Chapter 131: Room Upgrade Stage 4
Player Level (60/60)
Forest Cat Fur (40/40)
Great Tiger Hide (1/1)
"Finally time to do this."
The forest cats, cuter than any real-life kittens.
And the massive tiger that just really liked empty boxes.
The time had come to use the spoils they'd left behind.
-Yeah. You gathered the materials ages ago, but your level couldn't keep up.
"RaSe is great and all, but sometimes the quest levels glitch out like this. They gotta line up perfectly."
-......You never thought maybe it's not glitching, and you catching a Great Tiger at level 45 is the abnormal part? The devs probably figured you'd need at least 60 to handle one.
"They should've designed quests accounting for outliers like me!"
-How the hell are they supposed to account for you! You glitchy bastard!
A newbie in the starter city snags a Mythic job, and a 10-year RaSe veteran sticks to him like glue, spoon-feeding hidden pieces. No dev could predict that without reading the future.
You have met all Room Upgrade conditions. Proceed?
"Proceed."
Rumble rumble rumble.
Carpe nodded, and the entire Room space began to vibrate.
7%...... 21%......
No massive upheavals this time, like the ground flipping or mountains rising like last upgrade.
Room Upgrade complete.
Mine shafts expanded. Higher-quality ores now mineable.
Room space expanded. Workshop gains new functions.
Number of hireable workers increased.
World Tree grows!
"Oh. This upgrade's pretty tame. Not adding new stuff—just evolving what's already here."
Yeah, not every upgrade could sprout brand-new features.
Honestly, with everything they had now overwhelming them, Carpe secretly preferred this direction.
"Alright. World Tree first."
Carpe headed to the tiny World Tree planted in one corner of the garden.
Thanks to the upgrade, it had grown a bit more than before.
Ding.
Blessing Target: Carpe
The sacred tree protecting the elves was born using the player's Room as its base. It holds faint blessing power.
Grows alongside the Room. With care and affection, it may grow faster.
Grants beneficial effects to Room and player.
• Room workers' stamina +15%, stamina recovery +15%.
• +15% yield from Room production/harvesting.
• Player & retainers' HP +400, MP +40, HP/MP recovery +30%.
• Manager skill effects slightly enhanced.
*The World Tree is happy to see its owner. Thrilled to have grown!
The effects were up 5% each from the previous World Tree.
And now it expressed emotions too—a sign its ego was strengthening with growth.
"......Happy?"
Carpe tilted his head and lightly touched a leaf.
The World Tree glowed faintly, and another alert appeared.
As the World Tree grows, its growth-type title World Tree's Owner also grows.
"Ah, right. This existed."
Checking the World Tree's Owner title, stamina and mana boosts had each increased by 2.
"Nice. Worth the upgrade just for...... Huh? Gillian. What's wrong?!"
Turning to Gillian after the World Tree, Carpe jumped in surprise.
Black smoke was rising from spots on his massive armor.
But Gillian himself seemed oblivious.
<What's amiss? Does something seem off about me?>
"No, the smoke! What's with the smoke?"
<Hm? Smoke? Whoa! What is this?!>
Finally noticing, Gillian waved his hands frantically, but the smoke kept billowing steadily.
Like dry ice sublimating.
"Ah, Master. I think I know."
Mirage hopped from Carpe's arms, approached the World Tree, and patted it gently.
"The World Tree is the elves' guardian tree, but it's also a source of life, right?"
"Yeah?"
"But Gillian's a Death Knight."
"......Ah!"
Source of life. And undead.
Of course they were polar opposites.
"Hm...... Staying together like this might make you evaporate?"
<Gaaah! Remove that abomination at once!>
Ding.
Slightly hurt.
"Gillian. Too harsh. How could you say that to a child? You hurt its feelings."
<My body is hurting in real time!>
Only after leaving the World Tree's range did Gillian stop evaporating.
