The Space Garrison Gets a Major Upgrade

Argus looked determined. He absolutely refused to budge.

Shawn did some figuring. One hundred and twenty Naga scales could sell for 60 gold coins, which definitely wasn't a small amount. After all, a set of eight Lightforge pieces had sold for 800 gold. Even if they'd been sold cheap, they could've fetched 1,000 gold at most, right? That was a little over 120 gold per piece. Argus was making scale armor, and the scales alone wouldn't be enough; he'd need to add other materials, too. He had to make some money on it...

By that reckoning, 60 gold was a fair price!

So Shawn nodded. "Fine, let's do that. What about these two Naga claws, and this Naga hide..."

Now that they'd settled on a price for the scales, Argus seemed much more relaxed. He chuckled. "I'll give you 10 gold for each Naga claw. Trust me, that's not a small amount. As for this Naga hide, honestly, I don't have much use for it. I'd have to turn around and sell it to a leatherworker, and I don't know the going rate... How about 10 gold for that, too?"

Shawn quickly shook his head. "No way! It's a whole Naga hide. How could it be worth the same as one claw? Are you taking advantage of me because I'm young? 20 gold, at least!"

Argus hesitated for ten seconds, then gritted his teeth. "All right, kid. For the sake of Old Saldean and old Grian, I'll do business with you! Sixty gold for the Naga scales, 20 gold for the two Naga claws, 20 gold for the hide, and don't bother counting the Murloc scales. There are too many to count, so I'll give you 10 gold for the lot! That's 110 gold altogether!"

A cartload of Murloc scales definitely didn't amount to 100,000 of them. At one copper each, 100 would make one silver, and 10,000 would make one gold. He'd made a killing!

Shawn immediately decided that Argus was the nicest person in the world. They closed the deal on the spot, and then he drove the cart back to the Lion's Pride Inn.

He didn't know that as soon as he was gone, Argus broke into a sly grin.

"Brat, what do you know? These high-grade Naga scales are worth at least one gold each! One hundred and twenty scales could make at least two sets of scale armor, and each set would sell for 200 gold! Those two Naga claws could be made into a pair of punching daggers worth at least 100 gold. The Naga hide would fetch at least 50 gold from a leatherworker. I made at least 200 gold on this deal. That's as much as old Grian made on those 500 Guard Sets. What a sweet little brat..."

"Come by often, kid!"

Shawn had no idea Argus had swindled him. He still thought that even if he hadn't gotten a bargain, at least he hadn't sold everything for too little.

After driving the cart back to the Lion's Pride Inn, Shawn immediately went to find Old Saldean and asked where he could buy leather, lumber, and stone.

Old Saldean assumed Shawn really intended to build a house himself, which was why he was asking. He planned to introduce Shawn to an engineer in Goldshire as an apprentice, and figured Shawn wanted to familiarize himself with the prices first. Once he'd learned the trade and become a real engineer, he could earn money, settle down in Goldshire, and build a house of his own...

Needless to say, Old Saldean was overthinking it.

In any case, thanks to his many years of connections, Old Saldean really did know quite a few people in those trades. He even knew plenty of carpenters and stonemasons, and enthusiastically told Shawn about them one by one.

"Shawn, if you're going to live in Goldshire, make sure you get on good terms with these people. They'll look after you for my sake. Tomorrow, I'll take you to meet Old Harry, an Engineering expert. He's the best engineer around here..."

Shawn nodded again and again. Once Old Saldean had finished, Shawn left and went straight to meet his friend, buying a large quantity of leather, ore, and lumber. Then he hid in his room and began converting it.

After converting 10 points of Garrison Resources, Shawn immediately built a Portal of Time and Space and entered a new instance, "Redridge Mountains." He didn't even try to clear it. Instead, he started converting Garrison Resources like crazy. After all, converting Garrison Resources inside an instance didn't consume mental energy, though Shawn had no idea why.

Soon, Shawn had converted everything into Garrison Resources. Then he entered the Space Garrison and selected the Town Hall for construction.

Level 1 Town Hall, under construction. Construction time: 1 day.

That day, Shawn couldn't bring himself to do anything. He was completely caught up in anticipation. He could barely eat or sleep, and he grew visibly haggard.

It wasn't until he heard a pleasant notification chime that Shawn entered the Space Garrison once again, his face alight with joy. "Ding!"

Level 1 Town Hall construction complete. Congratulations, Commander! The Space Garrison has successfully advanced to Level 1, unlocking 1 large plot, 2 medium plots, and 3 small plots.

Notification: Large plots can be used to build large garrison structures, medium plots can be used to build medium garrison structures, and small plots can be used to build small garrison structures.

Unlocked fixed garrison structures: Fishing Shack, Herb Garden, Lunarfall Excavation, and Pet Menagerie. To learn more, please inspect the Space Garrison.

Unlocked garrison building missions. Starting today, garrison building missions will be assigned at random. Completing missions will reward you with Building Blueprints, garrison upgrade plans, garrison speed-up plans, and more. For details, please check the mission interface.

Unlocked follower interface. Starting today, the Commander can acquire followers through various means. For details, please check the follower interface.

Unlocked ship interface. Starting today, the Commander can obtain ship designs, ship component designs, and more by completing garrison building missions. For details, please check the ship interface.

The successive notifications left Shawn completely stunned.

It took him quite a while to calm down. Then Shawn hurriedly inspected the Space Garrison.

The previously barren Space Garrison now had ten plots, each surrounded by a ring of light.

Four of the largest circles belonged to the Fishing Shack, Herb Garden, Lunarfall Excavation, and Pet Menagerie. One slightly smaller circle was for a large building. The next two, which were a little smaller, were for medium buildings. The three smallest were for small buildings.

Each building inside the circles required the corresponding Building Blueprint before it could be constructed.

The Building Blueprints for all four fixed garrison structures—the Fishing Shack, Herb Garden, Lunarfall Excavation, and Pet Menagerie—were already available. He only needed to invest the required Garrison Resources to build them.

The Fishing Shack required 100 points of lumber and 100 points of stone. Once built, it would create a Fishing Shack and a lake. Various types of fish would reproduce in the lake on their own, and he could catch fresh fish and shrimp by fishing. Besides fish and shrimp, fishing could also turn up all sorts of unexpected items.

The Herb Garden required 100 points of lumber and 100 points of stone. Once built, it would create a small herb garden where all sorts of extraordinary herbs could be grown.

Lunarfall Excavation required 100 points of lumber and 100 points of stone. Once built, it would create a small excavation site where all kinds of ore could be mined.

The Pet Menagerie required 100 points of stone and 100 points of lumber. Once built, it would create a pet menagerie where loyal pets could be trained to fight for him.

The large building, two medium buildings, and three small buildings could only be built once he'd obtained their plans through missions.

And right now, Shawn had a Building Blueprint for a small building: the Golem Factory.