Chapter 20: Confidential Relic
The key wasn’t the speed of construction, but rather how exquisitely crafted the wooden house before them was.
Its aesthetic had fully reached noble standards, blending perfectly with the environment. Even just looking at it made one feel comfortable.
“Please come in. You can stay here at ease. When it’s mealtime, I’ll have someone bring food to you.”
“Thank you for the trouble.”
After expressing her gratitude, Yilin entered the house with her subordinates.
“Miss, why do I feel like this place was empty just a few hours ago?” the butler whispered.
“You’re not mistaken. It was built in just that time.”
Even Yilin herself was startled by such efficiency.
After all, how many people were there? Most of them were Black Wolves.
Sitting inside the house and watching the busy scene outside, a trace of hesitation arose in her heart.
“Butler, later take all our money and deliver it to them. Also ask if they are willing to help us search for that item. If they agree, we will surely reward them generously in the future.”
“Understood.”
……
As expected, Eluan quickly received the message—they wanted her help in searching for the mineral.
Not only that, they handed over all the money they carried as an advance payment.
A full 20 Gold Coins.
Holding the bag and shaking it slightly, a crisp clinking sound rang out.
Opening it, one could see the image engraved on the coins—a giant dragon with its wings spread wide.
“Let’s use it for recruitment.”
Exchanged, it could recruit 6 Black Wolves and further strengthen the territory’s military power.
Currently, most of their forces had been dispatched outward.
What worried them most now was encountering a large-scale force of Forest Subhumans.
The group that had chased Yilin earlier numbered over a hundred. If such a force attacked their territory, their current strength would not be enough to withstand it.
“I need to build more turrets.”
Under the influence of magic, crossbow bolts would automatically attack.
This meant he could consume the enemy’s forces at a relatively low cost while gaining Energy.
“If we don’t count stone and wood, one turret costs 52 Energy.”
But how strong was its actual combat power?
Su Wen’s thoughts stirred as he walked alone to the structure and climbed the tower.
Inside, he saw that the arrows had already been completely used up.
“Well, damn.”
He tried scanning it with the Watch…
[Gray Wolf killed]
[Wild Rabbit killed]
……
[Total Energy gained: 26 units. Can be stored for 48 hours. Extract?]
A whole list of kill records.
Su Wen raised an eyebrow and extracted it immediately.
[Energy ×26 obtained]
“Looks like I need to prepare more arrows.”
The iron arrows could be recovered after being fired. As long as they weren’t damaged, they could be reloaded and reused.
This arrow turret didn’t just attack Gray Wolves—it didn’t spare small creatures like rabbits or rats either.
By this calculation, after building one, it wouldn’t take long to recover the cost.
Of course, that required a sufficient number of creatures to kill—and that they wouldn’t get close enough to destroy it.
Additionally, these iron arrows were mostly effective against weaker creatures. Once the enemy reached Black Iron level, there was a chance the arrows could be dodged.
However, when multiple turrets formed overlapping fire, it would still be difficult for ordinary Black Iron units to evade.
A 300-meter effective range meant that for fast-moving creatures, they would only have about a dozen seconds.
In that time, only a few arrows could be fired.
“Still enough. Build more.”
Perhaps the greatest function of this structure wasn’t even its attacks, but its vision.
Because the magical central network could transmit observed information to the Watch.
In other words, enemies within range would appear as red dots.
This effectively expanded the Watch’s detection range.
Su Wen immediately ordered his subordinates to begin stockpiling materials.
At the same time, he walked around the surroundings, planning to build a wooden wall around the territory.
The wall didn’t need to be too high—just enough to block monsters from entering.
As the number of Black Wolves continued to grow, the scope of exploration expanded as well.
Originally, they explored only one or two directions. Now, all four directions were advancing simultaneously.
As a result, constant notifications of kills and battles flooded into the Watch, to the point that Su Wen could barely keep up.
Whenever a squad encountered a stronger beast, he would immediately mobilize nearby teams to overwhelm the enemy with numbers.
With extremely cautious operations, the number of Black Wolves quickly reached 36, including 4 Dire Wolves.
The number of Sinners also quietly exceeded 15.
Such a force would already be considered quite strong within the chat group.
Just as he was becoming increasingly satisfied with his strength, a Black Wolf squad exploring north suddenly discovered a deep tree hollow.
Outside the hollow lay an enormous python.
One unlucky Black Wolf passing by was suddenly bitten by the snake, then tightly constricted. After struggling for a full three minutes, it ultimately died.
Knowing that Black Wolves alone couldn’t handle it, Eluan temporarily took command and sent a Dire Wolf to test the python.
She soon realized that the snake’s movements were somewhat sluggish.
So she ordered the Dire Wolf to adopt a hit-and-run tactic—using its agility to constantly find openings, creating multiple wounds along the snake’s body, eventually wearing it down and killing this Black Iron 2-Star giant python.
The python’s death provided 25 Energy, along with one [Wind Element Crystal].
Overall, the battle only yielded a small profit.
If even one more Black Wolf had died, it would have been a loss.
Slightly dissatisfied, Eluan had a Black Wolf cautiously enter the tree hollow to scout and confirm it was safe.
Then she entered with another Black Wolf.
Unexpectedly, the interior revealed something entirely different.
“A… altar?”
It was a hall.
At the center stood a crude altar built from piled beast bones.
Above the altar floated a cube of strange material.
The cube was purple-black, its surface covered with intricate dark-gold patterns that flickered faintly—like a creation of technology, yet also like some kind of magical artifact.
“What is this?”
Eluan raised an eyebrow and lifted her Watch to scan it.
[High-energy magical reaction detected.]
[Target: ??? (Imperial Confidential Relic)]
[Quality: Blue (Rare)]
[Unlock requires identity verification. Proceed?]
“Identity verification?”
After a brief moment of thought, she chose to try—it wouldn’t cost anything.
“Yes.”
[Status: Verifying identity…]
[Verification successful. Unlocking this item will trigger a mandatory binding protocol.]
[Binding in progress…]
“What?”
Eluan instinctively stepped back.
Before she could react further, the blue metal cube instantly disassembled, transforming into streams of liquid metal that surged rapidly toward her body.