28: The Tasmanian Monster Strikes Again

It was a Magic Bean that could set up powerful magic traps, far more potent than my crude, entry-level Hunter Trap.

However, these traps didn't distinguish between friend and foe, so they had to be used with extreme caution.

Sphere Professor used his Mage Hand to levitate himself in mid-air, and together we selected six key locations in the yard.

I carefully planted each Magic Bean, then had the Dragon King spew clear water to irrigate them one by one.

Just one minute later, green plants successively broke through the soil.

Under the sunlight, their verdant leaves swayed gently in the wind, giving no hint that these seemingly ordinary green plants were, in fact, deadly magic traps.

However, each plant was only about 2 feet tall and 1 foot in diameter, making their coverage area a bit small.

But fortunately, my Hunter Trap skill could expand the sensing range of this type of magic trap.

The effective coverage area of the Magic Bean trap was a spherical region with a radius of about three meters.

I meticulously set up a trigger mechanism outside the two-meter radius, centered on each Magic Bean, using tools like spider silk and branches.

Once an animal broke the spider silk or snapped a branch, it would activate the Magic Bean's magic trap.

If wild beasts intruded into the inner yard, I could also instantly fill the entire yard with mist, increasing their chances of triggering the traps.

There were still four Magic Beans left in the Bag of Magic Beans, so I put them, along with the bag, into my system space.

After finishing all this, I checked the system information—

The bottom structure of the Wizard Shack had been assimilated and transformed by the system within one hour of its completion, upgrading the entire building to a "Stable Wizard Shack."

Anchor point stability increased from the original 0.1% to 0.3%.

The protective force field was enhanced:

Where there were physical objects, in theory, they would not be destroyed by any force before the system energy was exhausted, unless the external force instantly exceeded 6 tons (a comprehensive conversion value of all physical forces, magical energy, and other forms of energy);

Where there were no physical objects, such as doorways and holes, the protective force field was weaker, and an external destructive force instantly exceeding 0.6 tons could break through the force field's defense in these areas.

Improving the integrity of the building, and changing its structure and materials, could all increase the upper limit of the protective force field's defense.

Currently, the Wizard Shack and system space could absorb trace amounts of magical energy from the Prime Material Plane and the Planar Interstice, respectively.

Reduced system energy dissipation rate by 0.00012%.

Only by upgrading the Wizard Shack to a higher-level building mode as soon as possible could the energy dissipation be further reduced.

…

The numerical values directly reflected that the shack, with its added foundation, immediately became much stronger.

We returned inside the shack and began to rearrange the furniture.

Although the space was still very small, the ground, paved with fine white sand, was flat and smooth, appearing exceptionally clean and tidy.

In the afternoon, I continued to cut branches to build the fence.

The trees that had been shrouded in mist for a long time would likely not survive, so I decided to cut them down first.

To prevent the area near the shack from looking too abrupt, I had the mist create green, tree-shaped dense fog in the places where the branches and leaves used to be abundant.

From a distance, it looked as if those trees and branches were still there, only that this place was perpetually covered in an unmoving mist.

During breaks from my labor, I would stop to rest and listen to the Professor's lectures.

Afterward, I would continue with the logging work. The Professor also used his Mage Hand to pick up an axe and join me, speeding up the cutting.

The Dragon King, meanwhile, was sent to patrol the sky as a lookout.

"Thump, thump… thump, thump… thump, thump…"

The diligent sound of logging was interrupted.

The Dragon King reported that yesterday's Tass Creatures were approaching our location.

The Professor and I immediately stopped logging and returned inside the shack.

I picked up the mist crystal and filled the entire inner courtyard with mist, excluding the inside of the shack.

Then, I had the Professor grip a short sword with his Mage Hand and guard the area around the shack.

As for me, I equipped my bow and arrows and, with the Dragon King, went to the edge of the fence, ready to attack any Tass Creatures that might break in.

Eighteen Tass Creatures, large and small, were in that squad, each holding a long spear, and some of them had tattered rags hanging from their bodies.

As they approached and saw the large patch of dense mist in the forest, they were clearly somewhat bewildered.

At this time of year, localized dense mist that lingered for so long defied their common sense.

One Tass Creature, seemingly the leader, chattered with its companions for a while, then dispatched two of them to scout ahead into the mist.

Soon after entering the mist, these two Tass Creatures, one after the other, lost their sense of direction and began to wander in circles within the mist.

Now, all they could see was endless mist; they couldn't see me and the Dragon King, who were more than ten meters away.

"Excellent!" I thought to myself. If the Tass Creatures could be completely blocked by the mist, then I wouldn't have to worry too much about the shack being besieged in the future.

But having this group of Tass Creatures constantly blocking the area outside the mist wasn't a good thing either.

After pondering for a while, I returned to the shack and used the mist crystal to open a passage for those two Tass Creatures to the outside.

However, I found that this group of Tass Creatures not only didn't retreat, but more of them, at the leader's command, rushed into the mist.

One of the Tass Creatures lay on the grass, sniffing its nose, beginning to search for my scent.

With the disturbance of the mist, my scent was greatly diluted.

But this special Tass Creature didn't take long to lead another six Tass Creatures slowly towards the direction of the courtyard gate.

"What a dog's nose," I muttered to myself.

When they walked into the mist hand in hand, led by the scent-tracking Tass Creature, they actually headed straight for the gap in the courtyard gate.

I had only built part of the fence, and the courtyard gate was still just a gap.

"Damn it, I told you to leave, but you wouldn't! Aren't you just slow-moving targets? Let me show you what I can do!" I cursed these ungrateful beasts under my breath.

I quickly walked into the courtyard, drew an arrow, nocked it, and aimed for the eye of the pathfinding Tass Creature.

With a "whoosh," the arrow flew through the air, hitting my target squarely.

That Tass Creature twitched a few times and then stopped moving.

The other six Tass Creatures panicked upon seeing their leading companion die.

Some wanted to continue forward, others wanted to retreat.

Soon, the six Tass Creatures, scattered in their panic, began to circle individually in the mist.

However, one of the Tass Creatures seemed to have a very sensitive sense of smell as well.

After calming down, it began to grope its way alone, continuing to walk into the courtyard.

I drew another arrow, aimed at it, and with a "whoosh," shot an arrow.