Cheng Yang didnt just bring back food from Huimin but did everything possible to find wood as well. The wood brought back to Phoenix Village were all things such as uprooted trees, that needed to be carried back on the shoulders of the Warriors and Summoners.
Most of their energy was spent transporting these logs but by the end of the day, they were able to bring back forty sizable pieces of wood.
Compared with the villages meager income, Cheng Yang now had 1499 Experience Fragments. Even if he used eight times training speed tonight, he would still have over a thousand Experience Fragments left.
At the moment the village had over 800 Experience Fragments, a good portion of which was from people paying off their debts. The rest of it was from Lau Hui and Liu Hau killing the monsters within a kilometer of the walls.
Now Cheng Yang could only wait for the remaining 200 Experience Fragments to slowly accumulate.
In order to speed up the process, Cheng Yang took his territory outside the walls to hunt. Although it was already dark, as long as they brought torches they could still see alright. Even if they suffered a few wounds, with a priest on standby, there was no real danger.
At this time, Cheng Yangs team wasnt the only one hunting. Two other teams were as well. The last two teams remained in the village using the Meditation Halls to train.
More than four hours later, Cheng Yangs team returned to the village. When Cheng Yang opened up the territory system pane, he was pleasantly surprised to see that the village now had more than a thousand Experience Fragments. Cheng Yangs heart was filled with pride, in his past life, he had never heard of a group upgrading their village to Standard Grade in just two days.
After all, the speed at which you upgraded a village wasnt reliant on the number of people you had but rather the respawn rate of the monsters around you. Not only did Phoenix Village benefit from the high respawn rate at the beginning of the apocalypse but also had an instance dungeon within its limits. The combination of these two factors allowed it to upgrade in just two days.
Cheng Yang didnt hesitate to upgrade the village.
At that moment a voice resounded in his mind: Congratulations, your Phoenix territory has been elevated to Standard Grade. Please take the time to review the details of your upgraded territory.
Compared to when Cheng Yang had first acquired the territory, there was little fanfare. There werent any bursts of light or construction like last time.
Cheng Yang immediately opened the territory system pane from the Territory Altar.
Phoenix TerritoryLevel: Standard-Grade VillageExperience Fragments: 38
Owned Buildings
Available Buildings
Attributes
Upgrade Conditions
After upgrading, Phoenix Village gained several complex properties and a massive selection of buildings. In addition to better walls and Meditation Halls, there was a large number of Profession-related buildings as well. The amount of wood needed to build them meant Cheng Yang could only look but not buy.
Fortunately, he would soon have enough wood to build the Lumber Mill. After paying for a few people to become Loggers and buying them logging tools, he would be able to generate a steady flow of wood.
These new buildings were the real reason Cheng Yang was looking forward to upgrading the village. Each of the new buildings added were just as important as the class change statues. People would use these buildings to but potions, equipment, and food as well as gain Professions.
Whether it was a safe zone or a territory, you could only buy basic gear and goods from the shops. If you wanted something really good, you needed to clear a dungeon or rely on someone to make it. As long as you had a high enough level in your Profession and high-quality materials, you could create incredible goods.
In Cheng Yangs last life, there was a legendary Blacksmith capable of forging Black Iron equipment. Aside from the Lord of Phoenix Village, he didnt hold anyone in his eye and everyone did their best to curry his favor.
It wasnt easy to raise the level of a Profession. It took an enormous amount of materials, time. and patience. Not everyone was capable of succeeding as a crafter.
Now that he had the opportunity to allow people to gain Professions, he needed to gather the wood required to unlock them as fast as possible. If he could cultivate all kinds of top-level crafters, Phoenix Village would have no shortage of equipment.
Of course, the role of the NPCs in those buildings was not so simple. Their appearance represents the formation of an economy in the territory. The goods sold by them would help mankind flourish. Besides, as long as the transaction happens in a territory, 5% of the sale price is added as tax. Whether it was buying or selling, there was no exception.
These taxes werent collected by the Lord but were directly added to the territorys Experience Fragments.
In addition, Cheng Yang had gained a new privilege as the Lord called Manage.
It was a way to tax the citizens of Phoenix Village but the ability wasnt so simple. It also allowed Cheng Yang to appoint officials and pay them.
Right now, Cheng Yang could only appoint three officials. A manager for the class change statues, a manager for the buildings, and a Captain of the Guard.
These three officials could now be set by Cheng Yang and given a wage for their work. The exact wage is set by Cheng Yang himself, but the territory limited them to one hundred Experience Fragments per day.
Cheng Yang could also set a tax of 5% for all Experience Fragments gained within a kilometer of the walls. If this tax was imposed on Cheng Yang from the first day of the apocalypse, the territory would have gained an additional hundred Experience Fragments.
Upgrading the village again wouldnt be easy. Just upgrading all the class change statues to High Grade would take a long time. Gathering ten thousand Experience Fragments would not happen in a short amount of time.
Cheng Yang was very satisfied with his current progress. Not only was his upgrade speed fast but the coincidence of bringing an instance dungeon within the territorial limits meant he would continue to have an advantage even when others started to occupy territories.
Cheng Yang opened the Manage panel to set his officials.
There was no doubt in Cheng Yangs mind that Old Lee needed to be set as the manager for the class change statues. His Innate Ability would be incredibly useful since it would increase the number of Professionals with each class he could employ to sixty-five.