I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

The upgrade and renovation were completed, and the white fog dissipated.

Shi An first briefly checked the changes in the safe zone.

This time, since the white fog only enveloped the core hall and the store manager's office during the upgrade, the direct environmental changes brought about by the upgrade were limited to these two areas. The store manager's office was expanded several times over, encompassing a rest area, control center, meeting room, and more.

The main hall has also been expanded several times in size and divided into three hall areas.

"In that case, we can separate the previous rest and chat area from the mission area, and reserve the remaining hall area for auctions or other occasions when needed."

"And the lobby area can still be upgraded."

At this point, all buildings and areas within the safe zone are at LV3, and he can only upgrade and expand them once more.

However, after trying it, Shi An found that upgrading from LV3 to LV4 cost five times more than before, which was much more expensive.

This is a good thing.

While it will be more expensive, the area that can be expanded is estimated to increase many times over.

"There are three core changes. The first is that you can now view a member's basic information."

Shi An walked out of the store manager's office and looked around.

"Manager, is the lobby renovation complete? Can it be reopened?"

Yang Linna then came over and asked.

Shi An looked over.

Yang Linna (Phantom Dancer)

"Identity: Senior Member of the Safe Zone"

Level: Peak of the Third Refinement Realm

"It can be enabled."

He said, then looked into the distance.

There, the notorious thieves, Spades and Hearts, had changed into inconspicuous clothes and were patrolling listlessly.

"Spade (Fang Jiaming)"

"Level: Mid-Transcendent"

"Red Hearts (Fang Jiaxin)"

"Level: Mid-Transcendent"

As the prompt indicated, he could only see basic information, but that was sufficient.

Shi An also discovered a blind spot.

"The information I see is probably 'absolutely true'—a true realm, real names or code names."

Because he never asked the real names of the Spades and Hearts players.

The information is displayed directly here. Is this the legendary box ability?

After observing for a while, Shi An discovered that everyone had a real name in the basic information, but not necessarily a code name.

He stroked his chin. "I reckon only codenames with a certain level of reach, those that truly represent oneself, will appear in the information." He opened the panel again, and this time a "Members" section had appeared, listing all eight hundred-plus registered members. "The second core change is the ability to use the power of architecture?"

At first, Shi An didn't understand, but in a moment, when he tried to use this power, he instinctively learned it.

Just as he instinctively uses the power of belief.

"This is an evolution based on my previous control over the safe zone."

Shi An was previously able to teleport freely within the safe zone, or cast glances. The four Spades were also able to freeze in place using this ability.

And now,

He raised his hand, and a ball of water appeared in his palm.

This is not ordinary water, but purified water from the Spring of Purification.

Shi An then took out a cursed artifact and some ordinary materials, placing them on the table in front of him. Immediately afterward, his hands surged with magical power, his ten fingers moving so fast that only afterimages could be seen.

In just a few seconds, the cursed object and materials disappeared, replaced by a magical flying eye.

"I created an item? And in just a few seconds, comparable to the most skilled craftsmen!"

However, he was neither a master manufacturer nor an alchemist.

Shi An can indeed create things and refine medicine, but he doesn't understand the principles behind it at all, nor does he understand why he can create props or potions simply by clapping his hands.

"Perhaps I'm just too weak to understand the intricacies of it all."

The store manager sighed.

He then proceeded with the experiment.

The buffs from the training ground can be directly applied to oneself;

Similarly, a spellbook can be created by clapping your hands together.

He can also easily summon the purifying light and the evil-slaying light of the lighthouse.

"This ability doesn't seem to be very useful right now, but..."

He could vaguely sense that this "structural power" was crucial; he could transform the entire safe zone into his own wings.

This also provided a lot of inspiration for developing his innate talent, "Sanctuary".

"Finally, there's the blueprint for 'Spellcaster's Tower,' which is just a common-grade building blueprint..."

Logically speaking, at his current level, he wouldn't even look at a mere ordinary blueprint.

However, this blueprint is not only a permanent, unlimited blueprint, but it also does not occupy a building slot when built.

"Curse-Enchanted Sentry Tower (Normal)"

"Description: Defensive building with early warning and attack capabilities, capable of autonomously repelling enemies invading the territory."

"Note ②: This building can be constructed not only within safe zones but also in areas with watchtowers or lighthouses." "Construction Requirements: 1 Tier 1 Rare Cursed Artifact, 3 Complete Cursed Artifacts, a quantity of common materials, 20 Dream Crystals, 200 Faith Points." "These construction requirements...aren't cheap!"

