Chapter 517: A Complete Upgrade, Ma.s.sive Improvements!
The system’s fixed daily system announcements were also cla.s.sified according to different levels.
However, Su Mo had previously only seen an ordinary white color and the gold color that came from many days of acc.u.mulation.
This was his first time seeing this particular green color.
Right now, after pulling up the daily system announcement and reading carefully through everything that was displayed, Su Mo could not help looking astonished.
[Doomsday Month 4 Day 7… Thursday.]
[Lord]: Su Mo (host)
[Status of Territory]: Many items pending completion. There are already basic existing conditions for plants to survive. There is also specific housing which is enough for a small colony to settle
[Territory Area]: 150 square kilometers (this is not a small area, neither is it considered large. It is sufficient for living s.p.a.ce, but there is no strategic depth)
[Territory Resources]: Iron ore mines, oil, high-temperature steam… earth that is waiting to be planted… (there are adequate resources for the development of the working industry. Planting resources are minimal but sufficient for supplying a small colony)
[Territory Potential]: 14. 99 (currently, the average value of the land is 10.18, with the highest value being1416. 35)
[Weather report]: Tomorrow, it will be cloudy on the mainland, with a temperature of 4 to 21 degrees. The east wind will be at Level 3 wind force (there is a ma.s.sive temperature difference between night and day. Wearing more layers of clothing is recommended to prevent catching a cold. It is recommended that one cook food that can warm the body to prevent the spread of illnesses)
[Territory Inhabitants]: 1405 people (expansion+)
[Inhabitants’ Loyalty]: 100%. (A stable level of loyalty indicates that there will be no obstructions in implementing your plans)
[Inhabitants’ Att.i.tude]: Excellent (lately, there have been ma.s.sive improvements in your territory, and over 90% of the inhabitants believe that they will have a better future if they continue to settle here)
[Inhabitants’ Health Level]: Very poor (76% of the inhabitants’ health levels are around 40-50, 14% of them are around 50-60, while 6% of them are at 60-70. Only 4% of them are at more than 70.)
[Inhabitants’ Work Efficiency]: 81% (many days of toil have not reduced the efficiency of their work. Finished housing and adequate food resources have made them happy and satisfied, which boosts their working efficiency!)
[Inhabitants’ Needs]: Privacy, meat, water heaters
[Tips Regarding Inhabitants]: Adequate privacy will allow them to greatly relax their tense nerves and will also greatly increase the territory’s birthrate)
…
[Economy]: Starting up (your territory has simple trade allies. Internally, there are also easy trading environments. However, at present, there has been no development, so it is at the start-up stage)
[Technology]: Energy sources (of late, the technology of the territory has leaned heavily in the direction of energy conversion and energy output)
[Medical Amenities]: Zero (there are no medical facilities or any professional doctors. All inhabitants who fall sick can only entrust themselves to fate)
[Legal Code]: Poor (the initially established trading regulations have supplemented the legal code. Under economic restrictions, everyone will do what they are able for the time being)
[Structures]: Basic village (contains the most basic homes to house the inhabitants but still lacks an array of residential facilities to fulfill their needs)
[Level Of Civilization]: Primitive Age (conditions for upgrading: not yet fulfilled)
[Voices Of The Wind]: “The 1,000 dwarven troops stationed at Black Stone base camp will be returning to their country to resume duties after 6 o’clock tomorrow. When that happens, the number of military troops in Black Stone base camp will be reduced to 350 people
“Hurry over to territory 11356 as soon as possible. Coordinates are 35132, and you will get a significant surprise! (Hint: green, excellent, plant)
[Point Acc.u.mulation Rating]: pa.s.s (expansion+)
…
“As expected, increasing the potential of a territory will spur other positive feedback and developments.
“The potential value of other territories was achieved by tirelessly sending out subordinates to stake territorial claims. Only the basin has not stopped upgrading internally, which is why such indicators can appear.
“If I can upgrade the basin to the potential value of 1,000 or so, perhaps when the time comes, there will be valuable rare plants everywhere!”
After going through all the messages in the daily system announcements and looking over the two messages from the Voices of the Wind once more, Su Mo could not help feeling delighted.
When he clicked into the actual point acc.u.mulation ratings and saw the rewards that he had obtained today, he became even more excited.
Yesterday, he had only obtained 1.5 points. He had not expected that today, it would jump to 2!
At present, just the acc.u.mulated territory points from the last few days numbered 4.8!
Based on this current rate of acc.u.mulation, he would be able to collect up to 24 territory points before the disaster.
On the positive side, this meant that the basin’s potential value would still be able to maintain its upward trend.
“Unfortunately, survival points are becoming more and more scarce.
