Chapter 308: The Second Wave of Construction, Major Building Projects (6000)

Liu Muxue observed Edward's drawing from the side, occasionally offering suggestions for modifications.

Soon, a brand-new layout of the territory appeared before the two of them.

Cao Xing took a look.

Compared to the original territory layout, it was a world of difference.

It was the same line of thought as Liu Muxue's.

The center of the entire territory was naturally the furnace and the Lords Manor, as well as the Pale Tree behind it.

Thus, Liu Muxue's idea was to use these two structures as the center and expand outwards.

Leaving neat streets and squares in the middle.

And a separate area was designated for the Lords Manor.

Then the second circle began with various buildings; here were various residential houses, the Tailor Shop, the Alchemy Workshop, and other structures.

Then came the third circle, which consisted of buildings with larger footprints like the Mage Tower, the Altar of Kings, and the Knight Hall; this area could also be used as a living zone.

The fourth circle contained the processing plants mentioned above, and various training grounds would be added later.

Interspersed within each circle of buildings were sentry towers, lighthouses, and so on.

Then it extended all the way to the outside, where there was a large open space, which served as a buffer zone.

The buffer zone was a place designed to prevent enemies from rushing into the territory and causing damage to the buildings within.

Although the probability of this happening was very small, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Beyond that was a circle of towering city walls, enclosing the entire territory.

After Cao Xing finished reading, he was very satisfied.

"Not bad, not bad. This is exactly how I envisioned the future territory!"

Although this was just a concept map.

To build it into this shape would still require a massive amount of time.

During this period, it would also consume a staggering amount of supplies.

Just paving the ground of the entire territory with a layer of brick flooring would be a significant project.

However, one step at a time; you have to eat a meal one bite at a time.

Cao Xing believed that with his speed of development, he would soon be able to achieve the look on this drawing.

Thinking of this, Cao Xing put away the concept map and then praised, "Edward, you did a good job."

"And Muxue, you were also excellent."

Upon hearing the praise, a gentle smile appeared on Liu Muxue's face.

And Cao Xing, after memorizing this drawing, began to issue orders:

"All mages in the Mage Towers, combat personnel in the training camps, and staff from the blacksmith shop and the Alchemy Workshop, stop what you are doing for now and come out."

Hearing Cao Xing's voice.

The blacksmith Harold, the witch Francesca, and even the pair of mature women who rarely went out, Xia Yanni and Elena, all walked out one after another.

They all stared with curious eyes at their Lord.

Harold stood next to his half-giant wife and asked suspiciously, "Lord, what happened?"

"Don't you need us to work anymore?"

Cao Xing's gaze swept over upon hearing this.

The dwarf blacksmith had a somewhat nervous expression on his face.

And the half-giant Putana next to him had a slightly protruding belly compared to a while ago.

The radiance of motherhood had also appeared on her face.

Cao Xing laughed, "Nothing, just changing the layout of the territory. It won't take long."

"You can continue working in a moment."

Harold relaxed upon hearing this.

Cao Xing continued, "Francesca, can you take me up into the sky? A height of about 50 meters will do."

Although he had the ability to fly himself, he still had use for the [Demon Transformation] state, so it was best to minimize the number of times he used it in front of the territory residents.

The witch before him pondered for a moment, her long eyelashes fluttering, then she nodded.

"I can."

As she spoke, she walked forward gracefully.

She was wearing the water-blue dress out of the two dresses Cao Xing had given her last night.

At this moment, Francesca had her dark hair draped over her back, like an elf walking out of the ocean.

Then, she extended a jade-white hand, gesturing for him to take it.

Cao Xing was stunned for a moment, "Uh, what is this?"

Francesca said indifferently, "Didn't you want me to take you up into the sky? If we don't make contact, my Forest Power cannot be applied to you."

Cao Xing understood after hearing this.

He grabbed the witch's delicate palm directly.

Francesca's body trembled slightly, seemingly a bit unaccustomed to it.

And Cao Xing, meanwhile, felt the soft and tender touch of the witch's palm.

A faint, herbal scent also wafted to the tip of his nose.

Francesca quickly adapted to the contact with Cao Xing.

Then, as the green Forest Power burst forth from her body.

The next moment, Cao Xing felt an invisible force appear under his feet, and his vision began to rise rapidly.

Because he had experience flying before, he didn't panic much.

Before long, this force carried him and stopped in the air at about 50 meters.

The witch tilted her head and asked, "Is this height okay?"

Cao Xing nodded, "It's fine. Next, you need to hold onto me tightly, don't drop me."

