Chapter 169: The Sacred Pond?

Chapter 169

The Sacred Pond?

"Thank you very much. You can head back now," Ellie waved her hand. She didn’t give the little creature any more orders, so the former commander’s body, which had been ready to spring into action, relaxed.

Ellie looked around before trying to communicate with them. It seemed the information she received was accurate—these creatures understood what she was saying, but they couldn’t respond. Because of this, it would take some time to get used to and understand what they wanted to convey.

"My lady, the first thing you should do for this city is to name it. Normally, after gaining control of a city, everyone names it immediately, but the master wanted to wait for you," the large man advised. Naming the city was important to avoid confusion, especially if one day they controlled many cities. This way, they could set up teleportation settings using the city’s name. Additionally...it would help in issuing commands to everyone.

Even though Ellie currently had only him and another one, who was Owen’s man, as two members in the city, there were also 212 slaves. So, it would be better to have everything in place from the start.

Of course, Ellie understood the purpose of naming the city. Even though she wouldn’t personally oversee the city, as the city’s lord, she could still go to the City Control Platform to manage various tasks. For now, it was the duty of a man sent by Young Lord Owen to act on her behalf and help monitor potential dangers around the city.

"Then let’s call it... “Pan 4”," Ellie decided without much hesitation. Naming the city was something she had already thought about. Drawing inspiration from various kingdoms she had seen, where cities were often named after deities for good fortune, Ellie decided to do the same.

The name "Pan" referred to the God of Nature, chosen primarily for its simplicity. But upon further reflection, the name "Pan" suited the city’s environment perfectly.

The number 4 indicated that it was located on the 4th floor. She knew that the powerful Young Lord Owen planned to seize cities on 1st to 3rd floors for her as well. While she felt he was being a bit excessive, all his efforts were beneficial to her, giving her no reason to refuse...

"This...is a very good name, my lady. May it be a safe city that brings you happiness," the large man said, following the custom. It was similar to offering blessings at a housewarming ceremony; everyone had to say something positive first. Although inwardly he chuckled dryly at Ellie’s use of a numerical suffix in the city’s name.

For a city, not everyone got the chance to own one, so they took naming it very seriously. Having a strange number attached to the name was unheard of. However...he couldn’t offer advice beyond his duty. If he displeased the young lady, his head might end up rolling off his shoulders.

"Then I will now delegate tasks to everyone. Currently, everyone is gathered in the hall doing nothing, which seems like a waste of time."

"So, my first command is...for the commander to continue protecting this city as you have been, and take your soldiers with you to fulfill this duty. As for the other residents, you can continue living in the city as you have."

"This city, I haven’t come to extract resources like with the other cities. Therefore, maintain the city’s condition as much as possible. In the future, if any improvements are needed, I’ll inform the commander. For now, proceed as instructed. Understood?"

Ellie issued a simple command that didn’t burden them at all. However, when the Metises heard this order, they looked at each other in confusion.

What did she mean by telling them to live as they used to? They were slaves, and this city was no longer theirs. So, how could they live as they used to? Such a vague order—how were they supposed to follow it?

"Hoom, hoom," the largest Metis, who was the commander, questioned Ellie. Even though she didn’t understand, his demeanor clearly showed he was uncertain about the given order.

In other cities, the first thing to do upon conquest was to kill all the original inhabitants to avoid future problems. If they didn’t want to kill them, they would chain them up and force them into hard labor—if they survived, they worked; if not, they died. It was as if the lives of the conquered held no value.

Moreover...each city had different resources. Their city had abundant resources, not to mention the cemetery and treasures they guarded, as well as other resources that the city’s new owner should have ordered to be collected. Sometimes there would be orders to go out and gather as many resources as possible from around the city, regardless of the inhabitants’ lives. But what was this order to live normally? And the commander just protecting the city...What about the resources? Who would collect them?

"Uh, my lady, they might not understand the order. Actually, a simple command for a city’s lord might be to first renovate the residences, rebuild the city walls to be safer, or have the slaves gather all the resources."

"This city belongs to the plants. We noticed there are many kinds of plants here. Selling them could fetch a good price, and these plants are well-maintained by the slaves. If you want more plants, you could order them to expand the cultivation area."

Upon hearing the suggestion, Ellie shook her head. She hadn’t come here to gather resources like other city’s lords. This city was acquired solely to serve as her secret base. If she needed money, she could simply sell valuable herbs. Remember, she had Tezetrons in her possession, along with Sapphire Dragon Scale herbs, Sky-Catcher herbs, Prims Blossom Pollen herbs, Duren Root herbs, Larffle herbs, Red Zuck herbs, Raden, and Clear Skite. Even vegetables and fruits were plentiful. Therefore, Ellie lacked nothing in terms of wealth, so there was no reason to force everyone to work hard.

"I already said I don’t need any resources. Everyone just live as you have been and help protect this city, that’s enough. The resources you grow or gather, handle them as you always have. If I need you to do anything, I’ll call on you."

"B-But...”

"Is there a problem with my order?"

