Chapter 444 - 33: Second Meeting with the Goddess (Part 2)

Chapter 444: Chapter 33: Second Meeting with the Goddess (Part 2)

"That makes sense! It’s normal for you to think that way at this stage."

Lin Yu understood the hint in the Goddess’s words, so he followed her lead and asked, "Will a large territory cause any obstacles later on?"

"You know I was once a lord in the Human Empire, right?"

The Goddess didn’t answer Lin Yu’s question directly, instead asking something else.

"Of course. During my break, I specifically read the research reports on you by historians and theologians. You’re my role model!"

"Gods have their own Divine Realms, and your current territories are the embryonic form of a Divine Realm!"

"Then isn’t it the bigger, the better?" Lin Yu was completely baffled.

The Goddess shook her head and sighed. Recalling the past, a trace of melancholy appeared in her eyes. "Unfortunately, that’s not the case!"

"Before ascending to godhood, you need to refine your entire territory. It might seem like you’re in control of your territory now, but it’s actually created with the help of the Cosmos’s power of creation."

"Of course, because your own spirituality is involved, you do have a small portion of control."

"To completely control the territory, you need to obtain full control over it."

"To put it simply, the refining process is one of using your energy to ’buy’ that control."

"If your territory is too large, this process becomes extremely time-consuming. It’s very likely you’ll run out of lifespan before you can finish refining it."

"To give it your all, only to watch yourself grow old and die... do you have any idea how painful that feeling is?"

"Over the years, this has happened far too often!"

The Goddess’s voice was tinged with sadness.

"So, your territory is already large enough. If you keep expanding it, you’ll face the same problem."

"In that case, doesn’t that mean the smaller the territory, the better?" Lin Yu was confused. If that was the case, why did the tournament organizers reward them with so much land?

At this stage, every lord’s territory was at least thousands of square kilometers.

"Sigh~"

"Don’t be so black and white!"

"If your territory is too small, you won’t even make it to the step before godhood, so you won’t even need to consider refining it."

"So, have you made up your mind? Do you still want this energy?"

Lin Yu thought back to the Goddess’s words and remembered the few square meters of land he created every day with his creation skill. He replied firmly, "I do!"

"It would be better not to... wait, you still want the energy?"

"What are you thinking? Didn’t I just say this energy would do you more harm than good right now?"

"Why do you still want it?"

The Goddess didn’t understand.

"Well, it’s energy my territory absorbed, after all. What if the World Tree needs it later? Right?"

The Goddess sighed and shook her head. Another white box materialized from the golden light beside Lin Yu.

"Here. This is an Energy Collection Box. It’s a device for drawing energy from that Energy Space. The service fee is 30%."

"Huh? There’s a service fee?"

"What did you expect?"

The Goddess shot him a look of disdain.

"Can you make it a little lower?"

"No can do. Even though I made the Energy Storage Box and the Energy Collection Box, the Energy Space itself is rented from the Cosmos. I have to pay for it!"

"If you don’t want to use it, give it back. I’ll just have to cut off all the territory you’ve gained recently before you enter the Cosmos."

The Goddess’s golden statue extended a hand, ready to snatch it back the moment Lin Yu said no.

"No, no! I want it!"

Lin Yu grinned and stuffed the two boxes into his personal inventory space, pretending not to see the Goddess’s darkening expression.

’Even with a 30% fee, I don’t want to waste this energy. If I don’t give it to the World Tree later, I can use it myself, which is also a good option. Surely no one else will have a stake in the land I create using this energy.’

Seeing their business was concluded, the Goddess waved her hand, preparing to leave.

Seeing the somewhat unhappy Goddess, Lin Yu called out, "Lady Goddess, how about you give me some more blueprints for your Divine Hall!"

"The Titan Race is split into commoners and nobles. Right now, only the commoners have built your Divine Halls. If you give me more blueprints, I can help you spread your faith among their nobility!"

Hearing this, the Goddess’s waving hand changed direction. In a flash of golden light, a stack of architectural blueprints appeared before Lin Yu.

"Fine!"

"Seeing how dedicated you are, I’ll give you your reward for spreading my faith this time in advance."

"And a piece of advice. The World Tree has appeared countless times in the tournaments over the years. Unfortunately, the furthest any of them ever got was the fourth stage. Be careful!"

