Chapter 260: Filling in the Conditions, Reversion Blessings
When Chen Shen mentioned the two words—big haul, he could clearly feel the sense of excitement and thrill in his heart.
Su Mo patted on Chen Shen’s shoulder, signaling him to keep up, and along with the others, marched toward the hill above the Underground Shelter.
On the hill, they would be able to get a view of the terrain surrounding the shelter, including Iron Rock Mountain.
“A big haul? Let me think…”
“If it’s nearby, wouldn’t that be the remaining troop of lion people that went to look for shelter?”
He walked and pondered. Excluding the other creatures on this route, the only creatures remaining that would be deserving of the term “big haul” would be the lion people.
Chen Shen, who was behind Su Mo, heard him mumbling to himself, and there was a hint of admiration on his face. He stepped up alongside Su Mo.
“Yes, brother Su, it’s the lion people!”
“Good gracious, this bunch of lion people were really starving. Just over ten of them dared to rob us in broad daylight!”
“We didn’t even send for Ms Zhong. The shelter’s militia alone that we’ve been training recently was enough to teach these lion people a good lesson.”
The more Chen Shen said, the more excited he got, as he continued to chime in with an animated expression.
He did not know whether it was because they had been starving for days, or whether it was due to their poor living conditions, that caused them to take action so suddenly.
It seemed that the group of ten to twenty lion people could initially withstand the pangs of hunger, by roaming around and foraging the wasteland.
However, they were now faced with the imminent approach of the ocean disaster in 20 days, and their shelter core had been destroyed by the kobolds. This meant that they did not have the ability to build a small raft to sail across the ocean and head to the new continent.
The new version update immediately had the poor lion people against the ropes!
In desperation, the lioness could only take the risk, brace themselves and attack on the day of the relocation of the Candlelight Shelter, hoping to steal some resources and the shelter core to restore their own.
It was only that the lioness did not expect the unprecedented growth the refugees had undergone after receiving Su Mo’s a.s.sistance.
Firstly, their growth in confidence!
Humans used to fall into chaos whenever they saw more than ten members of a foreign race attacking, and would only think of escaping safely. The thought of fighting back did not even occur to them before this.
However, with Su Mo now guiding and encouraging them…
When the group of lion people showed up, the militia that had just sharpened their iron spears and filled their stomachs, howled and dashed forward without hesitation, as if they had discovered some sort of treasure.
On one side was the well-equipped, well-fed militia who were at their peak condition, raring to go.
On the other side were the wandering lion people who were physically weak from hunger and exhaustion.
Once they came into contact, even if they had been magically buffed by the lioness, the battle line of the lion people’s squad immediately collapsed.
The militia suffered 0 deaths and 0 injuries, but killed nine lion warriors on the spot, and seriously injured a further two lion warriors during this battle encounter.
They even successfully captured the head of the lion clan, the lioness, a lion cook, and a new cla.s.s of lion warrior, a lion archer.
The three surviving lion people had been tied up with hemp rope at this point. These lion people, who were once active on the Hope Plains, had lost their opportunity at life in the battle, and were only one command away from fading into ‘extinction’.
Once Su Mo gave the word, after three seconds, the lion people would no longer exist on the wasteland world forever.
However…
After Chen Shen had finished narrating the report, and just when he was about to move on to the other matters excitedly, he was stunned to realize that there was no reaction from Su Mo.
Huh? Was brother Su unhappy?
Could it be that this was not considered to be a big haul?
The moment this thought came into Chen Shen’s mind, and just when he began to struggle…
Su Mo turned around, and had a smile plastered all over his face that he could no longer hold back!
The next second, on the hill above the Underground Shelter, and in every villager’s eyes, Su Mo stood on the hillside and burst out laughing, as if a joyous event had taken place.
“Good job! Fantastic! What a well-fought battle! Well done, Chen Shen! I did pick the right person!”
