Why is my territory in a 2D anime art style?

"Phew~"

The north wind, carrying coarse sand and gravel from the wasteland, crashed into the air in front of Sui An, creating tiny ripples.

He leaned against the sand and gravel wall, which was almost half a person high, the rough particles of the wall making his back feel tight.

"I'm just a little short of Originium. It's getting dark. If necessary, I'll build the crossbow watchtower first."

"Ugh, so annoying!"

Sui An rested his chin on his right hand and muttered to himself, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the stubble that had just sprouted on his chin. His gaze went over the top of the wall and landed on the blurry outline of the Gobi Desert in the distance, his brows furrowing slightly.

Suddenly, a tentative voice came from the distance on the west side of the courtyard wall, carried slightly by the wind: "Hey, buddy over there?"

Sui An stiffened and stood up, looking to the side.

On the dirt road to the west of the courtyard wall, three young men dressed in tanned leather armor were slowly approaching, their armor covered in dust and dark brown stains.

All three had weapons slung across their backs; the leader carried a long sword, while the other two carried short axes and shields respectively, clearly indicating they were professional adventurers.

"Young brother, it's getting dark. The three of us have been traveling the Heavenly Road across the wasteland, and your territory seems to be the only one around here. Could you do us the favor and let us stay here for the night?"

The one who spoke was the leader of the professionals; he looked somewhat mature, and his voice was deep and resonant.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Judging from your words, this territory of yours is probably newly built, isn't it? It looks quite rudimentary."

"The three of us are all level 1 combat professionals. If any source beasts surround us, we can lend you a hand and ease the pressure of defending the city."

Sui An walked out from under the courtyard wall and stood in the center of the courtyard, his gaze sweeping over the three people without making a sound.

After thinking for a moment, he replied in a gentle tone, "Gentlemen, my territory is small, and I live alone. That means I won't attract any source beasts. I can protect it myself."

After saying that, Sui An pointed south: "Go south along that road for another ten kilometers. There's a level 2 territory there. They're under a bit more pressure. Why don't you go there and spend the night?"

Upon hearing this, the three people outside the courtyard wall exchanged glances, huddled together, and whispered a few words in low voices, their tone a mix of argument and hesitation.

A moment later, the leading man raised his head, a sheepish smile spreading across his face. He scratched the back of his head and said in a pleading tone:

"Young brother, that territory is quite far away. If you don't get there in time, you might run into the Blood Moon and be attacked by a beast tide, which would be very dangerous."

He hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice further: "How about this, the three of us will each give you one source stone as overnight payment. If a source beast really attacks tonight, the three of us will help you defend against it. What do you think?"

Upon hearing that he would be given three source stones, Sui An's eyes lit up instantly. He pondered for a moment, his brows relaxed slightly, and he slowly nodded.

"Okay, but I have one condition: you have to pay me the overnight fee first."

Seeing that Sui An had relented, the man at the head of the group's smile immediately became more genuine, and he quickly nodded in agreement, saying, "Alright, alright, it's my pleasure!"

As they spoke, the three of them each took out a source stone from their backpacks, put them together, and threw them into the courtyard.

Suddenly, a magical projection appeared in front of Sui An, resembling the shape of his large courtyard. As he pointed, the almost transparent energy shield above the courtyard lit up, tearing a hole in the spot where the source stone had flown.

The Origin Stones flew past the opening, and Sui An reached out and caught them one by one. After confirming that there were three Origin Stones, he breathed a sigh of relief and put them into his pocket.

After dealing with the Originium, Sui An finally showed a genuine smile and waved to the three people waiting outside the courtyard gate: "Alright, I'll let you in now!"

The energy shield at the courtyard gate slowly tore open, and the three men's faces lit up with joy. The man in the lead was the first to reach out and push open the simple wooden door.

"Thank you so much, young man!"

As soon as the man at the head of the group entered, he smiled and bowed to express his gratitude, but his eyes quickly scanned the courtyard.

The other two followed in, their eyes openly scanning the surroundings.

The territory comes with an initial wooden house, an initial sand and gravel wall, and a 10-meter radius spherical energy defense shield at the core of the territory.

There isn't a single attack building or even a trap device here; it's exactly like the initial state of newly developed territory.

