Chapter 155: Rewards and the Harvest Altar

A flash of light passed, and Su Lun and the other two appeared on the platform. The Wind Djinn remained indifferent.

“Congratulations, challengers. You have succeeded in the challenge.”

“Now you may claim your rewards!” As the Wind Djinn spoke, it waved its hand gently, and a special energy surged forth, enveloping the three of them instantly.

For a moment, Su Lun felt a stream of energy flowing into his body from outside. A tingling, numb, and slightly painful sensation seemed to radiate from his very bones. This energy lasted for several minutes. Su Lun closed his eyes and focused on the energy entering his body. Waves of unique energy emerged and gradually integrated into his system.

“Ding! Your body has been tempered by elemental energy!” When he woke up, Su Lun heard the System’s notification sound.

“Received elemental body tempering. All attributes increased by +1.”

“Name: Su Lun

Race: Human (Divine Creature); Divinity: 2/10 (Demigod)

Level: Lv22 (26854/60000)

Strength: 45

Agility: 32

Spirit: 27

Constitution: 33

Charm: 21

Leadership: 81

Skills: (omitted)”

Su Lun assessed his body. This reward was quite good; a +1 increase in all attributes was equivalent to the stat points he would gain from leveling up three times. Moreover, Heatherway and Chris must have received the same benefits.

“Did you feel that?” Heatherway said excitedly. “I felt my strength increase.”

“I felt it too,” Chris said, stretching her body slightly.

“It must be the effect of that energy.”

“Alright, challengers, now choose your rewards and leave,” the Wind Djinn interrupted their discussion.

The Wind Djinn waved its hand gently, and a roulette wheel appeared on the platform. The wheel was divided into numerous sections, each labeled with an item name: Nine Heavens Mysterious Iron, Jedi Tungsten Steel, Mechanical Mastery, Magical Energy Theory, Elemental Crystal, Four Spirits Holy Tower Blueprint, Earth Crystal, Lava Core, Abyss Magic Iron, Water of Life, Elemental Dust, Astral Dust, and so on. The three of them were dazzled by the options.

Heatherway’s breathing quickened, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at the wheel. In addition to the exceptionally rare materials, there were also many common items on the wheel. Compared to the rare items, the common ones occupied about ninety-five percent of the wheel. Although these common items were decent, after seeing the rare ones, the common ones seemed unappealing.

“You only have one chance to choose. Please begin now.” The Wind Djinn ignored their hesitation and snapped its fingers. An hourglass appeared out of thin air. “Make your choice before the sand runs out, otherwise, it will be considered an automatic forfeit!”

As soon as the Wind Djinn finished speaking, the hourglass began to work. Judging by the speed of the sand, it would run out in at most five minutes.

“Who will spin the wheel?” Su Lun said, feeling conflicted. He knew very well that his hidden attribute, Luck, was not high. Although he couldn’t be called unlucky, he was definitely not lucky either. If he spun the wheel, he could forget about getting any of the rare items.

“Let Heatherway do it,” Chris suggested. Clearly, as a Succubus, she did not receive the favor of the Goddess of Fortune.

“Then I’ll do it!” Heatherway said. Most Wizards did not believe in gods, but Heatherway was an exception—she believed in the Goddess of Fortune.

The Goddess of Fortune, Tyr, was a goddess of Intermediate Divinity. She and her sister, the Goddess of Misfortune, were born from the corpse of the Goddess of Opportunity, Tai Ji. Heatherway believed in Tyr for a simple reason: she often crafted various magic potions and equipment.

Whether brewing magic potions or crafting magic equipment, besides following precise procedures, luck sometimes played a crucial role. To gain blessings of good fortune, Heatherway chose to believe in Tyr. Perhaps because of her faith in Tyr, Heatherway’s luck was always better than the average person’s. However, Su Lun had not seen such good luck in other followers of Tyr.

Compared to Su Lun, letting Heatherway spin the wheel was much more reliable.

Heatherway stepped up to the wheel, looked at the item names on it, and closed her eyes. “Lady of Luck, please favor me!”

Then she spun the wheel with all her might. The wheel rotated rapidly like a windmill. Su Lun, Heatherway, and Chris stared intently at the pointer, watching the item names flash by rapidly. Their hearts raced with the spinning of the wheel.

After half a minute of spinning, the wheel finally began to slow down. One item name after another passed by, and the three of them grew increasingly nervous. Forged Iron, Magic Steel, Evening Primrose, Frost Crystal, Soul Crystal, Yellow Gemstone, Diamond—one item after another swept past the pointer.

The wheel slowed down further, steadily moving toward the area with the most precious items. Finally, the wheel entered the sections with the highest value. Their hearts tightened again as they watched incredibly rare items pass under the pointer. Su Lun grew more and more anxious.

The five percent area was very small, and in the blink of an eye, the wheel was about to finish. Seeing this, Su Lun’s heart began to sink.

