Doomsday Lord Ch. 26 | Upgrading the Settlement

Chéng Yáng spent his time anxiously awaiting the moment when he could be able to level up the Settlement. Every fifteen minutes he would take a break from hunting to go check the Soul Fragment count. Even though he knew it would be slightly more efficient to just spend the entire time farming, he couldn’t help but check it obsessively.

At 6:45 PM, when checked the Settlement’s system pane, there was a new button at the bottom of the Overview tab labelled “Upgrade”. When he saw that, Chéng Yáng’s heart filled with pride. He’d never heard of a group that had upgraded a Settlement to the Standard-Grade Village level in under forty-eight hours. His hard work had payed off, and it felt like he was truly making the most of his regression. After using Divine Grace, he would reach a height that in his previous life he’d only gotten to right before he died, and he would do it far in advance of anyone else.

Chéng Yáng didn’t hesitate to press the button. At that moment a message popped onto his system pane:

〈Congratulations, your Village has been elevated to Standard-Grade.〉
〈Please take the time to review the details of your Settlement.〉

Compared to when Chéng Yáng had claimed the Territory Altar, the theatrics were rather disappointing. There weren’t any bursts of light or automatic construction like back then.

Chéng Yáng immediately checked the updated information.

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Phoenix Village

Level: Standard-Grade Village
Soul Fragments: 34

Unique Buildings

Knight Class Statue (Standard-Grade)
Knights are durable front-line fighters with decent burst damage.

Mage Class Statue (Standard-Grade)
Mages are all-rounders that excel in protracted battles.

Ranger Class Statue (Standard-Grade)
Rangers are highly lethal ranged combatants with strong support capabilities.

Druid Class Statue (Standard-Grade)
Druids are fast and versatile summoners with a wide array of tricks.

Cleric Class Statue (Low-Grade)
Clerics are divine spell casters with a focus on healing and buffing.

Wall Segment (Low-Grade)
Ten meter long segment of a kilometer long circular wall centered on the Territory Altar with four gates and a watchtower every fifty meters.

Durability: 1000

Armor: 5

Available Buildings

Wall Segment (Standard-Grade)
Ten meter long segment of a five kilometer long circular wall centered on the Territory Altar with eight gates and a watchtower every fifty meters. Completing the wall will upgrade interior walls to match.

Durability: 2000	Armor: 10
Cost: 2 Wood

Cultivation Chamber (Low-Grade)
A single story building with furnished bedrooms and a central courtyard. The efficacy of Core Skills is increased by 13% when performed inside.

Durability: 500	Armor: 3
Cost: 10 Wood	Occupancy: 5

Cultivation Chamber (Standard-Grade)
A single story building with furnished bedrooms and a central courtyard. The efficacy of Core Skills is increased by 26% when performed inside. Cost is reduced by 50% when upgrading from a Low-Grade Cultivation Chamber.

Durability: 800	Armor: 5
Cost: 20 Wood	Occupancy: 8

Apothecary (Low-Grade)
A building with the facilities and supplies needed to brew potions, salves, and other alchemical goods, and learn the Alchemist and Botanist Professions. Has an attached shop that buys and sells potions. Potions up to the Inferior level are sold.

Durability: 800	Armor: 5
Cost: 100 Wood

Artisanery (Low-Grade)
A building with the facilities and supplies needed to carve and process wood, and learn the Woodworker and Logger Professions. Has an attached shop that wooden equipment and arrows. Equipment up to the Green-Bronze level is sold.

Durability: 800	Armor: 5
Cost: 100 Wood

Boutique (Low-Grade)
A building with the facilities and supplies needed to work with leather and cloth, and learn the skills for the Tailor and Tanner Professions. Has an attached shop that buys and sells cloth and leather equipment. Equipment up to the Green-Bronze level is sold.

Durability: 800	Armor: 5
Cost: 100 Wood

Grocery (Low-Grade)
A store where various cheap life necessities can be bought and sold.

Durability: 800	Armor: 5
Cost: 100 Wood

Silversmithy (Low-Grade)
A building with the facilities and supplies needed for the fine manipulation of valuable metals, and learn the Silversmith and Jeweler Professions. Has an attached shop that buys and sells jewelry equipment. Equipment up to the Green-Bronze level is sold.

Durability: 800	Armor: 5
Cost: 100 Wood

Smithy (Low-Grade)
A building with the facilities and supplies needed to forge metal and learn the Blacksmith and Miner Professions. Has an attached shop that buys and sells metal equipment. Equipment up to the Green-Bronze level is sold.

Durability: 800	Armor: 5
Cost: 100 Wood

Attributes

Lord’s Innate Ability
Cultivation Chamber effects increased by 30%

Fast Soldiers
Grants an Innate Ability to registered Players that increases Movement Speed by 20%

Upgrade Conditions

• 400 Registered Players
• 4 High-Grade Class Statues
• Construct the Apothecary, Artisanery, Boutique, Grocery, Silversmithy, and Smithy
• 10,000 Soul Fragments

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After upgrading, Phoenix Village gained access to a large variety of buildings. In addition to upgraded versions of the Wall Segments and Cultivation Chambers, the various stores were now available as well. Unfortunately, he could only look at them, not buy.

Until his subordinates collected enough wood from Huìmín, it would be difficult for him to gather the wood needed for all the new buildings. His only other option would be to buy Wood from the Artisanery in the Xiāngyáng Safe Zone.

The six stores were the main benefit of reaching the Standard-Grade Village level. Their construction marked the beginnings of an economy in the Settlement. The various good they sold would help the Citizens thrive and in the future almost everyone would have a dozen pieces o Green Bronze equipment.

Unfortunately the upgrade conditions for the stores were rather complex and difficult to achieve. Even if his Settlement reached the Pinnacle-Grade Village level there was no guarantee that any of the stores would reach Standard-Grade.

Thus, if you needed equipment with specific stats, or of a higher level, you either needed to try your luck in an Instance Dungeon, or hire a Professional to craft it for you.

Unlike the stores in the Safe Zones, those in a Settlement doubled as workshops where Players could learn Professions. The Attribute bonuses of equipment created by Players could be freely controlled and although it was time-consuming, reaching the level of creating Black Iron equipment wasn’t too difficult. Equipment created by a skilled Player could also exceed the normal limits of its grade. For example, Green Bronze equipment could provide three Attribute points instead of two.

In Chéng Yáng’s last life, anyone capable of crafting Purple Silver equipment was treated like a national treasure. Aside from Lord’s, they didn’t have to hold anyone else in their eyes and everyone would do their best to curry their favor.

That said, it wasn’t easy to raise the level of a Profession. It took an enormous amount of materials, time, and patience. Not everyone was capable of succeeding.

The only other change in the Settlement’s system pane was the addition of a new tab labelled “Management”. Here he could set a tax of up to 5% on all transactions conducted within the Settlement. He could also appoint Managers who had the power to control various aspects of the Settlement.

A Standard-Grade Village had three manager positions: a Player Resources Manager that controlled the Class Statues, Border Security Manager that controlled the wall and gates, and a Municipal Planning Manager that controlled any other buildings. Each one could be granted a wage of up to 100 Soul Fragments a day that were drawn from the Settlement’s reserves.

Upgrading the Settlement to the High-Grade Village level wouldn’t be easy. The Soul Fragments needed far exceeded everything that he had gathered over the last two days, not even to mention that there was a severe Wood shortage. Regardless, Chéng Yáng was very satisfied with the current Phoenix Village.

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