She pursed her reddish lips, seemingly feeling a bit speechless.

Cao Xing closed his eyes and sensed carefully.

Then, he felt the behemoth beneath the territory that was in a dormant state!

The next moment, he established a connection with it directly.

"Rumble!"

That giant vine instantly awakened.

Thousands of vines began to move underground like tentacles.

All the territory residents felt a strong vibration beneath their feet.

Their eyes were filled with confusion.

But they had a vague premonition that this vibration might be related to their Lord.

And at this moment, Cao Xing was still thinking in the air about how to proceed.

After all, expanding the territory sounded simple, but the amount of work involved was still very large.

And Cao Xing also had to place various buildings according to the plan on the drawing.

After pondering for a moment, Cao Xing had an idea.

"The first step is definitely to dismantle the city walls and expand outwards."

"Then gradually move the other buildings in the territory; once the space is cleared, there will be room to operate."

After determining the first step, his train of thought became much clearer.

Thus, Cao Xing began to take action.

"Rumble…"

Almost all the vines began to move, arriving beneath the soil of those intermediate city walls.

Under Cao Xing's control, these vines cut apart the [Intermediate Frost City Walls], each ten meters long, four meters high, and one meter wide.

Then they lifted all these city walls up.

"Boom! Rumble!"

A large number of vines carried the city walls and quickly arrived at an open space about 1.5 kilometers away from the furnace, then began to place them again.

The territory residents were completely stunned by the scene of city walls flying in the sky.

Old Mel sighed, "By the gods, am I dreaming? Can city walls fly?"

A woman in her forties or fifties nearby tugged on his beard, "Mr. Mel, do you feel pain?"

"Hiss! That hurts!"

Old Mel felt the pain instantly and exclaimed, "This is not a dream!"

"Heavens! This must be the great power of the Lord!"

"But, how is this kind of thing done?"

Old Mel's eyes were filled with intense astonishment!

On the field, everyone was completely shocked.

Juliette and Nive were fine, after all, they had already seen Cao Xing operate this once.

As for the others, they were completely in a daze, standing blankly on the spot.

Especially that group of earth mages; the earth was their faith and also their source of power.

With sufficient magic power, they could also manage to manipulate earth elements to move city walls.

However, to move dozens of them at once like Cao Xing, and to move them several kilometers away.

Even Tyren, as an honorary mage, could not do such a thing.

The old mage Tyren exclaimed, "The Lord is truly a miraculous existence."

"Even the Goddess of the Earth is assisting him."

In their eyes, this was a miraculous feat.

Then, everyone watched as Cao Xing moved all the city walls away.

Ten-plus minutes later.

A total of 312 city walls, each 10 meters long (excluding city gates), were all moved by Cao Xing.

According to the prototype on the map, they were reassembled together.

However, these city walls could only enclose a small area.

So Cao Xing still had to build 316 more city walls to completely encircle the two-kilometer-diameter territory.

"Very good, the first step of expansion is a success. Next are those arrow towers and sentry towers."

Cao Xing also followed the plan on the drawing and began to move the intermediate sentry towers, intermediate frost arrow towers, and so on, on a large scale.

After these buildings were moved.

He began to move the residential houses, Tailor Shop, and Alchemy Workshop, placing them in the second ring area.

Then the Mage Towers, Knight Hall, training barracks, and other buildings were placed in the third ring area.

Finally, those processing plants were placed in the outer area.

It took nearly 40 minutes.

Cao Xing finally finished moving everything.

At this moment, the territory looked a bit scattered, with many empty spaces.

It was quite different from the drawing.

But this was normal; after all, there weren't that many buildings in Cao Xing's territory, so it was impossible to fill such a large territory.

However, what came next was to start major construction projects and enter a crazy building mode.

First, build a large number of city walls, residential houses, and floor tiles in batches.

With the efforts of nearly two hundred staff members.

The future territory prototype on the drawing would soon be realized.

But before that, there was another problem in front of Cao Xing.

That was, to build so many buildings, the resources needed would definitely be astronomical!

Cao Xing mused, "I wonder if my resource reserves are enough."

He looked at his territory resources.

[Wood] * 247232

[Stone] * 493291

[Iron] * 67249

[Copper] * 33257

[Mithril] * 20639

[glacier shard] * 1132901

…

Cao Xing's face lit up with joy.

"Not bad, after so many days of resource mining, my territory resources have also reached an abundant level."

"These resources are completely enough to build over three hundred intermediate frost city walls."

"However, to pave the entire territory with stone floor tiles, the stone resources are not enough."

