Nick brushed aside the EXP and level-up notifications as he hurried toward the center of the base, not sparing a single moment to debrief Kaylee or get caught up in a conversation. Seo-ah, Maria, and the others trailed after him. In his previous life, patience and caution had kept him alive, in this life, he’d learned he didn’t always have those luxuries.
“So what are we building first?” Seo-ah asked as he reached the base console and put his hand on the Heart of the Gym.
Nick glanced over at Seo-ah as he thought about the thousands of bodies from the conflict they’d just been in. In his head, he had already added up how long it was going to take to harvest all of them, how much usable material would be ruined in the process or begin to go bad, and how long it was going to take for them to get all of the essences they needed for the base upgrades he wanted.
Even if everyone worked double-time at the dismantling of bodies, the process was going to take a while. “We need to buy a building first,” he told Seo-ah, remembering the exploit they’d learned during their first base-building session. “We need to have everyone stop trying to take apart the corpses and start bringing them here. We’ll pile them up and then let the system break them down into parts for us.”
As Nick scrolled through the list of possibilities, Allen joined them. “We could get another automated defensive—”
“No,” Nick shot the idea down immediately. He didn’t even have to think that long and hard about it, since he already knew the outcome. Every kill a drone or turret made would be a kill one of his base defenders didn’t. While the drones had been helpful at first, especially with Nick and the others venturing out on expeditions, he had to accept the truth: they needed the EXP. Defensive structures like walls, turrets, hangar bay drones, and towers could be added on later when they actually were preparing for the final fight.
There was simply no option that would lead to success that didn’t involve focusing on the long-term skills and stats of the guild members, mercenaries, and others who had come to assist him. They had to narrow the gap between themselves and the dragons they were going to take on, or the apocalypse would be a guarantee.
“Let’s start with a production building, maybe?” Nick suggested, pulling up the options. There were a few good ones.
Monster Processing Plant
Cost: 100 Essence Fragments
This magically enhanced facility is designed to efficiently dismantle monster corpses, extracting valuable components such as essence shards, hides, bones, meat, and other materials. With a production rate of 10 bodies per minute, it uses enchanted tools and automated processes to maximize resource recovery and neatly store materials for crafting, trade, or upgrades. Upgrades can enhance efficiency, yield, and even enable remote collection of monster bodies, making it an essential resource hub for sustaining and expanding the base.
Smelting Plant
Cost: 100 Essence Fragments
This plant processes ores and metals with magical efficiency, refining raw materials into high-quality ingots. Producing up to 10 refined units per hour, it is essential for crafting advanced weapons, armor, and tools. Upgrades can enhance processing speed and unlock rare alloys.
Leather Working Building
Cost: 100 Essence Fragments
This building transforms hides and pelts into durable and versatile leather for crafting. With a production rate of 10 processed hides per hour, it supports armor creation and other equipment. Upgrades allow for higher-quality materials and specialized crafting.
Enchantment Building
Cost: 100 Essence Fragments
This building imbues equipment with magical properties using essence fragments and other resources. Capable of enchanting up to 5 items per hour, it ensures powerful enhancements for weapons, armor, and tools. Upgrades unlock more advanced enchantments and reduce resource costs.
Blacksmith Building
Cost: 100 Essence Fragments
This building forges weapons, armor, and tools with magical precision, using materials from other base facilities. Producing up to 5 crafted items per hour, it is vital for outfitting forces and upgrading gear. Upgrades improve crafting quality, speed, and unlock unique designs.
Greenhouse
Cost: 100 Essence Fragments
This building is a magical facility that accelerates the growth of plants, including those with potent magical properties. Producing up to 10 plants per day, it provides a steady supply of resources for potions, crafting, and enhancements. Upgrades can expand production and diversify the types of magical plants grown.
Kitchen
Cost: 100 Essence Fragments
This facility uses magic to create enhanced dishes from available resources with the option to infuse food with essence fragments for added effects. Capable of producing 10 dishes per hour, it ensures a reliable source of sustenance and stat-boosting meals for the base. Upgrades can improve efficiency and unlock more powerful recipes.
“What about an infirmary?” Mr. Walters asked as he walked over to join the group, wiping blood off his fists. “There are a lot of injured people, and if you’re not going to get a defensive building, perhaps you could invest in an infirmary to help heal them.”
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Adele nodded. “I agree with Mr. Walters. As good as we are at healing, if waves like this keep happening, that infirmary might mean the difference between life or death for dozens of people.”
“Oh, I thought you suggested it because it would help them recover from their workouts faster,” Lou joked, laughing at his father’s usually one-sided obsession with workout stuff.
“That’s a good point,” Elizabeth noted, drawing Nick’s attention to the language. “Look at the description text. It doesn’t say it only helps them recover from wounds faster. It doesn’t mention injuries at all.”
Sure enough, she was right.
The Infirmary accelerates natural recovery by 50% and boosts the effectiveness of healing magic and medicine by 30% for up to 10 patients at a time. It provides a safe space for recovery and enhances medical support during battles. Upgrades increase patient capacity and healing efficiency.
“That’s . . . Yes. That’s exactly what we need,” Nick agreed. He was already half sold the moment Mr. Walters mentioned the injured people, his only hesitation being that he didn’t know if it would actually save anyone else’s life faster than just having Father Kirill, Father Pietro, Adele, Betty, or one of the other healers help them.
