Chapter 256 – Fourth-Level Territory, Nine Fourth-Order Experts

Outside Tianyuan Territory, wisps of Crimson Mist drifted without thinning.

However, the monsters around the territory were far from dense. Hundreds of Storm War Falcons and Azure Grey Birds patrolled the skies, while the main legion frequently launched attacks to clear the surroundings.

From time to time, the Guiding Beacon area in the southern part of the territory emitted faint white mist, revealing pale and terrified figures.

In recent days, the number of refugees being guided had been scarce, with only a few individuals arriving over the course of an entire day.

Yet, in the last two or three days, the number of guided refugees had surged repeatedly.

Dozens to hundreds were now being guided in a single day.

While this was undoubtedly beneficial for Tianyuan Territory, it was by no means good news.

“More and more territories are falling or being abandoned,” Mu Yuan observed.

Once a territory fell, its inhabitants became refugees.

At this point, if survivors could endure for a while and escape far enough, they might be guided under the world’s rules.

However, the probability was exceedingly slim.

Mu Yuan could do little about it. He dispatched the Treant Legion for rescue missions, but only when it wouldn’t result in losses to his own forces.

Stone Ridge Town also carried out some humanitarian rescues, but their capabilities were limited.

After all, the larger the gathered crowds, the more likely they were to attract monster attacks. Many lords were unwilling to undertake such strenuous and risky tasks with no tangible rewards.

Inside Tianyuan Territory, construction continued at a fervent pace.

The rare-grade Blackrock Wall was now complete. The majestic, thirteen-meter-high City Walls stretched across the land, instilling a profound sense of security.

By simply opening his panel, Mu Yuan could see the regional safety index and public stability index rising steadily… Even the newly guided refugees or those brought in by the Treant Forest began to feel reassured upon seeing such formidable walls.

Despite the surging monster tides and the influx of new, traumatized survivors, the atmosphere in Tianyuan Territory remained tranquil.

In Red Leaf Territory, Lord Zhou Ye watched the continuously declining public stability and morale indices with growing frustration.

He had done nothing wrong. He had even firmly held his defensive line, preventing the monster tides from breaching the City Walls. Yet… as the roars of monsters outside the walls echoed incessantly and the refugees pouring into the territory recounted tales of horror, tension and anxiety inevitably spread among the townsfolk.

And emotions were contagious.

Even he felt a hint of anxiety creeping in.

“Public morale indices are minor issues. As long as the territory holds and we survive the Crimson Mist disaster, they will eventually recover,” he reasoned.

What truly troubled him was the successive withdrawal of lords in the surrounding regions.

He had recently contacted several lords to form a small alliance, but before their cooperation could even begin, the alliance had collapsed. Moreover, with fewer territories around, the pressure on his Red Leaf Territory had increased accordingly.

“Fortunately, Brother Mu Yuan to the northeast seems quite capable. I hope his financial resources are substantial enough to hire a group of Advanced players to assist in defending the city,” Zhou Ye thought.

As for himself, he had already hired eight veteran players for defense through channels provided by his backing investment group.He also purchased a considerable number of common and rare-grade city defense weapons from Boulder City. This shipment had only recently arrived at Stone Ridge Town. Through the real world, he contacted his subordinates in Stone Ridge Town, instructing them to post a commission at the association to hire powerful local teams to escort the goods to his territory.

Now, Lord Zhou Ye no longer dreamed of soaring to great heights; merely surviving the Crimson Mist disaster month safely would be a victory.

For this reason, he particularly hoped the surrounding territories would grow stronger, even stronger.

Having a big shot around would be the best.

“Brother Mu Yuan, you must hold your territory firm.”

…

Mu Yuan had already entered the upgraded and expanded Blacksmith.

The blast furnace flowed with molten iron as red as lava, while massive equipment clanged and hammered, forging various items.

Not far away, a half-bodied giant, resembling a puppet, hung suspended in mid-air. Its two massive mechanical arms hummed and vibrated as they polished the weapons before it.

The half-bodied giant was new equipment that came with the Blacksmith’s upgrade.

It was called the ‘Forging Puppet.’

By controlling this puppet, blacksmiths could save a significant amount of effort and time.

Currently, several forging apprentices were operating the giant puppet to participate in the manufacturing of Thunderflame Cannons.

Meanwhile, Master Li was solely responsible for crafting the core components of the cannons, which greatly improved efficiency.

Even so, Master Li was still overwhelmed, forcing many rare equipment forging orders to be postponed.

Mu Yuan felt he had made a mistake when selecting the Legacy class for Master Li. Why choose a Weapon Master? He should have picked a class with Clone abilities instead.

Look at Isloria—the effectiveness of a single Starlight Avatar far surpassed that of an Epic Skill.

Clones were the true god-tier skill.

