These past few days, Chi-Chi had been in a foul mood, constantly snapping at her Red Blood Gori.
Why were her troops so weak?
Of course, if it hadn''t been for Alex''s selfless help during the beast tide, she might have perished. Alex not only helped her fend off the beast tide but also left her with over six hundred beast corpses.
Chi-Chi disassembled these beasts, gaining a whopping 60 Essence Shards, 500 magic crystals, and arge amount of food. With these resources, she was finally able to upgrade her Barracks, and she did so twice in a row.
Perhaps because Chi-Chi had submitted to Alex, her castle''s level 1 Gori crystal upgraded to a level 3 beasts crystal when she upgraded her Barracks. Chi-Chi initially thought all Lords'' Barracks were like this, so she wasn''t particrly surprised.
The level 3 Barracks unlocked two new troops: the Prairie Lion and the Swamp Crocodile. Not only that, but their potential was also high, reaching up to the Monarch level.
The only downside was that, like the Red Blood Gori, she could only summon two of each species per day. Now, Chi-Chi could summon six beasts daily, which was a significant improvement for her.
Chi-Chi''s beasts were actually juveniles, simr to Alex''s Ice Cream, and could gain experience through aging. Once they reached maturity, they would be very powerful.
Previously, Chi-Chi had naively sent her troops into battle without realizing that they just needed to survive to increase their strength, resulting in several Red Blood Goris dying.
Now that she knew, Chi-Chi regretted her past actions, but her mood quickly shifted to excitement. After upgrading to a level 3 Barracks, she unexpectedly received a special structure blueprint: the Time Chamber.
The Time Chamber had one function: to elerate the flow of time within the room by a factor of 100. A hundredfold increase in time meant that a year inside the chamber was equivalent to a hundred years outside.
This might seem useless to others, but for Chi-Chi, it was divine gear. She could let her troops stay inside to rapidly mature. By the time they were nearly grown, they would emerge with the strength of Commanding level troops.
Why not Monarch level?
Because the building only affected creatures below Monarch level, and it only worked on living beings.
This was a way for Chi-Chi to strengthen her troops effortlessly, a zero-loss strategy. All she needed to do was feed them enough each day.
Chi-Chi was in high spirits, nning to gather Essence Shards once her beasts had grown a bit, to quickly upgrade her Barracks. This would allow her to develop normally and strengthen her forces.
...
Meanwhile, Alex had already sent her undead to find the Acolytes, nning to bring them back and send them to Sophie''s castle to mine with her dwarves. Of course, Alex''s cheapbor force of skeletons would also help.
With the Portal of Transit, travel between the two Lords'' territories was much easier, and troops could move back and forth without issue.
It was then that Alex remembered the function of her Bone Throne''s Feature1.
[Feature1: Increases troops'' loyalty to their Lord.]
This wasn''t to increase the undead''s loyalty to Alex, as their loyalty was already maxed out. The Bone Throne''s feature was meant to increase the loyalty of the troops of Lords who had submitted to Alex.
Alex hadn''t fully understood this before, but the realization struck her suddenly when she thought about the Portal of Transit. Indeed, everything exists for a reason.
At that moment, a burst of red light shed through Alex''s castle''s Portal of Transit, and a woman stumbled out.
"Ugh!"
Sophie felt dizzy and disoriented, unable to tell up from down, her stomach churning until she couldn''t hold back and vomited.
"That was rash, and no one... told me teleporting... ugh... was like a roller coaster..."
It took a while for Sophie to recover. She wiped her mouth and awkwardly stood up. The doors of the great hall were open, and she could see the outside from within.
The outside was eerie, emitting a strange aura. Even during the day, the sky was devoid of any light.
A bit terrifying...
Sophie looked back uncertainly to make sure it was indeed a teleportation portal before stepping outside.
Is it always so oppressive around Hamburger''s ce?
Sophie suddenly felt that her own castle was quite nice, at least sunny with blue skies and white clouds, resembling a normal Earth environment.
Hamburger''s surroundings, however, seemed bizarrely ominous.
Since she was within the town''s territory, there weren''t many undead around, but Sophie still asionally saw ghosts and creatures flying in the sky, making her shiver.
Aren''t undead supposed to be just big skeletons? Why are there so many flying creatures? That''s terrifying...
She suddenly thought dwarves were quite cute, although it would be better if they ate a little less.
Sophie saw two dimly lit yellownterns at the castle''s main entrance and four winged creature statues, the castle itself dark in color.
Gathering her courage, Sophie walked towards the castle.
Inside, Alex was fetching some elite food from the Warehouse for Ice Cream. Although she didn''t need to eat, Ice Cream''s diet couldn''t be neglected.
Alex nced at the castle entrance and saw someone standing there.
Turning her head, Sophie also looked at Alex in the courtyard, their eyes meeting.
"Big Shot?"
"Sophie?"
Alex and Sophie spoke simultaneously, and Ice Cream, hearing the noise, also turned to look towards the entrance.
With Ice Cream''s massive size, Sophie couldn''t help but notice, but she continued inside bravely.
"Why are you here?"
Alex sized up Sophie, who was dressed in a business suit, looking like an office worker.
Her beauty could probably be rated A-grade, but Alex wondered why she walked with a swaying motion, giving her a strange impression.
"Big Shot, I came to see you. You were so eager for me to build the Portal of Transit, wasn''t it to find me?"
Sophie''s voice was coquettish, causing Alex to grimace involuntarily.
"Speak properly, don''t disgust me."
"Okay, Big Shot!"
Seeing Alex a bit displeased, Sophie immediately reverted to normal.
After approaching Alex, Sophie dared to take a closer look. She had been too nervous walking over, her eyes fixed on Ice Cream, fearing it might eat her.
Alex was wearing a white T-shirt paired with a ck pleated skirt, looking youthful, vibrant, and exceptionally beautiful, more so than any woman Sophie had encountered.
Besides her striking beauty, Sophie noticed that Alex''s eyes were two different colors.
"Big Shot, what is that?"
Sophie stood beside Alex, pointing at Ice Cream and whispering.
"A dragon, can''t you tell?"
Sophie''s unfamiliarity with other races was understandable, but not recognizing such a famous creature as a dragon baffled Alex.
"Stupid woman."
Ice Cream''s face was full of disdain. After finishing its meal, it curled up on the ground, closed its eyes, and began to rest.
Sophie was mortified to realize the dragon had heard her and her heart raced with fear.
Alex called over a specter.
"Call back the Acolytes and the skeletons who are chopping wood and mining."
Then Alex led Sophie into the castle to chat while waiting for the Acolytes to return, nning to send them to help Sophie with mining.
"Big Shot, what is this ce? It feels a bit scary."
Sophie finally remembered to ask about the location of Alex''s castle.
"Eldoria continent, at the border between Frostwind snowy mountain and Dark Forest."
"Ah, we''re not on Arsen continent anymore?!"
Sophie was shocked to realize she had crossed a continent. She had heard from the dwarves that their kingdom''s explorers had never reached the edge of Arsen continent in their lifetimes, which spoke volumes about the vastness of a continent.
"By the way, Big Shot, after I upgraded to town, the system gave me this."
Sophie pulled a t, shield-shaped token from her shirt pocket and handed it to Alex.