This was also a good item. Wu Yao happily put it away and looked up at the two goblins standing obediently in front of her.
Tiechui and Tongque were staring at her nervously, their four ears standing straight up.
“Your Excellency...” Tiechui spoke up tentatively, “Are you satisfied with these gifts?”
Wu Yao rested her chin on her crossed hands, temporarily speechless.
In all her years of gaming, she had met countless NPC merchants—cunning ones, stingy ones, ones playing dumb... but never one that gave things away for free!
But today, that final puzzle piece fell into place!
Wu Yao's eyes practically shone with excitement. She slapped her hand on the table and said, “I am incredibly satisfied!”
Tiechui and Tongque were startled at first, but they both breathed a sigh of relief when they realized this was Wu Yao's way of showing her joy.
“Then, Your Excellency, regarding the long-term cooperation between the Topaz Trading Company and you...” Tongque seized the opportunity to probe further.
“No problem!” Wu Yao agreed readily. “I just love cooperating with trading companies that are so sensible... ah, I mean, generous.”
Wu Yao transferred all the materials into her warehouse in one go.
Once everything was put away, she casually opened her quest list to see if anything was missing.
【Quest Progress: Mana Crystal 50/50, Any Common Ore 200/200, Iron Ingot 100/100, Refined Wood 200/200, Elemental Core 1/1】
【Status: Upgrade Available】
Wu Yao blinked.
She looked at it again. All the materials seemed correct.
Except for the Elemental Core.
1/1?
Wu Yao searched through her Inventory, warehouse, and Safe, but she couldn't find anything named 【Elemental Core】.
A bug?
Realizing that the game might have glitched, Wu Yao didn't stop to think. She immediately clicked upgrade!
Since it was a bug, she obviously had to take advantage of it before it got patched!
【Territory Cabin upgrading. Estimated time: 1 hour】
【Warning: The territory shield will be temporarily disabled during the Territory Cabin upgrade. Please prepare your defenses!】
Silver light patterns began to spread outward from the cabin beneath her feet, pushing the territory's boundaries outward inch by inch.
“Whoa!” Tiechui was crouching on the ground organizing empty cargo crates when the ground beneath her suddenly shook. She stumbled forward, but fortunately, Tongque was quick-witted enough to grab her.
The two goblins only had time to exchange a look before a gentle yet irresistible force rose from beneath their feet, carrying them like a giant hand toward the still-expanding boundary of the territory.
Wu Yao stood where she was, watching helplessly as the two goblins were pushed over fifty meters away by the light before finally being set down.
【During the territory upgrade, non-bound residents will be automatically relocated to a safe area.】
The system notification arrived fashionably late.
Wu Yao quickly checked on the little black kitten still inside the house.
Through the window, she could see Xuanmiao curled up in a nest made of blankets. She was a tiny black ball, her belly rising and falling gently with her breathing.
Relieved, she finally turned her attention to the changes occurring around her.
The cabin was expanding, unfolding as naturally as a growing tree. The originally cramped space slowly opened up as the wooden walls pushed outward, and the floorboards gleamed with a fresh, silvery-white luster.
New partitions rose from beneath the floor, dividing the once completely open space into distinct areas—a bedroom, a workshop, and a storage room.
Although it was still a wooden cabin, the details were far more refined, no longer as rustic as before.
Wu Yao didn't spend much time looking at the changes inside; the commotion occurring across the territory was far more dramatic than inside the cabin.
The territory had originally been only 225 square meters, a square plot so small she could navigate it with her eyes closed.
Now, the boundaries were pushing outward with the cabin as the center. The earth walls were completely dismantled, leaving the earth elements floating blankly in midair, unsure of what to do next.
She opened the territory management interface. The blue area representing the territory's range was expanding at a visible rate. Its edges swept over the purified Moon-Silver Wood, bringing all those trees within the territory's boundaries.
Finally, it slowly outlined a 50x50 meter area. It had expanded from 225 square meters to 2,500 square meters—more than a tenfold increase.
The shield was completely gone.
Without the shield to conceal it, the gentle and stable magic environment within the territory acted like a beacon in the dark, radiating out into the entire Moonlight Forest.
To corrupted creatures, this kind of magical fluctuation was the easiest target to track.
“Your Excellency—” Tiechui's voice came from afar, trembling noticeably.
Wu Yao looked in the direction of the voice. The two goblins were crouching under a Moon-Silver Wood tree at the edge of the newly expanded territory.
Tiechui shielded Tongque behind her, her two large ears pinned tightly against her head. Tongque had already drawn her multi-barrel pistol from her waist, pointing the muzzle outward.
The two goblins stared with all four of their eyes, transfixed by the flickering crimson spots of light deep within the forest.
“Your Excellency!” Tongque's voice cracked when she saw Wu Yao walk out of the cabin. “Why did the barrier array disappear? Outside... those things outside...”
“I know,” Wu Yao said as she walked toward them, her boots making a soft rustling sound against the newly grown grass.
Under the moonlight, her expression was calm, even leisurely, as if she were taking a stroll in her own backyard. “Go inside first.”
“But—”
“Go inside.” Wu Yao pointed toward the cabin.
Tiechui opened her mouth, wanting to say they could help, but Tongque was already pulling her by the sleeve toward the cabin.
After running a few steps, Tongque looked back, her ochre curls swaying in the moonlight. Her voice was urgent and earnest: “Your Excellency, please be careful!”
Wu Yao waved her hand. The wind element gathered beneath her feet, and her Lightweight Spell instantly activated.
Like a leaf swept up by the wind, she leaped lightly onto the cabin's roof. The moon-silver tiles gleamed faintly beneath her feet, feeling warm to the touch and not at all slippery.
Standing at the highest point of the roof, Wu Yao looked past the newly expanded territory boundaries, gazing deep into the Moonlight Forest.
The crimson eyes grew in number, flickering in and out of sight among the twisted, grayish-black tree trunks like someone lighting blood-red candles one by one in the dark.
She could feel the corrupted creatures rushing toward her, drawn by the pure magic radiating from the territory like sharks smelling blood.
Dawn was about to break.
The eastern horizon was beginning to pale, and the Bright Moon had faded into a ghostly outline.
This was the time of day when corrupted creatures became active, a fact her experience grinding mobs over the past few days had fully proven.
“Perfect,” Wu Yao said, rolling her wrists as her joints popped with a few crisp clicks.
She spun her staff half a turn in her hand, drawing a smooth silver arc. The butt of the staff tapped lightly against the silver tiles on the roof, making a crisp sound.
Several detection spells spread out silently along with her mental strength, clearly revealing the corrupted creatures within a hundred-meter radius and outlining a complete map of their distribution.
Then, she casually flipped open the 《Compendium of Common Elven Spells》.
Back in Qinghe Town, she had only had time to learn the Lightweight Spell and Wind Wings, but there were still over three hundred spell structures in this booklet waiting for her to learn.
Rate on N.U.