The first Thunderflame Cannon had been completed.

Several elite soldiers who had Awakened self-awareness carried this city defense weapon to the Blackrock Wall.

The rare-grade Blackrock Wall was extremely sturdy, with wide and spacious passageways, providing ample room.

Everyone installed the Thunderflame Cannon here. Master Li conducted a simple debugging—as a time-tested standard city defense weapon, the Thunderflame Cannon had many advantages, with foolproof operation being one of them.

As long as one possessed a bit of intelligence and practiced for a few hours, even ordinary soldiers could learn to operate it.

As for accuracy, that depended on the individual.

Relatively speaking, units like archers and Skeleton Generals, who possessed ‘Shooting Skills’ or ‘Aiming Skills,’ naturally shot more accurately.

Mu Yuan specifically instructed the patrol soldiers on the front lines to let a group of monsters through.

A sharpshooter operated the cannon, firing with loud bangs. The projectiles burst into brilliant thunderflame sparks upon impact.

Clouds of dust erupted in the distance.

“The power is impressive,”

Lord Mu commented.

Whether in terms of lethality or area of effect, it far surpassed the Arrow Tower. Of course, the Arrow Tower required no operator, no ammunition replacement, and could be upgraded.

The Thunderflame Cannon lacked these features.

Its operational costs were also higher than those of the Arrow Tower, and it suffered from wear and tear.

After all, it wasn’t a Miracle Building; it had to adhere to some degree of science or metaphysics.

Isloria glanced at the Materials list and said, “The cost of a Thunderflame Cannon is about 10 to 12 Soul Crystals per unit, with fluctuations depending on the main Materials.”

This was considerably more expensive than the Arrow Tower.

Of course, the cost of a level three Arrow Tower was far from the initial 500g of Soul Sand and a batch of basic Materials.Mu Yuan pondered briefly, “Build them. Start with a few dozen units first.”

Safety came first.

At present, the main combat forces of Tianyuan Territory weren’t strong enough. If the monster hordes were too numerous, they could be worn down through attrition.

With several dozen Thunderflame Cannons, the pressure could be significantly alleviated.

Even if they weren’t fully utilized, there would be no loss. Compared to defensive structures, the greatest advantage of city defense weapons was… they were merely weapons. If they became outdated later, he could always sell these cannons to other lords.

Even as second-hand artillery, such hardcore rare-grade weapons would never lack a market.

However, even with blueprints in hand, Master Li’s team probably couldn’t produce many units within ten days or half a month.

They would just have to make as many as possible.

As for materials, he would have Sophia and Seventeen handle the procurement separately.

Mu Yuan planned the territory’s defense layout while running war simulations in his mind. How should Tianyuan Territory respond to the worst-case scenarios? Could they handle them?

He had to be steady and couldn’t afford to rely on luck.

If something went wrong, it would be a great disaster.

In the afternoon, the Undead General returned, covered in dust and fatigue.

Dolai had prepared a welcoming feast for the Dead Bone Boss.

Deadbone looked at the dragon bones, giant bones, and vicious beast bones arranged on the table like offerings and fell into silence.

Deadbone had returned for two reasons: first, to rest briefly—even a skeleton couldn’t endure constant deep exploration into the Crimson Mist zones; second, and more importantly, Mu Yuan was preparing to upgrade the territory to level four.

The only previously unmet condition—population—had been achieved yesterday afternoon.

“Upgrading will increase Tianyuan Territory’s attractiveness to monster hordes, but this is both a challenge and an opportunity. Since I’ve made thorough preparations, I should face the challenge head-on.”

“Besides, this stage is quite suitable for receiving heaven and earth’s blessings through territory advancement.”

“It could significantly boost Tianyuan Territory’s top-tier combat power.”

One was crisis improvement;

The other was combat power improvement;

Weighing both, Mu Yuan felt the upgraded territory might actually be more stable and secure.

For this purpose, he recalled Deadbone, Sophia, and Seventeen from distant Stone Ridge Town.

However, the journey from Stone Ridge Town was long, and the town needed guards to maintain order. For now, only Seventeen had been temporarily recalled.

When everything was ready, Mu Yuan silently recited, “Upgrade.”

Ding!

Prompt: Soul Crystals have been deducted. Tianyuan Territory (Level 3 Territory) is upgrading…

Mu Yuan’s vision expanded.

The borders of the territory map rapidly expanded.

Under the Lord/Hero vision, the white mist at the edges receded, revealing more visible areas.

In the real world, the wispy Crimson Mist drifting between heaven and earth at the distant edges of the land also retreated inch by inch. Where the Crimson Mist withdrew was exactly where the territory extended.

Outside the territory, the Crimson Mist enveloped everything.

Inside the territory, a pure land remained.

After a while,

Ding!

Prompt: Tianyuan Territory has advanced to Level 4 Territory (Advanced Town).

