Free Web NovelChapter 4: Chapter 3: Weapon Workshop
He knew of A Large Iron Hammer. The guy was pretty famous; he’d been in the business of selling Stone and ore since the very first day he crossed over into this world.
Rumor in the chat channel was that someone had seen him and said he was the City Lord of the Mine Dwarves. His Mobile Fortress was supposedly a giant mine that could continuously produce Stone and ore, which was why he had resources to trade from day one.
He didn’t know if it was true, but it was certain the guy had resources. Many people had traded with him successfully, establishing him as a reputable resource Merchant.
For the Skeleton Undead Mobile Fortress, Skeletons and Soul Energy were the most important resources. However, other materials were also indispensable, especially Stone and Wood, as most buildings required these two for construction.
Li Ziyu stopped eating and used the system to check the current resources in his Warehouse. After three days, he had stockpiled a considerable amount of meat, so trading some away wouldn’t have a major impact. Besides, he only had himself to feed. As long as he kept enough for his own meals, he was fine.
Here in the Wasteland, all kinds of resources were extremely scarce. Forget Wood; he couldn’t even find any Stone. Even if he did, mining it would be a difficult task. His Skeleton Undead didn’t have any tools for quarrying. ’Are they supposed to claw it out?’
’Trading some meat for Stone to keep in storage doesn’t seem like a bad idea.’
With that thought, he lost his appetite. Li Ziyu opened a private chat window with A Large Iron Hammer. He wasn’t stupid enough to discuss a trade in the public channel for everyone to see.
The Dark Jungle Law was highly applicable in this Otherworld. When he had first crossed over, the chat channel was far more active than it was now. But in just three short days, names that had frequently popped up in chat during the first two days were now gone, vanished without a trace.
If you didn’t participate in the chat, you wouldn’t get a lot of news in real time. But if you did, saying too much could attract danger. Finding the right balance was crucial.
Private Chat Window.
[Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License]: Hey, A Large Iron Hammer, I want to trade for some Stone. What are your rates?
[A Large Iron Hammer]: What are you offering for the Stone?
[Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License]: Food. Meat.
[A Large Iron Hammer]: Thirty units of meat for one unit of Stone.
’...Damn, is this a robbery?!’
’Even if there’s no standard price for bartering, isn’t thirty units of meat for one unit of Stone just too outrageous?’
Li Ziyu was not pleased. He had spent the last three days scrambling around the Wasteland, and the amount of food he’d managed to accumulate wasn’t as much as he had thought. At most, he could offer up a few hundred units of meat.
Perhaps because he was hesitating for too long, A Large Iron Hammer sent another message.
[A Large Iron Hammer]: I start with a high asking price so we can haggle. I don’t like one-and-done deals. We can negotiate.
Li Ziyu felt much better after receiving this message. ’Now that’s more like it,’ he thought. If the guy had actually stuck to the price of thirty units of meat for one unit of Stone, he would have preferred to just wander the Wasteland and find the resources himself.
[Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License]: Three units?
[A Large Iron Hammer]: I said we can haggle, not that you could divide my price by ten. Twenty-seven units.
[Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License]: Come on, be cheaper. What’s the point of dropping it by three or five units? I’ll make an offer. Six units. How about it?
[A Large Iron Hammer]: Are you even serious about this trade? Twenty-five units!
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After a round of haggling, the final price was set at fifteen units. Even though the price had been cut in half, Li Ziyu still felt his heart ache. He reluctantly parted with four hundred and fifty units of meat in exchange for thirty units of Stone.
Trading via the system was very convenient. Once one party initiated a trade and both sides confirmed, the system would automatically swap the items and deposit them into their respective Warehouses.
Looking at the thirty new units of Stone, Li Ziyu sighed. ’Good thing my Undead don’t have to eat,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, in this barren Wasteland, I really wouldn’t have been able to spare several hundred units of food.’
With the Stone in hand, Li Ziyu began to consider what new building to construct.
[Weapon Workshop]
[Introduction: A place for crafting Skeleton Weapons.]
[Construction Requirements: Skeleton x10, Stone x10, Soul Energy x10] frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
[Footprint: 4 units]
Compared to upgrading the fortress’s Speed, Li Ziyu was more inclined to enhance the combat power of his Skeleton Undead. Only with greater combat power could he reap greater rewards. And more importantly, the Weapon Workshop was... cheap.
’I have Soul Energy,’ Li Ziyu thought. ’I just traded for Stone. The only thing I’m missing now is Skeletons. Victory is within reach!’
"Accelerate! Find prey! We need more prey!"
Li Ziyu clenched his fists and shouted in excitement. At his command, the Mobile Fortress once again accelerated to top speed. The Soul Fires pulsed violently, one after another, like searchlights sweeping across the Wasteland.
He was excited, but the Wild Beasts of the Wasteland were in for a disaster. That night was pure pandemonium. The Skeleton Undead Mobile Fortress swept across the Wasteland, the sound of rattling bones—CLACK-CLACK-CLACK—echoing in its wake.
The Undead were extremely sensitive to the auras of the living. By the strength of these auras, they could easily distinguish how powerful a creature was.
If it was a powerful life form, the fortress would steer clear from a distance. But if the life aura was weak, the fortress would charge madly toward it like a wolf that had just seen a bone.
The first ray of sunlight pierced the Darkness as the morning sun slowly rose from the horizon. Night had passed, and a new day was beginning.
The Mobile Fortress, having rampaged all night, slowly ground to a halt. It wasn’t that the fortress couldn’t move during the day, but doing so consumed Soul Energy. Being the pauper that he was, Li Ziyu had no desire to waste Soul Energy on mere travel. That’s why he typically moved at night and used Hibernation Mode to rest during the day.
With a supply of Soul Energy, the Skeleton Undead possessed 100% of their combat effectiveness during the day. Without that supply, their effectiveness would drop to 60% or even lower. At night, however, the Skeleton Undead could unleash 120% of their combat power, which could be boosted to a staggering 200% with a supply of Soul Energy. This was a racial Trait.
After a full night of rampaging, Li Ziyu felt a bit weary himself. He stood at a window, watched the sun rise, and issued the command to enter Hibernation Mode.
[Hibernation Mode activating...]
The Mobile Fortress trembled violently. Its bone wheels morphed into serrated drills that dug into the earth, churning up the soil of the Wasteland. They pulled the fortress slowly underground as the displaced earth fell naturally back into place, burying the structure and leaving the ground perfectly flat again.
[System Notice: Hibernation Mode engaged.]
The interior plunged into darkness, only to light up again a moment later. In Hibernation Mode, the fortress was illuminated by the Soul Fire of the Skeleton Undead. It wasn’t dark, but the space was filled with a shimmering, eerie blue glow.
Although it was a fortress of the Undead Race, its City Lord was a Human, after all, so it was equipped with a ventilation system. It didn’t feel stuffy inside at all; the air was easy to breathe, and the temperature was pleasant.
The throne of bone transformed back into a double bed. Li Ziyu lay down and opened the system interface.
After a night of raiding, he had harvested just over thirty units of Skeletons. ’It’s a little on the low side,’ he thought, ’but at least I have enough materials for the Weapon Workshop now.’
Before drifting off to sleep, he issued the command to construct the Weapon Workshop.
