Chapter 134 – Second-Level Territory

After battling for a while longer, Mu Yuan reluctantly exited—or rather, was kicked out—of the combat space only when the Hero Arena’s entire usage duration was exhausted.

He reflected that his techniques had improved significantly, and he had even grasped a bit of the Concept.

However, his combat experience, instincts, and courage—these tempering aspects—were still not quite sufficient.

He wanted to die a few more times… Ahem, he wanted a few more intense battles full of pressure.

“Breaking through to the 5th stage.”

That was his achievement.

However, he had only relied on the advantage of Dolai’s template. If he had used Rakshasa, Lu Liu, or even Deadbone’s template, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat the guardian of the 4th stage at all.

But when using templates like Rakshasa and Deadbone, dancing on the edge of a blade, he found himself somewhat falling in love with the experience.

An illusion, it must be an illusion!

Dying in the training space was one thing, but in reality, it was better to stay safely within the territory. If there was a real battle, he should overwhelm the opponent with strength and never engage in a closely matched fight.

“Dancing on the edge of a blade—such tempering can greatly enhance my combat intuition. In case I’m ambushed in the future, I won’t be caught off guard.”

“But if I truly want to fight, naturally…”

The Dolai mode was simpler and safer.

He had only used the Dolai mode briefly in the 4th and 5th stages and had already gained a slight understanding of the Thunder Concept.

Mu Yuan arrived at the Training Ground and loaded the Rakshasa mode.

With a thought, malevolent energy gathered and formed a brownish-red Spear, and at this moment, faint arcs of lightning flickered at the tip of the Spear.

Although he currently lacked the ability to control thunder elements, his attacks still carried the destructive nature of thunder. This was the power of the Concept.

One of them!

“The effect of the Concept displayed on the panel is an increase in power. At the initial stage, it increases by about 30%, and at the Minor Achievement stage, it increases by 60%.”

“Depending on the individual, the Concept also has a directional enhancement.”

His Thunder Concept and Spear Concept emphasized speed.

They made his reactions faster, or rather, made the enemies in his eyes appear as if in ‘slow motion,’ giving him ample time to think, react, and let his brain guide his hands and feet.

The Concept also brought many intangible benefits.

After initially grasping the Concept, Mu Yuan now felt as if he were building on a high foundation. Practicing Sword techniques, Saber techniques, fist techniques, and so on, his progress was several times or even dozens of times faster than before.

His understanding of skills and control over energy were also completely different.

“To put it simply, at the very least, I can now fully utilize this power. Even in actual combat, I wouldn’t be inferior to any second-generation Lord.”

“For Dolai and Deadbone, aside from the increase in skill damage, they can also steadily control their super-standard power.”

Dolai had Limitless Devour, and Deadbone could gather the power of his troops. Both possessed extremely powerful burst forms. Even for Deadbone, with the Concept, managing power far beyond his own Rank would become much easier and more natural.

Possessing field skills and having… no, with Major Achievement in the Concept, perhaps Deadbone could create his own Domain before breaking through to the Fourth-Order Commander Tier?

After that, as long as he also possessed ‘Willpower Light’ and ‘Limitless Body,’ he could strive for the legendary Legendary Realm.

At that time, even in the perilous Eternal World, he could roam freely, right?

Thinking too far ahead.Most commanders do not possess even one of the three essential elements. Merely having one of them makes one a truly formidable powerhouse.

As a novice, he shouldn’t aim too high, but the Concept comprehended by the Undead General left him astonished.

“This Concept of his isn’t about whether it’s strong or not—it’s the kind… the very rare kind that can drastically lower presence, conceal special effects, accumulate power to erase everything, and even provide protection. And it’s probably still a Sword Intent, right?”

Due to the extreme reduction in presence, the name of the Concept displayed in the list appeared rather blurry and unclear.

Perhaps this was the profound mystery of Concepts.

