Chapter 17: Chapter 16: New Buildings
After some thought, Li Ziyu messaged Conscience Merchant again, initiating a big discussion over trading Skeletons for food. After a round of beating around the bush and haggling, the final price was set at 2 units of food for 1 Skeleton.
It wasn’t that Conscience Merchant didn’t want to push for more; the main issue was that Skeletons were just that cheap. Not many people needed them. Other than Undead City Lords, Skeletons were basically the kind of thing you shove in the bottom of a chest and leave in a warehouse to gather dust.
If Li Ziyu hadn’t expressed a need for Skeletons, Conscience Merchant would never have collected them. Acquiring these 100 Skeletons was practically free, so being able to trade them for food was already an excellent deal. Out in the Wasteland, food could be exchanged with the Natives for plenty of good items.
As a Merchant who lived by buying low and selling high, Conscience Merchant’s understanding of the Wasteland was completely different from Li Ziyu’s. There was a fundamental misunderstanding—a blind spot Li Ziyu hadn’t even noticed: the Mobile Fortress!
After arriving in the Otherworld, Li Ziyu, as a Transmigrator, was given a Mobile Fortress and became a City Lord. He could wander all over the Wasteland in his Mobile Fortress; wherever he went became his territory, and his Undead were always with him.
But in reality, the true Native factions of the Wasteland weren’t like that at all. They had their own spheres of influence and territorial borders. Most of the time, Natives would not leave their own territory; they were confined to a single area. This was for stability and safety, as it was far too dangerous to travel to unfamiliar places.
As a result, the Natives could only get what their territory provided. If there were few beasts and plants, they wouldn’t have much to eat. If no streams ran through their land, even finding drinking water could become a problem.
Li Ziyu, who had only been in the Otherworld for a few days, hadn’t noticed this at all. But Conscience Merchant had, and to him, it spelled business opportunity. He clearly understood that in the Wasteland, food and water—while not exactly hard currency—were always in demand. The prices were quite good, too. All one had to do was foster a good relationship with the Natives.
Trading Skeletons—which the Natives couldn’t care less about and just left lying around—for food from an Undead City Lord was a deal with incredible returns. Even though the price wasn’t high, Conscience Merchant was exceptionally satisfied.
With the system’s help, the two completed the exchange. Li Ziyu’s Warehouse was short 200 units of food, but he had gained 100 Skeletons. It was a happy outcome for everyone.
Conscience Merchant: A pleasure doing business with you, my friend. Welcome back anytime.
Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: A pleasure.
Conscience Merchant: Friend, need any more Skeletons?
Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: I do. If you get any, contact me.
Conscience Merchant: Will do, friend.
After ending the conversation, a smile spread across Li Ziyu’s face. ’100 Skeletons! That’s at least two days’ worth of harvesting. I can’t believe it was this easy. As expected, if you want to get strong fast, trading is the best way to do it.’
Skeletons could be turned into Skeleton Undead, used to craft Bone Sabers to strengthen his forces, or used to build system structures and upgrade the Mobile Fortress. They were useful for everything. Forget one hundred Skeletons; Li Ziyu felt like even a thousand or ten thousand wouldn’t be enough.
’Bring them on! Let the storm of Skeletons rage even harder!’
The Mobile Fortress drove across the desolate Wasteland in search of prey, while Li Ziyu remained holed up in the Castle Main Tower, pondering how to use the 100 Skeletons he’d just acquired.
The Skeletons from the trade seemed like a lot, but his Mobile Fortress was lacking in every way. Buildings, weapons, defenses—they all required Skeletons. For the time being, he really couldn’t decide where to allocate his resources.
’Sigh... still so poor. I have to pinch pennies and run a tight ship.’
Li Ziyu sighed to himself. ’I’m a disgrace to the Transmigrators. After all this time, my Mobile Fortress is still just Level 1. It’s called a "Mobile Fortress," but it’s far from the scale of a real castle. At best, it’s a fort. If I stripped off the attached Skeleton Undead, it would just be an empty frame.’