<Hrm. It was fine last time—must be the growth. I shan't lose! I'll grow fast and catch up to that tree!>
"......You think so?"
Watching a 160-year-old Death Knight feel rivalry toward a plant left Carpe speechless.
<Regrettably, I'll stand by here. Check the facilities yourselves.>
"Got it. Signal if anything comes up. I'll come right away."
<Hohoho! Reliable as ever!>
Carpe patted the World Tree once more, then entered the mansion.
The interior had expanded far beyond before.
-Whoa, what? My room got bigger.
"Did it?"
-Yeah. Still not as big as my old place, but...... Hm. You're heading to the workshop now, right?
"Yeah. Gotta check the new functions."
-Cool. I'll poke around the other rooms first. And upload some footage while I'm at it.
"See ya later."
Cheonma headed to his room, while Carpe and the rest went to the workshop.
"Ah, you're here, Successor!"
Elis greeted them warmly upon entry.
The ghost from Ramark Castle had lived in the workshop since becoming Carpe's retainer.
"Figured you'd come back since the workshop expanded. Found the next relic?"
"Yeah, but...... it's only half. Wanted to consult on that. Everything okay here?"
"Yes! Way better environment than before, tons to research. Allen helps too, so it's easy...... Glad I came! Thank you!"
"......Allen?"
Carpe asked, puzzled, when a squirrel dashed up to him from somewhere.
"Chyu!"
It saluted Carpe crisply.
Carpe awkwardly saluted back, and the squirrel then saluted Mukhyang.
"Chyut!"
"Chyu!"
Mukhyang returned it perfectly, like a pro—the angle spot-on.
"Chyuuut!"
"Chyuuu......"
Mukhyang even held the salute after.
The other squirrel whined, unable to drop first, so Mukhyang nodded and lowered its paw.
"......Where'd it learn that?"
"I taught it, my lord. If superiors aren't respected, hierarchy crumbles. Xiang's too lenient, so I instill discipline like this sometimes."
"......Is that so?"
"Yes, my lord."
Carpe, a civilian, could only nod at the military tone.
"Haha. Cute, right? This is Allen. Smart enough to be my assistant."
"Chyu!"
Allen nodded proudly.
Up close, it had a ribbon on its tail—likely the assistant mark.
"What do you mean 'half'?"
"Well......"
Carpe briefly explained the Magic Tower incident.
"......Lord Dretsch ate Lord Royard?"
"Yeah."
"Oh my."
Elis's eyes widened in shock, then she nodded in understanding.
"Fits Lord Dretsch's temperament. Got it. I can help. The upgrade just unlocked doll-making here too."
"Ah."
That must be the new workshop function.
"You have the blueprint? This way."
A large table now stood in the workshop's center.
"Sit and imagine unfolding the blueprint. It'll appear."
"Really? Neat."
Carpe followed her lead.
Sitting triggered an alert.
1 registered doll blueprint available.
Registered Blueprint:Steel Royard (Epic)
To craft other dolls, design from scratch.
"......Phew. Good thing we have the blueprint."
Design from scratch? Textbook liberal arts Korean youth Carpe had zero artistic talent.
Left to him, it'd be some monstrous freak.
Load Steel Royard blueprint?
"Load it."
Vrrr.
A hologram-like window appeared over the table, showing the Steel Royard blueprint.
"Ah, so it really was a steel golem."
Royard was a massive golem, three times larger than other dolls.
Perfectly suited to the name "shield"—sturdy as could be.
"First time seeing Lord Royard's blueprint. Impressive structure. Hold on. Analyzing materials......"
Then.
Ding.
Royard's Soul Stone expresses dissatisfaction.
"......Huh?"
Royard finds its appearance lacking.
Desires horns. Tall, straight horns.
Royard's Soul Stone voices its opinion. Red! It demands red armor and to be three times faster than before!
"......"
Ignoring Royard's demands may lower affinity.
Looks like Carpe couldn't escape designing after all.