I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

The voice in the darkness stopped talking about business and started making small talk. "Over the years, I’ve learned a great deal about human culture, but I’ve never encountered the surname ’Na.’ Why are you called ’That One’? Is there a story behind it?"

"A long, long time ago, humanity had a Human Emperor. The Human Emperor’s surname was Na. Thereafter, anyone with the surname Na was among the most powerful and noble of people. It’s just that this secret has been gradually lost to the river of time, and very few people know about it anymore."

The middle-aged man said with a smile, as if he had just thought of something.

"I understand."

After hearing the tale, the voice in the darkness was filled with longing and envy. "The Ghost Race will have its own culture in the future. I’ve decided my surname shall be ’Na.’ I will become the most powerful and noble Ghost Object on the Eternal Night Continent. This surname suits me well."

"Thank you for telling me."

"You’re welcome."

"Then I’ll be going. I’ll come find you again next time."

Soon, the darkness fell silent once more.

"..."

A long while passed before the middle-aged man sat down on the ground, his face an expressionless mask. He remained silent for a long, long time. The last time the Eternal Night fell, the Ghost Objects had not yet developed intelligence. This time, they had.

With intelligence, and without intelligence.

They were two completely different things.

This meant...

Humanity might truly be annihilated during this Eternal Night.

He was clearly not as optimistic as he had just appeared.

"Boss, what are you thinking about?"

The crocodile sidled up to his feet again and asked in a low voice.

"Sigh."

The man let out a long sigh and pulled a Bamboo Scroll from his robes, spreading it on the ground. "I left in such a hurry that I dropped a few slips from the Nameless Mountain diary scroll. I’m worried someone might see them."

"What’s there to worry about?"

"It’s a diary. Of course I’m worried someone will see it."

"It doesn’t matter if they see it. Jiangbei will be destroyed in four years. Whoever sees it will definitely die anyway."

"..."

The man looked up expressionlessly at the two vacant, lantern-sized eyes before him. "Do you know what my biggest regret in this life is? Teaching you how to speak."

"Did you hear that?" the crocodile on the right, clearly the female, feigned anger. "The boss is annoyed with you."

"You too."

The man turned his head to the crocodile that had just spoken, his face still a blank slate. "When you two are squirming around, if you dare imitate human moans again, I’ll rip your tongue out as well."

"Oh..."

...

「Day broke.」

Chen Fan stretched his arms, walked out of the cave, and stood outside the City Wall, looking up at the sun shining down. It was another clear day. No Ghost Objects had attacked the camp last night.

Outside of the rainy season, Ghost Objects almost never attacked a Ghost Fire.

What he needed to do today...

Was spend.

He had saved up quite a few Ghost Stones these past few days.

Originally, he had planned to save up enough Ghost Stones to build the 170-kilometer-long Jiangbei Defense Line all at once. But now there was no need to hoard them. With the "Great Wall" Legendary Mutation for an Upgrade Direction, he could build a little whenever he had some Ghost Stones.

Build it up slowly.

Until it reached 170 kilometers.

Soon, Wang Kui also hurried out of the cave and began to report on the camp’s current resources.

"Domain Lord."

"The camp currently has 1.17 million Ghost Stones. An additional 200,000 Ghost Stones have not been included in this total. Of those, 100,000 are the reserve Ghost Stones you instructed us to store, not to be used except in an emergency. The other 100,000 are for the daily operational costs of the Mortal Realm."

"Mm."

Chen Fan gave a slight nod. There were still a lot of Ghost Stones that hadn’t been collected yet; he couldn’t be impatient. He fixed his gaze on the section of the City Wall that possessed the "Great Wall" Legendary Mutation. He had to raise the level of this section first to ensure it wouldn’t be destroyed.

Upgrading a Level 3 City Wall to a Level 4 City Wall cost 1,000 Ghost Stones per meter.

This one-meter section of the City Wall was now Level 4, while the 20 meters of wall connected to it were all Level 3 City Walls.

And to upgrade a Level 4 City Wall to a Level 5 City Wall required 2,000 Ghost Stones.

No other materials were needed.

’It’s great that it doesn’t require materials.’

Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief. The most suitable structures for him were those that could be upgraded using only Ghost Stones. All those miscellaneous materials seriously slowed down his upgrade progress.

After spending 2,000 Ghost Stones,

this section of the City Wall quickly reached Level 5.

-

「City Wall upgraded to Level 5. Durability increased.」

「Please select an Upgrade Direction.」

「1: During thunderstorms, moderately increases the City Wall’s durability.」

「2: In darkness, slightly increases the City Wall’s durability.」

「3: No-Fly Zone. As long as the City Wall stands, no creature can fly over it.」

-

"..."

When Chen Fan saw the upgrade panel, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: if only he could, he’d pick all three. He wanted every single one of these Upgrade Directions.

Although they weren’t a Direction of Qualitative Upgrade.

But...

All three were very useful.

The first went without saying; it was specifically for added strength during the rainy season.

The second one was also great. The City Wall was primarily effective in darkness, so this was like a permanent passive buff.

Both were excellent.

But compared to the third one, they were a little lacking.

If the Sun Pill Sect had possessed a Level 5 City Wall and had chosen this direction back then, his Nine-Five Dragon Carriage would have had to destroy the wall before it could fly over the sect.

Of course, that was just theoretical.

It was basically impossible.

The reason was simple.

Other people couldn’t see the Upgrade Directions. And this wasn’t a "Qualitative" upgrade that would apply to all City Walls once chosen. If he chose the No-Fly Zone for this one-meter section of Level 5 City Wall, then the No-Fly Zone would only cover the airspace above this single meter of wall.

You could just fly over from a different spot.

Unless—

To forge an absolute barrier that blocks all flying creatures, one would have to upgrade every section of the City Wall to Level 5 and select the "Anti-Air" Upgrade Direction each time. For an ordinary Architect, achieving this is also very simple.