“Ever since the change in the method of obtaining points, that’s been one less source of stable point acc.u.mulation. The minute I stop doing something, this area will essentially become nothing!”
The hundred millionth level function upgrade from previously was not without its price.
Before, under the former method of obtaining survival points, the system would more or less give some points even if Su Mo was sleeping or if he happened to be in a good mood.
If he accomplished any major task, the system would definitely give out hundreds, even thousands of points. Within a very short time, he would be able to collect several hundred thousand points.
However, the current rules for survival points had done away with the daily fixed amount, as well as being able to obtain points after minor accomplishments.
Even though Su Mo had killed Alec and his minions, he had only managed to obtain a measly 1,200 points. This was entirely insufficient to make ends meet.
Su Mo stood on the mountain peak and thought for a moment about this issue. It did not take him long to feel at ease again.
Nothing was free in life. If he were given a chance to choose again between survival points and territory points, Su Mo would still not hesitate to choose the latter.
In fact, at this current stage, the items that had come from his survival points were slowly becoming of increasingly less value.
In circ.u.mstances where there were no clear principles and ma.s.s production was impossible, survival points served mainly as excellent standbys for backup.
For example, transferring owners.h.i.+p of the mark from earlier on required spending 20,000 points. However, the the mark’s usefulness exceeded the effects of using a similar amount of points to upgrade ordinary items.
Conversely, as long as one could obtain a steady flow of territory points, the territory would only become increasingly stronger, and the technology tree would become even more advanced.
Subsequently, even without survival points, one could rely merely on the territory’s independent research and development to achieve the effect of an “Item Upgrade”.
It was absolutely unnecessary to choose between the two, given one was beneficial, and one was less so.
Besides, the system had made it very clear how to obtain survival points.
One had to do things!
As long as one did not hide themselves within the territory and their shelter like a coward, then naturally, after completing things without being aware of it, one’s survival point tally would not be too shabby.
“It seems I’m born to be a workaholic.
“However, it’s also meaningless to just stay put in the territory. Transforming into other races and heading out to explore is what I really want to do!”
Su Mo smiled and closed out the daily system announcement. He then went back to the territory upgrade section under the various ways to upgrade.
h.o.a.rding territory points would not cause them to increase. Spending them was the way to create a cycle, so the points would be able to continuously increase.
As for what to use the points on, Su Mo hardly hesitated after he had looked through the items that could be upgraded.
“Since it’s already proven that upgrading buildings or resources in the territory will increase its potential value, then investing it all in potential value is the last resort.
“After all, now that the territory is 150 kilometers in size, dividing potential value across such a large area means there’s no directly observable set place for investing the points.
“I might as well try upgrading the fixed resources and see what changes will occur!”
After taking stock of the thriving surroundings and rapidly considering for a moment, Su Mo decided on his first resource upgrade.
Currently, any construction in the basin would need to have iron as its structural framework.
However, the purity of the iron on Iron Rock Mountain was very low. A furnace was still necessary if one wanted to refine and forge the iron.
Over time, not many items could be manufactured, and a lot of disaster points would be expended.
“System, I choose to invest some of my territory points. Target: Iron Rock Mountain!”
Su Mo gently clicked on the properties of Iron Rock Mountain and saw the plus sign behind the brackets. Focusing his attention, he clicked on it.
Boom!
Upgrading resources with territory points was not like the game issuing various modification cards. The upgrade would only be attached to a specific attribute.
Su Mo was entirely unprepared and had no time to react, which was why the sudden tremor beneath his feet almost caused him to topple onto the ground.
However, a second later, it was just like what had happened in the very beginning when Iron Rock Mountain had appeared in such an epic fas.h.i.+on.
Wave upon wave of tremors began spreading out from the land below Iron Rock Mountain, the intensity of which was hard to describe. They rapidly spread far and wide, causing the surface of the ground to quake continuously.
Everything still looked fine from ground level.
However, looking into the distance from where he stood on the mountain peak, Su Mo was stunned to discover that the horizon appeared to have been all twisted up and was undulating at an incomprehensible speed.
When they sensed the tremors, the villagers—who had all been doing their own work—came running to the open area in a panic.
Initially, everyone thought it was an earthquake.
However, after just a few seconds, as more villagers began shouting, everyone’s gaze focused.
The target of their scrutiny was Iron Rock Mountain!
“Good heavens, why is our mountain s.h.i.+ning? It can’t be a problem with my eyes, right?”
“D*mn! It really is s.h.i.+ning. But don’t you think that it seems to have grown a bit higher?”
“The main body of the mountain seems as if it’s being stretched. It was still at this point a minute ago and now it’s at this point. It hasn’t stopped yet; it’s still growing!”
