Mist Lord

"Pfft!"

Sword and Shield One used his shield to deflect the goblin chieftain's axe, then leaped into the air and plunged his iron sword into the goblin chieftain's chest, delivering the fatal blow.

The battle thus came to an end.

[Eliminate a mutated goblin camp, merit points +40]

While the goblins were completely wiped out in this battle, four wandering swordsmen perished due to a lack of timely reinforcements. The good news is that after this tough battle, five more wandering swordsmen were upgraded to Warriors.

Therefore, it's clear that, at least in the early stages, advancing the sword-and-shield dog is relatively easy. As long as you continuously participate in battles, you can activate your bloodline and break through rank limitations.

The sword-and-shield dogs are already very skilled at treating the wounded, cleaning up the battlefield, and counting the spoils of war.

"Take it quickly!"

Xia Yuan personally handed 10 Mist Sprout Crystals to Blade & Shield No. 1.

Although Blade & Shield One won the battle, it was a very close call. He was covered in wounds, and his back was especially bloody, revealing the white bone beneath. If he hadn't received timely treatment, he would probably be crippled.

He really is a battle maniac!

"My sword and shield!"

Blade & Shield Number One licked his dog-like face and quickly swallowed the pill, but his eyes couldn't hide his pride. The leader should be at the forefront, killing the strongest enemies and enjoying the highest praise.

This is what a dog's life is like!!!

.........

"Ugh~~~"

As Xia Yuan carried the idiot into the goblin leader's tent, he was almost vomited by the musty stench.

How can someone be so unhygienic?

Even the simpleton was suffocated by the smell, but he still ran to an inconspicuous corner of the tent and started digging with his still-tender paws, as if he had found something good.

"You little rascal, is your nose that sensitive?"

Xia Yuan was also surprised and helped dig away the soil, revealing a bronze treasure chest.

When the goblin leader died, he dropped a wooden treasure chest. The hidden information revealed that it contained a goblin bib, which made him have no desire to open it at all.

They plan to take Yunyang City and sell it to Yunwu Pavilion, hoping to swindle as many people as possible.

Unexpectedly, there was a pleasant surprise here.

[Bronze Treasure Chest]: Opening it gives you a chance to obtain an excellent item (a bag of ground thorn grass seeds).

"This is good stuff!"

Xia Yuan's face lit up with joy; his son was truly a lucky charm.

The Lord's Handbook contains a record of the ground thorn grass, a mutated plant that feeds on corpses and carrion. It usually disguises itself as ordinary grass, but when attacked by enemies, it will sprout sharp and hard poisonous thorns from the ground.

Although its lethality is not very high, it is an excellent early warning method.

By simply planting a ring of groundthorn grass around the perimeter of the territory, one no longer needs to worry about mist monsters, demonic creatures, or alien armies sneaking into the camp—it's practically an early warning marvel.

Unfortunately, the ground thorn grass only flowers and produces seeds every three years, making its seeds extremely rare.

It absolutely deserves an excellent rating.

Aside from the bronze treasure chest, there weren't many other surprises in the goblin chieftain's tent; it mainly contained coins, mist bud crystals, broken weapons, rare ores, and so on.

It may be valuable, but it depends on what you compare it to.

Of course, for the fledgling Mingguang Village, everything had its value. Whether it was ore, broken weapons, dried meat, leather, coarse salt, or even tents, they took them all, almost digging three feet into the ground.

"Master, what should we do with these mutated goblin cubs?"

Satir ran over to ask for instructions.

The older goblin cubs had already perished on the battlefield, leaving only those that had recently been born, some even before their eyes had opened, their bodies a vibrant green and quite adorable. Satir simply couldn't bring herself to kill them.

"Let's find a cage, put it in, and take it back."

It wasn't that Xia Yuan was overly compassionate; rather, he was thinking about whether he could use these cubs to increase the territory's population and meet the requirements for upgrading the territory. Furthermore, once the territory reached level 3, he could build a Demon-Sealing Tower to imprison demonized creatures, gradually extracting their demonic energy and helping them slowly return to normal.

As long as you upgrade your territory to level 3 as soon as possible, these goblin cubs can still be tamed.

"clear!"

Satir felt a slight sense of relief and turned to leave.

