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

Sui An immediately stored all the source stones on his body into the core of his territory, filling it with energy.

After making the necessary preparations, Sui An took his spear and climbed up the watchtower to begin his vigil.

A blood moon hung in the sky, its crimson halo spreading across the earth, and a restless atmosphere permeated the space, with cracks appearing at any moment.

Although my own level 1 territory is probably not worth the Source Realm opening a rift for me, it is still necessary to be vigilant.

Strangely, under the blood-red moonlight, the empty wasteland was exceptionally clear. The ground hundreds of meters away could be roughly discerned, and even the outlines and shadows of large territories in the far distance were faintly visible in the night.

Within a 10-kilometer radius of Sui'an's territory, there are three level 2 territories and two level 1 territories.

This was a location he had deliberately chosen, with a higher-level territory nearby. If a source beast appeared, the level 2 territory would be the first to be attacked. This was a survival rule that had been circulating in Jiangcheng for a long time.

However, this approach also has a drawback: the closer you are to advanced territories, the more source beasts will be attracted away, and your resources will decrease.

Ultimately, resources for a territory must be obtained by killing source beasts.

However, lacking sufficient start-up capital, they had no choice but to sacrifice resources to ensure survival.

"Aww~"

A wolf howl from not far away attracted Sui An's attention. From the west side of his territory, several small, dark figures darted toward his territory.

"Are they wolves? If there are only a few, they probably aren't a pack."

Sui An stared carefully, and when he confirmed that there were only a few shadows and no more, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Wolves are the most likely wild animals to live in packs, and the same principle applies even when applied to source beasts.

He gripped the two-meter-long wooden crossbow on the watchtower a little tighter. Although it was only a level 1 white structure, the crossbow's firing range was actually quite far, capable of injuring a source beast at a distance of 100 meters.

However, the accuracy is already difficult to control, relying entirely on luck for launching and causing very limited damage. But if it reaches a range of thirty meters, this thing doesn't need to be launched anymore; its powerful force allows the crossbow bolts to be launched almost in a straight line.

As the shadows on the ground became clearer, Sui An could see that they were eight wire wolves, each with a distinct brown stripe down its back.

Iron Wire Wolves are mostly level one source beasts. Their main attack ability is physical enhancement. Their claws and teeth are extremely sharp, capable of cutting through iron and crushing rocks. However, as wolf-type source beasts, they are of average size.

"Aww~"

"Aww~"

The eyes of the eight wire wolves glowed blood-red, standing out vividly in the darkness—the effect of the blood moon. They suddenly stopped, standing not far from their territory, and howled again, their howls echoing faintly in the distance.

"Boom!"

The bowstring of the crossbow suddenly snapped, the sound of it cutting through the air was piercing and unpleasant.

Sui An's eyes were icy as he aimed at one of the wire wolves that was still howling with its head held high, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"Are you crazy? You dare to stand here and yell at my doorstep!"

The crossbow bolt, over a meter long and two centimeters thick, whistled through the air and pierced straight at the lead wire wolf, which was engrossed in howling.

"Pfft~"

At a distance of less than thirty meters, the crossbow bolt was as fierce as a javelin, piercing directly through the iron wire wolf's chest and embedding itself deeply in the ground, pinning its body to the spot with tremendous force.

This arrow immediately startled the remaining seven wire wolves that were still howling, and they bared their teeth and charged towards their territory.

It covered a distance of less than twenty meters in just two or three seconds, its sharp claws slamming into the energy shield, creating ripples, and the territory's core immediately issued a warning.

This direction is exactly where the elemental statues' attack angle is blocked by the wooden house. Oz's lightning statues did not attack automatically because his attack path is a straight line.

There was no attempt to rearrange the elemental statues. Moving the statues would consume energy, though not much, but these few wire wolves posed little threat, so there was no need to do so.

Taking advantage of their attempt to attack the energy shield, Sui An immediately fired in succession, hitting them one by one, and they slowly fell to the ground.

Suddenly, a very illusory light rose from the body of the first wire wolf that had been shot, transformed into light, flew into the territory, and then disappeared.

"Is this the soul essence of a Source Beast?"

"It really is a game of leveling up by fighting monsters... and they still say it's not a game world."

Looking at the illusory light, Sui An naturally knew what it was, but only a professional could see it. The ghost fox died too quickly last night; before he could even leave, the ghost fox's soul essence had already been absorbed by the territory.

As professionals, they can naturally improve their level. Combat professions, for example, need to kill source beasts to obtain soul essence. This stuff cannot be stolen; it is only recognized by the killer.

Therefore, combat professionals all strive for the ultimate kill and finishing blow.

However, soul essence is not the only requirement for career advancement. Combat professionals also need to absorb source energy to both strengthen their bodies and temper their professional core. Only after meeting both requirements can they advance.

