Chapter 22: Level 2 Resource Production Buildings

Qin Muye exchanged 1000 points for the Gem House building blueprints and built two of them.

He then expanded all five types of resource buildings once, opting not to upgrade the Mage Tower in his territory to Tier 2.

The reason was simple, if he upgraded to Tier 2, he might be classified as either a Tier 1 Champion or directly as a Tier 2 in terms of overall strength. Though the rewards from tomorrow's monster siege would potentially be richer, he might not be able to withstand it.

After he saw his rank at 267th on the leaderboard, he realized something: he wasn't one of those protagonists who could sweep through the world easily; rather, he was a minor character always shouting "666," far from being a big shot, so it was better not to be greedy.

[Logging Camp LV2: Every troop stationed per day can obtain 20 units of wood, limit (10/20)]

[Quarry LV2: Every...]

[Gold Mine LV2: Every troop stationed per day can obtain 200 Gold Coins, limit (0/20)]

[Refining Room LV2: Every troop stationed per day can obtain 2 units of Mercury, limit (10/20)]

[Gem House LV2: ...]

The consumption was not small, especially for the Refining Room and Gem House. The expansion of just these four buildings alone consumed 400 of each basic resource and 40 of each special resource, taking nearly half of his current rewards. If it wasn't for some leftover resources, he wouldn't have been able to upgrade the remaining three buildings.

However, the returns were quite significant. With the buildings fully staffed, the output of wood and minerals went from 200 per day to 800, a fourfold increase, and all produced resources were eight times their previous amount, which was no small sum for Qin Muye.

If it weren't for the fact that the resources needed for further expansion had an additional zero, he would have considered upgrading again, but alas, he was willing but unable, as resources were insufficient.

After that, he exchanged 10,000 Gold Coins for Magic Energy Spirit Monsters, totaling 100. This completed the recruitment for one Magic Energy Spirit Monster Workshop, with 477 left to recruit, needing 47,700 Gold Coins more, and it was uncertain whether he could gather that amount.

182 Magic Energy Spirit Monsters were divided, with 100 allocated to the resource buildings. If there were no troops there, no resources would be produced tomorrow. According to Qin Muye's observation, they needed to work at least 8 hours. Otherwise, the output would decay by the next day.

The remaining 82 were arranged with 60 working on the farms and the remaining 11 following Demon Blood to continue sweeping the area, aiming to help Demon Blood gain another level today.

As for recruiting ordinary Spirit Monsters to work in the resource buildings instead of using Magic Energy Spirit Monsters? With wild monsters knocking at his door and not even enough Gold Coins to recruit all the Magic Energy Spirit Monsters, it would be a waste to spend Gold Coins on these weak creatures for production.

Was he seeking his own demise? If he lost his life, even giving Qin Muye a mountain of gold would be useless.

10 Spirit Monsters could not defeat one Magic Energy Spirit Monster.

And the one? It was kept by Qin Muye's side to act as a bodyguard, although he didn't have to worry too much; there were 60 Magic Energy Spirit Monsters working on the farms and another 100 in the resource buildings. Unless wild monsters or other Lords killed all 160 Magic Energy Spirit Monsters, they couldn't get into the Mage Tower.

If all the Magic Energy Spirit Monsters were dealt with, the one remaining would be of no use, Qin Muye might as well clean his neck and wait for death without overthinking.

Magic Energy Spirit Monsters were intelligent, unlike those low-level Skeleton Soldiers or wolves that lacked sufficient judgment. He guessed that Spirit Monsters might be the most sensible among all Tier 1 troops—sensible in the sense that they could do any kind of work.

Whether they were the smartest was unclear.

Meanwhile, Qin Muye actually wanted to go out and level up as well, but the gains from his leveling were too low, increasing only by 1 Knowledge point and 1 free Attribute point per level. When Demon Blood went leveling, that one level yielded 5 Attack Power points, 5 Defense points, 5 Power points, and an additional 10 Magic Value points.

He indeed had 10 Magic Value points, but these were accompanied by Knowledge and not a direct reward from Demon Blood.

However, he suspected that low Knowledge might significantly worsen the reaction to external inputs, such as recklessness or an inability to effectively detect enemy strategies.

Thus, Demon Blood could serve as the vanguard in a charge, but if it were to command an army, it might be a hindrance.

One could only describe it as an unparalleled fierce general, not a Marshal.

But what he needed now was not just a commander, but also a manager.

After completing the study of Qi System Magic: Attack Acceleration, a level 1 spell, he continued researching Magic Energy Spirit Monsters, contemplating the creation of artificial Champion Level beings.

[Qi System Magic: Attack Acceleration—Increases the speed of the selected own troop by 3 points, duration: 12 minutes, cost: 5 Magic Value points]

In the Points Shop, he took interest in a profession called Noble, which was quite remarkable with the Talent being mastery in Diplomacy, inherently possessing Diplomacy Skill and Finance Skill.

If he could cultivate another Champion Level Magic Energy Spirit Monster and have it reclassify into a rare profession as a Noble, then he would have his supreme steward both internally and externally.

After that, he could fully assume the role of a hands-off manager. Apart from this, he also fancied the Knight and Mage reclassification certificates; the former could be used to cultivate Cavalry, the latter to complement his own legacy's shortcomings and to cultivate a Magic System Hero.

Unfortunately, he was poor!

These were not even rare professions; redeeming one required 1000 Points. If the intensity of the monster sieges maintained like today over the next six days, then he could actually afford them.

A thousand Points a day, the first three days spent on Special Resources buildings, the last three for the three Professional Certificates, and then the final day to decide whether to swap for Building Blueprints or another Professional Certificate, time would tell.

So theoretically, he needed to artificially create a Champion Level Magic Energy Spirit Monster first in order to allow it to reclassify from a normal profession to a rare one upon being promoted to Hero.

Otherwise, it would just be a normal profession.

It's not that the Points Shop lacked reclassification certificates for rare professions, but he simply couldn't afford them, with the least expensive costing 10,000 Points, and he might not even afford them after the event ended.

"Elite Level Soldiers are veterans; if they possess sufficient training and combat experience, they can reach it, but Champion Level is different. If I do not rely on 'Lord Era' but instead choose to modify them myself, it involves immeasurable fields such as will and faith."

Qin Muye also found relevant records in the Advanced Spirit Monster Experiment Manual, noting that the challenge of artificially creating Champion Level was not small without the unscientific method of 'Lord Era.'

Champion Level, known as Quasi-Hero in this Magic Continent, possesses certain abilities of a Hero unit; just one more step was needed to become a Hero.

"If it were other Troops, the difficulty might have increased somewhat, but it seems I have a shot with these Magic Energy Spirit Monsters, provided their will is firm."

There were no recorded cases in the Advanced Spirit Monster Manual of Spirit Monsters reaching Champion Level. After all, elevating Spirit Monsters from Low-Level Soldiers to Champion Level required not only sufficient Knowledge but also the aid of 'Lord Era.' Otherwise, Qin Muye couldn't have succeeded; it was truly a matter of good fortune to have the necessary conditions.

Otherwise, it would be like trying to make bricks without straw.