Zerg Armory, Liberate the First Research Unit!

The voice, laden with threats, seemed to carry a hint of enigmatic allure, scaring Charles into abandoning the idea of continuing to listen to the Serpent Emperor's message.

He felt his lips twitch involuntarily; that damn woman was undoubtedly using some profound power to probe the listener's mental state.

Charles could guarantee that if he had listened to the entire warning, the Serpent Emperor Yggdrasil would have descended upon his Zerg territory in the next second and wiped out the entire Serene Forest with a mere wave of her hand!

Unlike the beginner's regional channel, the global server channel was a treacherous arena. A moment of carelessness could easily invite disaster, leading to an inexplicable death in some unknown corner.

"Serpent Emperor Yggdrasil, huh? You forbid me from touching your sister, now I'm even more determined to do just that!"

"Damn it, if I don't make that slutty bitch roll her eyes in ecstasy tonight, then let your snake clan boast about their resilience!"

Having vented some of his fear, Charles resumed his observation.

Since the Serpent Emperor was present, it indicated that this was the grand domain of the Serpent Empire... What was this domain called again?

...

In the Palace of the Serpent Empire, located in the Land of Turmoil, a breathtakingly beautiful woman sat cross-legged on a cushion, dressed in a silk nightgown.

Her appearance bore a striking resemblance to Medusa, except her tail was a pale green hue.

She was Medusa's sister, now the Serpent Emperor—Yggdrasil.

Suddenly, Yggdrasil slowly opened her eyes, her vertical pupils brimming with fury and resentment. Just a little more, and she would have pinpointed the location of that bastard!

Charles had largely guessed right, but he still underestimated the Serpent Emperor's capabilities.

In reality, she didn't need him to listen to the entire message, even half of it was enough for Yggdrasil to lock onto his position.

It was precisely because that cunning brat, Charles, had abruptly severed their connection that Yggdrasil now found herself in a state of exasperation.

"You wretched boy, if you dare lay a finger on Medusa, I... I will skin you alive!" she muttered through gritted teeth, as if some catastrophic event would be triggered the moment Medusa lost her purity.

That perfect face seemed to be lost in some sort of reverie, and Yggdrasil unconsciously extended her delicate tongue, just like she was swallowing a man's large penis, her eyes filled with a dreamy yet lascivious expression...

"Damn bastard!" Yggdrasil's body trembled violently, shattering all the glass in the palace in an instant. The terrifying aura spread throughout the entire Serpent Empire.

The serpent people of the empire couldn't help but kneel and kowtow, seemingly praying for their Empress's wrath to subside.

The Empress's temper had been getting worse and worse. She seemed to get angry almost every day now. It all started about a week ago...

In the royal bedchamber, Yggdrasil's flawless, delicate body trembled with rage, faintly revealing the smooth, pale skin beneath her nightgown.

Upon her tender, ample buttocks, a purple serpent mark appeared intermittently, flickering in and out of sight.

In the end, Yggdrasil never comprehended why her sister had managed to lift the dark curse she had personally cast, nor did she understand how the poison of fate, which she believed to have been dealt with, had returned to afflict her in a different guise.

It clung to her like a parasite, fueling her growing resentment towards Medusa and the Overlord who had subdued her.

...

In the Serene Forest, inside the Zerg Hive.

Charles, along with the two women, had returned to the center of the hive. Looking at the ever-improving hive, he smiled and said, "Catherine, Medusa, today is the day our territory advances to the gold level."

"Are you excited?"

The two women nodded vigorously, their eyes occasionally darting to their master's large penis, nodding fervently.

They were beyond excited!

Seeing this, Charles nodded in satisfaction. This was exactly how it should be—hope for the future was the key to going further!

Without further ado, he retrieved a large amount of information from the global server channel out of the system space and began the territory upgrade.

Upgrading the lower-tier Heart of the Overlord still required a fixed higher-tier Heart of the Overlord. This time, the conditions included five thousand tons of wood, ten thousand tons of iron ore, and two sources of magic.

