As the sun began to rise, casting a warm glow over the castle grounds, Liam stirred from his slumber and embarked upon his daily morning routine. 

He went to the bathing chambers, where the maids awaited him with fresh linens and warm water.

After a refreshing bath, Liam allowed the maids to select his attire for the day, a routine he had grown accustomed to. However, as he examined the garments laid out before him, a curious expression crossed his features.

"Where did these clothes come from?"

"I had never seen them before"

He inquired, his tone laced with curiosity.

In response, one of the maids stepped forward, her demeanor respectful as she addressed her lord.

"My lord"

She began.

"Some of the summoned citizens were merchants who brought their wares with them into this world."

"When Sir Rudolf inquired about clothing options, we discovered a few noble garments among the merchants' goods. "

"They have graciously dedicated these clothes to you, my lord, as a token of their loyalty and respect."

Liam nodded in understanding. This also explains where those spices came from.

With a grateful smile, Liam allowed the maids to dress him in the chosen attire.

Liam stepped into the grand hall, the tantalizing aroma of freshly cooked food enveloped him, awakening his senses and stirring his appetite.

 The maids, who had been patiently awaiting his arrival, sprang into action, bustling about with practiced efficiency to attend to his needs.

Acknowledging their presence with a grateful nod, Liam proceeded to the long dining table, where a sumptuous spread awaited him.

 The guards stationed nearby maintained their vigilant watch, their disciplined demeanor serving as a reassuring presence amidst the morning bustle.

Seated at the head of the table, Liam wasted no time delving into the array of dishes before him, relishing the flavors with each bite. 

Amidst the familiar routine, he was surprised to find Elera occupying one of the seats nearby. Her presence caught him off guard, but he greeted her with a warm smile nonetheless.

"Good morning, Elera"

Liam greeted, his voice filled with genuine warmth. 

"It's a pleasant surprise to see you here. Are you joining me for breakfast?"

His question hung in the air, tinged with a hint of curiosity. 

Elera, ever shy yet bold in her way, met Liam's gaze with a shy smile, her cheeks flushing slightly at the unexpected attention.

"Yes, my lord"

She replied softly, her voice barely above a whisper. 

"I thought... I thought it might be nice to share a meal with you if you don't mind."

"I-If it's inconvenient for you, t-then I will bid for my leave"

Her words were hesitant, but there was a quiet determination in her gaze as she awaited Liam's response. Liam's heart tickled a little at her play, and he nodded in affirmation, gesturing for her to take a seat beside him.

"I would be honored to have your company, Elera"

He said, his tone gentle yet earnest. 

"Please, join me."

With a grateful smile, Elera took her seat beside Liam, her heart fluttering with a mix of nervousness and excitement. 

Hurriedly taking wide strides towards the seat and sitting on it gracefully, befitting of her noble attirement. As they sat together at the dining table, Elera broke the comfortable silence with a question that hung in the air like a gentle breeze.

"My lord"

She began, her voice soft yet resolute 

"Have you ever wondered about the customs and information of this continent?"

Liam, taken slightly aback by the unexpected inquiry, regarded Elera with a curious expression before nodding in acknowledgment.

 "Indeed, I have, Elera"

He replied, a flicker of interest dancing in his eyes. 

"I must admit, I've been meaning to learn more about the world around us. Please, enlighten me."

With a nod, Elera's demeanor shifted slightly, her usual shyness giving way to a more confident posture as she began to speak.

"Well, my lord"

 She started, her voice steady.

"the area we currently find ourselves in is on the edge of a continent. And our continent is known as the Golden Avenue Plain. It is a vast continent that is shaped in a circle"

Liam's interest was piqued at the mention of the continent's name. 

"Golden Avenue? Circle shaped continent?"

 He repeated a hint of curiosity in his tone. 

"And why is it called that?"

"It's named after a holy place located in the center of the continent"

 Elera explained, her words measured as she continued. 

"As for what exactly the Golden Avenue is, I'm afraid I don't have much information about it. "

"My father had told me once that those who can reach the center of the continent will never come back and thus resulting in the lack of information about it"

"Though some people claimed that the name originated from a certain holy place from the central area"

"There were also some other claims that go along this narrative, though most people would rather believe it as a fairy tale instead"

Liam nodded thoughtfully, absorbing the information with a curious look plastered over his face.

