Elven cultivators

Besides the underground monsters and various intelligent races, the intricate terrain of the Underdark itself also posed a significant obstacle to the exploration team.

This underground world has no road signs, no landmarks, only endless rocks, fissures, and underground rivers.

Some places were wide enough to accommodate the entire city of the beginning, while others were so narrow that only one person could squeeze through sideways, and the rock walls were covered with sharp ridges.

The exploration team had to proceed with extreme caution and care with every step they took.

Fortunately, all those years of hard work have not been in vain.

After three years of exploration, the results have been quite substantial.

The mineral veins are the largest part of the harvest.

The four teams have discovered a total of 27 metal veins, nearly half of which are rare mineral veins.

In addition, many growth sites of various rare plants have been discovered.

Eleanor specially selected a group of experienced elves from the Primordial City Spirit Plant Garden to establish small nurseries at each of the growth points of these rare plants, so as to carry out more professional cultivation and improve their quantity and quality.

"Taking Nine Nether City as the origin, the surrounding areas that have been explored, brought under control, or influenced are collectively referred to as the 'Nine Nether City Domain'."

"Currently, the control radius of the Nine Nether City has exceeded ten kilometers and is still expanding outward."

"Within the city's jurisdiction, the renovation of infrastructure such as lighting, ventilation, roads, and navigation is underway. As of now, the area within a seven-kilometer radius has been basically renovated, and the remaining three-kilometer area is also being renovated at an accelerated pace."

Eleanor presented the information she had gathered in a methodical and clear manner, with detailed data, clearly demonstrating her thorough understanding of the affairs of Nine Nether City.

After that, she paused, and her tone suddenly became more serious.

"However, recent explorations on the north side have encountered some problems."

Anton's eyes flickered slightly: "What's wrong?"

"The northern exploration team has discovered signs of numerous subterranean creatures of various races about fifteen kilometers from Nine Nether City. Judging from their footprints and activity traces, their numbers are considerable. Roman has personally led a team to explore that direction further, but there has been no news yet."

Anton asked thoughtfully, "Are there any traces of underground races living there?"

Eleanor shook her head and said, "Almost none."

Anton immediately understood: "That must mean some precious resource has appeared, attracting a lot of underground tribes to fight over it."

Such things are not uncommon in the Underdark.

The sudden exposure of a rare mineral vein, the ripening of a rare magical plant's fruit, or even the fall of a legendary behemoth... these could all become the fuse that ignites a struggle between various parties, plunging a region into chaos.

"Tell Roman to be careful and not to act rashly," Anton said. "If things get really bad, retreat and rejoin the other three teams before proceeding."

"I have already sent someone to convey this message."

Eleanor was as reliable and dependable as ever.

Anton nodded in satisfaction and then asked, "How did the disciples of Taichu City who participated in the exploration mission perform?"

A smile appeared on Eleanor's face: "Very good. They have all been very proactive in the exploration team and never complain about being tired."

"I heard that in recent years, they have learned a lot of new spells suitable for exploring the Dark Realms, which have been of great help in the exploration process."

When An Dong recruited his first batch of disciples, he intentionally copied out the inheritance from the Great Dao Jade Scroll and compiled it into a classic text.

It encompasses everything from the most basic theories of cultivation to cultivation methods, martial arts, spells, and even alchemy, weapon crafting, formations, talismans, and other arts of cultivation.

After the city of Taichu was built, these books were all placed in the library.

Most of these classic texts are free to all disciples, while a small number require contribution points to exchange for.

Over the years, the library's collection of books has reached an astonishing scale, encompassing a wide variety of magical arts, with countless categories, including the Five Elements and Yin-Yang.

The disciples of Taichu City can freely choose suitable cultivation methods and techniques from this vast library of books according to their own spiritual root attributes, combat style and actual needs, truly achieving individualized teaching and allowing each to learn from their strengths.

Under such conditions, finding spells suitable for use in dark regions is incredibly easy.

"What about the Scale Clan and the Cat People?" Anton asked again.

Eleanor's smile deepened: "The Darkscale Clan was a great help in the exploration and location of underground water sources. Several mineral veins were discovered by them by tracking the flow of underground water."

"The cat-men also played a significant role in reconnaissance and tracking, discovering enemy ambushes ahead of time on several occasions and preventing unnecessary casualties."

"The merit system has a clear incentive effect on them. In order to accumulate merits, they work extra hard when performing tasks and never slack off. I think their enthusiasm for work is even higher than when they first arrived."

Anton smiled faintly: "With something to look forward to, you'll naturally have the motivation."