They're so poor it's unbelievable!

The three of them exchanged glances, their eyebrows slightly raised.

Without any prior preparation, he awakened the builder profession by luck and dared to carve out territory in the wasteland on his own. Is he a fool?

The leading man stood in the center of the courtyard, his eyes gleaming. He watched Sui An's retreating figure as he walked towards the wooden house and raised his voice, asking:

"Young man, your territory looks rather rudimentary. Aside from the initial walls and wooden houses, you haven't even built any offensive structures?"

Sui An's voice came from inside the wooden house, his tone flat: "What else could it be? We're poor. We don't have source stones to buy building blueprints, so we can only slowly grind it out, little by little."

"They're really poor."

The man in the lead subconsciously echoed, then quickly turned his head and gave the two behind him a subtle wink.

The two men immediately understood, slowed their pace, and moved slowly toward the wooden house, their hands secretly gripping the weapons at their waists.

The honest smile vanished from the man's face, replaced by a fierce and savage expression. He drew his long sword from his back with his right hand, his tone filled with greed and ruthlessness.

"Since you're so poor, it seems we'll have to sell your Lord's Core to make up for the hardships we three brothers have endured on the journey!"

Before the words were even finished, the three of them suddenly pounced towards the wooden house, their movements swift and decisive, clearly premeditated.

However, Sui An seemed to have already sensed it. Just as they rushed over, the wooden door of the cabin closed automatically, blocking the three of them.

"Bang!"

The longsword glowed with a faint red light of energy as it slammed into the wooden door, sending sparks flying.

The wooden door was not broken by the knife; a layer of white light flickered on its surface, indicating that it was also an energy-based structure.

The man was not surprised. He laughed menacingly, gripped his long knife tightly, and spoke with utter contempt.

"Hey, a basic wooden door? You think you can stop us? How long can you hold us off?"

"Stop struggling, just come out and I'll give you a quick death~"

Inside the wooden house, Sui An was already standing in the center of the room, where a fist-sized, crystal-clear sphere floated, which was the core of his territory.

In his palm, a phantom drawing appeared out of nowhere, depicting a peculiar stone statue with clear lines and faint flashes of lightning, accompanied by a text description.

[Building Name]: Statue of Oz

[Building Type]: Standalone building

[Building Level]: Level 1 (can be upgraded to Level 3)

[Building Quality]: Blue

[Building Effect]: Oz's lightning statue will automatically summon lightning magic bullets to attack source beasts within a certain attack range, causing lightning explosion damage and having a chance to paralyze enemies. The attack target can be locked by the builder.

[Additional Cost]: None

【製造需求】：蓄雷石（1/1）、基础源质材料（22/10）、1级源石（6/6）

【升级需求】：蓄雷石（1/1）、基础源质材料（22/10）、2级源石（0/6）、领地核心等级（lv2）

"We finally have enough Originium."

Sui An looked down at the blueprints, a smile playing on his lips.

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and waved it gently. The blue blueprint in his hand turned into a faint blue light and flew into the core of the floating territory.

The next second, a pale blue 3D projection suddenly appeared above the core, a miniature virtual image of the entire territory.

As the blue light merged into the core projection, a small stone statue suddenly appeared in the courtyard, precisely positioned in the center by Sui An.

At the same time, the three people who had just chopped down the wooden door suddenly sensed a strong energy fluctuation behind them and turned around sharply to look at the center of the courtyard.

That one glance caused the three men's expressions to change drastically.

In the center of the courtyard, pale blue light was rapidly solidifying, transforming into a peculiar stone statue.

Below the statue is a three-meter-high circular stone pillar, thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top, with the thickest part being only about two or three feet. The pillar is engraved with fine lightning patterns, with faint lightning flowing between the patterns.

At the top of the stone pillar is a peculiar stone carving in the shape of a night raven, with its wings folded, its beak slightly open, and its eyes sharp as an eagle's. The workmanship is extremely exquisite, with the texture of each feather clearly visible. A spark of lightning flashes around its body from time to time, making a soft "sizzling" sound.

"What is this?"

"It's a special, unique building!"

"It looks like an elemental statue with lightning attributes!"

"not good!"

