The One Luna

As the vehicles were filled up, they started to head back to base. At first, they needed to make several trips, but after much deliberation, seeing as the Philippine Army Rangers were here, they would have enough people to guard their rear and both flanks, Luna, Sura, and Max went ahead of everyone else to clear the area in advance. This was also where the importance of leveling the survivors from earlier came to play. Without all these factors together, transporting thousands of people would not have been possible at all.

They moved slow, but ultimately saved more time. This was only possible due to Bacolod City not being that big of a place to begin with.

Although the Rangers were hesitant at first, they finally decided they would check out the base before they decided. A while later, they finally arrived, and what greeted them were the imposing metal walls, and automated turrets on top of them. This was more impressive than the stone walls the other camp had that didn't even have any turrets.

When they got finally got to the base, they were impressed. Although the repairs needed haven't been finished yet, but when compared to the little shanty houses and tents from before, this place almost seemed like how it was prior to the apocalypse.

Even the soldiers understood why Elise spoke so highly about Luna. The fact that someone could adapt so quickly and make all of this possible, was definitely worth following.

Everyone was registered and formally became citizens of the <Sovereign Nation>. No time was wasted, as soon as everyone was assigned a living area, Luna proceeded back to his house. There was too many people, the houses in this area would not be enough to accommodate these people. Including the ones from the evacuation area, people still kept pouring in, numbering up to 10,000+ already, but the current <Nation Shop> didn't have options for housing. While quite a bit of the houses were easily repairable, a lot more were beyond that already. They also had no reliable way to get the raw materials needed to build enough houses, nor the equipment.

This was why Luna assigned Boni and Elise to take care of the soldiers for now. He had to find a solution. When he hit 1,000 population, he could upgrade his <Nation> to rank 2, it then offered infrastructure that would help them out with power. Excellent! But this was still not the answer to his problems. Rank 3 at 5,000 population, it now offered more upgrade options and training equipment for soldiers, including advanced armor sets that were lightweight, and would greatly help avoiding infection, the best part, was that they could also be upgraded, at a higher cost than weapons.

Finally, Rank 4 at 10,000 population, his prayers were answered! A more futuristic version of a <Roanoke House*> perfect size for a family and it was relatively cheap, at just 3,000 VIS Coins each. They could be upgraded to have more space, but would only expand vertically. Whether the family or people living in these houses would want to do that, that was up to them to spend their own currency.

After spending 2,000,000 VIS to purchase something that resembled a much smaller power plant, it actually identified his territories and provided power miraculously. Seeing this, Luna could only ponder as to what they could be up against in the future or how behind Earth truly was, this thing would be enough to power the whole City of Bacolod when he finally managed to conquer it.

Soon after, he prioritized setting up the housing on the empty lots first, while he ordered the demolition of the irreparable houses.

While this was all happening, he had already queued up the production of the advanced armor sets, each one going for 1,000 VIS each.

Next up, in the middle of the settlement he planted a <Rank 2 Upgrading Station> and a <Rank 2 Equipment Modification Station> for everybody's use. Here, citizens and soldiers alike could spend their hard earned VIS to upgrade their equipment.

Next up, he set up metal walls appropriately around the territories surrounding St. Scholastica's Academy. This was in preparation for when they challenged it. The school itself wasn't actually bigger than the medium territory they conquered already, but it must have been due to the structures already in place, this was what Luna assumed, at least, as there was no point worrying about it too much.

As soon as the armor sets were done, they were distributed to the people drafted into the military. This was one of Luna's conditions, so nobody objected. Not that they wanted to, after seeing how weakness can only doom them, everybody jumped at the opportunity of having the gear to level with. Now they truly did look like a proper Army, although they would still need to do some leveling, which was a daily requirement.

Luna was experienced in MMORPGs, one of the main reasons why top guilds would stay at the top, is because they would never relent. From day one, it would be hardcore grinding. If there were valuable resources, they would be monopolized. Even if some of their members were less skilled, they would be so ahead in levels and gear that they'll stomp on players more skilled them.

Prime example being: Luna. While he is a special case, one still can't help but compare. If he were to go up against the Rangers right now, with all their years of training and hard work, they would probably be demoralized when they find out that the only thing they can damage are his clothes.

Not to mention that the ones who haven't leveled yet, were actually perfect. They would be the foundation on the eventual formation of the Mage Corps. And the person who will eventually lead them? The one everyone came to know as the Lightning Goddess, and eventually, the Lightning General Apple Linario.

Just as Luna was finishing up with everything, he received a message from Boni. "Bro, the Rangers are asking if they could see you. They say it's regarding about them wanting to join the Sovereign Nation."

"Alright, I'll head there now." Luna couldn't help but be hopeful. While his core members were much stronger, it would be quite a boon to have these experienced soldiers who weren't necessarily weak, with their group being around level 20, join him. After all, if they did, that means conquering a Large territory would be that much easier, along with their knowledge, training an army properly would be an added benefit.