Kanzaki Ren did not immediately use the Skill Crystal.
After all, learning a skill required Spirit Power. While the skill itself was undeniably good, it wasn't urgently needed right now.
The territory was still in its early development stage.
At this point, construction clearly took priority.
After carefully storing the Skill Crystal, Kanzaki Ren teleported from the main city to the Redrock Camp and first offered praise and rewards to the adventurers.
All Contribution Point rewards were doubled.
The alcohol, meat, dry rations, and other daily supplies looted from the camp were fully distributed to the adventurers as well, after which the mercenary force was officially disbanded.
[You have reclaimed "Zombie Soul" ×15, "Hunter Soul" ×1, "Smoker Soul" ×1.]
It was time to formally tally the spoils.
The first step was recycling the useless goblin equipment.
[You have recycled "Goblin Warrior's Spiked Club", Tier-1 Material Essence +5!][You have recycled "Goblin Leather Armor", Tier-1 Material Essence +3!][You have recycled "Goblin Mining Pickaxe", Tier-1 Material Essence +1!][...]
A total of 147 pieces of gray-quality equipment were dismantled.
They yielded 256 units of Material Essence.
Kanzaki Ren was extremely satisfied.
This operation's primary purpose had been to gather materials to build an Adventurer Inn.
And just these materials alone were already sufficient to complete it.
But was that all the loot?
Of course not.
Redrock Mountain was rich in Fire Copper Ore.
At present, the camp's warehouse stored five to six hundred units of Fire Copper Ore.
[Crude Fire Copper Ore], gray-grade inferior material.
As long as it had a grade, it could be recycled.
All of it was recycled.
Tier-1 Material Essence +588!
This operation yielded a total of 844 units of Material Essence. Combined with Miracle City's remaining stock of 57 units, the total now stood at 901 units.
Excellent.
More than enough to meet current construction needs.
Kanzaki Ren immediately returned to the main city and, without delay, spent 300 Soul Crystals, 150 Spirit Power, and 150 Tier-1 Material Essence to construct the Adventurer Inn.
With this building in place, Miracle City's income would surge dramatically.
More importantly, adventurers could be utilized far more efficiently in the future.
Kanzaki Ren now possessed 1,262 Spirit Power, 784 Soul Crystals, and 751 Material Essence.
The adventurers' performance today had been impressive. Their progression speed exceeded expectations. It was entirely possible that a team would clear the first stage as early as tomorrow.
That meant careful planning for subsequent dungeon updates was essential.
Kanzaki Ren wasn't just planning to create a second stage.
He intended to release the third stage and the story mode in one continuous push.
At present, the materials on hand were abundant.
Enough to build five or even eight stages without issue.
However, considering the processing limits of the territory core, the current plan capped development at the third stage.
Some core capacity had to be reserved for the story mode and additional gameplay systems.
Spirit Power also needed to be allocated for facilities and army construction, in preparation for the future second dungeon.
Since only three stages would be built for now, stages two and three had to stand out.
Simply swapping environments and reusing templates was unacceptable.
So how could they be made distinctive?
Map design, environments, and weapons needed upgrades and variety.
Most importantly, there had to be new and more exciting monsters.
Dungeon design couldn't be about fun and adventurer harvesting alone. It had to closely align with territorial development needs, ensuring that dungeons produced resources and monsters the territory actually required.
Balance across all aspects was crucial.
This was extremely important.
Stages two and three would definitely introduce monsters stronger than Tanks and Witches. This would not only provide adventurers with greater challenge and excitement but also offer a chance to cultivate more powerful military units for the territory.
From the vast monster library, Kanzaki Ren selected two boss candidates:
G-Virus Creatures!The Tracker!
However, concrete implementation required careful selection.
There were many Tracker variants: Flamethrower Trackers, Rocket Launcher Trackers, Gatling Trackers, and more.
G-Virus creatures had five forms. G3 and G5 were fundamentally different entities and could be developed as separate assets.
Different Tracker versions.Different G-creature forms.
Their strengths varied drastically.
For example, the Flamethrower Tracker was only a two-star elite.
But the Gatling Tracker was a terrifying five-star elite.
Similarly, the G3 Complete Form was a three-star elite monster, while the G5 Complete Form was a top-tier five-star elite.
The power gap was enormous.
Ordinary monsters like Tanks and Witches were utterly incomparable.
This was because ordinary monsters were Tier-1 units, while elite monsters were Tier-2 units. Even a one-star Tier-2 unit far surpassed a five-star Tier-1 unit.