How pathetic.
Gazing out the fortress window at the nighttime wilderness, Li Ziyu suddenly froze. ’I’ve been so focused on the Skeletons from the trade, I haven’t even checked out the two new buildings I constructed.’ He quickly opened the system interface.
The Skeleton Engine was already installed at the base of the fortress. It looked like a curled-up ball of bone, with a ferocious, enormous, tusked skull embedded within it. The light of Soul Energy flickered from inside, giving it a mysterious glow.
[Skeleton Engine: Driven by Spiritual Energy, can increase the Mobile Fortress’s movement Speed by 100 km/h (Restricted: increases movement Speed by 20 km/h)]
’Huh... Restricted?’
Li Ziyu scratched his head as he read the note in the system Introduction. He had assumed he could use its full power right after construction; apparently, he had been too optimistic.
’I’ll have to investigate what’s limiting the Skeleton Engine’s speed boost. Speed is extremely important for the Mobile Fortress, so I need to figure this out.’
Next, he opened the Armor Workshop. Its exterior was almost identical to the Weapon Workshop, with the only difference being the symbol on its main gate. The Weapon Workshop featured swords, while the Armor Workshop had a shield and a piece of chest armor. When the gates were closed, it looked like a suit of armor holding a Shield in a defensive stance.
He opened the Armor Workshop interface and took a look. ’Hm, it’s pretty much the same as the Weapon Workshop, just with Shields and Armor instead of Weapons. I still need to spend Soul Energy to unlock things before I can craft them.’
The cheapest piece of armor was the Small Round Shield (Bone), which cost 30 units of Soul Energy to unlock. It was the most basic defensive item available. After a moment of thought, Li Ziyu went ahead and unlocked it. ’I’ve already unlocked the Bone Saber, so I might as well get a Shield. A boost to defense would be good.’
The crafting requirements for the Small Round Shield were the same as for the Bone Saber: 1 Skeleton yielded 5 Round Shields.
[Small Round Shield (Bone Shield): Its surface area is small, its Defense Power is low, and it breaks easily, but hey, it’s cheap!]
[Research Requirement: Soul Energy * 30 units]
[DING! A new building has been unlocked.]
Just as Li Ziyu unlocked the Small Round Shield, a timely notification sound came from the system.
’Oh? A surprise?’
After a moment of surprise, Li Ziyu immediately clicked open the construction page. Sure enough, new buildings had appeared, and not just one.
[Warrior Training Camp], [Little Bone Wheel], and [Big Bone Wheel]—three new buildable options had appeared all at once.
[Warrior Training Camp]
[Introduction: A place to train Skeleton Undead Warriors.]
[Unlocks Troop Type: Basic Skeleton Warrior]
[Prerequisites: Unlock Small Bone Saber, Small Round Shield (Bone Shield)]
[Construction Requirements: Skeleton * 50 units, Stone * 100 units, Wood * 100 units, Beast Hide * 50 units]
[Area: 20 units]
’So that’s how it is. If I hadn’t unlocked the Bone Saber and the Round Shield, the Warrior Training Camp would have remained hidden and never appeared. It only showed up because I unlocked both a weapon and a piece of armor. Sheesh, this system is full of hidden requirements.’
Li Ziyu was a little speechless. He quickly looked at the two wheel options. Sure enough, they were also hidden unlocks, only visible after building the Skeleton Engine. ’I don’t even need to think about it,’ he realized. ’The reason the Skeleton Engine is restricted is almost certainly because of these wheels.’
According to the system’s explanation, the Mobile Fortress’s current wheels were basic ones that couldn’t handle the power generated by the Skeleton Engine. They would have disintegrated, rendering the fortress immobile. The basic wheels could only handle a maximum speed of 50 km/h. Only by changing to new wheels could he reach top speed.
