The dry season wasn't without rain.
But according to records, in past years when it rained during spring and summer, Eerie Creatures didn't become agitated or wreak havoc.
This also resolved a long-standing question in his mind: Is there any naturally occurring rainy season that rains continuously for an entire month?
The rain in the rainy season was different from ordinary spring and summer rain.
It was like...
He couldn't find the right adjective for the moment.
Time to sleep.
Just after dawn, after seeing Zhou Mo off and taking care of the Eerie-hide, he didn't delay any further. He walked down the city wall towards the cabin to sleep. After waking up, he still had to continue building the road.
Whether for toll collection or the best interests of the camp, to create a highway passable at night was a good choice by any measure.
Most importantly.
That special upgrade direction unlocked when advancing the Eerie Fire to Level 3 only took effect during the rainy season. The daily free quota must be used up.
If not needed immediately, he could still build and store them in the warehouse for later use.
...
There were nearly three shichen left before the arrival of the Perpetual Night.
Chen Fan woke up.
He created another brand new "tricycle," left the camp along with Qi Chong, and ventured into the wilderness to continue laying his highway.
The vehicle traveled across the rainy-season wilderness at a non-constant speed.
Standing at the front of the vehicle, Chen Fan continuously laid down copper pipes one after another, end to end, in a straight line.
He buried these copper pipes one meter deep in the wasteland soil—the maximum burial depth. Under normal circumstances, unless someone deliberately damaged them, it would be very difficult to harm them. Even if damaged, it wouldn't really have a major impact.
Only the damaged copper pipe would fail.
The Eerie Fire would continue to flow within the copper pipes connected to the "camp." So, as long as a camp was established at both ends, even if a section was damaged, only that area would fail, without affecting the rest of the highway.
However...
Only he could maintain these copper pipes.
If the camp survived the rainy season and grew larger, he couldn't possibly spend every day maintaining structures.
Therefore, the camp needed an additional Architect.
This Architect wouldn't need to construct any building, only be responsible for building maintenance.
Architects... Artificers... Alchemists... and all kinds of workers.
To develop a faction, manpower was essential.
After the rainy season ended.
He would go to Rivernorth City to recruit a group of people.
But recruiting an Architect was next to impossible—no simple task. He had to plan with care and wait for the right opportunity.
"Station Master."
At that moment.
Qi Chong, standing on the tricycle operating the power lever, wiped the sweat from his forehead. After hesitating for a long time, he finally spoke hoarsely, "I'm not sure whether I should tell you, but..."
"The night before last, I accidentally discovered that Pockmark Wang's subordinate... secretly kept some Eerie Stones. They didn't hand them all over when they first joined the camp."
"..."
Chen Fan frowned slightly but didn't stop his work.
Pockmark Wang's subordinate.
He had always been quite low-key, doing his job dutifully. On their first night joining the camp, they were confronted with the biggest crisis up to that day—the "Flesh Worm Ghost Eerie Tide"—which almost depleted the Eerie Stones.
Junior Qiu and Zhou Mo risked their lives bringing back Eerie Stones from outside to keep the camp's Archery Towers running.
Yet Pockmark Wang's subordinate, who had Eerie Stones at that time, watched indifferently as Zhou Mo ventured out, ready to sacrifice himself. That reflected nothing but sheer heartlessness...
He could understand selfishness.
After all, who doesn't look out for their own interests?
But selfishness in such a situation was foolish.
If the camp perished, who could survive?
Pockmark Wang's subordinate had been assigned by him to Zhou Mo, now responsible for resource collection from other stations.
After a moment of silence.
Chen Fan finally spoke again, "Does Pockmark Wang know about this?"
"Pockmark Wang probably doesn't know."
"Have you told anyone else?"
"Never."
"Alright." Chen Fan nodded lightly and continued his work, "I know. Don't tell anyone else about this."
"Understood."
After nodding emphatically, Qi Chong continued operating the power lever without mentioning it further. The main reason he had hesitated to bring it up was that he didn't want to upset the camp's current harmony. But he felt that such a man might bring disaster to the camp someday.
After a long consideration, he decided the Station Master should know.
...
After laying copper pipes for today.
Chen Fan and Qi Chong returned to the camp together. Next to the original farmland, Chen Fan created another Level 1 farmland and assigned it to Qi Chong to transplant crops brought back from other stations.
Then he began his daily inspection of the camp.
The Perpetual Night was about to arrive.
Less than one shichen remained.
"..."
Standing on the city wall, Chen Fan looked at the slightly dim Eerie Stone in his palm and sighed softly. Yesterday, he had asked Zhou Mo for a cultivation method. Following this method, he could absorb Eerie Stones to increase his own cultivation.
According to this world's terms, he was a Level 1 Architect.
In reality, he was just a Level 1 Cultivator with a panel.
In this world, the higher an Architect's level, the less energy they consumed when constructing buildings, the more energy they could control, and the higher-level buildings they could create.
His difference from other Architects was that he only needed to construct buildings with the panel, equivalent to a max-level Architect.
Raising his own level wouldn't do any good for him to construct buildings, but it could enhance his physical fitness. Being a bit stronger physically was naturally good. There was no harm in absorbing Eerie Stones and boosting his cultivation when he had free time.
But—
The absorption speed was too slow.
According to Zhou Mo, to advance from a Level 1 Cultivator to Level 2, one had to absorb roughly 50 Eerie Stones.
The absorption speed depended on the method's grade and one's own talent.
It took Zhou Mo a year to go from Level 1 to Level 2, under conditions where time to cultivate wasn't ample, but Eerie Stones were sufficient.
He calculated.
With sufficient Eerie Stones, if he dedicated several shichen daily to cultivating with the method Zhou Mo gave him, it would take at least six months to absorb 50 Eerie Stones and advance to Level 2 Cultivator.
This couldn't be considered fast.
Most importantly, reaching Level 2 wouldn't improve physical fitness that much.
It wouldn't pay off much.
He used to think that there wasn't much difference between Level 1 and Level 2.
However...
Ever since Zhou Mo and his subordinate encountered those Pseudo-Human Ghosts in the wilderness, but only Zhou Mo returned alone, he realized that at critical moments, there was a difference between Level 1 and Level 2.
That's why he had asked Zhou Mo for the method, planning to start cultivating. Level 2 was better than Level 1; any improvement in physical fitness was worthwhile.
"..."
Chen Fan suddenly thought of something. He turned around, gazing thoughtfully at the cabin by the Eerie Fire.
He had never upgraded this cabin.
After all, it was just a shelter from the wind and rain. But perhaps he could try upgrading it?
There might be an upgrade direction that accelerated the cultivation?
Give it a try?
That's it.
Upgrading the wooden cabin wouldn't consume many Eerie Stones. He still had about 300 Eerie Stones on hand; he could give it a try.