[Lord's Wooden House]
[Level: 2]
[Bonus: Your territory has expanded by 100 meters. Within this range, the damage taken by your buildings is reduced by 20%. Invaders will be detected by your troops and automatically attacked.]
[Builder limit increased to: 10 people]
[New buildings unlocked: Quarry, Lumberyard, Catapult]
[Next upgrade required: 5 Energy Stones, Time required: 48 hours]
[Special Status: Divine Protection (Remaining time: 23:59:14)]
"I didn't expect there would be so many benefits from upgrading from level 1 to level 2!" Rudi carefully studied the rewards from the upgrade, unable to hide his joy.
When his eyes landed on the final line about the special status, Divine Protection from the system reward, he couldn't help but smile even wider.
"Being a Master Builder really makes a difference! I'm so much faster than the other players. All the achievement rewards are mine!" Rudi said, walking out of the wooden house and looking around. He wanted to check on the current situation of the Barbarians and see if there had been any changes.
He noticed that the five Barbarians who had been responsible for the construction were now glowing with a faint white light. They were all gazing up at the sky with expressions of prayer, as though seeking blessings from the gods.
When they saw Rudi come out, the five Barbarians immediately looked delighted and said, "Thank you, Master! We feel filled with strange energy now. It feels amazing!" To show off how much stronger they had become, they kept pounding their chests and roaring excitedly.
"That's right! We were exhausted just a moment ago, but now we feel completely revitalized, like we have endless energy!" The Barbarians eagerly shared their experiences.
Rudi smiled. "That's great." Since they were in such good condition, he could have the Barbarians continue working.
Now that he had just upgraded to a level 2 territory, there was a lot of new work to be done.
First, Rudi opened the building page.
[Build]
[Currently available for construction: Arrow Tower, Barracks]
[Quarry: 300 wood, 300 stone, Time required: 5 hours]
[Lumberyard: 300 wood, 300 stone, Time required: 5 hours]
[Catapult: 50 wood, 350 stone, Time required: 10 minutes]
Rudi glanced over the three new buildings. "The materials needed for the new buildings have increased, and the construction times are generally longer. Wait a second… why is the Catapult's construction time so short?"
Upon seeing the Catapult's construction time, Rudi was shocked—it only took 10 minutes. He immediately clicked on the description for more details.
[Catapult: A building designed for attacks, capable of throwing stones. Requires manual operation and reloading.]
After reading the description, Rudi understood. The Catapult was not like the Arrow Tower; it was more of a large weapon that required human operation after it was built. No wonder the construction time was so short.
However, after reviewing the three new buildings, Rudi didn't rush to start constructing them. Instead, he directed the Barbarians to build a new Barracks first.
"Understood, Master!" With the command received, the five Barbarians were full of energy. They immediately began their work, swinging their tools, and before long, a brand new Barracks appeared beside the old one.
Rudi chose to recruit 20 Barbarians and 20 Archers.
"Now that my Builder Limit has increased to 10, my development speed will be even faster," Rudi muttered while stroking his chin, thinking.
Once the soldiers were recruited, Rudi immediately selected the new Builders from the Barbarians.
After a Barbarian was chosen as a Builder, they would be equipped with the necessary construction tools.
Soon, five new Builders were ready, and Rudi nodded in satisfaction. "Now it's time to start building new structures."
"First, the Lumberyard and Quarry. Let's begin building them here." Rudi chose a location further away from the Barracks and his small wooden house for the two buildings.
The ten Barbarians immediately got to work with full energy.
It was at this moment that Rudi noticed something. Originally, the Lumberyard and Quarry on the construction page each required five hours to complete, but now the times had changed.
[Lumberyard, Quarry, Time Required: 90 minutes]
Rudi nodded to himself. "Just as I thought, the time needed for a building is calculated based on the number of Builders available."
With his Master Builder talent, the 90-minute construction time was reduced to just 9 minutes—blazing fast. Before long, the two brand-new factories stood before Rudi.