“The area it occupies has become larger too. I still remember very clearly from previously that the bottom of the mountain was around 2 kilometers from our Shelter Leader’s shelter. Now, it seems like it’s only 1.5 kilometers away!”
“What’s going on? I’ve lived until now, and this is the first time I’ve heard that mountains can grow!”
As they watched, Iron Rock Mountain, which had been invested with just a few territory points, underwent an epic transformation.
Before, it had been pitch black. Now, it could reflect sunlight, creating a mist-like effect.
Previously it had only been 40 meters high. Now, it was 60 meters high!
From occupying 800 square meters, it had now expanded to occupy 1,400 square meters—almost double the original area!
The change brought about by just a few territory points was no less than the effect of a resource modification card provided by the game!
Gradually, as the tremors came to an end, they began to slow down.
Su Mo, who had been tightly hanging onto the mountain for fear he might be thrown clear by the transformation, finally had a chance to check on the mountain’s properties.
As he focused his mind, the game panel—which had been un.o.btrusively in the background—slowly pulled up, revealing the upgraded, brand new Iron Rock Mountain!
[Mineral Resources (Iron Ore Mine)—Level 2]
[Mineral State]: Complete, never been mined, in peak condition.
[Mining Value]: Three stars (Peak: three stars)
[Special Ability]:
Hardness: The purity of mineral vein production resources has been upgraded to a definite extent
Extraction: Mineral purity has undergone a specific increase. The difficulty of forging has been significantly lowered.
Amplitude: ??? (Unknown)
[Mining Difficulty]: Very low to medium
[Remaining Reserves]: 10 million tons
From a single special ability, it had evolved to three special abilities.
From the original Level 1 mineral, it had been upgraded to the current Level 2.
As for its value, at its peak, the mine was originally only worth two stars. Now, however, it had been achieved an unbelievable three stars!
Not only that, the remaining reserves had been increased from 3 million tons to 10 million tons.
Furthermore, these were the changes brought about by merely a small investment of territory points!
“Sure enough, there are still special attributes that even the game can’t detect.
“D*amn, this time, it seems I took the right path in upgrading resources!”
Initially, Su Mo was stunned when he saw the three question marks behind the third special attribute, amplitude. Following that, he stood up, ecstatic.
He had no idea what specific changes this special ability would bring.
However, the quality of things that the game could not detect was certain to be fairly good.
He had really struck it rich this round!
“Why not try investing a few more points and see what changes two points will bring about?”
Su Mo looked over the new attribute again. After making sure there were no issues, a new idea suddenly began wildly surfacing in his mind.
However, this time, after clicking into the system’s Territorial Upgrade panel to check on it, Su Mo gave a resigned smile.
In previous resource upgrades, apart from the 10 points of the tungsten mine and heatstone mine, the 5 points of the underground hot steam, and the fruit tree mountain which needed another 2 points, the other resources would only need 1 more point at most to be upgraded.
Currently, however, after upgrading Iron Rock Mountain once, if he wanted to upgrade it again, the criteria had suddenly changed to…
50 points!
This was not a tenfold change from 1 to 10 points; this was an exorbitant 50 times more!
Based on the current rate of acc.u.mulating points, it would take him more than 20 days to acc.u.mulate that amount!
“From the looks of it, I can’t upgrade Iron Rock Mountain again for the time being. However, it’s adequate for now. If I upgrade it again, that will only waste my territory points.”
Looking at the cold, unyielding number immediately cooled down Su Mo’s heated thoughts from a second earlier.
Following that, he looked at the remaining points.
After giving it some thought, Su Mo allocated the points equally among the remaining four resource spots.
First, he spent 1 point on the other copper mine in the territory.
Secondly, he spent 2 points on the fruit tree mountain that was going to be planted with the Food Leaves but was lacking in soil nutrients.
Thirdly, he spent 0.5 points on the carp, which had very poor reproductive ability when winter was approaching.
Fourthly, he spent 0.2 points on the freshwater lake which the villagers had begun recently using for drinking water, the quality of which was satisfactory.
After completing all these, his points had gone from 4.8 to 0.1 again.
However, as the surface of the earth began a familiar quaking once more, Su Mo watched as the fruit tree mountain began radiating miraculous rays of light and felt not the slightest trace of heartache.
One had to strike while the iron was hot!
The items that had been upgraded at present were all resources that the basin urgently needed for development. Delaying would mean trouble in the future.
This was like what was happening now. Once the fruit tree mountain was finished with its upgrade, the Food Leaves could immediately be planted. When the blizzard was over, the leaves could be harvested and then taken to Freedom City to be sold.
As for the carp, they would gain a significant buff, and their numbers would increase by leaps and bounds.
“After this current upgrade, there’s going to be a huge improvement. I’ve got everything.”
“The only thing I lack right now is…”
“Time!”