The three of them were relatively experienced professionals, although they weren't doing very well, they still had some discernment.

At lower levels, lightning-attribute attacks are extremely powerful, not only because of their fast attack speed but also because they have a paralyzing effect. They are more than enough to deal with powerful flesh-and-blood source beasts, let alone human professionals like them.

If hit, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The moment the stone statue solidified completely, the raven statue at the top suddenly lit up with a blinding flash of lightning, and a ball of lightning the size of a fist shot out like a cannonball.

The young man carrying the shield looked terrified. He quickly raised the shield on his back and shouted loudly. A faint white energy light emanated from the shield.

"boom!"

A tremendous roar echoed through the courtyard as a ball of lightning slammed into the shield. The powerful lightning exploded violently, instantly shattering the white glow on the shield and turning its surface completely black.

"I can't take it!"

The young man carrying the shield was forced back by the force of the lightning until he crashed into the person behind him and was forced to stop. His voice was squeezed out with difficulty, and his forehead was covered with cold sweat.

Even the two people standing close behind him felt a crackling sound of electricity in the air, and their bodies felt somewhat numb.

"Damn it, they're trying to double-cross us!"

The burly man instantly understood that the kid was deliberately holding back attacks on the building to lure him into making a move. His eyes flashed with ferocity, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Break down the door and you'll live!"

The wooden door in front of us had been repeatedly hacked at and was now on the verge of collapse.

Inside the wooden house, Sui An's expression remained unchanged. He was already standing to one side of the wooden door. With a light kick, the black spear leaning against the wall came into his hand. With a gentle shake of the shaft, the red tassel on top was instantly straightened.

He gripped the gun handle, crouched slightly towards the wooden door, his body tense, poised and waiting for the perfect moment.

But before the burly man outside could finish speaking, the second Thunder Demon Bullet had already arrived.

"boom!"

This time, the already cracked black shield could no longer hold on and was blown to pieces. The lightning magic bullet struck the young man holding the shield directly, blasting through his chest in his horrified gaze.

The other man behind the big man was in excruciating pain. Even though the young man with the shield had blocked most of the damage, the force of the explosion still made him cough up blood. He stared blankly at his teammate lying next to him, his eyes filled with terror.

"Second and third sons!!"

The burly man abruptly stopped wielding his long sword. He quickly reached out to support the second brother, who was vomiting blood, and looked at the suddenly dead third brother with eyes wide with rage.

"I'm going to kill you!"

But when he looked at the sizzling elemental statue, he realized he had no way out and could only turn around and break down the door.

The third lightning bolt had already reassembled, and the young man behind the burly man finally changed his expression. He chose to flee, but the lightning bolt was much faster than he could turn and run away.

A powerful bolt of lightning swept out instantly, turning the second brother's leather armor into charred tatters and a bloody mess. His screams were drowned out by the explosion.

But the already dilapidated wooden door was finally shattered into pieces under the repeated attacks of the big man.

Sui An's eyes shone brightly. Taking advantage of the moment before the big man could stop, he suddenly exerted force with his feet and rushed out like an arrow. The black spear in his hand stabbed fiercely at the leading man, and the blade accurately pierced the man's chest.

"Pfft~"

Even though the gun body didn't emit any energy light, the blade still pierced through the chest.

The man's body stiffened abruptly, but his eyes grew even more ferocious. He stretched out his left hand and gripped the spear tightly against his chest, raising his longsword once more to strike at Sui An.

But Sui An had already retreated. After getting the spear, he didn't hesitate at all and immediately abandoned it. He picked up a gray crossbow that was already loaded with bolts and fired an arrow.

"Boom!"

"boom!"

The sound of a bowstring piercing the air was lurking beneath the explosion of the fourth lightning orb. The other two men behind the big man had already fallen to either side, leaving him to take the hit alone.

However, the blue elemental statue's attack power was incredibly strong; its fist-sized lightning magic bullets were no less powerful than cannonball explosions.

The burly man's leather armor shattered into pieces, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood, collapsing straight into the wooden hut.

Sui An nocked another crossbow bolt, but did not rush forward. He stared intently at the three people, and then manipulated the elemental stone statues in the courtyard to release three more magic bullets. Only after confirming that the three people were lifeless did he slowly walk forward.