"Quick! Restrict its movements!" Alex shouted to River beside him, immediately drawing the bone greatsword he had crafted in the Production Workshop and assuming a defensive stance.
At the same time, the plants around him sprang into action. Countless vines surged forward, skimming the ground as they encircled the Rock Fiend.
The Rock Fiend, which had been charging forward, was instantly bound tightly by the vines, wrapped up like a dumpling.
"Roar!"
The Rock Fiend let out a furious roar, its limbs thrashing as it tore through the vines with ease.
"Such terrifying strength!"
This was the first time Alex had truly witnessed the horror of a strength-based monster. It was far beyond what his fourth-tier units could handle.
Not daring to be careless, he immediately shouted, "River!"
Following his command, River floated into the air, her staff pointing toward the Rock Fiend. Instantly, thick thorny vines sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the monster once more.
The Rock Fiend struggled violently but couldn't break free from the thorny restraints in time, crashing to the ground.
Then, a series of red mushrooms appeared, landing on its body.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Deafening explosions shook the air, and the ground trembled violently.
The explosive power of the fifth-tier Explosive Mushroom was indeed formidable.
Even the Rock Fiend, with its robust vitality, was severely injured. It roared in rage, struggling to rise, its massive fists slamming into the ground.
In an instant, the ground shattered, the shockwave radiating outward from the Rock Fiend.
"Fall back!"
Alex's expression changed, and he quickly led his plants in a hasty retreat, narrowly avoiding the Rock Fiend's area attack.
When he looked back, the ground around the Rock Fiend had completely collapsed, a scene of utter devastation.
As expected of a monster renowned for its strength, the destructive power of a single strike was truly terrifying.
But Alex's plants were no pushovers either.
Especially the two fifth-tier units, which seized the opportunity while the Rock Fiend was heavily injured to launch another assault. Sharp wooden spikes and explosive mushrooms bombarded the monster relentlessly.
Amidst the Rock Fiend's furious roars, it was finally overwhelmed.
[Successfully killed a fifth-tier Rock Fiend. Obtained 50 Mana.]
Hearing the notification, Alex let out a sigh of relief.
He also felt a sense of relief.
Fortunately, the Rock Fiend wasn't fast. Otherwise, with that level of destructive power, he would have likely lost several fourth-tier units.
As soon as the Rock Fiend died, Alex ordered his injured plants to use their Devour ability to consume the monster's corpse, restoring their health. Then, they continued forward.
As he progressed, the number of monsters he encountered increased, and almost all of them were fourth-tier or higher, with the occasional fifth-tier monster.
No wonder no one dared to come here.
Thankfully, he had two fifth-tier plants to protect him, and he himself was at the fifth tier. As long as he didn't encounter more than two fifth-tier monsters at once, he would be fine.
Soon, Alex left the forest boundary far behind and arrived at a mining area.
"Is this... ore?"
Alex picked up a black stone from the ground, his eyes lighting up.
At the same time, a piece of information appeared before him.
[Name: Iron Ore]
[Description: One of the materials used for territory construction. Can be used for various types of building.]
Sure enough, the black stone was iron ore, one of the materials needed to upgrade his territory to the sixth tier!
Alex was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to find iron ore in such a place.
And judging by the surroundings, this was likely a mining area with an enormous vein of resources!
"This is perfect! Now I finally have a way to get the upgrade materials!"
As the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm.
With his territory so close to this area, it was the perfect opportunity for him to accumulate enough iron ore in a short time.
Without hesitation, Alex stopped exploring and set his plants to work mining the iron ore.
At this point, Alex couldn't help but marvel at the Personal Storage Space unlocked after reaching the fifth tier. Its functionality was incredibly powerful.
It was like a portable, independent space that could store a variety of items, including resource ores.
His current Personal Storage Space could hold up to a hundred units of items. After setting aside some essentials for travel, he could easily store seventy to eighty units of iron ore.
By his calculations, he would only need to make ten trips to gather enough iron ore for the territory upgrade.
This was much faster than transporting the ore bit by bit.
The plants worked diligently. The Treant Warriors would break open the ore, and the Toxic Enchantress would use her vines to transport the ore to Alex.
In less than an hour, Alex's Personal Storage Space was full.
He then led his plants back to the territory, storing all the ore in the newly constructed Territory Warehouse, before setting out again to mine.
Alex estimated that each round trip, including mining time, would take about two hours. Along the way, he could occasionally encounter monsters to earn some Mana, which was acceptable.
So, for the entire day, Alex spent his time shuttling between the territory and the mining area.
By late afternoon, he returned to the territory with the fourth batch of ore, temporarily halting the transportation.
He planned to continue early the next morning.
Upon returning to the territory, the first thing Alex did was check the progress of the stone collection.
When he saw that the stone count had surpassed five hundred, he was overjoyed. He immediately spent 1,000 Mana to upgrade the Tower of Units to the fifth tier.
In an instant, a flash of light illuminated the area.
The Tower of Units grew taller and more majestic.
Alex quickly opened the information panel and saw that he could now research fifth-tier units. Without hesitation, he selected the Spirit of Flora as his first choice.
[Researching a fifth-tier rare unit requires 1,000 Mana. Proceed?]
"Proceed!"
The cost of researching rare units was double that of regular units.
Fortunately, the Blazing Lotus had provided him with a decent amount of Mana over the past two days. Combined with what he had earned today and what he had left over, he had nearly 2,500 Mana, which was more than enough to upgrade the building and research the unit.
After arranging the research task, he closed the interface and went to prepare some food.
After a busy day, he deserved to treat himself.
The night passed uneventfully.
When the morning sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves and into the wooden cabin, Alex was already awake.
He rolled out of bed, washed up with some stored dew, and descended the stairs to the territory below.
Today was the third day since the [Regional Rankings] had opened.
This meant that after today, the ranking rewards would be distributed.
1st Place: 5,000 Mana, 3 Territory Essence
2nd Place: 5,000 Mana, 2 Territory Essence
3rd Place: 5,000 Mana, 1 Territory Essence
4th Place: 4,000 Mana
The top three would receive Territory Essence rewards, corresponding to their territory level.
From 4th to 10th place, the reward was 4,000 Mana.
From 11th to 100th place, it was 3,000 Mana.
The rewards continued in this manner, all the way down to the 10,000th place.
Alex wasn't satisfied with a mere 4,000 Mana reward. No matter what, he had to break into the top three and secure the Territory Essence!