Watching the two bicker amusingly, Fang Hao also took note of this newcomer's ID.
Zhang Bin.
There was a stream near the Gnoll encampment.
From that recent battle, many of his skeletons had perished, and some of their bones had been swept away by the stream.
That must've been why Zhang Bin saw a ton of bones in his fishing net.
It also indicated that their territories were not far apart.
Of course, even if he didn't bury the bones, they would eventually disappear over time.
After all, this world had become digitized.
The army returned to camp in high spirits.
No need for manual sorting.
All different types of resources were sorted automatically and neatly stored in their respective places.
He ordered his skeletons to move the bed into the lord's wooden cabin.
The fur rugs and bedding were sent to the nearby river to be cleaned.
He then opened up the Manufacturing tab and summoned the Iron Axe Blueprint that he had just acquired.
"Iron Axe: 2 Iron, 2 Wood."
The requirements for making an iron axe were not high, but iron is a relatively scarce resource.
Luckily, he had acquired a small amount from wiping out the Gnoll camp.
The inventory showed 59 iron units.
Enough to craft an iron axe.
Production started immediately.
"100x Amplification triggered. Successfully crafted 808 Iron Axes."
"100x Amplification triggered. Successfully crafted 505 Stone Pickaxes."
Manual laboring skeletons had suffered some losses in the battle.
There were a bit more than 1,400 left.
Because the Undead's building requirements needed more stone than wood, he allocated more manpower to stone mining.
With the original remaining tools, along with the newly crafted stone pickaxes.
900 Labor Skeletons were assigned to mine stone.
500 equipped with iron axes were assigned to continue chopping wood.
The remaining iron axes were distributed to skeleton soldiers, replacing their stone axes.
With the increased number of skeleton soldiers, there was no longer a need for that many to patrol.
200 Skeleton soldiers were reassigned to move carts for transporting supplies.
That way, laboring Skeletons didn't need to ferry resources back and forth.
Saving time and increasing overall work efficiency.
After settling everything, all the Skeletons started their respective tasks according to the plan.
Fang Hao propped up a wooden pole.
The fur bedding recently washed was draped over it for drying. He looked forward to sleeping on a bed tonight.
Just thinking about it made him feel strangely content.
He moved the hay from the lord's house.
And threw them angrily into the warehouse.
A sense of triumph prevailed on his face, "I've got a bed now, I won't be needing you anymore!"
After busying himself for a while.
Fang Hao opened the Building tab again to examine the newly acquired Market Building Blueprint.
So... Is this Market for trading goods?
"Level 1 Market: 800 Wood, 500 Stone, 220 Hemp."
The basic resources needed for a level 1 Market weren't excessive.
All considered basic resources, there weren't any requirements for exotic or rare items.
Construct it!
A radiant light flashed, and a two-story wooden building appeared before his eyes.
Next to the small wooden building, a fenced area was set aside as a marketplace.
Before Fang Hao could explore the functionality of the new construction
The system message rang out again.
"Market construction complete, your Undead faction influence has reached 200. Do you accept the trading delegation from your region (Skeleton King-Odys) to set up shop in the Market?"
So that's how it is.
Trade between lords can be executed through the Book of Lords.
Similar to trading items in the game, irrespective of the distance, the traded items teleport directly into your storage once the trade is completed.
Currently, only the regional channel has been opened. Still, it is incredibly convenient and doesn't require any fees.
The appearance of the Market allows the earth lords who had traveled through time to trade with the native forces.
Not only did you have to construct a Market, but a certain level of influence was also required.
Fang Hao, being the first to upgrade his main city, was awarded a faction influence of 200.
Which just meets the requirement for the Undead faction's trading delegation to set up shop.
Accept!
There were no second thoughts. A trading delegation meant no danger.
"You accepted the request from the Skeleton King - Odys' trading delegation to set up shop. The Skeleton delegation's arrival countdown begins: 11 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds."
Following that, a desolate tombstone suddenly appeared in the fenced area within the Market. It emitted a faint green light.
The tombstone displayed a synchronized countdown.
"Damn, are they going to crawl out from there?"
It gave off an impression.
Like this delegation of skeletons isn't walking here. Instead, they are going to crawl up directly from this tomb in front of him.
Of course, he was just making a facetious remark and wasn't burdened by it.
After all, he had seen so many skeletons crawl out of tombs, and he wasn't afraid of it nor did he feel any sense of burden from it.
...
Not bothering with his own Market having a ticking countdown,
Fang Hao began to prepare dinner.
Although he'd gotten a cooking pot from the Gnoll encampment, Fang Hao had no desire to use it.
From the food scraps left by the Gnolls, he could tell these creatures also treated humans as food. Who knows how many people might've been cooked in that pot?
Meat is meat, after all. He decided to continue eating roasted meat.
He still lit the fire and continued preparing roasted meat.
At the same time, he opened the "regional channel", looking forward to a friendly chat with others to kill time.
"Damn it, I've had enough. These stone axes are like paper mache; they break after just a few uses."
"Yes, it's so troublesome having to remake them every time they break."
"Ah! What's the use of complaining? Better to save your energy and chop more wood."
Stone tools were not as durable as iron ones.
Iron tools withstood more use and rarely broke, while stone tools were consumable.
After chopping two or three trees, they would break and need to be remade.
Others don't have the luxury of Fang Hao's 100x amplification. It's very troublesome to craft one by one.
Just as everyone was expressing their discontent,
A message popped up.
"Selling Iron Axes. One Iron Axe for 8 Iron or 50 units of meat."
As soon as the message was sent, the chat room went abuzz.
"Gosh, that's a total rip-off - 50 units of meat! Is this a golden axe or what? Wouldn't it be faster just to rob people?"
"It's a tool for gathering resources; everyone will have it sooner or later. Why are you setting such a high price?"
"This is obviously taking advantage of everyone. Clearly, they are trying to rip people off in the early game."
"Bro, lower the price. Produce more and sell more!"
Everyone started criticizing him.
Indeed, even Fang Hao had the blueprint for the Iron Axe.
The ingredients required were 2 units of iron and 2 units of wood.
The resource requirement wasn't high.
This person wanted to exchange for 8 units of iron or fifty units of meat, which was no small amount.
Even though everyone needed an Iron Axe, no one would be willing to give up so much food for it.
Moreover, it was uncertain how many of them had this much reserve of iron and meat.
Facing the crowd's outrage, this person didn't back down.
"Buy it or don't buy it! If you can't afford it, others can! You all know very well how dangerous this world is; every second counts. The quicker you gather resources, the higher the chance you have of surviving. Think about whether to buy it or not!"
He spoke aggressively, but also factually.
Every day, some people died exploring the map and searching for food.
Luckily, lords still had seven days of protection. Otherwise, even more people would be dead by now.
Therefore, after he spoke, many remained silent.
The criticism noticeably died down.
Just as Fang Hao was enjoying the show,
A private message popped up.
Yao Liang!
The guy who was just selling Iron Axes.
"Fang Hao, are you there?"