Back at the Holy Light Castle, Su Hao glanced indifferently at the gold coins in his personal information.
[Gold coins accumulated: 20.23 million gold coins]
[48 energy stones, 5 mutant crystals.]
To upgrade the castle to level four, he needed 50 energy stones and four mutant crystals.
Only two more energy stones were needed.
Su Hao estimated that the level up would happen in less than a second.
Furthermore, Su Hao surmised that there should be around 50,000 to 60,000 Sacred Night Bugs, which meant that it was time to summon them back.
As he thought of that, he walked to the Summoning Altar and summoned the Sacred Night Bugs back.
With his order, a wisp of white smoke was emitted from the sandalwood Summoning Altar.
Then, tens of thousands of Sacred Night Bugs emerged from the altar, but the bugs did not just come back empty-handed!
There were actually more than a dozen elite-grade monsters' corpses.
Su Hao was somewhat speechless when he saw that.
In the time it took to sell the food, the bugs had captured a dozen more elite-level beast corpses.
There were more than 2000 units of special food, 53 crystals, and eight mutant crystals.
If such a rapid rate of development was left unchecked, the Evil God could reappear at any moment!
Su Hao sighed gently.
He had to let the bugs stay in the castle for the time being, because such high-profile development would definitely attract other troubles.
It was time to slow down. That was the first time he felt how troublesome it would be to let things develop too quickly.
At that moment, a golden light flashed and a series of words appeared in front of Su Hao's vision!
[Congratulations, the Holy Light Castle leveled up by 2 levels!]
[111 energy stones and 13 mutant crystals have been accumulated!]
[The requirements for a castle to be upgraded to level five are 100 energy stones and 8 mutant crystals!]
[Do you want to upgrade the castle?]
[Yes/No]
Su Hao touched his forehead silently.
Two levels in one go meant that his name and the castle's name would be announced in the [World Announcement] again.
More lords would want to add him as a friend!
He did not have a choice though, as he was unable to set the leveling up to private.
He knew that if that continued, his name would soon be associated with the 'big shot' in the [Trading Channel] who used gold coins to trade for food.
However, it was only a mere annoyance that did not affect him much.
There was another important point—Su Hao was reborn, so he knew that the castle could no longer be upgraded by only using energy stones and mutant crystals after reaching level five.
To upgrade above that level, one needed to obtain elements that include gold, wood, water, fire, earth, light, and so on.
Only if one possessed those elements that the shackles of level five and up could be broken.
It goes without saying that energy stones and mutant crystals would still be useful by then, but they would no longer be a necessity for leveling up and become only supplementary items instead.
The elements however, were a necessity after breaking through to level five.
Only after obtaining those elements that one could develop into a city-state.
Therefore, Su Hao had to speed up the process of obtaining elements.
With that in mind, Su Hao answered, "Yes."
In an instant, a burst of golden-white light rose. A thick fog then appeared in all directions, lingering around the stone brick castle.
The golden light dissipated a few seconds later, and a slightly exquisite castle appeared before Su Hao's vision.
The exterior of the castle, which was built with stone bricks, was now made of white tiles with veined patterns.
The roof had also changed to a slightly high-end marble, which replaced the somewhat shoddy-looking red bricks.
The initial three stories had become six stories, reaching more than 25 meters in height. There was even an additional small-scale sub-castle that occupied about 10 square meters.
[Congratulations! Your castle has been upgraded by two levels, skipping the concrete castle to become a level 5 castle made of ceramic tiles!]
[Congratulations! Level 5 Holy Light Castle's range of influence has been increased to 2000 meters!]
[The castle's defense has been increased by three times!]
[Your Holy Light Castle's influence and reputation in the Endless Continent have been greatly increased!]
Su Hao stood in front of the castle and looked up at the slightly more exquisite castle that occupied a larger and more spacious area.
He was expressionless, because despite feeling some joy in his heart, he knew that it was not a good thing to level up too quickly.
