Fifteen thousand wood and stone. Fifteen hundred iron. That was the amount of resources he awoke to in his stores.

An amount that would take weeks for his farmers to even get close to.

His visions for future glory were suddenly far more clear. After making sure everything was ready. He chose to upgrade his hovel to a townhouse.

He did have to leave the building for it to take effect. So he walked outside and turned to look at the decrepit building. While he had grown used to the building, seeing it glow and begin to change didn't cause him any great heartache.

It took about ten minutes, but soon a very different building was standing before him. A true house that wouldn't be dismissed in his homeworld.

There were two floors, one for the living area and kitchen and one for the bedroom. The space in his storage area had also tripled.

The first floor had a far nicer-looking desk in the corner. With a small kitchen and dining area filling up the rest of the space.

It was far more comfortable than the old place had been.

The same was true for the upstairs. A nice bedroom with a solid-looking double bed took up most of the space.

It was a world of difference compared to the straw bed of the hovel.

With his tour complete, he returned to the desk to see the changes to his ethereal computer.

Looking at what it took to upgrade to a manor nearly broke him.

[To Upgrade: Iron X 1000, Mystic Stone X 1000, Mystic Wood X 1000]

It seemed that he wouldn't be upgrading to a manor anytime soon. The price of any mystic material was higher than that of Iron. Fortunately, the new option in the menu gave him some hope.

[Lord's Store]

His eyes were immediately drawn to the new option. The only reason he had been able to reach this point was with no success.

[Lord's Store Lv 1:

Colourless Draw: 5 LP,

Minor Health Potion: 10 LP,

Tier 1 Recruitment: 100 LP]

[16 LP (+8)]

[Congratulations on unlocking the Lord's Store. As a reward you can claim one free item.]

If anyone had chosen anything other than a Tier 1 recruitment as their reward. He was sure that they wouldn't last long.

This would also be the first time he would be doing his daily recruitment blind. He didn't want to waste his scouting on anything but the Tier 1.

He wouldn't be able to afford another for quite some time. While he would be gaining more and more Lord Points with each passing day. It wouldn't be until after the protection period ended that he would be able to afford another.

With Lord Points earning being tied with the amount of population. He would have to limit casualties once the protection period ended.

He claimed the five free recruits available. And turned to his recruitment screen.

The Tier 1 Recruitment was calling his name.

He was a little worried about who to choose this time around. His first Tier 1 subject could influence him quite a bit in the future. Even with his talent, there were far too few Bronze or Silver Draws to rely on them completely.

The same fifteen scouting opportunities appeared before him. Along with an array of people.

Julius decided to go the same route as before. Choosing the more senior-looking members of the selection.

[Trait: Hardworking,

Power: Tier 1:6 Star,

Potential; Tier 2:2 Star,

Talent: Farming]

His first scout was another farmer. Someone quite a bit more powerful than any of the ones he had currently. But Julius was happy enough with the current production of his men. No doubt he would be recruiting far more today. Without the benefit of scouting, he would be left with far more varied results.

His luck seemed to be looking up as he scouted his seventh person.

[Trait: Late Bloomer,

Power: Tier 1:9 Star,

Potential: Tier 3:8 Star,

Talent: Path of Magic]

Now this was someone interesting. Not only did he have the late bloomer trait. But with some of the highest potential he had seen, along with having a talent for magic. He wasn't sure if he could choose anyone else.

He was loathe to leave anything unknown. So he did use up all of his scouting opportunities. But no one reached the same level as the late bloomer.

With him elected, he tried to discern as best he could the people from the free recruitment. But he wasn't sure how successful he was.

He went out to meet his recruits. His eyes immediately being drawn by the familiar middle-aged man.

He asked Jack and David to test the other newcomers as he brought the Tier 1 recruit to the side.

"Greetings my Lord. My name is Leonard. How can I help you?"

"Leonard, where do your talents lie?"

He seemed to take a few moments to think about it.

"I've been a guard for most of my life. So I can protect you without any issues."

That did surprise Julius a little. He hadn't been expecting his prospective Mage to be a former guard. He wasn't sure if that would make things easier.

It was clear that he was far better built than any of the others. A sense of strength emanating from his muscled form. It was not what he had expected someone talented in the path of magic to look like.

"Do you have any experience with magic?"

Leonard's look of confusion didn't bode too well for the future.

"No, my lord. I have never touched magic. I have completed the Common Guards Mantra breathing manual. Allowing me peak Tier 1 strength"

Well, it seemed he would get his first experience of how switching methods would work. While he was lacking a suitable magic path since the sale, he was sure that it wouldn't be long for him to find one.

In the meantime, he would have Leonard teach the manual to some of the others.

"Very good. With your experience take stock of the local area. Then report back to David anything strange you can notice."

Julius wasn't sure if he would be able to find anything. But having an extra pair of experienced eyes on the territory wouldn't hurt.

The morning had gotten off to a good start, with all that done. He turned once again to his townhouse.

He now had enough resources to upgrade the townhouse to LV 5. As it was there didn't seem to be any reason why he shouldn't. While he wouldn't be able to afford any of the buildings for some time. The information around the higher levels of the townhouse was more obscured. With more information, he would be able to plan better.

Thus his stockpiles quickly grew useless as they were empty once more.

For one he could now build some bigger stockpiles. With the new labour force, it was a quick enough process to dismantle the current stockpiles.

