Chapter 5: New City • Ghost Butterfly City

After carefully comparing and calculating all the different building types, Li Bin finally chose the Obsidian model, which enhanced the attributes of all troops and structures. Although this choice meant that future construction costs would be 5% higher than usual, the 10% increase in the durability and productivity of every building made Li Bin feel it was a worthwhile investment.

After inscribing the city’s name on the Heart of the City, Li Bin wrote his own name and battle standard as the city's owner. This act established the city as Li Bin’s direct domain; unless someone dug up the Heart of the City and altered its information, Li Bin would retain full control over every aspect of the city from anywhere.

Once he set the Heart of the City in place, the will-o'-the-wisp captain prepared to lead his team in refilling the excavated earth. At that moment, Li Bin suddenly recalled something and stopped their actions. Under the regretful gazes of all the heroes, he poured all thirteen hundred-plus loads of Dragon Grave soil he’d excavated from the Dragon Tomb into the pit. Instantly, Li Bin felt a tremor in the earth, and faint dragon roars, barely audible, echoed from the depths.

The entire ancient battlefield swiftly transformed. The weeds and skeletal remains vanished, replaced by a thick layer of black soil. Where the pit had been, a two-story building of obsidian now stood—the city’s center, the Town Hall.

Outside the Town Hall, three fountains, each five meters across, continuously spewed black mist—the Negative Energy Pools that powered the city’s energy supply and provided Li Bin with negative energy equivalent to 1,000 gold coins daily. In comparison, the Gold Pool behind the Town Hall, which generated 1,000 gold coins per day, seemed insignificant.

Moreover, all of Li Bin’s will-o'-the-wisp slaves instantly evolved into more powerful, agile Nether Servants, becoming the upper staff of the new city.

Overjoyed, Li Bin received a system notification: “Your new city, Ghost Butterfly City, has been established. Building type: Obsidian. Due to your extensive use of Dragon Grave soil, your city has earned the title ‘End of Dragons.’ System rewards: All buildings gain +15% durability; 15% chance for produced units to have +1 Dragon Might; defending units gain +3 Dragon Might; Bone Dragon units’ weekly production +1. Because you built the city on an ancient battlefield, your city has also gained the title ‘Ancient Calamity Grounds.’ System rewards: All units produced receive +1 attack; all slaves and civilian races working in the city possess a degree of aggressiveness; mutation rate for units increased by 5%; after expending a certain amount of mana, you can summon a significant number of undead units for city defense…”

Yet the most excited person was not Li Bin, but Reid at his side. The mere prospect of producing one more Bone Dragon per week made his eyes light up. For him, every additional Bone Dragon meant a greater chance for revenge, so he immediately urged Li Bin to begin researching Bone Dragons.

Li Bin shook his head helplessly and replied, “Now is not the time to study Bone Dragon creation. Don’t forget what level Bone Dragons are?”

“At least level eleven,” Reid replied dejectedly.

“That’s why our priority is to raise the city’s level first. If you want a Bone Dragon, I’ll check the alliance marketplace to see if any are for sale.” Not wanting to dampen Reid’s spirits, Li Bin recalled the Undead Seven Lords Alliance, which he’d joined not long ago.

Reid felt somewhat relieved and followed Li Bin into the Town Hall.

Inside, Li Bin quickly brought up the city’s control interface. Unlike the Grave Demon, Ghost Butterfly City allowed control not only over the city itself, but also everything within a ten-kilometer radius. This was only at the level of a grade-one village; once the city reached the fifth level, the controllable area would extend to a staggering four hundred kilometers, enough to include even the Spider City built by Lidas two hundred kilometers away.

In order to manage such a vast territory, the number of will-o'-the-wisp slaves directly under the city also increased accordingly. Six large squads of these slaves, led by two captains, stood ready to obey Li Bin’s commands at all times.

Li Bin’s first order was to connect with the Grave Demon beneath the city, gather all the will-o'-the-wisp slaves, and relocate all the basic troop buildings originally constructed in the Grave Demon into Ghost Butterfly City.

This caused a rapid transformation of Ghost Butterfly City. Since moving two closely situated city buildings only required enough manpower and paying the cost difference, with no construction time, the western district Li Bin designated for basic troops changed in an instant.

The Skeleton Altar, Corpse Research Institute, and Soul Control Chamber—the recruitment centers for the three primary unit types—were swiftly moved above ground. Soon, several advanced troop training facilities were also relocated and classified, forming a small district.

The northern section, intended for hero and player use, was also quickly underway: residences for heroes, a tavern for recruiting them, and even the extra tavern promised to the Dark Guild were all under construction.

Of course, what drew Li Bin’s attention most was the mage tower built atop the hill facing the Town Hall. This structure was the foundation of the city. Beyond training and battles for mages and researching strategic spells, the mage tower’s ability to monitor and control the territory was reason enough for Li Bin to prioritize it. Fortunately, he possessed a tome of Arcane Geometry, which not only halved the construction cost and endowed the tower with basic intelligence, but also allowed it to be upgraded directly to level three.

Li Bin had already planned: at levels one and two, the tower itself would be upgraded, enabling it to provide four level-one and two level-two strategic spells, as well as nine level-one or two combat spells, and to accommodate six apprentice and two novice mages for study within. Upon reaching level three, an alchemy laboratory would be constructed beneath the tower to accelerate research into new troop types and the creation of magic scrolls.

As for Li Bin’s ideas, Sannai was more than satisfied. Now an apprentice mage, he had long lacked a proper place to study magic, and the construction of the mage tower gave him new opportunities for advancement. As for the position of Tower Hero, which was originally promised to him but now assigned to the tower’s own intelligence, Sannai had no objections; after all, he didn’t want to be confined within the tower with no chance to venture out.

Another building that drew Li Bin’s focus was the lifeblood of the undead faction and the foundation of the Sea of Bones tactic—the Undead Transformation Array. Li Bin and Sannai planned to construct a Summoning Tower behind the Town Hall, composed of a summoning array and a three-tiered undead transformation array. This would not only provide all undead heroes with a 15% bonus to soul summoning success rates, but would also absorb the souls of all deceased living beings within the city’s control area, converting them into will-o'-the-wisp servants and citizens for Ghost Butterfly City.

At critical moments, it could even supply Li Bin with vast numbers of standard souls, enabling him to mass-produce troops for battle.

A week flew by, and the bustle of Ghost Butterfly City finally settled. On this day, Li Bin summoned Tordina and Dierdre to the Town Hall.

Looking at these two loyal followers who had accompanied him from the very beginning, Li Bin paused for a moment before finally asking, “Do you want the Grave Demon?”