Mu Yuan had naturally never heard of the XX Concept. At most, he had heard of Sword Intent, Saber Intent, Armor Intent, and the like. But he assumed this was just due to his own inexperience and limited knowledge.

If it were a true powerhouse, what Concept would they not have seen? Perhaps Deadbone’s XX Concept would seem utterly ordinary in their eyes.

On the other hand, General Dolai widened its eyes upon hearing about the XX Concept, looking like an ignorant novice making a fuss over nothing.

“So Concepts can be like this?”

“Brother Deadbone is right—how could Concepts be such inconvenient things! In that case, I can totally create a Chef’s Concept… no, it should be an Eating Concept!”

Outside the Hero Arena, Dolai wore a grave expression, mustering all the seriousness it had for the entire month.

But after a long while, it still couldn’t produce anything.

It turned to look behind at the glowing gate of the Hero Arena.

“Let me in, quickly let me in, gurgle!”

Bang bang bang—!

But it had no time left, and its head drooped. For once, General Dolai wanted to put in effort, yet it wasn’t given the chance? Hmph, it would remember this grudge.

Its time limit was the same as Mu Yuan’s: 3+2+4 hours, all of which had been used up.

The Undead General still had quite a bit of time remaining, but time couldn’t be transferred, and the Undead General had no intention of continuing to train and challenge.

For it, further training could indeed elevate its Realm and push its Concept to ‘Perfection level,’ but it felt its XX Concept wasn’t yet complete.

It was somewhat cluttered, still a bit distant from the Concept it truly desired.

It could wait until later.

Mu Yuan felt it was a pity that Tianyuan Territory’s generals like Red Robe and Rakshasa couldn’t enter the arena. Otherwise, with their awakened self-awareness, their comprehension abilities wouldn’t be far off, and they might even surpass Dolai.

Who would have thought this special building would practice identity discrimination?

He must build a similar training structure himself in the future.

Meanwhile,

On the top floor of the arena, in a pristine white space, a certain special lifeform, ‘Radiant Sword,’ glared at the empty space before him. “Where’s that skeleton kid? Why hasn’t he come yet? I’ve been waiting here for ages!”

…

While Mu Yuan was still pondering Concepts, his initial entry into ‘Spear Intent’ and ‘Thunder Intent’—such minor matters—actually caught the attention of many Lords.

“This batch of newcomers is showing off again!”

“Tianyuan Lord actually managed to reach the 5th level—this means his combat power is extraordinary. I finally understand why Tianyuan Lord firmly holds the top spot on the Golden Leaderboard: because he’s strong enough.””During the lord trials, he could likely kill Professional Tier monsters as easily as slaughtering chickens. Because he possessed extraordinary combat power from the very beginning, capturing monster camps and gathering treasures were as simple as reaching into a bag. Then he developed like a rolling snowball.

“From this, we can conclude that Tianyuan Lord possesses the most top-tier combat-oriented talent.”

Great Sun Lord nodded slightly while reading this thousands-of-words-long analysis.

Then he felt something was wrong.

It seemed he had been completely crushed by Tianyuan Lord’s subordinate generals alone.

Seeing newcomers like Tianyuan Lord, Great Sun Lord, and Lord Wang Ba all stepping into the Concept realm, many lords who had been around for one and a half or two and a half years showed grave expressions.

“We must grind harder.”

“It would be too embarrassing if we’re still outperformed by newcomers during the Hero Festival.”

“Wait, we can’t compete with these prodigy newcomers anyway. But I believe our former top ranker, Tyrant Dragon, will show these rookies the gap.”

“Tyrant Dragon isn’t that great. Our northern region’s top ranker Shen Mao is stronger. He has fought 99 battles in the Infinite Arena without a single defeat.”

As they argued, few continued discussing the newcomer lords, with veteran players debating who was the strongest among the two-and-a-half-year lords.