After all, one floor tile requires 2 stones to build, and Cao Xing's territory diameter is two kilometers, which is over three million square meters…

"Damn, I didn't know until I calculated it, but it's scary!"

"To pave the entire territory, at least a few million stones are needed!"

This was a terrifying number.

Cao Xing's stone reserves were not even a fraction of that.

"Damn, it seems I have to find a way to get a large batch of stones!"

Basic resources like stones were relatively easy to get; when mining various mineral caves, a large amount of stone would be mined along the way.

If it really didn't work, he would just wait for Harold to produce another batch of arrows, and then go to the trading market for a massive acquisition.

In fact, Cao Xing didn't need to pave the entire territory with floor tiles, except for the city center area.

The outer buffer zone could actually be sown with grass seeds to turn it into a lawn.

However, Cao Xing didn't think the lawn would be very durable.

Plus, with a slight case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, even if it meant consuming more resources, he wanted his territory to look a bit more comfortable.

Thinking of this, Cao Xing continued, "Alright, Francesca, take me down."

The witch nodded slightly.

She had been slightly surprised while up in the sky watching Cao Xing manipulate and relocate the plants below, but now she had regained her composure.

Then, the two of them slowly descended from the sky together.

At this moment, those territory residents, upon seeing Cao Xing, called out loudly one after another.

"Lord, your divine might is vast, like the power of a god!"

"Lord, your divine might is vast, like the power of a god!"

The next moment.

A large number of loyalty increases appeared.

[Because you displayed powerful strength, territory member: Malin is convinced, loyalty has increased. Current loyalty: 87]

[Because you displayed…]

…

The loyalty of those newly joined Earth Mages, Goblin laborers, and Centaurs all increased by a significant margin.

The loyalty of many Centaurs had already reached over 90.

Cao Xing smiled, knowing that it was the sight of him moving various buildings just now that had stunned these residents.

He announced, "As you can see, our territory has undergone great changes."

"Starting today, the territory will move toward a new stage of development."

"Now, I will begin to issue today's tasks."

Hearing this, everyone's expression turned serious, listening attentively.

"Da Zhuang."

The Arctic Person stepped forward, "Lord, I am here!"

Cao Xing ordered, "Today, you, San Zhuang, and Si Zhuang will take 60 Goblin laborers to that mine to extract resources."

"The other Goblin laborers will stay behind; I have other tasks to arrange."

"Do not waste resources like stone; bring it all back, as our territory construction will require a large amount of stone."

After hearing this, Da Zhuang immediately said respectfully, "Understood, Lord, we will do our best to mine that cave."

Cao Xing nodded slightly and continued, "Cao Yi."

This old man also walked out.

"Your task is very simple: lead the remaining Goblin laborers, as well as the other Tree Spirits and Humans, to fully focus on building Primary Walls, then upgrade them to Intermediate Walls, and finally upgrade them to Frost Walls."

"This will take a lot of time; even with nearly a hundred people, it is a huge project."

"So I don't require you to finish in a day or two, just build with all your might. Do you understand?"

Resident Cao Yi looked solemn and said respectfully, "Understood, Lord!"

"Du An."

"Lord, I am here!"

Cao Xing continued, "Your task is equally heavy."

"Today, except for Da Zhuang, San Zhuang, and Si Zhuang, all other Arctic People are under your command."

"You must first upgrade the Mage Tower to Intermediate, then go to the outer ring area of the territory to build an Archer Training Range."

"Also, upgrade the Alchemy Workshop to Advanced."

"These three buildings are the most important. Try to arrange for more Arctic People to work there; I need this completed in the shortest time possible."

"Besides that, you are to focus on manufacturing bluestone floor tiles and pave the entire ground of our territory."

Du An noted down each of the things Cao Xing ordered, then said respectfully, "Understood, Lord!"

Cao Xing nodded slightly.

By now, all the workers had tasks.

And for the remaining combat personnel, Cao Xing also had tasks for them.

"Kantor, Kandaer."

"Strong Lord, we are here!"

Cao Xing ordered, "Today, except for the Centaur Spear-Shield Cavalry who will train in the Knight Hall, you will lead the other Centaurs to patrol the area within twenty kilometers around the territory."

"If you encounter any resource points or special events along the way, record them and report to me."

The two Centaurs immediately replied, "Understood, Lord, leave it to us!"

Cao Xing nodded, "Everyone else, go do your training or work."

With those words, hundreds of people began to disperse like a tide.

Da Zhuang, San Zhuang, and Si Zhuang each led 20 Goblin laborers and sat in the driver's cabs of the [Transport Vehicles].

