The Imprisonment Spear

Two wooden spears lay side by side. On the surface, they were indistinguishable, practically identical.

One had been carved by Zhang Yang, and the other by Wu Yuan.

But after inspecting them with Soul Power, Zhang Yang was certain that the wooden spear he had carved was a cut above.

The reason was simple.

Wu Yuan carved wooden spears through experience, feel, and technique. He was like Butcher Ding carving an ox, able to skillfully avoid damaging most of the wood's fibrous structure, thereby ensuring that, with the same raw materials, the spear would have greater overall stability and toughness.

Zhang Yang, however, relied on Soul Power. He could clearly "see" the wooden spear's internal structure before carrying out precise cuts. He could ensure that every wood fiber remained perfectly intact, making the entire internal structure more stable.

Thus, he won without suspense.

"But I can still do better. The quality of these wooden spears' raw materials is limited. Some knots and wormholes inside them can't be avoided, so I'll have to choose the materials myself!"

Zhang Yang pondered this, then took Wu Yuan into the forest to select the materials personally.

His method was completely different from Wu Yuan's. He relied neither on his eyes nor on experience. He only needed to touch a tree with his hand and then channel Soul Power into it to understand everything clearly.

To be honest, if the deer demon weren't a formidable enemy that could appear at any moment, Zhang Yang really wanted to study this direction in depth.

Even so, his imagination still ran wild. Could he move the nurturing process even earlier? In other words, could he begin specially nurturing a tree while it was still growing, allowing it to perfectly avoid the damage caused by felling?

This idea completely captivated Zhang Yang. He even put it into practice immediately.

This experimentation lasted the entire day. During that time, his Soul Power was drained twice before he finally had Wu Yuan carefully chop the tree down and bring it back.

"My lord, this is truly miraculous. I don't know what exactly happened, or whether you cast some mysterious spell on this tree. But the tree's toughness has increased by at least twofold. It's almost comparable to ironwood."

Wu Yuan had been astonished more than once, because this completely overturned everything he knew.

Zhang Yang could only let out a smug chuckle. In truth, he didn't know the principle behind it either. But he had discovered that applying Soul Power to a growing tree, stimulating its minutest structures while consuming Soul Power, could accelerate its growth at a speed visible to the naked eye. Then, during that process, he adjusted the density of the tree's fibers with Soul Power, producing this result.

"This time, you do the carving. Be careful. This tree can produce at least ten superb wooden spears!"

Zhang Yang handed the carving task to Wu Yuan. It wasn't that he didn't want to do it himself; with his current strength, he simply couldn't carve a tree that had become as hard as steel on an extremely fine level. Rather than struggle with that, he might as well leave it to Wu Yuan, whose strength and experience were greater.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhang Yang went straight into the Wood Demon Tower and focused on restoring his Soul Power.

Early the next morning, he saw twelve wooden spears already carved, each with hardness comparable to steel. After inspecting them with Soul Power, he found that the wood fibers and internal structures were more than ninety percent intact. He had to admit, Wu Yuan was truly a monster!

Zhang Yang immediately began formally nurturing them with his soul. Even if it took extra effort now, he was determined to pursue perfection.

The entire nurturing process was simple: he repeatedly used Soul Power to wash and comb through the spear until it seemed to become part of his body. Only when he could sense it without even using Soul Power to communicate with it would the process be considered complete.

At that moment, Zhang Yang even felt an urge to throw the wooden spear and make it soar through the air like a bird.

He was certain that even though he had never learned any specific throwing techniques, he could still hit his target with one hundred percent accuracy!

Techniques and the like were completely unnecessary to him.

But in the end, Zhang Yang suppressed the impulse. He was making a higher-level magical artifact, and such an artifact needed to be placed in the hands of a powerful soldier like Wu Yuan to unleash its greatest might—not in his own.

"Bind!"

Zhang Yang solemnly cast the spell. This time, he didn't even sense the slightest obstruction before the spell succeeded. The power known as Bind began to gestate and accumulate within the wooden spear.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, five seconds—until ten seconds!

Zhang Yang sensed the limit of what the wooden spear could contain. If he continued, it would explode.

The instant he finished casting this Bind Spell, mysterious patterns appeared across the wooden spear's originally smooth surface, and even the spear's own weight doubled.

Even an ordinary person could clearly tell that this wooden spear was no ordinary object.

At the same time, information appeared before Zhang Yang's eyes.

You successfully created an intermediate magical artifact, Imprisonment Spear (View Attributes)

Imprisonment Spear, white quality, durability 1/1.

Trait: Penetration. It will cause massive damage to the target's armor/shield, while also dealing spell damage + weapon damage.

Trait: Bind. After hitting the target, it will forcibly inflict a 5–8 second soul/body binding state. The target cannot be awakened by attacks, but the effect can be dispelled by spells of other categories.

This time, Zhang Yang wasn't overly excited. He merely smiled, because he had already guessed the result. This Imprisonment Spear was ten times more powerful than the previous Imprisonment Wooden Spear, because it could pierce protective barriers.

After taking a short rest, Zhang Yang began nurturing the second wooden spear. There were only a dozen or so hours left before the village-building countdown ended, yet the deer demon still hadn't appeared.

So at this moment, he instead came up with a bold idea.

Could it be that the deer demon was waiting for him to successfully establish the village?

After all, four days had passed since the previous battle. Given the deer demon's intelligence and strength, there was no reason it still couldn't find its way to his doorstep.

But this was ultimately only a guess, because Zhang Yang couldn't figure out the deer demon's motive for doing so.

It couldn't possibly be treating this like a game. Oh, for the sake of making the game more fun, I'll deliberately increase the difficulty. That would be complete nonsense, wouldn't it?

Unable to figure it out, Zhang Yang stopped thinking about it. In any case, his confidence was growing stronger by the day.

By now, the simple fortress built by the twelve Longbowmen had already begun to take shape.

The nineteen elite soldiers practicing wooden-spear throwing were also progressing rapidly. They could already hit fixed targets with one hundred percent accuracy from within one hundred meters.

Wu Yuan had been right. These elite soldiers already possessed an excellent foundation, which was why they could produce such a miracle. After all, their average attributes were E+, making each of them roughly equivalent to five adult humans from Earth. Whether it was their nerve-reaction speed, bodily coordination, or unaided eyesight, they simply could not be judged by ordinary human standards.

Finally, with the ultimate weapon Zhang Yang had prepared for Wu Yuan, he was actually rather looking forward to the deer demon's appearance.