Richard had not yet recovered from his overwhelming excitement.
The system prompt continued to echo.
[Ding~ The rotten swamp has expanded by 10 kilometers. It has reached 30 kilometers in diameter.]
[The number of automatically produced troop lairs per week has increased to 3. The maximum number of self-produced troop lairs increases by 10. Number of Self-Produced Troop Lairs: 30. Maximum Number of Troop Lairs: 40. Total Number of Troops: 600 (Glorious 1-star).]
[The level of the self-produced troop lair could upgrade from Glorious 3-stars to Crown 3-stars. The troop lair one has produced and recruited could reach Crown 3-stars after consuming flesh and soul energy.]
[Ding~ The rotten swamp has obtained new skills–Corrosive Volition and Decay Power.]
[Corrosive Volition — The rotten swamp aura will constantly corrode. It will turn those infected with corrosion into a servant and swamp’s loyal members.]
[Decay Power — The rotten swamp will automatically recruit 1,000 soldiers or more. It will automatically give rise to a hero unit. This hero will become stronger as it grows stronger. One can consume flesh and blood to revive following its death in the rotten swamp.]
That pleasantly surprised Richard as he read the notifications repeatedly.
This time, the upgrade of the rotten swamp not only increased the foundation. It also obtained two new characteristics-Corrosive Volition and Decay Power.
One could corrupt the troops in the swamp and turn them into their allies, while the other could give rise to heroic units.
The battle power of the troops with and without a hero commander was on two different levels.
This wave of leveling up directly made up for the shortcomings of the rotten swamp.
The maximum number of troop lairs reached 40, as for the level 3 rotten swamp.
That was a crown-level lair.
In other words, as long as the number of troops was complete, they only needed to provide enough flesh and soul energy weekly to produce 40 teams of crown troops.
That was something he got for free!!
It felt good to be unconfined for a while. But it would be much better to be freed for good.
“Hahahaha!”
Richard’s lips curled into a wide smile.
The troops in the rotten swamp were the same as his Black Gold System, which could continuously increase their potential. That was what satisfied him the most.
The 600 Glorious 3-stars high-level troops in the rotten swamp would soon become Crown 3-stars, top-tier troops.
The rotten swamp leveled up this time, and its strength directly welcomed a surge.
He was generously delighted.
He lost countless lives during innumerable battles in multiple planes, and Richard had no idea how many had died in the rotten swamp.
However, one could describe killing with a borrowed knife and watching the tigers fight from the sidelines as perfect.
“According to this high-intensity battle, it won’t be long before the rotten swamp reaches level four.”
Richard still looked forward to the rotten swamp to reach level 5 and being able to recruit transcendent troops.
Transcendents were at the top of the food chain in the “Shining Era.”
Even a vast city like Solan City, which was at the edge of the Death Desert, had a top force with a glorious big shot overseeing it. The number of transcendent soldiers was limited.
The rotten swamp could even drop glorious troops in the next level up.
He had yet to see what a glorious soldier looked like.
The growth potential of the rotten swamp made this treasure comparable to a divine artifact.
The Dwarf God had given him a generous gift.
Richard calmed himself down. He continued to lead the troops back. Soon, the land of quicksand was in sight.
Richard seemed to have thought of something and turned to look at the god of deception while he stood behind Alves.
“Your Excellency Tai Long, have you found any believers?”
Tai Long’s old, blurry face looked at him with subtle emotions and shook his head.
“I already have a few targets. But I haven’t decided yet.”
Richard looked at him meaningfully.
“Your Excellency Tai Long, what do you think of the Great Immortal God?”
The god of deception did not understand why he asked the question. But he pondered and still answered sincerely.
“The god of the undead is a core member of the God System. He is quite famous for his stubborn pursuit of immortality.”
“However, he’d always been at a mid-level divine power because he was incredibly stubborn… He could become a high-grade divine power existence if he broke out of the seal this time.”
His tone sounded sparingly complicated.
“I… It’s time to speed up.”
Tai Long sighed softly and returned to the main topic.
“As for personality… No one could guess the core of the undead. These creatures who did not know what death was might one day want to destroy the world simply because they were bored.
“One still needs to be cautious when dealing with the god of the undead… The undead were not reliable allies.”
