Shen Xing noticed the final remark, and a thought struck him. ’I can actually build in the Fog?’
’Doesn’t this mean I can build a ton of Arrow Towers around my territory, covering the area for hundreds of meters in every direction and making it impossible for those monsters to get close?’
Of course, the amount of materials required to achieve that would be astronomical. Even High Level players couldn’t afford it.
But even if he couldn’t cover the entire perimeter of his territory, these Arrow Towers still had immense value.
For example, he could build a few on the territory’s periphery to act as outposts.
The moment an Arrow Tower opened fire, it would mean a monster was approaching.
He could also build them near resource points out in the wild, removing the need to station Soldier Types there for protection.
Shen Xing learned the blueprint without hesitation.
With a flash of light, the blueprint seemed to ignite, rapidly dissipating in his hand.
And on the territory’s [Construction] interface, a [Level 1 Arrow Tower] option had appeared.
Shen Xing decided to test the construction feature.
With a thought, a clear outline of an Arrow Tower materialized before his eyes, moving along with his line of sight.
When his gaze swept over empty ground in the territory, the outline turned Green, indicating that he could build there.
When he scanned over other buildings, it turned red, indicating that the spot was already occupied and he couldn’t build.
’All I have to do is pick a suitable empty spot to build. That’s pretty convenient.’
Shen Xing wheeled himself to the village entrance, planning to build the first Arrow Tower here.
It was called the village entrance, but it was really just a small gravel path flanked by a few black wooden sheds.
The first wave of monsters had attacked from this direction.
Therefore, building two Arrow Towers here would effectively provide fire support for the Soldier Types and reduce the pressure on them.
In truth, the entire village was completely exposed. Monsters could attack from any direction.
According to the beginner’s guide, this situation would improve once the Lords built walls.
[Consume 10 Soul Stones and 10 Vinar Silver Coins to build a Level 1 Arrow Tower?]
"Yes."
The moment he confirmed, the materials were automatically consumed from his inventory.
On the empty ground to the right of the village path, the base of a tower automatically appeared and began to construct itself.
[Construction in progress. Estimated time: 6 hours 45 minutes...]
...
’Almost seven hours... That’s a pretty long time.’
Shen Xing mused to himself and proceeded to build another one on the left side of the path.
With both Arrow Towers providing fire support simultaneously, the territory’s security would be greatly enhanced.
Once that was done, he dusted off his hands and took the third item from his inventory.
It was an Ancient Scroll suffused with a magical aura.
[Phantom Clone Scroll]
[Quality: Blue]
[Effect: Upon use, just before receiving a fatal blow, creates a clone in your place and renders you invisible.]
...
’This thing is amazing!’
Shen Xing was overjoyed. At a critical moment, this Scroll could save his life.
He tucked it away carefully in his inventory like a priceless treasure, then took out an exquisitely crafted crossbow.
The crossbow was entirely black, with brass gears embedded at both ends of the prod. It had a satisfying heft to it.
[Mechanical Crossbow]
[Quality: Blue (Excellent)]
[Introduction: A Mechanical Crossbow from the hands of a master craftsman. It is extremely powerful and can inflict considerable damage on Tier One creatures.]
[Effective Range: 45 meters]
[Attached Effect: Mechanical Crossbow (Activate the mechanism to fire a volley of 3-4 arrows. Cooldown: 60 seconds)]
...
’The Attributes are good, and the weight is manageable. I can even use it from my wheelchair.’
Shen Xing felt a surge of emotion. He finally had a way to attack.
He would no longer have to just watch his Soldier Types fight on the front lines while he stared helplessly from the rear.
Unfortunately, he had only found 12 arrows in the wolf’s den, so he would have to use them sparingly.
Besides, a crossbow like this wasn’t something you could just pick up and use effectively right away. It required long hours of practice.
After all, everything about this game was incredibly realistic.
Control over one’s Power and a weapon’s Hit Rate all depended on personal skill.
Unless you were a real-life sharpshooter who frequently used crossbows, hitting the bullseye every time right from the start was impossible.
He wheeled himself over to a black wooden house, which was where the Beastmen lived.
He then used a stick to draw a few circles on the door to serve as a makeshift target.
He then backed away, took out the crossbow, and nocked an arrow.
CLICK...