"Uh, no, my lady, none," the large man conceded when he saw Ellie’s indifferent gaze. He had never encountered such a situation before. It was no wonder the master had instructed them to let Ellie do as she pleased if she wanted anything.

He never expected that those orders would mean this! Initially, he thought the young girl might do something strange and repulsive, and the master would allow it simply because she was his benefactor. Unexpectedly, this little lady had no greed at all. Well...if his master had chosen someone like everyone else, then he wouldn’t be the master, right?

"Hoom, hoom," the large Metis didn’t fully understand the command, but the last part, "If I need anything, I’ll call on you," was the easiest to understand. It was like the king who would often issue orders like this, appearing as if there was nothing more to say but gradually adding more orders each day.

So, when the opportunity arose where she hadn’t thought of anything yet, he quickly told all the Metises to rest and gather their strength. Today, their mistress had no work for them, but tomorrow they might have to work without rest.

In the end, the large Metis would later learn that the hard work he feared never existed from the start. Ellie came here and maintained this natural state because she automatically received life force from it. It wasn’t that she wasn’t greedy; it was because of her greed that she wanted to preserve all the herbs and everything that was here.

Who would have thought that as soon as she entered the city, 40% of the life force from all the plants would be absorbed by her power? From initially thinking she would have to try to reach level 4 before the school term started, she now realized she might reach level 4 within just 3 days!

No one knew how hard the Metises had worked to maintain such an environment conducive to training. Every day, she could absorb 40% of the life force—wasn’t this like a sleeping partner[1]?

Meanwhile, the plants from her secret dimension couldn’t be used for training in this way. The only way to gain life force from them was to decompose them into life force directly. This might be because most of their life force originally came from Ellie, so she couldn’t absorb much back. Of course, this was just a guess; she didn’t know the true reason.

After seeing all the Metises return to their dwellings, some went to tidy up their resting places, which were just deep holes where they anchored themselves. When they went to rest, they resembled ordinary large trees. If Ellie didn’t remember where they were, she might not even recognize them as monsters since they looked just like regular trees.

To put it correctly...this city was really just a forest!!

The soldiers following their commander spread out, most positioning themselves at the front to act as the city’s wall, spaced unevenly for realistic. If any beast entered the city, they would simply catch and consume them. Some soldiers patrolled around the city to monitor its inhabitants’ well-being, which impressed Ellie quite a bit.

She spent the remaining daylight walking around the city with Young Lord Owen’s man. The most striking sight was the ancient ruins resembling a cemetery. Overall, it exuded a dense botanic power. Ellie wasn’t sure what it was, but that botanic power was what almost brought her power to level 4 in such a short time.

Ellie didn’t venture into the cemetery because she didn’t know how dangerous it might be. Until her spores had spread throughout the city and she could inspect the entire cemetery, she wouldn’t risk exploring it haphazardly.

The second thing that caught her eye was the king’s residence. This place was particularly interesting because it was an underground tunnel. The king had a large trunk, so the hole was bigger than the others. However, the king was no longer there, leaving a large, open tunnel with a huge hole that allowed light to shine down below.

Below was the best area in the city. Although it didn’t have the City Control Platform, it was an excellent residence. Besides the numerous valuable herbs that accelerated plant growth, there was also a bright green pond that provided immense life force, more than anywhere else. It was no wonder the palace was built here.

This clean pond was actually connected to various parts of the city. It seemed to be made from the king’s roots, which all the Metises agreed to allow the king to do that. The king’s roots extended to every location, and it was from these old roots that the life force potion originated. Underneath this pond were dark green gem crystals. Ellie felt this pond was somewhat similar to the bio-fermented water from her previous world because the king’s roots anchored at the points where the Metises threw decomposing captured beasts or intruders at their dwellings. While waiting for it to be decomposed, some parts became food for the Metises, and some flowed through the king’s roots to this pond.

"A bit of a cheat, but considering it a tribute isn’t wrong," Ellie muttered to herself. She walked to the pond and retrieved a bottle from her dimensional ring, as she wanted to test something.

The large man watched the girl’s actions. He had actually inspected the pond to find out where had every bit of these water came from, and discovered it originated from the remains of plants and animals that wandered into the city. The Metises used their flowers to attract various creatures to become their food. Thus, the water in this pond was essentially plant food.

True, it was valuable for cultivation, but it’s worth was significant only to families skilled in agriculture. For the Setter family...this pond was nothing but trash.

They might make an offer to sell it to some families, but it wouldn’t be profitable enough to justify the effort. Therefore, in his eyes, the pond wasn’t that interesting.

Although they weren’t interested, since the young lady was, he would have to assist her diligently. The large man eagerly volunteered, hoping to help her scoop up the green water himself. However, just as he was about to reach out and touch the pond, the green gem suddenly glowed, and a green whip appeared from nowhere, striking him and sending his body flying into the cave wall!

“Ugh!” The large man coughed up blood. The swift attack, which he hadn’t anticipated at all, left him utterly stunned with mouth agape.

[1] Sleeping partner (เสือนอนกิน), in Thai context, means someone who gain benefit without doing anything.