Korby respectfully inquired.

"We will go in groups; it definitely won't delay the defense of the territory..."

Zong Shen looked up at the warriors who were as dirty as mud monkeys and found it amusing.

Everyone in the territory hadn't bathed for several days, especially those soldiers who joined earlier.

The battle rhythm in the territory is usually intense; every soldier has a clear schedule.

There is barely any personal time; even rinsing off at the creek is a luxury. Thinking of this, Zong Shen can understand them.

As a qualified Lord, in addition to arranging food and drink for the subjects, many aspects need to be considered, including bathing, which is a big problem.

However, he doesn't intend to share a relatively private place like the hot spring with the entire territory.

Once the hot spring is opened, even if a water rune purifies the water and allows for water circulation, the hot spring would instantly turn into mud.

It's not that he's stingy; it's a very realistic problem. A single hot spring cannot meet the bathing needs of the whole territory,

unless he can obtain the blueprints for a bathhouse or bathing facility. Otherwise, group bathing will always be a big problem. Compared to that, it's more convenient to wash in the creek now.

The creek is located between the frontline and the territory, belonging to a previously key-cleared area, relatively safe.

The water cellar in the territory is already filled with water, and the subjects drink water that's been settled in the cellar then boiled on a stove.

As a living water source, the creek flows constantly, allowing soldiers to bathe without concern.

Zong Shen waved generously, stating without hesitation.

"Go ahead, go ahead, just be careful when bathing."

"The monsters near the creek should all be pretty much cleared."

After receiving Zong Shen's permission, they cheered, bowed neatly to him.

Then, a group of warriors hummed a tune and headed north towards the creek.

Another group of warriors continued patrolling around the territory, waiting for the first group to finish washing and come to exchange with them.

Zong Shen walked into the hot spring cottage, had a comfortable soak.

Tonight, those who usually join him in the bath didn't come, making it less lively but somewhat quiet.

While soaking in the hot spring, Zong Shen scrolled through [Channel] for a bit.

He also chatted with Ah Ze; both brothers were night owls.

Zong Ze's strategy was similar to his, directly using walls, chevaux de frise, and road barriers to block the mountain path, also building simple structures as bait.

Every night, he must go out to actively hunt monsters, or else it feels like he's losing a lot.

The Rodok Empire he's in has more mountainous and hilly terrains, so the types of burrow monsters differ from Zong Shen's.

Mainly consisting of ghouls, thorned armor snakes, and these more flexible burrow monsters.

However, these monsters also create plague zones after they die.

Ah Ze's strength is quite good, combined with the defensive advantages of his territory in the mountains, facing the current burrow challenge is relatively easy.

After exchanging some conversation, Ah Ze suddenly found an excuse to end the chat, mumbling about wanting to rest, then hurriedly left the channel.

Zong Shen already guessed the reason for Ah Ze's abrupt departure.

"Alas, naughty brother has finally grown up."

Zong Shen rested his two-handed head behind, leisurely leaning against the edge of the hot spring pool, sighing somewhat nostalgically.

After soaking simply for over twenty minutes, he ended his hot spring journey for the night.

Lazily returned to the lord's courtyard to sleep deeply.

...

The next day, just past six in the morning.

Zong Shen's spirit was vibrant as he opened his eyes, waking naturally.

A dreamless night, making him sleep quite comfortably.

Today, his goal is equally clear, which is to take advantage while the burrow challenge pressure has not started to surge, thoroughly conquer the mine occupied by the spider web monsters.

Exploring ruins and developing the territory must be pursued with both hands, both must be strong.

After a simple wash downstairs, Zong Shen walked out of the lord's courtyard.

The farmers, under San Pang's arrangement, had already arrived outside the walls to begin gathering work.

Patrolling soldiers were also in place, wandering outside the territory.

Only those soldiers left by Zong Shen last night were still on standby within the territory.

But the Mages were nowhere to be seen.

Zong Shen casually found a wolf cavalry soldier exercising nearby.

The wolf cavalry soldier was shirtless, originally jogging along the lord's courtyard, but Zong Shen directly stopped him, prompting the soldier to hurriedly salute him.

"No need for formalities; do you know where the Mages have gone?"

"Did they go to the front line? Why aren't they in the territory?"

Zong Shen asked in slight confusion.

The wolf cavalry soldier wiped the sweat from his forehead and pointed towards a building to the east of the lord's courtyard; it was the Rare Level building, the Magic Hall, recently constructed by Zong Shen!

"The Mages went to the Magic Hall; they said they were going there for Meditation Cultivation."

Upon hearing the wolf cavalry soldier's words, Zong Shen suddenly realized, nodded, and flashed him a smile.

"Okay, I understand. Keep exercising."

The wolf cavalry soldier departed, and Zong Shen patted his own head.

