Ben woke up feeling well rested the pain he had felt over the last few days had faded leaving him now with a couple sore spots. As long as he didn't poke at the areas where he was struck by the bandit's sword he would not feel any real pain.
He quickly packed up his camp and made his way back to the road and activated Whirlwind Maneuver technique. Moving along at a faster speed now compared to the past few days of slow stealth traveling he began to eat up the miles.
He had passed small groups of merchants with guards along the way but didn't even bother to slow down and zipped right past them before they even realized he was approaching.
Ben just laughed to himself when he saw them over his shoulder stop after his passing trying to figure out what or who it was that just ran past them at such high speeds.
With the help of his Whirlwind Maneuver, he reached the wilderness frontier outskirts around noon. He had to now leave the road and make his own way toward the grassland he had marked from the information he had heard from the Inn's tavern patrons.
The road he had followed until now ran west, but from here it started turning toward the south at the place where he left the road. Using his map to continue west he left the road and entered the forest.
On his map, Ben could see scattered foothills running across the northern border of the hidden grassland prairie and further north of those foothills he could see large mountains that stretched toward the sky. There was plenty of small game shown on the map but there weren't any profound beasts in this area.
'Just as I thought this should be a great location for resources there is enough wood, stone, and game here to last a lifetime and there should be ore deposits in those northern mountains.'
There was small game running in between the trees and the area was clear of any hostile creatures. By following his map he easily traveled through the narrow section of the forest that bordered the eastern side of the open grassland. Ben had to pick his way through almost a mile of woods before he saw what appeared to be a clearing ahead.
Once he came out of this small strip of the woodlands onto the open grassland he made his way north to follow the foothills toward the west.
Ben came across occasional herds of grazing animals who to his surprise showed no fear of him. These animals had been isolated from human contact for generations so they did not look at Ben as something they should fear.
Instead of choosing to place his build zone down on the flat land were the herds of animals contently grazed, he instead went searching for a defendable location.
It would be much more convenient to build a fortress out on the flat grasslands, but it would also make it easier for large armies to surround and attack it from all sides.
He had always been fascinated by ancient castles on Earth which had been built on mountains, cliffs or even in the center of large man-made lakes. Using the land to increase a castle's defense was a brilliant strategy and even in the games, he played Ben often used the terrain to his advantage.
So he patiently continued along looking for a prime spot to build. He thought that finding a good spot might even take a couple of days to find, but this was not the case.
After zipping up and down the foothills with his Whirlwind Technique he came across a spot that made him stop to investigate it.
Looking out across the large valley west of him was a solid rock oblong shaped plateau. The plateaus surrounding sides were straight rock cliffs that rose up from the grasslands to tower forty feet high.
This plateau only had one narrow section about as wide as a modern street on the north side where it is possible to walk up to the plateau's flat top.
It seemed over the centuries that this small section of the cliff eroded away and collapsed to create a steep incline. Ben climbed this uneven incline of eroded rock and soil to reach the top of the plateau to find it was flat and covered in green grass.
With the help of the system, he learned the flat grassy area on top of this plateau was approximately 1100 yards by 800 yards. The top had an oblong circle shape like the base so these were the two furthest measurements.
From what he could see even after building walls there would be enough room to build a large town or small city up here.
Ben began to get excited, and even though he might find a better spot if he kept looking further west, but he liked how this place was only a few miles from the Aregard Kingdom's road and he could turn this plateau into a fortress that could be easily defended.
"System, how do I get started? I want to turn the top of this plateau here into a fortress." Ben asked the system with his thoughts as he surveyed the flat top of the plateau.
*Ding!* [The host must first choose a location for your Keep. The surrounding land for five miles in any direction around the constructed Keep will be designated as your build zone. As the system level increases so will the dimensions of your build zone allowing you to build further away from the current location.]
"I want to place my Keep in the direct center on top of this plateau then."
*Ding!* [Calculating location….. The system will now begin construction of the Keep. Time until final completion of the Keep 3 hours and 37 minutes.]
Ben had not begun to use spells so he had never used his Mana for anything, but he instinctively knew that a small portion of his Mana pool was just used. He asked the system what had just happened to him and how he could have lost Mana.
Apparently, the system had not explained it would need to use a tiny amount of his mana to cast a formation spell whenever he built a new structure. It only felt like 2-5 MP was used so it wasn't a big deal and it would quickly regenerate.