Richard smiled noncommittally. His deep eyes looked straight into his.
He carefully said, “I’ve always hoped His Excellency Tai Long would become true friends with Twilight City.”
Richard’s statements enthralled the god of deception. The response was starkly unrelated to the previous concern.
Tai Long saw the handsome yellow sand-shrouded figure step forward and pat his shoulder before he could speak.
Then, the Human Overlord gestured to the spatial gate of the holy land.
“I’ll hand the rotten swamp to you.”
“In the future, I envision Twilight City to be able to overcome all its obstacles with you.”
Tai Long turned around and left as he spoke. He landed directly on the quicksand.
The god of deception looked at Richard’s back. His eyes moved slightly.
Tai Long felt something sparingly odd.
‘Did the other party aspire to recruit me?
‘Subdue a god as a subordinate?’
‘It was really… The courage was admirable.’
The god of deception shook his head and stopped thinking about it. It was high enough for him to submit, although the potential of Twilight City was impressive.
Richard must be a master god of a divine system.
Tai Long regained his composure and did not linger any longer. He turned around and stepped into the holy land. He returned from the other side of the spatial gate to the crimson fog-engulfed rotten swamp.
The Naga Plane had already become a chaotic killing ground by seven or eight planes.
Next, more planes would open up channels.
Richard didn’t pay much attention to the god of deception. It was enough that he could use this god now. What would happen in the future was up to time.
He looked at the void sandworm entrenched in the land of quicksand. It was like a giant city wall.
The time this void lifeform could open the spatial gate increased each time it grew.
That gave him a lot of room to repeatedly maneuver.
The holy land could also open a spatial gate. But it wasn’t convenient as the void sandworm. It would not last long at this stage.
The holy land was more suitable to be used as a rear base. The void sandworm’s agility was incomparable.
Richard asked the god’s ancient tree if there were any news from Ell Kingdom. Richard received a negative response and instructed the giant twisted human-faced tree to protect the area.
Richard placed a few vital projects in this area. The land of quicksand conveyed increasingly heavier tasks.
The protection of the invincible boss, the god’s ancient tree, alone could make Richard confidently feel safe and comfortable.
Moreover, the giant abomination tree and its treant characteristics alone could suitably perform the task.
Richard returned to Vermin–the land of broken laws.
The situation here became increasingly turbulent due to the increasing emergence of planes.
However, unexpectedly, he found no other planes beyond the Ell and Abyssal Planes that emitted rotten aura.
Twilight City had long prepared for this bloody battle. It calmed down.
It had obtained a rare opportunity to develop.
Richard redeployed the residents from the holy land a few days after the situation settled down.
Production resumed.
However, at the same time, the new city named Eternal City did not cease to build and operate.
Bloohoof City provided a troop of more than 10,000 prisoners of war, which became the primary labor force.
Twilight City held these prisoners. Unknown savage besiegers captured and imprisoned them during Bloodhoof City and the underworld solidarity.
That process eliminated some extremely evil and stubborn races and redeemed only captives who could listen to orders.
In addition, the 2,000 gray-colored dwarves and mechanical puppets in Fortress City also joined the construction of the new holy land, Eternal City.
The city designed and built in the holy land rapidly grew with these new forces.
Soldiers had built Eternal City according to the rules of the natives in the “Shining Era,” and the lord himself did it, unlike Twilight City, where the attribute panel could directly upgrade.
The disadvantage was that it required a large amount of labor and time. The advantage was that it did not require technology, population, or building level as prerequisites. They could build anywhere.
Twilight City’s technology hadn’t met the requirements. That was the main reason the city stuck at the elite-level.
In any case, they had their advantages and disadvantages.
Twilight City was his foundation. The rise of Eternal City would not diminish its vitality. However, Richard didn’t aspire to develop Eternal City like a typical one. He intended to build it into a war fortress.
The future Eternal City would be a safe production base. It could also be a war fortress that could open a spatial gate and directly block the enemy’s entry.
Richard could achieve his goal as long as the city incessantly thrived as a plane of holiness and eternity.
Time has passed by quickly. It was Monday, January 8th, Year 7601 of the “Shining Era.”
