Chapter 204 - 200: Wharf Upgrade and Special Reward

Chapter 204: Chapter 200: Wharf Upgrade and Special Reward

Lin Feng arrived at the lower-left area of the village square and looked at the completed Wharf, especially the wooden bridge leading to the mountain cave.

Now, getting to South Mountain was much more convenient; you could just cross the wooden bridge.

He decided to upgrade the Wharf right away. ’This has to be the most useless building in Lin Xian Village.’

[Wharf (Level 2): Ensures safe vessel navigation, increases shipbuilding speed, accelerates fishery cultivation, increases vessel speed by 10%, and improves fishery quality by 5%.]

Lin Feng’s mood soured as he read the description of the upgraded Wharf. It really was a waste to have this in Lin Xian Village.

If this were on a major river or by the sea, it would be incredibly useful.

He also suddenly realized that the buildings in Lin Xian Village didn’t seem to be complete.

For example, this Wharf had no shipbuilding function at all. You’d need a shipyard for that.

But now, one of its functions was to increase shipbuilding speed, which was obviously strange.

’If the country could use this building, our nation’s naval combat strength would probably increase significantly.’

Lin Feng opened his phone and checked the distance to the nearest sea. It was about eight hundred kilometers away.

He thought about Lin Xian Village’s expansion rate. It started at a five-kilometer radius, then ten kilometers after the upgrade.

’If it doubles each time, it would only take seven more upgrades to reach the coast.’

That didn’t sound like many, but Lin Feng knew completing the upgrade missions was no easy task.

’Still, if I calculate it this way, it might not be impossible to cover the entire planet.’

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. If the village really expanded at this rate, its current shortcomings wouldn’t be a problem for long.

Besides, other than special buildings, he could construct duplicates of the others.

And even if he couldn’t, he could always demolish the current ones and rebuild them in a different location.

’I’ll wait until all the buildings are constructed and see if anything changes.’

Putting these thoughts aside, Lin Feng turned his attention to the mission completion rewards.

[A Lost Woodworking Technique: Upon use, you will acquire a long-lost woodworking technique. The technique received is completely random.]

Lin Feng barely glanced at the description before immediately using the reward.

[Congratulations, you have acquired the "Mo Sect Mechanical Beast Construction Technique."]

[Mo Sect Mechanical Beast Construction Technique (Special): The core technique of the Mo Sect’s Mechanical Art. Allows for the production of various Mo Sect Mechanical Beasts. Effective within the borders of Lin Xian Village.]

He stared, completely stunned, at the randomly generated woodworking technique. He had assumed it would be some ordinary ancient craft.

But this technique... he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

’I’ve hit the jackpot! The Mo Sect Mechanical Beast Construction Technique even has "Special" written after it.’

’It might be on the same level as the Jade Grapes and Lin Xian Tea, or maybe even higher.’

’Wait, is the Mo Sect the same as the historical Mo Family?’

Lin Feng glanced at the description again, realizing he might have oversimplified things.

The description said it was a "long-lost" technique, but it never specified that it was lost from *ancient China*.

’This—! Don’t tell me it’s actually related to mythology?’

He was now certain that his Mo Sect Mechanical Beast Construction Technique had absolutely nothing to do with the historical Mo Family’s Mechanical Art.

If the ancient Mo Family had mastered this, it would have been like having Gundams in ancient times. Nobody could have stood against them.

’It seems I can’t just take this technology public.’

If he revealed this and actually started producing Mechanical Beasts, he’d be facing more than just a simple investigation.

Lin Feng decided not to reveal the technology for now, though he could probably make some small Mechanical Beasts for himself to play with.

’I wonder... if I built a Mechanical Beast with this technique and told people it was just an advanced robot, would they believe me?’

He then looked at the Stone Dragon Carving Skill. He’d assumed it was a technique for carving dragon-shaped stone statues, but it turned out to be completely different from what he’d imagined.

