The Brass Mechanized Guard is categorized as a weapon, and can be constructed at the Level 4 Weapon Platform.
Yi Tian stepped out of the villa under his umbrella and climbed up to the city wall.
Yi Tian didn't touch the reserves. He bought materials directly from the Auction House.
"Copper *5000, Gold *200, Silver *500, Top-level Stone *10, Celestial Dao Coin *10,000."
The materials needed are few, but extremely pure. In reality, when the Weapon Platform is creating, other powers are infused. Trial Takers all call it Celestial Dao Power—mysterious and unfathomable.
Top-level Stone is unbelievably tough, Spiritual Qi circulates through it; 500 Celestial Dao Coins per unit at Auction House, worth even more than gold.
"Construct!"
On the Weapon Platform, the Brass Mechanism Guardian Crystal manifested. A huge pile of metal atop the city wall rapidly fused, forming a yellow, copper-armored warrior.
Two meters tall, wielding a two and a half meter long spear. On its back, it carried ten short spears. Clad in brass armor, wearing a mask that obscured its features.
Yi Tian discovered the brass warrior's hands were soft.
Yi Tian approached and immediately realized: the Mechanized Guard, other than the armor and weapons, had a body as soft yet resilient as a human.
This was hardly ordinary copper. Yi Tian guessed it must be a substance refined from brass. No wonder it required 5,000 units of copper.
Yi Tian took out a Beast Core and inserted it into the slot on its back.
"Activate Brass Mechanized Guard?"
The Celestial Dao Stone prompted.
"Activate!"
Yi Tian gave the order, and understood he could also choose to not activate the Brass Mechanized Guard yet—waiting until an enemy arrived before using the Celestial Dao Stone to control it.
"Greetings, Lord!"
The Brass Mechanized Guard knelt on one knee before Yi Tian; its body remarkably agile.
"From today forward, you'll be Brass No. 1. Do you know how to distinguish enemies?"
Yi Tian asked Brass No. 1.
"I follow only the Lord's commands, and will attack any who harbor malice toward the territory!" As Brass No. 1 spoke, Yi Tian could faintly see white light glowing from beneath its mask.
Brass No. 1 possessed its own method for distinguishing friend from foe.
"Good! Start patrol. When your energy runs out, return to the North City Tower." Yi Tian instructed Brass No. 1.
Next, Yi Tian continued constructing Brass Mechanized Guards. Each was placed within the North City Tower of the north gate, building a total of ninety-nine guards there. With Brass No. 1 included, exactly one hundred.
Each Brass Mechanized Guard had a D-level Beast Core installed. Not activated—once activated, the Beast Core would be absorbed by the guard. With no enemies present, best let them rest!
South City Tower, West City Tower, East City Tower—each tower equipped with another hundred and ten Brass Mechanized Guards.
The first floor of the city tower couldn't accommodate one hundred guards, so fifty were stationed on the tower's second floor.
A full twenty million Celestial Dao Coins spent. Since mineral resources were still at rock bottom, Yi Tian chose to spend coins to conserve materials.
Now only 10.5 million Celestial Dao Coins remained. Always too little when you need it.
Each D-level Brass Mechanized Guard added 50 Territory Points; 400 guards raised territory score by 20,000. Territory Points: 103,250/200,000.
At this moment, the city wall looked like a beast lurking in the rainy haze. It seemed only the solitary Brass No. 1 occupied the wall, while the four city towers concealed a legion of Brass Mechanized Guards poised to strike.
Even if Yi Tian was inside the villa, he could use the Celestial Dao Stone to activate the Brass Mechanized Guards.
Before returning to the villa, Yi Tian stopped by the Tiger's Den to throw a chunk of meat to each of the Five Tiger Generals. Absent an ice storage unit, meat products had to be bought fresh.
Of course, even if the Auction House had no meat, Yi Tian would still live well. The villa had a food room stocked with all sorts of biscuits, chocolate, bagged beef, milk juice and more—enough for him and the seven Little Kiddos to eat for a month.