News came from the Ell Plane that the two princesses of Ell had contacted a paramount figure in the Ell Kingdom, the Lion Duke. He was willing to stand on the side of the royal family of Ell and send troops to attack the Raging Blood Duke.
Richard immediately sent Emily. She had already broken through to become a transcendent. Emily rushed into the Ell Kingdom to protect the two princesses and meet Duke Lion.
On January 10th, the two parties met at the lion castle. The Lion Duke was unexpectedly interested, although he had not joined the Raging Blood Duke Faction. He was highly interested in the Ancient Summoning Circle controlled by the royal family of Ell.
He used this method to lure the two princesses over.
At the critical moment, Emily stood up and revealed her 10-meter-tall battle form. She single-handedly slaughtered the Duke Lion’s troop and suppressed the level-19 duke.
The duke’s soul was bound to Emily’s, and his life was under her control.
Emily had controlled the entire upper echelons of Lion Duke in just five days. That started on the 10th to 15th of January, Year 7601 of the “Shining Era.”
The first step to revenge was to establish a foothold in the Ell Kingdom.
January 16th.
Good news came from the underground world while the conquest of the Ell Kingdom was underway.
The sacred-blood dwarves sent to Fortress City successfully helped the dwarves develop the first generation of automatic sowing harvesters.
They integrated sowing and harvesting into one.
This alchemical machine was a collection of alchemy technology, magic charms, and some of the best technology in Fortress City.
A single pilot could easily control this five-meter-tall alchemy machine.
Many call this machine the Fortress City’s top sowing and harvesting machine. That directly adapted the primary raw material of the Black Sorbet Ice Cream–Frost Grass.
In other words, they initially developed this machine to grow and harvest Frost Grass.
Richard ordered the expansion of Frost Grass planting bases to 30, with a total area of more than 30,000 acres following its successful development.
Each farm had an area of 1,000 acres.
They used almost all the areas in the underground world suitable for growing Frost Grass.
The supply of raw materials had expanded, and Richard naturally would not let them sit idle. He began to build a new food workshop in Twilight City.
That caused the number of them to reach an exaggerated 20.
They set food workshops in the open space of Twilight City.
The new residents of Ell started to work there.
On the same day, a paramount event caused many players to discuss it in the forum.
A top-tier player guild fought with a native force of the Orc Empire while they fought over planes.
The native forces of the Orc Empire had a transcendent overseeing them and were extremely powerful.
However, that top guild was unwilling to give up the fat meat next to their mouth. They promised myriad benefits but finally pulled in hundreds of guilds of various sizes to participate in the battle.
The total number of players who participated in this war exceeded 500,000, and the number of troops mobilized was over 100 million.
In the end, the Beastmen defeated the Orc Empire.
Their defeat was uncontrollable even if a transcendent stepped forward.
The players had won the war against the natives.
To the players, this was like a clap of thunder.
For the first time, the players realized they could control the situation on the battlefield.
They had grown from a dispensable force to a force that outsiders could not ignore after half a year of development.
They could even defeat the soul-crushing natives if they worked in unity.
The players were excited.
Discussions about the war of the century for a few days flooded the forum.
It turned out that the notifications they had heard at the beginning of the “Shining Era” weren’t nonsense.
The first chapter of scarlet resources had also become more proactive in exploring the plane regarding the new expansion pack.
An inexplicable commotion arose in everyone’s hearts.
As the exploration of the plane deepened, many players on the forum benefited greatly from it. It was not an exaggeration to describe it as getting rich overnight.
The system highlighted an obelisk that also surfaced.
However, the guardians of every plane’s prism were all freaks.
The strength of the hand was so mighty that it exceeded the average level of that plane by more than five levels.
Some people even saw glorious-level heroes that guarded.
The obelisk turned mysterious for a moment.
In addition, there was another thing that made the players restless. The Crimson Moon rose. That allowed the remaining power of the ancient gods in the various planes to reappear.
In the exploration of the players, many lucky ones obtained the power of the ancient gods scattered in various planes.
They found that the power of the ancient gods could increase the potential of heroes and increase the strength of their troops. The discovery was surprising.
Some players had even changed their class to an ancient rare-level with ancient god power.
In such an environment, plane exploration gradually increased.
And related conflicts happened every day.