Understanding Shadowland Online can be difficult for the new player, due to some rather dubious localization of the help text in the game. Thankfully, some members of the community have written guides for the fledgling player so that they don't stumble out of the gate.
The most important advice for any player new to SLO is Complete the Tutorial. It gets you established in-game well enough that you can more or less figure out what to do. Then read our FAQ.
One of the moderators at the official SLO forums, Eternal, has written an excellent guide describing all the basic functions of the user interface and the buildings. It can be found here: Eternal's Beginner Guide
Or you could watch this video tutorial by GM_xRising