Chapter 57: A very reliable ally

On the fifth day in Eldoria, after her bath, Alex walked naked to her bedroom, unconcerned about privacy since she was alone in the castle.She casually pulled on a loose white T-shirt, deciding to stay in for the evening. It was getting dark, and she didn't feel like changing again later.

Although she didn't wear a bra, she still wore something on the bottom. Alex casually put on a pair of cartoon underwear, and the length of the T-shirt perfectly covered it.

As evening approached, Alex received a private message. It was from Sophie.

[QuartzStriker]: "Big Shot, I've finished processing your iron ore and my own thousand iron ingots. Should I send them over now?"

Perfect timing! This meant Alex could upgrade her castle.

[Hamburger]: "Send them over now, thanks a lot."

[QuartzStriker]: "No need for thanks, we're allies after all."

Sophie's three thousand iron ingots were transferred instantly, two thousand from processing Alex's ores and a thousand from Sophie's reserves.

Alex owed her a big favor now, highlighting the benefits of having allies who could support each other.

Though Sophie's castle was far from being upgraded to a town and she could have stored the iron ingots in her warehouse, her willingness to lend such a significant amount to Alex showed deep trust.

Alex could have easily used up the iron ingots and ignored QuartzStriker, especially since they were already spent and couldn't be reclaimed.

But was that Alex's style?

Of course not. Alex was a girl of her word, not one to renege on promises.

"Sigh, now I need to think about how to repay [QuartzStriker]. I don't like owing favors."

[town upgrade requirements: 50k wood, 30k stone, 10k iron ingots.]

"Upgrade!"

The moment Alex pressed the upgrade button, a blue light surged through the castle. She hurried to the courtyard to see the transformation.

The castle had expanded significantly, growing from seven to twelve floors, and was now adorned with a faint blue glow that added a mysterious aura. This glow resembled the blue flames of the Shadowghast Knight and ghost dragon, suggesting that the castle's architectural style was becoming more aligned with her troops.

The castle was larger, and so was the courtyard, though the special buildings like the Blackwater Altar now occupied relatively less space.

"Wait, isn't it supposed to be a town now? Where are the other buildings?"

The castle gates were open, allowing Alex to see outside, but there was nothing there, just bare ground.

Alex had a sinking feeling and stepped outside to inspect the surroundings. The ground around the castle seemed to have been cleared by the system, devoid of any trees or rocks.

"Meow, they just left space, and I have to build the rest myself?"

[town level: lv1]

[Health Points: 80k (invincible)]

[town area: 2 square miles]

[Territory Area: 6 square miles]

[Feature: Within the territory, the Lord has the power to see everything, as well as to Disassemble and recycle at the Warehouse.]

[Special Buildings: Maiden's Wardrobe, Blackwater Altar, Bone Throne, Maiden's Bedroom, Specter Chandelier]

[Upgrade requirements: 80k wood, 40k stone, 12k iron ingots.]

Reviewing the information, Alex realized that the cleared areas were intentionally left for the town's territory. But as she was checking the town's details, the system popped up more notifications.

[Congratulations Lord on successfully upgrading your castle to a town, you receive two random special structure blueprints.]

[Congratulations Lord on unlocking the town-exclusive building: Portal of Transit.]

[Congratulations Lord on your castle's upgrade to a town, you may now draw a random ability related to your lineage.]

"Cool, what a pleasant surprise," Alex chuckled, pleased with the unexpected rewards.

"I knew it, upgrading to a town couldn't possibly come without any perks."

Was it only her who received special structure blueprints upon upgrading? Chi-Chi's castle was at level 5 and had no special buildings.

The overall strength hadn't increased much after upgrading to a town, but the accompanying perks were crucial.

Alex was curious about the exclusive building: Portal of Transit. The name suggested some unique features.

[town exclusive building: Portal of Transit]

[Building level: none]

[Feature: Constructs a two-way portal that allows free travel between the territories of the Lord's allies and subjects.]

[Building materials: 10k wood, 5k stone, 1k magic crystals.]

"Damn!" Alex was initially excited but realized it was just a portal, and it only worked if the other party had the same structure. It seemed like a waste of resources, probably a feature unlocked by all Lords upon upgrading to a town.

For now, Alex was likely one of the first Lords to upgrade to a town. Her allies were Sophie and her subject Chi-Chi, both far from upgrading their castles to towns, making the Portal of Transit currently useless.

Thankfully, the territory hadn'texpanded with the town upgrade, which would have brought her closer to dangerous areas like the Frostwind snowy mountain and the Dark Forest. With the newbie protection period ending soon, any expansion could have been risky.

....

First, claim the skill unlocked by upgrading the town—this is a great opportunity to get stronger!

Although Alex doesn't know what she'll draw, the abilities are too many and too mixed to have any clue. But Alex hopes it will be an advanced ability that allows her to fly. After all, as a subject, Chi-Chi can fly, and it wouldn't make sense if she, the boss, couldn't.

"Claim!"

[Congratulations Lord on successfully drawing dark magic (intermediate level).]

[It has been detected that Lord has already mastered dark magic (basic level), learning cost is halved, would you like to spend 50 magic crystals to learn it immediately?]

Pfft—

Alex spits blood, her fantasies harshly slapped by reality.

