After upgrading to a Level 9 territory, White Night City had unlocked all territory technologies that didn’t require any additional prerequisites. Naturally, Ye Bai couldn’t resist making a round of upgrades and adjustments. This time, she prioritized the [Development Strategy] first, as aside from upgrading to the final Level 10 main city, this was the last opportunity to adjust her territory’s policy cards.
However, at this level, the functions of various policy cards were equally powerful and comprehensive.
[Work-Life Balance V]: Residents with an entertainment value above 90 gain an 80% increase in work efficiency and a 70% boost in skill proficiency growth.
[Tourist Attraction]: Noble travel willingness increases by 20; for every point of noble travel willingness, territory attractiveness increases by 5%, immigration willingness by 5%, and resident happiness by 5%.
[Pursuit of Excellence]: Territory academy training efficiency increases by 40%; the chance of territory professionals creating new inventions increases by 40%; the chance of territory professionals breaking through bottlenecks increases by 20%.
[Integration]: All territory ‘industries’ gain a 50% increase in production efficiency; basic maintenance costs are reduced by 20%.
In the end, Ye Bai selected these four high-level policy cards as her future development strategy.
If she wanted to push for a Level 10 territory in the future, a large number of high-level talents and enhanced territory productivity would be indispensable. These policy cards, combined with White Night City’s current development, would require a considerable amount of time to accumulate—no longer could she upgrade every one or two in-game months as she had before.
Next, Ye Bai opened the [Development Direction]. After upgrades and accumulation, the territory now had 112 points of productivity. She first spent a total of 40 points to unlock [Advanced Library] and [Intermediate Academy].
The Advanced Library could house advanced supernatural knowledge. In the future, it would need to be filled with the knowledge of the three major schools, and territory professionals or scholars would have to produce legendary-level inventions before it could be upgraded to the ultimate [Grand Library].
The Intermediate Academy followed a similar path. To upgrade to an Advanced Academy, there were additional requirements involving evaluations of the academy’s education and research standards. First, she needed to train a sufficient number of intermediate magic-based professionals and produce a certain quantity and level of inventions, while also ensuring the hardware facilities kept pace.
To this end, Ye Bai spent another 15 productivity points to unlock the prerequisite technologies for [Intermediate Academy]: [Magic Tower], [Forge], and [Alchemy Laboratory]—three structures corresponding to the supernatural laboratories of the three major schools.
These supernatural laboratories were subsidiary buildings of the academy, capable of increasing the level and success rate of inventions, as well as helping scholars break through personal bottlenecks.
Beyond top-tier education, militarily, Ye Bai spent 10 productivity points to upgrade the [Military Academy], the advanced version of the [Barracks]. All Level 60 combat units could undergo advanced class transitions here.
Moreover, the [Military Academy] also functioned as an institution, continuously researching new combat strategies and unit types to enhance combat capabilities. As the lord, Ye Bai could make more detailed adjustments to its specific direction.
Originally, she planned to stop there for military upgrades, but suddenly, her gaze lingered on a newly appeared technology: [Advanced Beast Stable].
She immediately remembered the three-headed vulture egg she had obtained earlier and stashed in her inventory. Without hesitation, she spent another 10 productivity points to unlock this technology.
[Advanced Beast Stable]: Capable of taming supernatural beasts up to Tier 3.
Ye Bai already had Autofis, so even if the three-headed vulture egg hatched, it wouldn’t be of much use to her personally. However, it could serve as mounts for the territory’s soldiers—especially flying mounts. Once properly trained, they could form a unit of aerial cavalry.
Aerial cavalry were the most mobile combat units in the world of Boundless, bar none. Very few units of the same tier could counter them. Now that Felix’s level in the territory had risen, he could lead teams to occupy resource points in Ye Bai’s absence—though to minimize combat losses, the efficiency would be slower.
In dungeons, there was a minuscule chance of obtaining eggs of supernatural beasts as drops, or they might occasionally be purchased from traveling merchants. In any case, building the stable wouldn’t be a loss.
Next came infrastructure and the economy. Ye Bai first spent 10 productivity points to upgrade residential and decorative buildings to their highest level, enabling the construction of mansions, villas, sky gardens, grand fountains, and other structures that boosted comfort and environmental appeal.
After this spending spree, only 27 productivity points remained. Ye Bai allocated 25 of them to the final technology: [City Teleportation Array].
This was the teleportation array found in every main city in Boundless. For player territories, unlocking this technology required upgrading to a Level 8 territory and possessing Tier 2 supernatural knowledge from all three major schools.
With this technology, White Night City’s trade volume and efficiency would experience exponential growth, and tourism would also surge dramatically.
While everyone knew the convenience of teleportation arrays, trade caravans would still typically opt for traditional transportation, primarily due to cost considerations. For low-value basic trade goods, teleportation fees could exceed the goods’ worth, making it an unprofitable venture. Most teleportation-based trade involved compact, high-value items.
