Chapter 196 – This Lord Has Persecution Delusions, Right?

In the northern part of Tianyuan Territory, a stone wall over two meters high, constructed from countless rocks of varying sizes, extended irregularly on both sides, disappearing into the darkness beyond sight.

Before the stone wall, watchtowers stood tall at intervals of over a dozen or several dozen meters.

Archers or other rotating military units stood at the heights of the watchtowers, vigilant at all times without any slackness.

Around them, patrol soldiers armed with halberds and spears could be seen walking back and forth along predetermined routes.

“Not only that…”

Phantom Victor raised his head, squinting slightly as he gazed into the pitch-black night sky.

At this moment, the moon was hidden behind dark clouds, and the night was exceptionally dark. Yet, Victor, relying on his unique abilities, could still catch glimpses of fleeting figures in the night sky.

They were some kind of flying military units.

They overlooked the land, and any movement, no matter how slight, might not escape the eyes in the sky.

“The ground defenses are already as tight as a net, but beyond this net, there are hidden eyes. This arrangement…”

Even though Victor had seen all kinds of territories, he was still somewhat astonished.

This was a bit exaggerated.

Spending so much money to acquire so many rare military units just to build this defensive line—the lord of this place must be sick, suffering from persecution delusions!

But Victor had to admit that this defensive line was effective, especially the eyes in the sky.

If he hadn’t been cautious enough and used a special skill to conceal his form when emerging from the forest, he might have been exposed.

If it were another A-class agent without such refined infiltration and stealth abilities, they might very well fail at this stage.

Failing wouldn’t be a big deal—a newly established territory was no dragon’s den or tiger’s lair, posing no real danger to them. But if his colleagues found out that he had been outsmarted by a new lord, he would surely be laughed at, and it would become a stain on his record that he could never erase.

“It seems I need to take this seriously. I can’t afford to be exposed in a territory that’s only been established for a few months,” Victor thought, maintaining his steady pace as he moved forward.

Four hundred meters.

Two hundred meters.

One hundred meters.

He was getting closer and closer to the somewhat crude stone wall in the distance. Patrol soldiers passed by not far away, with the closest one merely a few meters from him.

Victor wasn’t panicked at all; he even paused to observe.

“One Halberdier, one Imperial Guard, and three Lancers—this configuration is quite something. That means the ones on the distant watchtowers aren’t just archers but Sharpshooters.”

And there were as many as six such patrol squads in this area alone. The entire territory probably had over a hundred rare squads, didn’t it?

Victor continued to marvel.

The lord of this place was indeed seriously ill.

But he also felt a thrill of excitement, as if he had “discovered a big fish.”

As Phantom Victor, an A-class agent, he enjoyed great autonomy. How he chose to gather intelligence or conduct infiltration was entirely up to him. He had no mandatory mission quotas, and regional commanders had no authority to boss him around.

This was the privilege of an A-class agent.

However, A-class agents still had to make a living. Big catches and important intelligence could earn him more Divine Radiance merits, giving him the opportunity to advance further.

Victor walked straight through the patrol squad.

His figure was like a ghost.His body was completely transparent, and even he himself could only see a faint outline when looking at his own form.

“Form, sound, scent… when all these disappear, a person almost vanishes from the world, more ghost-like than a ghost itself.”

“As for the Lord’s observational vision?”

That was far from omnipotent. While it could mark monsters infiltrating the territory quite clearly, its effectiveness against human players like him was much weaker.

Even for monsters, many of higher tiers, those who had awakened self-awareness and possessed special abilities, had numerous ways to evade detection.

Victor walked straight up to the stone wall, leaped lightly, and landed atop the two-meter-high structure.

Standing on the uneven stone wall, Victor didn’t rush to descend. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and continued observing. Soon, he noticed some inconspicuous etchings on the ground not far inside the wall, buried amidst fine gravel.

“A detection array?”

Although Victor didn’t believe a detection array in such a small place could discover his concealment, he reconsidered. “Given this territory lord’s level of paranoia, they might have spent heavily on imported array foundations. Better be cautious.”

He tightened the black cloak around him.

This item, named ‘Cloak of Shadows,’ was his most valuable equipment and a crucial reliance for his ventures across the lands.

The black cloak enveloped Victor completely.

He leaped down, truly setting foot in this territory. The suspected detection array etchings showed no reaction whatsoever.

Victor chuckled wryly to himself. “I’m still too cautious.”

…

The detection array arranged by Isloria might have failed to activate due to its short setup time, insufficiently advanced materials, and the extraordinary capabilities of the ‘Cloak of Shadows.’

A faint, transparent human silhouette moved through the North District of Tianyuan Territory.

This was the origin of Victor’s epithet ‘Phantom.’

He had infiltrated numerous territories and crucial sites, coming and going like a phantom, leaving no traces behind.

