"Finally done!"
After three days and another morning of hard work, all thirty thousand regular trees were finally planted.
During this period, Yi Tian was in charge of planting, Big Child was responsible for watering, and Little White and the Five Tiger Generals carried water and saplings.
These simple jobs were handled pretty well by the tigers.
Yi Tian had already bought all the saplings, since saplings had been incredibly cheap these days.
Though Yi Tian bought a lot of high-level trees, the number of Trial Takers from the Cosmic Ten Thousand Races was overwhelming. Most people, upon seeing trees with a growth period of up to eight months, immediately thought of reselling them.
Bought so many medium, high-level, and fruit tree saplings, yet only spent a million Celestial Dao Coins. Now Yi Tian still has 103 million Celestial Dao Coins in hand.
The only thing Yi Tian is dissatisfied with is the fruit tree saplings—they're more expensive than high-level wood saplings, and not easy to buy, either. Luckily, Yi Tian bought them two days ago. Now at the auction house, except for the overpriced ones, fruit trees are sold out.
"Hmm! You guys did great this morning. Exceptionally, I'll buy you some Barbarian Pig Meat today."
Yi Tian had planned ten projects in total; one project completed, worthy of celebration.
Wild Boar, after all, is a D-level fierce beast, its meat is delicious—can't be compared to regular wolf meat. The price difference is also huge.
Little White and the Five Tigers cheered in excitement.
As for Big Child, Yi Tian bought her milk. Little Kiddo needs to drink more milk and get lots of nutrients.
Ordinary trees, when fully grown, yield ten units of wood. Once mature, every 15 days yields another unit. Yi Tian doesn't need to worry at all about those original 400 Fragrant Birch Trees.
"Hmm! Wood prices dropped again."
While stewing Barbarian Pig Meat at lunch, Yi Tian checked out the prices of wood and metals.
At this moment, wood had dropped to one Celestial Dao Coin per unit.
Normally, prices shouldn't drop this fast. Even if you exclude the brown bears, chopping wood with an axe takes time.
But recently, many people have found the logging Divine Artifact—Solar Alloy Chainsaw.
This thing's efficiency is several times greater than a chainsaw on Earth.
Those damned profiteers don't sell Solar Alloy Chainsaws. Instead, they rent them out in the auction house's leasing section. The rental cost is basically one-tenth of the value of chopping each tree.
Build a few wooden houses, fences—you just don't need that much wood, so most Trial Takers sell off the surplus wood.
Draining the pond to get all the fish—only caring for short-term gains.
In Zone 66, Yi Tian knows at least three people who've already gotten Solar Alloy Chainsaws.
For example, Yi Tian's frequent chat buddy, Qin Fanshuang, killed her brown bear yesterday and found a Solar Alloy Chainsaw in a Silver Treasure Chest.
Qin Fanshuang instantly offered the chainsaw to Yi Tian, but he refused and told her, "I don't chop trees, I'm planting them."
Qin Fanshuang was left totally baffled.
"That's the Celestial Dao Rules for you! Tempt Trial Takers to chop trees with chainsaws, but beforehand flood them with tons of saplings."
"In a few days, wood, stone, iron ore, and other metals will hit rock bottom."
I need to seize that window, buying up lots of these materials to prepare for my War Manor.
War Manor—that's Yi Tian's next-stage plan.
Since at any moment, we could face attacks from fierce beasts, native tribes, or even native countries. An ordinary manor won't cut it.
A manor with fortress walls as a defensive tool can withstand invasions.
"Hmm! Once I've planned out the forest, everyone's clothes will surely be worn out. That's when I can sell clothes at heavenly prices!"
Intelligent beings all have strong self-respect—even someone's all alone in their domain, they still wear clothes.
These past few days, Yi Tian sometimes saw Beast Hide Clothing and hand-made Trial Taker garments at the auction, all sold at sky-high prices and always in short supply.