These past two days have been so busy that I actually forgot about the Magic Hall.

If I'm not mistaken, inside, besides the Meditation Room for mages to practice meditation cultivation, there's also a Magic House that can randomly refresh a Magic Skill Book every 72 hours.

It's been over twenty hours since the construction was completed.

This made Zong Shen a bit frustrated; for someone like him who is focused on development, wasting this much time is no different than losing half his life.

"Damn, almost forgot a crucial matter, gotta draw a Skill Book quickly!"

Zong Shen hurriedly ran towards the east side of the courtyard.

The Magic Hall occupies five hundred square meters, not large in terms of building space, but its appearance is quite distinctive, consisting of a circular structure made of twelve stone pillars covered in magic runes.

It's probably over twelve meters high, resembling a round jar.

Zong Shen entered the Magic Hall, which was very quiet inside, and in the center of the hall, there's a small room known as the Magic Room.

The surroundings of the hall are meditation chambers shrouded in black cloth.

Zong Shen's target was clear; he quickly walked to the door of the Magic House.

He lifted the black curtain with his hand and stepped inside.

The Magic House was originally pitch black, but as soon as Zong Shen entered, it suddenly lit up.

Countless water-blue light dots appeared, giving him the illusion of being in a cosmic galaxy.

[(Click to draw magic skills)]

In front of him was a systematic subtitle.

Zong Shen chose to draw without hesitation.

The light curtain then dissipated, and the surrounding water-blue light dots began to converge, as if thousands of star rivers were condensing in front of him.

These light dots contained countless combinations, representing vast magical combinations, ultimately forming a Magic Skill Book in his hand.

Zong Shen focused on the Skill Book in his hand.

[Blood Nova (Undead Magic Tier Four)]

[Only Necromancers can learn, acquiring the skill Blood Nova lv1]

[Consumes 10% of current life value to release a Blood Nova, causing 0.6 times plus 10% of enemy's current life value as magic damage to all enemies within a 25-meter range, and applies a layer of Blood Taint effect to enemies, reducing their healing effect and life recovery effect by 20%, cooling time 1 hour]

[Wisdom Requirement: 30]

(An undead group damage magic, quite effective against large numbers of enemies)

This skill is undoubtedly meant for Tasuya.

After upgrades and enhancement pearls, Tasuya now has a wisdom of 38 points.

Fully meeting the learning requirements of this Skill Book.

Putting away the Skill Book, Zong Shen stood outside the Magic House.

He shouted towards the meditation chambers.

"Stop meditating and come out to assemble!"

Soon, the black curtains of each meditation chamber were lifted, and mages walked out one by one.

The time for meditation cultivation can be cumulative, and the meditation state can replace sleep.

These mages basically started meditation cultivation in the Magic Hall last night.

Upon hearing Zong Shen's call, they ended their meditation and walked out of the meditation chambers, gathering in front of Zong Shen.

"Tasuya, this Magic Skill Book is for you."

"Everyone else, gather at the courtyard entrance."

Zong Shen first handed the Magic Book to Tasuya, then instructed everyone to head to the courtyard entrance to stand by and await deployment.

Receiving the Skill Book, Tasuya's face was full of joyous smiles.

The once aloof Necromancer now looked like a little girl who received her favorite toy.

"Smooch!"

Holding the Skill Book, Tasuya planted a sweet kiss on Zong Shen's cheek to express her gratitude.

Tasuya's aloofness actually depends on the person.

With a pat on the Skill Book, it turned into a faint red light that entered her head.

Blood Nova lv1 was now officially mastered by her.

"Alright, go and gather."

Zong Shen smiled slightly, sending Tasuya off to assemble as well.

He walked behind, taking out the Communication Crystal, instructing San Pang to bring several farmers to the Lord's Courtyard to wait for him.

When Zong Shen reached the courtyard entrance, San Pang had already arrived outside the Lord's Courtyard with five farmers, bowing to Zong Shen and waiting for his orders.

Now within the territory, there are twenty-four houses arranged in two rows.

There were no grass huts anymore, so Zong Shen placed twelve grass huts beside those two rows of houses, instructing San Pang to lead people to build them.

After finishing the city construction, he went to the Market, as usual extracting 1200 units of wood and hemp, as well as 800 units of stone, and put 8 portions of [Moon Holy Water] up for sale again.

Then he took out the appropriate resources and had the Dwarf Uncle continue forging arrows and crossbow arrows.

Watching the busy figure of the Dwarf Uncle, Zong Shen planned to assign a few talented farmers as Blacksmith Apprentices to assist the Dwarf Uncle with forging tasks as the population of the territory further increased.

After handling the territory's trivial matters, he began to gather the forces at the courtyard entrance.

Today's goal was clear, which is to eliminate the Spider Web Monster Swarm and conquer the entire Mine area!

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