After repeated deliberation, Kanzaki Ren made his decision.
Stage two would feature the Flamethrower Tracker.Stage three would feature the G3 Complete Form.
Why not use the strongest Gatling Tracker and G5?
Two practical reasons dictated this decision.
First, the "Apocalypse Tide" dungeon already consumed 335 Spirit Power worth of assets, while a Tier-1 core could only support up to 1,000 Spirit Power in total.
Stronger monsters meant higher costs.
And greater strain on the core.
Although the territory core, like other base facilities, could be upgraded without blueprints, the cost was steep.
Upgrading a Tier-1 core to Tier-2 required 1,000 Soul Crystals, 500 Spirit Power, and 500 Material Essence.
Kanzaki Ren could afford it—but with the territory still underdeveloped, resources needed to be prioritized for construction.
He planned to use the remaining Tier-1 core capacity to build stage two, so monster selection had to favor lower resource consumption.
Secondly, the Gatling Tracker was simply too far beyond the current difficulty curve.
The Tracker was a type of Tyrant Zombie.
One of the most iconic apex monsters in the Resident Evil universe.
It was created by implanting a special parasite into the T-03 Tyrant.
The T-03 Tyrant was already immensely powerful—a mass-produced "perfect Tyrant" by Umbrella. While slightly weaker than a Tank Zombie in raw strength, it possessed high combat intelligence and could skillfully wield heavy firearms.
A five-star ordinary monster, no question.
Its overall combat capability rivaled the Tank.
Once implanted with the Nemesis-α parasite, it retained all original strengths while gaining terrifying regenerative abilities and extreme survivability.
Under extreme conditions, it could even mutate into second or third forms.
Even barehanded, it could effortlessly crush ordinary Tyrants or Tank Zombies.
Without question, elite-grade.
Now give such a perfectly balanced elite monster a custom Gatling gun capable of firing up to ten thousand rounds per engagement—and for adventurers, that would be pure, unilateral slaughter.
How were they supposed to fight that?
Kanzaki Ren wanted to torment adventurers, sure.
But he still needed them alive to farm souls for the territory.
A monster that was virtually impossible to defeat under the current gameplay model might be thrilling for sadistic reasons, but it would stall Miracle City's long-term military development.
By contrast, the Flamethrower Tracker consumed fewer resources.
It could brutally punish adventurers while still leaving them a fighting chance.
A far better compromise.
Ultimately, the problem was simple.
The current generation of adventurers was still too weak.
If Miracle City wanted faster growth, it desperately needed stronger, more experienced adventurers.
Production began.
Stage one featured three Tanks, five Witches, and roughly thirty special infected units.
Stage two doubled the Spirit Power budget, deploying six Tanks, six Witches, and fifty special infected units, for a total cost of 495 Spirit Power.
Another 50 Spirit Power was spent to add new environments and props.
The final boss was the Flamethrower Tracker.
This Tier-2 monster alone consumed 120 Spirit Power.
Total production cost: 665 Spirit Power.
Core load status: 1000 / 1000.
Completely maxed out.
Not a single unit more could be added.
Remaining Spirit Power: 597.
Next, Kanzaki Ren planned the third stage and story mode in advance.
Compared to stage two, stage three featured heavier environmental storytelling, laying the groundwork for worldbuilding and the Resident Evil narrative.
Its gatekeeper boss would be the G3 Complete Form.
G-Virus creatures were even more terrifying than Trackers.
Their grotesque appearance defied human comprehension.
Kanzaki Ren found himself genuinely looking forward to the adventurers' reactions upon encountering the G3 Complete Form.
G3 Complete Form.Flamethrower Tracker.
These would be the first elite monsters to debut in Miracle City.
Their arrival would deliver a brutal wake-up call to the increasingly arrogant adventurers.
There was no doubt that Miracle City's production quality, depth, and popularity among adventurers would soar, further strengthening trust in the city—both from Nancy Lya and from the adventurers themselves.
After clearing the third stage, story chapters would unlock.
Kanzaki Ren planned to adapt the most iconic parts of the Resident Evil series, in order, into successive story chapters within "Apocalypse Tide."
For the short to mid term, this content would be more than sufficient.
Its scale, depth, and freshness would keep adventurers busy for a very long time.
From here on, Kanzaki Ren would continue refining the Apocalypse Tide dungeon while accelerating territorial expansion, aiming to create Miracle City's second dungeon as soon as possible.