131: Chapter 131 Building the Outer City

As the old man spoke, he pushed away the young person supporting him and unexpectedly knelt slowly in the direction of the city wall.

Behind him, those ten thousand plus drifters fell to their knees in a dense mass, like wheat blown over by the wind. There was complete silence, save for the moaning of the evening breeze.

The city wall was dead silent. The soldiers looked at each other, their bows and arrows unconsciously lowering slightly.

Many of them had, not long ago, been just like the people below—'drifters' who had walked out from the altar.

Lin Tian frowned, his gaze sweeping sharply over the scene below.

The old man's words were sincere and heartfelt, and the Detection Spell revealed no issues.

Yet, he still did not agree immediately. Ten thousand people was not a small number.

If he let them into the city and trouble broke out, they could work from the inside out...

He pondered for a moment, then turned and whispered a few words to a messenger.

Soon, the rumbling of footsteps and the clashing of armor came from within the city gate. Thirty thousand fully armed Heavy Armored Spearmen and Mystic Rock Spirit Guards marched out from the gate in tight formation.

They established a defensive line on the flanks and in front of the drifter group, and an air of grim hostility spread through the area.

Seeing this elite army, a wave of suppressed gasps and panicked whispers rose from the drifter ranks. The kneeling crowd trembled, fearing they were about to be driven away or slaughtered.

Only then did Lin Tian channel a trace of energy, allowing his voice to carry steadily downward:

"Everyone, stand up. I, Lin Tian, am the Lord of this city. I can take you in."

Upon hearing this, the drifters were stunned at first, then erupted into immense, incredulous cheers and sobs. Many kowtowed in excitement.

"However!"

Lin Tian's voice turned cold, suppressing the commotion.

"A country has its laws, and a city has its rules! To enter my Lin Tian City, you must follow my rules! I will arrange personnel to register and inspect you. After entering the city, living quarters and work will be allocated uniformly. Anyone who commits crimes or harbors evil intentions will be executed without mercy! Do you understand?"

"Understood! Thank you, Lord, for taking us in! We will definitely follow the rules!"

The old man, moved to tears, shouted out first. The drifters followed suit, responding one after another.

Looking at the more than ten thousand "people" who had suddenly appeared below the city.

Lin Tian felt a bit uneasy. Letting them directly into the inner city? He didn't feel secure about it.

Although there were one hundred thousand troops in the city now, most were new recruits, and the management hadn't been fully streamlined. Suddenly stuffing in over ten thousand drifters of unknown identity posed too great a risk.

"It seems my plan from this morning was still too conservative..."

He rubbed his chin, gazing at the vast, empty land outside the city created by the expansion, and a bolder idea emerged.

"How about... building another wall?"

He acted immediately! Taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't completely dark yet, Lin Tian pulled up the management panel again.

This time, using the existing city wall as a baseline, he drew an even more exaggerated circle outwards, with a radius of ten kilometers!

This new wall would enclose the existing city and a vast expanse of wilderness outside, forming an "Outer City" area of terrifying size!

"mirror of replication, activate! stone, replicate for me!"

The Low-grade Spirit Crystal reserves, which had just been depleted significantly due to the major construction, began to decrease frantically again, like water being released from a sluice gate.

A massive amount of stone was replicated and piled up along the baseline of the planned wall.

"Build! Outer City wall! Simultaneously build the matching city gates and City Defense Giant Crossbows!"

Rumbling...

A roar, even more immense than the one during the day, as if it were going to shake the earth, rang out once again!

Under the stunned gaze of the drifters and the garrison.

A super outer wall—much longer, thicker, and though not as refined as the inner city wall, terrifying in scale—'grew' out of the earth at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Like a slumbering dragon of earth and stone, it slowly raised its head, encircling the vast land within its embrace.

Building a wall of this scale consumed an astronomical amount.

Lin Tian looked at the rapidly shrinking Low-grade Spirit Crystals in his storage space. Over two million Low-grade Spirit Crystals had just been thrown in, making his mouth twitch with heartache.

But he gritted his teeth and endured it.

Safety and development sometimes just have to be bought with money.

With the wall built, the defenses couldn't be lacking.

Lin Tian then evenly deployed over a thousand City Defense Giant Crossbows on the outer wall, filling them with energy as well.

Next, he wasted no time in sweeping up goods on the [Trading Platform].

Large quantities of the most basic [Dormitory Blueprints], [Collective Sleeping Platform Blueprints], [Public Well Blueprints], [Simple Workshop Blueprints], [Land Reclamation Farm Tool Blueprints], as well as a massive amount of food, coarse cloth, tools, and other basic survival supplies were quickly traded for.

Lin Tian summoned Lin Yan.

"Draft five thousand Rock Armor Soldiers to supervise these drifters and get them settled first! Distribute food according to headcount quotas! At the same time, conduct a detailed registration of all drifters; record their names, ages, places of origin, and skills in the ledger! Anyone who dares to cause trouble, slack off, or conceal information is to be arrested or executed on the spot!"

"Yes!" Lin Yan accepted the order and immediately led the soldiers and supplies out to the outer city to arrange for the ten thousand anxious yet expectant drifters.

They were busy until the moon was high in the sky, and only then were the ten thousand plus drifters initially settled.

Inside the outer city, flickering bonfires lit up, spreading through the dormitory area.

Voices, the cries of children, and the sounds of craftsmen working mixed together; although chaotic, it was full of a long-lost vitality that belonged to the "human world."

Lin Tian dragged his exhausted body back to the inner city and pulled up the newly compiled preliminary drifter registry.

He carefully flipped through it, his gaze sweeping over lines of occupations such as "farmer," "woodcutter," "tailor," "blacksmith apprentice," and "hunter."

"Farmers are the most numerous, with over six thousand... over one thousand woodcutters... several hundred tailors and leatherworkers... only a few dozen blacksmiths, and most are apprentices... several hundred hunters..."

Lin Tian scanned quickly, but his brows furrowed slightly.

None.

He read through the registry several times, but didn't see a single word like "scholar," "pharmacist," "architect," or "special talent."

Everything was as basic as it could possibly be.

"Not a single special talent..."

Lin Tian closed the booklet and sighed with some disappointment.

He had been hoping that a "Sweeping Monk"-style figure might pop up among the drifters.

However, this disappointment only lasted a few seconds. He thought about it, felt relieved, and even laughed at himself.

"What are you thinking? Do you really think you're a Child of Destiny, where as soon as you release your kingly aura, all sorts of hermits and experts will come crying and begging to join you?"

He shook his head.

"This is only the first day. The drifter signpost has only been up for a few hours. Being able to get over ten thousand basic laborers is already a huge surprise. With these farmers, land reclamation and farming won't be a problem; I can even have them farm to provide logistics for me. With these craftsmen, basic production can slowly get started... This is the foundation of the territory's development."