Chapter 288 – The Feast and the Challenge

The Snowland Fortress stood eighteen meters tall, towering over the Blackrock Wall like a white hill rising within the fortress grounds, its surface gleaming dazzlingly under the sunlight.

Around the snowy fortress, wind and snow raged incessantly, further intensifying the already dense ice-element particles in the Icy Spirit Cold Pool region.

Once the main structure was completed, the Snowland Fortress already possessed considerable defensive capabilities and the ability to amplify the Frost Lord’s powers. Building upon this foundation, Mu Yuan had drafted plans for the construction of Snowland Artillery Towers.

As Azure Frost and Cold Frost each took a step to the left and right, making a welcoming gesture behind them, the Snowland Fortress began to shift and transform like a mechanical construct, creaking and groaning.

From the fortress’s shoulders on both sides, layers of ice crystals stacked up, forming towering ice spires atop the Snowland Fortress within a dozen seconds. At the tips of these spires, endless cold currents gathered, condensing into ice spikes and ice sabers that rained down beyond the walls like a downpour.

In the blink of an eye, the area outside the walls was blanketed in white frost, as if it had entered a realm of harsh winter, much like the interior. Ice sabers embedded themselves into the ground, carving out gashes several meters to over a dozen meters long.

Mu Yuan climbed to the top of the fortress to survey the scene, nodding slightly in approval.

While these ice spikes and sabers were insufficient to threaten high-tier monsters, their coverage was extensive. A single Snowland Fortress could match the defensive output of countless Arrow Towers.

For the current Tianyuan Territory, high-tier monsters below the Legendary Realm were not difficult to eliminate. Instead, it was the swarms of ordinary monsters that often proved exhausting to handle.

After all, the number of troops in Tianyuan Territory that had advanced to the Elite rank numbered only in the hundreds, while the defensive walls of the entire territory stretched across a vast expanse. Even with powerful commanders rushing to reinforce various points, the task of eradication remained arduous.

Mu Yuan had to rely on defensive structures like Arrow Towers and Thunderflame Cannons to counter the hordes of monsters.

Now, with the addition of the Snowland Fortress—a heavyweight defensive structure—their capabilities were further enhanced.

Compared to the earlier defenses, the Snowland Fortress had another significant advantage: it consumed no Soul Sand.

The Snowland Fortress could autonomously absorb elemental particles from the environment to recharge and attack. Under the Frost Lord’s control, its absorption rate would increase substantially.

The Snowland Fortress was a safe, pollution-free, and environmentally friendly structure—at most, it consumed a considerable amount of the Frost Lord’s energy.

These ice spires were merely the first phase of the Snowland Fortress’s defensive facilities. In the future, the fortress would be further developed or equipped with additional defensive weaponry.

Mu Yuan also had some ideas for modifications to address the Snowland Fortress’s lack of mobility.

However, for now, his priority was to construct fixed-position defensive structures. Other concepts would have to wait for future experimentation.

“Bring out the remains of the Extreme Cold Crystal Beast,” he said to Dolai.

Dolai promptly reached into its belly—its fourth-dimensional pocket—and pulled out the severed sections of the crystal beast’s carcass one by one.

Thud.

The remains crashed onto the snowy ground, kicking up clouds of snow dust and releasing an increasingly biting, bone-chilling cold.

Azure Frost, Cold Frost, and a group of Winter Maidens gathered around the massive, menacing carcass, examining it quietly and murmuring in awe.Soon, the two Lords, Azure Frost and Cold Frost, began harvesting the ultimate cold Qi from the remains of the Extreme Cold Crystal Beast. The construction and upgrading of the Snow Fortress required various Materials, which were not limited to physical objects. In fact, various types of cold Qi were what the Frost Lord needed most.

The Frost Lord could utilize this cold energy to effectively enhance the power of the Snow Fortress.

Under their guidance, the Snow Fortress hummed into operation. Visible streams of cold Qi rose like rivers into the air, merging into the grand ice castle.

Subtly, the color of the Snow Fortress underwent slight changes.

Compared to its appearance, the actual improvements to the fortress were even more significant.

Half an hour later,

Azure Frost and Cold Frost, the two elemental beings, had finally harvested most of the cold Qi from the remains of the Extreme Cold Crystal Beast. They were panting heavily, their entire forms becoming somewhat unstable.

“Approximately… approximately a 50% improvement.”

The enhancement was substantial.

After all, the Extreme Cold Crystal Beast had been a Legendary Realm entity in life. It was also the first time the two had harvested cold Qi from a Legendary being.

At this point, the massive remains showed little visible change but no longer emitted the piercing cold.

Thus, the mission of the Extreme Cold Crystal Beast’s remains… was half complete.

The remaining half…

“Time for the feast.”

“Hooray~!”

Of course, Dolai didn’t simply swallow the remains whole—though it could have done so. Under its Devouring Talent, whether eating raw, cooked, fast or slow, didn’t affect its absorption of rare Materials.

However, Dolai was civilized and had long passed the stage of eating raw flesh and drinking blood.

When eating, especially precious delicacies, careful preparation was essential.

