Harem-Powered Kingdom Building: Empire of Carnal Sin-Chapter 61: Dungeons and Corrupted Ground

Two hours – that’s how long the rain poured.

Fortunately, under Rhonia’s leadership and the assistance of several others, Hiro’s Realm was still able to get breakfast ready within a reasonable time.

Right now, variety in terms of food was non-existent. People would have to eat monster meat again. But nobody complained, since monster meat tended to be both delicious and nutritious.

Hushed murmurs filled the air as people went about their morning routines, their conversations centered around one incredible fact - they had spent an entire night in the Desolate Lands and were still fucking alive!

The reputation of the Desolate Lands was so nightmarish throughout Selune’s domain up North that for most people, merely surviving a single night was considered a monumental feat.

Nothing particularly dramatic had occurred during the night either. No monster attacks, no emergencies—neither from the mysterious cock-shaped building nor from wandering creatures. It seemed the Goddess Statue was doing an admirable job protecting against roaming monsters, even though it proved ineffective against the creatures that emerged from the hypnotic mist.

The cock-shaped structure remained an enigma. None of Hiro’s citizens could say with certainty what it truly was, though theories abounded.

New faces could be seen among the citizens - the settlement’s population had increased by three overnight. One of the new arrivals was a tough-looking old man with a muscular build and dark skin—a stonemason by trade. He carried a mild air of melancholy about him, but then again, few who sought refuge came bearing joy. Hiro had already noted his arrival and recognized his potential value to the settlement.

While most of the settlement ate breakfast, a crucial discussion was taking place inside Bob and Furina’s tent. The key members present included Hiro, Starius, Targon, Vasquen, Fiona, Barbara, Shuvichi, and Tara. Tara felt somewhat out of place among these powerful individuals, acutely aware of how much stronger the others were compared to her.

Inside the tent, the table occupied the center position with parchment covered in various details spread across its surface. The chairs had been pushed to the sides to accommodate everyone.

"Understanding the land around us is crucial," Hiro said, mustering an authoritative tone. "We need to comprehend the terrain, the resources, monsters, dungeons—everything."

Exploration was on top of Hiro’s mind. He wanted to uncover the fog of war that covered the Stone Tablet’s Map of his Realm. Knowledge was power.

Vasquen was the first to voice his approval, with others nodding in agreement. Starius added his own thoughts, focusing on the corrupted ground surrounding them.

And so the discussion began. Hiro had already consulted with Carnalia about common knowledge such as dungeons, dungeon breaks, corrupted ground and other basic things a Ruler would be expected to know.

Basically, The World spawned numerous dungeons throughout any territory, with the number and level of the dungeons directly correlating to the Area Level of the barony they were in.

Before anyone cleared a dungeon for the first time, these remained Unconquered Dungeons. Such dungeons occasionally experienced Dungeon Breaks—a phenomenon where large numbers of monsters from within the dungeon would break free and enter the open world.

Once a dungeon was cleared for the first time, it became Conquered. It could be entered again, and monsters would still inhabit it, but the valuable first-clear rewards would be permanently lost. Dungeon Breaks would no longer occur.

Additionally, after a Dungeon Break, parts of the earth surrounding the dungeon became corrupted, creating the dark patches visible around Hiro’s starting location.

Traditional farming was impossible on corrupted ground. As long as the corruption persisted, hunting would remain the settlement’s primary food source. The corruption would naturally heal over time, but new corruption would appear as long as Dungeon Breaks kept occurring.

The surrounding dungeons needed to be conquered first before any meaningful long term improvement could occur.

All of this directly related to exploring the barony’s territory, since these dungeons would have to be located first before they could be cleared.

Once he made sure that everyone was on the same page, Hiro began sketching on the parchment before him, recreating what his Map app displayed on the Stone Tablet.

His current map remained largely obscured by fog of war, with even the Area Level showing nothing but question marks, since his Barony wasn’t sufficiently explored.

As the Ruler, Hiro could simply travel around his territory to reveal the Map in his proximity.

As for the normal citizens, for them to reveal the fog of war, they would need to carry scouting beacons. Hiro possessed one such beacon, which he had previously given to Shuvsan, the Shuvlok scout. Barbara currently held that beacon in her hand.

The first beacon from the Stone Tablet shop had been free. To purchase another would cost 10 gold. Given his dwindling gold reserves, Hiro had decided against the expense. It was better to maintain some gold for emergencies.

After explaining the current map situation, Hiro took the Scouting Beacon from Barbara and handed it to Starius. "I’m tasking you with selecting several people to create a scouting party," Hiro announced. "You will move with your party while I will move independently. We will explore different regions simultaneously."

The Desolate Lands were undeniably treacherous, so Hiro initially hadn’t been sure if sending Starius off independently was a good idea. However, Carnalia had told him the previous night, while he lay on his luxurious 20-gold bed, that Heroes were beacons of luck.

Misfortune didn’t befall them easily. They could transform dangerous situations into opportunities and grow stronger. Even Starius’ survival story after saving Tara aligned with this theory.

Though this luck theory wasn’t explicitly acknowledged by the wider masses and lacked concrete proof, Hiro trusted Carnalia’s wisdom, making him comfortable giving Starius the scouting beacon. In any case, the Hero should be properly utilized and put to work. Otherwise, what was the point of him being here?

The conversation then shifted to the cock-shaped tower and its mysterious eruptions, which were a massive threat to the safety of their settlement.

The true nature of the tower was still unknown but Fiona suggested an intriguing theory—that the tower might actually be a dungeon. An extremely unusual dungeon yes, but this was the Desolate Lands after all, where everything defied normal expectations. Many others found this theory sensible and highly plausible.

