Chapter 61: Completion of the Lord's Castle

A muffled explosion suddenly echoed a thousand or two thousand meters above Han Xing's head.

That was the charged attack of the psionic puppet.

Back in the Cloud Secret Realm, Han Xing had already witnessed the formidable offensive power of the elite puppet.

At that time, however, it had been completely suppressed by Coal Ball, giving it no chance to charge its energy.

Right now, the psionic puppet was fully displaying its terrifying destructive power.

Han Xing was extremely satisfied with this.

Aside from these simple commands, Han Xing discovered that he could also issue more complex orders, such as guarding the territory's safety, attacking intruders with full force, and so on.

When no combat was taking place, he could even command it to maintain twenty-four-hour vigilance and patrol.

Since it was a puppet creature, the concept of fatigue did not apply to it.

At this moment, Han Xing rubbed his chin and thought, "The psionic puppet is powerful, but this size is far too conspicuous. Is there a way for me to store this giant away when it's not needed?"

For now, unless this massive creature could be stored in inventory spaces just like any other item, it had to remain exposed on the territory, where any approaching survivor would instantly spot its gigantic silhouette.

Although Han Xing felt in his heart that the idea of storing a puppet in an inventory space was rather unrealistic, he decided to give it a try anyway.

When he attempted to store the enhanced psionic puppet into his storage chest:

The next moment, the towering giant suddenly vanished from the territory.

Simultaneously, a miniature version of the puppet model appeared inside his storage chest, taking up a full ten slots of storage space.

Han Xing's eyes went blank, followed by an uncontainable surge of wild joy.

"Holy crap! It actually works?!" He was utterly shocked.

At that moment, another thought crossed Han Xing's mind: "Since it can be stored in the storage chest, does that mean it can also be put into my backpack space?"

Han Xing immediately released the psionic puppet from the storage space.

Then, he cleared ten slots in his backpack and began testing the collection.

The next moment, the figure of the psionic puppet vanished once more.

And inside Han Xing's backpack, the silhouette of a steel giant appeared.

"Oh my lord..."

Han Xing's shock at this moment was beyond description.

A colossal entity standing over six meters tall and weighing more than a dozen tons was now being carried around on his person—what kind of concept was that?

Yet, upon reflection, it made a certain kind of sense.

After all, the psionic puppet was not a living creature; much like the equipment and secret potions crafted by Han Xing, it belonged to the category of props. It was quite normal for it to be stored within spatial storage.

A sinister idea suddenly sprouted in the depths of Han Xing's mind.

He currently had seven damaged psionic cores on hand. Although they were not enough to forge another elite-grade puppet, the attributes of ordinary puppets were by no means poor.

Furthermore, in terms of threat level, seven ordinary psionic puppets actually surpassed a single elite-grade puppet.

If he were to craft all of them and store them away in his storage space...

When other fellows attempted to invade his territory, just as they arrived and suddenly found seven or eight steel giants surrounding them in a tight circle, what kind of reaction would they have?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but let out a sinister chuckle.

Next, he impatiently began repairing the damaged psionic cores in his backpack, directly tapping to initiate crafting.

A system prompt appeared.

[Do you wish to craft a psionic puppet? The required crafting time is 2 hours.]

Han Xing clicked yes without the slightest hesitation, repeating the action seven times in a row.

He intended to forge all of these puppets in one go, which would massively bolster his territory's defense.

By this time, the sky had gradually grown dark.

Instead of continuing his exploration, Han Xing lit the torch stands on his territory and prepared to rest.

At this point, Han Xing began browsing the information on the consignment channel.

The equipment he currently wore still had plenty of room for improvement.

His current trousers and short boots were still the green-grade animal hide items he had crafted at the very beginning. Upgrading them to blue-grade leather armor would vastly improve both his attributes and his defensive capabilities.

Even his necklace and hat could now be replaced with blue-grade equipment.

After two days of exploration, the levels of the surviving humans had all risen, and the listings on the consignment channel were growing more numerous by the day.

Even blue-grade equipment, which was once exceedingly scarce, now had numerous listings available for sale.

Han Xing began searching part by part, filtering the equipment grade to blue.

Before long, a large array of equipment appeared before his eyes.

Han Xing would have preferred to prioritize acquiring blueprints, as the items he crafted himself possessed higher attributes than those unboxed from treasure chests.

Unfortunately, once survivors got their hands on blueprints, the vast majority learned them themselves, and only a tiny fraction ever trickled onto the market.

With this in mind, Han Xing directly posted a few consignment listings.

[Consigned Item]: Vitality Secret Potion * 10.

[Required Items]: Blue-grade Leather Armor Bottoms Blueprint, Blue-grade Leather Boots Blueprint, Blue-grade Helmet Blueprint, Blue-grade Necklace Blueprint.

[Consignor]: River of Stars.

Following the fierce battles over the past few days, everyone had gained a profound appreciation for the formidable efficacy of the Vitality Secret Potion.

During the previous round of transactions, Han Xing had only sold slightly over seven thousand bottles, leaving a massive deficit throughout District 107.

Therefore, when Han Xing relisted the Vitality Secret Potion, it naturally caused a sensation.

Before long, he successfully traded for the items he desired.