"A mere ordinary-grade building requires rare-grade cursed artifacts as materials; this is outrageous. The entire cost of this cursed sentry tower is as high as sixty or seventy Dream Crystals, and it also requires an investment of Faith Points."

Is it expensive? Yes, it is quite expensive!

It cost much more than he had previously built a wizard's alchemy workshop.

but……

Things are different now, and the exorbitant cost is nothing to him now. The only question is whether this cursed sentry tower is worth the price.

"This sentry tower isn't really needed inside the safe zone, but it's a different story outside of it."

With this in mind, Shi An immediately set off for the lighthouse camp.

This was the first time that Chen Jianghuai, the garrison commander, had seen the store manager here, so he quickly went up to him.

"Manager, what can I do for you?"

"Let's do a small experiment."

Shi Andao.

He had Fa Gui fetch the materials needed for construction, and then had Chen Jianghuai and several experts at the second and third refinement levels work together to build a watchtower in a short period of time.

"Building a small building in the extraordinary era is indeed very easy."

The watchtower in front of us was built based on Chen Jianghuai's strength, and it is already incredibly sturdy, making it perfectly suited for use as a watchtower.

However, this is just an ordinary watchtower and does not possess any special abilities.

Shi An didn't take out the blueprints; he simply raised his hand and stretched out his palm towards the watchtower a dozen meters away.

"Select: Build!"

"Belief value -200".

There was no sound, no light, and no fluctuation.

Chen Jianghuai, Wu Feng, and the others were a little confused, but the next moment their eyes widened.

The watchtower in the distance is slowly changing.

The watchtower had been raised slightly, and had also become somewhat "smaller." At the top of the watchtower, a red warning light was flashing slowly, one note at a time.

Wu Feng and his companions couldn't understand it, but there was no doubt that the watchtower in front of them had undergone some kind of mysterious change.

"I have a feeling this watchtower is becoming very dangerous, Uncle Chen, what's the underlying principle?"

He asked in a low voice.

Chen Jianghuai pointed to himself with one finger. "Me? You're asking me? How would I know about the store manager's methods?"

Shi An nodded slightly, then instructed, "Hey you, um, lure a few of these weirdos over here."

Wu Feng volunteered to go.

Before long, eerie roars came from outside the mining area, and several strange creatures were chasing the figure ahead at the speed of tigers and leopards.

Wu Feng was sweating a little at this moment; he had inadvertently attracted a leader-level monster.

Inside the camp,

The dreamers had not yet seen the eerie figure, but Chen Jianghuai had vaguely heard a sound.

At this time,

"Beep~"

"Beep beep beep beep beep!"

At the top of the sentry tower, red indicator lights flashed rapidly and a rapid alarm sounded.

A dozen seconds later, Wu Feng and several other strange figures appeared in the camp's view.

At the same moment, the protective plates at the top of the sentry tower changed with a "clattering" sound, and a long, crystal-like black device slowly turned and aimed at several strange figures in the distance.

"Beep~"

"Be on guard!"

"Clear it!"

In an instant, black magical power condensed at the tip of the crystal and shot out like a cannonball.

boom!

In the distance, an elite-level monster was instantly torn to pieces. Although it was still wriggling with its bizarre and tenacious vitality, it was already nearly dead.

The next second, the spellcaster sentry tower opened fire again.

Its attacks were very frequent, and in the blink of an eye, another monster was blasted to pieces.

Immediately afterwards, the spellcasting sentry tower aimed at the leader-level monster.

Fire! Fire! Fire!

After three shots, the leader-level, bizarre body cracked, shattered, and then fell into pieces.

The spellcaster sentry tower continued firing until all enemies in the area were wiped out.

After a while,

The shelling stopped, but the Dreamers stared at the craters, half a meter or a meter in diameter, and the leader-level monsters whose remains had vanished without a trace, speechless.

"This watchtower... feels like it's going to hit me. One shot and I'm done for."

"No need to feel."

"This watchtower is stronger than a peak Third Refinement Realm cultivator, right? Hmm, are we, the elite patrol team, not even as good as a watchtower?"

Wu Feng relished the violence of the watchtower.

He wasn't surprised at all: "We're not newbies in the safe zone anymore, why make a fuss? The shopkeeper turned a watchtower into something magical, I think that's normal. It's basic stuff, just the shopkeeper's basic stuff."

