Jack examined the core of Gloomy City before him. All Underground City cores looked similar, appearing as gravity-defying, colorful divine stones from the outside. Territory cores are non-physical entities, meaning only the Lord can access and operate them.
He activated the Gloomy City core to perform the final cleanup.
**[You are recycling the Alien facilities of Gloomy City. Do you wish to continue? Yes/No.]**
There were still a large number of Dark Kind buildings, formations, traps, and various transcendent facilities left inside and outside the city. Jack's territory couldn't use these items, and they might pose security risks, so they needed to be dealt with immediately. Recycling them could yield a significant amount of materials.
**[Recycling successful!]**
**[Tier 1 Material Essence +8000!]**
The entire city became spacious and open. The large amount of Material Essence was enough to support the territory's future development.
"Lord!" Wind in Sleep ran over to report, "According to your request, all captured Aliens have been rescued and gathered together."
Jack arrived at the scene. Thousands of native inhabitants of the Chaos Continent were densely packed together. Even without the Lord's instructions, the Adventurers knew the importance of these captives.
Miracle City was developing too quickly. Not only was its territory constantly expanding, but the number of Adventurers was also surging. Various positions, areas, and production aspects all required a large population.
However, currently, the territory only had a few dozen citizens. How could such a small number of people possibly serve nearly a thousand Adventurers? Understanding this, the Adventurers immediately rescued these people who had been enslaved by the Dark Kind, transferring them to a safe area and ensuring they remained firmly under control.
If the territory could absorb these population resources, Miracle City would become even more vibrant, and Adventurers would be able to enjoy better and more comprehensive services!
Jack asked, "What is the total number?"
White Crane Hermit replied, "There are a total of 3023 people, over ninety-five percent of whom are Gnomes."
Gnomes are docile and very common. They are one of the most suitable races to train as servants or laborers. Goblins were already at the bottom of the ten thousand races on the Chaos Continent; there weren't many lower-ranked races that could be enslaved on a large scale.
Of course, although Gnomes made up the vast majority, there were also several dozen individuals from different races, including Flower Fairies, Dwarves, Kobolds, and others. Flower Fairies are a type of pixie or fairy, smaller than Gnomes, usually with sweet and beautiful appearances that fit human aesthetics. Their main feature is a pair of translucent butterfly wings, giving them some ability to fly, but their strength is often very weak. This race is not very common on the Chaos Continent, with the Eternal Night Great Forest being one of their main habitats.
As for Dwarves and Kobolds, they are very common races on the continent. Jack knew that these Aliens enslaved by Gloomy City were the original inhabitants of the tribes near Gloomy Valley, and they would be of great use, serving as a bridge for communication between Miracle City and these local forces.
A lawful Lord's territory will continuously advance in rank during the expansion process. Jack's territory was originally Tier 1. After annexing Gloomy City and establishing the first-tier main city, the territory's rank would automatically upgrade to Tier 2.
Gloomy Valley was originally a Tier 1 area. At this point, the Tier 2 Underground City "Thunder City," located in Thunder Marsh, could only send Tier 1 combat power to attack Gloomy Valley, which was too restrictive and made it difficult to launch effective assaults.
When the territory breaks through and becomes a Tier 2 area, the regional barrier will disappear. Gloomy Valley and Thunder Marsh will become parallel areas and merge into one. If Thunder City wants to attack Miracle City, there will be no restrictions on fighting away from home, and a life-and-death struggle will be almost unavoidable.
However, there's no need to worry about this yet. Jack has only occupied Gloomy City; he hasn't formally built the city yet. Only when the city is built to a certain scale will it be considered formally established and trigger the territory upgrade.
There is a buffer period of at most fifteen days. During this time, as long as he doesn't actively break through, Gloomy Valley will still abide by Tier 1 territory rules. For Jack and Miracle City, having fifteen days as a buffer period is very ample. He can slowly prepare for construction and development.
Of course, not breaking through the territory is not without disadvantages. For example, the territory will not be able to open new Adventurer towns. Fortunately, the flow of Adventurers in Black Stone Town is currently sufficient for Miracle City.