The core of a merit-based system has never been punishment, but rather incentive.

Let the vassal races see the rewards of their efforts, and let them understand that they can get better treatment as long as they make contributions, and they will naturally do their best.

This is a more effective driving force than swords and whips.

"There's something I'm having trouble deciding on, and I'd like to hear your opinion." Eleanor's tone shifted, and her expression became serious. "As the exploration distance increases, the time it takes for the team to travel to and from Nine Nether City is getting longer and longer. After all, the underground is not like the surface. Without mounts, using flying artifacts is inconvenient, and most of the time we can only rely on our own two legs."

"Moreover, as the city's radius continues to expand, this problem will only become more and more serious. A lot of time will be wasted on the journey alone, which greatly reduces the efficiency of exploration. I'm wondering if there is a good way to solve this problem."

This is something that definitely needs to be addressed.

After a moment's thought, Anton quickly made a decision.

"You should arrange for people to build outposts at regular intervals along the main exploration route, with Nine Nether City as the core, as rest stops and supply points for future exploration teams."

"I will also set up teleportation arrays at various outposts to connect to the outskirts of Nine Nether City. This way, the team can quickly travel between the outposts and Nine Nether City through the teleportation arrays, saving a lot of time spent on the journey."

Eleanor thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

The teleportation arrays in the magic system and the teleportation arrays in the cultivation system are essentially the same in principle.

The only difference is that the teleportation array in the magic system requires a legendary spellcaster to guide the spatial coordinates in order to function properly.

However, teleportation arrays in the cultivation system do not require them.

Once built, with regular maintenance and a sufficient supply of spirit stones, it can continue to operate on its own indefinitely.

But these two have one thing in common.

That is, the construction cost is extremely high, requiring a large amount of rare materials with spatial properties.

Materials with spatial properties are rare and precious; using them to build teleportation arrays is tantamount to burying piles of gold coins directly into the ground.

The Nine Netherworld City area is not very large yet; a few teleportation arrays are enough to cover it completely, so the investment is not excessive.

However, as the area of ​​the Nine Netherworld City expands, the investment in teleportation arrays will also rise to a painful level.

Anton was naturally aware of this as well.

Even so, this is still a necessary investment.

It's not just Nine Nether City; Silver Moon Forest and Primordial City also need to set up teleportation arrays.

Only in this way can the clan's sphere of influence be truly woven into an impenetrable net.

The allocation of manpower and resources will also become more efficient than ever before.

In the long run, this is not only to improve the efficiency of exploring the Underdark, but also to maintain the clan's rule.

Eleanor wrote down all of Anton's instructions.

Looking at the girl's serious face, Anton suddenly said, "The clan's affairs will become increasingly numerous in the future, and you will eventually be unable to manage them all by yourself. It's time to find a suitable helper."

Eleanor paused slightly, then said, "The document hall has been expanding, recruiting more staff."

Anton shook his head: "The document office can only help you with some miscellaneous tasks. They can't get involved in the truly core matters. What you need is a real helper to share the burden of those tasks that the document office can't handle."

Anton's remarks were not based on any consideration of power balance.

Although he doesn't seem to care much about affairs on a daily basis and delegates everything to his subordinates, the development of the clan ultimately rests on his shoulders.

He can take back power whenever he wants, without any obstacles.

I'm saying this now purely out of concern for Eleanor.

Ultimately, the staff of the document hall were all ordinary elves, not monks.

Those who do not follow the path of cultivation cannot understand, let alone handle, many core matters.

For example, Eleanor had to keep a close eye on the management and operation of the City of the Beginning.

The City of Primordial is still in its early stages, and Eleanor can manage on her own.

However, as the number of disciples increases in the future, the affairs will only become more and more busy.

By then, Eleanor alone would have no chance to manage everything.

"After this year's aptitude test, the number of disciples in Taichu City has exceeded one hundred," Anton said. "You can find a few suitable talents among them to assist you in handling affairs."

Eleanor knew perfectly well that Anton cared about her, and feeling a warmth in her heart, she readily agreed.

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

She paused, then suddenly remembered something and said, "I think Flora would be a good fit."

Upon hearing this, a gentle figure flashed through Anton's mind, and he agreed, "Flo is indeed a good candidate."

The first batch of disciples recruited back then have now grown up and are gradually able to stand on their own.

Among these twelve disciples, Flora is the most stable and mature, with a meticulous mind and organized approach to tasks, making her the best candidate to assist Eleanor in handling affairs.

"I'll talk to Flora about it when I have some free time," Eleanor said.