Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Qualitative Change
Inside the Wooden House, Chen Fan sat by the fire, gazing at the light rain outside. To save resources, he’d originally made the core area within the walls a bit small. With the camp’s development, space was already getting tight—he was running out of room to even place Arrow Towers. ’In a few days,’ he thought, ’it’ll be time to expand the area.’
He then began to take stock of last night’s haul.
A number of Ghost Materials, such as Monkey Skin and Mantis Arms.
A total of 478 Ghost Stones.
The female Ghost had contributed ten Level 2 Ghost Stones, worth 100 Ghost Stones.
Three Exotic Treasures.
Building Blueprints were an extremely Rare type of Exotic Treasure, and the one he now held, as thin as a cicada’s wing, was a brand-new Building Blueprint.
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[Exotic Treasure Name: Altar]
[Exotic Treasure Level: White]
[Exotic Treasure Effect: Can be used to build an Altar. Injuries can be healed inside the Altar.]
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"Heal injuries?"
Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully. ’A very useful building, and one the camp currently lacks.’ No one in the camp had been injured last night.
The only exception was Zhou Mo, who had suffered some minor injuries—the webbing of his hand was bleeding from multiple direct confrontations with Ghost Objects, but it was nothing serious.
The construction cost wasn’t high, either.
It only required 10 Ghost Stones.
’I’ll build it inside the city later.’
The area inside the city was becoming increasingly cramped. A Wooden House, a Sentry Tower, a Sacrificial Tower, and now an Altar... He needed to upgrade the Ghost Fire as soon as possible to expand the camp’s range and add another ring of City Walls.
’But...’
’That will be a considerable expense.’
He needed to finish testing the small cart quickly, then have Zhou Mo head to the abandoned sites in the Wilderness to bring back the Ghost Stones from there.
He looked at the two remaining Exotic Treasures in his hand.
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[Exotic Treasure Name: Torch]
[Exotic Treasure Level: White]
[Exotic Treasure Effect: A one-time use Exotic Treasure. After being lit, it lasts for 6 hours, possesses the effect of a Level 1 Ghost Fire, and has an illumination range of 1 meter in diameter.]
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’A mobile version of the Ghost Fire.’
’It could be somewhat useful outside the rainy season, but its effectiveness during the rainy season is minimal.’
During the rainy season, frenzied Ghost Objects could easily charge into a Ghost Fire’s safe zone.
The final Exotic Treasure.
It was also the most valuable item from this haul, dropped by the female Ghost—a Green Level Exotic Treasure.
A piece of skin.
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[Exotic Treasure Name: Ghost Skin]
[Exotic Treasure Level: Green]
[Exotic Treasure Effect: A special Ghost Skin. It must be irrigated with a ’Human Blood Ghost Flower’ for its true nature to be revealed.]
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"..."
Chen Fan’s brows furrowed slightly. He looked at the palm-sized piece of Ghost Skin in his hand. It looked extremely ancient, and he could faintly sense the passage of time on it. He didn’t know what a Human Blood Ghost Flower was, nor where to get one.
He could only put it away for now.
He would deal with it after he found the flower.
After the rainy season ended, he absolutely had to go to Jiangbei City. Staying in the Wilderness left him too isolated from information.
’But...’
’An Architect’s strength is only apparent within their own camp.’
’When venturing into someone else’s territory...’
’In terms of physical strength, I definitely can’t beat those Cultivators.’
’As for external means...’
He could indeed build several Arrow Towers quickly. It was nearly impossible for a Cultivator to face an Architect’s City Defense Buildings head-on unless they had a massive level advantage. A single Crossbow Arrow from a Level 1 Arrow Tower could easily kill a Level 2 Cultivator like Zhou Mo in an instant.
But the few Arrow Towers he built on the fly would surely be no match for the City Defense Buildings that others had been operating in their own territories for so long.
’If I want to go to Jiangbei City while ensuring my own safety, I’ll need to plan it carefully. For now, though, the priority is to survive the rainy season.’
