The next day.
Yang Tao, who had returned to the Overworld, almost cleared out all items that could be converted into Energy Points. Of course, the biggest contributors were the various stones and minerals provided by the level 8 'Cave System' and the walls from the level 0 'Tutorial Level'.
"Upgrade…"
The Energy Points, which had just exceeded thirty million, instantly decreased by 5.12 million. The exponentially increasing demand made Yang Tao's heart ache a little.
As his words fell, the Overworld, which had not changed for several months, expanded again.
The uniformly green grassland showed some colour changes, and a thin layer of white snow appeared at the world's boundary.
"It only gave me a snowy environment?"
It didn't even give a new Village. Wouldn't it be wonderful if another wonderful Green Robe Venerable appeared?
Just as Yang Tao felt that this upgrade was becoming more and more of a rip-off, the wooden door leading to the level 4 office area opened, and Eric walked out with a frown.
Seeing Yang Tao flying in the sky on a Magic Broom, observing the surroundings, his tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed a little.
"Yang!"
Hearing the voice, Yang Tao descended from the sky.
"Eric, why are you here? Wait a moment…"
He put away the Magic Broom and silently thought of upgrading again.
10.24 million Energy Points transformed into nutrients for the Overworld, and the world expanded once more.
The remaining Energy Points were not enough for Yang Tao to upgrade again, but he would be able to accumulate enough Energy Points for another upgrade in at most half a month.
"Eric, are you preparing to go home?"
Eric said with a serious expression, "No, Yang, some changes have occurred in the Backrooms. The number of Entities has begun to increase abnormally. Some levels with a small number of Entities have now been changed to medium-number Entities…"
Entity outbreak?
Yang Tao reached out and took the laptop Eric handed him, flipping through the information displayed on it.
Sure enough, a large amount of information about encountering Entities appeared in the forum, and there were even cases of Entities being immune to firearms.
'Is this an updated version?'
He took out a Character Creation Book from his backpack and handed it to Eric, explaining how to use it.
Walking to the table and looking at the information about various Entities impacting the base, Yang Tao asked, "How is the safety situation at our supermarket?"
"The supermarket was hit by a wave of Entities, but with the Iron Golems, those Entities didn't even have a chance to get close. Now, many Wanderers have settled near our supermarket."
In the level 4 'Abandoned Office' level, there was no safer place than near the supermarket, so it was normal for Wanderers to gather.
He handed the laptop back to Eric and said, "You don't need to go back to level 4 for now. Work in the Overworld first. Anyway, there's also Wi-Fi here."
"Later, I'll take you to The End to raise Doriki, to improve your survival ability first."
800 HP was enough to deal with some ordinary Entities.
He led Eric to the Enderman farm and pointed at the dense long-legged figures within the farm, saying, "Eric, you should have gained some skill knowledge just now. You can farm Endermen here to increase your Doriki first."
"Once you feel no more improvement, just return to the Overworld and stay there. I'll go to the Backrooms to check the situation."
Blue Knight had already returned to Stormstone Keep. He was preparing to go and inquire about the situation, to see if Blue Knight knew the specific circumstances.
Looking at Yang Tao, who was about to leave, Eric earnestly urged, "I feel that this change in the Backrooms is a bit special. Please be careful."
Yang Tao made an OK gesture with his hand and left The End world without looking back.
…
Stormstone Keep.
As soon as he arrived at Blue Knight's house, Yang Tao heard dull thunder rumbling in the distance.
'Is Lancelot in a bad mood?'
When Blue Knight felt pressure, anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, or loneliness, severe storm weather would appear in the level 28 level.
He didn't find Blue Knight in the fortress. Walking out of the fortress, he stopped a Villager who was running into the fortress.
"Wait, where did Lancelot go?"
The Villager who was stopped didn't show any panic on his face. Seeing that it was Yang Tao, he pointed outside the fortress and said, "Brave Sir, Lancelot went to the forest over there. He told us to return to the fortress first. I don't know what happened."
Yang Tao frowned slightly upon hearing this, exchanged some keys with Energy Points, and handed them to the farmer Villager, instructing, "If the situation is not right, go home immediately. Distribute these keys; at least ensure five people per key."
"Okay, Brave Sir."
The Energy Points required to exchange for keys were completely insignificant to him now.
He quickly left the fortress using Geppo.
Flying into the sky, he gazed at the forest in the distance from Stormstone Keep. Contrary to his previous imagination, the storm did not sweep across the entire level 28, but was concentrated in the southeast direction.
The endless, violent indigo clouds surged down from the distant mountainside, and silver dragons descended from the sky, striking down. The scene was both magnificent and terrifying.
He mounted his Magic Broom and flew rapidly towards the location of the lightning.
The closer he got to the storm, the clearer the thunderous roars became, interspersed with some dull explosions, which were the sounds of storm stone exploding.
He stopped at the edge of the storm.
Yang Tao looked at Blue Knight in the center of the storm. Now, his whole body was flashing with lightning, and there were also streaks of seemingly substantial strong winds swirling around his body.
'Lancelot isn't a Lightning Knight? He's a Storm Knight?'
It was clear that Blue Knight did not only possess the power of lightning. Yang Tao had no way to get close now. Judging by the lightning and strong winds, he probably couldn't distinguish friend from foe.
"Lancelot!!"
Even though the surrounding sounds were deafening, Blue Knight still turned his head to look in his direction.
The next moment, the storm paused for an instant, and Blue Knight's figure appeared before Yang Tao as if by teleportation.
[HP 260,000 / 320,000]
"You're injured?"
Ignoring the fact that Blue Knight's HP cap had increased again, Yang Tao immediately asked the most crucial question.
"Yes, Yang, I need your help. Another level is devouring my home…"
Yang Tao nodded without hesitation and asked, "How can I help you?"
He took out a new Character Creation Book from his backpack and handed it to Blue Knight, saying, "Race: Human, Profession: Choose Doctor!"
Currently, the most suitable profession for Blue Knight was Doctor; he did not lack offensive means.
Blue Knight had also seen Yang Tao use this item on Arya in the One Piece world, so Yang Tao naturally didn't need to waste any more words.
He immediately chose the Doctor profession as Yang Tao instructed.
The Doctor profession's [First Aid] skill could be used on oneself.
One should know that this was a 'noble' percentage recovery.
"Yang, if you go straight through the forest, you can reach the level that is invading here. I can't know the situation on the other side; I can only barely resist the fusion of the two levels…"
Seeing the white mist appearing in the forest behind Blue Knight, Yang Tao knew he couldn't delay any longer and said directly, "Don't worry, I won't be in danger, Lancelot. If you can't hold on, come to my place immediately…"
At this point, Yang Tao paused, then looked at Blue Knight very seriously and said, "As long as you are here, we will eventually reclaim the level…"