Qualitative Transformation

Inside the Wooden Hut.

Chen Fan sat beside the stove, gazing at the light rain outside. Back when he had been trying to save resources, the core area within the walls had been made somewhat small. As the camp developed, space was already beginning to run short; there was barely room even for the Arrow Towers. In a few days, it would be time to increase the area.

Only then did he begin tallying last night's gains.

Several pieces of Ghost Material, including Monkey Hide and Mantis Arm.

A total of 478 Eerie Stones.

Of those, the female wraith had contributed ten Level 2 Eerie Stones, worth one hundred Eerie Stones.

Three Exotic Treasures.

Construction blueprints were exceedingly rare among Exotic Treasures, and the blueprint in his hands now, thin as a cicada's wing, was a brand-new construction blueprint.

-

"Exotic Treasure Name": Altar.

"Exotic Treasure Grade": White.

"Exotic Treasure Effect": An altar can be constructed with this. Injuries can be healed within the altar.

-

"Heal injuries?"

Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully. It was a very useful building, and one the camp currently lacked. No one in the camp had been injured last night.

Only Zhou Mo had suffered minor injuries after repeatedly confronting the Strange Entities head-on, blood seeping from his tiger's mouth. It was nothing serious.

The construction cost was not expensive, either.

It only required ten Eerie Stones.

He would build it inside the city later.

There was increasingly insufficient space within the city. There were the Wooden Hut, Watchtower, Sacrificial Tower, and now another altar. He needed to upgrade the Eerie Fire as soon as possible to expand the camp's range, then extend another ring of City Wall outward.

But—

This expenditure would not be small.

He needed to finish testing the cart as soon as possible, then have Zhou Mo head to the abandoned stations on the Wasteland and bring back the Eerie Stones from those stations.

He looked at the remaining two Exotic Treasures in his hand.

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"Exotic Treasure Name": Torch.

"Exotic Treasure Grade": White.

"Exotic Treasure Effect": A one-use Exotic Treasure. Once lit, it can last for six hours and possesses the effect of Level 1 Eerie Fire. Its illumination range is one meter in diameter.

-

A portable version of Eerie Fire.

It could be somewhat useful outside the Rainy Season, but during the Rainy Season, its use was greatly diminished.

During the Rainy Season, Strange Entities could easily charge into the Eerie Fire Safety Zone in their savage frenzy.

The final Exotic Treasure.

It was also the most valuable item among this haul. It had been dropped by the female wraith, a green-grade Exotic Treasure.

A piece of hide.

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"Exotic Treasure Name": Wraith Hide.

"Exotic Treasure Grade": Green.

"Exotic Treasure Effect": A special piece of Wraith Hide that must be watered with a Human-Blood Wraith Flower before it can reveal itself.

-

"..."

Chen Fan frowned slightly as he looked at the palm-sized piece of Wraith Hide in his hand. It looked immensely ancient, and he could faintly sense the marks left by the passage of time. He did not know what a "Human-Blood Wraith Flower" was, nor did he know where to obtain one.

He could only put it away for now.

He would deal with it once he found one in the future.

After the Rainy Season ended.

He definitely had to visit Northbank City. Staying on the Wasteland left him far too cut off from information.

But—

A Builder's strength was only displayed within his own camp.

If he went to someone else's territory.

In terms of physical strength, he definitely could not beat those Cultivators.

As for external methods.

He could indeed quickly construct several Arrow Towers. Cultivators were almost incapable of confronting a Builder's city-defense structures head-on unless their levels utterly crushed his. Even Zhou Mo, a Level 2 Cultivator, could be easily killed instantly by a single bolt from a Level 1 Arrow Tower.

But the few Arrow Towers he constructed temporarily would certainly not compare to the city-defense structures others had operated on their territories for so long.

If he wanted to go to Northbank City while ensuring his own safety, he would need to plan it carefully. But for now, he first had to survive the Rainy Season.

In a daze.

