After returning to Zone 2233, Bai Qiu discovered that the Sanctuary had already met the requirements for an upgrade.
In other words, including himself and Zhang Shiyao, there were now ten players in Zone 2233 who had reached level 25.
Fortunately, the upgrade progress for the Sanctuary had only reached 0.3% so far.
Onipur had effectively become the players’ garbage recycler—no matter what useless items they had, they all tossed them in as base materials for upgrading the Sanctuary.
By comparison, the bricks, wooden planks, and soil that Bai Qiu purchased were practically the definition of proper materials!
Onipur was on the verge of tears.
What kind of people were these?
They were throwing in corpse fragments, empty lighters, even foul-smelling socks—trying to use them as upgrade materials for the Sanctuary…
Only Bai Qiu kept taking out batch after batch of legitimate materials from his storage card…
“Thank goodness for you!!”
Hearing Onipur suddenly blurt that out, Bai Qiu gave him a puzzled glance, then immediately deposited all the materials, upgrading the Sanctuary Barrier to Level 5.
“This… so you had already prepared everything?” Onipur said in shock.
Under normal circumstances, the progress of upgrading the Sanctuary would be several times—if not ten times—slower than the required threshold.
Yet it had only reached the requirement half an hour ago, and now Bai Qiu had already come to complete the upgrade.
This kind of personal capability, demonstrated again and again, left Onipur deeply astonished.
“How did you manage to gather one million units of basic materials in such a short time?”
Since the upgrade required ten minutes of automatic expansion and reconstruction, Onipur took the opportunity to ask.
Bai Qiu remained calm and replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “Just buy them. One unit of basic material only costs two or three Sanctumy Coins from players. Spend a bit over two million and you’ve got everything.”
“…Uh.”
Onipur was at a loss for words.
He could already imagine that if he kept asking, the answer would only be even harder to accept.
When the Level 5 Sanctuary upgrade was completed, Bai Qiu also received a system notification granting him territorial authority.
He obtained a selectable land area measured in square meters.
As long as it wasn’t already owned territory, he could use the system to transform any area.
The method was simple—purchase blueprints.
Whether it was villas, courtyard houses, open-air swimming pools, hot springs, farmland… as long as materials were invested, the system could construct everything on his behalf.
Of course, corresponding Sanctu, Coins had to be paid to balance the process—after all, even manual construction requires time and money.
But what he wanted was far more than just these…
Level 5 Sanctuary Base Buffs:
- Stamina consumption reduced by 55%
- Mana consumption reduced by 15%
- Mental consumption reduced by 10%
- Gain 1 EXP per minute
Unlocked higher permissions for [Supporter]…
The internal space of the Sanctuary had always been larger than it appeared from the outside.
But after this upgrade, even the outward expansion followed an incredibly mysterious principle…
For example, although it only expanded outward by one meter, the internal space could increase to three times that expanded area…
Such power left Bai Qiu deeply fascinated.
Yet even after ten full minutes, until the Sanctuary finished upgrading and the expanding light barrier stopped growing, he still couldn’t decipher the underlying principles of this phenomenon…
If it couldn’t be analyzed or comprehended, it meant that the power behind the Sanctuary’s upgrade far exceeded the limits of what he could currently understand…
Bai Qiu let out a sigh, then turned and headed toward the [Tailor] shop.
Before forging his weapon, he still needed to customize a few items.
….
“So you’re saying all of this equipment can be dismantled, and using these raw materials, you want me to customize a cloak that doesn’t occupy an equipment slot?” the [Tailor], Jeanne Sinia, asked in astonishment.
Bai Qiu would occasionally come to her to tailor a few well-fitted casual outfits, but he had never asked her to craft equipment before…
“Yes. It doesn’t need any special attribute bonuses, but there are two requirements—it must conceal aura and interfere with detection-type abilities,” Bai Qiu said.
Jeanne Sinia looked a bit troubled. “It’s possible, but you’re missing some rare materials. The price might be a bit…”
Smack! Bai Qiu placed his storage card onto the counter and said, “One million Sanctum Coins. Is that enough?”
“And these—you can dismantle them however you like. No need to worry about material costs.” As he spoke, Bai Qiu took out a pile of miscellaneous C-rank equipment from his storage card and spatial bracelet.
“Uh… that’s enough, that’s enough!” Jeanne Sinia quickly stepped forward to stop him.
From the dozens of items piled up like a small mountain, she selected a few pieces and returned the rest to him.
“As for the Sanctum Coins, 600,000 will be sufficient. I’ll definitely create something that satisfies you!” she said confidently.
“Mm.” Bai Qiu responded without asking when it would be finished, and turned to head toward the blacksmith shop.
…
Zone 2204.
The players here had all gathered within the Sanctuary’s light barrier, discussing anxiously.
“What do we do? That monster outside has already killed around sixty people, hasn’t it?”
“It’s all because of that damn bastard! He just had to stab that lancer in the back after using him. Getting killed in return would’ve been one thing, but he even turned that lancer into a monster!”
“He’s already gone insane. Should we call in the military to deal with him?”
“They’ve already been called. Let’s just stay put and wait for news. What a pity about those dungeons—we can’t run a single one now!”