ϺѴᒪƎϺƤႸƦ.ϲՕƜ

What bad luck, drawing a skill she already mastered, and she was so full of expectation. She's also a bit confused about the ranking of the magic; previously, she wondered why her dark magic was basic level and her fire magic was intermediate. She thought it was because the magics were different, hence the different levels.

Now that she's drawn dark magic again, and it shows as intermediate, it means all magic categories are the same. However, one thing is certain, intermediate magic is definitely higher than third-level magic, because Alex's Undead Summoning Magic is third-level and didn't offer much of an upgrade.

In contrast, intermediate fire magic can be freely combined with dark magic, showing a clear difference.

"Learn."

[Congratulations Lord on mastering dark magic (intermediate level).] Sёarᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

This time Alex didn't even see what the magic book looked like, just like the last time she mastered intermediate fire magic, and there was nothing unusual about her body.

But her understanding of the dark element deepened, and several fixed skills appeared in her mind, making the use of magic more whimsical. She's no longer just a weak mage who can only use Black Flame Blast.

Dark Barrier: Uses dark energy to form a barrier, a defensive skill.

Dark Corrosion: Uses dark energy to create a large area of black poisonous fog, corroding enemies while also obscuring their vision, an auxiliary skill.

Dark Transference: Merges with the power of darkness, the body dissipates into black mist and reappears elsewhere, with a maximum distance of about 1 miles, similar to spatial teleportation but not as fast, basically, it's a blink, good for both offense and defense.

These are some of the feature skills, aside from the inherent offensive skills, Alex can even improvise. Now her magical abilities are more comprehensive, good for offense, defense, and support, and she can even wield a scythe for close combat.

Although she didn't learn to fly, being able to teleport is still pretty cool, definitely very cool.

Alex suddenly realizes that although it's the same old dark magic, it has directly boosted her combat level by several notches. Indeed, for Alex, dark magic is still a perfect fit.

She hopes the last two special structure blueprints will turn up something good.

Alex quickly pinched her breasts, even using both hands, having forgotten that this always brings her good luck.

"Claim two special structure blueprints!"

Alex frees one hand to click claim, while still pinching her breast with the other.

[Congratulations Lord on obtaining the special structure wall.]

[Congratulations Lord on obtaining the special structure defense tower.]

Wow!

Indeed, luck has improved, this really does bring good fortune.

The defense tower is an offensive special structure, and the wall is a defensive special structure, suddenly Alex's town is fully enhanced.

[special structure blueprint: wall]

[Building level: Commanding level (resources can be used to upgrade)]

[Feature: Commanding level defense]

[Building materials: 5k wood, 10k stone, 1k magic crystals, 5k iron ingots.]

The building materials are a bit expensive, especially since iron ingots are scarce, and the fact that this wall is upgradeable is the most outrageous part.

That means the wall won't be phased out as Alex's strength increases, but the upgrade materials will probably be difficult to manage, just building it requires a lot of materials.

It kind of reminds Alex of some games she used to play.

"Let's check the defense tower!"

[special structure blueprint: defense tower]

[Building level: Commanding level (grows with the castle crystal level)]

[Building limit: 20 towers]

[Feature: Connected to the castle core crystal, attacks enemies entering the territory with magic.]

[Building materials: 1k wood, 2k stone, 100 iron ingots, 1 Essence Shard.]

[Note: Can only be built on the wall.]

"Grows with the castle crystal level?"

"So, a level 1 town corresponds to a level 1 Commanding?"

This defense tower is nonsense, it can't be built without a wall, and building a wall requires five thousand iron ingots, creating a vicious cycle.

Sigh, it's really impossible to get iron ingots without being restricted everywhere.

Alex decides that she must find a way to produce iron ingots herself, although Sophie helps, her production is too low and not even enough for Sophie's own use.

Alex never counts on others, just struggling to find an effective way to produce iron ingots.

Suddenly unlocking three buildings, Alex's resources suddenly became tight. Stone and wood are also running low, and she needs to hurry up with the magic crystals.

[Blood Moon in the sky, darkness descends!]

"Ah, is it already night?"

She needs to hurry and have the undead hunt and gather resources. Arthur and the bone dragons' upgrades can't be neglected, hoping Arthur can smoothly level up to Commanding level tonight.

Another day, and after summoning the troops, she can go to sleep.

At this moment, the system notification sounds, Sophie suddenly sends Alex a message.

[QuartzStriker]: "Big Shot, do you have extra wild beast materials? Today I got another special structure blueprint, called the Blacksmith Shop, where dwarves can use it to make equipment, and it needs those wild beast materials."

Alex is silent again, really lucky, if those miscellaneous items can be used to make equipment, the profit in it would be huge.

[Hamburger]: "I have some, how much do you need?"

[QuartzStriker]: "One wild boar tusk and any animal fur can be made into a piece of ordinary equipment, according to the market price of Standard equipment one piece of ordinary equipment costs ten magic crystals, you give me two hundred pieces, consider it repayment for those one thousand iron ingots."

Two hundred pieces of materials made into equipment can sell for two thousand magic crystals, the market price of one thousand iron ingots is also about two thousand magic crystals, but they are priceless.

Actually, Alex is still getting a good deal, using two hundred pieces of miscellaneous items to offset one thousand iron ingots, not even counting Sophie's processing fee.

"Could it be that I saved the galaxy in my past life? QuartzStriker is truly a very reliable ally."