「Drifting into a daze.」
He lay on the wooden bed and fell asleep.
"RUMBLE RUMBLE..."
The faint sound of flowing water was the "2.0 Heating System" outside the city walls in operation. While it was cold, damp, and chilling outside, the inside of the house was relatively warm and dry.
...
「Three hours before eternal nightfall.」
Chen Fan woke up.
After quickly washing up, he stood, stretched, and walked out of the Wooden House, ready to increase the camp’s strength.
He currently had 795 Ghost Stones.
He first walked to the Ghost Fire inside the city to check on last night’s Ghost Stone consumption. When the Ghost Fire had been upgraded to Level 2, one of the upgrade effects he chose was to reduce the attack cost of the camp’s City Defense Buildings.
A total of 17 Ghost Stones were consumed last night.
This was mainly due to the high Ghost Stone consumption of the Arrow Rain Storm.
He took out another 17 Ghost Stones, replenishing the Ghost Fire’s supply to 50.
Then, he took out another 50 Ghost Stones to upgrade the Ghost Fire to Level 3.
The next moment—
A panel popped up in front of him.
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[Ghost Fire upgraded to Level 3. Safe zone increased to 50 meters in diameter. Deterrent effect on Ghost Objects has been strengthened.]
[Please select an Upgrade Direction.]
[1: Increase safe zone to 100 meters.]
[2: Deterrent effect on Ghosts will be moderately strengthened.]
[3: Qualitative Transformation. The single construction cost of all buildings in the camp is reduced by 1 Ghost Stone. This effect can be used 10,000 times per day and is only active during the rainy season (Rare).]
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"..."
Chen Fan stared at the panel in front of him, slightly stunned. In the past, the upgrade panels had always been simple, with black text on a white background.
But among the upgrade directions this time...
The first two options were still in black text.
The third, however, had turned into shimmering, rainbow-colored words that were incredibly eye-catching.
If he understood correctly, this third upgrade option wasn’t a fixed choice that appeared every time a Ghost Fire reached Level 3. It was a rare occurrence. When a building was upgraded, there was a minuscule chance of getting a more uncommon upgrade direction.
In other words, a "Qualitative Transformation."
His breathing quickened as he stared at this third upgrade direction.
’The single construction cost of all buildings in the camp is reduced by 1 Ghost Stone.’
’It sounds rather lackluster at first glance.’
After all, one meter of City Wall cost 10 Ghost Stones. Reducing the cost by one stone to 9 was barely any change at all.
But for something like a Beast Trap, which cost 2 Ghost Stones to make, a one-stone reduction meant it would only cost 1 Ghost Stone.
That was equivalent to halving the cost.
Most importantly—
The Copper Pipes.
This building module component only cost 1 Ghost Stone to build one meter.
’With this effect, they’re basically free.’
’Cost-free construction.’
’Usable 10,000 times a day, which means...’
’I can build ten thousand 1-meter Copper Pipes every day at no cost.’
’Even though it only works during the rainy season, that’s still ridiculously overpowered.’
Without a moment’s hesitation, he immediately chose the third upgrade direction. Its potential to enhance the camp’s strength was epic.
...
"..."
On the City Wall.
Chen Fan rested his hands on the crenels, looking out at the safe zone that had expanded to 50 meters. Ambition burned in his eyes. Feeling the chill of the gloomy rain, he couldn’t help but break into a wide grin.
He had already figured out several uses for the Copper Pipes.
One of them was to extend the range of the "safe zone." He could make the Ghost Fire flow through the Copper Pipes, thereby expanding the safe area. Originally, fully utilizing this effect would have taken a long time, as the Ghost Stone consumption was considerable.
But now—
He had a new plan.
The straight-line distance across the Wilderness from Ping City to Jiangbei City was 170 kilometers.
During the dry season, countless caravans, Cultivators, Hunters, and others traveled back and forth between the two cities, using camels, horses, and the like for transportation.
They traveled by day.
At night, they made camp at nearby outposts.
It took several days to cross the Wilderness.
