master?"
Jack's eyes lit up.
This so-called number one Adventurer of Black Stone Town had better be truly capable. Miracle City desperately needs a sufficiently strong expert to accelerate Secret Realm development. Otherwise, relying on these small fries and greenhorns, when will they be able to defeat the Tracker?
Without a doubt, this is not a bad thing. On the contrary, it's a great thing!
Nancilia, however, did not know Boss Jack's thoughts. As a spy, she had painstakingly gathered a lot of intelligence, including the Adventurers' ideas and tactics. At this moment, she hoped the Lord would come up with a solution.
This hidden elf girl cared more about the Underground City's operation than the Lord did.
Jack noticed this. It was a good sign, indicating that the other party had at least initially recognized Miracle City and was not far from being completely won over.
"It's fine, don't worry about it. As long as it complies with the rules, winning is their ability, and whatever they win is what they deserve. This Lord will never interfere, much less resort to petty tricks!"
Jack said resolutely, "Miracle City is not afraid of any fair competition. If we're even afraid of our own Adventurers, how can we become a great Underground City?"
Nancilia was stunned. She didn't expect this reaction.
She only felt that this young genius Lord possessed powerful confidence and magnanimity, like the scorching sun, making people admire him. It made her feel narrow-minded in comparison.
He is indeed someone worthy of trust and assistance. Although young, he already faintly possesses the aura of a great ruler!
However, Nancilia believed her worries were not unfounded. She had seen too many Underground Cities and deeply understood how terrifying Adventurers could be. This group looks harmless, but the number of Underground Cities driven to bankruptcy by Adventurers is likely greater than those destroyed by the Dark Kind!
Underestimating these people will lead to great losses!
But before she could say anything more, Jack continued.
"You've done well recently, but there are more and more Adventurers, and you can't handle it alone. This Lord will transfer five more gnomes to the Hall to help, and you will manage them!"
Jack waved his hand: "Alright, the city is about to open. Go prepare!"
"Yes..."
Nancilia walked out of the Territory Lord's Mansion feeling a bit depressed.
...
Half an hour later, Miracle City opened on time. Although the capacity increased to 550 people, it was still filled to capacity within a minute, unsurprisingly.
The number of Adventurers surged, and their proficiency also increased, making the average challenge time longer than before.
To prevent a shortage of crystals leading to insufficient harvesting of 'leeks,' Jack had increased them to eighty.
The number of people is growing too fast. It's estimated they will soon be insufficient again.
A Tier 1 Hall can generate a maximum of 100 Secret Realm crystals. Jack realized he must upgrade the Secret Realm Lobby as soon as possible or build a new one.
This is not easy, because the Secret Realm Lobby is among the basic buildings, and its construction cost and upgrade cost are among the highest.
In the end, it's a lack of resources! The territory's foundation is not yet solid. Spiritual power and soul crystals can be obtained through operation. Only materials can be obtained through the market, or through territory operation and development.
As the eager and ready Adventurers flooded into the Hall, Jack nodded with satisfaction, expecting them to perform better today!
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