I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

[Exotic Treasure Level]: Green.

[Exotic Treasure Effect]: Using this Enhancement Stone on any building guarantees that it will present an "Ordinary" Direction of Qualitative Upgrade upon its next upgrade.

-

A great item.

Chen Fan’s expression didn’t change, but he sighed inwardly. ’Just as I thought. No one ever sells their best items; they’re all hidden away. I really want this Exotic Treasure.’

"I’ll value it at 20,000."

He offered a sufficiently high price. That way, even if the other party failed to win the auction, he planned to buy this Exotic Treasure from him at a premium after it was over. He wanted it, even if it only provided an Ordinary Direction of Qualitative Upgrade.

"Good!"

The man nodded emphatically, raised the Exotic Treasure in his hand, and shouted, "70,000 Ghost Stones, plus 50,000 in trust credit, and this Exotic Treasure I’m holding."

A total value of 140,000 Ghost Stones.

This was already a sufficiently high price.

But more and more people approached him.

"Domain Lord Chen."

The Valley Master of Medicine King Valley, who had once met Chen Fan in front of the Pill Sect’s city, now asked with a serious expression, "For three years, the Mortal Realm provides the medicinal herbs, and Medicine King Valley will perform Alchemy for the Mortal Realm for free. I can guarantee the output won’t be too low. How much can that be valued at?"

"Hmm... 30,000 Ghost Stones, I suppose."

"Good!" The Valley Master of Medicine King Valley raised his placard. "70,000 Ghost Stones, plus the 50,000 credit line for being a Level 1 trusted faction of the Mortal Realm, plus the 30,000 Ghost Stones for the Alchemy services."

A total value of 150,000!

"How much is a favor from the One Sword Sect worth?"

"..."

Chen Fan looked up at the person from the One Sword Sect and shook his head. "I can’t put a value on that."

"How much are three years of Artifact Refining from the Furnace Workshop worth?"

"That’s worthless to me as well."

"Why can you accept Medicine King Valley’s offer?"

"The Mortal Realm has its own Artifact Refiners. We don’t need outsiders to help us."

...

In the end, the price was driven up to 170,000 Ghost Stones.

It was ultimately won by the Wang Clan.

The winner was the same man who had used the "Enhancement Stone" Exotic Treasure to cover 20,000 Ghost Stones of his bid.

"..."

Chen Fan took the Enhancement Stone from the man. He watched the man’s back as he walked away, clutching the Architect’s Order in satisfaction. Chen Fan lowered his head, rubbed his nose, and remained silent.

’How should I put this...’

He’d seen this guy before.

Or rather, this was the same guy who had sold him the Architect’s Order in the first place.

Back then, the guy had sold him that unopened Architect’s Order to buy a Skeleton Horse. Now, he’d spent 170,000 Ghost Stones to buy it back.

This was a perfect illustration of the fact that while opening blind boxes is a bad habit...

...selling them is an equally painful affair, especially when the one you sold gets opened by someone else who finds something amazing inside.

He recalled a news story from his past life.

A lottery shop owner had a million-dollar scratch-off winner sold from his store—not a standard lottery ticket, but one of those cheap scratch-offs. The owner then killed himself...

The story goes that the owner had been bored with nothing to do.

So he took a new book of scratch-offs and started scratching them himself for fun.

Normally, a book of scratch-offs returns about half its cost. After scratching halfway through, the owner found he’d already won several hundred. From experience, he figured the rest were probably duds, so he stopped.

Just then, a customer came in, bought the remaining tickets, and won the million-dollar prize.

The owner laughed right then and there.

That night, he killed himself.

If he were to tell this to the Wang Clan, that guy’s fate might not be so different from the lottery shop owner’s. Of course, he wasn’t that malicious.

Although the auction was over,

Eternal Night had also descended.

The various factions were unable to leave Mortal City for the time being, so they all found lodging at inns to wait out the night.

Chen Fan, however, was unaffected.

The Nine-Five Dragon Carriage drove out, charging into the Eternal Night and returning to the Mortal Realm.

...

Eternal Night had descended.

Chen Fan stood atop the City Wall, looking at a Building Blueprint on his Eternal Night Lord Panel.

"Godslaying Cannon."

It was a Green Level Building Blueprint he had obtained a few days ago from an ancient legacy he found by the sea. He planned to use this Enhancement Stone on either the Godslaying Cannon or the City Wall, and wasn’t considering other buildings for now.

’The City Wall is the better option.’

After all, if he used it on the Godslaying Cannon, only that single cannon would gain the effect.

But if he used it on the "City Wall," it would apply to everything connected to it.

He hadn’t built a Godslaying Cannon yet.

Time to see what it could do.

Currently, the camp had no Level 6 Cannon Towers. His only two had been destroyed by the Ghost King. Afterward, when he faced the Pill Sect, he grew worried about insufficient firepower and used all his subsequently acquired materials to build seven Level 6 Cannon Towers on the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage’s Heaven and Earth Chessboard.

As a result, the strongest cannon towers currently in the camp were only Level 5.

The next moment—

-

Countless phantoms of Godslaying Cannons, formed from white light, appeared on the City Wall. They slowly solidified after absorbing the liquid from shattered Ghost Stones.

A cannon barrel appeared on the City Wall.

It was no longer block-shaped.

Nor was it shaped like a Ghost Eye.

Instead, it was a proper cannon barrel with a stone base. The overall design looked quite simple, somewhat resembling an old-fashioned, crude cannon.

...

Building one Godslaying Cannon required 100 Ghost Stones.

This base price was much higher than that of a Level 1 Arrow Tower, which only cost 10 Ghost Stones.

He spent 200 Ghost Stones to upgrade it to Level 2.

A panel popped up before him.

-

[Godslaying Cannon upgraded to Level 2.]

[This building has no selectable Upgrade Directions. Its power will increase with each upgrade.]

[It is also impossible to obtain any Upgrade Directions through other means.]

-

"Well, then."

Chen Fan felt a little disappointed. ’Looks like I don’t have to agonize over whether to use the Enhancement Stone on the "Godslaying Cannon" or the "City Wall" anymore,’ he thought. The decision had been made for him.

The Level 2 Godslaying Cannon looked significantly more robust.

He continued to upgrade it.

He would upgrade it to Level 4 to check its power, and also to see what materials were required for Level 5. If the "Mourning Lantern" could be used for the upgrade, he would take it to Level 5 and see.