Lorelei left on the following morning...
The duration of 'Friends Out of Thin Air' was only 24 hours. Once the time was up, she was immediately sent back to her own world.
Initially, when the teleportation light shone on Lorelei, she hadn't reacted to what was happening. It wasn't until Caleb said goodbye to her that she realized she was about to leave.
Lorelei originally wanted to ask when they could meet again, but before she could say it, everything before her eyes vanished like a fleeting glint.
After seeing her off, Caleb continued to devote himself to the construction of the territory.
'Friends Out of Thin Air' had a 24-hour cooldown time, so he had to wait until tomorrow to summon a new support character.
After a whole night of effort by the ten villagers within his territory, the Level 1 Lord's Hall was officially completed...
The Lord's Hall was different from the residents' houses; it was one of the few facilities within the territory that players could enter.
The furnishings inside were also very simple, consisting of a table, a few chairs, a wooden cabinet for storing things, and a simple single wooden bed. It looked nothing like a Lord's Hall should, but instead resembled an old-style village council office.
Caleb stood in the hall, scrolling through the prompts that popped up on the panel:
*Ding!*
[Lord's Hall construction completed!]
[New facilities unlocked:
- City Wall lv1
- Watchtower lv1,
- Market lv1,
- Tavern lv1!..]
As the names implied, the City Wall was a structure used to defend against enemy attacks, protecting the territory from harm. It had a certain amount of durability, but if durability dropped to 0, the wall would be breached and become useless.
The Watchtower functioned like a sentry post. It was used to detect if enemies were attacking, allowing players to prepare countermeasures in advance.
The Market's function was to attract traveling merchants from various places to set up shop. Players could spend a certain amount of resource points to purchase special items from them, or exchange food for an equivalent amount of wood and stone resources.
As for the Tavern, it was used to attract wild General-level NPCs and some Pokémon NPCs with special abilities to come for a drink. Players could choose to recruit them and assign them to military units.
Similarly, they also possessed various buffs that could be applied to the soldiers under their command...
Just as Caleb was sitting in the Lord's Hall formulating today's plan, the butler, Meowth, came in from outside and said, "My lord, a few fellows would like to join our territory. Do you agree to let them join nyaa?"
The manpower in this village was insufficient, and Caleb would be thrilled if a few hundred wild Pokémon NPCs just showed up. So of course he will gladly agree.
Thinking this, he stood up and, led by Meowth, came to an open area outside the Lord's Hall.
Sure enough, the next moment, an inquiry prompt popped up:
[Will you accept these five villagers into your territory?]
Caleb ue remained silent for a moment. He looked at the five Pokémon before him; Charizard, Golduck, Arcanine, Haunter, and Rhyhorn...
'What a waste of talent!' He thought.
These Pokémon would be invaluable no matter where they were, yet now they could only be used to build houses and produce goods.
However, Caleb knew very well that these were just virtual NPCs created by the Infinite World, wearing a layer of Pokémon skin.
He readily agreed and dispatched the five to build the tavern.
The Pokémon in this Instance were divided into three main categories...
The first consisted of villager-level NPCs like Charizard, Golduck, and Bellossom, who could not fight. Their role was to help players build territory facilities and go out to gather resources.
The second consisted of military unit-level NPCs like Rattata and Pidgey, whose main role was to go out and attack other players' territories and defend the city.
The third consisted of those special NPCs with magical abilities, such as traveling merchants and General-level Pokémon that were fond of taverns and the like.
After assigning work to the five wild Pokémon, Caleb returned to the farm plots to farm resources...
He had already made plans for today, such as upgrading the Lord's Hall to Level 2, and getting the two functional facilities, the Tavern and the Market, built.
He had originally planned to build the city wall first, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough manpower.
There were those who mined stones, and those who were chopping wood. Not a single Pokémon was idle. Everything in the territory was developing vigorously.
Caleb himself wasn't idle either. For almost the entire morning, he was by the farm plots farming resources. Every time he farmed a hundred units, he would recruit 100 Rattatas through the barracks and send them off to mine stones.
He spent the entire morning filling the Level 1 barracks to its capacity of 5000 units.
Population was essential for development. These five thousand soldiers continuously left the territory and continuously brought back large amounts of resources from outside.
Remaining within the territory, Caleb poured all these resources into the construction of the territory.
Buildings sprang up one after another; Lumberyards, Mines, Walls, Markets, and Taverns sprouted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
And all of this was thanks to the Flower Planter title...
...
In the evening, Caleb stood in the center of the newly renovated village, surveying his surroundings with contentment.
After today's development, the Lord's Hall had successfully been upgraded to Level 2, and other facilities had also all unlocked their corresponding levels.
Compared to when he first arrived, the village had completely transformed...
A high fence surrounded the village, while fresh bluestone paved paths lined the interior, where the residents' homes stood in a neat, orderly arrangement.
Caleb walked over to the tavern used to recruit General-level Pokémon, but since the facility was newly-constructed, there was no one inside yet.
The market also seemed quite empty.
Meowth explained, "My lord, I've already spread the word. Tomorrow, there will be traveling merchants and powerful individuals coming to set up shop nyaa!"
"Mm." Caleb nodded, though he wasn't in a hurry.
If his guess was correct, his progress was already significantly ahead of the other players. After all, not everyone had the ability to farm unlimited food...
After a busy day, Caleb took a short walk with his Pokémon through the surrounding forest, taking the opportunity to survey the surrounding area.
Before going to sleep, he assigned the upgrade plans for the Level 2 barracks and Level 2 farm plots to the construction team.
He also checked the territory interface:
«Initial Territory (Unnamed)»
Territory Level: lv2
Lord: Caleb Chase
Reputation: 20
Population: 15
Food: 24500 units
Wood: 9100 units
Minerals:
- Stone: 8600 units
- Iron Ore (Undiscovered)
- Copper Ore (Undiscovered)
- Silver Ore (Undiscovered)
- Gold Ore (Undiscovered)
Barracks: Unlocked (lv1)
Medical Tents: Four buildings (lv1)
Farmland: 20 plots (lv1)
Mines: 10 sites (lv1)
Lumberyards: 10 sites (lv1)
Daily Food Consumption by Territory Residents: 150 units...
"Time for some shut-eye."
Caleb relaxed, placed his legs on Dragonite, tucked Celebi into his arms, then comfortably closed his eyes.
When he wakes up tomorrow, he could rush the territory to Level 3. Also, the cooldown for 'Friends Out of Thin Air" would also be over, and he could summon a new support character to chat with...