But what had happened in the day today had made him clearly realize that there were not many pedestrians coming and going through this area!
He could not earn too many Specter Stones by collecting lodging fees. If he wanted to live long enough, he had to obtain “Specter Stones” by killing specters.
He could not simply sit there and eat through his reserves.
He needed a stable source of income!
The next moment—
He thrust his arm into the scorching flames of the “Specter Fire.” Strangely, neither his skin nor even his clothing suffered the slightest damage. From the fire, he took out a complete Specter Stone, clasped it together with the newly obtained Specter Stone in his palm, and slowly closed his eyes.
Immediately afterward!
Under Lame Monkey’s incredulous gaze, the two Specter Stones in his hand began to melt rapidly, turning into milky-white liquid that flowed through his fingers. Before it could fall to the ground, it transformed into dozens of illusory white threads floating in midair, beginning to assemble in a regular pattern and gradually solidify.
A few seconds later.
A “steel beast trap” fell from the air onto the ground.
This was a Level 1 beast trap he had just created by consuming 2 Specter Stones. It could damage low-level specters, thereby continuously obtaining Specter Stones for him!
“It worked.”
Chen Fan stood where he was, looking at the extremely simple-looking beast trap on the ground, and began to smile. The complex emotions of tension, fear, confusion, and helplessness brought on by suddenly transmigrating into this dangerous and unknown world dissipated quite a bit in that instant.
At least there was hope now.
He was no longer in despair.
“Young Master!”
Having witnessed all of this with his own eyes, Lame Monkey’s face had gone pale, and his emotions were exceptionally agitated. But after glancing at the wooden cabin, he forcibly lowered his voice and said, trembling, “Young Master, you actually awakened as an Architect!”
“And your very first attempt at construction actually succeeded!”
“As long as the master learns of this news, Young Master, you can immediately return to the clan and enjoy the best treatment. No one will ever be able to bully you again.”
“The master will definitely seek justice for all the unfairness you’ve suffered over the years!”
“No.”
A light flickered in Chen Fan’s eyes as he chuckled. “I don’t really like others making decisions for me.”
Several hundred years ago, Eternal Night descended.
The order of the world collapsed in an instant. Countless people died miserably at the hands of “specters,” and corpses lay strewn across the land. But through the exploration bought with countless lives, people slowly discovered a way to survive.
As long as one absorbed a “Specter Stone,”
one could strengthen one’s physical constitution, and even learn spells, using them to resist specters like an immortal.
These people were collectively known as “cultivators.”
However—
In this world, hiding was the mainstream method of survival. No matter how powerful a “cultivator” was, it was impossible to resist the endless tide of specters in the darkness. When Eternal Night descended, if one did not stay close to “Specter Fire,” then even if one’s strength was sufficiently powerful, one would still be worn to death.
And a small number of lucky ones,
after absorbing a “Specter Stone,” would become special cultivators. These cultivators often possessed rather unique abilities.
For example, “Nightwalkers” could still retain a certain range of vision after Eternal Night descended.
Another example was “Alchemists,” who could use the corpses of specters, supplemented with spirit herbs of heaven and earth, to produce pills with various miraculous effects.
Compared with ordinary cultivators, special cultivators like “Nightwalkers” and “Alchemists” were even more powerful and possessed more methods. Wherever they went, they would be honored guests of any faction. If they were willing to sign a contract and join, they would receive a large monthly stipend.
And among these special cultivators, there was one type whose status was the highest and who were also the rarest: “Architects”!
For instance, “Specter Fire” was a method produced by Architects. Aside from Architects, no one could create a construction like Specter Fire.
Without Architects, this world would have perished long ago.
Whether it was the towering city walls of various cities or the defenses of each clan’s headquarters, all of them came from the methods of “Architects”!
To judge the foundation of a faction, one only needed to see whether that faction had an Architect.
The foundation of the “Jiangbei Chen Clan” was an enshrined Level 5 Architect!
The Chen Clan had a total of seventy-seven stations, and the “Specter Fire” at every station had all been created by this enshrined expert. These stations, in turn, continuously brought the Chen Clan a large amount of income.
And he—
had now also become an “Architect.”
Only...
His was a bit more advanced. According to the memories in his mind, all current “Architects” were unable to directly use “construction blueprints.” After killing high-level specters, there was a small chance of dropping construction blueprints. Other Architects all relied on the appearance of the structures depicted on the blueprints, collecting the corresponding materials and adding Specter Stones as they groped their way through attempts at construction.
Once the construction succeeded, they would remember the formula and regard it as a secret not to be passed down, transmitting it orally from one person to another.
For example, “Specter Fire,” the most common construction and one of the few whose formula had leaked, currently had a widely circulated construction formula: “Requires 10–30 Specter Stones, a strand of hair from a Mimic Ghost, the head of a Back-Carrying Ghost, the heart of a Daylight Ghost, a strand of withered grass... and seven materials in total.”
But in reality,
according to the blueprint for the basic construction “Specter Fire” on his panel, creating a “Specter Fire” required only 3 Specter Stones and a strand of withered grass that could be casually plucked, used as the basic kindling.
As for why such a complicated formula had been produced...
It was entirely because other people could not see the complete contents displayed on the “construction blueprint.” After fumbling around, once those seven messy materials were fused together, all the other materials mutually dissolved, leaving only a strand of withered grass behind.
It could be simply understood as numerous bugs stacking together until the process happened to run smoothly.
If even one link were missing, it would collapse again.
Nor did that many Specter Stones actually need to be spent. It was entirely because if one did not directly use the construction blueprint, there would be energy loss. Since he directly used the construction blueprint, his energy utilization rate was 100%. Compared with other Architects, when he created a construction, it would cost less and be more stable.
If others went up the mountain via a winding mountain road, then he went up by cable car. Between two points, a straight line was the shortest.
More efficient, more direct, and faster!
“Huu...”
He lightly exhaled, carefully placed the “Level 1 Beast Trap” on the ground at the edge of the circle of light, then kicked it into the darkness with one foot. He began to look forward to the harvest after daybreak.
He did not plan to return to the “Jiangbei Chen Clan.”
If it had been his predecessor, he definitely would have wanted to return to the Chen Clan at the first opportunity. After all, he wanted to gain his father’s approval. But Chen Fan did not have such messy thoughts.
Once a man wanted to obtain someone else’s approval, half his life was basically wasted.
Moreover, even if he wanted to go back, he could not.
Without a transmission talisman or enough traveling money, he had no way of returning to the clan, nor could he contact them.
What he had to do was slowly build a shelter here that belonged to him. After accumulating enough power to protect himself, he would then consider other matters.
In this world, it was not only ghosts that ate people at night. There were also ghosts that ate people in the day.
He could not only consider dealing with specters.
Stockpile grain widely; proclaim kingship slowly!
This six-character policy would be his plan for the coming period of time.
He was not going anywhere.
He was planting himself right here!