The tricycle, having traveled a long way, slowly came to a stop by the old camp.
"..."
Chen Fan looked toward the familiar camp, his eyes falling on the corpses of the Eerie Creatures scattered within its boundaries. He fell into a long silence, his expression complicated. He had had a deep attachment to this camp, the one he knew so well.
Last night, the old camp had been attacked by Eerie Creatures.
The number wasn't huge, just thirty or forty, all Monkey-Head Ghosts. No damage had been done to the camp.
The main purpose of his trip today had been to "lay the road."
He hadn't needed to come to the old camp. On his trip yesterday, he had already laid ten thousand meters of copper pipes. He just needed to continue laying more from that point. But since it was his first day away from the old camp, he still wanted to come and take a look.
"Just take the Eerie Stones," he said, shaking his head at Crippled Monkey, who was untying the ropes in an attempt to move the bodies. "We're just here for a look. Once the road is connected today, with the 'Breeze Formation', we would be traveling to and fro much faster. We'll have Zhou Mo and the others come transport the bodies to the home base later."
They hadn't brought the carts, so they couldn't take the corpses with them. Hauling them along regardless would be slowing their travel too much.
The Breeze Formation was an Extraordinary Treasure obtained from killing the Mourning Specter boss. Installed within an Eerie Fire, it covered the camp with a layer of breeze that slightly increased movement speed.
"Let's go."
...
They returned to the connection point of the ten-thousand-meter length laid out the previous day.
The tricycle crept slowly across the wasteland.
Like an assembly line worker, Chen Fan placed one copper pipe after another beneath the soil. It wasn't technically demanding work, just a bit tiring, requiring constant, mechanical repetition.
Finally—
The tricycle rumbled into the canyon.
The copper pipes were also laid through the canyon, reaching into the village.
Now, he just needed to build another Eerie Fire, and the two camps would be connected.
"Station Master."
Zhou Mo, panting, jogged over. "We've basically flattened the place. Are we going to build a new camp here?"
"..."
Chen Fan surveyed the village that had been leveled all around and shook his head. "No."
Then, in one go, he upgraded the level-3 Archery Tower built on the fort the previous night to a level-5 Cannon Tower.
It cost four hundred Eerie Stones.
The upgrade to a level-5 Cannon Tower had two conditions:
「1: Consume 300 Eerie Stones.」
「2: Consume Mourning Lantern1, Eerie Eye1, Octagonal Snail*1... any one of these.」
There were twenty-seven types in total.
He could use any one type, along with the three hundred Eerie Stones, to upgrade it to a level-5 Cannon Tower.
He naturally chose the Mourning Lantern.
After the upgrade to level-5 Cannon Tower, it didn't look much different.
Like the Archery Fort, it remained a cubic structure made of brown bricks, one meter in length and width. One face had a rectangular opening, which had originally housed a crossbow mechanism gleaming with a cold light.
Now, however, in its place was a... white paper lantern.
At least visually, it posed no threats.
「Archery Tower upgraded to level 5, evolving into 'Cannon Tower.' Must be fixed in one location and cannot be moved freely. Power has increased.」
「Please select an upgrade direction.」
「1: Increased firing speed.」
「2: Increased power.」
「3: Reduced energy consumption.」
He chose the second upgrade direction, enhancing its power. What he needed most right now was enough firepower.
He tapped lightly on the back of the Cannon Tower, revealing a recessed slot, into which he placed ten level-2 Eerie Stones.
The next moment—
A white glow flashed within the white lantern in the opening.
"Boom!"
The instant the Cannon Tower was activated, a milky white light beam, as thick as a forearm, shot out from the opening. It struck the cliff across from the canyon with a deafening explosion, sending a shower of dust and rocks into the air.
The light beam lasted for one second. During its duration, it caused continuous explosions.
After each attack, there would be an interval of several seconds.
One white light beam after another slammed into the cliff.
He intended to carve a cave inside the mountain to serve as his home base.
...
A pot of tea's time(15 minutes) passed.
"..."
Chen Fan stood expressionless in place.
The power of a level-5 Cannon Tower exceeded his expectations. Compared to a level-4 Archery Fort, it was a qualitative leap.
But...
The mountain was also far tougher than he had imagined. He even suspected it might be harder than a level-1 city wall. Despite the continuous bombardment for a pot of tea's time, it had only managed to blast a shallow dent in the cliff.
At this rate, carving out a proper cave would take forever.
"It might actually be better if it's harder, though," he thought.
He didn't really mind the hardness. A harder mountain meant his home base would have a natural defensive barrier. Just the initial excavation would be more labor-intensive.
Cannon Towers could not be moved once placed.
The one mounted on the fort would have to stay there permanently. Therefore, he wouldn't use too many Cannon Towers to excavate the cave, to avoid wasting resources.
...
Another hour passed.
The raging bombardment never ceased.
A simple cave had already been opened up.
Under his command, the Cannon Tower ceased fire.
Zhou Mo and the others, wielding tools, quickly cleared away the loose rubble and dirt in front of the initial shape of a cave.
A cave outline five meters high, twenty meters wide, and three meters deep.
The next step was to build a city wall. Once the wall was up, he could mount Cannon Towers on it. This would speed up excavation while not wasting the immobile Cannon Towers.
"..."
Chen Fan crushed the Eerie Stone in his hand.
The surreal outline of a city wall, composed of white lines, appeared before him. He slowly moved the surreal outline, aligning it with the entrance of the rudimentary cave.
"Hmm?"
A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
The Cannon Tower was hardly a precise construction tool, so there was no way he could have excavated a perfect twenty-meter-wide cave opening. There were bound to be discrepancies, like 19.6 meters or 20.7 meters.
His original plan had been to use the Cannon Tower for fine-tuning, to trim away those discrepancies.
He hadn't expected that the city wall could integrate perfectly with the mountain.
From the ethereal shape of the city wall, he could tell the cave he had excavated was 20.4 meters wide. Yet, he didn't need to widen the entrance to 21 meters. The wall would automatically adapt to the environment.
Of course, constructing that 0.4-meter section cost as much as one full meter of wall.
That was nothing, though.
It saved him a lot of effort.
Soon—
A twenty-meter-long city wall materialized at the entrance of the cave, fitting nearly perfectly.
The next moment!
Ten level-5 Cannon Towers appeared, lining the city wall.
Chen Fan glanced down at the dim green lantern in his arms, thought for a moment, and then put it back. It felt a bit wasteful to use it for the upgrade to level 6 without firing the four free shots.
The ten level-5 Cannon Towers slowly spun, their rectangular openings aimed into the cave interior.
At his command, the bombardment resumed.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."
Sounds like mining blasts continuously echoed within the pit. Dust and rocks cascaded down from high on the cliff, and the ground trembled.
A multitude of birds took flight from the forest on the mountain, circling in the sky.
There really were a lot of birds here.
And thanks to the rain, there was very little dust, which in a way made this a dust-free construction project.