"Wait! What do you mean by that?" Lin Yu hurriedly asked.

The Goddess ignored him. As her voice faded, the golden light in the Prayer Room rapidly dissipated, leaving only a faint glimmer. The intricately carved walls of the Prayer Room came back into Lin Yu’s view.

The door to the Prayer Room then opened. With a worried expression, Lin Yu stared at the empty room and walked out.

It was also empty outside the door. Yun Qihao wasn’t particularly fond of Lin Yu at the moment, so he hadn’t shown his face at all during Lin Yu’s visit to see the Goddess. Only one of his Heroic Paladins had been there to receive him.

Seeing no one around, Lin Yu dispelled his clone and returned to his territory. The Goddess’s final words had planted many worries in his mind.

After Lin Yu disappeared, the faint glimmer inside the Prayer Room vanished completely.

The Goddess’s laughter echoed in the air. ’These youngsters nowadays are really hard to fool. But to think a cunning little brat like you can also get worried.’

’Good thing I already bought that Energy Space myself. 30% isn’t bad. A nice little profit!’

...

「Elsewhere」

Because of the Goddess’s final warning, Lin Yu fell into deep thought after recalling his clone. He couldn’t figure out why a territory with something as awesome as the World Tree as its core would only reach the fourth stage at best.

’Wait a minute, I seem to be projecting my own situation onto this. It’s impossible for all World Tree Territories to be as amazing as mine, right?’

’The Goddess asked me about the World Tree’s grade at the very beginning, which means not all World Trees are of Mythical grade.’

’Besides, even if mine is a Mythical-grade World Tree, the buildings it unlocks on its own don’t include defensive structures or unit-recruitment buildings. All its abilities are focused on support functions like territory expansion.’

’If you just have a large territory without a strong army and defenses, you really can’t get far on luck alone.’

With that thought, Lin Yu set aside his worries. He was no longer concerned about the trouble the Goddess mentioned. As long as he was strong enough, he could solve any problems that came his way.

Next, Lin Yu placed the Energy Storage Box he was holding next to the territory’s core. A vast stream of energy began to pour continuously into the box.

He carefully sensed it. Without the energy supply, the territory’s expansion had indeed stopped.

’This time, they can’t just cut off a piece of my territory because it’s too big.’

’No wonder those Crystal Core Giants, despite their great strength, haven’t come out to seize more land. They must be afraid that if their territory gets too large, it will sever their path to godhood!’

’This new land I’ve gained should be considered a joint creation between the World Tree and myself. The World Tree has a stake in it.’

’When the time comes, if I want to make it completely my own, I’ll either have to refine the World Tree itself or learn to refine the territory like they do.’

’It’s already time-consuming and difficult to refine my own land; refining territory that doesn’t belong to me would surely be even more troublesome!’

’I guess I won’t go out seizing territory for a while!’

At that moment, Lin Yu made a decision that would benefit the other lords, and then he got back to work.

After a month of development, the territory’s combat power had increased once again. The most significant improvement was that the Super Gravity Slimes, through a collaboration between the research institute, the Jade Sanctuary, and the Spiritual Power and Comprehensive Science College, had successfully mastered their abilities.

They also learned some new gravity-related skills and developed more ways to apply them.

To the east of the territory, with the help of the Soul Mushrooms, the Eastern Abyss—half of which had been flattened by the Nuclear Crystal Beasts—was once again covered in defenses.

After taking control of some of the Nuclear Crystal Beasts, and with the coordination of the territory’s defenses, the Crystal Core Giant’s Nuclear Crystal Beasts were driven out. Sometimes, the territory’s own controlled Nuclear Crystal Beasts could even push into the Crystal Core Giant’s domain and snatch some of their Nuclear Crystal Fields.

Although he didn’t know the purpose of the Nuclear Crystal Fragments grown in those Nuclear Crystal Fields, if the Crystal Core Giants were growing them, they must be useful. He’d just snatch them first and figure it out later.

In a few days, he would go find the Crystal Core Giants and try to trade for some of their technology. Maybe then he’d find a use for the fragments.

The Bee Swarm Gluttonous Slimes located among the Titan Race also followed Lin Yu’s orders and expanded their range of activity.

In the past month, they had only destroyed two territories. Because the losses were minor, the Titan Race lords, who were busy fighting fiercely amongst themselves, didn’t pay them much mind.