Chapter 146 – Rising Star

The City Lord’s Mansion was constructed on the empty land Mu Yuan had reserved earlier, right in front of the Lord Altar.

The building didn’t cover a large area—just a few hundred square meters—but contained various rooms including a main hall, study, reception room, underground training ground, storage rooms, and multiple advanced living quarters.

The supporting facilities were quite comprehensive, featuring self-sufficient “water and electricity supply” and “semi-automation.” By embedding Soul Crystals into the energy storage positions, it could continuously provide energy to maintain the entire mansion’s operations.

Not only that, but the tall silver-gray courtyard walls surrounding the City Lord’s Mansion were also equipped with numerous openable and closable shooting holes.

Mu Yuan even found sets of complimentary armor and crossbows in the storage rooms.

“This is more than just a residential building; it’s practically an all-purpose type, having everything you could need. Among rare-grade buildings, it’s definitely top-tier.”

And it was ready to move in immediately!

Mu Yuan promptly relocated. As for the Mage Tower, he decided to leave it for the future chief mage of Tianyuan Territory.

Dolai also picked a room for itself and directly took over the kitchen facilities in the City Lord’s Mansion.

However,

Deadbone, Red Robe, Rakshasa, and others showed no interest in living in advanced buildings.

Red Robe’s evaluation was, “The grave mound is cool and comfortable to sleep in.”

How can someone your age sleep so much every day!

But it seemed Red Robe had developed a set of dream cultivation techniques—dream illusion construction methods—so she wasn’t entirely slacking off.

…

Not long after the City Lord’s Mansion was built, the ‘Domain Jammer,’ which had started construction earliest but had a longer construction period, was finally completed.

This outstanding building resembled a tall antenna inserted straight into the ground, with a dark gray circular base at the bottom engraved with twisted, tadpole-like runes, surrounding the central black antenna.

Beyond that, there wasn’t much special about it. At first glance, it appeared ordinary and unremarkable, and no one would suspect it was a very rare and precious outstanding grade building.

“The maintenance cost of the Domain Jammer is 200g of Soul Sand per day, which is a bit expensive. And that’s just the daily consumption. If any force attempts divination or observation on Tianyuan Territory or me, the consumption would increase tenfold or hundredfold, and I would be notified and alerted at that time.”

It wasn’t just the Domain Jammer; even buildings like ‘public toilets’ and ‘advanced housing’ had energy consumption.

Such is the nature of rare-grade buildings.

They’re great to use, but their consumption isn’t low either.

Tianyuan Territory did have more primitive pit latrines, but since they had no choice before, it was acceptable. Now, with blueprints in hand, Mu Yuan naturally had to carry out a major upgrade and overhaul of the territory.

Constructing these Miracle Buildings caused another outflow of Soul Crystals like water.

In addition, there were the upgrade and cultivation needs of the main force corps, which accounted for the largest consumption of Soul Sand.

“Currently, 130 Skeleton Generals have evolved, and my plan is to form an elite corps consisting of two hundred Skeleton Generals and one hundred Wraiths.””Furthermore, there are 30 Treants, 30 Flower Spirits, 30 Imperial Guards, 30 Archers, 10 Halberdiers, 30 Falcons, 30 Slimes, and several scattered functional troop types, all enjoying main force treatment.””

Calculating this way, he had 500 main force slots.

Enough to rival the main force of a Great Lord’s elite corps.The daily cost of cultivation was approximately… 5 to 6 Soul Crystal Coins!

“Hiss—”

With his current unstable income from exploratory ventures, he might not even earn 6 Soul Crystal Coins in a day.

Fortunately, the Black Wasteland Secret Realm could be harvested once daily, yielding 5,000 to 7,000 grams of Soul Sand, barely covering his daily expenses.

The Snakescale Fruit, Jade Crystal Rice, and other crops planted in Tianyuan Territory grew exceptionally fast under the influence of the farmland and flower fairies. They would be ready for harvest soon.

