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"Are you the leader of the Yellow Tiger High School settlement?" Anya Zakharov asked, her eyes filled with curiosity as she approached Alex. "They say you can take down a boss with a single strike. Even though N-level resource bosses are slightly weakened due to their recent appearance, they still have at least two or three thousand health points. The Golden Crown Serpent, for instance, has C-level scale armor defense. Without a powerful weapon, you'd need to deal thousands of damage to defeat it in one hit."
Alex nodded, equally intrigued by the guide from another settlement. He casually summoned his weapon, the *Dusklight Blade*, and handed it over to her. "Does this count as a powerful weapon? Oh, and my damage output hit 5000 yesterday."
Despite preparing herself, Anya couldn't hide her shock at Alex's words. Her usually calm and mature demeanor faltered for a moment, making her look more like a surprised young girl. She instinctively took the purple blade from Alex, and when she saw that its quality was labeled *R+9*, she couldn't help but exclaim, "This is probably the strongest weapon we've seen so far!"
Returning the sword to Alex, Anya regained her composure and bowed slightly. "I agree to merge with your settlement. From now on, you'll be my leader. May I ask who your settlement's guide is?"
Alex, a little perplexed by her formal tone, sheathed his weapon and responded, "Our guide is Quinn Frost. Like you, he has wings on his back, but he wears a, uh, helmet. Also, what do you mean by 'leader'?"
Hearing Quinn's name, Anya seemed thoughtful for a moment. Then, seeing Alex's confusion, she smiled and explained, "By successfully capturing two resource points, you stand a very high chance of being elected as the first honorary lord when the Novice City is established. Naturally, that would make you our leader."
With Anya's explanation, Alex learned that capturing five resource points wasn't just a task for a single settlement. If five resource points within a city's vicinity were successfully captured by different settlements, they could choose to unite and build a Novice City together. Even settlements that hadn't managed to capture resource points could choose to join the city afterward.
Once the city was established, the guides of each resource-point-holding settlement would vote to elect an honorary lord. Since Alex's settlement, led by Quinn Frost, had captured two resource points, Quinn effectively held two votes, making Alex a strong contender for the position.
Realizing this, Alex chuckled to himself. Quinn had deliberately left out this information, likely to encourage Alex to keep capturing more resource points. But Alex didn't mind—he agreed with Quinn's approach. With his immense strength, capturing N-level resource points was not much of a challenge, and if the others in the settlement didn't know about the election, they'd be more motivated to push forward with him.
By nightfall, the Life Tree resource point had been successfully captured by the Yellow Tiger High School settlement. However, the massive tree didn't teleport back to the school like the Grizzly Mountain had. Instead, Alex received a system notification:
"Five nearby resource points have been successfully captured: Grizzly Mountain, Life Tree, Crescent Mine, Color Cotton Field, and Blueheart Garden. The capturing settlements are Yellow Tiger High School, Huangpu Reservoir, Chen Village, and East Sea Sports Arena. Would you like to collectively establish the first-level Novice City?"
Alex paused at the unexpected message. He hadn't anticipated that three other settlements nearby had already captured their resource points. Without much hesitation, he chose to proceed with the collective city-building effort. He had promised his team that capturing resource points was just the beginning, and building the Novice City with its revival pool would ensure everyone's safety.
"All settlements have chosen to collectively establish the first-level Novice City. The first Novice City in the East Sea region has been successfully established. Would you like to name it *East Sea City*?"
A few minutes later, a second system prompt confirmed that all settlements had agreed to build the city together. Relieved that the process had gone smoothly, Alex cast his vote in favor of the proposed name without overthinking it.
Soon after, the sensation of weightlessness washed over them again, signaling the successful transfer of the Life Tree. However, since they were still inside the tree, none of them could see what had happened outside. Curiosity overtook them, and everyone began to file out of the massive stone gate.
When they stepped outside, the sight before them left them speechless.
Clearly, this was no longer Yellow Tiger High School. In every direction stood fantastical, massive structures. Behind them loomed the Life Tree, and nearby was Grizzly Mountain, as well as a gleaming silver-white mound—likely the Crescent Mine. It was as if they had stepped into a magical world.
Apart from the three colossal landmarks, there were layers upon layers of buildings spread out in the distance. The architecture, with its ancient and exotic designs, clearly did not belong to this time—or even this world.
Even more astonishing was the sea of people cheering and celebrating. A rough estimate suggested that there were over ten thousand people gathered in the area. They were embracing each other in joy and relief. Many of these individuals had clearly just been revived.
Checking the system notifications, Liam and the others realized that three other settlements had indeed captured resource points and joined them in building the first Novice City in the East Sea region. The city had been officially named *East Sea City*.
Once East Sea City was established, the five resource points allowed for a city population cap of 150,000. Within moments, nearly 100,000 people had been revived at the revival pool, bringing the city's population to its maximum limit.
As tens of thousands of people reunited with loved ones, tears of joy flowed freely, and for a brief moment, it felt as though they had returned to the peaceful days before the "game" had begun.
However, the citywide announcement soon broke through the atmosphere of celebration, reminding everyone that they were still very much within the game's grasp:
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**City Announcement:** After a collective vote by the East Sea City Guide Association, Alex has been elected as the first honorary lord of East Sea City.
**City Announcement:** Yellow Tiger High School player Emily Carter, Huangpu Reservoir player Sean Gallagher, Chen Village player Marcus Chen, and East Sea Sports Arena player Noah Reyes have been appointed as members of the East Sea City Council.
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The booming city announcement temporarily dampened the mood of celebration, bringing everyone back to the reality of the situation. As predicted by Anya, Alex had indeed been elected as the first honorary lord of the city.
Emily Carter, who had been appointed to the city council, was someone Alex had personally recommended. The other three council members were likely the top contributors from their respective settlements.