Thus, Chef Dolai prepared a grand feast.

Although the entire body of the Extreme Cold Crystal Beast was composed almost entirely of ice crystals and ice particles, seemingly unsuitable as food, how could this challenge Chef Dolai?

It gathered many supplementary ingredients and spent half a day refining a full beast banquet.

Including but not limited to: charcoal-grilled ice crystals, cumin ice crystals, sliced ice crystals, nine-turn ice crystals, and more.

To be honest, these dishes weren’t particularly innovative—they were learned from Blue Star. However, under Chef Dolai’s miraculous skills, these dishes seemed to glow.

—And how could they not glow? When charcoal-grilling, Dolai used special flames combined with its Concept that had reached Perfection. The finished dishes faintly showed flames burning, with orange-red fire occasionally leaping up as if transforming into a roaring Dragon.

After completing the full beast banquet, Dolai invited the Lord, Deadbone, Isloria, Xiliu, Azure Frost, Cold Frost, and others to partake.

Everyone just sampled the flavors.

To Dolai’s surprise, this time Dead Bone Boss finally came to the feast—it had invited him many times before, but Deadbone had always refused, claiming his skeleton had no appetite.

But this time,

Deadbone examined the sliced ice crystals in his hand, then after a long while, gently bit into them.

“So this is the Legendary Realm?”

“What level was it at in life? How much power would I need to dismember it?”

Combining his previous distant observations of Legendary beings with this close taste of one, Deadbone began his skeletal contemplation.

Isloria was also examining the slices in her hand.

Unfortunately, after Dolai’s intense cooking, the slices were too different from the original remains for her to discern anything meaningful.”What a waste to simply devour a Legendary Realm corpse like this!”

Although she knew that Dolai consuming this legendary being wasn’t truly wasteful, had she known about such remains beforehand, she would have definitely preserved some for research.

The more she thought about it, the more regretful she felt, so she could only vent her frustration on the dishes before her, eating voraciously.

“Delicious!”

“Delicious!”

Mu Yuan clinked glasses with Dolai.

Dolai’s Hero talent ‘Ultimate Gourmet’ began taking effect – when Dolai hosts a feast, the more attendees under its command, the stronger Dolai’s Devour conversion efficiency becomes.

Thus, Dolai’s already powerful Devour efficiency was elevated another level.

While attending the feast, Mu Yuan naturally loaded Dolai’s template, possessing a junior version of Dolai’s talent abilities. In this state, his appetite could be considered limitless, capable of devouring at least one legendary being without issue.

However, to allow Dolai to absorb more nutrients, Lord Mu only sampled the flavors, leaving the remaining Epic delicacies entirely to the gluttonous Dolai.

「Ding!Notification: Hero Dolai has Devoured Epic Material, significantly improving basic three attributes and slightly increasing potential limit.」

「Notification: Hero Dolai has absorbed and digested Epic Material, awakening talents ‘Ice Element Control (Beginner)’ and ‘Crystalline Ice Body’.」

——

「Crystalline Ice Body: Dolai can transform its mimetic form or condensed liquid form into a crystalline ice body. In ice crystal state, Dolai’s defense receives extreme enhancement, while ice attribute power receives moderate enhancement.」

Besides these two decent talents, Dolai’s feast also awakened several intermediate and low-level skills.

Mu Yuan skipped over those skills.

He only knew that after this Devour session, General Dolai’s basic three attributes had reached terrifying levels. With a few more Devour sessions, Dolai’s normal energy reserves might surpass those of perfectly formed Ascended Servants.

If Dolai were to use its Limitless Devour skill at that time, how much would its stats inflate?

Certainly much higher than Legendary Realm levels.

Of course, this doesn’t mean it could defeat Legendary Realm opponents. Compared to Commander Realm, Legendary Realm’s strongest advantage lies in genuine Domain and control over natural forces. Although Legendary Realm’s basic three attributes are equivalent to Peak Commander Realm, the difference remains like heaven and earth.

Thus, the Extreme Cold Crystal Beast’s remains completely vanished from this world.

Its value had been thoroughly extracted without the slightest waste.

If the Extreme Cold Crystal Beast had any spirit in heaven, it would likely feel quite comforted.

Over the next two days, Tianyuan Territory hosted three more grand feasts under Chef Dolai’s direction. Everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly, expressing their desire to attend again.

Dolai took several small steps closer to the Commander Realm limit.

During this period, Blue Star grew increasingly turbulent, with numerous high-Rank conflicts occurring in the border regions of the Taixuan Alliance.

Many foreign strong individuals drawn by the scent of treasures repeatedly entered the Taixuan Territory, clashing with local Taixuan lords.

The most severe incident involved two peripheral territories being destroyed by a foreign lord.

Although this lord was later pursued and utterly annihilated by Advanced players of Taixuan Liangyi, it couldn’t compensate for the tragedy of the peripheral territories’ collapse.

Having just survived the Crimson Mist disaster, these peripheral territories had already suffered greatly, only to face catastrophe once again.Of course, typically, these powerful individuals who set foot in the Taixuan Territory would not target the small peripheral territories. They understood that destroying these minor territories would bring them little benefit, yet risk provoking the ire of Taixuan’s experts.

