Ram felt like stepping from a single-player RPG style straight into a multiplayer strategy game.
The new interface now had a sleek, strategy-focused layout, displaying details such as Territory Resources, Building Status, Territory Population, and other lists of options related to his Lord's abilities.
[ Lord Name:
Ram
]
[ Lord Id:
W3^N2Q5
]
[ Race:
Human
]
[ Territory Name:
Sylvan Spirit Kingdom
]
[ Territory Level:
Tier 3 (same as lord)
]
[ Territory Quality:
Bronze (Primary Village)
]
[ Territory Core Durability:
???
]
[ Recruitable Troops:
Wood Spirits
]
[ Territorial population:
0/500
]
[ Territory Buildings:
Fountain of Life
]
[ Source energy:
0
]
[ Quality Upgrade Requirements:
Unknown
]
Ram's eyes drifted to Territory Buildings where an unfamiliar term popped up: Fountain of Life.
"Is there any Fountain of Life in my space? How did I not notice it?" he muttered, remembering the small spring he'd observed earlier.
"Wait, is this broken spring the Fountain of Life?" He looked at the small spring that was slowly absorbing Reiki beside him and used his spiritual eye to scan it.
[ Territory Building:
Fountain of Life
]
[ Level:
Zero Level
]
[ Spring Water Reserve:
0 units
]
[ Recovery Rate:
Restores 1 unit of spring water every 10 minutes
[Lord Zephyr]:
"Amara, you asshole! I dare any human to come and challenge me... I'll make them regret it!"
Soon enough, the chat channel exploded into a chaotic back-and-forth between lords like Zephyr, and lords from other races against many high-level humans rallying in Ram's support.
Laughter, taunts, and challenges lit up the channel, each more heated than the last. He watched as the chat channel changed from a calm exchange into a full-on debate.
Ram, the silent catalyst for this chaos, couldn't help but think, "What happened to the 'peaceful and harmonious' chat he'd seen moments before?"
Though he'd unintentionally sparked a regional skirmish, Ram wasn't bothered in the slightest.
Instead, he chuckled as a series of pleasant notifications popped up at the corner of his panel:
[System Prompt:
Congratulations, Lord Sylvan, you received a gift pack from Lord Amara.
]
[System Prompt:
Congratulations, Lord Sylvan, you received a gift pack from Lord Lilia.
]
[System Prompt:
Congratulations, Lord Sylvan, you received a gift pack from Lord NightShade.
]
Ram felt grateful and wanted to send a quick thank-you note. But as he tried, another message flashed on his screen:
[System Alert:
Each message requires 1 point of source energy. Current balance: 0 source energy.
]
His brow furrowed slightly. It seemed he couldn't communicate freely here until he gathered source energy, and even sending a simple thank-you would have to wait.
However, he looked at those high-level lords in the chat channel, each sending out countless messages, it was undeniable that he felt a twinge of envy.
But he just laughed, undeterred by those monster lords and other races, he returned his focus to the other features in the Lord's Panel, silently grateful for the gift packs.
These gifts might just give him the resources he needed to get his territory off to a strong start—and eventually, he'd be able to give a proper thanks.
So far Ram received twelve gifts from different people, he didn't even know who they were, but he kept the names of each one of them in his mind, he then opened those gifts one by one with some excitement.
One by one, system prompts filled his vision, each notification adding a layer of anticipation.
[System Prompt:
Congratulations, you received Source Energy *1
]
[System Prompt:
Congratulations, you received Low-Grade Recruitment Cards *10
]
[System Prompt:
Congratulations, you received Source Energy *1
]
The gifts alternated between Source Energy and Low-Grade Recruitment Cards, totaling 4 Source Points and 80 Recruitment Cards by the end.
While he was still six points short of what was needed for teleportation, Ram's attention shifted to the Recruitment Cards. He pulled up their description, curious to see what they were capable of.
[Item:
Recruitment Card
]
[Grade:
Tier 3
]
[Description:
Allows Lords to recruit creatures below Tier 3. Creatures recruited will automatically gain minimum allegiance to the lord. Each can only recruit a single creature, which will serve and fight under the lord's command.
]
[Notes:
Success rate depends on the target creature's willpower and resistance. Recruitment is instant if the target creature is willing.
]
Ram grinned, he pondered about the recruitment cards in his hand and the cavemen tribe in the void space. "Haha, perfect! Just what I needed." The recruitment cards seemed like a gift that perfectly suited for his current need.
"Eighty cards aren't nearly enough... there were more than six thousand cavemen with Korrin." Ram also considered directly absorbing the cavemen into his space, it should be able to hold more than six thousand, but he wasn't sure if that would work.
His Lord's panel only listed Wood Spirits as recruitable troops, which likely meant any creature not officially recruited wouldn't be recognized by the territory.
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Ram decided he'd test the cards on a few of the cavemen, preferably on Korrin and other Half-Drow cavemen first, and think about other cavemen later.