"Interesting, holy place? central area? Hahaha... what a crazy world we live in"

Liam mused at the thought of this, shifted his eyes towards Elera's gaze with a questioning look, and ventured his questions again. 

"Then, outside of this continent of ours. How many continents are out there in total?"

"This... "

Hearing this, Elera paused for a moment with her words, though moments later, she continued. 

"There's nothing out there, My Lord"

"Nothing?"

"Yes, nothing"

"Are you sure about this?"

Liam asked back with his eyes wide in surprise, looking towards her face as he tried to confirm this piece of news.

"Yes, so far. We had never encountered any other continent besides us for thousands of years"

"According to history, our ancestors also had the same thoughts as the lord did. And to confirm this, many had ventured out into the ocean in search of the other land."

"But... no matter how far the people got. Be it through flying or even a boat, there had never been another land in sight. It was as if, there was no other life in this vast ocean beside us"

Elera nodded back towards his suspicion, which further heightened Liam's frown that was plastered all over his face.

"Now that's strange... "

Liam murmured at this information's revelation with his back leaning against the chair comfortably. Tapping on the seat handles rhythmically he continued with his questions. 

"Then I won't dwell on the outside of the continent. Tell me, what is this continent shaped like? Are there any distinctive features that I should know about?"

Elera hesitated for a moment, gathering her thoughts before continuing. 

"Well, my lord"

She began. 

"The continent is divided into six domains, each separated from the others by long stretches of mountain ranges."

Liam's interest was immediately piqued by this revelation. 

"Six domains"

He echoed, contemplating the implications. 

"How are these regions divided? is it according to their sizes or any geographical differences?" 

"And in what domain do we reside currently?"

Elera furrowed her brow, momentarily confused by Liam's terminology of his first question. After a moment of reflection, she nodded in understanding. 

She replied 

"Each domain is separated by a mountain range, and once these mountains reach the central area of the continent, they form a ring around it."

"As for our current domain, we are located in the Verdant Vale Domain. Our domain is the richest in natural resources and also greeneries. That's why there are trees everywhere we see"

Liam absorbed this information, his mind already forming a mental image of the continent's geography. 

"And what about this central area?"

He inquired, his curiosity piqued.

Elera's expression grew solemn as she spoke of the central area. 

"The central area is shrouded in dense fog year-round"

She explained. 

"Rumors have it that monsters are lurking within the fog, making it dangerous for anyone to venture through it"

"Even for a level 10 existence, crossing the fog is tantamount to that of seeking death" 

"There were many rumors that say so, though I can only say this with one of the eyes open regarding it"

"Since nothing had ever been confirmed other than rumors and the talk of the people"

Liam nodded thoughtfully, his mind racing with possibilities. 

Rumors might be words of the people, exaggeration of the mortal that was born out of the fear of the unknown.

 Naturally, Liam wouldn't base his confirmation of this information on these so-called rumors. However, he does not despise these so-called words of the people, there might be some truth behind them. 

"Thank you, Elera" 

He said sincerely, grateful for her willingness to share her knowledge. 

"You've been most informative."

Elera smiled softly, her eyes reflecting a hint of satisfaction. 

"It's my pleasure, my lord"

She replied. 

"I am here to serve and assist you in any way I can." 

"I-I can even cook, sweep, a-and a lot more"

Elera added in with her words stuttering every two seconds. And Liam simply smiled at her without saying anything.

Liam then postponed the chat for now as he had other things that he had to deal with for the day. Knowledge of the world sure is enticing, though it can take some time to fully answer every question that he has in mind. 

Might as well take it slow for now and uncover them later at some other time. 

As he ate, Liam's thoughts turned to the ongoing upgrades around the castle. 

With the construction of the castle nearing completion and the summoning portal now upgraded to level 2. Liam then can finally use up the other open slot for another building to be upgraded. 

For now. 

"let's finish the castle first... " 

He muttered. 

His sight hovering over the construction panel with the current progress of the castle's construction depicted on it.