However, it was inevitable that among these powerful figures, there would always be a few with twisted minds.

How could the safety of a territory be entrusted to the sanity of others?

Compared to large targets like territories, the exploration teams and legions lost to these external powers were countless.

The Taixuan Liangyi did not have enough strength to guard the entire peripheral region. Most of the time, the local lords could only rely on themselves.

For the sake of safety, Mu Yuan had almost suspended all long-distance exploration activities, only sending a few of his commanders to Blue Star to assist Sophia.

The development of the territory did not cease.

Farmlands had expanded beyond the city walls. A group of residents who had undergone job transitions had become more robust, working with greater vigor and hope. With these two boosts, the territory’s construction had been highly efficient during this period.

At the same time, Mu Yuan arrived before the Lord Altar.

He gazed at the three Secret Realm Gates arranged in an arc before him. “Since the Stone Ridge Town region is temporarily calm, and most of my commanders are currently within the territory, it’s time to tackle the challenges that need to be conquered.”

Lord Mu stepped into the portal emitting a faint golden light, symbolizing the Land of Trials.

In an instant, he arrived in a vast space.

The Orange Tower Land!

Compared to the bustling atmosphere during his first entry into the Land of Trials, the waiting area was now desolate, with not a single figure in sight no matter where he looked.

Only two faint glows flickered on the Orange Giant Tower, indicating that two lords were currently attempting the challenge.

Mu Yuan was not surprised by the deserted environment.

The number of lords capable of entering the Orange Tower Land was already significantly smaller than those in the Crimson Tower Land. Moreover, with the recent frequent disasters and the imminent Fusion of Blue Star, most lords were busy with various affairs and naturally had no time to linger in the waiting area as idle spectators.

“This actually works to my advantage.”

“Next, I’ll just casually clear the Orange Giant Tower.”

To be fair, the Orange Giant Tower was not easy to conquer. Its rules were entirely different from the Crimson Giant Tower, emphasizing defense across multiple zones.

To clear the Orange Giant Tower, a lord needed at least several legions that had forged military souls.

In this aspect, the Tianyuan Territory had its shortcomings.

However, where military strength was lacking, the main commanders could compensate. He could field a lineup of commanders so formidable it was almost absurd, making it not impossible to clear the seventh level of the Orange Giant Tower.

It was just that previously, he had been either occupied with the Dragon Court conflicts, combating the Crimson Mist disaster, or shuttling his commanders between Blue Star, unable to assemble the full lineup.

He had not deliberately tried to gather them, instead using the various levels of the Orange Giant Tower as training grounds for his main legions.

Under the trials of these levels, the main legions had improved significantly, especially in their experience with defensive battles.

Ding!

Prompt: You have activated the Orange Giant Tower – Seventh Level. Please begin deploying your troops.

Prompt: For this challenge, you may deploy a total of 3,000 units of troops.

But in reality, the Tianyuan Territory did not have three thousand main combat troops.

There were only a few hundred Elite-level units.Even when combined, there are still fewer than three thousand Professional Tier individuals. Most of these are not members of the Military Soul Legion and can only play a minor role in battles of this magnitude.

This is one of the reasons he finds it difficult to break through.

As the number of troops the challenger can deploy increases, the number of troops the defenders can deploy also increases accordingly.

As his thoughts raced, the mist shrouding the world before him dissipated as if swept aside by a giant hand, revealing three towns standing on the vast earth beneath the thick fog.

The three towns were very far apart, separated by mountains and rivers, essentially cutting off any possibility of mutual reinforcement between them.

The objective of the Orange Giant Tower Challenge is to defend the city. If the city falls or the number of civilian casualties exceeds a certain limit, it is considered a loss.

This means the Lord must allocate his troops relatively evenly across the towns.

The Orange Giant Tower tests whether the combat strength of the various legions under the Lord’s command is balanced. Even if a Legendary Realm expert leads the troops, the Lord cannot pass the Orange Giant Tower if his forces are not strong enough.

After all, a Legendary Realm expert cannot guard three towns at once—unless they can create Clones.

Mu Yuan does not have any Legendary Realm experts under his command, but coincidentally, he has quite a few Peak Mortal Realm fighters with invincible combat strength.

“Ding!”

“Prompt: You have completed troop deployment. The Orange Giant Tower · Seventh Challenge has officially begun.”

On the vast earth, figures appeared one after another on the City Walls of the three towns.

In Town One, undead with flickering soul fires stood guard. Skeletal Pallbearers raised their bone Swords in silent roars.

In Town Two, the Human Race Legion with the most experience in city defense took their positions. Sharpshooters quickly found their firing points, gazing into the distance.

Outside Town Three, Treants materialized. On the City Walls, Cold Frost, Azure Frost, and other ice elementals emerged, stationed there as long-range combatants.

High above in the sky, facing Lord Mu, who existed in an ideological form, an elderly General with white hair and a white beard stepped out from the Void Realm.

(End of Chapter)