Among living creatures, only a tiny minority can make their own clothes.
Yi Tian has a plan—when it's time, he'll only make clothes for the Heaven-Supporting Race and Angel Race.
Yi Tian considers Heaven-Supporting Race and Angel Race as monster races, rich in resources.
Angel Race goes without saying. As for Heaven-Supporting Race, you just need to look at their clothes: they're monsters.
On the semi-automatic sewing machine, Heaven-Supporting Race clothes are more than ten times the size of a normal Human Race male.
That means normal Heaven-Supporting Race males are twenty meters tall.
With that height, brown bears and Barbarian Pigs are just toys—no way they're not powerful.
A side note: These past days, Yi Tian has been digging holes and planting trees until midnight, every day. His physique and strength both increased by one point.
Now Yi Tian's strength is 145, physique 131, speed 130.
"[Medium Boutique Warehouse Design Plan*1], exchange for 100 bottles of alcohol, not accepting Celestial Dao Coin or any other supplies."
Yi Tian just opened area chat and immediately saw Celestial Gift Race Skage looking to trade for booze again.
Booze pops into the auction now and then, and vanishes instantly. Most people just can't buy any.
After these days of watching the chat, Yi Tian already knows that Celestial Gift Race is what legend calls the Little Dwarves. But the dwarves—it's what outsiders call Celestial Gift Race as a 'slur'.
It's easy to guess that Heaven-Supporting Race are actually the Giant Race.
Celestial Gift Race loves booze almost as much as life itself. But they also have a powerful gift: forging weapons.
Last time, Skage declared that anyone who gives him alcohol gets a Divine Weapon made for free—though you have to bring your own materials.
Divine Weapon and Legendary Gear—these must be weapons of a certain rank, like Yi Tian's D-level Weapon, the Purple Steel Mountain-Cracking Blade.
This kind of weapon can't be crafted on a Weapon Platform. Even if Skage can only make E-level Divine Weapons, they'd still be snatched up.
"Skage, I've only got 99 bottles of draft beer."
Yi Tian posted in the chat. Though he has a Large Alloy Warehouse design plan, that warehouse is only good for storing wood, steel, and other big, heavy items.
Other valuable trinkets need a boutique warehouse. Yi Tian checked the stats—three stories above ground, one underground. Perfect for what he wants.
For Yi Tian, draft beer isn't even as useful as water. Trading it for the warehouse plan—massive profit.
"[Medium Boutique Warehouse Design Plan*1] trading for [Draft Beer*99]."
Sure enough, as soon as Yi Tian spoke, Skage sent a trade request in a flash.
Yi Tian gnawed on meat while heading back to the little wood warehouse and scanned the stack of draft beer with Celestial Dao Stone.
Trade complete—another building blueprint secured.
Sadly, no villa design plans. The auction has a few farmhouse courtyard blueprints at heavenly prices.
But Yi Tian isn't brainless—building a little farmhouse inside city walls would be absurd.
And those farmhouses are priced like they're gouging him alive.
A lovely meal, followed by a bowl of meat soup—absolute bliss.
"Lord, attention: Detection shows Celestial Dao Fortune and Celestial Dao Misfortune both descending. Prepare yourself."
Yi Tian was about to continue forest planting when the Celestial Dao Stone sent another warning—and this time, no countdown.
Strong power is what gives Yi Tian his confidence. He's not worried at all.
Right then, Yi Tian quietly posted in area chat: "100 Celestial Dao Coins, beast tendon*1, Silver*1, copper*1, wood*1, beast core*1. Exchange for [Crossbow*1]. If you need Crossbow Arrows, each costs 0.1 iron, 0.1 wood, and 1 Celestial Dao Coin. DM if interested!"
Yi Tian has the Crossbow Technology Crystal—so long as raw materials are sufficient, he can keep cranking out crossbows. On average: one crossbow and ten arrows per minute.
