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

After throwing the six level 2 source stones that Wang Hu had just dug into the Lord's Core, Sui An returned to the watchtower.

The scene before me was all too familiar.

It was the same large Shadow Lizard that appeared before, and this time there were two of them together, not just one.

"It seems to be a size smaller than the last one!"

"This should be a normal level 3 Shadow Lizard, not that one that was almost level 4 last time..."

Sui An switched the elemental statue back to normal attack mode, and the statue's attack power immediately increased.

Previously, it was only blocked from advancing by the splitting magic bullets, but now the magic bullets from the level 2 stone statue blasted it backwards repeatedly.

The backs of these two shadow lizards were also slightly undulating, which were hard lumps formed by the keratinization of their skin. Their evolutionary path was exactly the same as the one they encountered last time.

Wang Zhen even said that the Shadow Lizard King in the secret realm, which was suspected to be level 5, had already grown bone spurs on its back.

Seeing the two level 3 Shadow Lizards that couldn't possibly get close, Sui An felt much more relieved.

"It's a level 2 blue building, after all. Against a normal level 3 Shadow Lizard, it shouldn't even need to charge up!"

Sui An himself was not idle either. He manipulated the crossbow to shoot at the one that was being attacked by the two stone statues, one large and one small. This one was more seriously injured, so it was naturally the priority to kill it.

But as Sui An expected, his crossbow bolts were powerless after only piercing the shaft, and were even blown away by the lightning balls behind him.

"I'm increasingly losing faith in the power of this watchtower..."

Having grown accustomed to attacking with blue elemental statues, Sui An was utterly disdainful of the white-quality, level 1 crossbow bolts, even though their power was already formidable for a white-quality weapon.

With no other option, Sui An directly took over the Level 1 stone statue and began accumulating energy.

The two shadow lizards, which had been hit by several lightning balls in succession, seemed to have finally remembered their skills. Black source energy began to cover their entire bodies as they tried to withstand the lightning balls and accelerate their charge.

This move was indeed powerful. Even a level 2 lightning bullet only blasted away the source energy on his body. The spot on his back that had been hit by the lightning bullet multiple times was now covered in blood and flesh.

But they still rushed up the shadow lizard carcass at the bottom and crashed into the middle of their own enclosure.

"Boom!"

The loud roar startled Wang Hu, who was digging for stones behind the courtyard wall. He quickly retreated away from the wall, abandoning his plan to dig for source stones and instead picking up his spear to warily watch the wall.

The newly upgraded green wall, now at level 2, has lived up to Sui An's expectations.

A large section of the wall slope was shattered by the impact, but upon closer inspection, it was only damaged to a depth of a dozen centimeters, though the wound was larger than that of the crescent-shaped attack over there.

Sui An had already completed his first charge and slammed it straight down on one of them. The immense power shattered the flesh on his back, exposing some of his internal organs.

The pile of Shadow Lizard corpses below the courtyard wall was also scattered by the power of this charged explosion. The Level 3 Shadow Lizard that was charging next to it lost its balance and crashed directly into the pile of corpses without making a sound.

The one with minor injuries quickly broke free from the corpse above, but it was met with a level 2 enhanced magic bullet. This bullet blasted a huge wound into its back, shattering its internal organs and leaving it charred, killing it instantly.

The one that was less injured slowly struggled free, but was quickly killed by the attacks of the two stone statues.

"Are you alright now?" Wang Hu called out to Sui An on the watchtower.

Sui An shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with himself: "Those two big guys are done. I was really careless today; we almost lost everything!"

"Thank goodness you were here today!"

After killing the two large creatures, Sui An did not leave the watchtower but continued to be on guard.

Logically speaking, the larger creatures are faster, and if affected by the blood moon, they should arrive even faster.

But whether it was this time or the last time, the big guys always appeared at the back.

Even this time, it had already cleared out the normal Shadow Lizards.

This seems somewhat unreasonable.

Sui An considered a possibility: "Could it be that everyone discovered the little shadow lizards outside the dimensional gate were gone, and then tried to go out to check, only to be affected by the blood moon as soon as they stepped outside?"

"I don't know..." Wang Hu listened to Sui An rambling on and on, and then gave a dry reply.

