Chapter 45: Chapter 27: Heaven-Reaching Vine and Hundred Flavor Meat Fruit Tree
After Lin Yu made his choice, the golden blueprint shimmered and transformed, revealing the image of an academy shaded by lush green trees.
Lin Yu took the blueprint. With a wave of his hand, it transformed into a streak of light and materialized on Xia Luo’s desk.
Xia Luo was busy with her work when the blueprint’s sudden appearance startled her.
Immediately after, Lin Yu’s voice echoed in her ear.
"Xia Luo, make arrangements for this as soon as possible. I need this building constructed at top speed. Place it in the inner ring."
"Yes, My Lord!"
Xia Luo quickly rose to her feet in acknowledgment. When no further words came, she picked up the blueprint from her desk. A single glance was all it took for her expression to change; she understood just how important this building was to the territory.
"Guards! Immediately halt ten percent of our current projects! Divert the resources and focus all efforts on constructing the Jade Sanctuary."
...
Leaving the fairies of the Urban Construction and Planning Bureau to their frenzy of activity, Lin Yu, back in the Lord’s Mansion, took out the adaptive research blueprint.
After reading its description, he used it without a second thought.
The blueprint glowed, emitting a low hum. Strangely, the World Tree began to ripple in response, the two resonating in harmony.
A minute later, the blueprint’s light and sound faded, and the World Tree ceased its rippling.
The blueprint then dissolved into a streak of golden light, shooting out of the Lord’s Mansion and into the Wisdom Library.
Lin Yu projected his consciousness into the Wisdom Library to check on the Technology Tree.
The Technology Tree now contained far more technologies than when he had first seen it. Basic Metallurgy, Basic Architecture, Basic Phyto-mining... All of these fundamental technologies had now been researched.
Correspondingly, basic buildings like the Blacksmith Shop and an apothecary had been added to the territory’s construction list and were currently being built under the supervision of the Urban Construction and Planning Bureau. The marketplace had also been unlocked upon the completion of ’Basic Commerce’ research.
’The Technology Tree is so useful. It saves me the expense of buying blueprints from the points mall.’
Lin Yu gazed at the Technology Tree, grinning.
At the very bottom of the Technology Tree, a gleaming golden icon appeared before Lin Yu. It depicted a mighty vine.
Preceding this icon was another one depicting a building—the icon for the Urban Construction and Planning Bureau. Special research projects outside the main Technology Tree were filed here.
[Name]: Heaven-Reaching Vine
[Category]: Botanical Structure (Road)
[Description]: The Heaven-Reaching Vine possesses a massive trunk, capable of growing hundreds or even thousands of kilometers long and spanning the entire territory.
Each Heaven-Reaching Vine can produce Heaven-Reaching Vine Pods. Each pod has an internal volume of 20 cubic meters, capable of holding living creatures and objects. These pods can travel rapidly inside the Heaven-Reaching Vine at speeds of up to 500 km/h.
[Prerequisites]: Bio-Architecture, Advanced Cultivation, Advanced Mutant Plant Studies
"Excellent!"
’This is amazing! And all the prerequisites are met!’
’I’ll just... No, I’ll wait. I’ll tell Chenxi tomorrow at breakfast. I’ll have her assign researchers and get this project completed as fast as possible.’
Withdrawing his consciousness from the Wisdom Library, Lin Yu returned to his bedroom and lay down, ready for sleep.
But perhaps the rewards for taking first place were too exhilarating, or perhaps he was simply past the point of sleepiness, because Lin Yu found himself unable to drift off.
’Dammit, I can’t sleep!’
’Maybe I should take advantage of my good luck tonight and open some chests!’
Lin Yu had quite a few treasure chests stored in his inventory, all of which had been brought back from outside the territory by Meiying over the past several days.
Having learned from the chat channels that a large number of chests containing land plots had been scattered outside the territory, Lin Yu had tasked Meiying with forming a 50-person exploration team. They even brought several hundred ordinary beasts with them to haul supplies.
The official members of the exploration team were all heroes from within the territory and included elves, spirits, and various sentient birds and beasts.
The team consisted of one Legendary-grade (Gold) hero (Meiying), twelve Epic-grade (Purple) heroes, and the remaining members were all at least Excellent-grade (Blue).
While searching for treasure chests, the team also battled monsters outside the territory to gain experience. If they discovered wild beasts with good potential, they would capture the entire family and bring them back to join the territory’s growing community.
The exploration team split into five squads, fanning out across the grasslands and jungles outside the territory. They found a great many chests; by themselves, the land plot chests numbered no fewer than fifty.
The land plot chests yielded over sixty plots, which would have added more than sixty square kilometers to the territory. Since this was a mere fraction of his domain’s total area, Lin Yu sold all of them to Qian Duoduo for a high price.
Aside from the land plot chests, there were also over a hundred ordinary chests remaining. They were all green and were called ’Exploration Chests’.
According to their description, they could contain resources, Gold Coins, random building blueprints (Gray to Blue), random items (Gray to Blue), random troop recruitment contracts (White to Blue), and random hero recruitment contracts (Green to Blue)...
’The variety was decent, but the quality was a bit lacking.’ Lin Yu was somewhat unimpressed, so he had just tossed them all into his inventory.
’Well, since I can’t sleep, I might as well open these for fun. Maybe I’ll be tired enough to sleep afterward.’
Lin Yu took all the Exploration Chests out of his inventory and placed them in the grand hall of the Lord’s Mansion, arranging them in neat rows.
Then, Lin Yu walked to one end of the rows and began opening the chests in sequence.
[Congratulations! You have obtained Wood x10,000!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained Wood x20,000!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained Stone x5,000!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained Ore x50,000!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained Gold Coins x100,000!]
...
In the blink of an eye, all one-hundred-plus chests were opened. Lin Yu’s initial excitement had completely evaporated by the time he was done.
These Exploration Chests were supposed to have a chance of dropping random blueprints, items, troops, and heroes, yet after opening more than a hundred of them, he hadn’t gotten a single one. Not even one.
’Deep breaths.’
HUUUH...
HAAAH...
...
Lin Yu took several deep breaths, finally getting his surging blood pressure under control. ’Did I use up all my luck for tonight?’ he wondered, questioning his very existence.
’No, I refuse to believe it! I can’t believe I won’t get a single thing besides resources and Gold Coins tonight!’
Lin Yu sent his consciousness back into his inventory and began to rummage around, checking to see if he had missed any Exploration Chests.
’Huh? What’s this?’ Lin Yu fished a small, black box out of his inventory.
It took him a good while to remember what it was: the blind box he’d received from the Teleportation Service Center when he registered his personal information.
Lin Yu opened it casually, about to resume his search through the inventory.
Unexpectedly, a flash of purple light erupted from the box, making his heart stop for a second.
[Name]: Hundred Flavor Meat Fruit Tree
[Grade]: Epic (Purple)
[Description]: The fruit of this tree is no longer ordinary fruit. Its flesh is a type of meat rich in protein. The flavor of the meat is complex and varied.
The Meat Fruit contains abundant nutrients and energy. Long-term consumption will help improve one’s physical constitution.
[Growth Requirements]: Requires a rich source of energy.
"Oh, thank the heavens above! I don’t have to run around buying meat anymore!"
Reading the description of this Epic-grade item, Lin Yu’s eyes welled up with tears of joy.
He immediately chose to use it, planting the Hundred Flavor Meat Fruit Tree in the nearest orchard. At long last, the carnivores of the territory would no longer have to suffer through a vegetarian diet.