His rough palm patted Chen Shen’s shoulder heavily.
Although Chen Shen grimaced in pain, his face had a very pleased expression. Even though Su Mo had an excellent sense of self-control, the thrill he felt from this information was enough to make his soul tremble with excitement.
It was truly a case of having a pillow delivered to his doorstep just as he was feeling sleepy.
There were two ways to move every item, including the shelter, that was within five kilometres of the Underground Shelter to the new continent.
The first way to totally eradicate the existence of a foreign race from the wasteland, and the second was to kill a total of 500 thousand members of foreign races.
As luck would have it, he had achieved the first method even before the launch of the second version update of the game.
He only had to wait until the ocean emerged to kill these few remnant survivors, which would then allow him to meet the shelter teleportation conditions immediately, allowing him to obtain the first entry quota to the new continent.
“Fortunately, a few lion people were spared this time. I didn’t expect them to take a detour and return to this area.”
“Yes, at first they were still wandering around the vicinity of the Candlelight Shelter but, after that, we weren’t sure where they ran off to. We weren’t expecting them to return at all!”
After restraining his excitement and calming down, Su Mo felt relieved that he had not completely exterminated the lion people back then, recalling memories of…
The lion people and the basin area.
When he first arrived here, the entire basin area was brown, as if all life had been erased by the aftermath of a missile attack.
It had only been a month since then, but now one could see fields of emerald green everywhere, and the desolate scene in his memory had become a thing of the past.
Were it not for the impending ocean disaster, Su Mo had the confidence that it would not take long for him to develop this basin into a land of abundance.
For now, he looked at the basin area, as more and more refugees whose hearts were filled with hope gathered together. Su Mo felt emotions welling up in his heart that needed to be released.
How long had it even been?
The basin area was truly transforming into a cradle of life!
“Look there. That’s the place that I’ve arranged for all of you. When the ocean emerges, it’ll be safe to hide away in the mountains.”
Su Mo turned around, and as Chen Shen’s gaze followed his own, he slowly pointed at the Iron Rock Mountain that was behind the shelter.
With just one look, the hint of confusion that was in Chen Shen’s eyes earlier suddenly transformed into utter shock!
The mountains, according to most Huaxian’s memories and knowledge, even if they were not shaped like jagged rocks, would have at least varying levels of steep, straight cliffs.
If humans wanted to settle down atop such mountains, they could only adopt the lifestyle of cavemen; living in caves and eking out a primitive existence.
However, now that he saw the mountain in the field of his vision, Chen Shen…
His worldview collapsed!
Goodness gracious, who would believe that a naturally-formed mountain could have a standard twisting mountain path on it.
Who would have thought that there was a large, flat platform on the top of the mountain that was so smooth that it looked as if it had been sliced off with a sharp knife.
In the previous private messages, Su Mo had only told him to move to the mountain.
Even after that, when Chen Shen attended the meeting and told all the villagers, he purposely avoided the topic of relocating to the mountains when they were about to move.
Subconsciously, the natural environment of the mountain made him envisage a plain and hard life.
However, now…
“Brother Su, if they were to see such a mountain, won’t they go crazy with happiness?”
Chen Shen turned around, eyes sparkling. Su Mo could see clearly just what the flames in those eyes were trying to express.
The ocean disaster would soon be upon them, and they would be able to survive on a forty-meter tall mountain; mining the mountain’s iron ore in pa.s.sing, and settling down atop its flat surface.
How safe and comfortable such an environment would be, and even if the final wave of the tsunami struck afterward, the mountain would still remain absolutely as steady as the rock it was formed from.
“Go, a.s.semble your team, and try your best to create a s.p.a.ce that is sufficient to house everyone today.”
“As for storing supplies, the warehouse is right down there. You can arrange for your team members to store the supplies inside based on the previous plan.”
Su Mo patted Chen Shen on the shoulder and gave him a look of encouragement. He watched Chen Shen nod his head and descend down the hill. There was also a trace of fighting spirit in Su Mo’s eyes.
