How to stop castle heart decay in V Rising

gamepur.com:

Awakened from years of slumber, players in V Rising are tasked with rebuilding the once grand reach of vampiric prowess across the land of Vandoran. Built fortifications are vulnerable to other players unless connected to, and powered by, a Castle Heart.

Castle Hearts are effectively a building which players can use to claim land within V Rising. After placing a Castle Heart, players can then begin building out from there, placing additional floors, walls, and production buildings such as the V Rising Sawmill to construct a greater variety of resources and materials. This building-block style of play, where the prior tier of buildings allows for the construct of the next tier, is the foundation of play within V Rising.

Castle Hearts must have blood essence in order to be powered, granting buildings within range both power and protection from enemy players. Not having Blood Essence within the Castle Heart will have the structures enter decay.

Players can add additional Blood Essence stacks into the Castle Heart, thus protecting the building for a longer period of time, by upgrading the Castle Heart with unique materials. Once all Blood Essence runs out, the castle enters decay and is unprotected from enemies — meaning opponents can come and steal all of your hard-earned loot.

Blood Essence in itself is rather simple to gain. As a vampire game, blood in V Rising plays a central role to many of the mechanics. Eliminating other humanoid creatures (meaning alive) will result in a net gain of Blood Essence, which can then be turned into a great many number of things, depending on how far along players are regarding tech tiers.

Whether players are trying to create Greater Blood Essence or simply trying to ensure their castle