The gears turned. Shen Xing raised the crossbow slightly, aimed at the target on the door, and pulled the trigger!
The arrow shot out with a WHOOSH, striking with lightning speed.
’It hit... my ass!’
The arrow had hit the window, not even touching the door. It had missed by a country mile.
’Again.’
Undeterred, Shen Xing continued to nock his arrows and fire!
THWACK! THWACK-THWACK!
Arrow after arrow flew out, making sharp sounds as they struck the wooden planks.
Once he had shot all twelve arrows, he ordered a Beastman to go and pull them out of the wooden house.
「Time slowly passed.」
The village in the Fog was filled with the continuous sound of arrows striking wood, and from a short distance away, the sounds of the Beastmen butchering meat.
After about an hour of practice, Shen Xing stopped.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to continue, but the arrows were already covered in cracks. A few more shots and they would likely be completely ruined.
’This game’s design is a little too realistic... The arrows even have Durability...’
Shen Xing felt resigned, but after more than an hour of practice, his aim had improved considerably.
At least he wouldn’t be missing by a country mile anymore.
"Boss... We’ve finished butchering it!"
Hellish Roar’s gruff voice carried from the distance.
Shen Xing looked away from his target and wheeled himself over to the Campfire, where he saw several types of materials sorted and laid out on the ground.
Fresh entrails and wolf meat were piled together, next to a mostly intact black wolf pelt.
The wolf bones and fangs were in a separate pile.
The meat and entrails, needless to say, could be used directly as Food to supplement the Beastmen’s meals.
As for the other materials, Shen Xing wasn’t sure how to process them.
So, he took off his glasses again, pulled out his phone to log into the forums, and entered the phrase "Beast Material Processing" into the search bar.
Sure enough, he found a post titled "Processing and Utilization of Beast Materials" in the guides section.
It listed detailed processing methods for various materials obtained from beasts.
For example, bones and teeth could be ground into arrowheads or daggers, and sinews could be twisted into bowstrings or ropes.
Pelts could be crafted into leather armor and boots by a talent with the [Sewing Mastery] skill.
The more powerful the beast, the higher the Quality of its materials.
It was said that some powerful Lords had even managed to assemble a full set of gold-tier equipment just by hunting High Level beast kings in the Fog.
After reading the post, Shen Xing had a better idea of what to do.
Since he was running low on arrows, the bones from this black wolf could be put to good use.
So, he gave Blood Roar a simple command: take some men and grind all the bones and teeth into Bone Arrows.
Although these Beastmen weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, they were more than capable of handling such a simple task.
Then, he took out twenty [Soul Stones] and handed them to Hellish Roar, telling him to distribute them to the other Beastmen so they could all push for Level 3.
With all the preparations complete, Shen Xing felt his mind grow weary as waves of drowsiness washed over him.
He glanced at the time. It was already past midnight.
Without realizing it, he had been playing for the entire day.
’That’s enough for today. It’s important to balance work and rest.’
He took off his glasses, and his vision shifted back to his cramped apartment.
Outside the window, the night was hazy.
Bright moonlight, like liquid silver, poured down, illuminating the old residential complex where he lived.
He picked up his phone, unlocked the screen, and saw that a flood of new messages had appeared in his group chat.
Loves Playing with Coriander: "Hell yeah! So awesome, bros!"
"Today, I got one of my Half-Elves to Level 4 and even raised its Potential to Two-Star. Its power skyrocketed!"
"Those low-level Lost Ones are no match at all. I’m just mowing them down!"
He sent several excited emoji stickers in a row, then tagged ’I Eat and Eat’ and asked:
"Jiayi, how’d you do today? Your bro here can spot you some [Soul Stones] if you need."
I Eat and Eat replied casually: "It was alright. I just got all my Soldier Types to Level 2. Right now, my territory has seven Two-Star Soldier Types and one Three-Star Soldier Type."
"..."
Loves Playing with Coriander was silent for a moment, then typed indignantly: "Fuck, I forgot your starting Soldier Type was already Two-Star. You lucky bastard."
He then tagged Shen Xing, asking: "Shen Xing, how about you?"
Starfire: "I’m doing okay. Just got two Three-Stars and leveled all my Soldier Types to Level 3."
Loves Playing with Coriander: "..."