Returning to these Aliens, they are not Dark Kind but forces native to Gloomy Valley. Jack could initiate expansion simply and brutally with military force, but for him, this was not the only option and could even be considered the worst.
Sometimes, outputting soft power through cultural victory that permeates silently—this kind of spiritual conquest is often more effective than direct conquest. Fighting and killing? How boring! Regardless of whether you are Elves, Dwarves, or whatever, isn't it much better to come to Miracle City and play games?
Jack planned ahead, laying the groundwork. The dozens of captured Alien citizens from nearby areas could serve as a bridge for communication between Miracle City and the various tribes.
When Jack appeared before them, these indigenous servants immediately realized that he was the new master of Gloomy Valley and the Lord who had defeated Bloodthroat. This battle was fought very quickly and seemed simply incredible. The Dark Goblins didn't even have a chance to act desperately. This also allowed them to narrowly escape death, and at this moment, they were grateful towards the Lord. They also clearly understood the survival rules of this world.
Although there was a language barrier, they could still express themselves through action. Thousands of people uniformly knelt before the human Lord to show their submission. They were originally servants enslaved by Gloomy City and had no right to demand freedom from their new master. Compared to being enslaved by a tyrannical and cruel Dark Lord, pledging allegiance to a lawful Lord representing the human faction was a better choice.
**[3023 Alien servants of Gloomy City have sworn allegiance to you. Do you accept?]**
Jack was very satisfied with this large-scale conversion. It would consume a significant amount of resources, but he didn't hesitate. Without plans for major construction and rebuilding Gloomy City within the next few days, the territory's resources were quite abundant at present.
First, he would absorb and convert this population! Jack knew that among these more than three thousand captives, some individuals possessed good potential, with a certain probability of being cultivated into heroes or generals, and a considerable number had the talent to awaken the soul of an Adventurer.
**[Conversion successful!]**
**[Mental Power -1185!]**
Everyone clearly felt the young Lord unleash a torrent of vast mental power that enveloped the entire area. When this mental power entered the bodies of these Aliens, it not only quickly left a territory mark on them but also allowed them to instantly grasp and understand the human language.
"Thank you, Lord!" All the citizens knelt in gratitude, becoming even more reverent! To release such a vast amount of mental energy without blinking was indeed worthy of someone who could easily defeat Bloodthroat. The Lord might look young, but he possessed astonishing strength!
As of now, the territory's population had increased by over three thousand. This large-scale population growth would cause the daily consumption of survival resources to skyrocket. If they cannot be fed and are hungry most of the time, the citizens will not stay and will run away.
It's not a big problem. Gloomy City yielded a lot of stored supplies. This alone is enough to sustain their living needs for ten to fifteen days. Furthermore, the number of active Adventurers in Miracle City is increasing day by day. The scale and value of resources produced from the Secret Realm every day are astonishing and quite high.
Just by recovering a portion of it and exchanging it for ordinary food and water, it is easily enough to feed all the citizens. At worst, there's also the Lord's Market. Ordinary food is not very expensive and is plentiful enough to fill everyone up.
Jack assigned tasks to the territory's citizens. He kept a portion of the population in Gloomy City while sending others to places like the Red Rock Mountain mines and Red Claw Village. Another portion, who were younger and more suitable for training, were brought to the main city.
This group of citizens would undergo a period of training, and then a portion would be selected based on their aptitude and performance to enter key service positions.
After a simple division, Jack performed routine construction on the territory. Today, he successfully received a blueprint for an Inn from the Lord's Market, in addition to the Blacksmithing Tower he already had, adding two functional buildings to the territory. He also built two Soldier's Houses and two Territory Warehouses.
"That's about enough!" Jack needed to keep some budget for acquiring and building the "Secret Realm Control Tower" and the newly acquired "Energy Absorption Tower," so he didn't spend all the resources he had.
The city was about to open, so he activated the second core and formally deployed the Ashina Country Secret Realm. Since the Ashina Country chapter being deployed was only the prologue, and the prologue part was short and not large in scale, the cost of building this Secret Realm was not high, only consuming 526 points of mental power.
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