Chapter 80 - 62: Subordinate Structures of the Vein of Life
Chapter 80: Chapter 62: Subordinate Structures of the Vein of Life
Lin Yu withdrew his consciousness from the world chat channel and immediately summoned Phantom to the Lord’s Mansion.
A moment later, Phantom appeared before him.
"Have you had breakfast?"
"My lord! I have."
"For the next month, we might be facing another war."
Hearing Lin Yu’s words, Phantom immediately perked up. As the territory’s head of military affairs, a war meant experience, honor, and most importantly, no more aimlessly wandering around with the patrol teams.
"Last month, we dealt with the skeleton calamity. As a result, the competition organizers have deployed Catastrophe Corps camps. I hear they’ll be sending out attacks against the lords from all directions."
Phantom asked with a hint of doubt, "My lord, are they the same kind of skeletons we fought last month?"
"They should be about the same. The main thing about a calamity is the sheer numbers; they’re endless. Besides, what we fought last month wasn’t the complete Catastrophe Corps. It was definitely a weakened version, composed entirely of skeletons."
"From what I know, the Undead Calamity is a large-scale calamity. There are many types of undead, not just skeletons."
"After all, we’re only in the second stage. As long as the organizers don’t want to wipe us all out, they won’t deploy the true Catastrophe Corps."
Lin Yu explained according to his own understanding, then continued with his orders: "The Catastrophe Camps produce universal building fragments, so we need to take the initiative and attack. We can also fight for a spot on the leaderboards while we’re at it."
"First, we need to find the Catastrophe Camps around us and confirm what type of calamity they are."
"Only after we’ve confirmed the calamity’s type and location can we determine our next move."
"Yes, my lord!"
"Wait!"
"Take him with you. Assign him to an exploration team."
Lin Yu gestured to another person inside the Lord’s Mansion.
"Hello, my name is Lin Kong! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Phantom."
The man stepped forward and greeted her enthusiastically.
Staring at the man before her—who was seventy to eighty percent similar to the Lord, equally handsome, and possessed the same human appearance that set them apart from others in the territory—Phantom was momentarily stunned.
"My lord, he... he is..."
"Mm... just think of Lin Kong as my brother. But there’s no need for special treatment. Just assign him to any random exploration team."
"Yes."
Phantom led Lin Kong out of the Lord’s Mansion.
With Lin Kong around, Lin Yu would no longer have to leave the territory so easily in the future.
The territory was plenty big enough for him to explore anyway.
He had been back in the territory for two months now, and he had only just finished exploring the area around the World Tree. The main reason was that transportation wasn’t very convenient.
Although the Heaven-Reaching Vines made traveling to the borders much faster, they were like a big city’s bus system—the stops were limited. To see the specific situation on the ground, he still had to go and look for himself.
After finishing the day’s territorial affairs (approving various documents), Lin Yu left the Lord’s Mansion and went to the Vein of Life beneath the World Tree.
The stairs leading from the Vein of Life down into the earth were currently closed. A spiritual light flickered on the sealed doors, preventing the deathly aura from below from leaking out.
At present, ordinary residents of the territory were forbidden from entering. It wasn’t to prevent leaks, but mainly because the Vein of Life contained a dense deathly aura. Normal living creatures would be harmed if they entered, making it a forbidden zone for the living, so to speak.
Thus, to prevent some of the more curious residents, especially the young ones, from barging in, the gates to the Vein of Life remained closed most of the time.
In the cavern below the gates, besides the Vein of Life itself, numerous cave dwellings had been built to house the Death Devourers, Withered Messengers, and Shadow Reapers.
For ease of travel, a dedicated Heaven-Reaching Vine ran from underground to a nearby Heaven-Reaching Vine station.
Lin Yu had come here intending to use the universal building fragments to redeem subordinate buildings for the Vein of Life. If the Jade Sanctuary could yield a Druid Temple, then the Vein of Life—currently the highest-grade structure in his territory—could surely produce some useful buildings as well.
Lin Yu targeted the Vein of Life and chose to use all 11,400 of his universal building fragments. He received six blueprints for subordinate buildings of the Vein of Life, each of a different grade.
