Lin Yu was overjoyed to see the long list of buildings, all requiring only 10 wood and 10 stone to construct.
Normally, his starting resources would be spent building a warehouse, an orchard, a Wood Element Collection Workshop, an Earth Element Collection Workshop, a Forestry Lodge, and ten tree hollows, costing 6,000 wood and 4,000 stone. Building anything else after that would have used up everything.
But now, with the "Flourishing Branches" trait, he could build 100 of each type of building.
At this rate, his daily resource output could reach 10,000 wood, 10,000 stone, and 10,000 food.
Breaking even on the same day—could there be a more worthwhile investment than this?
The thought of the profits that would soon be rolling in made Lin Yu's excitement palpable. He immediately immersed his consciousness into the Territory Heart and got to work.
'Then let's start with 400 tree hollows. Each resource building needs a denizen to operate it, which means I'll need 400 denizens...'
...
The day passed quickly, and night fell without a sound.
Lin Yu took a deep breath, pulling his consciousness back from its link with the Territory Heart.
Lin Yu had spent the entire day operating things from before the Territory Heart.
However, he hadn't built 100 of each building.
He discovered after building multiple identical resource buildings that more wasn't necessarily better.
Overlapping the areas of effect of multiple resource buildings actually caused their production efficiency to drop.
To maximize efficiency, Lin Yu had to put in a great deal of effort, meticulously planning the layout of his resource buildings.
Fortunately, demolishing and rebuilding these Level 1 buildings didn't take long, allowing him to make quick adjustments after each attempt without much of a wait.
While planning, Lin Yu's obsessive-compulsive tendencies took over; he strove not only for maximum efficiency but also for a perfectly harmonious architectural layout for his territory.
Many buildings were demolished and rebuilt several times before he finally completed the layout just as the day was ending.
In the end, Lin Yu had built 2 warehouses, 5 orchards, 5 Wood Element Collection Workshops, 5 Earth Element Collection Workshops, 2 Forestry Lodges, and 30 tree hollows within his 1-square-kilometer territory.
After building the tree hollows, Lin Yu also recruited 30 denizens: sprites.
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[Name]: Sprite
[Description]: The cornerstone of the Natural Realm, with limitless potential.
Can act as basic workers inside resource buildings to maintain their operation. Provides no production bonus.
[Grade]: Common (White)
[Level]: 1/10
[Attack]: 5
[Magic Power]: 5
[Speed]: 5
[Defense]: 5
[Health]: 100
[Abilities]: Natural Entwinement, Self-Destruct.
[Natural Entwinement]: Sprites can entwine themselves with plants to produce natural energy.
[Self-Destruct]: When a sprite gets angry, it will explode, dealing pure damage (Health x10) to enemies within a 5-meter radius.
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These sprites looked like green orbs of light floating just above the ground. To the touch, they had a fuzzy outer layer that felt absolutely incredible!
After dispatching 17 sprites to the resource buildings, Lin Yu had the remaining 13 entwine themselves around the World Tree.
The sprites' "Natural Entwinement" ability was rather picky.
Entwining with a 10-meter-tall tree produced 1 point of natural energy per day, but entwining with the World Tree produced 10 points.
Furthermore, an ordinary tree could only accommodate one sprite; adding a second one didn't increase the output.
The World Tree, however, seemed to have no limit. At the very least, all 13 sprites that entwined with it were each able to produce 10 points of natural energy per day.
After dealing with all this, Lin Yu was exhausted. He found a random spot in the Lord's Mansion to lie down and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
A magical thing happened. After Lin Yu entered the land of dreams, the spot where he was sleeping naturally rose, forming the shape of a bed.
A light, soft blanket extended from the bed, gently draping itself over him.
And so, the night passed peacefully and without dreams...
The next morning, Lin Yu awoke, feeling refreshed and full of energy.
Even though the Lord's Mansion was located inside the trunk of the World Tree, the light within was remarkably pleasant.
The light filtering through the room's walls matched the light outside—bright yet soft, and not at all glaring.
After hastily grabbing some fruit from the warehouse to sate his hunger, Lin Yu returned to his seat before the Territory Heart.
Opening the territory map, Lin Yu was delighted to see that his domain had indeed expanded.
Looking at the ring of new land outside the beginner's protection barrier on the map, Lin Yu grinned from ear to ear.
In the first phase, every lord appeared on a 10-square-kilometer starting continent, but a Level 1 Territory Heart could only control a 1-square-kilometer area.
Thanks to his territory's "Vigorous Growth" trait, Lin Yu's domain would naturally expand its boundaries by 10% each day. With the first phase lasting 30 days, his territory could grow to 17.5 times its current size, far exceeding the total area of the continent.
'Hahaha, I can already imagine the looks of shock on the faces of anyone who stumbles into my territory after the second phase begins!'
After a moment of elation, Lin Yu grew worried again.
'This Divine-level Territory Heart is great and all, but why doesn't it have any military buildings?'
'No barracks, no tavern, no altar, no mercenaries, no adventurer's guild. Not even a single defensive tower! You'd think it would at least have a War Ancient Tree, but for a Divine-level, plant-based Territory Heart, there isn't even one Thorn Wall!'
Lin Yu grabbed at his hair in frustration.
He meticulously reviewed the Territory Heart's information, word by word, to make sure he hadn't missed a single detail.
[Name]...
[Quality]...
[Description]...
[Traits]...
[Natural Overlord]...
[Flourishing Branches]...
[Rapid Growth]...
[Space-Time Ripple]... Remaining Uses: 1
[Vigorous Growth]...
[Spatial Protection]...
'Hm? Wait... I thought I saw something with one use remaining.'
'Spa~ce~ Ti~me~ Rip~ple... Fuck, I was so focused on laying out buildings yesterday, how did I forget about this World Tree ability?'
'It's all that nonsense in the chat channel's fault. I swear I was going to use it the moment I got it.'
'Well, it's not too late now...'
'The "Space-Time Ripple" can obtain an item from the All Heavens and Myriads of Realms that is related to the World Tree itself.'
'In other words, besides these basic buildings, I might be able to pull a building blueprint!'
This discovery instantly dispelled the gloom that had settled over Lin Yu.
To ensure he pulled a valuable building, he straightened his clothes and even ran to wash his hands thoroughly.
Finally, Lin Yu stood before the Territory Heart and, with a thrill of excitement, used "Space-Time Ripple."
As "Space-Time Ripple" activated, a virtual orb of light materialized in front of Lin Yu.
The orb of light constantly shifted colors, with different images flickering inside.
There was a great tree blazing with light, a Flame Phoenix perched upon its branches; a Golden Crow soaring through the sky before landing on a Fusang Tree; a Moon Well resonating with the full moon as a group of elves danced around its rim...
Countless images flashed past like a whirlwind, until finally, the orb of light settled on the image of an exquisite garden lodge.
Staring at the image, which now glowed with a blue light, Lin Yu's excitement began to subside.
'Sigh... I just saw so many colorful, high-rarity buildings. Why only show them to me and not let me pull one?'
Still, it was a testament to the immense potential of the "Space-Time Ripple" trait.
With enough luck, he could pull something truly priceless.
As he was lost in thought, the orb of light transformed into an architectural model and landed gently in front of him.