After looting everything, Xia Yuan finally arrived at the Black Stone Altar.

[Capture a blackstone altar in the wild. Please choose to capture or destroy it.]

"destroy!"

At present, Mingguang Village simply does not have the strength to develop an outer outpost. It would be better to destroy it and obtain the black crystals, and then secure them for themselves.

"Snap!!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the black stone altar quickly cracked open, revealing three black crystals the size of eggs, emitting a dark, shiny light, that were neither stone nor jade.

[Low-grade Black Crystal Stone]: Bound and cannot be traded. Each stone integrated into the Black Stone Altar expands the territory by 1 square kilometer.

The black crystals dropped from the Blackrock Altar are all automatically bound. This is to prevent high lords from funding black crystals for subordinate territories and causing undue growth.

If a new lord wants to expand his territory, he can only win one tough battle after another, overcome one difficult obstacle after another, until he reaches the top.

"I never expected that such a small goblin camp would have three black crystals."

The size of the campsite is clearly mismatched.

It is evident that these wilderness territories invaded by the demonic tide have not only had all their inhabitants corrupted by demons, but their land area has also shrunk considerably, making them unworthy of their names.

Fortunately, Xia Yuan benefited.

With these three black crystals, the area of ​​Mingguang Village will directly triple, reaching the level 2 territory standard.

.........

On the way back, Xia Yuan hesitated, which was rare for him.

The spoils from this goblin camp wipeout have allowed Mingguang Village to meet all the requirements for upgrading to a level 2 territory. The question now is, should we upgrade now?

The benefits of upgrading your territory are obvious.

If you become the first newcomer to advance to a Level 2 territory, you will automatically become the group owner of the Mist Chat Group. You can then block the number of people in the chat group and cleverly avoid Li Mingyu's pursuit.

Furthermore, according to the Lord's Handbook, Tier 2 territories will also see the addition of basic buildings such as the Hall of Heroes, the Mist Lighthouse, and the Slave Camp, greatly enhancing the territory's strength.

In particular, the Hall of Heroes grants an initial hero recruitment opportunity upon completion.

This will undoubtedly greatly enhance the territory's strength, enabling it to better cope with the upcoming novice trials tomorrow and strive for a better ranking.

The problem is that upgrading territory is not without risk.

The first challenge will be the first Civilization Trial, which will take place at the end of the month. The higher the territory level, the stronger the opponents you will be matched with in the trial, which increases the risk of the trial.

It doesn't stop there.

Each time a territory is promoted, it must face the threat of a beast tide composed of mist monsters and other creatures. Only by passing the test can the promotion be completed.

Time is tight and tasks are heavy.

It's as if Mingguang Village has just gone through an annihilation operation, and now it's about to face another territory advancement trial.

There will be a beginner trial tomorrow.

Battle after battle, any unexpected event could lead to total defeat.

No wonder Xia Yuan hesitated.

"Awoo~~"

Hanbao seemed to sense Xia Yuan's unease and stuck out his tongue to lick him.

"Ew~~~"

Xia Yuan wiped away his drool with a look of disgust, and looking at the silly boy's carefree face, his mood seemed to lighten considerably. He turned to Satir and asked, "If we upgrade our territory after returning, can we fight again?"

"no problem."

Satir answered decisively, knowing that her master didn't need advice at this moment, but rather determination. "The beast tides that attack from a level 2 territory are generally not very large, basically equivalent to the effect of using the Mist Fairy Grass yesterday."

Although there were casualties in the extermination of the goblin tribe, five new swordsmen and shieldmen were also added. Overall strength has actually increased rather than decreased, and is sufficient to handle the next battle.

"Then promote him!!!"

With Satir's statement, Xia Yuan immediately strengthened his resolve.

How can we carve out a new path if we don't take a chance? Li Mingyu is like a cold, venomous snake, always lurking in the shadows, waiting for his chance to strike. We absolutely cannot back down now.

What we need is to go all out in one go.

"My sword and shield!"

Although the sword-and-shield dogs didn't understand what it meant, they were all full of fighting spirit.

As Blade & Shield One lay asleep on the stretcher, upgrading its combat level, its pair of dog ears perked up with remarkable intelligence, as if it were eager to try.

Just do it!