When Starius bravely asked whether the first destination of his group should be the cock-shaped structure, Hiro shook his head. "No. I’ll explore that direction myself."

Fiona’s brow furrowed with concern. "That sounds dangerous. Will you be alright, My Lord?"

Most people in the tent only glanced at her once before turning their eyes back onto Hiro, while Hiro himself was looking straight at Fiona

Her arms were crossed just below her ample bosom, an act which only served to highlight her twin mounds. As if she was aware of her surroundings, Fiona used this opportunity when no one was looking to gently nibble on her lower lip, while staring at Hiro with misty, upturned eyes.

This action activated certain neurons in Hiro’s mind, preventing him from responding smoothly to her question. But Fiona’s expression vanished very quickly. One blink was all it took for her to adopt a much more neutral expression, preventing others from catching on to this subtle exchange.

Except one person – Tara! She had clearly seen Fiona’s actions, causing her mind to race with all kinds of incorrect assumptions.

Hiro himself was surprised. This wasn’t the first time Fiona had sent a suggestive look his way.

What a temptress! But now is not the time to deal with her, he thought.

A confident smile soon played at the corners of Hiro’s mouth. Fiona was playing with fire. But was she sufficiently resolved to get burnt? Hiro would have to find out later on.

"I appreciate the concern, Fiona, but the chances of something bad happening to me are quite low." His voice carried an easy assurance. Combined with his charm stat, the others were naturally inclined to believe him.

Hiro did not make this decision lightly. Yes, he was apathetic to death, but that did not mean that he was particularly enthusiastic about getting himself killed. Hiro’s confidence came from the fact that he could simply teleport back to Tara as long as he had sufficient Carna.

And he fully intended to stock up on some more Carna before he began his exploration.

Soon, the matter regarding exploration was settled and the group moved onto other issues.

As a result, Bob was called into the tent, accompanied by the lumberjack, the stonemason, and a man with the Laborer class. In this world’s social hierarchy, Laborers were considered the lowest of the Profession Classes. The only thing worse than having a Laborer class was having no class at all.

The reason they were summoned was obviously to discuss matters related to construction. Hiro started off by praising Bob’s work on the barracks but emphasized that more construction was needed. The Realm’s population had already exceeded thirty people! The barracks could only support fifty individuals, making additional barracks construction a necessity.

The positive aspect was that as the Realm’s population increased, so did the available workforce. It was now possible to allocate more people to individual projects and even maintain multiple ongoing construction projects simultaneously.

Starius brought up temple construction as a crucial priority. The suggestion made Barbara subtly uncomfortable, though she remained silent, knowing she was currently in Selune’s domain.

Tara echoed Starius’s idea, her words making it more appealing. "While the Goddess Statue alone might not be sufficient to repel monsters from the hypnotic mist, a temple’s Safe Zone is much stronger and who knows, it might even work against the creatures sent by that strange tower."

Hiro glanced briefly at Tara, noting that she seemed to have recovered from her earlier state of mind. He then seriously considered her words.

The Goddess Statue’s complexity went far beyond appearances. At its core lay a special, rare material that granted the statue its aura of divinity. Even with access to such rare materials, crafting a functional Deity statue required exceptional skill. In developed Realms, specialized artisans dedicated their entire careers to producing these statues.

Deity statues came in different grades, with highly skilled craftsmen being able to produce far more powerful versions. The Statue of Selune currently protecting their settlement was fairly low quality—part of the basic "starter package" every new Ruler received.

At the same time, a Deity Statue could not exhibit its full power without a Temple.

Once constructed, a Deity statue had to be placed at a temple’s core to "complete" the temple. However, not just any structure qualified as a Temple. Specific architectural requirements existed based on the Deity being honored.

Like Deity statues, temples also had various grades. Truly grand and magnificent temples could create Safe Zones larger than the biggest cities, even encompassing surrounding towns and villages!

Obviously, Hiro’s Realm lacked the resources, manpower and expertise for such ambitious construction. They would have to settle for the lowest grade temple at first.

Bob, despite his timid nature and low self-esteem, forced himself to lead the construction discussion. He was merely a low tier employee in his former construction company, so he had minimal experience managing projects, and needed significant input from others. Fortunately, the lumberjack and stonemason chimed in periodically, contributing their expertise.

Tara proudly watched her father from the side, recognizing that this was his opportunity to grow.

During their discussion, one critical point emerged - even the lowest quality temple to Selune couldn’t be built purely from wood. Stone was essential in building a foundation. Building the stone foundation would be challenging but not impossible, especially when their new stonemason resident could share his knowledge.

The discussion continued for some time, covering topics like feasibility and other technical details. Rather than hash out every specific point in the group meeting, Hiro instructed the construction team to discuss the particulars among themselves at a later time.

Before kicking them out of the tent, Hiro announced a significant organizational change. "We need to establish a construction pipeline instead of having everyone do everything."

Hiro’s idea was fairly simple. Instead of random people working on random parts of a random construction project, they would be assigned specific roles in a pipeline. Certain people would specialize in cutting wood, others would process the wood into clamps, floors, logs, and other fundamental building blocks, while other groups would focus on actual construction and furniture crafting.

"This specialization will increase efficiency and allow for better quality control across all our building projects. As the Realm grows, new citizens can seamlessly integrate themselves into the part of the pipeline where the demand is highest," Hiro explained.

"That is a wonderful idea, My Lord! Your foresight is truly commendable!" Vasquen the professional bootlicker, bootlicked Hiro without missing a beat.

Judging from their expressions, it looked like everybody else also approved of the idea, leading to more constructive discussions.

A semblance of structure was beginning to form in this nascent Realm.