[Under Construction]

[Castle][Level 2][Timer]: 15 hours 59 minutes

Glancing at the panel before him, Liam noted the remaining time for the castle upgrade. Dragged his finger towards it and immediately used the speed-up cards without stopping. 

"Level 5 in one go, I doubt that I don't have enough resources for it"

As the energy cocoon expanded, bathing the castle and its surroundings in a blinding light, Elera shielded her eyes, momentarily stunned by the sudden brilliance. 

When the light receded, she blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the changes that had occurred in the blink of an eye.

Liam, however, wasted no time. 

With a decisive swipe of his finger, he upgraded the wall and blacksmith simultaneously, the construction panels shimmering with newfound power. 

"More upgrades... " 

Liam murmured, a decisive gaze plastered on his face as his hand kept sliding all over the panel through different buildings and requirements. 

The resources kept on pouring out from the lord's panel, though Liam's eyes remained unabated.

With those two buildings upgraded to the current castle's level, now Liam can finally upgrade the barrack and the stable to the next level. 

Afterward, push the castle directly to level 5. 

Surprisingly enough, it doesn't cost that much speed-up cards to upgrade all of these buildings. 

The number goes down for quite a little in an instant, but still, the remaining should be more than enough to push his castle to level 5... or even beyond that level. 

After some calculations, to fully upgrade the castle to level 4, the required building including the blacksmith and the wall cost him around 68 speed-up cards. 

Leaving him behind with over 400 left, and even after upgrading the castle by then. There will still be more than enough for the next requirement upgrade to swallow.

Once he reaches level 6, his territory will undergo an earth-changing transformation. It is pretty much logical to think so since every 5 levels, substantial changes will occur, it is called the sublimation threshold.

And many lords had put forth their opinions that this concept is applied to all aspects of the lord's system even to the building and finally to the territory. 

Liam himself refused to believe that the cocoon of energy would not expand even after that, otherwise the castle would only get bigger and bigger, leaving no room for other structures to exist under the cocoon of energy. 

The rules have it that the Lord can't have buildings outside of the territory and every lord knows it. 

Based on this information, it can be easily deduced that changes will occur soon when upgrading the castle to a certain level. However, no one knows yet when it will happen other than speculation and also opinions on the topic. 

Back to the matter on the hand, Liam then shifted his eyes towards the barrack and the stable. Upgraded them all together at the same time and immediately proceeded to upgrade the castle next. 

Liam kept on repeating the same process over and over again until all of the buildings with a few exceptions were upgraded to level 5. 

Next, the moment he set his sights on the requirement for the next level, Liam paused for a moment within his plan and murmured in a low voice.

"I will be needing Iron to upgrade these buildings to the next level?"

"Now that's quite troublesome"

[Buildings]

[Castle][Level 5]

Upgrade requirement: 153000 Woods, 156000 Stones, 80000 smelted Iron, Level 5 Wall, Level 5 Barrack, Level 5 Stable. 

[Timer]: 3 days 20 hours.

[Wall][Level 5]

[200000/200000][HP]

Upgrade requirement: Level 6 castle, 90000 Woods, 90000 stones, 30000 smelted Iron.

[1 day 20 hours]

[Barrack][Level 5]

Upgrade requirement: Level 6 castle, Level 6 blacksmith, 60000 woods, 61000 stones, 12000 smelted Iron.

[20 hours]

[Stable][Level 5]

Upgrade requirement: Level 6 castle, level 6 blacksmith, 65000 Woods, 67000 stones, 20000 smelted Iron.

[16 hours]

[Blacksmith][Level 5]

Upgrade requirements: Castle level 6, 50000 woods, 50000 stones, 32000 smelted iron.

[18 hours]

[Under Construction]

1. [Empty]
2. [Empty]

Liam didn't dwell on it too much and immediately opened the trading market to see if anyone was selling smelted iron here.

But to his disappointment, there were only a fraction of them that were selling this type of resource. And the worst part is that the quantity is too small even after summing up all of these sellers together. 

Still, one small step ahead toward his goal wouldn't be cast aside just like that. Liam immediately bought them and emptied the whole category in an instant within the trading market. 

[Ding, deducting 23000 stones and 30000 woods for 1300 iron ore]