After seeing Steven off, Caleb finally had time to check the notifications on his interface:
*Ding!*
[Lord's Hall Lv3 construction completed! New facility 'Council Hall' unlocked! Existing facilities have been upgraded to match their corresponding levels!]
"Council Hall? What's that?"
Caleb tapped the relevant interface, and a detailed description immediately popped up:
[Council Hall: Communication facility. Once built, enables the use of the 'Friends' function within the Instance.]
"Friends function? As in… the ability to contact others?" Caleb raised an eyebrow.
If this function worked as he imagined, he could finally communicate with Terrence and Hatsumi…
After a brief consideration, he diverted a construction team to build the Council Hall. He then assigned idle teams to upgrade key structures like the Barracks and City Walls to Lv3.
Now at Lv3, his territory bore little resemblance to the desolate plot he'd first encountered.
Another notification caught his eye:
[Your territory's Reputation status has changed!
- Current status: Moderately Famous. (Under your wise leadership, your territory's prominence has grown! Taverns now have a significantly higher chance of spawning General-class NPCs.)]
Caleb paused. After swiftly delegating tasks, he headed straight for the tavern.
Pushing open the door, his eyes immediately locked onto a Pokémon with vivid crimson plumage amid the crowd of generic NPCs. It wore a coffee-brown cowboy hat, its massive frame comically squeezed into the cramped space.
Sensing the territory lord's presence, the creature tilted its head and fixed him with piercing scarlet eyes...
Caleb: "..."
He glanced up at the floating info panel:
[Ho-Oh (Special Pokémon): An extremely rare Pokémon. It runs around the world holding a camera (mistakenly). Enjoys traveling around the world. Legend says it brings good fortune wherever it goes. Non-combat NPC.]
[Recruit? Selecting 'Yes' will trigger dialogue!]
Caleb clicked Yes.
Ho-Oh adjusted its hat and spoke loftily: "So you're the ruler of this land?"
Caleb: "That's right."
Ho-Oh sniffed, wings crossed: "This place isn't entirely disagreeable. Since you're so eager, I'll reluctantly consent to stay!"
Caleb: 'This NPC's script is extra as heck…'
Suddenly, Ho-Oh leaned forward, its tone shifting: "But can you handle my appetite? I've got a legendary appetite!"
*Ding!*
[Ho-Oh's Gluttonous Trial triggered!]
[Objective: Prove your wealth by supplying Ho-Oh with 100 000 units of food within 60 minutes.]
[Reward: Special Pokémon
'100k food units?! Is this really Ho-Oh or just a Snorlax in disguise?!' Caleb was taken aback.
Grumbling aside, recruitment was still necessary.
While he didn't know the difference between a special Pokémon and a General-class Pokémon, the Ho-Oh's rank was up there, so it couldn't be that far behind.
After the trial was triggered, a submission panel popped up in front of the Ho-Oh:
[Task Completion: 0/100 000]
Caleb checked his food reserves. Previously at 80k, his food stores had plummeted to a measly 21k units after he upgraded the Lord's Hall to LV3 and constructed the Council Hall.
This meant he had to collect 79k Food units within one hour. For most players, this would be an impossible early-game hurdle. But Caleb wasn't 'most players'.
Each Lv2 Farm yielded 600 food units. With 20 plots and his Flower Planter title buff, hitting 100k within an hour was technically feasible.
After roughly calculating the time in his mind, Caleb ignored the gluttonous Ho-Oh and went directly to the farm area, then focused his efforts on the green wheat before him.. But just as he began frantically harvesting wheat...
*WOOOOO!*
'An enemy attack?' Caleb stood up and looked in the direction of the sound.
An alarm blared from the watchtower:
[Alert! Your territory will be attacked by the 'Ferry' territory in 3 minutes!]
"Ferry… It must be that Ewan guy from yesterday..." Caleb concluded calmly.
A sudden ripple of psychic energy permeated the atmosphere, and the next second, Mewtwo appeared out of thin air. Dragonite and Hydreigon followed closely behind, slowly descending from the sky next to Caleb, while Mimikyu and Celebi scurried to his side.
Lucario was the last to arrive.
At this moment, except for Tyranitar and Heatran, who were leading the gathering teams outside to collect resources, all other Pokémon immediately came before Caleb upon hearing the alarm.
Caleb looked up at Lucario. Before he could speak, Lucario, who had sensed the enemy attack in advance, shared the scene he had detected through Aura.
It was a group of Geodudes lined up in neat ranks, led by a Beedrill. Like soldiers in an ancient battle, they moved in unison through the mountain forest, carrying an imposing momentum as they advanced towards this direction.
The numbers weren't large, seemingly only around three hundred or so. They were probably the enemy's vanguard.
However, Ewan himself didn't seem to have come. Sending this group of Geodude seemed to be meant as a probe.
Caleb couldn't leave at the moment. He looked around at the Pokémon and asked, "Who wants to have a go at this?"
Hydreigon suddenly stirred restlessly, seeming eager for action.
Caleb immediately made a decision, "Then I'll leave it to you. Do your best!"
Among his six Pokémon, Hydreigon was the one most lacking in practical battle experience. Rather than letting Mewtwo go and easily wipe them out, it was better to let Hydreigon gain some experience.
Hearing this, Hydreigon immediately became excited: "Roar!"
He assigned Hydreigon a squadron of Lv2 Tauros from the barracks. Then, he opened the panel and mapped their route.
The Tauros filed out of the Barracks one after another. Led by Hydreigon, the stampeding herd charged forth like Genghis Khan's cavalry, ready to trample everything in their path.
Soon, Caleb received a battle notification:
*Ding!*
[Your forces are engaged in battle with 'Ferry'…]
Unfortunately, without accompanying his troops, Caleb couldn't spectate the battle.
However, this first encounter between the two sides soon concluded, and the corresponding notification promptly popped up:
*Ding!*
[Your team is victorious in battle!]
[Total enemies routed: 328!]
[Enemy General repelled: 1!]
[Casualties among your own units: 38! (recoverable at the Medical Tents)]