Altera Village.
Althea stared at the holographic map of her territory, and made a rough plan of what to build.
To be honest… she was really looking forward to this.
Before anything though, she needed to budget. Although she was rich, if she splurged, it wouldn't stay that way. Territory building was a money-burning endeavor. If she didn't make sure she was on positive at the end of the day, the minus could compound, leaving her poor.
She absolutely didn't want to be poor.
As such, she had to do some urban planning first.
She opened the holographic map with cute earthly tones and stared at it for a while, making plans in her head and also on her tablet.
The entire territory was about 3 square kilometers or over 300 hectares in size, with the mountainous areas of the half-valley already occupying around 40 hectares.
She was not planning on wasting these areas, of course, and she did have a preliminary plan on what to do with these difficult terrains. But for now, she would be focusing on relatively flat lands and the areas near the river.
The section of the 50-meter-wide river in the territory was located on the southeast part of the village, forming a chord of almost 2 kilometers in that length.
The head of the valley was more or less in the northwest side of the territory. Interestingly, at the spot where the curvatures met, there was a small stream that would eventually end to the river. This area was quite critical.
Rivers and streams were connected in a naturally-occuring system called a watershed. While watersheds were good for the world, if not handled well it could also mean a bit of trouble for the territory.
For instance, when rain came, it could cause problems like flooding or water surges.
So she designated the areas prone to flooding into public parks. It would be even better if she found some mangroves or similar vegetation, but this was an issue for later.
As she observed her surroundings further, a familiar ding ran inside her head.
[Construction of Lv3 Walls, Completed!]
[Gates and Sentry towers now available for purchase. Construction is considered part of the walls and will not consume a building slot.]
Her pretty eyebrows rose in interest.
Level 3 walls could apparently have a Sentry attachment available, which was extremely pleasing news. The best part was that it would not consume a slot.
She immediately went to study the new construction.
[Sentry Towers
Available with Level 3 walls and above
Capable of automatically attacking hostile forces 100 meters away.
Rate: 1 shot per 3 seconds.
Consumption: 0.001 wood per shot
Cost: 20 wood, 10 stone, 5 gold ]
She nodded and mused that, although expensive, these things would probably be worth it.
She looked at the walls and studied it a bit more, first deciding to locate the gates.
In her zoning plan, she had designated the eastern and southwest parts of the territories as high-traffic areas.
Althea placed the gates in these directions, primarily in locations where foot traffic would likely go.
For example, relatively flatter lands.
The gates themselves were relatively cheap as long as the wall was already there, so it wasn't too painful to buy.
[-100 wood, -100 stone, -10 gold]
[-100 wood, -100 stone, -10 gold]
It was the sentry towers that made a pinch in her wallet. Placing sentry towers every few hundred meters, she ended up building quite a few...
[-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold]
[-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold]
[-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold]
[-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold]
[-20 wood, -10 stone, -5 gold]
[...]
Two gates and sixty-three sentry towers were built, just like that.
The density of sentry towers could be said to be overkill, but it was the only way she'd feel comfortable.
Anyway, those towers would automatically shoot arrows at all hostile forces within its range. Althea thought that one tower was worth a dozen troops.
Just like this, her wood stock was nearly halved. It was very painful.
However, it was still enough to build the necessary buildings and a small community. It was just that she would definitely be lacking resources until they found more people to gather them.
Hey, she could imagine how people would react. How high their expectations would get as they go inside the strong wall… only to see a few buildings?
However, because of this 'premium', this would also give her the capital to charge exuberantly.
Which she wouldn't do.
Probably.
It would depend on the situation.
…
After pondering, she decided on the other four buildings: Custom House, Village Center, Weaponry shop, and a farm.
The house was obvious. She could even make the lower floor open plan for a custom multi-purpose building with commercial functions.
Of course, the building type limitation would limit the second floor to a residential space, no exceptions, but this was already a great alternative to what was available in the system.
She'd cover the main roads with these…
Not too much for now, she was lacking in resources.
As for the cost of building her custom two-storey house, she thought it was fair at 500 silver per unit.
However, by virtue of assisting the poor and milking the rich, she set its selling price at 50 gold coins but rented it out for only 100 copper per floor a day.
To encourage a longer stay, the rent was further reduced to a more cost-effective 20 silver (or 2000 copper) per month.
Based on the choices in the system, she could estimate the length of a month to be around 32 days here, so it was a very good deal for both parties.
As for houses with open spaces, each house would get 50 sqm yards. In these small lots, they could do whatever they wanted, particularly if they had bought the space. They could plant their own small garden, make a small gym, a playground, or a leisure spot. It was all quite flexible.
For a duplex set-up, where each floor would be owned by different parties, she divided the front and backyard equally with 25 sqm yards each.
Satisfied with her classifications, she moved on to the next concerns.
After the residential and commercial spaces were the public amenities. The most important of which, to her, was the Village center.
If nothing else, the communications function alone was worth the price. When she reached a certain level, she could even communicate with allied territories, whenever it may be.
Weaponry shop was also self-evident.
However, the armory shops could come later, because for now she thought farm would be more appropriate.
The very expensive wall would provide them with defense, and the people inside (and the sentries) could shower the enemy with arrows.
The Farm, on the other hand, was necessary for protracted battles. She had no idea how often or how strong beast waves were, but she had to make sure the stable source of food for the territory.
Even if the resources of this world refreshed quickly, if the population was big, it would not be enough. Not to mention, the variety was sorely lacking.
She convinced herself of this and made a preliminary plan. For now, she only had enough money to develop one side.
However, since she could not move these buildings after their erection, she still had to place them carefully.
So she decided to develop the southwest gate first, the direction they came from.
She rubbed her hands together, bright emerald eyes staring at the various structures she'd be building, feeling very elated and extremely excited.
Finally!
She'd finally be building their new home!
___
ADVERTISEMENT BREAK~
I will be mass releasing (around 15 chapters) On September! It'll be on a privilege tier tho
I have also drafted around 150 chapters now, and I am in need of a refresher story lol.
A refresher story is a story that will help my brain keep 'fresh' and proofread better than if I'm just stuck on a single story.
Here are my WIPs that have a remote possibility of being published this year~!
1. Interstellar Rebirth: Back to the Apocalypse
-BLURB: A princess from the interstellar times fails to escape from misfortune, inadvertently perishing in a blackhole. Her soul is then pulled back to the end of the 21st century—which marked one of the greatest changes for all of humanity: The Apocalypse.
-Will have 3 volumes: Childhood arc, Pre-apocalypse, and Apocalypse.
2. Woke up in the Intersteller: Got Amnesia, Married, and then Turned My Planet Into a Game Map
BLURB: A female magician had to stay in hibernation to keep her life. Little did she know… she'd wake up 20,000 years later.
Oh, and her home planet's about to get destroyed!
-Will have two arcs: Interstellar and Planet-building.
I'm considering heavier and earlier romances in both of them. I do want your opinion on this since I know this story has a lot of dude readers.
Also, would you mind legitimate love triangles? Not like on this one, where the ML and FL are absolutely single-minded and pretty much no drama on the romantic side.
So… there! Which one would you more likely to check out when it's out? What would you like to see? What don't you want to see?