He lay down on the wooden bed and fell asleep.

"Rumble, rumble."

The sound of flowing water faintly echoed. It was the sound of the "2.0 Heating System" operating outside the city. Outside, it was cold, damp, and bone-chilling, while inside, it was comparatively warm and dry.

Three hours before Eternal Night descended.

Chen Fan woke up.

After washing up simply, he got to his feet, stretched lazily, and walked out of the Wooden Hut, preparing to raise the camp's strength further.

He currently had a total of 795 Eerie Stones. He first went to the Eerie Fire inside the city to check last night's Eerie Stone consumption. When the Eerie Fire had risen to Level 2, one of the upgrade effects he had chosen was reducing the attack consumption of city-defense buildings within the camp.

A total of seventeen Eerie Stones had been consumed last night.

Most of them had been consumed by Arrow Rain Storm.

He took out another seventeen Eerie Stones and replenished the Eerie Stones in the Eerie Fire to fifty.

Then he took out another fifty Eerie Stones and raised the Eerie Fire to Level 3.

The next moment—

A panel popped up before him.

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"Eerie Fire has risen to Level 3. The Safety Zone has expanded to a diameter of 50 meters, and its deterrence against Strange Entities has strengthened."

"Please choose an upgrade direction."

"1: Safety Zone expands to 100 meters."

"2: Deterrence against Ghost Beings strengthens to a certain extent."

"3: Qualitative transformation. The single construction cost of all buildings in the camp -1 Eerie Stone. This effect can be used 10,000 times per day and only takes effect during the Rainy Season (Rare)."

-

"..."

Chen Fan stared blankly at the panel before him. Previous upgrade panels had always featured black text on a white background, rather plain and simple.

But among this upgrade's options.

The first two lines were likewise black text.

The third line had become flashing text glowing with seven-colored light, looking extraordinarily eye-catching.

If he had understood correctly.

This third upgrade direction did not appear every time every Eerie Fire rose to Level 3. Rather, it was something that appeared with a small probability. Among the upgrade directions obtained when buildings leveled up, there was an extremely small chance of receiving a relatively rare upgrade direction.

In other words, a "qualitative transformation."

As he looked at the third upgrade direction, his breathing gradually quickened.

The single construction cost of all buildings in the camp would be reduced by one Eerie Stone.

It sounded rather useless.

After all, one meter of City Wall required twenty Eerie Stones. Reducing it by one merely meant nineteen Eerie Stones, hardly any change at all.

But for something like a Beast Trap, which required two Eerie Stones to construct, reducing one Eerie Stone meant it only required one.

That was equivalent to halving the cost.

Most importantly—

Copper Pipe.

This building module component only required one Eerie Stone to construct per meter.

Under this effect, it was equivalent to being free.

Construction without cost.

It could be used ten thousand times per day, which meant—

He could construct ten thousand one-meter Copper Pipes every day at no cost.

Though it only worked during the Rainy Season, it was already more than absurd enough.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately chose the third upgrade direction. This upgrade direction would raise the camp's strength on an epic scale.

"..."

On the City Wall.

Chen Fan rested both hands on the battlement and looked at the Safety Zone, now expanded to fifty meters. Ambition burned in his eyes. Feeling the chilly drizzle seep into him, he could not help but break into a grin.

By now, he had developed several uses for Copper Pipe.

One of them was extending the range of the Safety Zone. It could allow Eerie Fire to flow through Copper Pipe, thereby expanding the Safety Zone's range. Originally, it would have taken him a long time to fully utilize this effect, since it also consumed quite a few Eerie Stones.

But now—

He had a new plan.

The straight-line distance across the Wasteland from Flat City to Northbank City was 170 kilometers.

During the Dry Season.

Countless merchant caravans, Cultivators, hunters, and others traveled back and forth between the two cities, using camels, horses, and the like as transportation.

They traveled by day.

At night, they camped at nearby stations.

Only after several days could they cross the Wasteland.

(End of chapter)