[Stone Dragon Carving Skill: Stone Dragons carved using a special method possess the special effects of guarding and protection. Effective within the borders of Lin Xian Village.]

’This technique doesn’t seem simple either. It feels like something used to ward a house.’

He reread the description. There didn’t seem to be a size limit, which meant it was for more than just warding a single house.

With this technique, he could clearly create massive Stone Dragon carvings, like the legendary Yu’s Nine Tripods.

’How strange. Why are all the rewards this time special-function techniques like these?’

Both techniques were restricted to being effective within Lin Xian Village, which indicated that the area covered by the village did indeed possess some kind of special energy.

As for the whole "Spiritual Qi Revival" theory, Lin Feng himself was confused. It didn’t quite feel like that was what was happening.

He moved on to the third reward: a Special Forging Technique. The name alone suggested it was something extraordinary.

[A Special Forging Technique: An ancient forging method. When a blacksmith uses this method for hammering, it can strengthen their body.]

"???"

Lin Feng was genuinely bewildered. Why did a reward with such an impressive name only end up being for strengthening one’s body?

He studied the description again. It really was just a method for blacksmiths to strengthen their bodies, similar to the training at the Barracks.

A blacksmith using this Forging Technique in the Blacksmith’s Shop would achieve a body-strengthening effect, similar to the medicines from the Medicine House or the dishes from the Restaurant. It had a bit of a special property.

’It feels like a Body Refining Technique from a wuxia novel. Too bad it’s not the Chaotic Cloak Hammering Technique.’

Lin Feng shook his head and glanced at his own technique on his status panel: Body Strengthening Technique. A sense of dread washed over him.

’Don’t tell me the technique I was rewarded with is also this kind of thing.’

He had a strong feeling that was the case; perhaps his was just a slightly more effective version.

"Well, no point worrying about it now. The Body Strengthening Technique is pretty good, actually," Lin Feng consoled himself.

[A Mutated Fish Species: When used in a fishery, it will cause one species of fish to mutate and gain a special effect.]

This last reward was straightforward. It was similar to the plant mutations and could be considered a special aquatic product.

The only problem was where to build a fishery in Lin Xian Village. He couldn’t just put it in the valley in front of the village square.

The total surface area of the water in that valley was only about seven to eight thousand square meters, roughly the size of a couple of acres. To put it in perspective, a standard soccer field is 7,140 square meters, so the valley really wasn’t large.

The straight-line distance from the village square to the cave on South Mountain was only about a hundred meters.

’If all else fails, I’ll figure out a way to block the underwater exit with a net and raise the fish in there.’

’There’s a natural lake by the waterfall on the south side of South Mountain, but unfortunately, I can’t get to it right now.’

Lin Feng decided to try the valley first. If that didn’t work, he would figure something else out.

However, he had a nagging question: if all the mutated fish died, would he lose that mutated product forever?

It was just like with the plant mutations—if all the seeds were lost, the mutated plant would be gone for good.

’That probably won’t happen. The life force of these mutated creatures seems pretty resilient.’

At least, the mutated plants he had so far all seemed to be growing healthily.

Hu Zhiming walked over, looking at Lin Feng with a puzzled expression. ’There’s nothing in the water. What is he looking at?’

’Could there be something in there that I can’t see?’

"Brother Lin, you’ve been staring at the water for over ten minutes. What are you looking at?"

Lin Feng finally snapped out of it. He had been standing at the edge of the Wharf, staring at his system panel, which must have looked like he was staring at the water.

"It’s nothing, just thinking about something."

"By the way, now that the wooden bridge is finished, we can start developing the cave on South Mountain a little."

"I know. I’ve already assigned people to it."

’The upgrade didn’t seem to affect those wooden bridges. Looks like that experiment was a failure.’

This made Lin Feng worry that the staff dormitory he’d built couldn’t be directly upgraded into proper Houses.

Of course, it might become possible once the village reaches a higher level.

Currently, the buildings in the village could actually be modified by adding materials after an upgrade.

