Cao Feng grew more and more excited as he spoke.

He then sent over a dozen more messages in a row.

All of them were taunts.

This time, he watched his words and wasn’t muted by the system.

So this was what Yang Xiong and Lu Yi had messaged Zhao Chi about.

Cao Feng’s forces were recovering quickly.

He had either used an item or bought more people from the outside.

In any case, he was flexing his money-power.

A duel, of course, was an internal war between two Lords.

It wasn’t officially encouraged.

But if a real conflict existed, you could register for a duel and sign a liability waiver.

Zhao Chi checked his settings.

He had previously set his status to "Receive messages, but do not notify."

That’s why he hadn’t gotten any alerts.

He changed his private messages back to the normal mode.

Then, he sent a message:

Zhao Chi: [Two Intern Lords, dueling? Are you trying to make me laugh? Isn’t the school placement test in four days? If you want to win the bet, why don’t we just go by the results of the test?]

The moment Zhao Chi sent the message, Cao Feng replied instantly.

It was as if he had been waiting for Zhao Chi the whole time.

Cao Feng: [Finally decided to show your face? Fine. Everyone in the group chat saw it. Don’t you dare back out!]

Zhao Chi: [I always keep my word.]

Cao Feng: [Keep your word? Good, that’s for the best. What about the stakes?]

Zhao Chi: [Name your price. I’m just afraid you’ll be the one to back out.]

Cao Feng: [Me, back out? Are you still dreaming? If you lose, you’ll sign a vassal agreement with me. I want 20% of all your territory’s income for one year. You dare?]

Zhao Chi: [Done. You have a "Racial Improvement Book" you haven’t used yet, right? It’s a waste for you to use that item. Let’s make that your stake.]

Cao Feng: [Who told you that? Which bastard leaked my information?]

Zhao Chi: [Well, if you say a bastard leaked it, you’re not exactly wrong.]

Cao Feng: [What do you mean?]

Kong Xiang: [Brother Cao, you said it yourself last week.]

Cao Feng: [...] [Are you the only one with a damn mouth? Shut it!]

Zhao Chi: [It’s fine. If you don’t dare, just pick something else.]

Cao Feng: [Fuck, how could I not dare? It’s a deal! Whoever backs out, their whole family dies!]

Zhao Chi: [Good. It’s a deal.]

Zhao Chi closed the system interface.

As soon as he closed it, a system notification sound played.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

He opened it and saw it was Yang Xiong.

Yang Xiong: [Damn, you really accepted? You should have just cursed him out a bit. Don’t fall for his taunts. He’s rich and can buy soldiers. You’re at a disadvantage competing against him.]

Zhao Chi: [Don’t worry. Just focus on your training.]

Yang Xiong: [What’s the fucking point of me training harder? You’re the one competing against him. Or how about... fuck! How about I fucking send you some of my Beastmen?]

Zhao Chi: [Haha, please don’t. I appreciate the thought, though. Thanks.]

Yang Xiong: [Don’t fucking try to act tough. Try to cancel the bet if you can. We’re getting the short end of the stick.]

Zhao Chi: [I know. Go focus on developing your territory.]

Yang Xiong: [Yeah, you too.]

He closed the system interface.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Another message.

This time, it was Lu Yi.

Lu Yi: [Zhao Chi, didn’t I tell you not to be impulsive? Why did you even respond to him? Why did you accept the bet? A verbal bet like this isn’t binding. You can just not sign a formal agreement with him.]

Zhao Chi: [Yeah, thanks for the reminder. I know what I’m doing.]

Lu Yi: [What do you mean, you know what you’re doing? His family is rich. Didn’t you see he bought 30 Shadow Leopards straight up? And 5 Centaur Shooters. He might even buy more.]

Zhao Chi: [I understand. Thanks for the warning. I’ll be careful.]

Lu Yi: [I feel like you’re not taking me seriously at all.]

Zhao Chi: [How could I not? I’m not an impulsive person, you know that.]

Lu Yi: [...] [That’s true... In any case, don’t get carried away.]

Zhao Chi: [Got it. Thanks, Class President.]

Lu Yi: [You’re welcome. And don’t call me Class President, just use my name.]

Zhao Chi: [Alright, Lu Yi. Let’s both work hard on developing our territories.]

Lu Yi: [Yeah, let’s both do our best.]

He closed the system interface.