After nearly half a month of the monster’s rampage, most of the buildings above ground had collapsed, and the area within a thousand meters outside the barrier was nothing but ruins.
However, in Zone 2204, there were still some places that had avoided such large-scale destruction.
That place was—the subway…
At the shadowed entrance of a subway station in Zone 2204, a dark figure dragged a mutilated human by the back of the neck across the ground…
After a while, the bloodstains turned into particles of light and vanished.
From deep within the pitch-black subway entrance came a chilling roar…
….
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Bai Qiu swung Li Zhu’s advanced forging hammer with one hand, each strike wrapped in raging wind as it smashed into the Star Silver ore.
He strictly followed Blacksmith Li Zhu’s instructions, controlling the force of every blow with perfect precision.
Li Zhu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
Fortunately, right after the Sanctuary upgraded, he had replaced everything with the latest high-end forging equipment—otherwise, it probably wouldn’t have withstood Bai Qiu’s high-frequency, heavy strikes…
For the base material, Bai Qiu used Star Silver, mixed with some materials dropped from the remains of a true dragon.
As for the transcendent trait, he planned to use the Storm Stone he had just obtained.
If he hadn’t acquired this more compatible Storm Stone, he would have used the transcendent core dropped from the true dragon remains as the main material, stripping out its properties—resulting in attributes of darkness and fire.
But after consuming the Miracle Fruit, it was clear that the wind-attributed Storm Stone suited him far better…
The reason Bai Qiu personally wielded the hammer wasn’t because he could forge a weapon better than Li Zhu, but because his current attributes far surpassed ordinary people.
In basic forging, he could save Li Zhu a great deal of effort.
After eight hours of combined work by Bai Qiu, Li Zhu, and Marta, the first B- rank weapon was finally born.
“Let’s call it… Dragon-Slaying Star Breath Spear,” Bai Qiu said after a moment of thought.
This time, both Li Zhu and Marta agreed—the weapon’s form and properties perfectly matched the name.
Dragon-Slaying Star Breath Spear (B-)
- Mana Conversion Efficiency +120
- Mana Absorption Efficiency +120
Extraordinary Trait: Gathering Wind
When infused with mana in battle, it gradually draws in surrounding wind-element magic to enhance attacks. The longer it lasts, the wider the range and the higher the efficiency, up to a radius of fifty li.
Passive 1: Drawing Wind
Automatically pulls enemies during combat. After the wielder attacks, the drawn wind attaches to the spear blade and detonates, causing area damage.
Passive 2: Cutting Wind
Channels gathered wind onto the spear blade, enhancing its piercing power. The longer the duration, the stronger the penetration.
Passive 3: Star Breath Wind
When the Gathering Wind trait reaches overflow state, attacks can carry Star Breath Wind. It combines both pulling and cutting effects, and scales with the strength of the attack.
Active Skill: Converging Piercing Star
When Gathering Wind reaches overflow, casting a Noble Phantasm while chanting the Star Breath incantation greatly amplifies its destructive power. All mana used for the Noble Phantasm can be fully concentrated into the spear and thrown…
“This is the breath of the stars—even true dragons shall bow…”
Cooldown: 60 minutes
Note: After using this skill, an area within a 50-li radius will temporarily become windless. The Gathering Wind trait and passives will not function during this time.
Holding Dragon-Slaying Star Breath Spear, Bai Qiu felt a profound sense of resonance flow into his body.
The spear was 2.7 meters long.
The shaft was engraved with countless mana circuits, making mana infusion easier while greatly increasing grip through friction.
The spearhead measured 55 centimeters, double-edged, with a simple yet highly practical design—perfectly suited for killing.
Under the dim firelight, it reflected chilling glints, as if it could pierce through any defense with ease…
The entire spear was silver in color.
After incorporating fragments of a true dragon’s spine, it emitted a faint dragon’s might.
The Storm Stone, used as the base core, was hidden within the mana circuits.
Thus, within the dense network of circuits, faint green light flickered.
Combined with the almost tangible wind attribute surrounding the entire spear, it gave off an aura far beyond that of a mortal weapon…
This spear combined the lightweight nature of Star Silver with powerful mana absorption and conversion capabilities.
Yet it only weighed 240 kilograms—making it relatively light.
If it had been forged using Star Iron instead, it would weigh around 3,100 kilograms.
In comparison, the Star Silver version was far lighter and easier to control with mental power…
Feeling the surging energy within Dragon-Slaying Star Breath Spear, Bai Qiu was tempted to swing it a few times on the spot to test its strength—but he ultimately held back.
Judging by the aura it emitted, even a casual swing might destroy the entire blacksmith shop.
So he suppressed his excitement and stored it back into his storage card.
After paying them 500,000 Sanctum Coins, Bai Qiu thanked them and left.
It was now 4:30 in the afternoon.
In the southern early autumn, the sky was still bright.
But Bai Qiu decided to wash off the dust from his body and prepare for what came next.
He returned to his small villa and, under Wang Shiyun’s service, entered the bath.
After enjoying a thorough and refreshing wash Bai Qiu put on his casual clothes and stepped out of the steam-filled bathroom.
By then, Feng Yuling had already finished preparing dinner.
— The end of the Chapter–
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