At that time,

“Selling them in the real world is definitely not feasible—the cross-realm fees are too high. The most suitable sales channels for such ordinary goods would be selling to passing merchant caravans or transporting them to official cities for sale. What a headache.”

Mu Yuan hadn’t publicly disclosed his territory coordinates or applied for a pioneer territory, so it was unlikely for merchant caravans to pass by.

As for the nearest official city… he was fairly certain he was in the Boulder City region, but determining the exact distance and how to get there would require significant time and effort to blaze a trail.

Headache.

In this regard, Deadbone couldn’t be of much help, and he didn’t want to encroach on Undead General’s cultivation time. As for Dolai and other subordinates? Best not to mention them.

He’d focus on other tasks today and let tomorrow’s Mu Yuan deal with this slowly.

…

After constructing the City Lord’s Mansion, public restrooms, and other buildings, Lord Mu naturally gained entries like ‘Mansion’ and ‘Bathing Center.’

Although they were only green-tier entries, it was possible that the top-tier Hero he wanted might be particularly finicky, and these could prove crucial at key moments.

In the White River Dragon group chat, Tan Moumou was showing off his entries.

He sighed, “Speaking of which, it was quite fortunate. I bought this Jiangnan-style garden building at a high price before—if I tried to buy it now, no amount of money could get it… Ah, those top second-generation heirs must have received insider information early. If I, Old Tan, had insider news, I could have accumulated several more entries.”

Somewhat unexpectedly to Mu Yuan, Liver Emperor had also condensed quite a few entries.

Seeing someone @ him as Mu Someone, he thought about it and decided not to be too antisocial. Mu Yuan screenshotted and shared several unimportant entries: ‘Village Head,’ ‘Mansion,’ ‘Bathing Center,’ ‘Clean Land,’ and ‘Wealthy.’

Tan Moumou was dumbfounded.

Why did Liver Emperor and Mu Moumou have no fewer entries than him, and these entries clearly looked like pay-to-win ones?

He was supposed to be the big spender!

Liver Emperor was also taken aback, “A Yuan, did you also find yourself a sugar mommy?”

…

“Even Liver Emperor has become so strong. The competitors in this festival clearly can’t be underestimated!”

Especially those rookie lords who had been developing for over two years.

However, as a newbie and casual player, Mu Someone had no intelligence channels to learn about them unless those rookie lords showed off themselves.

Meanwhile, along with the massive resources she freely provided, Sugar Mommy Liu thoughtfully included a set of materials.

Reportedly compiled by a certain Great Lord with extensive intelligence networks, it was only circulated within small circles.

It recorded some…

“Extremely powerful rising star lords to avoid direct competition with.

“Hiss, are they really that impressive?”

Mu Yuan straightened up and slowly opened the materials.”Lord Shen Mao, a Lord who has been in the Eternal World for over two years and eight months, claimed the top spot in the rookie trials back then and later seized opportunities to now command a ‘Puss-in-Boots Swordsmen’ corps exceeding two hundred members, boasting illustrious achievements such as XX and XXX.”

Truly formidable.

The Puss-in-Boots Swordsmen are a rare two-star unit type, both adorable and combat-ready. While their tier may not match his Skeleton General, this Puss-in-Boots corps is likely already mature, capable of sweeping through countless monster tribes.

“Lord Balong, also the champion of the 116th rookie trials, possesses an exceptionally powerful subordinate ‘Crimson Dragonkin,’ which has repeatedly helped Tyrant Dragon Lord secure victory in commander duels. Rumor has it this general under Tyrant Dragon Lord may have already passed the Hero Trial.”

“A rookie Lord who already has a Hero? Hiss, that’s truly remarkable.”

The Great Lord who compiled this collector’s edition intelligence rated Balong slightly higher than Shen Mao. Had this information not been restricted to a few insiders, the forums would be ablaze with debates.

However,

Balong and Shen Mao are merely the strongest in public perception, ranking only within the top ten in this collector’s intelligence.