When Wu Feng said this, the others agreed.

Chen Jianghuai even felt that his awareness was too low.

"That's right, nothing to be surprised about. If you don't have any instructions, manager, I'll let everyone get back to work."

Chen Jianghuai regained his composure.

Shi An: ........…”

He was actually quite surprised.

He never expected that a mere ordinary-level building could instantly kill a leader-level monster.

However, it's not true that lighthouse buildings specializing in defense and offense can kill extraordinary monsters. It seems reasonable that the spell-casting sentry tower can kill leader-level monsters.

He could tell that the spell-wielding sentry tower was barely able to kill a leader-level monster.

Because this sentry tower can only fire once per second.

Just now, if it had been a speed-type leader monster, the sentry tower might not have been able to hit it.

"But one sentry tower isn't enough, what about two, three, or ten?"

"This sentry tower is ridiculously cheap, it's a steal!"

Shi An began to order the construction of watchtowers in various places.

The lighthouse camp is a testing ground; however, its advantageous location, bathed in the lighthouse's glow, means it doesn't require much defensive architecture. The watchtower camps, on the other hand…

As watchtowers continued to be built, extending deeper into the nightmare, the defensive pressure gradually increased.

The appearance of the Spellcastling Sentinel Tower can alleviate the immediate crisis.

After the safe zone was upgraded to LV4, Shi An also gradually upgraded the various buildings in the area.

The number of training fields and training rooms has increased significantly, and members' queuing time has been greatly reduced.

The rest area and mission hall are no longer crowded.

"But then again, the safe zone is only about a thousand people now, but it may grow to two or three thousand, or even twenty or thirty thousand in the future." The safe zone cannot be upgraded in the short term, and Shi An estimates that it will gradually become crowded again after a while.

"We'll figure something out later."

On the sixth day after the safe zone was upgraded, Wu Feng advanced to the extraordinary level.

Wu Feng felt the surging power within him, and it still felt like a dream.

"If the store manager hadn't given me a chance at a new life, I would never have been able to reach the extraordinary level in this lifetime."

The next day,

The fifth captain of the Baijiang Countermeasures Bureau, Fenhuo, was promoted to the extraordinary level in the safe zone hotel.

He sighed with some emotion: "If the safe zone hadn't suddenly appeared, I probably wouldn't have been promoted even after another year. Or I might have chosen to risk my life in some crisis, gambling on that slim probability."

Two days later, a captain in Chongshan City was promoted to the extraordinary level. He was also a member of the safe zone.

He was a newbie in the safe zone, having only been a member for half a month.

but,

"The safe zone created by the store manager has been a huge help to us. It's no exaggeration to say that the store manager gave us hope." Otherwise, he would have had to gamble on a slim chance of promotion.

He wasn't afraid of death; it was just that if he died, Chongshan City would lose an important fighting force.

He dared not gamble.

Now, with his promotion and the close ties and frequent exchanges between the three cities, the pressure on Chongshan City has been greatly reduced. This was something they couldn't have imagined in the past.

Shi An is now fully aware of the members' promotions and breakthroughs.

The panel log contains detailed records.

"Wu Feng and Fen Huo are still some of the older generation of strong individuals, but considering the timeline, they're probably among the top strong individuals of the new generation soon." For example, Yang Linna has already found her extraordinary ritual and is just waiting to adjust her condition before breaking through.

Others,

Xi Xue said she found the extraordinary ritual six days ago.

The Xuan Sword came even earlier.

However, Shi An did not ask in detail and did not know what their extraordinary ritual was.

at this time,

In the present world, inside the Ultimate Martial Arts School.

Xuanjian is preparing for his ascension here. His transcendent ritual is very special; it doesn't require dealing with the supernatural, but rather…

"Using my body as a scabbard, I'll fuse ten unique swords within me!"

The ceremony was unique, which truly reflects his exceptional talent and intelligence.

Even without relying on the safe zone, he has a relatively high probability of advancing to the extraordinary level.

The owners of the museum watched from outside the door.

time flies.

Simultaneously,

Shi An faintly heard a "ding" sound in his ear.

"Senior member 'Mysterious Sword' has advanced to the Extraordinary level."

"Senior member 'Xi Xue' has been promoted to the extraordinary level."

The safe zone is about to usher in the Great Extraordinary Era.