Inside the Wooden Hut.
Chen Fan sat beside the Furnace, gazing at the drizzle outside. To conserve resources, he had originally made the core area inside the Enclosing Wall rather small. As the Camp developed, space had begun to grow tight, with barely enough room for the Arrow Towers. In a few days, it would be time to expand.
Only then did he begin tallying last night's gains.
A quantity of ghost materials, including Monkey hides and mantis arms.
478 Eerie Stones in total.
The Female Wraith had contributed ten Level-2 Eerie Stones, worth 100 Eerie Stones.
Three exotic treasures.
Building Blueprints were exceptionally rare among exotic treasures, and the blueprint in his hands, as thin as a cicada's wing, was a brand-new Building Blueprint.
- "Exotic treasure name": Altar. "Exotic treasure grade": White Grade. "Exotic treasure effect": Can be used to build an Altar. Injuries can be healed inside the Altar. -
"Heal injuries?"
Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully. It was a useful structure, and one the Camp currently lacked. No one in the Camp had been injured last night.
Only Zhou Mo had suffered a minor injury, the skin at Tiger's Mouth splitting and bleeding after repeatedly clashing head-on with strange entities. It was nothing serious.
The construction cost was low, too.
It required only ten Eerie Stones.
He would build it inside the walls shortly.
There was less and less room inside the walls. With the Wooden Hut, Watchtower, Sacrificial Tower, and now an Altar, he needed to upgrade the Eerie Fire as soon as possible to expand the Camp's range, then build another ring of City Wall farther out.
But...
That would cost quite a lot.
He needed to finish testing the Cart as soon as possible, then send Zhou Mo to the abandoned Stations in the Wasteland to bring back the Eerie Stones there.
He looked at the remaining two exotic treasures in his hands.
- "Exotic treasure name": Torch. "Exotic treasure grade": White Grade. "Exotic treasure effect": A single-use exotic treasure. Once lit, it lasts for twelve hours and has the effect of a Level-1 Eerie Fire, illuminating an area one meter in diameter. -
A portable Eerie Fire.
It could be somewhat useful outside the Rain season, but it was of little use during it.
During the Rain season, strange entities could easily charge into the Eerie Fire's safety zone in their frenzy.
The final exotic treasure.
It was also the most valuable item among this haul. Dropped by the Female Wraith, it was a green-grade exotic treasure.
A piece of hide.
- "Exotic treasure name": Wraith Hide. "Exotic treasure grade": Green. "Exotic treasure effect": A special Wraith Hide. Its contents will only appear after it is watered with a "Human-Blood Wraith Flowers." -
"..."
Chen Fan frowned slightly as he examined the palm-sized Wraith Hide in his hands. It looked exceedingly ancient, bearing faint traces of the passage of time. He had no idea what a "Human-Blood Wraith Flowers" was, nor where to obtain one.
For now, he could only put it away.
He would deal with it once he found one.
After the Rain season ended.
He definitely had to visit Northbank City. Staying in the Wasteland left him far too cut off from information.
But...
A Builder's strength only manifested within his own Camp.
If he entered someone else's territory.
In terms of physical strength, he certainly could not beat those Cultivators.
As for external means.
He could indeed quickly build several Arrow Towers. Cultivators could almost never withstand a Builder's Defensive Structures head-on unless they had an overwhelming level advantage. At the very least, a single bolt from a Level-1 Arrow Tower could easily kill Zhou Mo, a Level-Two Cultivator, on the spot.
But the few Arrow Towers he hastily erected would certainly be no match for Defensive Structures that others had spent so long developing on their own territory.
Visiting Northbank City while ensuring his own safety would require careful planning. For now, though, he needed to survive the Rain season first.
Drowsiness crept over him.
He lay down on the wooden bed and fell asleep.
"Rumble, rumble..."
The faint sound of flowing water came from the "Heating System 2.0" operating outside the walls. Outside the hut, the air was cold and damp, but inside, it was relatively warm and dry.
When there were three hours left before Eternal Night descended.
Chen Fan woke up.
After a quick wash, he rose, stretched, and stepped out of the Wooden Hut, ready to strengthen the Camp further.
He currently had 795 Eerie Stones in total.
First, he walked over to the Eerie Fire inside the walls to check how many Eerie Stones had been consumed last night. When the Eerie Fire reached level two, one of the upgrade effects he had chosen reduced the attack consumption of the Camp's Defensive Structures.
Seventeen Eerie Stones had been consumed last night.
Most of that had gone toward Arrow Rain Storm.
He took out another seventeen Eerie Stones, replenishing the Eerie Fire's supply to fifty.
Then he took out fifty more Eerie Stones and upgraded the Eerie Fire to level three.
The next moment—
A panel appeared before him.
- "The Eerie Fire has reached level 3. Its safe zone has expanded to 50 meters in diameter, and its deterrent effect on strange entities has increased." "Please choose an upgrade path." "1: Expand the safe zone to 100 meters." "2: Further strengthen its deterrent effect on ghost beings." "3: Qualitative transformation achieved. Reduce the construction cost of all structures within the Camp by 1 Eerie Stone. This effect can be used 10,000 times per day. (Rare)" -
"..."
Chen Fan stared at the panel, momentarily stunned. Previous upgrade panels had all been rather plain, with black text on a white background.
But among this set of upgrade paths.
The first two were still written in black.
The third, however, flashed with rainbow-colored light, looking exceptionally eye-catching.
If he understood correctly.
This third upgrade path was not guaranteed to appear whenever an Eerie Fire reached level three. Instead, it appeared only rarely. When a structure was upgraded, there was a minuscule chance that one of its available upgrade paths would be a rarer one.
In other words, a "qualitative transformation."
As he stared at the third upgrade path, his breathing gradually quickened.
The construction cost of every structure within the Camp would decrease by one Eerie Stone.
It sounded rather underwhelming.
After all, one meter of City Wall cost twenty Eerie Stones. Reducing that by one only brought it down to nineteen, making almost no difference.
But something like a Beast Trap, which cost two Eerie Stones to build, would require only one after the reduction.
That was effectively halved consumption.
Most importantly—
Copper Pipes.
This construction module component cost only one Eerie Stone per meter.
Under this effect, it would effectively be free.
Construction at no cost.
It could be used ten thousand times a day, which meant...
Every day, he could build ten thousand one-meter Copper Pipes at no cost.
Without even a moment's hesitation, he chose the third upgrade path. The boost it would give the Camp's strength was epic.
"..."
Atop the City Wall.
Chen Fan rested both hands on the Parapet and looked out over the safety zone, now expanded to fifty meters. Ambition burned in his eyes. Feeling the cool touch of the Rain, he could not help grinning.
By now, he had discovered several uses for Copper Pipes.
One was extending the safety zone. The Eerie Fire could flow through the Copper Pipes, expanding the safety zone's reach. Originally, fully exploiting this effect would have taken a long time, since it required a considerable number of 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 Caravans, Cultivators, hunters, and others traveled between the two cities, using camels, horses, and other mounts for transportation.
They traveled by day.
At night, they camped at nearby Stations.
It took several days to cross the Wasteland.
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