"Okay~" Sui An shook his head. This kind of thing was not Wang Hu's forte.

"Let's ask them tomorrow..."

After this wave of attacks, Sui An's territory finally quieted down, and Wang Hu was called by Sui An to rest in his wooden house.

As for himself, he continued to guard the watchtower. Anyway, he didn't have much to do during the day, so he could just catch up on sleep during the day.

……

"How was your night?"

Wang Zhen glanced at the wall, which had already been repaired by Sui An with some materials, and there seemed to be no problem with it.

"It's alright~" Sui An was too embarrassed to admit that he had been a fool and almost died, so he could only give a vague answer.

"Only two level 3 behemoths came; easily slashed them down~"

"You successfully upgraded your elemental statue?"

Wang Zhen was slightly taken aback, but quickly figured out the reason. The only possibility was that he could kill two mutated level 3 Shadow Lizards so easily.

"Yes, we upgraded two seats~" Sui An didn't hide it. As the cooperation between Wang Zhen, Erhu, Aunt Zhao and others deepened, there was no point in hiding such basic information.

Although they all doubted the source of their materials, they were all smart enough not to ask around about opportunities.

Sure enough, Wang Zhen's pupils contracted slightly. Two of the three elemental statues were level 2, which meant that Sui An had at least five blue core materials.

It's still material that hasn't been handled by me.

Although he was not a lord himself, he still had some understanding of the upgrade logic of lord buildings.

Wang Zhen gave Sui An a deep look, but didn't say much. Instead, he took a sturdy bag, pulled Sui An to the front of the wooden house, looked around, and then spoke softly.

"Those ores yesterday were dark crystal iron ore, 50 source stones for 100 catties. Aunt Zhao sold them all to Cui Mingming. The settlement has been completed. She made 2000 source stones. According to the profit sharing, you should get 200 yuan. I've exchanged them all for level 2 and brought them over for you."

Sui An took the bag in surprise and glanced at it. He hadn't had much hope for the proportion Aunt Zhao had mentioned, thinking it would only be a few dozen source stones.

After all, he hadn't been to the secret realm and wasn't very clear about the value of those ores.

The first dividend alone is 100 level 2 source stones, which is really exaggerated.

Despite Wang Zhen's truck carrying hundreds or even thousands of source stones every day, the actual profit for the six of them is not much.

Even Sui An's 2000-pound giant lizard, including its meat and source stones, was only worth seventy or eighty yuan, while those few bags of raw ore were worth 2000 yuan. The secret realm was indeed extremely profitable!

This was only the first expedition for the four of them. If they continued to develop it, the profits might surprise them.

Sui An wavered. He had only provided a possible piece of information, and yet he was being asked to take 10% of the profits. Was that too much?

"Brother Zhen, isn't this a bit too much for me...?"

"You're only realizing it now?"

Seeing that he didn't show any joy upon seeing the source stone, but instead hesitated, Wang Zhen easily understood his concerns.

"At first I thought the potential profits here weren't that great..."

Sui An hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped. It was impossible for him not to want it, but he knew that when the benefits were too great, people would abandon relationships and feelings.

"Don't overthink it. This ratio was suggested by Aunt Zhao, and Erhu and I both agreed to it!"

Wang Zhen patted Sui An on the shoulder earnestly: "In this world of disasters, relationships that can maintain trust are rare, so we must cherish them and not let them down."

"Moreover, this money is not simply because you provided a location, but because it gives everyone the confidence to keep things confidential."

"Although this is my first time encountering a secret realm, if someone reports this secret realm to the city lord, let alone 3, even 3, the city lord will give it to you without batting an eye."

"As someone who knows this information, if there isn't enough incentive for you to leak it, is it possible that you would leak it?"

"Just consider this money as a bribe."

Wang Zhen said a lot; he rarely says so much at once.

This made Sui An fall silent. He understood the principles, but no matter where you are, understanding principles doesn't mean you can reason with people.

Once, twice... when this resource becomes terrifyingly large, will there come a day when someone complains that they've taken too much?

Sui An's mind raced with countless thoughts, but he extinguished them all because one of Wang Zhen's remarks deeply moved him.

"In this disaster-stricken world, relationships that can maintain stable trust are very rare, truly rare..."

"Then let it continue, through its own efforts!"