“Kongming City Lord keeps their territory closed to outsiders, hence few players know that this Clairvoyant Lord has quietly passed the promotion trial, upgrading their territory to city-level. The gap between city-level and town-level territories is like that between clouds and mud.”

Any Lord can develop their territory to town-level over time, provided it isn’t overrun by monster hordes. But expanding to small city-level is extremely difficult.

Not only does it require harsh conditions, but one must also pass a challenge similar to the ‘Hero Trial’ or ‘Lord Trial’ to advance.

The mere title of [City Lord] alone puts Clairvoyant Lord far ahead of countless others.

Another Lord rated by the compiler as comparable to ‘Kongming City Lord’ is Lord ‘Wuji.’

“Limitless Lord lacks exceptionally strong subordinates, and their territory development is merely standard. However, this Limitless Lord is a martial fanatic with extraordinary combat talent, having inherited the Wuji school legacy. Their spear technique is divine, having reached the Conceptual level long ago and now being utterly unfathomable. Personal evaluation (disclaimer: strictly regarding personal combat skills), Limitless Lord possesses 50% of ‘Cold Moon City Lord’s caliber.'”

This is no small praise.

Because Cold Moon City Lord is not only the strongest among the ‘younger generation’ of the Taixuan Alliance but also has no equal among Lords of the same age across nations like Divine Radiance, Eternal Star, and Divine Wood.

Her natural talent is in no way inferior to several national pillars who weathered storms during the founding of the Taixuan Alliance.

The collector’s intelligence also mentions some foreign Lords.

Such as the ‘Knight of Glory’ and ‘Queen’ from the Divine Radiance Empire, among others. Other nations, having failed to establish faction forces, show considerably weaker competitiveness.

The Lord intelligence gathered in this collector’s edition is exceptionally detailed and comprehensive, with even several rookie Lords included in its records.”The Tianyuan Lord, whose identity is mysterious and background unknown, possesses a highly potential mage-type subordinate, likely owns two unit buildings, and has already stepped into the Concept level. He is undoubtedly the strongest newcomer of this session. My evaluation is that his future is promising; even now, the Tianyuan Lord possesses formidable competitiveness, enough to rank within the top thirty in this festival.”

This intelligence is quite detailed.

Almost…

It contains about 10% of his, Mu Someone’s, true information. How terrifying!

…

“Tianyuan is indeed strong. Even with my utmost efforts to catch up, I still fall somewhat short.”

In the real world, within a private garden, Wang Erteng set down the collector’s edition intelligence report, clenched his fist, and felt somewhat unwilling.

Beside him sat a man of burly build, with muscles as if cast from metal and stone, who merely by sitting there seemed like a towering mountain.

He was the eldest son of Duke Beiting, Wang Longteng.

A man with the bearing of a legend.

In contrast to his imposing presence, Wang Longteng’s smile was gentle, especially in front of family.

He said, “Having outstanding individuals to chase after is a good thing. However, in this festival, you need to pay more attention to formidable rivals like Kongming, Wuji, and the Queen. After all, they have been in the world much longer than you. Avoiding them when necessary is not something to be ashamed of.”

Here, he shifted his tone.

“Of course, the festival doesn’t directly test combat power. Even when facing these formidable foes, your chances of winning aren’t entirely zero. How much opportunity there is and whether it’s worth contending for depend on your own judgment.

“Lords like Wuji and Kongming are strong, yes, but they ultimately lack dominating competitiveness. Under extremely rare circumstances…”

It’s not impossible for his younger brother and some top-tier Hero to hit it off perfectly.

Unlike his own experience back then, when he was in the same session as Liu Xiyue… the Cold Moon City Lord, and felt the shudder of being completely overwhelmed and dominated throughout.

At that time, no one could compete for any Hero whom the Cold Moon City Lord extended an olive branch to.

They didn’t even have the ability to make a Hero hesitate or pause for a moment.

At least his younger brother has a peer to chase after, whereas he… had long lost sight of Han Yue’s retreating figure.

3.4K, next chapter before 12…

(End of chapter)