Chapter 274: The Art of Room Allocation

"Mentor, are you looking for me?"

"Xia Duo, what exactly is the situation over at the Mythallar ruins?"

What situation? Xia Duo was stunned. He saw Lord Aipusi fiddling with the Communication Magic Tool every day; if anyone said he hadn't contacted Niya, Xia Duo certainly wouldn't believe it.

"Mentor, I don't know much about the situation with the Mythallar either, only that Lord Aipusi is researching something," Xia Duo said cautiously.

"Xia Duo, it is my father I am asking about. How is he now?"

Although Niya's voice feigned composure, Xia Duo could still detect clear panic and unease. After all, she was just a young woman in her early twenties, and Xia Duo's tone softened considerably:

"Mentor, Lord Aipusi's state is not good. He is very irritable, as if he has accumulated boundless fury."

Niya fell silent. Combining the previous communications with her father and Xia Duo's description, she felt it highly likely that her father had confirmed the existence of the Plane Crystal but was unable to obtain it.

This judgment deepened the worry in Niya's heart. Before her father left, he had made a promise to her that he would definitely return before the Midsummer Festival, but with the current situation, that promise would likely not be fulfilled!

Although the Plane Crystal was important, it was not more important than her father. Niya did not want her father to take risks; once the Mythallar collapsed and attracted Elf Mages, it would be very difficult to resolve.

At this moment, Niya was incredibly dazed, completely forgetting about Xia Duo on the other end of the Communication Magic Tool.

"Mentor? Mentor?" Xia Duo called out twice, but there was no reply. Looking at the Communication Magic Tool again, it was still in a connected state.

Hmm, it was disconnected.

Xia Duo shook his head and put away the Communication Magic Tool; it was better for him to meddle less in such matters.

Over here, the people Laidun had called had already arrived one after another—

Territory residents, Slaves, the Langasi Dongzhi, as well as Qiaoqi's squad that had been guarding the perimeter of the camp, and the Jibu Squad that had not yet gone out to hunt beasts.

When these people arrived in front of the Altar, they consciously lined up according to their respective Working Groups. Although the formation was still a bit loose, compared to being a jumbled mess, this level of order was already quite good.

No one had asked them to do this, yet they did it anyway, which showed that order had already taken root in their hearts. Thinking of this, Xia Duo couldn't help but look at Laidun; if not for him, Xia Duo would have had much more trouble!

"Residents, do you see the wooden houses behind you? Tell me loudly, do you see them?"

"We see them!" the crowd shouted in unison.

"This is just the beginning. In the future, houses, livestock, land, women, Gold Coins, and even Magic—you will have them all!"

Xia Duo's gaze swept across the crowd. Every time he made a promise, the eyes of the crowd would brighten, only dimming slightly when he mentioned Magic.

It seemed his residents didn't believe he could bring them Magic, but Xia Duo's words were not spoken casually. There was not much of a threshold to becoming a Mage Apprentice, and one could even force-feed someone into becoming an Official Mage.

If these people could truly follow him and stand by him until the end, then what harm was there in promising them a little bit of Magic power!

"Kaide, step forward!"

A sturdy, honest-looking man in the crowd looked left and right, unable to believe that the Lord had actually called him, but he dared not show the slightest hesitation toward the Lord's command.

He took a few steps forward and arrived before Xia Duo.

Looking at the honest and sturdy appearance of the man before him, Xia Duo naturally would not judge a person by their appearance. He had been an Adventurer, a port porter, and was willing to follow him to this unknown land to pioneer.

He didn't think this person was truly that honest, but Xia Duo didn't look at what people thought, only at what they did. Since arriving at the Territory, this Kaide had always worked seriously and never slacked off in the slightest.

On Laidun's evaluation sheet, Kaide had nothing but "Excellent" marks. Since he was willing to work hard, Xia Duo naturally had to show some appreciation.

"Kaide, you have worked diligently and performed outstandingly. I hereby grant you this first wooden house in the name of Daxia! Additionally, I reward you with 10 pounds of dried meat and promote you to Working Group leader!"

Kaide fell to his knees with a thud, "Thank you, my Lord! Kaide swears to serve you to the death!"

"Get up! Let everyone take a good look at you! As long as you work seriously and obey orders, everything I said before will be realized, including Magic!"

After dismissing the crowd, Xia Duo kept Qiaoqi's squad behind. They were residents, but also Territory soldiers; compared to ordinary residents, they had fixed wages.

However, Xia Duo was still worried that they might have an imbalance in their mentality due to the housing issue, so he kept them behind to soothe them.

After the soldiers also left, Xia Duo called for Laidun and instructed: "Adjust the previous plan; build the barracks first."

"Yes, my Lord."

"As for my residence—" Xia Duo hesitated for a moment before making a decision, "I will have the Liyadun Chamber of Commerce find craftsmen from the Savile Territory to build it."

In fact, it wasn't just the craftsmen; even the materials would have to be bought from the Savile Territory and transported over. The only stone that could be quarried on a large scale near the Daxia Territory was at the place where they had cleared out the Goblins after first landing.

They couldn't reach that area yet, and besides, there would be many uses for stone in the future; one could never have too much, so buying ready-made materials this time was more convenient.

"By the way, arrange for two clever Slaves to follow Dongzhi. I promise that as long as they learn the Langasi method of training hunting dogs, I will promote them to official residents."

If he could avoid signing a Sacred Contract, it was better not to. In the end, Xia Duo still harbored concerns about Dongzhi, and since he had already entrusted that cooperative chamber of commerce to scour for Langasi people, Dongzhi's utility had suddenly diminished significantly.

All that remained was training the hunting dogs, but that wasn't something only Dongzhi could do. The Savile Territory had dog trainers, and besides, the Daxia Territory already had three Langasi Liequan and over a dozen local Savile hunting dogs.

Although the latter still needed more training, it was just about enough.

In this way, Dongzhi's greatest utility became dispensable, so why bind himself with a Sacred Contract!

Of course, if Dongzhi could train the Langasi Liequan, that would be another matter entirely.

Returning to the small tent, Xia Duo took out his Spellbook to continue researching 【Levitation】. Back when he was on the ship with Lord Aipusi, Xia Duo had already mastered the basics.

Over these past few days, he had also personally tried 【Levitation】. Generally speaking, this Spell was indeed very similar to the 【Flight】 he had envisioned, but the experience was too poor.

It could only move up and down at an extremely slow speed, and at most no higher than 10 meters.

However, in this book written by Lord Aipusi, "【Levitation】: From Beginner to Master," various Applications of 【Levitation】 were introduced, including its use as a simple substitute for 【Flight】.

One only needed to adjust certain Spell Elements of this Spell to achieve the most basic functions of 【Flight】, and it even provided a certain foundation for researching 【Flight】 in the future.

Of course, this step was not easy to achieve.

The reason a Spellbook was just a Spellbook and not a Learning Scroll was that a Spellbook only contained general ideas and very few examples of Spell Elements.

It did not have specific and complete Spell Elements!

Everything required Xia Duo to research it himself.