After completing all of this, Zhou Yan approached the Ice Tower.
Upgrading the Ice Tower only required one-star Water Elemental Core.
He had slain many Waterball Beasts and obtained quite a few Water Elemental Cores. Although these cores had other uses, it was paramount to upgrade the defensive tower's level first.
Territory prompt: "Consuming 30,000 Spirit Coins, 10 One-Star Water Elemental Cores, [Ice Tower] level increased to 21."
Territory prompt: "Consuming 35,000 Spirit Coins, 20 One-Star Water Elemental Cores, [Ice Tower] level increased to 22."
Territory prompt: "Consuming 40,000 Spirit Coins, 30 One-Star Water Elemental Cores, [Ice Tower] level increased to 23."
...
Territory prompt: "Insufficient materials, [Ice Tower] cannot be upgraded."
After raising the [Ice Tower]'s level to 30, the required materials changed.
Furthermore, the [Ice Tower]'s attributes had also changed, becoming more powerful, and critically, it gained an additional attribute.
[Building: Ice Tower]
[Level: 30]
[Upgrade Required: 100,000 Spirit Coins, 100 Two-Star Water Elemental Cores]
[Quality: SSS (0/3)]
[Upgrade Required: Three Ice Towers]
[Defense: 60000/60000]
[Special Attribute 1: Unleashes ice attacks on enemies within range.]
[Special Attribute 2: Can launch an ice spike attack every ninety minutes.]
[Special Attribute 3: Can launch an ice rain attack every two hours.]
[Description: When the frost descends, all enemies will be annihilated.]
From its attributes, it was evident that the cooldown for Attribute 2 had been reduced by thirty minutes, and the added Ice Rain skill was also an area-of-effect attack. Its power remained to be verified the next day.
The further one progressed, the higher the resources required for building upgrades, and the rarer they became.
These required vast amounts of Spirit Coins. Without sufficient foundation, one couldn't even afford to gather the materials for building upgrades.
His territory already possessed quite a few buildings, so he decided to begin upgrading the territory itself.
Territory prompt: "Your territory has been upgraded to Level 11."
Territory prompt: "Your territory has been upgraded to Level 12."
...
Territory prompt: "Your territory has been upgraded to Level 20."
Territory prompt: "Consuming 100,000 Spirit Coins, your territory has been upgraded to Level 21."
[Territory Name: Heavenly Court (Diao Chan · Hidden)]
[Lord: Zhou Yan (Details)]
[Quality: White (Colorful · Hidden)]
[Territory Talent: Special Item +21%]
[Territory Level: 21]
[Upgrade Required: 22 Level 22 Buildings, Territory Population 110, Spirit Coins 200,000]
[Area: 33,000 square meters]
[Special Attribute 1: Territory Humanoid All Attributes +26%]
[Special Attribute 2: Territory All Race Attributes +21%]
[Special Attribute 3: Territory All Building Attributes +10%]
[Buildings: 21 (Details)]
[Territory Population: 113]
[Resources: (Details)]
After the territory was upgraded to level 21, various attributes had increased significantly, but the expected hidden quest did not appear.
He had anticipated another hidden quest, but it seemed he was overthinking.
An additional attribute had been added: Territory All Building Attributes +10%.
It seemed that a new attribute appeared every ten levels.
However, after territory level 20, Spirit Coins were required.
Upgrading from territory level 20 to 21 consumed 100,000 Spirit Coins. Upgrading to level 22 would require 200,000 Spirit Coins, doubling the cost.
One could imagine how many Spirit Coins would be needed in the future.
The high-level materials in the newcomer trials were sold at very high prices, and he had not purchased any.
For him at this moment, the levels of various buildings were more than sufficient. There was no need to waste money on those materials.
He once again scoured for a large amount of ore, not even sparing the ores on the [International Trade Hall].
He opened his message interface and first initiated a chat with [World Overlord].
[World Overlord]: "Bro, are you there? I need quite a few Silver-grade equipment, but I don't have that many Three-star ores. Can I substitute with One-star and Two-star ores?"
This message had been sent several hours ago, but he had been busy killing monsters at the time and had not seen it.
He quickly replied, "Yes, but as you know, Three-star materials are quite valuable. How do you plan to exchange?"
Not long after, [World Overlord] replied, "I won't let you lose out. Twelve Two-star ores for one Three-star ore, how about that?"
This exchange was very good. On the Lord Continent, it wouldn't exceed ten ores at the highest. Him offering twelve showed great sincerity.
"No problem. How many Silver-grade equipment pieces do you need?" Zhou Yan asked.
[World Overlord]: "This time I need armor. Can you provide armor? A full set would be best. Let's start with ten sets."
Zhou Yan replied with a hint of exasperation, "No wonder you're offering such a high exchange rate. You need armor! Armor is much harder to craft than weapons, and you need a full set. To be honest, my own territory hasn't even gathered many full sets of Silver-grade equipment. You should stop dreaming."
He was not lying. With so many people in his territory, they had only managed to assemble about ten full sets of Silver-grade equipment, making it impossible to trade with the other party.
[World Overlord] quickly replied, "Single pieces are fine too. How many can you provide this time? I've been recycling equipment quite a bit recently, so there must be some."
Zhou Yan replied, "Almost all of them are Black Iron and Bronze. Silver-grade equipment is very rare. This time I'll give you ten pieces. Do you want weapons? If so, I can give you twenty pieces."
"That's fine too," the other party replied.
The two quickly completed the trade.
"Pleasant cooperation!"
"Pleasant cooperation!"
He obtained a considerable amount of ore. At this stage, those who could afford so much ore were likely all newcomer lords, with [World Overlord] being the only one.
It was all because he was lucky, and his territory happened to be near a mine, practically picking up ores as soon as he stepped out.
He believed that [World Overlord] wasn't the only lucky one, but many, like him, had simply not revealed their good fortune.
Afterward, he clicked on Lord [Xiao Guai Guai] and found that the other party had something to tell him.
"What is it?" Zhou Yan asked.
"Well, my subordinate found a very peculiar seed in the bamboo forest. I wasn't sure if you wanted it, so I wanted to ask you," the other party said.
"Oh, send it over, let me see," Zhou Yan replied curiously.
[Xiao Guai Guai] quickly sent him a trade request. After accepting, the other party showed him the information about the seed.
[Item: Spirit Bamboo Seed]
[Quality: One-star]
[Description: Requires a Spirit Field to plant.]
Although the description was simple, this Spirit Bamboo was a good thing.