Alas… the new milestone got hopes up, but reality poured cold water on the those dreaming for fast progress.
In base management mode, Yu Zhiye stared at the construction foundation that got highlighted red and the popup notifying him:
[Upgrade Error: Requirement Not Met]
Integration Heart
Apparently, the new construction blueprint must be built before he could proceed with the core upgrade.
This… kinda makes sense.
Most base management games had linear progression routes like these that requires various conditions to be met for a town hall promotion.
Perhaps other core levels might not have such a requirement, but clearly, level five was different.
“Well, good thing it doesn’t strictly require all buildings to be level four in order to promote. Because that would be super annoying and slow down things big time.”
Comparatively, the cost for building the [Integration Heart] wasn’t so bad.
[Integration Heart (Lv. 0)]
A control center for fusing extracted essence with existing structures.
[Build]
x16 wood, x64 cobblestone, x32 sand, 10 core energy
Resources had long been piling up and all requirements have been covered. So? What is he waiting for? Build!
Oom! Orbs of light delivered resources over to the construction site out back…
A framework rose from the ground up while stone bricks forged the walls and pillars like they were magically directed by an invisible conductor…
A sandy-white coating smoothed out the seams and carved out textures…
Soon, a small domed building resembling a Roman Pantheon took shape.
[Integration Heart (Lv. 1)]
A control center for fusing extracted essence with existing structures.
[Build]
x8 wood, x16 cobblestone, x16 sand, x1 obsidian, 5 core energy
“Great. The resource cost cut in half, but now I’ve got to find lava to make obsidian using water? Wait—does that logic still apply in this world?”
Uhh… see if anybody else finds some and just buy the first unit. If all else fails, there’s still the Grand Exchange.
For now, Yu Zhiye put that quest aside and drove his consciousness down to check out the interior of his new structure.
Inside... wasn’t a fancy library or meeting hall. Instead, the hall was mostly empty save for two point of interest.
At the back, a large furnace with royal-purple flames swirling inside like a whirlpool.
[Mysterious Furnace]
A furnace that has gained mysterious properties by binding to a mysterious core and taking root in this dimension.
[Effect]
Essence Extraction
Indestructible
And taking center stage was an enchantment pedestal featuring a five-pages-thick book.
[Mysterious Integration Hub]
The core that controls integration of extracted essence.
[Effect]
Essence Storage
Indestructible
[Available Essence (0/5)]
[Empty]
“...Huh. Looks like the function of this building focuses on… melting stuff to accumulate this so-called essence for upgrading buildings?”
As for what to melt? Most likely, anything less than valuable treasures won’t yield anything good.
To test this out, Yu Zhiye tried tossing an empty plastic bottle into the furnace... only to watch it melt into slag, yielding nothing.
“Hey, at least I now have a free trash disposal?”
Yu Zhiye backed away from the hot furnace and watched the furnace panel automatically shut away the heat.
Even so, this little pantheon was still the warmest place in his little hideout.
“Well, as long as you’re not stupid enough to throw yourself into the furnace, guess this could could as a good place to warm up.”
Not that anybody needed somewhere to warm up in his freaking hot desert!
Verdict: new building had lots of potential but... was ultimately useless… for now.
What a letdown. Too bad it’s not something he could skip on, and now he was down 10 points, leaving him 9 away from 100.
“Eh, no biggy. If nothing goes wrong, about another hour of fishing might cover it!”
That said, Yu Zhiye didn’t waste time chilling here any longer and rushed back out to his fishing spot.
“Fishy, fish, fish~ today will be the day Daoist Yufu soars to the heaven!”
Figuratively. And seriously. Yoo naw got your priorities straight if you’re thinking about another type of soaring! Ahem.
In any case, he enjoyed that enough this morning. Now, with that Kaori-sensei staying behind, no glamorous enchantress came to distract him today.
“Man, it’s rare I get a day when I could fish in peace…”
What Yu Zhiye didn’t notice was the eavesdropper peeking out from the sand nearby!
It was a beefy male mostly buried in the sand.
What’s even more strange was his ugly, sand-caked face… there was actually silvery-gray fish scales grown into it alongside strange sharkish gills marking both cheeks!
This humanoid creature turns out to be a merloc – the uglier monster version of the attractive half-human mermaid sea race in legends.
And this monster watched Yu Zhiye with the creepy smile of a predator...
The ambush was in place. But will the sand crocodile jump out to prey on the oblivious villager?
Though the victim was so close, the merman… actually didn’t attack. Nor did he overstay. After marking the prey, he burrowed back into the sand and swam away.
Swimming through sand was much tougher than walking the surface, but what those death angels could do, his transformed merman self could emulate.
Even quicksand can’t stop his ability!
Soon, the merman surfaced near the mountainside and slipped inside a crack that led into a cave.
The transformation power deactivated. The merman features gradually turned back to human…
Once his webbed feet and hands returned to normal, he went deeper into the cave to meet up with the team camping inside.
Leaning against the wall like a cool CEO, Sasuke heard the warning from his summoned pets on watch duty and turned to welcome the man. “Hmm. Takumi is back. Everything went well, I suppose?”
“Kuku, naturally.” Takumi Ryu grinned and walked over to the makeshift sand chart they set up on the floor. Using a stick, he drew out the explored route based on his memory.
“I’ve mapped out the safe route and... the location of their sentry. Just take care of him and our invasion should be easy peasy.”
Sasuke thoughtfully stared at the map and inquired, “What about that sentry? Did you discover anything special?”
Takumi Ryu shrugged. “Just a fisherman. I can snap him like a twig in merman form.”
The confidence was there, but Sasuke didn’t forget how their scout went without return yesterday.
Better to be cautious!
Sasuke looked over to the highschool boy listlessly sitting there like he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms.
“Yoshida, we’ll leave the contact to you. Your invisibility Clear-Clear fruit power makes you more suitable for this responsibility.”
Hearing this order, Yoshida perked up. “Finally, I get to see Kaori-sensei again!”
Sasuke frowned and sternly warned.
“Yoshida, we’re not here on vacation. Rendezvous with her, find out their numbers and characteristics, then come right back. Remember, don’t do anything stupid. If you ruin our big plan...”
“Hai, I know, I know!”
That’s what he said, but his face clearly said otherwise.
It’s the “nobody will see me and I can do whatever I want” look that Sasuke has seen many times on the faces of those bosses who arranged their secretaries to work under the office desk.
Such arrogance… was typical for a highschool boy going through puberty. That’s why…
Once the kid was gone, Sasuke shot the more matured Takumi a look.
“Don’t worry, boss. I’ll keep watch and back up the brat if needed. But with our gear, this PvP should be a piece of cake.”
But will it really be so?
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