Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Labyrinth Pioneering (1)
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Basically, Arteil's territory development follows a pretty standard territory-building route.
Starting from the Lord's Castle as the base, you construct all the essential production buildings. Only then do you begin erecting the first-tier structures.
Up until the point where every first-tier building is complete and the territory is solidly on track.
But right after that—once you can start raising second-tier buildings within the territory and truly define its direction—Arteil sets itself apart from other web territory games.
Unlike the typical fare, where you just upgrade buildings, churn out hordes of soldiers, and dive into mindless battles to plunder resources from other territories or gobble up land, Arteil offers a multitude of territory archetypes.
The big three representatives? Commercial territories, production territories, and combat territories.
A combat territory, as the name implies, thrives on PvP battles—raiding resources and seizing castles to fuel growth.
Commercial territories run massive merchant caravans, snapping up rival territories with cash or pouring funds into development.
And production territories? They leverage special resources unique to that route—plus artifacts equipped on heroes looted from labyrinths—to drive progress through sales.
There are plenty of other archetypes too, but players generally latched onto one of these three for direction.
Of course, as your territory level climbs and development progresses, you can dip into everything. Kim Hyunwoo himself had bootstrapped his early levels with a commercial setup.
If Arteil were your run-of-the-mill territory game, combat types would dominate the spotlight. But surprisingly, it wasn't built for reckless brawls.
The culprit? The relationship system tied to your territory's direction.
Commercial territories boast strong ties with merchant NPCs. Production ones foster bonds with production guilds, adventurers, and heroes based on your actions. For combat guilds, who have to scrape resources from outside, that's a tough nut to crack.
On the flip side, commercial and production territories need to keep supplying resources steadily to maintain those relations and ward off raids. All in all, for a territory game, Arteil nailed diverse directions with solid balance.
'Well, that meticulously crafted balance got wrecked by a single BM cash grab.'
Kim Hyunwoo mulled that over as he eyed the territory window.
In roughly three weeks, the territory had transformed in countless ways.
The residential district, once sparse when Kim Hyunwoo first arrived, was now teeming with people crammed into every corner, hawking wares in the narrow alleys between homes.
Up front stood the blacksmith and tavern. To the east of the Lord's Castle loomed the barracks, while westward from the residential zone, territory folk toiled away at their farms.
In the best light, Lartania had finally taken on the shape of a proper territory.
...Of course, in the worst light, it had only just clawed its way to the tutorial's opening beats in Arteil. But for Kim Hyunwoo, what mattered was that he now had a solid foundation to run the place right.
"Then let's get this started."
Kim Hyunwoo flashed a grin in response to Loria, kicking things off.
"Alright, first things first—territory development?"
He muttered to himself.
"What is it?"
Kim Hyunwoo nodded at Loria's curious question, as if he'd seen it coming.
She was an NPC built to aid territory development, after all—but a labyrinth city? Nothing like that existed in Arteil.
He pondered how to explain it, then lit up with the perfect phrasing.
"Put it simply: think of it as doing business with the labyrinth."
"Yeah. More precisely, business using magic stones from the labyrinth."
Labyrinths in this world teemed with monsters, and slaying them dropped magic stones.
These stones were the world's oil and electricity rolled into one—an indispensable resource for weapons and more. Demand was sky-high, supply... not so much.
Blame the lords' monopoly.
The only way to get magic stones? Hunt labyrinth monsters. And labyrinths only spawned in territories with a Territory Stone—and entry required the lord's say-so.
Meaning, at present, only lords could produce them. Naturally, they clamped down on supply.
After all, magic stones handed lords a massive strategic edge over guilds, adventurers, and mage towers alike.
"Exactly."
Loria fell silent at Kim Hyunwoo's bold declaration of tossing that strategic advantage aside—then spoke up.
"It could look that way."
Kim Hyunwoo figured her worry was spot-on.
This system he'd proposed? Unheard of. No territory had dared try it. Hell, no one had even dreamed it up.
"You got it."
"You're saying magic stones have to keep pouring out of the labyrinth, right?"
This approach birthed a territory type that shouldn't even be possible.
Labyrinth monsters attached to territories did drop magic stones. Fact.
But here's the kicker: when they respawn.
Weekly cycle. Meaning, each territory's magic stone haul was capped per week—no matter how deep you delved, it stayed finite. And not abundant, either.
Even top-tier stones wouldn't lure hordes of adventurers or guilds if quantities were so stingy.
Yet Kim Hyunwoo brimmed with confidence anyway.
"Don't sweat it. I've got a plan."
He had the perfect key to unlocking this impossible labyrinth city.
"Loria, you said labyrinth pioneering has to start from scratch, right?"
Kim Hyunwoo wore a smug grin as he replied.
"First stop: recruiting a hero."
Elena was a hero.
...To be more precise, she was a run-of-the-mill hero, shunned pretty much everywhere.
Her abilities struck her as hopelessly vague, even to herself.
A combat hero, sure—but oddly underwhelming compared to her peers.
Stronger than soldiers, naturally. But against other heroes? Laughably outclassed. Which explained her endless, unwanted wandering.
In the old days, when territories sprouted like weeds, maybe. But now? No lord bothered hiring middling talents like hers.
Not that Elena hadn't tried.
She'd burned with desire for fame across the continent—to grow stronger than the rest.
And yeah, to pay back those sneering lords and heroes who'd looked down on her.
Over the past few years, she'd clawed desperately to break free of her rut. Splurged hard-earned coin on new gear. Trained till dawn. Picked up magic she'd never touched before. Dabbled in archery.
But no dice. Effort be damned.
It was like she'd slammed into a hard cap. Five years of flailing later, Elena threw in the towel on getting stronger.
She'd swallowed her pride. Faced facts.
Her ceiling was right there.
...
After that, she'd scraped by on odd jobs, drifting between territories. Then she caught wind of a rumor.
Lartania—the territory shattered when its lord vanished a decade ago—was rebuilding under a returned lord.
Elena bolted toward it, half-entranced.
Maybe he'll hire me, she'd hoped.
Rumors pegged Lartania as a fresh sprout, no different from the territories that had taken her on ten years back.
But when Elena reached Lartania and stepped into the tavern, disappointment hit unbidden.
The place crawled with heroes. Plenty of 'em.
Over five, easy. Instant clarity: no shot.
So she'd written herself off.
"...You'll hire me?"
"Yeah."
Right up until that hesitation-free reply.
Elena glanced around in stunned panic.
Sure, these tavern heroes weren't powerhouses by her lights. But objectively? They outclassed her.
Pathetically, she scraped the absolute bottom of the hero barrel.
"...Someone like me... that okay with you?"
Hell, her voice trembled like gravel as she stammered it out.
Blame the cold self-assessment etched by relentless misfortune.
"Yeah. No—perfect!"
But the comeback was lightning-quick. No second thoughts.
As if she were essential.
And then—
Snap!
"—It has to be you!"
—the lord seized her hand mid-sentence.
Elena's eyes ballooned in an instant.
'Th-this...!'
A confession?
No way, right?
As Elena reeled from the sudden twist, Kim Hyunwoo—the one gripping her hand—
'Jackpot...!'
—grinned ear to ear at the info window floating before his eyes.