A warm current welled up in the hearts of the two goblins. If they didn't offer useful advice, how could they live up to the high expectations of Lady Wu Yao?
Tongque flipped open her notebook, cleared her throat, and spoke with a much firmer voice than before. “My Lady, allow me to share some of my humble opinions first. I believe there are three most important things for the territory: first, resources; second, functional zoning; and third, the defense system.”
“Regarding resources, the biggest difference between the Moonlight Forest and other territories is the Moon-Silver Wood. Other territories have to spend a fortune importing magic-conducting materials, but here, your Moon-Silver Wood is inexhaustible. Furthermore, its mana is fully intact, and its quality is far superior to anything on the market.”
“During my training at the trading company, I learned a saying: ‘Do business based on what resources you have.’ Since Moon-Silver Wood is the territory's greatest advantage, the production buildings should be configured around it, rather than building a ring of ordinary facilities that are no different from anywhere else.”
“Specifically, the ordinary Farmland can be kept, as we will always need to grow our own food and vegetables. The Orchard can also stay, but we might need to first test which varieties can survive in the Moonlight Forest. As for the Barn and Pasture, we can raise Cotton-Wool Sheep. Cotton-Wool Sheep wool is the raw material for Moon-Fleece Cloth, and when combined with Moon-Silver Wood extract, it will make a truly unique specialty.”
“The input-output ratio of the Fishpond is too low. There is no natural water system near the territory, so digging a pond and diverting water would require too much engineering. The quality of the groundwater is also uncertain; if there are any remnants of corruption, the initial investment will go down the drain. I think it would be better to save this labor and material and use them for Moon-Silver Wood processing instead.”
Wu Yao nodded slightly, gesturing for her to continue. The player had truly become the client in this game.
“As for functional zoning, it is best not to scatter the production buildings all over the place. They can be laid out in a concentrated manner according to the flow of logistics. My idea is to divide them into three zones. The agricultural zone can be placed in the southeast corner, which receives the longest hours of sunlight and has flat terrain, making it suitable for farming. The Orchard can be right next to the Farmland for easy, unified management.”
“The livestock zone can be placed in the southwest corner, separated from the agricultural zone by a Moon-Silver Wood green belt. Livestock has an odor; although we goblins do not mind, if more residents join in the future, we must consider their living comfort in advance.”
“The processing zone can be placed between the Farmland and the livestock zone, close to the warehouse. Once crops are harvested, they can go straight into the processing workshop, and livestock products can go straight into the weaving workshop without traveling long distances, maximizing logistics efficiency.”
Tiechui had been holding herself back for a long time. Her large ears twitched up and down in rhythm with Tongque's explanation.
The moment Tongque finished speaking, she immediately took over, her speaking speed twice as fast as usual.
“Let me handle the third point! My Lady, when I said mixing Stone Walls and Wooden Walls was bad earlier, I wasn't trying to nitpick. I wanted to suggest a different approach.”
“We can encircle the outer perimeter entirely with Stone Walls. They have high durability and can withstand the direct impact of corrupted creatures. On the inner side of the Stone Walls, we can place a sentry tower at regular intervals. They must be tall enough so their field of vision covers the entire perimeter of the Stone Walls.”
“For the inner wall, we can use Moon-Silver Wood. Moon-Silver Wood has a natural resistance to corruption, and corrupted creatures will instinctively feel uncomfortable when they touch it, which will slow down their charge. Even if the outer Stone Wall is breached, the enemy will still have to cross five meters of open ground before they reach the inner wall. This will give us plenty of time to stand on the sentry towers and use them as target practice.”
Tongque added from the side, “The open ground between the two walls can also have space reserved for magic arrays.”
Tiechui leaned in again, her eyes gleaming with a goblin's almost instinctive passion for underground spaces. “And the underground! Now that we've discussed the surface layout, we can't let the underground go to waste either.”
“The underground has a stable temperature—warm in winter and cool in summer—making it suitable for long-term storage of food and magic materials. Furthermore, underground storage doesn't take up surface space. Our trading company's headquarters has seven underground floors, with only a tiny storefront on the surface. No one would ever guess that an entire commercial city is hidden beneath the ground.”
She grew more and more excited as she spoke, her large ears trembling slightly with emotion. “I suggest digging an underground storage area below, connected to the warehouse on the surface, with a trapdoor leading down from the warehouse floor. It can be used as a storage room under normal circumstances, and as a shelter in case of emergencies. Leave the tunnel digging to the two of us. We guarantee we'll be faster than any construction crew!”
Looking at the parchment before her, which was already covered in markings drawn by the two goblins, Wu Yao couldn't help but curl her lips.
“I've really struck gold with you two.”
The two goblins stopped their movements at the same time, their four large ears twitching happily at the compliment.
While she had been listening to the two goblins toss suggestions back and forth, her hands hadn't been idle either. She had reopened the Building Management menu.
This time, she looked closely, reading the detailed description of every single structure. This allowed her to dig up a treasure among the basic buildings that she had previously overlooked.
【Moon Well (Lv. 1)】
【Category: Basic Building】
【Level Requirement: Territory Lv. 2】
【Construction Requirements: Moon-Silver Stone × 10, Mana Storage Array × 1, Portion of the Silver Moon】
【Effect: Absorbs moonlight and converts it into storable mana to power all magic buildings within the territory. Any building requiring mana drive can be connected to the Moon Well via a mana circuit, automatically drawing stored mana from the well without needing to be filled with Mana Crystals.】
【Energy Storage Capacity: At least 500 points (affected by the Mana Storage Array)】
【Charging Speed: 10 points/hour】
【Maximum Connected Buildings: 5】
【Description: Magic buildings connected to the Moon Well via a mana circuit will prioritize consuming the mana stored in the well. Once the well's mana is depleted, the buildings will automatically switch to backup power mode (requires consuming Mana Crystals). The Moon Well itself charges by absorbing moonlight, and the charging speed is affected by lunar phases.】
She had passed by it at least three or four times when browsing the building list before, but each time she had dismissed it as just a slightly unusual water well and swiped right past without a second glance.
How was this a water well!
This was clearly the steam engine of the First Industrial Revolution, the generator of the Second Industrial Revolution, and the computer of the Third Industrial Revolution!
With the Moon Well, those magic buildings she could only covet earlier would no longer be out-of-reach luxuries.
She had the Moon-Silver Stones—exactly ten of them, brought by Tiechui and the others, no more and no less.
But what on earth was a "Portion of the Silver Moon"?
Frowning, she tapped on this ambiguous entry, and a system prompt suddenly popped up.
【Detected eligible item in Inventory: Moon Cocoon】
【Would you like to submit it?】
The Moon Cocoon—she had thought it was just a gift box and had thrown it into a corner of her Inventory, never paying it any mind again.
It turned out that it was a material itself.
The first two requirements were solved, leaving only the most troublesome one: the Mana Storage Array.
She stared at those words for a few seconds, suddenly feeling as though she had seen this term somewhere before.
The fragmented notebook on barrier arrays gifted by the Topaz Trading Company... She had flipped through a few pages at the time and casually stuffed it back into her Inventory. She hadn't expected it to deliver such a pleasant surprise now.
Rate on N.U.