…

The next day, Dolai and other generals who had undergone consecutive battles finally returned to Tianyuan Territory.

A certain Slime immediately collapsed.

This expedition yielded great rewards, though Mu Yuan didn’t encounter the ‘Refugee Camp’ he most wanted to find. Well, there were countless types of special buildings – finding the desired one wasn’t that easy.

With no alternative, he could only spend a fortune to purchase ordinary-tier Guiding Beacon blueprints.

He placed the fifth, sixth… up to the eleventh beacon in Tianyuan Territory.

Making up with quantity.

Finally, after ten long days and eliminating countless monster groups and monster camps, he barely met the conditions for promoting to Second-Level Territory.

He was inevitably lagging behind the top second-generation lords.

After all, he was just a commoner.

He could only field a group of Excellent-tier troops to maintain appearances.

“Deadbone, arrange for the 30 strongest Rank 9 Great Perfection troops to enter the Breakthrough Dojo.”

After surveying the surroundings and confirming everything was ready, he opened the panel.

Selected upgrade.

「Prompt: Soul Crystals -20. Tianyuan Territory is upgrading…」

After all, this was only a promotion to Second-Level Territory, lacking the legendary celestial phenomena. The entire process appeared quite ordinary.

Only Mu Yuan, along with heroes Deadbone and Dolai, could see from an overhead perspective the mist outside the territory receding inch by inch while Tianyuan Territory’s land expanded gradually.

Incorporating more streams, forests, and hills into its domain.

This expansion lasted about half an hour before finally concluding.

「Prompt: Your territory has been upgraded to Second Level.」

「Prompt: You have unlocked permanent blueprints ‘Arrow Tower’ and ‘Warehouse’, and obtained blueprint ‘Guiding Beacon (3/3)’.」

「Prompt: You have gained Second-Level Territory bonus <Training Speed +3%, Breakthrough Rate +1%>.」

These were the direct benefits from upgrading to Second-Level Territory.

Especially the territory bonus.

While 3% and 1% might seem insignificant at first glance, this bonus could benefit all troops in the territory without any additional cost.

Moreover, this was only the bonus for Second-Level Territory (Advanced Village).

What about third-level, fourth-level, and higher-level territories?

No lord would refuse to pursue higher ranks.For Mu Yuan, buffs and blueprints were secondary for now. What he valued more was the expansion of the territory’s scope and what came next…

The Upgrade Blessing!

This time, the heavens and earth naturally did not bestow treasures. Instead, a vast, resplendent light descended, transforming into countless starlight particles that showered upon every unit in Tianyuan Territory.

The weak and pitiful Little Skeletons, mere emotionless Evolution Point-producing machines, began leveling up rapidly under the cascading radiance.

The novice Little Skeletons rose to LV4 and LV5, while the more experienced ones, like seasoned veterans, advanced directly to LV7, reaching the Late Stage of the Apprentice Tier.

They were almost ready to undergo evolution and be incorporated into the Undead Legion.

Many of the main force units even reached the Great Perfection stage, with their experience points overflowing—a slight pity for Mu Yuan.

Fortunately,

he turned his gaze to the ‘Breakthrough Dojo,’ where thirty of the most senior, highest-grade, and earliest units to achieve Great Perfection were stationed.

Skeleton Generals, Sharpshooters, Royal Imperial Guards, and others.

Now, under the descending celestial light, their Soul energy rapidly filled to the brim. With the assistance of the Breakthrough Dojo, it began to compress, then fill again, and compress once more, repeating the process.

With a soft “pop,” one unit finally shattered the barrier of the Professional Tier.

Soon after, a second, a third, a fourth…

One after another, they broke through in succession.

Given that all units were at least Rare Three-Star grade, the entire breakthrough process proceeded without a single failure.

In the blink of an eye,

Tianyuan Territory had gained… thirty more Professional Tier powerhouses!

There’s one more chapter, coming later.

(End of Chapter)