Night finally arrived and everyone could somehow breathe. Well, especially in Alterra, which didn't absorb much heat from morning due to the greeneries and it was quite cool in the evening.
In other places, it would still be sweltering because the stones stocked the heat, releasing it at night.
In any case, night time was infinitely better than the day, especially since they didn't lack lighting so activities could go on full-force again, thereby their economy wouldn't stagnate much during the next few weeks.
Althea heaved a sigh, kissing her babies' plump cheeks.
They were now quite active because they slept through the morning. Although no one was used to it, with their endless fanning and her husband's abuse of his ice ability, she and the babies were definitely much more comfortable than others.
Anyway, now it was dark and the heat dispersed, they had all the energy in the world.
She gently touched their soft faces and rubbed their plump tummies, making them giggle. She was so sad to see them so weak in the morning and she was relieved to see them so energetic now.
They had naturally already bathed before during dusk to cool off and wipe down the sweat, so they were all quite refreshed at this time.
The family hung around for a while, with Garan—as always—lifting little Meatball in an attempt to make him float on his own.
The baby would giggle and look like he was swimming while his father's large hand supported his belly. Sadly, in no instance did he actually end up floating.
It was just a running joke at this point but it was cute so Garan could only continue doing so. Little Pepper and Althea just watched the two boys in amusement, with Little Pepper sucking on her pacifier as if watching a show.
If Ansel was here, he would poke her cheek and whisper, "You think they're idiots, too, right?"
In any case, the two kids soon got a little twitchy and wanted to move. They carried a baby each and went to the balcony to hang out there.
Even from where they were, they could hear the crowds and mumblings outside and they knew pretty much everyone in the territory went out for some fresh air.
"We have thousands of people now, probably a few times more than before our first war," Garan noted, looking at the crowds outside. It was already in their street, which wasn't dense. He could imagine the big crowds in the denser part of the village.
Althea, cooing on Little Pepper, couldn't help but look at her stats again curiously.
Status: Level 3 Village
Area: 12,566,400 square meters
Residents: 6985 (2503 permanent, 4482 temporary)
Total Population: 10324
Money: 25731 Gold, 89699 Silver, 1298699 copper
Buildings: Village Center (Lv3) , Weaponry Shop (Lv3), Defensive Wall (Lv5), Warehouse (Lv3), Farm (Lv2), Training Hall (Lv2), BathHouse (Lv2), Prison (Lv1)
Bonus Building: Custom Buildingx3, Armory (Lv3), Restaurant (Lv3), Special Torch (Lv1), Well (Lv2), Barracks (Lv2)
Custom Aether Buildings: Library (Lv1), Lighthouse Watchtower (Lv1), Hospital (Lv1)
Building Slots: 8/9 (+11)]
The population was boosted due to the wars. Fortunately, Alterra was designed to comfortably handle a large influx. Not to mention, their tunnels could hold thousands of people. So… even if their population doubled, they wouldn't lack a place to accommodate anyone.
However, while it increased, it didn't bloat as much as it could've.
The territories they won had tens of thousands of people in total, but they did not push them to go to Alterra (well, except for the professionals).
This was why the cumulative number of migrants was only in the few thousands, which was already the combined number from Shrao Village and Limestone Valley in the past couple of weeks.
Slaves were also considered 'non-entities' and were thus only included in the total population, but were not counted anywhere else.
As for the Wealth, it was a combined of all three territories. She spent a lot on fixing the two territories, but fortunately they earned a lot of money, specifically gold and silver, from the aborigines. She was looking forward to the next deals.
As for the buildings, they earned a lot from the previous two wars. When merging territories, the master territory could use the buildings of the satellites, but not the other way around.
In that same vein, if she chose to cancel or sell the satellite, then the system building would disappear in her territory. From what she heard, this was one of the many reasons why master territories were reluctant to let go even when they found a better alternative.
Anyway, for a village, her stats were really incredibly superior.
The next step she'd have to look at—although with a lot of caveats—was the upgrade to Town Level.
The requirement for a town was 20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige. The first two weren't that difficult to achieve for most territories. Rather, it was the prestige that was the challenge.
For Alterra, it could be just as simple as getting population.
Before the war, her prestige was only 300. In the span of a few weeks, it almost doubled.
The prestige spiked because of their partnerships with Ferrol and the Golds—both superior territories in their own ranks—so influencing them alone gave a sizeable amount of reputation and prestige, let alone the fact that they also had their own subsidiaries and allies that were also affected in turn.
Even if Alterra's name wasn't used, as with the Golds who wished to hide their source, they still received the prestige regardless. Apparently, the stat wasn't in the literal sense of people 'knowing their name', but rather the actual influence they had built—whether directly or indirectly.
Further, this was combined with the fact that they took two territories as satellites, which was the literal expansion of their influence. Every citizen they took over in those places also had some bearing in Alterra's overall prestige, even if they were hundreds of kilometers away.
At this rate, they'd… really reach Town within the year.
And… they weren't ready.