[Lumberyard: Greatly increases wood gathering efficiency. Place logs into the Lumberyard, and 1 log will generate 100 units of wood.]
[Quarry: Greatly increases stone gathering efficiency. Place raw stone into the Quarry, and 1 raw stone will generate 100 units of stone.]
Upon reading the descriptions of the two buildings, Rudi's eyes lit up. Previously, when his people chopped down a tree and hauled it back, they could only convert it into 10 units of wood, which was extremely inefficient.
Now, with these two factories, the efficiency was multiplied by ten, making everything much faster.
With the 20 newly recruited Barbarians, Rudi immediately gave his orders. "You, go to that forest over there, chop down trees, gather stones, and bring them back to the factories."
"Yes, Master!" The 20 Barbarians responded in unison, then got to work. They were still glowing with the divine protection aura, meaning they wouldn't feel any fatigue or hunger.
Rudi turned to the Archers. "Archers, follow them and ensure the Barbarians' safety. Keep them safe from any beasts." Rudi also assigned tasks to a group of archers. The Archers set off to join the Barbarians as guards.
Watching his group of soldiers march into the jungle, Rudi nodded in satisfaction. That forest now belonged to him.
"In a while, when the Barbarian King and Excelsior come back from their patrol, I'll have them include the forest in their patrol route as well," Rudi thought to himself.
Natural resources like forests were, of course, a form of wealth. They had to be fully brought under his control.
As for the ten builders in front of him, he certainly couldn't let them sit idle. So, Rudi ordered them to upgrade the two existing Barracks.
[Level 1 Barracks (Upgradeable)]
[Upgrade Cost: 200 wood, 200 stone, Time: 5 hours]
Rudi immediately set the Barbarians to work, while he himself took a break.
As the evening sun began to set, Rudi sat in a chair, gazing at the sunset over the sea, holding the leftover roast meat from earlier. His mind was free of any worries.
Behind him, his territory was steadily growing. The construction workers were busy, and the factories were constantly running.
A group of Barbarians was tirelessly hauling wood and stone, making countless trips back and forth between the forest and the factories.
Rudi felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him. "This is the life. This is what it feels like to live."
"Master! We're back!" Suddenly, the deep voice of the Barbarian King reached his ears.
Rudi stood up and turned around, seeing the Barbarian King and Excelsior approaching with a group of soldiers, all carrying quite a few spoils of the hunt.
After returning to the territory, the Barbarian King approached Rudi and began reporting. "Master, we've patrolled the entire five-kilometer radius. Along the way, we found quite a few game animals, and we also gathered some important intelligence."
The Barbarian King's tone was serious. His patrol had not only yielded prey from the journey but also included animals killed by the Level 2 Arrow Towers Rudi had placed in the jungle earlier.
"Oh?" Rudi's interest piqued immediately. "What kind of important intelligence did you find?"
The Barbarian King's next words made Rudi's heart skip a beat.
"We discovered a territory three kilometers away," the Barbarian King reported.
"What?" Upon hearing this, Rudi's expression turned serious in an instant. "Explain in detail." He wanted to know how the Barbarian King had identified that as a territory and not just some other randomly generated wooden house.
"Yes, Master. During the patrol, most areas within the five-kilometer radius were safe. However, we came across two significant findings." The Barbarian King paused for a moment.
"The first thing is, this island is incredibly large. We walked five kilometers inland, and it still seemed endless. We didn't dare go any further, so we turned back," the Barbarian King paused for a moment. He needed to take a moment to recall whether what he had seen was true.
"As for the second thing, as I mentioned, we discovered another territory," the Barbarian King said, looking at Rudi, waiting for his orders.
After listening to the report about the other lords reborn so nearly, Rudi fell into brief contemplation. The news brought back by the Barbarian King was unexpected.
"Another territory... Does this mean there are other players on the island? I thought I was the only one here." Rudi muttered to himself in his mind.