Behind the ancient tree, there was indeed a ladder, almost welcoming guests—or rather, welcoming the owner's spiral staircase, descending from the tree's top—it was formed by the vine naturally growing along the trunk, yet it didn't appear rough at all. Instead, it looked like it had been meticulously woven by hand—delicate and beautiful.

And the width between each step is just right. At the first glance of this ladder, you immediately know that climbing up would not require much effort. Besides, it carried with it a friendly aura, not making one doubt it's a trap.

"Should we go up?" Miss Merchant raised her head, her beautiful bangs sliding to the sides, revealing a smooth jade-like forehead. She blinked and asked Brand.

Brand looked at the others.

In the past games, he developed a habit of consulting the team players' opinions, although here, besides himself, there was hardly a single 'player.' The quiet Silver Elf Princess, although she was annoying, wouldn't defy his orders—the Wild Elf older sister, 'secretary'—or now acting as the kind of inseparable maid leader—a role unanimously recognized by Brand's subordinates. There was Little Roman and the mercenary girl Qian, who faithfully obeyed him. Several girls are actually led by him.

Brand quickly realized his habitual mistake, couldn't help but laugh and shook his head. Habits from games are indeed hard to change instantly.

The Elf Princess noticed the Lord's embarrassment, smiled lightly: "We Elves are very sensitive to the aura of nature. This tree gives me a feeling of closeness. But it isn't like spontaneous closeness; it's more like the feeling of 'home'. It seems to be inviting us to go up."

"Hmm, I actually feel it too." Brand nodded, though his words were not entirely so. To him, the relationship with this tree seemed more like a subordinated bond, as the city's core planted here is bound to him. Hence, he vaguely felt that he could control all he saw in front, even feeling he could command the spiral stairs.

This feeling was strong enough that Brand couldn't help but give a command mentally. "Retract." He ordered, and with a rustling sound—miraculously, the descending vine ladder did retract, as if the vines had suddenly come alive, all shrank back, returning to being regular plants clinging to the trunk.

"Ah." Roman exclaimed in surprise, quickly hid behind Brand.

"You can command it?" Medisha asked in astonishment.

Brand nodded, also curious, though this curiosity carried a guess. If this guess came true, then it all would be utterly astonishing.

"Let's go up and see." He said promptly.

The others, at this moment, were more or less intrigued, even Furlo with her expressionless face, couldn't help but carefully observe the newly descended vine ladder. The ladder seemed very solid, just as expected. The group climbed the spiral staircase upwards without much effort, as though this ancient tree carried them up, everyone soon reached the top of the tree trunk.

In sight was a circular small plaza, under the lush canopy, this plaza stretched about a hundred steps from one end to the other, broader than expected. Amazingly, the ground of the plaza was paved with stone tablets, not wooden as imagined, a small fountain standing at the center, the bottom filled entirely with shiny pebbles. At one side of the plaza was a hall, and its architectural style resembled those Elf houses, a pure wooden structure featuring an arch beam with a towering roof, creating a structure full of fantasy.

Everyone was astonished.

"This... city hall." Medisha recognized the structure, finally revealing an expression of disbelief: "Could this tree itself actually be a Magic Town?"

"I'm afraid you guessed right…" Brand felt hit by a massive pleasant surprise.

Indeed, originally he was only skeptical, but upon seeing this hall, he was certain beyond doubt—Valhalla was a tree, a living city—a city could grow naturally without artificial expansion, its branches and leaves sheltering the entire territory from wind and rain, making defense much easier.

It's so cool!

This was absolutely the territory Brand dreamed of, although Valhalla was still small, with the ancient trunk spanning only thirty meters, it already formed the prototype of a Magic Town. In the city hall, Brand saw the complete map of Valhalla. The map was presented on a wooden platform in the center of the hall—more like a natural tree stump, with a crystal growing from it, the entire structure of Valhalla projected within the crystal—it was hollow, with stairs from four sides of the plaza leading down to the hollow trunk.

Below was segmented into numerous rooms of various sizes, appearing as residential areas for the town's citizens and natural storage. Brand discovered this area could be converted into a barracks, or perhaps its original intention was precisely that.

In the town hall, there was also a downward path connecting to the lowest level of the trunk, housing three rooms all possessing natural Magic Pools—these Magic Pools connected beneath via the vast roots of the tree, thus continually generating magic power. Such rooms were called Magic Nests, their designated place, also convertible into Crystal Pools, or an Alchemy Laboratory (Wizard Tower).

"Three Magic Pools!" Medisha gazed at the holographic map in shock: "In such a small Magic Town, how could it only be considered a Basic Territory?!"

"Basic Territory? What's that?" The other girls puzzledly turned to the Elf Princess.

...

(PS: Network maintenance affected updates for the past few days, nearby internet cafes were down it seems too, so I couldn't notify via QQ. It seems to be 3-4 chapters missing, plus a benefit of 5 chapters total for compensation, a single day won't realistically cover it, so it will be two updates across several days, slow and steady.

Additionally, I apologize for the interruptions over the past few days, it was really an irresistible force, as Miao said, I was leading a group and got disconnected, too embarrassing, bowing in apology.)(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) for recommendations, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)