Chapter 28
**You have obtained the architectural blueprint for the "Well of Origins."**
The Well of Origins?
The Well of Origins!
How could I have received this building?!
Upon receiving the system notification, Ye Bai's expression shifted from anticipation to disbelief, leaving her frozen in place, overwhelmed by the incredible news.
At that moment, her state was not much different from when she had seen the advertisement for "Wanjie" in the sky as she exited the laboratory.
The Well of Origins was not supposed to appear in this version of "Wanjie."
It was indeed a legendary building, extremely important and precious, but it had not been included in the current version's "Legendary Building Deluxe Package."
The Well of Origins belonged to the next major version of the "Wanjie" project, specifically in the expansion pack "Shattered Divine Court."
"Shattered Divine Court" was a story set in another large map, accessible only after the third class advancement, a high-level map that, while not yet in the 'New Folder,' was still in the planning stages, slated for a future version after the next public test.
In fact, the core code for the map and NPC behaviors in the expansion pack existed solely on Ye Bai's personal computer!
In the version of "Wanjie" that Ye Bai was familiar with, there should only be buried hints regarding the Shattered Divine Court.
The most typical example was the origin of each player's identity as a "Blood of the Gods" — every player was born in a damaged teleportation array, equipped with a Void Gate (dungeon key) that allowed them to obtain the Seed of Creation, signifying their status as outsiders. The process of growing stronger, gaining talents every five levels, and enhancing their divine blood was a journey toward divine power.
In the worldview of "Wanjie," countless small worlds were like a string of bubbles merged together, with the source of all bubbles being the Divine Realm, the largest bubble. On a data level, each individual bubble represented a server, while the Divine Realm was a special public server prepared for the future, where players from all servers could enter and exit with their character data.
In the background setting, "Shattered Divine Court," as the name suggested, depicted the Divine Realm in a state of collapse due to the wars among powerful deities. Players were the descendants seeking refuge from the Divine Realm, who could return after growing stronger, choosing to change, save, or destroy that world.
If the primary enjoyment of the first major version of "Wanjie" was management, the second version was about fantastical adventures, reclaiming power for oneself. Coupled with unique world mechanics, both lord and non-lord players could find new joys, with the crucial point being that players' actions could genuinely influence the direction of that world.
The Well of Origins would appear in the expansion pack "Shattered Divine Court" as a special spectacle called the "Void Corridor," which refreshed every month outside major cities.
This was a ladder-style dungeon where players had to fight their way through to reach the final destination, the Well of Origins, and enter the shattered Divine Realm.
However, the energy of the Well of Origins was limited, meaning that only the top one hundred players from each world (server) could enter at a time.
This special building was naturally of golden mythic quality, yet it clearly should not appear in the list of legendary buildings available to lords, even if only one could be constructed — it wouldn’t be right for any lord to charge admission for it, would it?
...Was this a bug? Ye Bai didn’t know. All she knew was that the "Wanjie" before her was becoming increasingly complex and far from what she had known.
What made Ye Bai's heart race even more was the construction materials for the Well of Origins:
- Source Energy Crystal x100
- Divine Essence x1
The "Divine Essence" was a legendary material that could only be obtained by defeating targets with the "Divine Being" identity. Monsters with such a designation only appeared in the Divine Realm map and were all boss-level targets; elite monsters simply didn’t qualify, making it exceedingly difficult to acquire.
But... Ye Bai happened to have a "Philosopher's Stone" that could substitute for any material.
“…”
Ye Bai fell silent for a moment, not immediately constructing this precious legendary building.
Though it might sound paranoid, the numerous coincidences gave her an inexplicable feeling of being 'set up.'
Moreover, the 100 Source Energy Crystals required for construction were not currently available in her territory's reserves. Ye Bai had planned to save them for trading with the traveling merchant when they arrived.
...
On the fourth game day since the market was established, while Ye Bai was at the blacksmith shop checking out a new batch of equipment, she suddenly heard the villagers outside gasping in surprise.
“Hmm?”
Stepping outside, Ye Bai saw the villagers looking up at the sky. Intrigued, she followed their gaze.
Sure enough, she spotted a massive hot air balloon slowly drifting over her territory, clearly aiming to land in the residential area’s market.
Ye Bai's heart leaped: the traveling merchant had arrived!
There was a reward for using the "Traveling Merchant" policy card for the first time, and the arrival of the traveling merchant was swift, likely bringing good items.
Indeed, the details of "Wanjie" were logically designed; until trade routes were explored, even system-arranged merchants could not 'walk' into the territories of wilderness lord players. If a wandering merchant could simply stroll in, wouldn’t that make it easy to find a safe trade route?
Thus, traveling merchants traveled by hot air balloon between cities.
As Ye Bai approached the market, she spotted a middle-aged man in colorful clothing, carrying a bundle on his back as he descended from the hot air balloon.
Ye Bai's eyes were drawn to that bundle, but alas—
In "Wanjie," there was no setting for 'untouchable characters'; players could act as ruthless marauders.
For instance, if one were to kill the traveling merchant, they could 'purchase' all the items in his backpack for zero cost, even acquiring the hot air balloon itself.
However, the price to pay would be steep.
All towns that had trade relations with the traveling merchant would reduce their favorability toward the player and their territory by 50. This would directly lead to the player being classified as hostile if they failed to raise that town's favorability to 50, resulting in being hunted down by the town guards before even entering the territory.
For territory players, the territory reputation that would only show after opening external trade routes would also decrease by 100. Even if they continued to equip policy cards later, the traveling merchant would no longer visit their territory. The worst part was that even if normal trade routes were established in the future, the time interval for all external merchants arriving at the territory would triple, and the overall item level they carried would drop by one tier.
This was a price that any player serious about managing their territory could not afford, so the marvelous bag of the traveling merchant, larger than the upgraded space backpack, was something regular players could only covet from afar.
As Ye Bai reached the market, just like the other villagers, without any need for further introduction, the traveling merchant immediately recognized her lord status:
“Hello, esteemed Lord! I am a traveling merchant. Is there anything in your territory you wish to trade with me?”
With a flick of his wrist, Ye Bai's view expanded, revealing thirty slots filled with various items of different levels, dazzling and overwhelming.
---
The traveling merchant was indeed a traveling merchant; in the three rows of slots before Ye Bai, the lowest-level items were all green-quality goods. Starting from the second row, blue-quality rare items appeared, including semi-processed foods, crop seeds, minerals, heavy gears, and at the very end, three purple items. Besides two pieces of equipment, there was also a blueprint!
Ye Bai's gaze was immediately drawn to that purple blueprint.
It was a blueprint! She had to buy it!
Without even needing to check the details, Ye Bai made her decision. She was all too aware of how low the drop rate for blueprints was in "Wanjie." Although she had two blueprints since establishing her territory, those were rewards from a level 0 solo nightmare dungeon, and the final boss dropping a golden blueprint was merely a stroke of luck.
Other players typically obtained blueprints from defeating monsters, and one could only imagine how low the chances were.
Traveling merchants didn’t always carry blueprints either; the probability was equally low, and the prices were steep.
After seeing the detailed description of the blueprint, Ye Bai gasped in astonishment.
**[Energy Crossbow Blueprint]**
Table of Contents
