The result shocked them.
The white gemstone now even have more mana than before, but that wasn't the strangest part—it had developed a new trait. When left alone, it slowly began to absorb mana from the surrounding air, refilling its own reserves.
A self-recharging mana source.
"This… this is amazing," Elvira muttered, crouching beside it.
"If we can recreate this reliably," Ben added, eyes wide, "we won't need the slime farm anymore."
The slime farm had been a pain from the start. They'd tried to harvest the mana lotus that grew inside the slimes—but it turned out the lotus was embedded inside the creatures, not just growing on them. Pulling it out was like trying to extract something engulfed within superglue.
Ben had attempted to use mana-less tools to force it out, hoping the lack of magical interference would help. But nothing worked. The objects weren't strong enough to pry the lotus free.
With no other option, they'd settled on the idea of moving the slime plants into their base. But even that turned into a disaster.
The slimes were more defensive than expected. They wouldn't let any of them left. In the end, Ben and Elvira had to kill most of them just to make any progress. Only a few had survived the relocation attempt.
Back in the present, Ben climbed up from the slime farm.
The farm was located underground, directly beneath the entrance. He had chosen that spot deliberately—slimes were aggressive, borderline feral. If he ever managed to breed them properly, they could double as a trap.
Just imagine trying to attack the base, only to fall into a pit swarming with regenerating slime monsters.
A particular image flashed through Ben's mind, making him shake his head with a grimace.
Unfortunately, the breeding attempts had all failed so far. No matter what they tried, they still had no idea how the damn things reproduced.
His eyes turned toward the walls. Reinforced again, now thicker than before 10 block thick—layered with more ingots.
Krell scouts patrolled along the upper edge, each equipped with a crossbow. Every few steps, there was a small box mounted along the parapet.
Those boxes were Elvira's answer to his request for infinite ammo. She still couldn't make it work with moving weapons, but for stationary defenses—it was possible.
She'd created a massive magic circle that covered the entire area. When fully activated, its mana cost was absurd, but with partial activation, the drain was barely noticeable.
The circle came with multiple features, mostly centered around defense, but its best function by far was the teleportation of physical objects. No, it couldn't move people—not yet—but for items?
As long as they paid the mana cost, it could send whatever was needed, wherever it was needed.
To save mana, Ben only kept the ammo transport function active—ready to trigger in an emergency.
Every single spike jutting out from the outer walls had also been enhanced with magic.
At first, Ben wanted to make the tips explode in a small radius, turning each one into a miniature landmine. But Elvira had a better idea. "Let's use ice instead," she'd said.
Through the massive magic circle, she could channel electricity across the spikes too, stunning anything that touched them. Ben had to admit—it was genius.
The enemy would freeze up on contact, and while they were locked in place, the Krell scouts could fire down from above. And even if the target was strong enough to resist the freeze, the electricity would paralyze them long enough to finish the job.
Meanwhile, around the castle, several new buildings had gone up.
One was dedicated to Elvira's talisman production—carefully sealed, rune-covered, and constantly humming with low mana. Another—still under construction—was meant for special storage, a place to house their growing collection of white gemstone and experimental cores.
Krell workers can be seen moving in formation, hauling blocks of grimslate to lay down another layer of defense around the base. The ground itself had transformed, now fully paved in grimslate, stretching from the castle to the first wall, and continuing all the way to the outermost perimeter.
The first layer of the wall hadn't changed much—except for the addition of more embedded white gemstones.
Their purpose was simple: to stall the enemy, and buy time for their escape.
Further out, the ballista had received major upgrades. Their firing mechanisms were now enhanced with wind-element enchantments, launching bolts faster and farther than ever before. The ammunition had also diversified—some bolts exploded into waves of ice, others into floods of water, bursts of electricity, and a dozen other effects.
Some were specifically crafted to fight the Ravager—especially the elemental type. One bolt in particular detonated into a chain of searing light, designed to capture the alpha if he show up again.
Most of the traps between the inner and outer walls had been dismantled—there were too many tasks now that required the Krell to move freely.
Farming efforts had expanded, including the cultivation of the water-producing mushroom trees.
As for how the mushroom trees reproduced… One was still figuring that out. Elvira had given him a thick book on plant species, and he'd been devouring the knowledge ever since. But results were slow.
And then there were the Krell.
Ben had upgraded all of them, every last one with mana displacement organs. With that, he was confident. If they fought again, even a Krell soldier could kill one of the brute Ravagers.
Unlike the Phantom Ravagers—who sacrificed strength for intangibility—Ben's new Krell had both. Phantom-like movement and brute force. On the battlefield, they were nightmares.
Watching it all unfold, Ben couldn't help but marvel.
This creature creation system… it was broken. As long as he had the right parts, he could create monsters—true monsters. Beasts that would make even daemons hesitate.
Sometimes he wondered—why should he fear daemons at all?
If he could build creatures on their level—no, stronger—and they were 100% loyal to him…
Than he will be the true Sovereign on This World