The internet wasn't working, so I uploaded this on my phone. What a hassle. Returning to the Warcraft System once again, Rex walked with a spring in his step and a faint smile on his face. With the enormous sum of fifty thousand gold coins at his disposal, he felt thoroughly confident.
Rex had already planned how to spend most of those fifty thousand gold coins. They would all go into the Warcraft System.
Looking at the four buildings ahead, Rex strode toward the Barracks. Since his last visit, he had finished building the Goblin Merchant and constructed the Watch Tower as well. Building a Watch Tower in the real world would undoubtedly take considerable effort, but in the Warcraft System, he only needed to pay enough gold coins and wait.
Within the Warcraft System, only one building could be constructed at a time. Upgrades, however, had no such restriction.
At present, Rex could not construct any other buildings in the Warcraft System. The buildings available in the Town Hall age—the Barracks, the Goblin Merchant, and the Watch Tower—already stood here. With tens of thousands of gold coins to pour into them, Rex intended to upgrade, preferably advancing from the current Town Hall age to the Stronghold age. The Stronghold age truly tempted him. What was the very essence of Warcraft? Nothing other than its Heroic units.
No matter how overpowered a troop type might be, it still could not beat a Heroic unit one-on-one. Rex was eagerly anticipating the Heroic units available in the Warcraft System.
When he entered the Barracks, the densely packed Infantry Spirits were already gone, leaving it much emptier than on his previous visit. Approaching the sphere of light, Rex recruited three hundred Infantry Spirits without hesitation, spending three thousand gold coins. He had already recruited two hundred Infantry Spirits last time, so another three hundred would give the Barracks enough experience to meet the requirements for upgrading to level 2.
Of the buildings available in the Town Hall age, the Barracks was the hardest to upgrade. The Town Hall, for instance, could only be upgraded after every other building reached level 2. The Watch Tower, on the other hand, required no experience, only gold coins. Its cost was not particularly high, but it still ran into the hundreds, which pained Rex. Every building in the Warcraft System was powerful, yet in his eyes, the Watch Tower was rather underwhelming.
It had no attack power, and its field of vision was not particularly wide. It had only one skill, Magic Sentry, which could detect nearby invisible units.
That was not much use to Rex. He could only hope that the Watch Tower would undergo some unexpected change after he reached the Stronghold age. Incidentally, the Watch Tower was currently his only level 2 building. When he built it, he discovered that its upgrade had no restrictions, so he chose to upgrade it as soon as construction finished.
Were it not for the Town Hall's restriction, which allowed buildings to be no more than one level higher than itself, Rex would have raised the Watch Tower another level. Although the Watch Tower was useless, it was still a necessary building for upgrading the Town Hall. He could not simply neglect it.
Watching the progress bars begin to fill for the Infantry Spirits one after another, Rex left the Barracks. Recruiting three hundred Infantry Spirits would not take very long, but he did not want to stand around waiting inside. Instead, he headed to the Goblin Merchant. A month had passed, and today was the day he would refresh the treasures in its three slots.
Once a month had passed, the Goblin Merchant's treasures did not refresh automatically. Rex had to do it himself within the first five days of the month. If he did not pay one hundred gold coins to refresh them, he would lose that month's opportunity, and the items would remain the same as the previous month's. This was not a loophole that would allow him to keep buying good items over and over. Once an item from the previous month had been purchased, it would not reappear. In other words, if he bought the treasures in all three slots and did not refresh them the following month, those three slots would remain completely empty.
The Warcraft System truly deserved to be called a money-devouring machine. Just like that, one hundred gold coins slipped out of Rex's hands to pay for the refresh. Who knew how many years an ordinary household could live on one hundred gold coins? Yet Rex had no choice but to spend those hundred gold coins at the Goblin Merchant.
With his pockets full, Rex felt no sting today. On the previous occasions, the expense had pained him terribly.
It had been some time since the Goblin Merchant was built, and its treasures had been refreshed several times. Yet nothing had matched that first selection, when excellent items such as the Hearthstone and the Book of Energy had appeared. It was rather like gambling: the first attempt always seemed to start with a lucky win and something good, while the second was merely ordinary.
The three treasures before Rex were a Lesser Clarity Potion, a Clarity Potion, and a Mana Potion. They were all junk, and he had not even purchased them. A hazy light flashed, and the treasures in the three slots began to change.
The treasures in all three slots twisted into distorted masses and vanished. Three new treasures appeared before Rex.
At the sight of the first item, a Lesser Clarity Potion, Rex felt the urge to curse. The chance of this thing appearing was far too high. Throughout this entire period, there had only been one refresh without it; it had appeared every other time. The second treasure, however, lifted his spirits considerably. It was a palm-sized rune engraved with a blue building. The building depicted was the Altar from the game that granted beneficial effects, a common structure that provided things such as healing and mana restoration.
[Lesser Dispel Rune; dispels all magic within a radius of 1,000 meters for three seconds!]
Looking at the Lesser Dispel Rune, Rex smiled. This thing was powerful. Although it did not distinguish between friend and foe, it could instantly create a magic-free zone. No matter how powerful a spell was, it would fall before this rune. Its value was immeasurable, even greater than that of the Hearthstone. Still, Rex had no intention of selling it. He would have to be a complete fool to sell something this good.
This was a Mage's bane. Just imagine a Mage in the middle of unleashing a major spell: toss out a Lesser Dispel Rune, and the opponent would be stopped cold. How satisfying would it be to watch that magic get dispelled?
Seeing its price of one thousand gold coins, Rex bought it decisively without hesitation. Then he looked toward the final treasure and discovered that it was another item capable of enhancing his abilities. He had truly struck it lucky this time. Rex could no longer conceal the brilliant smile on his face. Even his irritation over the appearance of the Lesser Clarity Potion vanished completely.
(End of chapter)
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