However, this additional piece of information was a game changer. “The infirmary then. The first building absolutely needs to be the infirmary then. Not only can we heal up more efficiently after every fight, but we’ll be able to recover from workouts almost immediately.” Nick looked to his team for approval.
“What? You’re the boss,” Reggie replied with a shrug to Nick’s questioning look. “If you want an infirmary, who am I to argue?”
“I’m definitely for it. It means I’ll have more chances to train everyone properly, and they won’t be able to complain about their aches and pains for as long,” Elizabeth said, grinning as her medicine ball appeared in her hand and acting as if she wasn’t completely worn out from battling almost non-stop for nearly two days with only a night of sleep before entering the rift and a nap before they started their way to the Black Witch’s castle.
“Do the ayes have it?” Seo-ah looked around for dissent, not finding any. “Alright then, make the building!”
Nick nodded, selecting the building and locking in the option, but he didn’t hit the build button yet. He hadn’t forgotten his original reason for building a new structure rather than upgrading one of the existing ones. “Alright, let’s load up the corpses. Have the mages build a small earthen wall around where it’s going, right there,” he pointed to where the infirmary was about to be erected, “and dump every single body there. Not just the bodies either. If you have any broken equipment, busted pieces of armor—you name it. Put it there. We want those essence fragments and materials back.”
Nick marched back to the walls, prepared to roll up his metaphorical sleeves and help with the lifting, it being far too cold to actually roll up his sleeves.
“You got it,” Topaz said.
“I don’t know why, but I really like this feeling of cheating,” Reggie admitted. “Like we’re not supposed to do this, but we’ve found some special glitch in the game.”
“You like the feeling of cheating?” Christina raised an eyebrow at him. “You want to tell me more?”
“What? No! Not like that . . . Like exploiting! You know what I mean. Don’t give me that look. I’m innocent!” Reggie protested as Christina’s snicker in response became a louder laugh with each denial.
Even with all hands on deck, the work still took over an hour and a half, and by the time they were finished the sun was starting to set behind the ice capped mountains to the west. The place where the infirmary was going to go was now a massive stack of bodies with an earthen wall holding it in place and stairs made of dirt by the earth mages to help people walk up the side to dump more corpses into it.
While it was efficient, and absolutely a great way to handle the process, there was something somewhat horrific about a line of people, arms filled with dead flesh, walking to the top of a pit to dump cadavers into it only to turn around and begin the process again.
It was even more unsettling when, rather than the ritualistic march, some individuals like Arnold would shoot a corpse across the area into the hole like he was trying to make a three-pointer on the basketball court.
“You know, this is the one part they never really taught us in school,” Seo-ah commented. “There really wasn’t a single ‘how to dispose of dead monsters’ class despite the fact we went to a school that trained dungeon divers. What a missed opportunity.”
“Yeah, it’s not exactly that pleasant, is it?” Maria grumbled from beside her. “Though it is making me a bit hungry.”
“Maria, you’re holding a bunch of dead squirrels. How are you still thinking about food?” Seo-ah responded.
“You know, I know it’s probably not the best idea given how many materials we’d lose . . . but there is a giant fire-resistant cylinder filled with flesh,” Nick mused. “We could just use some magic to BBQ the whole thing at once. I bet that if we got the fire big enough, those little woodland bastards would be able to smell us cooking their cousins from miles away.”
“That is messed up,” Seo-ah laughed. “But I’m down if you are.”
“No, I’d be worried it’d hurt the essences,” Nick told her. “Until we know what does and doesn’t work for harvesting them, and how easily they are destroyed by something like fire or heat.”
“I think the real question is whether or not we have essence fragments in us now,” Topaz remarked. “You think when they kill one of us, they can dismantle our corpse for an essence? You think there is some pile of corpses from the previous worlds they’ve invaded, all harvested and dismembered for their resources?”
“I wonder how many essence fragments I’d be worth . . .” Adele asked innocently as she poked at her chest. “At least bigger than the smallest number, right?”
“Yeah, I know I’m steak to any creature if it finds me dead in the woods, but I’m not about to be debating what flavor seasoning my life has added to it,” Arnold quipped, shutting down the question. “I’d much rather know how many essences we’re going to get from this.”
Nick tossed his cargo into the massive pit and started walking toward the heart. “Well, we’re about to find out. Hopefully, it’s enough to get an upgrade or two while we’re at it.”
“You think? With this many, I’m hoping we can buy a giant citadel like the Black Witch’s. Maybe get it loaded with all the special gadgets, bro. Come on. You’re thinking too small,” Reggie replied with a laugh.
“Hold on, why go with a citadel?” Allen wondered aloud. “What if it builds a factory and we have it make an army of drones? We could have a dozen Vi— What? ViVi, no, I’m not trying to replace you.” Allen began trying to assuage the drone he was holding as soon as he realized how the drone might “take” the information, as if it was his girlfriend.
This caused a few people, Nick included, to give him the side eye as they observed the odd relationship.
“Aw, come on, guys. Don’t look at our bro like that. Like all of us don’t talk to our tools after using them twelve hours a day every day, right?”
“Twelve hours a day? That’s slave labor conditions!” Christina shot Nick a dirty look.
Nick threw up his hands defensively. “Hey, don’t look at me. I tell him to leave at five. If he stays till seven or eight, that’s on him.”
“Alright, alright. That’s the last body, enough with the talks, let’s get this building process going. I want to see the next options,” Allen said eagerly as they cleared away from the area, making some space so Nick could hit the button.