Entering this territory, Victor’s first sight was still watchtowers and arrow towers, spaced at intervals, making the entire northern side of the territory impregnable.

Further in, he finally saw ‘non-defensive’ structures.

Rows of two or three-story buildings stood neatly arranged. In the distance was a dozen-meter-high mill structure, its windmill slowly turning, clearly indicating someone was still working overtime late at night.

This was normal.

The Eternal World wasn’t Blue Star. If workers could clock out at 9 PM, it would absolutely be due to the lord’s extraordinary benevolence.

The lord was the local emperor within their territory, able to do as they pleased.

But he wasn’t a lord!

He had come so close back then.

If their Starshine Federation had been Blue Star’s sole hegemon, would his life have been completely different?

Resentment +1!

Victor continued forward, seeing fertile soil and planted across this land, one after another, clearly extraordinary plants that had reached tiered status, possibly even rare grade.

The lord only needed to stay within their territory, enjoy their subordinates’ service, and harvest wave after wave of resources to possess endless Soul Crystal Coins.

Unlike him – even as a top-tier player among the strong – he still had to travel everywhere, earning money through hard work.

Why?!

Resentment +1.Victor could control his negative emotions. Even if a newly established territory was nothing more than a sheepfold to him, he wouldn’t take action.

He always positioned himself solely as an intelligence operative gathering information.

After a while,

Having observed for some time, Victor didn’t proceed further into the territory’s core area. Instead, he turned westward, arriving at a peculiar location.

Here, black mist drifted visibly to the naked eye, and the elemental energy between heaven and earth felt abnormal.

Not only someone like him, an A-class agent, but even an ordinary person would sense something amiss about this place.

And for such an abnormal location, he needed to investigate thoroughly.

After walking for a while, Victor gradually furrowed his brows. “This place is indeed unusual!”

He saw an enormous number of skeletons wandering about—some alone, others in groups.

Among them were quite a few Skeleton Warriors.

He also spotted drifting Specters and wraiths.

The number of rare unit types here far exceeded those outside!

Moreover, the environment and elemental energy of this place felt off.

Well-traveled and experienced, Victor had personally explored similar Treasure Lands before.

If his guess was correct, this was…

“A Unit Building!”

“This new lord actually possesses a Unit Building!”

It seemed his earlier assessment of this territory had been too low.

Just as Victor was thinking this, his gaze suddenly froze, locked onto a colossal figure.

A massive body with silver-white bones like jade, a pair of tattered yet enormous Bone Wings spread wide, using some force to lift the entire body for flight.

If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, this behemoth was likely one of the strongest unit types below the epic rank—a Bone Dragon.

A unit standing at the pinnacle of the undead!

He, a top-tier player who had struggled for over a decade, hadn’t even obtained an elite unit, yet this newcomer rode a Bone Dragon after just a few months?

Resentment +9.9!

Victor burned with envy.

This was a noble unit he could never possess in his lifetime.

Suddenly, he shuddered. “Wait, a Bone Dragon…”

A top-tier elite unit like the Bone Dragon no longer existed in the form of Remnant Souls.

To acquire one, only a Lord with both great Opportunity and immense strength stood a chance of recruitment.

But how could a newcomer possibly possess the power to recruit a Bone Dragon?

Unless this newcomer was one in ten thousand, with legendary potential.

At this thought, Victor’s heart began to pound uncontrollably. He hadn’t taken the mission to find Tianyuan Territory seriously before, considering it like searching for a needle in a haystack—pure luck.

But what if this immense luck had actually come his way?

“If this territory really is Tianyuan…”

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

He gazed toward the depths of the territory, tempted to venture further. But reason told him that if this was indeed Tianyuan, entering the core area might expose him and alert the enemy.

It was better to retreat now, while he had gathered substantial intelligence.

This was already a tremendous achievement.

Leave!

Victor took one last deep look, suppressing all greed and desire, and prepared to turn and leave.

As he turned around,

A pair of enormous eyes, blazing with ghostly blue soulfire, appeared right before him, staring intently.

Staring at the empty space in front of him.

The next moment, vast, terrifying Dragon might crashed down like a tidal wave.

…

In the distance, Deadbone stood atop a grave mound, watching from afar.It was not looking at the figure forced to reveal itself under the Dragon’s might, but gazing over the entire territory.

“Several lines of defense, over a dozen arrangements, yet only one proved effective.”

“Indeed, our current defensive measures are still far too thin.”

It said this to the Lord.

Mu Yuan was also gazing through the Lord’s vision and nodded in agreement.

Indeed, it was only when the enemy had already entered the North District that they were discovered… this was far too dangerous.

Somehow, my condition today is extremely poor—I couldn’t even write a hundred words in half an hour. Sitting in front of the computer felt like I was just spacing out the whole time, and everything I wrote felt off in various ways. Only one chapter today… I’ll try to write more tomorrow.

My sincerest apologies.

I am trash Orz

(End of Chapter)