Additionally, the kitchen contained nearly four hundred catties of flour and rice.
If grain could be bought at Auction House, Yi Tian would absolutely stockpile over a million catties.
The rains poured all afternoon, all the way into nighttime, refusing to stop or even ease.
Since there's not much wind, it's possible to venture out with an umbrella, but any labor meant getting soaked.
The rain felt icy. Yi Tian reckoned his constitution could withstand the chill, yet instinctively disliked it.
Zone 66's people were growing impatient—zone chat full of curses.
Many commented that the crops would soon be ready to harvest; hoping the rain would end tomorrow so they could gather the first batch.
"E-level Beast Core *2000!"
"D-level Beast Core *2000!"
Devoid of entertainment facilities, after playing with the Little Kiddos for a while, Yi Tian felt a bit restless.
He raided the Auction House and spent ten million to purchase four thousand Beast Cores.
E-level Beast Core: average Auction House price is 2,000.
D-level Beast Core: average price is 3,000—there are so many D-level Cores, they're cheap.
Exactly ten million Celestial Dao Coins. Yi Tian was now left with only five hundred thousand. A bit uncomfortable.
Materials for large water purifier construction require 1 Beast Core. E-level is sufficient.
D-level Beast Cores were for Brass Mechanized Guards. His reserves were only 600 left, so buying more strengthened his foundation.
So what if the rain kept falling? Tomorrow, Big Child and Second Child would make clothes, and Yi Tian himself would manufacture water purifiers. He had 200,000 units of plastic in reserve, enough to make two thousand large purifiers. Cotton and silk together, thirty thousand units.
Unfortunately, these materials were scarce, and the Auction House had already run out.
Until everyone's cotton matured, fabrics wouldn't appear.
There were a number of weaving machine owners in the zone, after all.
On the rainy night, the whole War Manor was peaceful.
Yi Tian and two Little Kiddos were already dreaming. Little White saw Yi Tian headed upstairs, and instantly sprawled on the sofa, striking a pose like a tyrant singing revolution songs.
Outside the villa, five Calabash Sisters stood motionless in the rain, their calabashes the perfect shelter.
Front and back gardens—four Spirit Fruit Trees continuously absorbed and exhaled Spiritual Qi, unperturbed in the rain-soaked night.
Everyone thought the night would pass tranquilly like this.
The second watch!
A hundred meters from the calabash vine, outside the main path, the area lacked bluestone paving.
The downpour had created ponds of standing water everywhere.
Rain, falling like threads, landed in the puddles—splattering tiny water blossoms.
"Splash!"
Suddenly, a puddle burst upwards, muddy water spraying out.
Yet in the rainy night, there was no shadow to be seen.
The next moment, another puddle splattered muddy water.
It felt as if a large beast had leapt into the puddle.
"Splash! Splash."
Mud and water sprayed wildly, extending toward the calabash vine.
"Sis, something's off."
Sixth Child shook her calabash, bumping into Seventh-Child next to her.
"Pa-pa-pa!"
Sixth Child bumped three times but couldn't wake Seventh-Child—who still thought it was thunder, curled up soundly asleep inside her calabash.
"Fifth Sister! Fifth Sister!"
Sixth Child swung even harder to bump into Fifth Child.
"What's the matter!" Fifth Child's sleepy voice sounded.
"There's a monster approaching us that can turn invisible just like I can."
During this time, Sixth Child had already confirmed the crisis was upon them.
Fifth Child began shaking Fourth Child, Fourth Child bumped into Third Child.
"Second Sister! Second Sister! A monster's coming!"
The Calabash Sisters didn't have much ability to fight back now; clever Sixth Child started shouting at full volume.
The vine was dozens of meters from the villa, and Second Child was on the fourth floor, plus it was a rainy night. Normally, Second Child wouldn't hear them.