To these people, the Iron Rock Mountain was their right place to settle down and live peacefully until the ocean disaster arrived.
However, to his sister, he was Su Chan’s mountain, and the only one she could trust to rescue her from the ocean disaster!
“Since we’ve now found a way to relocate the Underground Shelter and its surroundings, things have become simpler. I’ll just have to wait until the disaster arrives!”
He watched as Chen Shen left a few men behind to pa.s.s the message to the others, and started leading a large team heading toward Iron Rock Mountain happily. Su Mo also started to get down to work.
The furnace that was making the steel plates, which previously operated 12 hours per day, increased its operations to 18 hours per day, with the remaining six hours set aside to let the machine rest and cool down.
Based on the furnace’s power consumption, ten kilowatts were required per hour, which meant that a hundred and sixty kilowatts were used each day, in addition to the 40 liters of diesel required to generate the power everyday.
As for the thickness, even though there were ways to purchase more materials, Su Mo still chose to continue making the 490mm steel plates to ensure the absolute structural integrity of the hull.
In terms of weapons, once the cotton had been stored and sorted, then he would be ready for the ma.s.s production of guncotton, which would allow him to produce ammunition and explosives.
Everything was proceeding according to plan!
“I’m not waiting anymore, I’ll try to upgrade the level of the mermaid clan’s transcendental blessing to see if I can protect the shelter from the ocean.”
In the trading market, the price drop of the materials continued, declining steadily at a rate of 0.1 percent every minute.
Su Mo checked the trading market for a while, and then closed the game panel. He summoned the shelter core that possessed two types of transcendental blessings, focused mentally, and summoned the system.
The familiar pale green light glowed and dimmed, as two attributes were displayed.
Currently, the color distribution representing both blessings on the armored core was rather uneven, 90 percent of the area belonged to the upgraded wind ability of the lion clan, while flinching piteously on the other side was the water ability of the mermaid clan, which only covered 10 percent of the armored core.
Previously, for some unknown reason, the water attribute of the talisman stimulated the mermaid clan’s blessing, allowing it to increase its territory.
Based on the area distribution of the two blessings, one could see just how frightening a blessing upgrade could be.
“System, provide me with the upgrade options of the water ability of the mermaid clan!”
Su Mo closed the shelter’s alloy gate, switched on the light in the room and sat on the ground cross-legged. Focusing mentally, the system interface displayed the properties panel.
There were three different upgrade directions displayed.
[Water of the Mermaid Clan]
[Description: Belongs to a branch of blessings under the “Water” family. Obtained after receiving an ordinary blessing from a weak mermaid clan member. Excellent upgrade potential.]
[First upgrade option: Increase the blessing’s level from lvl 1 to lvl 2. Enhances the current blessing’s ability to a certain extent and expands the scope of blessing. Low probability of evolving the blessing and deriving a second ability. Survival points required (980).]
[Second upgrade option: Increase the blessing’s quality. Reversion from a low-ranked mermaid’s to a mermaid priestess’ blessing. One hundred percent chance of deriving a second ability. Low probability of enhancing the blessing’s potential and deriving a third ability. Survival points required (2800).]
[Third upgrade option: Blessing Reversion. Reversion from a low-ranked mermaid’s to a mermaid queen’s blessing. One hundred percent chance of deriving six new abilities. If the shelter is submerged under the ocean, it naturally gains an 80% affinity rating from aquatic species, and 100% affinity rating from the mermaid clan. When the blessing of the mermaid clan is attached to the shelter, there is a low probability of triggering a special effect—”Carp leaping over the dragon gate”, which increases the “visual aspect” of the mermaid clan’s blessing. Survival points required (55200, psychic energy crystal *1).]
[Comment: No way, are you kidding me? How could anyone refuse the chance of owning a pretty mermaid?]