"Fuck! This is bad!!!"
Yeah, that skull-marked stick the elder goblin had left in front of my gate had become a huge problem.
Because of that stupid thing, not a single goblin had entered my castle for several days.
Sometimes, I could still see goblins approaching from a distance. But the moment they spotted the skull-marked stick, their expressions immediately changed. They would become cautious, whisper among themselves, and then slowly back away.
Even when I tried baiting them with delicious meat, they refused to come any closer.
Damn it!
If no goblin was willing to enter my castle anymore, how was I supposed to get my first citizen?
And more importantly...
How was I supposed to farm Points?
Eventually, however, I came up with a solution.
There was a skill I could unlock by upgrading one of my other shops.
[Upgrade Construction Shop to Level 2]
Upgrade Cost: 100 Points
Unlocks: Land Expansion, Building Construction
****
It was Land Expansion!
The idea was simple.
If I could expand my territory far enough, I could simply encompass that stupid stick within my domain and then yoink it directly into my Inventory!
At the moment, I had 256 Points.
More than enough to upgrade the Construction Shop.
Hehehe... this should work!
Without wasting any more time, I made the upgrade.
[Ding!]
[Construction Shop Upgrade Successful!]
[-100 Points]
[Construction Shop Level 2 Unlocked!]
[Skill: Land Expansion Unlocked!]
[Skill: Building Construction Unlocked!]
[Points Remaining: 156]
The upgrade went smoothly without any issues.
Feeling rather pleased with myself, I immediately checked my newly unlocked skills.
First, of course, was Land Expansion.
[Land Expansion - Level 1]
Description: Spend Points to expand your land and increase your total territory area! Each purchase expands your land, allowing you to build more structures and providing your citizens with additional living space.
Cost: 10 Points per 10 Square Meters
Expansion Limit: 0 / 1,000 Square Meters
Note: Upgrade this skill to increase your maximum expansion limit!
****
...
"Ooooh!"
"Now, this is a pretty nice skill!"
Just as I expected, it allowed me to expand my territory by up to another 1,000 square meters at Level 1. That would be a massive increase. It would practically triple the size of my current territory!
The cost was pretty expensive though. 10 Points for 10 square meters of land....
But.. haha!
At least here, in this fantasy world, I could actually afford to buy some land of my own.
But if I were still in the old world.. I probably couldn’t even afford a shitty apartment, even if I worked myself to the bone for ten years!
Anyway, with this skill, all I needed to do was expand my territory toward the front gate until the skull stick was included within my domain.
Once that happens, I should be able to retrieve it using my Inventory skill.
At least, that was what I thought.
I spent 40 Points to expand my territory by 40 square meters.
[Ding!]
[Skill Used: Land Expansion!]
[-10 Points]
[Your Land Has Increased by 10 Square Meters!]
[Ding!]
[Skill Used: Land Expansion!]
[-10 Points]
[Your Land Has Increased by 10 Square Meters!]
[Ding!]
[Your Land Has Increased by 10 Square Meters!]
[Ding!]
[Your Land Has Increased by 10 Square Meters!]
...
Then I noticed something strange.
It wasn’t working.
"Oi!"
"What the hell is this, System?!"
I was absolutely certain that I’d spent all those Points expanding the land toward my gate.
So why the hell was that skull stick still sitting there?
No matter how much I expanded my territory, the distance between the stick and my gate remained exactly the same.
Nothing changed.
Well...
Something did change.
My front yard had gotten noticeably bigger.
But that wasn’t what I wanted!
I wanted that damned stick gone!
After staring at the expanded area for a while, I finally realized what had happened.
Land Expansion wasn’t actually expanding my territory outward.
It was expanding the amount of space contained within my territory.
In other words, the System was somehow increasing the size of my domain without changing its external boundaries.
The outside world remained exactly the same.
The castle remained exactly where it was.
And that stupid skull stick remained exactly where it had been.
Only the amount of space inside my territory had increased.
Which was just...
Ridiculous!
It completely violated every law of physics I knew!
Space couldn’t just expand inward without affecting the outside world!
Right?!
"Haha! This is some freaking higher-dimensional bullshit!!!"
And yet, there it was. It was happening right in front of me. The System had apparently decided that it had its own law of physics.
So, in the end... my brilliant plan had completely failed.