Chapter 256: Contact, Establishing a Protection Zone

After the Skill Orchard was completed, a 3D image of the orchard and information about each tree appeared on Kamiyu’s Player Panel.

“Not bad, not bad. Now, when the trees grow and start bearing fruit, I’ll know exactly how many and what kinds of Skill Fruits there are. No need to worry about internal theft,” Kamiyu thought happily to herself.

The Skill Orchard, covering an area of 1,000 square meters, could plant 100 Skill Fruit Trees. Looking at the slowly growing saplings, Kamiyu felt her heart brimming with anticipation.

“The trees are all generic, but the fruits are random. So, it all depends on what fruit the trees bear.”

“One hundred trees are like shaking the dice one hundred times,” Kamiyu said.

She looked at one small sapling. The panel displayed: 【90 days, 11 hours, 59 minutes】. “Does it really take 90 days to grow? That’s way too long. In 90 days, I could have defeated the Fear Emperor twice over without waiting for it. Looks like I’ll need to use Life Bullets to speed things up.”

But should she really just shoot them directly? Wouldn’t that risk damaging the saplings? Kamiyu decided to suppress her excitement for now and research another way to use Life Bullets.

That said, for Kamiyu, Skill Fruits were essentially higher-level, more potent Potions. Health Restoration Potions and Resistance Potions offered passive effects, while Skill Fruits provided active ones. In short, eating them made you stronger. Consuming even a D-Class fruit could turn you into a dual-Talent, dual-Class Hero for at least ten minutes.

Kamiyu thought gleefully, scarcity drives value. She was the only one in the entire world who could produce Skill Fruits, capable of turning people into dual-Talent, dual-Class Players. Just like how Xi Ai Fu’s guns, knives, 7-day, and 30-day items still found buyers.

Skill Fruits could significantly enhance Players. This wasn’t a simple case of 1+1=2. If consumed according to one’s own Class, even the lowest-level D-Class fruit could achieve an effect greater than 1+1>2.

Who could resist eating them? As long as Kamiyu could control this Skill Orchard, who wouldn’t fall under her control?

Thus, her Sanctuary would become the world’s number one Sanctuary: the richest and the most powerful.

Moreover, since Skill Fruits had a time limit, there was no need to worry about someone with ulterior motives using them against her.

Kamiyu declared that anyone who used her Skill Fruits, Weapons, or Armor against her would be eliminated, and it would even generate more Enhancement Points for her.

She had already thought of a way to authenticate the Weapons and Armor she crafted: by using the “Skin” mechanism of the Construction Sage Interface to apply her Sanctuary’s exclusive skin certification onto the Weapons and Armor, just like a trademark.

The Skill Orchard was built within the school. Kamiyu never considered hiding it. What was the point of hiding it anyway? The game version was different now. Hiding things was only suitable for individual Tactics. For groups and factions, it was necessary to showcase them to boost morale, especially during this current war of attrition.

Kamiyu thought to herself, with the fusion of the two Worlds, a large number of new Players, Ability Users, and unknown powerful Dungeon Bosses had emerged. It could be said that they had now entered a Warring States era of a hundred schools of thought contending.

She needed the ability to protect her home, not to hide how many assets she possessed and beg others not to take them from her.

A powerhouse, of course, fights back instead of hiding.

As times and circumstances changed, Kamiyu gradually began shifting from a weakling’s mindset to that of a powerhouse.

Someone from the Student Legion nearby asked, “Miss Kamiyu, can these Skill Fruits really give everyone dual Talents and a Dual Class?”

“Stop the nonsense. There’s no need to doubt Lady Kamiyu’s strength,” one team member said.

“That’s amazing! I want to play as a melee mage. Look how cool Big Brother Jack is—I want to be like him too,” a timid-looking student player said.

“But the emergence of Skill Fruits is enough to change the entire world’s landscape and the pace of player leveling. Skill Fruits are extremely precious; we should prioritize protecting them,” Li Changde said earnestly and cautiously.

Xiao Zhong nodded and said, “Exactly. I suggest the Black Sphere War Room assign a dedicated squad to guard the Skill Orchard 24/7 with seamless shifts and surveillance. We should also establish a Forbidden Zone—no one is allowed to approach without Miss Kamiyu’s written permission. Additionally, we should station high-level players at the orchard to prevent anyone from forcibly snatching them.”

Wu Yong said, “Forcibly snatch? They’d be looking for death. Our Sanctuary has powerful defense capabilities. Anyone jumping in from the sky would be detected by the radar network.”

“But what if enemies sneak in later when there are more players? Like what happened with Lei Yao’s Sanctuary before, and other Sanctuaries that allow outsiders to enter,” another team member asked.

Kamiyu said, “Establishing a Forbidden Zone is a good approach. As soon as anyone steps into the Protection Zone, regardless of who they are, kill them immediately to prevent players with disguise or Mimicry Talent skills.”

“Gasp, isn’t that a bit too extreme?”

“This could be implemented as a special measure during emergencies. For example, when the Sanctuary enters a state of emergency, players in the Forbidden Zone should act accordingly. Normally, we can follow the written permission protocol. After all, the Black Sphere Room can monitor everything in real-time,” Kamiyu thought for a moment and said.

The others quickly agreed with Kamiyu: “Great idea.”

“Exactly. As we scale up, some rules and regulations need to catch up to avoid others saying we lack order.”

“The Black Sphere War Room has already detected tens of thousands of people entering Dragon Roar City from various directions. Some have already engaged in battles with Fear Emperor’s Ability Users. I believe we’ll encounter these new players soon,” Xiao Zhong said.

Matters always came one after another, leaving no room for rest.

After speaking, Li Changde, Wu Yong, Xiao Zhong, Wang Fang, and others went back to discuss strategies for the Sanctuary after receiving a large influx of players.

Meanwhile, Kamiyu pondered how to improve the non-lethal Life Bullets.

At the same time, over at the Stadium Mine, Wu Qi, the general from the neighboring county, along with his dozens of subordinates, were in the midst of a killing spree. The remaining hundreds had been driven out—not allowed to grind in the Instance Dungeon or leave, under the pretext of needing to unite to fight Fear Emperor.

“Hahahaha, easy, easy. I killed the Dungeon Boss with a single slash of my blade—what’s so difficult about that?” Wu Qi brandished his large sword.

“Long live General Wu Qi!” “General Wu, you’re amazing!” “General Wu is the best in the world!” Waves of flattery echoed from Wu Qi’s cronies.

Wu Qi proudly twirled his broadsword, shouting loudly and ostentatiously, “Truly worthy of being an Ancestral Legendary Tier broadsword—every strike a Critical Hit, every slash a kill. No Dungeon Boss stands a chance before it.”

He shouted so loudly, firstly to flaunt his own martial prowess, and secondly to warn others not to harbor any ill intentions, lest he cut them down on the spot.

“Look, a group of people riding Heavy Armor War Horses is charging over,” someone pointed toward the southern direction.