It did frustrate him a little that his system still continued to withhold information from him unless he specifically inquired about it though.
Directly in the center of the plateau not far from where he stood, Ben could just make out what looked to be a series of blue pulsing circles interconnected with one another. The circle layout was different but the way the formations all linked with one another they reminded him of the Olympics logo.
As he approached the circles he could see dozens of complex symbols and foreign runic type letters inside each of them. It was quite an intricate layout and before he could look over each circle in turn a blue glowing mist began to form and cover the formation.
This blue glowing mist quickly spread across the ground to form a huge square shape. Once this square shape was formed the blue glowing mist began to rise up from the ground to form a three-dimensional cube. This cube of blue mist continued to grow in height the longer Ben watched it.
"System, what is this square cube of blue glowing mist?" He curiously asked wondering what was happening.
*Ding!* [This is the accumulation of Mana and Qi from the surrounding area. As Mana and Qi is gathered by a temporary formation it will grow to form the structure's shape. When there is enough Mana and Qi present it will be used to construct a solid structure.]
"This is incredible by just using a couple MP points a solid structure can be constructed!"
"It seems I have a few hours to kill before this is built. There is no sense in standing around and watching the entire process." Ben speculated as he walked over near the plateau edge and sat down with his feet dangling over the cliff edge.
He began to cultivate to kill time and try to break through to the next stage.
Lost in the relaxing feeling of cultivation, he continued to circulate his Qi and broke through to the next stage a half an hour before the system informed him of the construction progress of his Keep.
[Notice] [You have advanced in cultivation! Cultivation Stage Two: Level One!]
[Notice] [The Keep has now been constructed. The system Building Menu has been unlocked. Additional buildings have also been unlocked.]
Ben closed his notices and stood up from the cliff edge of the plateau. When he turned around there was a solid looking stone block Keep that appeared to be about fifty feet high by fifty feet wide and it stood three stories tall.
He could see narrow slots spaced evenly around that seemed to function as windows and arrow slits on the second and third floors.
Now excited about having his first home in the new world he ran over and pushed opened the large thick wood doors that were wrapped with iron bands to make them resistant against battering.
The interior of each floor was completely empty and a wide open space greeted him with plain wood plank floors and a wide staircase along the right wall. The structure looked extremely solid, but it was just a basic shell of a building.
"System is it possible for me to add walls inside of this Keep so that I can make separate rooms?"
*Ding!* [The host can access the customization menu in the Building Menu. The customize menu will offer options to alter the Keeps interior or exterior. The walls, floors, and ceilings can all be changed. The host can even use materials and items available from Earth. Carpet, ceramics, paints, paneling and many other options can be purchased.]
Ben decided to take a look to see what was all available and was surprised to see he could even add electric lights and modern plumbing fixtures. There were electric lights, flushing toilets, sinks and much more available to him. He even found furniture from both worlds for sale in the System's Store.
'This is incredible, but it looks like I am going to need a significant amount of money. I should think about finding resources and securing this area before adding furniture or other luxuries.'
In his Build Menu, Ben found three buildings unlocked. A [Lumber Mill], [Stone Quarry] and [Warehouse] were now available to him.
He was told by the system that these three buildings were currently free, but if they were destroyed or if he wanted to place more, Ben would have to pay the cost listed in their descriptions.
Ben left the top of the plateau and walked toward the forest to the south. Once he was inside the treeline, he chose a small clearing to place his Lumber Mill.
The formation and blue glowing mist appeared on the build location to take the shape of a small building. The blue mist slowly dispersed to reveal the newly built Lumber Mill.
The Lumber Mill took fifteen minutes to be built and it appeared to be a small 10ft x 10ft stone block building that could not be entered. Ben walked completely around the new Lumber Mill and there wasn't a single door or window to be found on this damn building!
Ben frowned and said, "I don't understand how the hell am I supposed to use this building to make lumber?! There is no entrance for me or a worker to enter and it looks too small to hold any lumber over ten feet long inside of it!"