To make a crossbow you need beast tendon*1, Silver*1, copper*1, wood*1, plus 100 Celestial Dao Coins manufacturing fee.
Yi Tian only makes profit on beast cores. He knows everyone right now only has D-level Beast Core. You need an E-level or above beast to get cores.
Beast Cores are insanely valuable. When crisis and opportunity come at once, crossbows are in even greater demand.
Yi Tian's crossbow isn't a normal hand crossbow; the fire rate is slow, but you can kill a physique 30 beast from 100 meters away.
It's the ultimate defense tool right now.
As soon as Yi Tian posted, private messages flooded in.
Some people already sold their beast cores and wanted to buy direct—Yi Tian refused.
Time's short, so Yi Tian just ignored the rental proposals and other bizarre deals.
Within three hours, Yi Tian acquired about 200 D-level Beast Cores.
He's not selling any more—he just heard the Five Tiger Generals calling him.
After leaving the gate, Yi Tian saw a killing aura rising from the grasslands.
No fortifications—only option is to go on the offensive. Yi Tian grabs the Mountain-Cracking Blade, hops onto Tiger One, and cracks his whip to ride north. Big Child jumps onto Little White, making for quite the formidable sight.
Soon enough, the distance closed. Yi Tian spotted thirty-one figures wielding long spears.
Each about two meters tall, white-skinned, every native had a single horn on their head. Unlike humans, they each had three eyes. From a human's aesthetic, the flesh on their faces is all scrunched up—extremely ugly, to be honest.
"Three-Eyed One-Horned Tribe. Thirty Black Iron Warriors, one Bronze Warrior..."
A quick scan with the Celestial Dao Stone revealed the so-called Black Iron Warriors averaged 60 for their three-dimensional stats.
Only the Bronze Warrior: Strength 160, Physique 158, Speed 95.
"So these are natives? Not what I imagined at all!"
Yi Tian thought all natives wore beast skins and looked like humans. The reality couldn't be more different!
On reflection, Yi Tian realized he'd been biased. Chats in the area proved there's all sorts of strange races. Some planets are ruled by pigs evolved into top-level intelligent life, some by sheep, some by deer. Some with four arms, some with three legs.
In the Great Thousand Worlds, nothing is too weird. Celestial Dao World definitely includes the Human Race, but even here, the Human Race could be Yi Tian's enemy.
"Big Child, in a moment you take on the leader up front. I'll lead Little White and the Five Tigers against the rest."
Before the fight, Yi Tian gave instructions to Big Child.
"Okay, Daddy!"
Big Child made a fist with her pudgy hands.
"Warriors, attack! Kill the evil Lord! Seize the Divine Stone! The priest and the king will bless us!"
On the other side, the Bronze Warrior bellowed thunderously and charged to the front.
His Black Iron Warriors, like they'd just been injected with steroids, howled as they rushed Yi Tian.
Yi Tian leapt off Tiger One, leading the charge deep into the crowd.
The Bronze Warrior was about to stab Yi Tian, but Big Child shrieked and leapt off Little White, flying in for a kick.
Bronze Warrior sensed this Little One's power and tried to bring his spear up, but Big Child's foot landed square on his chest, knocking him flat.
The Bronze Warrior pulled a kip-up back to his feet. He's not very fast, but his Defense Power is strong—he can take a beating.
Getting knocked down by the Little One sent the Bronze Warrior into a rage. He swept his gigantic iron spear in a move right out of Sweeping Thousand Soldiers.
But Big Child was too quick, dodged with ease, then balanced on the giant spear before flipping and landing another kick to the Bronze Warrior's chin.
This two-meter giant was kicked three meters into the air and crashed to the ground—out cold.
Meanwhile, Yi Tian wielded his Divine Weapon, charging and thrusting, like a god of war among mortals. Weapons clashed; almost every strike felled an enemy. By the time Big Child knocked out the Bronze Warrior, Yi Tian had already taken down ten natives.