[Congratulations, your territory has successfully upgraded. Current Level: Tier Five]
[Unlock Territory Warehouse, Unlock Personal Storage Space.]
...
A melodious voice echoed in Lin You's mind.
After a day of collecting resources, Lin You finally gathered enough materials to upgrade to Tier Five and raised his territory to Tier Five.
However, upon hearing the prompt, he was stunned.
"That's it... finished? Where's the species reward?"
Lin You's face was filled with astonishment.
He looked at the newly unlocked [Territory Warehouse] used to store territorial resources and [Personal Storage Space] similar to a game personal backpack space.
It didn't have anything to do with species.
He waited for a long time but didn't see any prompts for unlocking new species. Could there be an issue with the upgrade!
Or did the rewards for species end after Tier Five!?
Lin You was shocked.
He completely didn't anticipate such a situation.
If upgrading territories does not provide new species of corresponding levels, wouldn't their future become even more arduous?
There are probably very few people aware of this matter now!
"Could it be because the newbie stage is over?"
Lin You thought doubtfully.
He seemed to somewhat understand why the Tower of Species appeared after the safe period, precisely because of this matter.
Before Tier Five, you're a newbie; leveling up rewards species to help you build a foundation.
After Tier Five, if you want species, sure, pile on the resources!
Now Lin You fully understands the attitude of this world, clearly wanting them to scramble for resources, leading to endless battles.
Reflecting on the earlier incident of acquiring Territory Essence from killing a lord.
It made him feel the deep malice of this world.
Thinking about this, Lin You quickly opened up the upgraded territory information.
[Territory Name: Tree of Life]
[Territory Level: Tier Five]
[Territory Durability: 1500/1500 (+250)]
[Recruit Species: Plant Type]
[Recruitment Number: 40/50]
[Territory Introduction: The essence of the lord's survival, possessing various functions. Territory core destruction leads to lord demise.]
[Upgrade Requirements: Wood (1500/1500), Stone (11/1500), Iron Ore (0/750), Copper Ore (0/750), Magic Energy (873/2000), Tier Five Territory Essence (0/5)]
[Note: Plant Type territory trait, self-supplying wood.]
...
Looking at the long list of upgrade materials, Lin You felt his scalp go numb.
Not only has the quantity increased significantly, but iron ore and copper ore have been added as materials, and the Territory Essence has increased fivefold!
This amounts to needing to destroy at least five Tier Five territories or eliminate five Tier Five Demon gathering sites.
Either way, both are extremely risky endeavors.
A slight mistake could potentially lead them into an irredeemable situation.
After all, anyone capable of reaching Tier Five is no ordinary character; if they feel their lives are threatened, they will certainly fight to the end.
As for Tier Five Demon gathering sites, needless to say, they contain not only numerous Tier Five Demons but may also spawn Tier Six Leader Demons.
The level of danger is not small.
"Seems like I have to find a way to upgrade all my species to Tier Five first..."
Lin You muttered to himself, his expression extremely serious.
The Tower of Species can only research one species per day, and to study Tier Five species, the building needs to be upgraded, which requires a considerable amount of materials.
Researching species also consumes Magic Energy, another expense.
With so many gaps present, he wasn't too optimistic in the short term, so he could only start with upgrading the species.
He opened the Tower of Species information for a look.
[Building Name: Tower of Species]
[Building Level: Tier Four]
[Building Introduction: Can research existing species for advanced forms to make them recruitable; magic energy required; species level cannot exceed building level.]
[Research Speed: 1 species/day]
[Upgrade Requirements: 500 wood, 500 stone, 1000 magic energy]
Fortunately.
Materials needed for upgrading to Tier Five aren't as excessive as the territory, and he's been collecting stone consistently.
Now what he's most lacking is magic energy.
Killing Tier Three Demons provides only ten or so points of magic energy, unable to meet his current needs.
Even upgrading to Tier Five [Bathing Fire Lotus] only gives 25 points per hour, not enough to cover the costs.
It will be necessary to hunt Tier Four or higher Demons outside.
So after preparing within the territory, Lin You headed out with twenty species, including Lingxi and one Blast Mushroom.
As for the other Blast Mushroom, Lin You left it to guard the territory along with Cyan Rattan and other plants.
After yesterday's battle ended.
Cyan Rattan had long recovered from injuries through its Devouring Ability and established a Vine Forest outside the territory.
With one Tier Five Blast Mushroom and over ten Tier Four plants, few could breach the territory's defense, allowing him to explore further afield with peace of mind.
Leaving the territory, walking along the path with the plants, Lin You casually checked the [Area Leaderboard] information.
First Place: Yin Tiange [Tier Five: Demon Type]
Second Place: Bai Haitang [Tier Five: Angel Type]
Third Place: Yan Wu [Tier Five: Elemental Type]
Fourth Place: Wenren Kuang [Tier Five: Beast Type]
Fifth Place: Lin You [Tier Five: Plant Type]
...
Just as he expected, after a night, the leaders on the leaderboard had all upgraded to Tier Five, and he was still in fifth place.
The only change was that second and third places swapped positions.
This surprised Lin You somewhat.
Because judging by the name, this "Bai Haitang" is clearly a female, yet she's strong enough to occupy second place.
Indeed, she upholds the saying "women are not inferior to men."
Moreover, her Angel type species are also very noteworthy.
The other three being ranked above him likely have more Tier Five species than he does, which he can understand.
After all, he's not the only one aware of utilizing Beast Tides to enhance himself.
Closing the leaderboard.
He continued to journey diligently.
This time, his target was not the mountains and forests next to him that had been explored countless times but the other side of the forest, an area he had never explored.
Previously, walls and Beast Tides blocked the way, making it impossible for him to go over.
Now that the walls have crumbled, it's time to see if there's anything valuable there.
...
More than half an hour later.
Lin You successfully crossed the forest and came to the wasteland covered in scorched earth he remembered.
As he stepped onto the wasteland, a reminder immediately sounded in his ears.
[Area transformation, switching area channels...]
[Switch successful, current area: Wasteland Wilderness]
[This area contains a large number of high-tier demons, please be cautious.]
"New area?"
Lin You's expression froze, he glanced at the area channel.
The suffix indeed changed to "Wasteland Wilderness," and the messages were empty with no one speaking.
Apparently, this area hasn't been explored much by others yet.
The voice also reminded him of the presence of numerous high-tier demons, making him even more cautious, gathering the plants around before venturing deeper into the wasteland.
Wasteland Wilderness.
The land lived up to its name, charred black all over, even the distant mountain peaks were black, with a few bizarre dark brown trees growing.
Lin You had barely set foot in the wasteland when he immediately encountered an enormous Rock Demon.
[Name: Rock Demon]
[Race: Elemental]
[Level: Tier Five]
[Power: 195]
[Constitution: 192]
[Agility: 50]
[Spirit: 100]
[Skills: Rock Heavy Hammer, Earth-Splitting Strike]
[Introduction: Unique elemental creature of Wasteland Wilderness, composed entirely of rocks, with immense power and defense but very slow speed.]
"Tier Five?"
Lin You's heart shuddered, surprised to encounter a demon so quickly, and a Tier Five demon at that!
At this moment, the three to four-meter tall Rock Demon also noticed him, roaring and charging toward him.
Where it passed, the ground trembled, producing loud explosive sounds!