Prompt: You have gained Level 4 Territory bonuses.

Prompt: …

Like Level 3, Level 4 territory remained at the town level, with minimal changes and no new building blueprints unlocked.

The main improvements were the territory bonuses and increased building level caps.At the same time, the territory’s radius expanded by 1.5 times, significantly increasing the strategic depth—fighting within the territory with the aid of god-like vision and without the influence of the Crimson Mist made it infinitely easier compared to battling outside.

At the third-level territory, the area outside the city walls was already limited.

But now, upgraded to the fourth level, the area beyond the walls was spacious enough to serve as a battlefield.

This way, they could leverage their vision advantage to decapitate high-tier and intelligent monsters within the monster tides.

Mu Yuan pondered this, and soon, the radiant light of heaven and earth’s blessing descended.

It fell upon every unit belonging to the Tianyuan Territory within the territory’s range.

From Little Skeleton to the Undead General, regardless of strength, everyone’s Rank began to rise.

A noticeable increase.

At the very least, they broke through one minor level.

The Tianyuan Territory’s top-level unit, ‘Dolai,’ had broken through from Fourth-Order Level 4 to Fourth-Order Level 5.

—In the Fourth-Order Commander Tier, breaking through minor levels also involved barriers. While not insurmountable, it was common to be stuck for a month or even several months.

However, all bottlenecks before the Legendary Tier were non-existent for Epic-tier beings.

Following Dolai, Undead General and Isloria rose from Fourth-Order Level 1 to Fourth-Order Level 2, ranking second and third in the Tianyuan Territory.

For Dolai and the other two, the Rank breakthrough only slightly enhanced their combat power, but what came next…

“Previously, the Tianyuan Territory had only three Fourth-Order Commander Tier units, with the highest Ranks below them being Sophia, Rakshasa, Lu Liu, and others.”

Those with higher Ranks had just entered LV39, while the lower ones were at LV37 or LV38.

It seemed close to the Peak Great Perfection of the Third Order, but under normal Soul Sand cultivation, even the highest-ranked Sophia would need at least half a month to reach that stage.

That was too long.

Especially during the Crimson Mist disaster month, with the calamity intensifying, entering the Fourth Order a day earlier meant contributing more effectively sooner.

At this moment,

As the radiant light descended, Sophia and other generals successively reached the Great Perfection stage.

Simultaneously, powerful auras surged from the distant Breakthrough Dojos.

More and more elite soldiers of the Tianyuan Territory stepped into the Second Order.

Undoubtedly, when the number of Second-Order units in the Military Soul Legion increased from a mere dozen or so to over a hundred or two hundred, the legion’s overall combat power multiplied several times over.

Mu Yuan also digested his own improvements.

That night, Sophia and several other Third-Order Great Perfection generals began using the long-prepared Perfect Breakthrough Stones to break through to the Fourth Order.

The entire process was naturally smooth, without the slightest hitch.

「Prompt: Your unit ‘Sophia’ has stepped into the Fourth-Order Commander Tier.」

「Prompt: Your unit ‘Rakshasa’ has stepped into the Fourth-Order Commander Tier.」

「Prompt: …」

「Prompt: …」

Sophia, Rakshasa, Red Robe, Xiliu, Lu Liu, and Seventeen—a total of six Tianyuan Generals—broke through during this upgrade event.

Before the breakthrough, Lu Liu’s combat power was at most comparable to the Fourth-Order limit.

He had an overwhelming advantage over ordinary Fourth-Order units, but it was merely an overwhelming advantage; defeating a single Fourth-Order unit in one-on-one combat was difficult, requiring at least two or three moves.

After the breakthrough, with their physique, spirit, and energy surging, they had more power to support the use of Epic abilities, and their combat power increased by more than just a few times.

“A total of nine Fourth-Order Epic units.””With such strength to resist the monster tide, it can be said to be relatively secure, right?”

After the breakthrough, several commanders sparred a few rounds in the newly constructed ‘Gladiator Arena’ to familiarize themselves with their newfound power, then each returned to their respective duties.

Sophia returned to Blue Star, continuing her frenzied acquisition of Remnant Souls… During this period, affected by the Crimson Mist disaster month, the price of Remnant Souls kept falling, and she certainly wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.

Seventeen traveled alone through the now perilous Wilderness regions, reaching Stone Ridge Town in just half a day.

She continued to oversee operations at her merchant group’s base.

Mu Yuan then took out the Hero’s Token.

He had wanted to use it on Lu Liu two days prior, but after discussing with Lu Liu, they decided to wait until Lu Liu advanced to Fourth Order before undertaking the Hero trial.

This was the prudent approach.

Even if Lu Liu had a 99.9% certainty of passing the trial, they could still make it even more secure.

(End of Chapter)