These items were not rare on the global server channel. Merely selling a few skill books could suffice to gather them.

Thanks to the game-changing global server channel, the difficulty of collecting resources this time was even less than before...

After about half an hour, the upgrade to the gold-level Zerg Hive was complete, and this time, the upgrade brought some new features.

[Gold-Level Zerg Hive]

[Type: Territory]

[Range: Covers an area within a ten-kilometer radius]

[Attributes: Resource abundance within a hundred kilometers increased by sixty percent. Combat effectiveness of all Zerg units within the territory doubled!]

[Exclusive Skills: Zerg Production Line, Sub-Hive Establishment]

Previously, Charles had been troubled by the instability caused by the proximity of the Land of the Dead, but this epic upgrade introduced the function to establish sub-hives.

In other words, when the Land of the Dead launches a full-scale invasion of the Serene Forest, he can establish a sub-hive in an external region and transfer the main hive's data and authority there, effectively relocating his territory.

Territory relocation is a headache even for many diamond-level Overlords, not to mention hero-level ones.

And this time, as expected, the system announcement arrived.

[Congratulations to Overlord No. 1 for officially becoming a gold-level Overlord. From now on, the Overlord can independently decide whether to stay in or leave the world outside Serene Forest, marking the first step towards becoming a powerful entity!]

[Rewards: Zerg Mark (from now on, the Zerg race will gain lawful residency on the Continent of Overlord), Zerg Incubation Armory]

The first announcement was published on the regional channel, while the latter was privately sent to Charles.

The explanation for the Zerg Mark was quite clear: from now on, the Zerg race had been legitimized on the Continent of Overlord.

Otherwise, with their terrifying and ghastly appearance, many meddlesome do-gooders would seek to eradicate them.

However, once they received the Continent of Overlord's mark, it signified that they were part of the in-group. Should any internal conflict arise, the will of the Continent of Overlord would intervene to mediate.

As for the armory that followed...

Charles skimmed through the details, a smile of delight appearing on his face.

This armory was essentially a facility that could fully automate the programming of unit types. By having the Zerg Queen, who serves as the chief programmer, set fixed routines within it, the armory would then autonomously program Zerg eggs by absorbing nutrients from the fungal mat.

In a certain sense, this could be seen as the will of the Continent of Overlord acknowledging Catherine's talents.

After all, she alone had created two high-level Zerg prototypes and was a renowned scholar in the application of magical attributes to Zerg. How could she be expected to perform such tedious and unrewarding tasks?

She should focus more on her research!

Ideally, she would advance Zerg studies to such an extent that they could withstand any encroaching darkness.

Charles conveyed the gist of this to Catherine, who was equally ecstatic.

Previously, whenever she accompanied her master into battle, she had to leave a clone of the Queen at home, which invariably halved her combat effectiveness.

The creation of this armory completely unlocked a new task module for her as the Zerg Queen.

Instead of having to program Zerg eggs while also conducting genetic research, she could now primarily focus on genetic research while the production line took care of Zerg incubation.

This effectively liberated the primary research force of the Zerg, enabling her to fight alongside Medusa on equal footing.

One excelling in intellect, the other in combat—it was perfect.

Of course, today's surprises extended far beyond this. After Charles finished explaining, he placed the Zerg Armory adjacent to the hive.

Before Catherine could eagerly volunteer to record the genetic sequences, Charles smirked wickedly, saying, "I heard that you two little slave girls have some issues with your master..."

"Catherine, is the training room ready? Your master intends to have a little fun with you two naughty slaves tonight."

Otherwise, wouldn't these two lascivious slave girls just die of frustration?

The two women shivered upon hearing this.

Catherine stammered, "Master, the training room is all set up. Not only does it have the training tools you like, but Medusa also brought some specialized high-combat training equipment from the old Serpentfolk site. We hope you'll be gentle with us tonight~"