Those Goblin laborers also skillfully climbed into the carriages.

"Rumble!"

The energy cores of the three transport vehicles started up, and then they gradually drove outside the territory.

Cao Yi took nearly a hundred people and headed outside the territory to begin building the walls with all his might.

As for Du An, he followed Cao Xing's instructions and led the Arctic People to upgrade some territory buildings on a large scale.

The entire territory began a bustling state of development!

This was also the largest-scale construction Cao Xing had ever undertaken.

It could be said that the resources he had accumulated over the previous period would be rapidly consumed in the next few days.

But it was all worth it.

After all, resources are meant to be used; turning them into one's own strength is what matters most.

Just like [Balthazar's God Warrior Altar], this thing can consume a large amount of resources to massively increase the strength of warriors.

Back then, because of such altars, a chaotic era was opened.

Even the Six True Gods had to intervene to maintain world order, starting the Eternal War.

However, despite knowing the consequences, if others controlled such altars, they would still use them without hesitation.

After all, only holding power in one's own hands is what is most important.

He and Liu Muxue were walking side by side.

Liu Muxue spoke up, "A-Xing, besides this, there is another problem."

"We need to plan the territory's sewer system in advance. A civilized town must have a qualified underground system."

Cao Xing nodded, "I know about this problem, but all the workers have things to do right now, and the territory's resources are a bit insufficient."

"This will just have to wait until later to be solved."

After a pause, Cao Xing continued, "Muxue, you go rest first. I'm going to go see how our yaks are doing."

Liu Muxue nodded slightly and then returned to the Lords Cabin.

Cao Xing himself headed straight to the farm area.

Yesterday, he had brought back a large number of Cloud Yaks and Light Feather Chickens.

A day had passed, and he didn't know how they were doing.

A moment later, Cao Xing arrived at an open space in the outer ring area of the territory.

This was the future agricultural breeding area.

Not far away were two plots of good farmland that had been reclaimed previously, as well as a well.

In front were six [Intermediate Cow Sheds], arranged neatly together.

From outside, Cao Xing could hear the sounds of the cattle herd inside, as well as the noisy calls of the Light Feather Chickens.

"It seems these Light Feather Chickens still aren't willing to behave."

Shaking his head, Cao Xing decided to go find that flock of Light Feather Chickens later.

He pushed open the door to the middle cow shed first.

Waves of warm air mixed with the smell of hay rushed toward him.

Inside were a pair of figures working diligently.

It was none other than Old Mel and his daughter, Elisa.

This father-daughter pair was currently wearing aprons, placing a large amount of hay into the feeding troughs, mixed with a small amount of Moses grass.

The cattle herd inside was relatively quiet, seemingly quite fond of the living environment inside the cow shed.

Seeing Cao Xing come over, Old Mel wiped the sweat from his forehead, then bowed slightly and said, "Lord, may you be well."

"Lord, good morning!" Elisa also greeted from the side.

Cao Xing nodded slightly and then said, "Mr. Old Mel, are you a bit overwhelmed?"

Old Mel just wanted to say that he could handle it.

But with the situation right in front of him, he nodded somewhat embarrassedly.

"Lord, it's just that I'm old, and my body isn't what it used to be…"

"If I were young, taking care of hundreds of yaks by myself wouldn't be a problem…"

Elisa hurriedly said, "Lord, I will help my father, please don't worry."

Cao Xing smiled, "Elisa, you are now a combatant of our territory and will need to take on the territory's defense work next."

"I will send someone else to help your father."

Hearing this, Old Mel and Elisa exchanged a look.

The young girl asked suspiciously, "Lord, who are you sending to help my father?"

Cao Xing smiled, "It is Sihua."

Hearing the name Sihua, Old Mel's expression suddenly stiffened.

Before he could react, Cao Xing said.

"Come in."

Then, a woman in her forties or fifties, dressed in plain cotton clothes, walked in through the door.

Her face was very plain, and at first glance, she looked like the kind of woman who was very capable and pragmatic.

At this moment, she seemed a bit embarrassed, keeping her head down after entering the cow shed.

Sihua said softly, "Greetings, Lord, greetings Mr. Mel, and Miss Elisa…"

Cao Xing smiled, "Sihua, from now on, you will follow Mr. Mel to take care of the cattle herd."

"Understood, Lord…"

And at this moment, Old Mel seemed to have not yet come back to his senses.

He hurriedly said, "Wait a moment, Lord."

"This, this, this… isn't this inappropriate?"