Daz spent the next hour crafting simple items that the base might be able to use like chairs and tables. His Basic Crafting skill had levelled up three times, surprising Daz, so it was now at a respectable level five.

"I guess Lyle should have had enough time to find some decent things from the base upgrade shop. I'd better go find him and upgrade the base before I leave today," Daz mumbled as he patted himself down to remove any dirt, and he then left to find Lyle.

It didn't take him long to find his target. Lyle was practising injecting the dummies at the training ground while Heather was also busy practising her aim on a few of the other dummies with her fishing rod.

Lyle noticed Daz's approach so he stopped his training and put a smile on his face. "My Lord, have you finished your crafting?"

"Hmm? You knew I was crafting?" Daz asked curiously as he sat down on the training area's bench.

"Of course, my Lord. As soon as I was done selecting possible upgrades for the base, I went to find you, but I could clearly see that you were busy with your crafting, so I thought it would be best if I made myself productive and waited for you finish since you seemed to be enjoying yourself," Lyle happily explained before he took a seat next to Daz.

"Ah sorry about that," Daz replied with a slightly embarrassed expression on his usually expressionless face.

"Not at all, my Lord. You're more than allowed to enjoy yourself considering the amazing job you did today." Lyle couldn't help but admire Daz even more. It would seem that his angry attitude from yesterday had mostly mellowed out. Lyle had to wonder what might have caused such a rapid change in his Lord, but he chose not to pry.

"Anyway," Daz said with a slight stretch of his back. "What upgrades caught your eye today, Lyle?"

Lyle took a few minutes to tell Daz exactly what upgrades he personally felt Fort Skip needed urgently before Daz thanked him and began inspecting them one by one. During this, Lyle returned to his injection practice.

"Huu... Lyle really picked out quite a few good ones... well, no point buying any now until I make Fort Skip bigger. There's all this grassland around us, no point in wasting it. System, how many base points do I have and please show me how much the next base size upgrade will cost me?" Daz asked politely.

Confirmed. The total balance of the base is 10,300. 5000 points were awarded due to a [Tiny Base] having survived an attack and 100 points were awarded for each surviving citizen. Base Size Upgrade Small Base Size Upgrade Description Size does, in fact, matter. The bigger a Lord's base, the better his social standing amongst his peers, so bigger is ALWAYS better. Upgrade Changes a [Tiny] base into a [Small] base, allowing for far more structures to be built and far more Citizens to be housed. Price 20,000(5,000) Merit Points 1,000 Base Points

'Twenty thousand? Thankfully I have the Godly Management skill that reduces the price by seventy-five percent or I'd be pretty hesitant to spend so much on this upgrade even though the ability to build on more land is pretty critical... but anyway, seriously, what the fuck is with these descriptions for the base upgrades? They're so weird,' Daz thought to himself before he confirmed the purchase.

Nothing visibly changed, but Daz now knew that he could build for another one-hundred feet outside of his Fort's walls, which relieved him. That was more than enough to house his Citizens for the immediate future.

The total merit balance of the host is now 175,148. The total balance of the base is now 9,300.

Daz then went on to buy some walls for the new border of his base.

Physical Base Upgrade [Small] Base Walls Description A base needs to provide not only shelter, but a place to rest and relax safely, and what inspires feelings of safety more than a sturdy wall? Nothing. Upgrade Creates a solid, twelve-foot tall and ten-feet wide limestone and brick wall and two steel portcullises that surround the [Small] base. Creates a small sense of security for the Citizens of the base. Price 10,000(2,500) Merit Points or 1,000(250) Limestone Units and 200(50) Steel Units 1,000 Base Points

Naturally, Daz didn't have any limestone and his steel was very limited, so he chose to spend the merit points instead, and instantly, a huge earthquake began rumbling as the ground split open one-hundred meters away from the current walls and around the back of the current walls near the cliff.

Everyone was alarmed at the sudden noise and shaking, but soon, they were left in awe while they watched the enormous wall that looked oddly like the walls of Constantinople sprout out of the concrete road and grasslands, creating a huge shadow that covered half of Daz's new territory.

It was at the moment of seeing these walls being created that most of the people who had voiced poor opinions of Daz earlier, finally had a change of heart and couldn't help but feel like they were now safe. It was amazing the effect a single wall could have.

What amazed Daz, was that half of the normal stone wall that he had created when the base was a tiny one had actually been destroyed and replaced with this new, taller and stronger wall.

'Is it because the back end of the wall is facing a cliff, so that's the edge of my territory?' Daz wondered. He figured that must have been the reason, so he returned his focus to the shop and purchased five small leisure cabins which were just a better and bigger version of the tiny one he already owned and each one could house roughly fifteen people which was more than enough for now.

After buying them, his points had taken a fairly large hit, but that was the biggest headache out of the way, for now, so he checked his remaining points again before moving on to buying some of the buildings that Lyle had suggested.