Beyond that, there were a few interesting buildings. He could now build better accommodations. There were also the new buildings of a Market, Library and Town Hall.

He wouldn't be able to afford them for a while, but he did begin to mark out where he thought they should go.

That as well as having access to Weak Stone Walls would boost his defense beyond wooden fences.

The territory had also doubled in size. Allowing him to make use of a few more different materials. He would now have no worries about the Farmer's mining for the next few days. By that point, he hoped he would be able to train some basic guards.

While he was unsure about Leonard's future. It was more than clear that he was far more powerful than anyone else in his territory.

With the hunters not having found a sign of anything above Tier 1. He was confident that with the right weapons. Leonard would have no problem protecting him.

He didn't want to waste any of his Lord points on draws. So he continued to buy them from the Lord's Market.

He hoped that he would be able to afford another bronze draw soon. It was clear that his future relied on it. He wasn't sure if it was beginner luck or if he would be able to the same quality from every bronze draw.

He checked his local forums once again, to see if anything had changed. While he had hoped that promoting his townhouse would have been enough to become a titled lord. It seemed that he was still missing something.

Both the local and kingdom forums remained empty. That left him little to do but to continue his gambling.

Without having to worry about choosing any materials, his luck did begin to turn. While he hadn't managed to pick any more elite items. He had managed to select another skill. This one was unimpressive.

[Common Spear Strike]

Even common skills were still worth a decent amount. So he managed to earn enough to buy fifteen colourless draws.

Since a Bronze draw was a 150 LP in the Manor's Lord's Store. He had to build up over thirty draws to exchange. Few were doing the sale one-to-one as Julius had found before.

With his lucky streak, it wasn't even lunchtime when he managed to afford his next lucky draw.

Unfortunately, his luck this time around didn't hold. He was pleased to see that once again there seemed to be three options for skills. Unfortunately, there was no way to tell what skill would be better from the simple images.

Since the manual had been the last option before, he saw no reason not to continue with his drawing method.

[Uncommon Heavy Palm]

It seemed that his luck didn't hold. But he did not doubt that the skill would be enough to allow him to afford another bronze draw. At this point, that was all that mattered.

After placing the Heavy Palm on the market. He went to see how the progress of his recruits was going. It was the first time he had selected people blindly. He hoped that it would work out.

He was a little jealous of the people who had inspection skills. He hadn't seen one for sale that was in any way affordable. But it did allow you to see the strength of things in the world.

As it was he could only watch the recruits for a while. Only one seemed to be working at the same level as the older recruits. While most of the new ones didn't seem nearly as effective.

That was unfortunate, but it would be something he would have to get used to.

He wouldn't always have the ability to use his scouting opportunities on the free recruits.

He was a little disappointed that he hadn't managed to pick even one hunter while guessing. But David seemed happy enough with his current crew.

By the end of the day, they would be finished exploring the local area. After that, they could begin venturing further afield. It would be good to know if there was any civilization within a reasonable distance.

While most of the signs pointed to him being stranded far from anyone else. He didn't want to think about it too much.

For now, his goals were clear. Without anyone to interfere, he would have to grow as much as possible.

The hunters hadn't returned by the time lunch rolled around. So Julius decided to eat without them and see if any of the recruits had any good information.

Unfortunately similar to the others. If the topic didn't revolve around farming, they didn't have much to add. They were simply happy with their current accommodations.

They didn't seem to willing to talk about anything personal. There had been some speculation about the recruit's origins in the forum. But nothing too concrete had been discovered. Most simply viewed them as wandering souls being given another chance at life.

Getting rid of his existential thoughts. He enjoyed the lunch before returning to his work. By that point, his skill had sold. Netting him another Bronze draw. As long as he could keep this up then he would have no problems for the future. While another manual of the same quality would only be enough to upgrade the townhouse to the first level of Manor. As long as he could do it the return would be great.

Unfortunately, his luck would once again not be the best. Another uncommon skill kept him on the horse of Bronze draws. But his luck would once again fall short. It seemed that while he would have no problem keeping up the habit. It was clear that getting the manual had been beginner's luck after all.

He wasn't sure if it was simply the benefit of the first draw. He would have to check the silver draw to be sure.

It wasn't until right before dinner that he managed to pull another cultivation manual. This one unfortunately didn't have the same value as the Muddy Arts.

[Uncommon Bears Strength]

[A manual of the martial path. Channel the strength of the bear and fight toe to toe with any Tier 2 warrior.]

[50/50]

The only benefit of the manual was that it could be used fifty times. He was sure that it made it more valuable.

He simply didn't have the personnel to make full use of the manual. Training up a force of Tier 2 Warriors with the strength of a bear certainly sounded appealing. But he wasn't sure how possible it would be anytime soon. He already had someone who could train a force up to Tier 1. That would be enough for the short term.

But he was sure that with the earnings from this, he would be able to scale up his drawing empire even more. As long as there were bronze draws on the market, he did not need to think about scaling up to a Manor.

If he could pick up another few manuals then even affording the few silver draws on the market would be possible.

While reaching the Manor level already was rare. It was nothing compared to the few Lords who had reached the Villa Level already.

Another successful day passed. And with little to no threats around him for the moment, he once again put up a manual for sale. This time with the hope of having several Bronze draws come the next day.