[Name]: Natural Essence Manufacturing Plant
[Category]: Nature-type Resource Building
[Grade]: Excellent (Green)
[Description]: All natural, decaying dead matter can be transformed from rotten to wondrous here.
Due to the territory being filled with Spiritual Qi, the quality of produced items is greatly enhanced.
Recommended Staff: Slimes
[Production]: Natural Essence (Specialty Product) (Excellent)
[Durability]: 2000
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[Name]: Material Refining Workshop
[Category]: General-type Special Building
[Grade]: Excellent (Green)
[Description]: A building with special abilities that can purify and refine materials.
[Durability]: 2000
[Special]: Refine
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[Name]: Matter Decomposition Workshop
[Category]: General-type Special Building
[Grade]: Excellent (Green)
[Description]: A building with special abilities that can decompose matter, breaking it down into its constituent elements/components/parts.
[Durability]: 2000
[Special]: Decompose
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[Name]: Material Synthesis Workshop
[Category]: General-type Special Building
[Grade]: Excellent (Green)
[Description]: A building with special abilities that can synthesize different materials. Special combinations may yield unexpected results.
[Durability]: 2000
[Special]: Synthesize
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[Name]: Shadow Teleportation Gate (Two-way)
[Category]: General-type Special Building
[Grade]: Excellent (Blue)
[Description]: A teleportation gate leading to the Shadow World.
Note: The Shadow World has rules different from the main world. Unknown dangers lurk there. Lords are advised to explore with caution.
[Durability]: 4000
[Recruitable]: Shadow Reaper x50
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[Name]: Wall of Decay
[Category]: Nature-type Special Building
[Grade]: Legendary (Purple)
[Description]: This is a building that provides a special function for the territory. Its abundant special energy can also be converted into special unit types.
[Durability]: 4000
[Recruitable]: Corruption Spreader (Purple) x10
[Special]: Provides an invisible barrier for the territory, forming a special force field at its borders. Within this field, enemies lose 1% of their max HP per minute. This lost HP is used to restore the HP of friendly units. The territory’s energy income is reduced by 3%.
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These six buildings were undeniably important, each more so than the last. If he hadn’t run out of universal building fragments, Lin Yu would have tried to see if he could get any other buildings.
The appearance of the Natural Essence Manufacturing Plant solved an urgent problem for Lin Yu. The territory was running low on Gold Coins, and since resource prices had dropped again, it was time-consuming and laborious for little profit. So, Lin Yu had temporarily withdrawn from the resource market.
Now, with a new specialty product, he had something he could sell for money.
It also solved the Slimes’ employment problem. They would finally no longer have to loiter in the swamps at the edge of the territory.
As for the Material Refining Workshop, Matter Decomposition Workshop, and Material Synthesis Workshop, it went without saying that Lin Yu, as an experienced gamer, understood the importance of these three buildings.
With them, the territory now had a way to produce special equipment and items.
If they added an enhancement-type building, along with the Spiritual Weapons the territory was currently researching, they would have all the core elements of equipment crafting.
Lin Yu imagined Phantom holding a +13 enhanced Spiritual Weapon, surrounded by a crowd of monsters, repeatedly yelling, "+14, +14..."
He couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene of the enhancement failing and the weapon shattering.
Next was the Shadow Teleportation Gate. Although he didn’t know what the Shadow World was, the system had actually provided a warning. But as the saying goes, ’fortune favors the bold.’ Plus, with the Mythical Heart World Tree as his backstop, Lin Yu decided to build it without hesitation.
Finally, the Wall of Decay added another layer of insurance to the territory’s defenses. One percent of max HP per minute might not seem like much in normal times, but in a war, it would accumulate and greatly contribute to their ultimate victory.
After sending the six building blueprints to Xia Luo, Lin Yu leisurely made his way to the Jade Sanctuary. It was time to raise his grade; Junior-tier Druids were too weak.
On the way, he also notified the cafeteria to prepare ingredients for a banquet tonight. It could be considered a reward for the territory’s recent progress.