After the torrential rain, magical beasts were everywhere in the swamp. Slimes had become too numerous to count, resembling glistening green gemstones under the sun and casting a soft, verdant glow over the forest.
Chen Yu was an inconspicuous one among them. He hopped through the swamp in the afternoon, with mottled sunlight occasionally piercing through his transparent Gel.
It was warm and very comfortable.
Having been away from the territory for so long, he started to miss the warm and cozy Slime Nest, as well as Slime Mama and the little ones.
'With the Poisonous Sting Bees watching over them, no magical beast should dare to bully them...'
But he felt the territory still wasn't safe enough.
'It would be best to get the territory built up before the next downpour, and it needs to be able to fend off rampaging magical beasts.'
It wasn't difficult, just a matter of time.
After traveling for a day and a night, Chen Yu finally returned to the Oak Territory.
Compared to when he had left, the area around the Oak Territory was a complete wreck. Sergash's camp had been overrun by magical beasts, and the fire pit was buried under withered leaves, having returned to its primal state.
Fortunately, the Oak Territory had the Poisonous Sting Bee Soldiers to manage it. The farm was still the same, just with some more plump and tasty-looking Moss Monsters.
After a satisfying breakfast, Chen Yu dove to the bottom of the swamp and returned to the Slime Nest.
During his absence, many new Slime Nests seemed to have been established nearby, but no Slime dared to approach the vicinity of his own Slime Nest.
Squeezing into the nest with a POP, he saw Slime Mama feeding the thumb-sized little ones.
The little guys were stunned for a moment when they first saw him, but then they recognized him and began to happily roll and bounce in Slime Mama's embrace.
Upon seeing him, Slime Mama also slowly released gentle pheromones, like a faint expression of joy.
Chen Yu wiggled inside and found that as he had grown, the once-spacious nest now felt a little crowded.
He touched his forehead to Slime Mama's and used the Sound Transmission Skill to convey the idea of "moving."
"Oak... my territory... move..."
Slimes had even simpler minds than Poisonous Sting Bees and obviously couldn't understand such complex words.
Fortunately, however, the Slimes' pheromones contained a primitive language that could express "moving" and "territory," as if some Slime had once truly acquired land and moved its nest out from the gloomy swamp bottom.
Slime Mama blinked her eyes, seeming to mull it over for a long while before she understood. She silently pressed the little ones into her Gel, packing them up to go.
Chen Yu collected the gray gravel crystal he had previously buried in the nest. He then swam up and out, with Slime Mama silently following behind as they surfaced together.
It was the first time the little ones in the Gel had ever left the nest. They gazed at the vast, verdant world, felt the warm sunlight piercing through their bodies, and radiated excitement.
Chen Yu hopped onto the shore and made his way, step by step, toward the Beetle's old nest at the base of the tree.
The nest at the base of the tree was spacious enough, and easy to get in and out of. It was perfect to use as their new nest.
Wherever he went, Moss Insects scattered in a panic. Even so, this was Slime Mama's first time being so close to these predators. Her body trembled, and it took her a long time to catch up.
The little ones, on the other hand, seemed to have witnessed the scene of him hunting the Beetle. They weren't so afraid, and instead observed the world with curious gazes.
Slime Mama followed Chen Yu back into the dim underground and squeezed out the little ones.
The Beetle's nest was a full two times the size of the Slime Nest, spacious enough for the little ones to play and roughhouse inside.
'A good start.'
Chen Yu thought with satisfaction.
'Slimes are the weakest magical beasts in this land to begin with. I don't expect these little ones to become incredibly powerful when they grow up. It's enough if they can live out an ordinary, peaceful life.'
'At least in my Oak Territory, no magical beast will be able to bully them.'
As soon as the nest relocation was complete, Chen Yu began the spirited construction of his territory.
First, he expanded the territory's boundaries to encompass the three surrounding oak trees, including Sergash's former campsite.
The central tree area would serve as the Slime habitat, while the Moss Monster farm was moved to the mossy tree area, which was covered in Fluorescent Moss.
The campsite tree area was a place he was saving for Sergash to stay, just in case she came back.
He hadn't figured out what to do with the last oak tree growing in the swamp, but he decided to claim it first and worry about it later.
After he drove away the sleeping Fluorescent Mushroom People from the territory, the Poisonous Sting Bees began the grand construction project according to his plans.
In truth, the Swamp Oak Trees made for a terrible choice of territory.
Noble lords would typically build their castles and fortresses on high ground overlooking villages and towns, giving them a topographical advantage that was easy to defend and hard to attack.
The Oak Territory, however, was so flat you could see from one end to the other. Magical beasts could swarm in from all directions, and another Magic Power riot would be enough to completely overwhelm the entire territory.
But the territory he intended to build couldn't be planned using the logic of this other world.
It was less a territory and more a "cultivator's grotto."
He recalled the contents of the Illusionary Array Map in his mind and directed the Poisonous Sting Bees to bury stones in the earth, forming the ley lines of a feng shui array. Its range perfectly encompassed the four oak trees.
However, asking the Poisonous Sting Bees to dig earth and move stones was really pushing their limits. Whether they could even lift the stones was one thing; digging trenches was also an incredibly difficult task for their tiny limbs.
Chen Yu started to miss his Beetle brothers; those Beetles were expert diggers.
Since the Poisonous Sting Bees weren't up to the task, he set about digging the pits himself.
Meanwhile, behind him, Slime Mama and the little ones also came out of the nest to help carry stones.
Slime Mama didn't understand what he was doing, but she silently helped with the work.
The little ones, however, treated carrying stones like a fun game. They each used all their might to move stones bigger than themselves, pushing them into the trenches.
With the whole family helping, the construction of the Illusionary Array sped up, and it only took a day to lay the basic foundation.
Next, he used Spiritual Power-infused Slime mucus to draw the spiritual runes, and the entire Illusionary Array was just one step from completion.
At this exciting moment, Chen Yu took out the gray gravel crystal he had found earlier and buried it inside the nest at the base of the tree.
'This thing can replace a Spirit Stone as the core of the array. The only problem is that it's bright as a lightbulb and too conspicuous, so it has to be buried in the nest.'
'It can also conveniently provide light for the dim nest.'
Once it was properly in place, Chen Yu began a countdown. He injected Spiritual Power, and as the gray gravel crystal began to glow, the Magic Array activated. Outside, a thin mist gradually began to spread, enveloping the entire Oak Territory.
The mist was strange. It seemed to drift like clouds but didn't block the light; sunlight could still pass through it to illuminate the territory.
From the outside, the Illusionary Array had completely blended in with the swamp's poisonous miasma, making it impossible to even see what the territory looked like.
He grabbed a Moss Monster and tossed it outside to test the effect.
He discovered that the Moss Monster, as if under a hallucination, just wandered around outside the Illusionary Array, unable to enter.
"It worked."
Chen Yu slowly climbed up an oak tree. Looking down at the vibrant, thriving scene of his entire territory, he couldn't help but feel a surge of pride.
This was a new beginning.
Everything was heading in the right direction.