For functional support professions, most do not need to kill monsters to obtain soul essence. They mainly rely on comprehending and practicing their core profession skills to reach the standard for advancement, and then the professional core within their bodies is tempered to meet the standard.

As a builder, one should theoretically belong to the support profession, just like a weapon forger, and simply practice their core professional skills.

However, in reality, builders do not have professional skills; they only need blueprints and resources, which is completely different from blacksmiths who forge weapons and equipment.

There are three requirements for upgrading a builder.

First, you need to kill source beasts in your territory to obtain enough soul essence before the requirements for upgrading your territory core will be displayed.

Second, the building meets the advanced requirements;

Third, obtain the source energy resources needed for the Lord Core upgrade.

As long as the above three criteria are met, the territory core can be upgraded, and there is no need to even temper the profession core.

In reality, there's no way to refine it, since the builder's core is placed outside. Once he reclaims the territory's core, the buildings outside will dissipate. Unless he obtains a special treasure, once the territory is built, it's basically impossible to move.

As the other seven Iron Wire Wolves died one by one, seven more soul essences were absorbed.

The howling of wolves outside had not completely stopped. Howls rose and fell in the distance, and dark figures were rushing in from the southeast, west, and south, except for the direction of the river.

"Hey, we've run into a wolf's den tonight!"

If they were just some wire wolves, Sui An wasn't worried about his safety tonight. Wire wolves are melee-attack source beasts, and their small size means they don't cause much damage to buildings.

Other professions might find it a headache, but tower defense lords love this kind of melee combat—it's all about the money!

"Sizzle~"

"boom!"

Just as Sui An was observing the south, the elemental statues in the north suddenly triggered an active attack.

A violent flash of lightning erupted under the moonlight, appearing to strike a spot about fifteen or sixteen meters outside the wall.

Sui An turned his head and squinted, but found that he did not see any obvious figure. There seemed to be only a charred black shadow on the ground, which did not look like a corpse, but rather like the ground had been struck by lightning.

"What did we blow up?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a phantom light suddenly flew up from the ground, indicating that his elemental statue had killed the unknown source beast.

As he squinted to observe, the elemental statues resounded once more, and lightning ripped through the night sky, illuminating the ground in front of him like daylight.

This time, Sui An saw it clearly; it turned out to be a shadow lizard.

The Shadow Lizard is a type of creature whose skin reduces the reflection of light and shadow; it cannot actually transform into a shadow.

But in the dark, it is difficult to spot its presence, and people will subconsciously assume it is a shadow.

Adult Shadow Lizards are generally Level 1 Source Beasts, with a body length of about 1.2 meters including their tails. They are not strong in direct combat and their crawling speed is relatively slow.

However, their source energy is dark, and when they encounter danger, they will spew out a cloud of gray mist that can not only blind people but also have a corrosive effect.

Even a level one combat professional, if they stay in their gray fog for a few minutes, their skin will be corroded and pitted, and in severe cases, it will directly cause large-area trauma.

As the two Shadow Lizards were killed, the elemental statues below suddenly began to release lightning orbs in succession, releasing a second one as soon as the cooldown was over, spraying lightning magic bullets towards the northern part of the territory.

For a moment, the entire night sky twinkled, dazzling the eyes.

"There seem to be quite a few. Fortunately, the elemental statues can attack automatically. If we had to rely on crossbows to slowly shoot them down, this shield would be in serious danger tonight."

Although I don't quite understand the target acquisition mechanism of the elemental statues, even though the Shadow Lizard had already spewed out gray mist, it still didn't stop the lightning ball from smashing straight into the gray mist.

The minimum attack interval for the elemental statue to release lightning magic bullets is about three or four seconds, which is just right for dealing with slow-moving shadow lizards.

For a moment, not a single shadow lizard was able to completely cross over and reach the barrier.

Looking at the constantly flashing lightning, Sui An thought for a moment and then summoned the territory projection.

When not near the core of a territory, the only action a builder can take is to activate the [Territory Adjustment] module.

Once this module is opened, it displays the territory projection, allowing you to make adjustments to existing buildings, such as controlling energy shields, taking over elemental statues, and adjusting building positions.

However, it is impossible to build new buildings or upgrade existing ones.

The shadow lizards over there seem to outnumber the wolf pack. As their numbers increase, the threat to the energy shield will grow. The energy shield cannot be used as the first line of defense against the shadow lizard swarm.

He slightly contracted the energy shield, exposing the sand and gravel wall, which was more than a foot thick, outside the energy shield. He adjusted the hemispherical energy shield a few times to fit it into the sand and gravel wall, confirming that there was not much foothold above the wall.

In this way, even if the group of shadow lizards breaks through the elemental statues' firepower, they will not immediately cause catastrophic damage to the energy shield.