Chapter 42: Castle Upgraded Straight to Level 10! Portals and City Wall Technology Unlocked!

A commotion rippled through the crowd below.

They stole cautious glances at Raistlin and the others.

The sheer presence of those three heroes was more convincing than anything John could have said.

The refugees dropped to their knees in unison.

"Thank you, Lord!"

"We’ll work hard and follow your orders!"

John nodded in satisfaction, then turned and tossed the Small Villa blueprint to Gru.

"Take this and arrange their accommodations."

After all, he had more than enough resources at the moment.

Gru caught the blueprint with both hands. The moment he looked at it, his eyes lit up.

"These are for us to live in?!"

"Yes. Get going."

Overjoyed, Gru immediately turned and ran off, calling for people to fetch materials from the warehouse as he went.

John remained where he was, watching as circles of light appeared across the open ground.

As rows of construction zones spread out, hundreds of small villas began to sprout from the ground like mushrooms after a rainstorm, rising at a visible speed.

White walls, dark tiled roofs, and little courtyards.

They were countless times better than the shabby tents these refugees had previously called home.

The refugees stared in stunned disbelief.

"Good heavens..."

"Are we really going to live in houses like these from now on?"

"This is wonderful..."

Just then, a ding sounded in front of John.

[Ding!]

[System Notification: Your territory’s population has reached 527!]

[Congratulations, Lord "Tyrant"! You have fulfilled the prerequisite for Castle Advancement: Population ≥ 200!]

[The Castle Advancement System has been unlocked!]

The corners of John’s mouth curled upward slightly.

Here it was.

This was precisely why he had been in such a hurry to bring so many native inhabitants back to his territory.

Population was the first major threshold for castle advancement.

He raised his hand and opened the castle interface.

[Current Castle Level: Lv.1 (Rampart Tier)]

[Castle HP: 1,000,000 / 1,000,000]

[Territorial Radius: 3 km]

[Upgradeable to: Lv.10]

[For Each Level Gained: Castle’s Maximum HP +20%; Territorial Radius +1 km]

The castle had to reach Level 10 before it could advance to the next tier.

In other words, it needed to advance from Rampart Tier to Vanguard Tier to unlock the next stage of development. Each advancement would unlock new technologies.

"Max it out."

John immediately selected the maximum level.

[Consumed: 50,000 gold coins, 50,000 Wood, and 50,000 Stone.]

[Castle upgraded to Lv.10!]

[Current Territorial Radius: 12 km!]

[Castle HP: 2,800,000 / 2,800,000]

In less than ten minutes, every stone wall within the castle began to rise.

The originally low ramparts suddenly grew to three times their previous height, while the walls themselves became thicker. The territory’s shadow expanded outward, extending its reach by another ten kilometers.

John didn’t pause. He immediately selected the next-tier advancement.

[Castle Advancement: Rampart Tier → Vanguard Tier]

[Advancement Cost: 100,000 of each basic resource, Spatial Stone ×1, Heart of Thorns ×1]

[Notice: Successful advancement will unlock two core technologies—]

The first icon lit up.

[Technology: Two-Way Portal]

[Effect: Allows a transportation hub to be constructed within the territory, establishing a bidirectional connection with the Lord’s Legion Space. Ordinary units under the Lord’s command can travel rapidly between the territory and Legion Space through the portal, enabling rapid reinforcements and defensive deployments on the battlefield.]

[Restriction: Heroes and Lords must consume exclusive Teleportation Tokens to use the portal. These tokens can be crafted using resources within the castle.]

John’s eyes lit up as he read the description.

This was incredibly important!

It meant that while he was fighting elsewhere, units stationed in his territory could be dispatched to his side at any time.

Likewise, if his territory came under a surprise attack, his troops could immediately return through the portal to defend it.

It truly lived up to the name of a mobile military base.

Immediately afterward, the second icon lit up as well.

[Technology: Basic City Wall]

[Effect: Automatically constructs a basic stone wall along the outer boundary of the current territorial radius. Each time the castle advances to a new major tier and reaches Lv.10, another defensive wall will automatically be added around the outer perimeter.]

[Description: City walls can be upgraded by consuming resources or evolved into higher-quality walls using special wall blueprints.]

John lowered his head and examined the map.

Within the enormous circle representing his territory’s twelve-kilometer radius, a gray-brown wall emerged from beneath the ground along the perimeter. It continued across the horizon before eventually enclosing the entire territory.

Although it was only a Basic City Wall for now, and its defensive value wasn’t particularly impressive, it was still significant.

At least it meant his territory would no longer be completely exposed whenever he went out to fight.

And as the castle advanced further, he could eventually install various defensive fortifications along the walls, providing another substantial improvement to his defenses.

"As for the advancement materials... Spatial Stone and Heart of Thorns..."

John rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

He already knew where he could obtain both materials.

It looked like he had something to do tomorrow.

Besides, he had plenty of resources at his disposal. As soon as he acquired the required materials, he could immediately proceed with the next upgrade.

What happened next was only natural.

John took out the Unit Altar Stones he had collected earlier.

One was for Fire Mage, and the other was for Swordsman.

Two Unit Altars crashed onto the ground on either side of the castle with a resounding BOOM!

[Ding! Unit Altar constructed! Available Unit: Undead Fire Mage (Six-Star)]

[Ding! Unit Altar constructed! Available Unit: Undead Swordsman (Six-Star)]

"Train five hundred of each. Assign the Fire Mages to Raistlin’s formation and the Swordsmen to Bladeborne’s."

As soon as John finished speaking, the units were assigned to their respective formations.

With the assistance of his 10,000× Acceleration talent, the entire process took only a few seconds.

[Ding! 500 Fire Mages have completed training! Assigned to Raistlin’s command!]

[Ding! 500 Swordsmen have completed training! Assigned to Bladeborne’s command!]

Raistlin looked at the five hundred newly recruited mages standing before him, dressed in red robes and holding fire-tipped staffs. He nodded in satisfaction.

Bladeborne, meanwhile, glanced at the five hundred lightly armored soldiers with swords hanging from their waists. He then turned his gaze away, looking rather displeased, as though he found them beneath his notice.

John paid no attention to either man’s reaction and continued with his preparations.

"Construct the Tower of Mist."

The moment he spoke, a gray stone tower appeared at the highest point of the castle.

[Ding! Tower of Mist construction complete!]

[Effect: War fog immediately envelops the entire territory. Vision within the territory remains unobstructed, while everything outside appears as a blanket of gray mist. No activity within the territory can be observed from the outside.]

As soon as the tower was completed, John gestured for Ophelia to go outside and take a look.

Through their shared vision, John could see what she saw.

Previously, he had still been able to observe the territory’s surroundings from her perspective.

Now, however, everything outside had become an indistinct expanse of gray, as though a sheet of frosted glass had been placed over the entire landscape. Nothing could be seen clearly.

Yet when he switched back to his own perspective, every house, every soldier, every villager, and every Resource Plot within his territory remained perfectly visible.

"Perfect."

Once everything was taken care of, John looked up at the system clock.

[Godfall Battlefield Standard Time: 23:29:41]

[Time Until the Third-Day Monster Siege: 30 minutes, 19 seconds]

[Newbie Protection Period Remaining: 1 hour, 28 minutes, 7 seconds]

John sat directly on the castle steps and watched the territory bustling with activity below, letting out a long breath of relief.