55: Chapter 55 With a wave of his hand, he created...

All afternoon, Lin Tian was like the shrewdest "butler" and "construction captain," shuttling between various buildings, investing resources, and checking progress.

Although beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, his eyes remained bright, and he smiled, thinking, "When our warriors return and see their new home, new cafeteria, and new housing, their morale will surely soar, and they'll work even harder killing monsters tomorrow!"

As the sun set, the golden afterglow filled the refreshed territory. When the hot water system test for the last expanded bathroom was completed, Lin Tian finally breathed a long sigh of relief, standing on the high platform in front of the Lords Mansion and looking around.

The twenty brand-new Barracks stood like silent sentinels, the tall and magnificent city walls displayed their claws, and the upgraded Warning Towers stood quietly, emitting subtle energy fluctuations... The "livelihood foundation" of the entire territory had been greatly solidified.

However, the cost was also enormous. Opening the resource panel and looking at the Spirit Crystal count, which was almost zero, and the few remaining basic materials, he shook his head with a bitter smile and muttered to himself:

"This money is flowing like water... The wealth I saved up from yesterday's life-and-death struggle is almost gone in half a day. As they say, 'when the cannons roar, gold flows,' and this construction is even more of a gold-swallowing beast!" Despite saying this, there wasn't much heartache on his face; instead, he felt a sense of stability, knowing the money was "spent on the cutting edge."

"But well, out with the old, in with the new." He gazed in the direction where the warriors had set out, waiting with hope.

After a busy day, the sky gradually darkened, and the distant jungle began to be shrouded in twilight. Lin Tian estimated the time: "It's almost dark; they should be back soon, right?"

As if in response to his expectation, before long, heavy and rhythmic footsteps came from the distant horizon, like rolling thunder, getting closer and closer. Interspersed were the light clinking of weapons and armor, as well as the warriors' suppressed, excited whispers of a victorious return.

Lin Tian's eyes lit up, and a heartfelt smile appeared on his face: "They're back!"

The footsteps grew closer and clearer. Soon, the figures of the first row of soldiers appeared on the newly built road on the outskirts of the territory, followed by the second row, the third row... The teams from four directions returned one after another at almost the same time.

Although they had experienced a day of fighting and trekking and their faces showed fatigue, their eyes were sharp and their auras were much more solid. More importantly, the ranks were neat and morale was high.

Lin Feng, Lin Yin, Lin Yan, and Commander Lin Yu walked at the front of their respective teams. They quickly integrated the troops and lined up on the newly built training ground that hadn't even been leveled yet. The last rays of the setting sun reflected on the warriors' armor, which was stained with dust and a bit of blood, and on their tired but determined faces.

Lin Tian stepped forward, his gaze sweeping across the field. Not one was missing; all the warriors who had set out had returned safely. Moreover, he could clearly feel that the overall aura was stronger than before they left. The naivety on the recruits' faces had faded quite a bit, replaced by a touch of iron-blooded spirit.

Looking at the six-thousand-strong army standing in solemn formation, their armor stained with dust and bearing battle marks of varying depths, yet with no one absent, a sense of indescribable satisfaction and pride welled up in Lin Tian's chest.

His gaze swept across the young and determined faces, which had become more composed after being tempered by blood and fire. He couldn't help but feel a bit smug in his heart:

"This formation, this spirit! At this stage, looking across the entire Eternal Continent, which other lord could have such a foundation? Not only are there many soldiers, but every one of them is an elite, with guaranteed quality! Tsk tsk, this development speed, even I admire myself!"

His gaze focused on the four figures at the very front of the ranks.

Lin Yin was still in her moon-white holy robe, spotless, but within her cold aura, there seemed to be a hint of sharp sediment after high-intensity slaughter. Standing there quietly, she was like a sharpened, cold crescent moon, emitting the restrained and powerful energy fluctuations unique to Silver 2-star.

Lin Feng was clad in Blazing Sun Armor. Even when deliberately restrained, that furnace-like hot and fierce aura was still intimidating. He stood tall like a pine tree, his gaze sharper and calmer than before, like a divine weapon tempered a thousand times. His Silver 1-star strength made him like an unsheathed blade, its edge faintly visible.

Lin Yan's changes were the most direct. The Zhenyue Spirit General's Dark Yellow Heavy Armor shimmered with a thick, mountain-like luster in the sunset. Just standing there gave a sense of rock-solid, unshakable security. He was already at the peak of Bronze 9-star, only one step away from the Silver threshold. His aura was as heavy as the earth, as if he had merged with the ground beneath his feet.

As a rising star, although Commander Lin Yu's level was slightly lower, having just stepped into Bronze 2-star, and her quality was also slightly inferior to her three legendary/mythical colleagues, the holy healing light overflowing from her was incredibly pure. Standing in the ranks, she was like a warm and firm barrier, bringing peace of mind. For her, achieving such an improvement was already excellent.

As for the soldiers under his command, even the lowest had stabilized at black iron 4-star, and their overall strength had leaped forward. Looking ahead, it was a dense mass of people, their armor bright, their morale like a rainbow. It truly could be called "many soldiers and wide generals, a cloud of fierce commanders!"

"Good! Very good!" Lin Tian did not hide his admiration, nodding to the four commanders and all the soldiers. A day of hard fighting and experience had yielded brilliant results.

Immediately afterward, the soldiers piled today's harvest on the designated open space.

Soon, a "trophy mountain" composed of various monster corpses began to take shape and continued to grow taller.

However, looking at this increasingly spectacular trophy mountain, which was almost about to become a small hill, the smile on Lin Tian's face gradually stiffened, and a drop of non-existent cold sweat even appeared on his temple.

"This... this is too much, isn't it?" His mouth twitched as he remembered the fear and boredom of being dominated by "manual gathering" in the past.

"If it's still like before, bending over and squatting next to this pile of bloody, messy things with mixed fur, touching them one by one... how long would it take? Forget about sleeping tonight!"

Just as he was staring at the trophy mountain, complaining wildly in his heart, and even starting to wonder if he should temporarily set up a "gathering assembly line," something magical happened.