Chapter 195: The Lord’s Manor

Just when he had begun to feel as though this was how the rest of his life would be and that everything might as well be destroyed, he finally heard the most beautiful sound the system had ever produced.

[ Ding! Verification successful! Would you like to permanently register this follower? ]

When the verification succeeded, Joo Joowon did not even react at first.

He was still mechanically clicking Submit.

Only when he clicked on empty space did he realize what had happened.

He was so overwhelmed with joy that he almost burst into tears.

There was no way he would hesitate now.

Afraid that something unexpected might happen if he waited any longer, he immediately confirmed the registration.

[ Ding! ]

[ Congratulations! You have completed the Lord Quest: Lord’s Path I! ]

[ The quest rewards can be accumulated. If claimed after the chain quest is completed, the rewards will be doubled. Would you like to claim them now? ]

[ Yes / No ]

Joo Joowon looked at the rewards.

Ten experience points.

One copper coin.

The rewards were not particularly generous, so he chose No.

Although he had no idea how many rewards would be available once the entire quest series was completed, there was nothing he urgently needed right now.

There was no harm in letting them accumulate.

He then looked at the second stage of the quest.

...

[ Lord’s Path II ]

[ Description ]: Every self made Lord, after recruiting followers, builds achievements together with them. Choose a suitable territory and expand your domain.

[ Requirements ]: Purchase or occupy a territory. The territory must be no smaller than 50 square meters. It must contain a Lord’s Manor, residents, and a surrounding environment suitable for the current residents to live in. Click here to submit the territory.

[ Remaining Quest Time ]: 29 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes. (Note: Click here to purchase the Lord’s Manor.)

[ Failure Penalty ]: None for the current quest.

...

After reading the quest, Joo Joowon finally let out a sigh of relief.

The second quest in the series was simply choosing a territory.

That meant the quest chain itself was not overly complicated.

At the very least, it was not the kind of endless chain with dozens or even hundreds of quests that never seemed to end.

From the looks of it, the overall difficulty of the assessment probably would not be outrageously high.

After carefully reading through the quest requirements, Joo Joowon realized that, aside from the Lord’s Manor, the remaining conditions would all be fairly easy to satisfy.

He clicked the blue highlighted link in the note section.

The page immediately switched to a shopping interface.

The words Apocalypse Mall stood out prominently in the upper left corner.

Below that was the Lord Section.

Every other category remained locked, with only the Lord’s Manor category currently available.

So this was an early preview of the in game shop?

There were countless different styles of Lord’s Manors.

From celestial palaces floating among the clouds to ancient architectural complexes.

From futuristic science fiction cities to fantasy forest sanctuaries.

Every imaginable style was available.

However, what truly shocked Joo Joowon was not the appearance.

It was the prices.

They were so outrageous that he did not even dare look at them for long.

He immediately changed the sorting option to Price: Low to High.

The Lord’s Manors displayed before him instantly became much more plain and modest.

There were dilapidated thatched huts, simple stone houses and even tents.

The entire selection focused on affordability.

He clicked into them and examined the details carefully.

Only then did he finally understand how the Lord’s Manor system actually worked.

Every territory required a core.

In other words, a control center.

At the beginning, that control center was always built into the Lord’s Manor, allowing the Lord to monitor the condition of the territory at any time.

This object was called the Domain Core.

Because of that, the appearance of the Lord’s Manor itself was not particularly important.

Those external features only determined how comfortably the Lord lived.

What truly mattered was the Domain Core.

Once the Domain Core was destroyed, the Lord would immediately lose their status.

Although the Domain Core could be upgraded by absorbing resources, naturally, the better its initial quality was, the better.

That would also prevent situations later on where the territory expanded beyond the area the Domain Core could actually cover.

The Domain Cores that came with things like thatched huts and tents were among the worst possible models.

They were practically on the verge of becoming obsolete from the very beginning.

Not only was the territory they could cover extremely limited, but their accuracy was also rather poor.

The Lord monitored the condition of the territory through the Domain Core.

It could provide detailed reports about everything happening within the territory, including the aptitude of every resident, the progress of their skill learning, the amount of resources produced and much more.

Low grade Domain Cores, however, were essentially discount versions.

Many of their functions were incomplete.

Some did not even possess those functions at all.

After learning this, Joo Joowon immediately abandoned the idea of buying the cheapest option simply to meet the quest requirements.

After all, the purpose of building a territory was to improve his chances of surviving the apocalypse, not to burden himself with something that would only hold him back.

The quality of the Domain Core was usually reflected in the appearance of the building that came with it.

Aside from a handful of Lords who preferred a simple lifestyle or minimalist architecture, most Lord’s Manors looked impressive enough that anyone would feel they had gotten their money’s worth simply from the visual design alone.

After thinking for a moment, Joo Joowon selected the Nature and Technology tags from the filter list.

The former represented the kind of architectural style the little ones would probably enjoy.

With his current Physique, Joo Joowon would not find it particularly inconvenient to live in a small wooden cabin or a treehouse.

The latter represented the type of living environment he personally preferred.