But thanks to telepathy and Second Child's innate super-sensitive perception, she instantly awoke from her dreams.
She activated Shunfeng Ear, catching the Calabash Sisters' cries for help.
At the same time, she picked up the unfamiliar breathing sound.
"Daddy! Big Sister! There's a monster—go help Little Sisters!"
Second Child, naked, jumped onto Yi Tian and shouted loudly.
"What!" Yi Tian's hair stood on end—he was wide awake, didn't even take time to put on a coat or shoes, raced downstairs immediately.
Big Child and Second Child followed right behind.
As Yi Tian was jolted awake, the invisible monster attacked the Calabash Sisters, biting toward the yellow calabash.
"Bang!"
Third Child sensed a foul wind approaching, twisted her body—her calabash swung like a giant hammer, striking the monster. With a muffled thump, the monster seemed knocked over backwards.
The monster saw Third Child was tough, so lunged at Seventh-Child, still dreaming of eating watermelon.
"Seventh Sister! Seventh Sister! Seventh Sister!"
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Child shouted loudly, but Seventh-Child slept like the dead.
"Drop!"
With some remaining Divine Power not yet absorbed, Third Child acted decisively, snapping the calabash vine.
The yellow calabash shone brilliantly, firing out like a shell, slamming into the invisible monster.
"Uhhhhh..."
The invisible monster was hit again by Third Child, letting out a cry.
The yellow calabash bounced in front of the vine, acting like a bodyguard, shielding her sisters.
But after the monster ceased attacking, Third Child couldn't sense its Qi Mechanism any longer.
Unbeknownst, the invisible monster had already circled behind the Calabash Sisters.
When it pounced toward the green calabash, a huge splash erupted from the ground. Third Child had no time to help; Fourth Child specialized in Spiritual Power, not raw strength.
At the critical moment, a purple Mountain-Cracking Blade flew toward the invisible monster.
The blade didn't hit the monster, but it managed to block the attack.
Yi Tian rushed to within ten meters of the vine, sharply detecting Fourth Child's peril among the splashing water, and threw his weapon.
He approached in a few strides, on high alert, scanning the area. He suspected a dangerous beast with top stealth had infiltrated War Manor.
He considered using a "Cloud-piercing Arrow" command to summon guards and seal the city, but the Celestial Dao Stone was late as ever: "Spring Beast detected—Rain Beast attacks. Lord, prepare for response."
Rain Beast: Only one per zone; the Rain Beast in Zone 10086 is top-tier D-level.
Strength: 175.
Constitution: 199.
Speed: 150.
Spiritual Power: 150.
Spirit: 300.
Special Talent One: Rain God—blends with the rainy night; if Spirit isn't double that of Rain Beast, it can't be detected.
Special Talent Two: Soaring Rain—Rain Beast can fly during rain. Must channel Spirit to merge with rain, and can't do anything else while flying.
Special Talent Three: Divine Gift—ignores all negative effects, cannot be tamed.
Note: Rain Beast feeds on Heavenly and Earthly Treasures; the higher the grade, the more fixated it is. It will steal or snatch any treasures from Trial Takers—even if Spirit Fruits aren't ripe, it will drain Spiritual Qi from Spirit Fruit Trees causing them to wither. For a few Trial Takers, Rain Beast is an opportunity; for most, it's a disaster.
"Three talents—is this for real?"
At the same time, Yi Tian dropped the idea of calling for help. Summoning help costs more than a million. The Rain Beast can fly, eight-out-of-ten chance it'd just flee.
"Daddy, over there—it's moving!"
With Big Child and Second Child arriving, Big Child stood guard by the vine.
Second Child hopped onto Yi Tian's shoulders, activating Shunfeng Ear. Though Rain Beast's Rain God talent was formidable—even Thousand-Mile Eye failed—but in the rainy night, not a drop nor a heartbeat escaped Second Child's Shunfeng Ear.