Try It?

The Dry Season did not mean there was no rain.

But according to the records, when it rained in spring and summer in previous years, the Strange Entities had not turned violent and run rampant.

This also cleared up a question that had long lingered in his heart. What naturally occurring Rainy Season could possibly rain all day for an entire month?

The rain of the Rainy Season was different from ordinary spring and summer rain.

It was like...

For the moment, he could not find a fitting word to describe it.

Sleep.

The sky had just brightened. After seeing Zhou Mo off and obtaining this wraith hide, he did not delay any longer. He climbed down from the City Wall and headed for the Wooden Hut, intending to sleep. After waking up, he would still need to continue paving the road.

Build a Highway that could be traveled at night.

Whether it was used to collect tolls or serve the camp,

it would bring a hundred benefits and not a single harm.

Most importantly,

that special upgrade path gained when Eerie Fire reached Level 3 only took effect during the Rainy Season. He definitely had to use up the daily free quota. He could not waste it.

Even if he had no immediate use for it, he could build it and leave it in the warehouse for later.

There were still nearly three shichen until Eternal Night descended.

Chen Fan woke up.

He built another brand-new "Three-Wheeler," then took Qi Chong out of the camp and into Eternal Night, continuing to lay his Highway.

The vehicle traveled through the Rainy Season wilderness at an uneven speed.

Standing at the front of the vehicle, Chen Fan continuously laid down Copper Pipes, one after another, straight and end to end.

He laid the Copper Pipes one meter beneath the Wasteland's surface. This was the deepest they could be placed. Under normal circumstances, unless someone deliberately tried to destroy them, they would be difficult to damage. But even if they were damaged, it would not have much impact.

Only the damaged Copper Pipe would fail.

Eerie Fire would continue flowing through Copper Pipes connected to the "camp." So long as he built a camp at each end, then even if a section was destroyed, only that area would become unusable. It would not affect the overall situation.

It was just that...

Only he could maintain these Copper Pipes.

If the camp survived the Rainy Season and grew ever larger, he could not possibly spend every day running around maintaining buildings.

Therefore, the camp needed an additional Builder.

This Builder would not need to construct anything, only maintain the buildings.

Builders. Artifact Refiners. Alchemists. And the people beneath them who handled affairs, and so on.

To develop a faction, people were indispensable.

After the Rainy Season ended,

he would have to go to Northbank City and recruit a group of people.

But recruiting a Builder was as difficult as ascending to the heavens. It was no simple matter. He would need to plan slowly and wait for the right opportunity.

"Stationmaster."

Just then,

Qi Chong, standing on the Three-Wheeler and operating the Power Rod, wiped the sweat from his forehead. After hesitating for a long time, he finally spoke hoarsely. "There's something I haven't decided whether I should tell you."

"The night before last, I accidentally discovered that Wang Mazi's subordinate had hidden away some Eerie Stones. When he first joined the camp, he didn't turn them all in."

"..."

Chen Fan's brows creased slightly, but his hands did not stop moving.

Wang Mazi's subordinate.

He had always been inconspicuous in the camp, working honestly and dutifully. On the first night several of them joined the camp, they encountered the greatest crisis to date—the Meatworm Wraith Tide—and their Eerie Stones had nearly run out.

Little Qiu and Zhou Mo had risked their lives to leave the city and bring back Eerie Stones, maintaining the operation of the camp's Arrow Towers.

Yet Wang Mazi's subordinate had clearly possessed Eerie Stones at that time, but he had turned a blind eye and allowed Zhou Mo to leave the city with the mindset of near-certain death. His heart was truly condemnable.

Chen Fan could understand selfishness.

After all, who did not think of their own interests?

But selfishness under those circumstances was stupidity.

If the camp was destroyed, who could survive?

Wang Mazi's subordinate had now been assigned to follow Zhou Mo, responsible for collecting resources from other stations.

After a moment of silence,

Chen Fan finally continued, "Does Wang Mazi know about this?"

"Wang Mazi probably doesn't know."

"Did you tell anyone else?"

"No one."

"Good." Chen Fan nodded lightly and continued working. "I understand. Don't tell anyone else about this."

"Understood."

Qi Chong nodded heavily and continued working the Power Rod without saying another word about it. The reason he had not wanted to bring it up was mainly because he did not want to disrupt the camp's current harmonious atmosphere. Yet he also felt that such a person might one day bring disaster upon the camp.

After thinking for a long time, he had still decided that the Stationmaster should know.

After laying today's Copper Pipes,

Chen Fan and Qi Chong returned to the camp together. Beside the original farmland, Chen Fan built another Level 1 farm field and handed it over to Qi Chong to transplant the crops brought back from other stations.

Only then did he begin today's camp inspection.

Eternal Night was about to descend.

Less than one shichen remained.

"..."

Standing atop the City Wall, Chen Fan looked at the slightly dim Eerie Stone in his palm and sighed softly. Yesterday, he had asked Zhou Mo for a Cultivation Manual. With it, he could absorb Eerie Stones and increase his cultivation.

By this world's standards, he was a Level 1 Builder.

In reality, he was merely a Level 1 Cultivator with a Lord Panel.

In this world, the higher a Builder's level, the less energy they consumed when constructing buildings. They could control more energy and create higher-level structures.

The difference between him and other Builders was that

he only needed to look at the panel to construct buildings.

That was equivalent to being a max-level Builder.

Raising his own level would not improve his construction abilities in the slightest, but it could improve his physical fitness. Being a little stronger was naturally a good thing, and absorbing Eerie Stones to practice when he had nothing else to do would not hurt.

But—

the absorption speed was far too slow.

According to Zhou Mo,

for a Level 1 Cultivator to advance to Level 2, they needed to absorb roughly fifty Eerie Stones.

The exact absorption speed depended on the grade of one's Cultivation Manual and one's talent.

Zhou Mo had taken a year to advance from Level 1 to Level 2. That was with limited time to practice but an ample supply of Eerie Stones.

Chen Fan did the calculations.

If he ensured a sufficient supply of Eerie Stones and set aside several shichen each day to practice, then with the Cultivation Manual Zhou Mo had given him, he would need at least six months to absorb fifty Eerie Stones and reach Level 2.

That speed was truly not fast.

The main reason was that reaching Level 2 would not improve his physical fitness by much.

The cost-effectiveness was not high.

That was how he had thought before. He had always felt there was not much difference between Level 1 and Level 2.

However,

ever since Zhou Mo and his subordinate encountered a Doppelganger Wraith in the wilderness, Zhou Mo had returned alone while his subordinate died.

Chen Fan understood.

At a critical moment, there was still a difference between Level 1 and Level 2.

That was also why he had asked Zhou Mo for a Cultivation Manual and prepared to start practicing. Level 2 was better than Level 1, and any increase in physical fitness was still an increase.

"..."

Chen Fan suddenly thought of something. He turned around and gazed thoughtfully at the Wooden Hut beside the Eerie Fire within the city.

He had never upgraded this Wooden Hut.

After all, it was only a house to shield him from wind and rain. But perhaps he could try upgrading it?

Maybe there would be an upgrade path that increased cultivation speed or something similar?

Try it?

Try it.

Upgrading the Wooden Hut would not consume many Eerie Stones. He still had around three hundred Eerie Stones in hand. He could give it a try.

(End of Chapter)