Just as Su Lun was about to close his eyes and stop watching, the wheel finally came to a stop.

“Earth Crystal! It’s the Earth Crystal!” Heatherway jumped up excitedly and hugged Su Lun.

“Prize confirmed! One Earth Crystal.” The Wind Djinn announced the result and waved its hand gently. The wheel disappeared, replaced by a fist-sized, earthy-yellow crystal.

As soon as the crystal appeared, Su Lun felt the Earth Elemental Energy around them instantly become more than ten times denser. Even the gravity in the vicinity underwent a slight change.

The Earth Crystal was a special crystal formed by the fusion of Ley Line Energy and Earth Elemental. It was rare, and in the Ecological Gardens built by Wizards, the Earth Crystal was an essential material. Of course, Earth Crystals were too precious, so Wizards often used Earth Elemental Crystals as substitutes. However, the effect was far inferior compared to the Earth Crystal.

Su Lun naturally did not have the ability to build an Ecological Garden. However, the Harvest Altar blueprint he had just obtained specified that the Earth Crystal was the most critical material for constructing the Harvest Altar.

Other materials, such as Elemental Crystals, Five-Colored Soil, Rune Formations, etc., could be obtained with some time and effort. Only the Earth Crystal was indispensable. If an Earth Elemental Crystal were used as a substitute, the Harvest Altar’s effectiveness would decrease by over sixty percent, and its range of influence would be limited to the area around Northguard Keep.

Areas further away would have virtually no effect. Moreover, using Earth Elemental Crystals would require frequent replenishment, whereas the Earth Crystal did not have such issues. As a treasure nurtured by the earth, it could absorb and convert energy on its own.

Originally, Su Lun planned to build the Harvest Altar later. But now that he had obtained the Earth Crystal, he saw no reason to wait. He decided to announce the construction of this miraculous building as soon as he returned!

After returning from the dungeon space, Su Lun began working on building the Harvest Altar. According to the blueprint, the Harvest Altar required a considerable amount of space, and there was no longer enough land available in the Inner City.

To build the Harvest Altar, it had to be constructed in the Outer City area. Su Lun chose a location in the southern part of Northguard Keep, aligned with the central axis of the fortress.

Su Lun held a large blueprint, sketching and writing on it. The drawing was filled with various lines, and many areas had already been marked. The layout of various facilities was also drawn, including sewer ditches, building distribution maps, residential areas, Noble Districts, commercial areas, workshop zones, living facilities, watchtowers, and more—all clearly visible.

The city’s road planning, sewer drainage, public toilets, public baths, underground pipes, street greening, and the central square—all had specific requirements for sewer ditches, toilet distribution, urban hygiene, and street division planning.

Su Lun did not design overly complex sewer ditches. The sewers along ordinary streets were only half a meter deep and about the same width, covered with stone slabs. As for building larger sewers, Su Lun had no such intention. He did not want the sewers to turn into a monster paradise, with Kobolds or Goblins gathering inside and forming an underground kingdom.

Many cities built their sewers too large, and as a result, they were occupied by humans with ulterior motives and various wild monsters, transforming them into underground kingdoms. From what he knew, the sewers of Caren City, where he used to live, hid many secrets.

He had lived there for ten years. In the sewers of Caren City, there was a black market. Su Lun had been a frequent visitor there, often buying contraband items or selling goods that were difficult to dispose of elsewhere.

It was said that the mastermind behind that black market was a Noble from Caren City, and the big boss was most likely Count Caren. The sewers in the slums of Caren City were even more dangerous, hiding many monsters. From time to time, the City Hall would issue tasks to clear out the sewers.

Su Lun did not want his Northguard Keep to have another world operating at night. He had a strong desire for control over his Territory and would not allow such shady elements to appear in his city.

Cities in the north received less rainfall than those in the south, so there was no need to worry about flooding. The sewers did not need to be built too large; as long as the layout was reasonable, there would be no major issues.

In fact, improving urban hygiene was not difficult. In the prosperous capital of the Tang Dynasty, Chang’an, and the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianjing, they managed urban hygiene quite well. There were professionals responsible for garbage disposal every day, and shops that failed to clean the streets in front of their premises would be fined.

Urban hygiene was quite simple to manage, but in this world, over ninety percent of cities neglected it. As a result, many cities were filled with sewage, filth, and disorder. Horse manure littered the streets, and once it rained, the cities would flood severely, turning the roads muddy and swarming with rats.

Living in such an environment easily bred various diseases. Coupled with the primitive medical knowledge of this era, falling ill meant relying on one’s own resilience to recover. Nobles had the money to hire Priests and pay for disease-curing spells, but ordinary people lacked such resources. Thus, during this period, cities would flood when it rained and reek of foul odors when the sun was out. Su Lun had endured such conditions for ten years.