They were:

[Night-Walking Boots Blueprint (Blue), Equipment Level: Lv7]

[Pale Leather Trousers (Blue), Equipment Level: Lv6]

[Jungle Warrior Helmet (Blue), Equipment Level: Lv7]

[Forest Pendant (Blue), Equipment Level: Lv7]

The materials required for these blue-grade equipment blueprints were largely similar, primarily revolving around mithril and spiritual cores—neither of which Han Xing lacked.

He directly forged a dozen sets, carefully selecting the upper limit of blue-grade equipment quality for all of them: pristine masterpieces.

The attributes were as follows:

[Night-Walking Boots (Blue) Lv7, Quality - Pristine, Defense: 4–6, Agility +12, Attached Effect - Night Shadow Raid (Increases evasion rate by 15%)]

[Pale Leather Trousers (Blue) Lv6, Quality - Pristine, Defense: 12–16, Agility +8, Spirit +5, Attached Effect - White Veins (Enhances magic resistance effect by 20%)]

[Jungle Warrior Helmet (Blue) Lv7, Quality - Pristine, Defense: 4–5, Strength +5, Constitution +5, Agility +5, Attached Effect - Hunting Instinct (Killing an enemy grants a +3 Strength bonus, stackable up to 5 layers, lasting 60 seconds.)]

[Forest Pendant (Blue) Lv7, Quality - Pristine, Spirit +15, Agility +10, Attached Effect - Forest Will (When casting skills, has a 10% chance to trigger a 5-second cooldown reduction.)]

Han Xing gazed with satisfaction at these four pristine-quality pieces of equipment and equipped them all right away.

His attributes underwent a heaven-shaking transformation!

His overall attributes had skyrocketed by at least twofold, rivaling the stats of a typical human survivor at level 10!

"Splendid! From now on, I am fully outfitted in blue gear, plus a purple weapon!"

"Under normal circumstances, even survivors of the same level would find it hard to break through my defense."

After dumping all the excess crafted equipment on the ground into the consignment channel in exchange for materials, Han Xing prepared to turn in for the night.

He summoned the elite-grade psionic puppet.

A six-meter-tall figure abruptly materialized, and merely standing there, it emitted an aura of intangible security.

Han Xing issued a garrison command to it and then entered a state of rest.

...

In the dead of night.

Han Xing was suddenly jolted awake by a violent tremor, sitting up abruptly from the sofa.

Seeing that the psionic puppet was still standing guard steadily beside him, he let out a slight breath of relief.

He had momentarily suspected that other survivors or floating island monsters were assaulting his territory.

Simultaneously, a system prompt appeared.

[Territory Building: Construction of Primary Castle is complete. Your territory defense has been enhanced.]

[Primary Castle (Core Territory Building)]

[Remaining Defense Value]: 1,000.

[Castle Effects]: Grants a 20% defense bonus to all defensive buildings within the territory, a 10% attack power bonus to all offensive buildings, a 10% all-attribute bonus to all friendly units, and a 10% travel speed bonus to the floating island territory.

[Note: When multiple castles are constructed, at most only one castle will provide the amplification effect.]

Gazing at the massive structure before his eyes, Han Xing lost all sleepiness, his heart surging with excitement.

At the same time, he noticed that his own attribute panel, as well as the psionic puppet's attribute panel, had both gained a 10% buff effect.

Though a mere 10% buff might sound modest, quantitative changes eventually trigger qualitative ones.

As the number of his summons and puppets continued to multiply, the cumulative bonuses obtained would be far more formidable than a simple 10%!

However, the attributes were secondary; what truly caught his fancy was that the castle's exterior matched his aesthetic preferences to perfection.

Built at the very center of the territory, the castle resembled a towering behemoth. Its walls were tall and thick, constructed from sturdy stone blocks. At its center, a steel gate emitted a faint glow, its edges faintly traced with mysterious runes, giving off an unassailable sense of security.

"Wonderful, wonderful! Starting today, I am also a person who owns a castle of my own!"

Unable to wait any longer, he pushed open the steel gate at the center of the castle, and a broad view opened up before him.

Upon entering, he found a grand hall with a ceiling soaring to a height of seven meters. The walls appeared to be made of a composite material in an overall grayish-white hue, and the mere sight of them conveyed immense defensive strength.

The floor was paved with dark gray stone tiles that felt substantial underfoot. In the four corners of the hall stood pillars over a meter in diameter, embedded with numerous white moonstones and red dark-fire stones.

The moonstones and dark-fire stones not only illuminated the hall but also regulated its temperature at any given moment.

Coupled with the massive mithril chandelier hanging in the center of the living area, the entire hall appeared exceptionally bright, grand, and majestic!

However, the hall was currently completely empty, appearing somewhat spacious and vacant.

Han Xing decided he would craft some furniture later on to infuse it with a bit of domestic warmth.

Four doors stood in the four corners of the hall, each leading to a corridor that connected to other watchtowers.

Han Xing pushed open the door on the left and entered one of the watchtowers.

The lower section of the watchtower featured a windowed room, which could serve as a bedroom or a material storage area.

Ascending to the second floor of the watchtower, he found an open corridor looping around the perimeter of the castle; taking a walk along it was equivalent to patrolling the entire territory.

After taking a tour of the castle, Han Xing walked straight toward the central watchtower zone.