But let’s not forget—White Night City’s biggest ‘specialty’ was Source Energy Crystals.
Source Energy Crystals were the fuel for teleportation arrays, and their cost varied between production and consumption sites. For White Night City, the threshold for teleportation-based transactions was much lower compared to conventional NPC main cities.
Moreover, the teleportation array’s greatest advantage lay in its irreplaceable role during emergencies.
For instance, if White Night City were to face another outbreak like the previous plague, the urgent shortages of herbs and food could be resolved instantly via the teleportation array.
Ye Bai planned to place the teleportation array near the military district in the inner city for ease of defense and proximity to the industrial zone’s transportation needs.
Of course, as the lord of her own territory, Ye Bai could configure the teleportation array’s settings. For NPCs, it could function like the arrays in other main cities, allowing bidirectional teleportation. But for players, it would be one-way only.
Players in White Night City could spend gold to teleport elsewhere, but players in other main cities couldn’t spend gold to reach White Night City.
Though no lord in Boundless would be foolish enough to launch a territory war against White Night City now, the game’s mechanics still allowed territories to wage war on each other. If a hostile lord spent a fortune to teleport directly into the heart of an enemy territory for a surprise attack, it would be grossly unfair.
After finalizing the plans for the post-upgrade arrangements, construction workers soon began transporting materials, swiftly launching into the building process.
Ye Bai made a round of inspections across the territory, briefing his trusted aides before heading to the bakery to find Autofis. Only then did he return to the lord's manor.
"It's time to set off."
Beside the Well of Origins in the basement, Ye Bai's figure blurred, transforming into an ethereal droplet that plunged into the well.
...
Deep within Saint Lori Fortress, Codos knelt before an ornate coffin, reporting:
"Ancestor, the celestial anomalies have caused unrest among the people in the territory..."
The next moment, a few dim lights flickered to life in the cold, gloomy mausoleum.
Even under the glow, the lights seemed murky and indistinct, unable to dispel the chilling aura around them—instead, they induced a sense of disorientation.
Beneath the lights stood a withered figure holding a cage. "It's not the people in the territory who are unsettled—it's those within the fortress, isn't it?"
"Yes." Codos' pupils contracted, and he immediately lowered his head in admission.
After just one glance at the shadowy figure, Codos dared not look again. This was the first time since his birth that he had seen the ancestor leave the coffin. Combined with the anomalies outside, it filled him with unprecedented pressure.
"Why the panic? It's still just a projection—it hasn't been drawn down yet." After speaking, the withered figure turned its attention back to the cage in its hand.
Inside the cage, engraved with magical runes, was a curled-up, fist-sized humanoid shadow.
Like feeding a bird, the withered figure tossed an item into the cage.
The listless shadow seemed to sense the item's presence, shuddering before quickly retreating. But as it neared the edge of the cage, it hesitated, too afraid to touch the bars, and curled into a tighter ball, burying its head in its knees.
Seeing this, the withered figure shook its head slightly, withdrawing its hand with a sigh. "Ah, you pitiful thing... abandoned and cursed..."
The item it held was unmistakably a book, densely filled with knowledge.
The withered figure turned back to Codos, now seemingly in a conversational mood. "What do they call them now?"
The creature in the cage had been captured by Codos over a decade ago, shortly after he came of age. By sheer chance, he had brought it back to the fortress, earning an unexpected summons from the ancestor—an honor even his father had never received. Yet from that moment on, Codos had lived in constant dread.
Without hesitation, Codos replied, "They are called Ashborn and Fool's Elves. They always hide in dark corners, and only the slow-witted seem to notice them."
"Ashborn? Fool's Elves?" The withered figure let out a strange, rasping laugh. "Heh... how amusing. Long, long ago, before the Highva Kingdom fractured, people across every duchy took pride in winning the favor of the Wisps."
"Wisps... oh, Wisps... Once the very symbol of wisdom, now you recoil from knowledge in terror. What a cruel curse He has cast upon your kind..."
...
In the Divine Realm, as the droplet's mark materialized, the figures of Ye Bai and Autofis took form. The journey through the Divine Realm had consumed time, leaving only two days before the final descent was complete.
Ye Bai had been wondering how the Divine King's Treasury would manifest—perhaps as a rift-like dungeon entrance or something similar. But when he looked up, he froze.
"You call this... a treasury?"
The perpetually gloomy, ash-gray sky of the Divine Realm was no longer empty.
A colossal, majestic city loomed overhead, tilted as if suspended among the clouds—both a tangible skyborne fortress and an illusory mirage reigning above. Staring longer, one could see it steadily "expanding," as though some force were pulling this enigmatic city, real or not, down toward the earth.
Ye Bai had never imagined that the "descent" described by the key would be so... literal.