This time, it was finally quiet.

Zhao Chi wasn’t being impulsive.

He had carefully looked into the family situations of the people around him.

This was partly to better understand this world, and partly to understand his own circumstances.

He had investigated Cao Feng in even greater detail, especially since Cao Feng was always looking for trouble.

The Cao Feng Family was wealthy, but within his family, Cao Feng was a minor figure—ranked low and not taken seriously.

The fact that he had the Shadow Leopard Bloodline, plus a "Racial Improvement Book," was probably the limit of the resources he could obtain.

After all, the competition among his siblings and cousins in the family was fierce.

The pressure on his parents’ and grandparents’ generations to fight against the Magical Beasts was also immense, requiring a vast amount of resources.

Through further analysis, Zhao Chi judged that Cao Feng had some strength, but not an overwhelming amount.

That’s why he decided to accept the bet.

After all, the "Racial Improvement Book" was too tempting.

Zhao Chi went outside.

He saw that the 10 new women were all clothed.

Meanwhile, the clothes that Gu Qing and the others had been wearing were gone.

Instead, they were wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

It seemed Gu Qing and the other Female Soldiers had given their clothes to the new villagers.

This way, everyone had something to wear.

Zhao Chi asked the new villagers about their work preferences.

Only two had clear preferences; the rest were willing to follow Zhao Chi’s arrangements.

Soon, Zhao Chi changed the Professions of four of them to Female Carpenters, one to a Female Militia, and five to Female Construction Workers.

The Construction Worker Profession could be assigned freely.

Its Professional Attributes were similar to the others.

[Profession] Construction Worker

[Level] Basic

[Skills] Construction +5

[Attributes] Enhancement Points +5

For the Construction Workers’ Enhancements, he also prioritized Efficiency first.

There was one woman with better Attributes, so Zhao Chi appointed her as the Construction Group Leader to manage and lead the other four Female Construction Workers.

[Basic Construction Worker: Fang Li]

The Profession changes were complete.

All 10 of the new female villagers now had their own Professions.

They all felt full of fighting spirit.

The Construction Worker, Fang Li, asked, "My Lord, what Building should we construct?"

Zhao Chi said, "Let’s build defense towers first. Build five of them."

Fang Li froze for a moment, then confirmed again, "My Lord, five defense towers? We’re not constructing any other Buildings?"

Zhao Chi nodded. "That’s right. A Magical Beast invasion is coming in a few days. We need to establish our defenses first. Building walls is not cost-effective, so defense towers are the better value. However, you’ll have to live in the barracks for a few days. Is that alright?"

Fang Li shook her head. "What’s wrong with living in the barracks? Of course it’s not a problem. But we can only build Basic defense towers right now. They’re very small."

"Mm, I understand. It’s fine. Just go ahead and build them."

"Understood, my Lord. We’ll get started right away. Are there any requirements for their placement?"

"One in the center, and then one each to the north, south, east, and west. Just distribute them evenly."

"Roger!"

It was now 8:00 in the morning.

All the Female Craftsmen went to their respective duties.

Today was the third day, leaving four more days for development.

’This kind of development is definitely unfair. A student like me can only rely on myself. Some students can rely on their families. Even though the Lord’s Eighth Academy is an academy for commoners, there are still different tiers among them. Those with better family backgrounds will naturally receive more help. They can buy more Equipment, or some refugees. All of which can substantially increase their strength.’

However, if a student’s parents had both lost their territories, then they would have no resources to offer. If their parents’ territories still existed, they could provide some help, but it would be limited. After all, the parents also faced the pressure of invasions from the Alien Race and Magical Beasts. Relatively speaking, the parents were under even greater pressure. Most resources would still be invested in the parents’ territories, as that was the cruelest battlefield. Some resources would be invested in their children, allowing them to be stronger than others, but ultimately it wouldn’t be a huge amount. Noble families were the exception.

On the training grounds.

Gu Qing stood at the front, facing ten female militia.

Zhao Chi stood behind the militia, practicing spear thrusts along with them.

The Female Militia held shields in their left hands and tree branches in their right, practicing with great concentration.

Yesterday, the Carpenter Li Zhu was the only one making Wooden Shields, and he only managed to produce eight.

Today, the number of Carpenters had been supplemented to five. By the afternoon, everyone would be equipped with brand-new Wooden Shields and Wooden Spears.