He knew more people would notice him after his reputation had increased greatly, and there would also be more capable lords who would want to get close to him and join him.
However, it also meant that there would be more forces in the dark who would notice his castle and want to attack it.
Whether a person was friend or foe still could not be known for sure.
What he needed to do was to control the speed of development as much as possible, and then maintain a low profile.
On that basis, he could not make any friends just yet.
As Su Hao was still feeling vexed over everything, the level up information in the world announcement was updated once again!
[Congratulations! Holy Light Castle has been upgraded by 2 levels!]
[Current level: level 5]
[Castle Lord: Su Hao]
He had offered 2000 units of food to trade a few moments ago, and it took less than a few seconds after that for him to level up twice.
Su Hao's name had been automatically associated with the 'idiot' and 'piece of sh*t' that everyone used to talk about in the Trading Channel.
All of the lords were even more shocked than before!
[F*ck! I don't need to guess anymore. It's Su Hao!]
[This is terrifying! I was already shocked beyond words when he offered 2000 units of food, and it's an even bigger shock for him to upgrade by skipping two levels!]
[Big Shot Su Hao: I won't pretend anymore.]
[Big Shot Su Hao: I won't hide anymore. I'm a gold coin collector!]
[Big Shot Su Hao: I wanted to share all my food with the castle lords because I don't want anyone to go hungry.]
[Big Shot Su Hao never once said anything. He keeps a low profile!]
[I'm so tired with life... This is the difference between people I guess. I thought that Han Yan had already surpassed Su Hao not long ago, and the upgrade to level 4 was already the peak! I didn't expect Su Hao the big shot to directly skip a level and upgrade without any movement before then!]
[This is insane! What kind of troop type does he have to be able to achieve this?]
[Don't ask. It's got to be god-level!]
…
At the same time, Han Yan looked at his concrete castle and the dead body of the level four goblin that the Black Dragon had just killed. He bit his lips so hard that blood came out.
He could not believe it at all!
Su Hao's strength was simply terrifying.
He had more than 2000 units of top-tier food, and he had upgraded by two levels.
Su Hao had clearly fallen behind Han Yan the day before and the latter had clearly surpassed him!
Han Yan was already able to kill a level four monster, yet he still fell behind Su Hao.
'Just what kind of individual is he?'
Even if they all had SSS-Grade talent, the SS-level troops should have developed on the same scale.
With that in mind, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the messages in his [Friend Messages] after Su Hao refused to add him.
His jealousy grew even stronger.
He knew that Su Hao had to be eliminated, or else Su Hao's existence would pose a great threat to his future development.
At that point, the [World Announcement] was updated again!
[Bold red line reminder! The invasion of darkness will begin in three days!]
[When the time comes, all the territories will be rated for their ability to deal with the invasion!]
[The person with the highest score within a region will receive a mystery reward!]
[Special note: time is ticking away until the darkness invades! Hurry up, everyone!]
The update instantly made the [World Chat Channel] even livelier!
[Goodness! I can't believe this!]
[So the officials have mystery gifts?!]
[And it's a mystery reward for all castle lords!]
[The mystery reward for the first darkness invasion must be the best and easiest to get!]
[My brothers and sisters, whether we can defy the heavens and change our fate depends on this!]
[In three days, it will be the start of my conquest for the Endless Continent!]
[Don't be so arrogant. You ought to know that there are big shots like Su Hao, Han Yan, and Qin Shuang in our continent. We'll never stand a chance...]
[That might not be the case!]
[Although top-notch troops of A-Grade and above are powerful, they still have to rely on tactics and willpower to resist the beast tide...]
[You're right!]
[As long as we grit our teeth and persevere, we'll see who will have the last laugh.]
At that very moment, all the castle lords stared at the updated information in the [World Announcement].
Their breathing quickened and their hearts filled with unease, all because of the invasion of darkness.
It would definitely change the fate of many castle lords!
Some people would soar to greater heights with their strength, while others would be completely annihilated and die in despair!