Chapter 20: A New Face for the Old, the War God Tree and the Demon Knight
After completing all this, Su Mu selected ten suitable locations and placed ten arrow tower cards. Within his forty-mile territory, an arrow tower appeared every four miles.
Boom!
Ten arrow towers suddenly materialized, each towering over ten meters high. Hawk-eyed archers with longbows stood watch atop them, ready to launch arrows at any suspicious intruders entering the domain.
Each tower initially stored 100,000 arrows, each arrow dealing damage equivalent to that of one Bronze Warrior. Once the arrows were depleted, the lord would need to find a way to produce or purchase more.
One Dragon Coin could buy ten Bronze arrows.
Of course, the lord could also spend heavily to purchase or craft Silver-grade or even Gold-grade arrows, but that would be an enormous expense.
However, these considerations were not Su Mu’s concern at the moment. He only needed to establish the general scale.
After constructing the arrow towers, Su Mu tossed ten Golden-level guardian beast cards onto the ground.
Boom!
Ten Hellhound Cerberuses appeared before him, each about three meters long and over two meters tall, massive in size. Each had three vicious heads on a single neck, exuding a terrifying presence.
Their bodies were wreathed in black flames, radiating immense power.
“Go, patrol my territory. Kill any suspicious creatures you encounter,” Su Mu commanded.
With a wave of his hand, the ten hellhounds sprinted toward the perimeter, beginning their patrol.
Next came the barracks construction.
Following the previous plan, a barracks was built every four miles, essentially positioned behind each arrow tower.
Each barracks housed 100 Silver Warriors. Though this force was insufficient to repel powerful dark creature raids, it was more than capable of handling smaller monster attacks.
Finally, the most exciting moment arrived.
The construction of one hundred mining machines.
Su Mu approached the edge of the mineral vein with his draw-cut sword. At once, the little dragon immediately stood alert.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s me. I’ve bought 100 mining machines. From today onward, our lord’s estate will make a fortune daily,” Su Mu explained with a smile.
The little dragon nodded vaguely in understanding, fluttered its wings, and hovered above Su Mu’s head, eyes wide as if awaiting a miracle.
Su Mu casually tossed out 100 mining machine cards across the vein.
Boom!
As soon as the machines appeared, they began working furiously, roaring with mechanical noise. Powered by spirit stones, they required no electricity or such mundane energy sources.
Spirit stones in the vein gushed forth like bubbling springs, quickly piling up into mountains.
The little dragon cheered, landing atop a pile of spirit stones. It curled its wings and opened its wide mouth, crushing several spirit stones to powder and swallowing greedily.
It looked like a ravenous child savoring a feast.
“Eat as much as you want. From now on, you can eat all you desire,” Su Mu laughed heartily at the little dragon.
At that moment, he felt that purchasing the 100 mining machines had been an absolutely wise decision.
With these machines, he could harvest about one million spirit stones daily, equivalent to three million Dragon Coins. The five million Dragon Coin investment would be fully recovered in just two days.
Moreover, the mining machines were not consumable items. Once this vein was exhausted, if he found another, production could continue indefinitely.
Endless wealth!
After watching the machines work for a while and enjoying his new role as a wealthy lord, Su Mu and his draw-cut sword enthusiastically made their way twenty miles from the lord’s estate, to the very center of the territory.
Here, Su Mu planned to plant two War God Trees.
If any enemy breached the outer defenses, this would be their graveyard.
These were two Golden-level War God Trees, capable of infinitely producing Golden-level monsters to aid in battle.
He recalled that if the system hadn’t suddenly granted him a blazing Gatling gun, his team would have been wiped out by a single War God Tree.
He didn’t believe other lords were lucky enough to have divine artifacts descend from the heavens to destroy their War God Trees.
Su Mu first threw down a card containing 100,000 units of holy water. Boom! A small lake over thirty meters in radius appeared before him.
The blue holy water emitted streams of spiritual energy that instantly refreshed Su Mu’s spirit.
Next, he tossed two golden seeds into the lake.
Nourished by the abundant holy water, the seeds quickly sprouted into two golden saplings over one meter tall.
But that was far from enough. Su Mu needed two mature War God Trees now to guard his territory.
“Growth acceleration cards!” he declared without hesitation, tossing two expensive acceleration cards into the lake.
The water visibly shrank as the War God Trees absorbed it all.
The trees began growing rapidly...
Ten meters, a hundred meters, a thousand meters...
Boom!
In the end, the War God Trees grew into colossal giants towering one thousand meters tall. Their canopies spread wide, completely covering Su Mu’s entire forty-mile domain.
His whole territory was sheltered beneath their massive crowns.
Su Mu was dumbfounded.
This... this was simply ridiculous.
So this was what a Golden-level War God Tree truly looked like—so immense.
Now, there was no need to establish a first line of defense; these giant War God Trees served as the primary barrier. The barracks and arrow towers behind them became internal defenses.
At that moment, a golden light flashed across the surfaces of the two War God Trees. Two knights clad in bronze armor emerged, each leading a warhorse.
They knelt on one knee before Su Mu, pressed their left hands to their chests, and performed the standard knightly salute in unison.
“Demon Knight Arthur.”
“Demon Knight Lancelot.”
“Greetings, my lord.”
...
“Demon Knights?”
“Guardians of the War God Trees?”
Su Mu immediately used his holographic eye to examine the detailed information on the two demon knights.
[Race: Demon]
[Power Level: Starshine Tier 3]
[Skills: Hellfire (large-area destructive attack), Undying (can resurrect 99 times; death on the hundredth time is permanent)]
Holy crap!
Holy crap!
Su Mu was so thrilled he could barely speak, only able to blurt out “Holy crap” repeatedly.
Starshine Tier 3 was no joke. Normally, the guardian of a War God Tree would be two levels above the tree itself.
The last time he encountered a Silver-level War God Tree, its guardian was the Headless Knight at Platinum Tier 4.
The key was the Undying skill—it was absurdly powerful.
Ninety-nine resurrections!
What opponent could endure such attrition? Unless they were a full tier above the demon knights, they’d simply be worn down to death.
This was practically an invincible presence at the Starshine level.
Though labeled Starshine Tier 3, to Su Mu, they definitely had the strength of a seven-Book Throne.
Had he saved the galaxy in a past life? How else could his luck be so extraordinary?
First, he gained an unknown-level Celestial Sword Saint, and now two Starshine Tier 3 Demon Knights.
With these three supreme experts protecting his home, who the hell would dare attack his territory?
That would be like an old man eating poison, just seeking death out of boredom.