However, carrying out such modifications in reality would have a huge impact, so Lin Feng had given up on using that function.

Wu Xin had just arrived at the square with her daughter, Zhou Yueyue. She spotted Lin Feng before she even had a chance to go pay respects to the Earth God.

She led her daughter straight over to him. "Lin Feng."

"Sister Wu, Yueyue, you’re here."

"Uncle, Yueyue came to see you."

Lin Feng gently pinched the little one’s cheek. "Come on, Uncle will take you to get something good to eat."

Hearing this, the little girl’s eyes sparkled. She immediately hugged Lin Feng’s arm and looked up at her mother.

"You little glutton. As soon as there’s good food, you forget all about your mom."

"Uncle, can Mom come with us?"

"Of course!"

Lin Feng led them toward the village. Seeing Sister Wu’s hesitant expression, he knew she had something on her mind.

"Sister Wu, did you come here to ask me about the Medicinal Cuisine?"

Ever since the Medicinal Cuisine was introduced, almost everyone he knew in Lin Xian Village had come to ask him about it.

Wu Xin was the only one who hadn’t, not even sending a text. It was very strange.

Given her family’s standing in Wuyuan County, it was impossible for her not to have heard about the Medicinal Cuisine.

"It’s not about the Medicinal Cuisine. I mean, I didn’t come here just to get some, but what I need to talk about is related to it."

"Oh? What’s going on?"

Wu Xin explained, "Right now, Wuyuan County is in chaos because of your Medicinal Cuisine. A lot of outside factions have moved in."

"All these people are here for the Medicinal Cuisine, and they’ve been approaching anyone in Wuyuan County who has a connection to you."

"Even with my slight connection to you, people have come to my door, trying to buy Lin Xian Village’s Medicinal Cuisine through me."

This was the first Lin Feng had heard of this, but it wasn’t surprising. It was a good thing, especially a Medicinal Cuisine that could improve one’s health. Who wouldn’t want that?

There were so many wealthy people in the country, and indeed the world. If even one percent of them got wind of this, it would be a huge number.

As for Wuyuan County itself, besides a few companies that were decent by Jiangcheng City’s standards, they were nothing special once you left Jiangcheng.

Without real power but holding something valuable, they were bound to be targeted by these outside factions.

"Has someone been giving your family trouble?"

"Yes. Actually, the reason I came this time is to ask you for a job here."

Lin Feng had assumed she was coming to ask for help. He was a bit confused that she was looking for a job instead.

"A job?"

"That’s right. As long as I work for you here, no one should dare to openly bother my family anymore."

Lin Feng asked curiously, "Sister Wu, are you sure about that?"

"Of course. None of the families of people who work in Lin Xian Village have been approached by them."

Wu Xin looked at Lin Feng, puzzled. She realized he seemed to have no idea how much influence he wielded in Wuyuan County.

Those like her who had some connection to Lin Feng felt it most acutely, constantly encountering people trying to curry favor with them in their daily and professional lives.

People were even proactively approaching her family’s factory to propose partnerships.

There was even a large, outside company that had previously been a competitor to her family’s business. But after Lin Xian Village became famous, the person in charge of their local operations came to her family’s door to personally apologize.

Before, Wuyuan County’s economy was a stagnant pool, completely lacking any Vitality.

But now, the massive influx of tourists had revived that stagnant pool, driving development across numerous industries.

That kind of influence was far greater than what opening a large company in Wuyuan County could achieve. A single corporation could only stimulate a fraction of the local economy.

"Sister Wu, if you want to work in Lin Xian Village, you are more than welcome."

"In a little while, I’ll take you to meet Hu Xia. She’s been complaining to me that the village is short on management staff."

In truth, if Lin Xian Village really wanted to hire, finding management personnel would be easy.

It was just that too many people with ulterior motives were trying to get in, so Lin Feng had never opened that door.

Carelessly hiring managers wasn’t like hiring regular workers; it could easily lead to trouble.