*Ding!* [All resource buildings are fueled by elemental infused Mana and Qi. The resource buildings and workshops will use a permanent formation to gather Qi and Mana to produce resources and items. The gathered Qi and Mana by this Lumber Mill is used to create units of wood planks. Even though, it only makes wood planks these planks can be altered or deconstructed during production or construction of items and structures to make any type of lumber required. Trees do not actually need to be cut down, but they can provide a higher concentration of rich elemental wood infused mana to the area that will help increase production of this Lumber Mill. If the host were to examine a wood plank produced by the Lumber Mill it will look like normal wood and can also be used like any normal wood, but it actually contains a high concentration of Mana and QI as well. This infused Mana and QI help to make the resources a higher quality. All structures and items constructed by your gathered resources will have a higher durability when compared to structures or items constructed with "hand gathered" resources due to the presence of the Mana and Qi.]
'Holy crap, this is some next level Philosopher's stone technology being used here! Not only can a building be created from Mana and Qi but these resource structures can make resource materials out of completely different substances?! My head is spinning just trying to figure out how all of this could even be done!'
Next, Ben left the forest and made his way north toward the mountains on the border of his building zone he placed his Stone Quarry on the side of the closest stone mountain. With the surrounding exposed stone mountains in the area, Ben figured it would be rich in the elemental Mana needed to create units of stone.
When he saw the Stone Quarry was up and running, Ben went back to his Keep and placed the unlocked Warehouse next to it. Since this would be the building that held all his resources he wanted to place it close by where it could be guarded.
After a half hour wait, he found the Warehouse was just like the resource buildings there wasn't any way to go inside the Warehouse!
The system explained he would need to use a menu provided by the Warehouse to view, add, or remove items from it.
When Ben examined the Warehouse's contents with the virtual Warehouse Menu, he could see that wood planks and stone blocks were being directly added to the Warehouse inventory.
'Huh? So...I don't even need to...transport the resources to this Warehouse? How do the resources just appear in the Warehouse inventory?'
*Ding!* [All structures that depend on resources to function will be directly linked to the Warehouse by using a space magic pocket dimension principle. Once the resources are created the Warehouse is remotely opened and everything is directly deposited into the Warehouse spatial dimension. The host can think of it as an unmovable Interspatial Ring.]
'That makes things much easier then, I guess I shouldn't even be surprised anymore. With this type of setup the resources should pile up in the Warehouse in no time.'
"Wait, are there Interspatial rings in this world or was that just an example from my stories from the System Programs?" Ben asked now realizing what he just heard.
*Ding!* [There are Interspatial Rings in this world and the host could even purchase them through the System Store, but they are not needed with the host's available inventory system.]
'I need to Keep an eye out later for enemies with those rings then. From the novels I have read the MC would always make a killing off of the loot found in a defeated cultivator's ring.'
While Ben was looking over the Warehouse interface menu details he saw [Warehouse level one] on the upper left corner of the interface and became curious about it.
'System, What does this mean by Warehouse level one? Does this mean these buildings are upgradable?'
Ben asked after having experienced this type of option from playing RTS games that allow the player to upgrade buildings for additional benefits.
*Ding!* [Almost every structure can be upgraded. When the host's building zone expands the Warehouse will need to be upgraded so that further outlying buildings can access it or you will be forced to build additional Warehouses. If a resource gathering building were to be upgraded it would improve it's formation so it could gather elemental mana in larger quantities allowing it to produce resources at a faster rate. If a farm has been upgraded it will grow crops at an accelerated rate or if a Blacksmith is upgraded it can produce even more parts and tools per hour along with an improvement in product quality. Each upgrade will provide a structure with an advanced version of its original formation.]
Ben clicked on the Warehouse upgrade button while the system explained how upgrades improved the buildings he could construct. Once the upgrade option was selected a window prompt asked him if he wanted to spend one hundred gold coins to upgrade the Warehouse to level two.
Since Ben needed every coin he had right now, he clicked the [NO] option and closed the Warehouse menu.
'This miserly gold coin grabbing system! Why is everything so damn expensive? I need to come up with a way to make a ton of gold coins to help me build this place up and to allow myself to grow stronger with the help of the System Store.'
Ben stopped complaining to himself and opened a new flashing notification.
[Notice] [The system has advanced a level! System Level 2!]
'It looks like the system leveled up after I placed down the Keep, Lumber Mill, Stone Quarry, and Warehouse. I'm sure it must've unlocked additional buildings in the Build Menu now that it has leveled up.'
Walking out toward the clear area surrounding the Keep, Ben looked at the large open area he had available to build on.
"Well, what should I do next?" He said smiling with his arms crossed in front of him.