"..."
As the slaves finished hauling today’s haul of iron and copper ore into Carriage #3, Chen Mang glanced at the train’s panel.
17,739 units of iron ore and 1,120 units of copper ore.
The once-empty cargo car was finally looking a bit more prosperous. He hadn’t used the "Level 2 Copper Mine Refresh Scroll" yet—he’d finish excavating the Level 1 copper mine at the bottom of the Apocalypse Abyss first.
This copper mine was a small Level 1 deposit. The iron mine wasn’t even depleted yet, but this one would be finished first.
With resources in hand, he immediately spent 500 units of iron ore to craft an open-air carriage. It looked something like the coal cars from his past life. Because it was a custom build, it cost a bit more than a standard carriage.
The open-air carriage could also be fitted with "Armor," though only on three sides. The resource cost wasn’t any lower.
And with that—
His "Stellar" now had its ninth carriage, an open-air one.
Next, Chen Mang took the white-grade "Rapid-Shot Crossbow" blueprint from the drawer and pressed it against the control console. As it dissolved into white motes of light and integrated into the system, the train gained the ability to craft the accessory.The crafting price was extremely low.
One crossbow only cost 100 units of iron ore.
He had to admit, white-grade accessories understood the value of thrift. One open-air carriage could hold a maximum of eight crossbows.
He immediately spent 800 units of iron ore to fill the carriage.
Then he spent another 4,400 units of iron ore to upgrade one of the rapid-shot crossbows straight to Level 10. The two corresponding advanced effects quickly appeared.
"Whew."
Standing in the command car, Chen Mang let out a long breath, then lit a cigarette and looked up at the stars, a dazed look on his face. He preferred white-grade accessories.
The base stats of the rapid-shot crossbow were: 1 bolt per minute.
Each bolt was as thick as a baby’s arm and a full fifty centimeters long, forged from refined steel. The sharp, angular arrowhead radiated a bloodthirsty aura.
You could call it a bolt, or you could call it a siege weapon.
After upgrading to Level 10, it could fire 10 bolts per minute, and its appearance had undergone a major transformation. It was now even more intimidating. The bolts were wider, having gone from the thickness of a baby’s arm to that of an adult’s, and their length had increased to eighty centimeters.
This thing...
If you aimed it at a person, they probably wouldn’t feel much pain.
Especially with the two advanced effects that came with the upgrade.
—
[Rapid-Shot Crossbow Level 5 Advanced Effect]: The rapid-shot crossbow can be linked to the ’Train Auxiliary AI.’ The AI will automatically lock onto any enemy within the Search Radar’s range, drastically increasing hit probability.
[Requires the ’Train Auxiliary AI’ green-grade accessory to be at max level.]
[Rapid-Shot Crossbow Level 10 Advanced Effect]: The resource cost for each bolt is halved.
—
This was the second time he’d encountered the same advanced effect. The Level 5 heavy machine gun’s advanced effect was also the ability to link to the "Train Auxiliary AI" for auto-locking. This would greatly reduce the manpower needed on the train.
Otherwise, just controlling these eight crossbows would require at least a dozen people.
And it greatly improved accuracy and his control over the train.
Most importantly—
The "bolts" required for this accessory didn’t need a corresponding production line. You just had to consume a certain amount of iron ore while operating the "Rapid-Shot Crossbow," and it would automatically generate the corresponding number of bolts.
Yes, iron ore.
Not copper ore, but iron ore.
The price was also extremely low.
"Level 1 Bolt": 1 unit of iron ore per bolt.
"Level 2 Bolt": 5 units of iron ore per bolt.
"Level 3 Bolt": 10 units of iron ore per bolt.
With the advanced effect halving the cost, it was even cheaper.
"Not bad."
Chen Mang smiled with satisfaction and walked out of the command car. He stood on the wasteland and looked at the last open-air carriage of the train. The crossbows, slightly taller than the carriage walls, rested quietly in the night, patiently awaiting the coming of war.
For a long time to come, this would be his most commonly used ranged weapon.
True, the rate of fire was a bit slow—ten rounds a minute was far from a heavy machine gun—but the power of a single bolt was greater than a single heavy machine gun bullet. And with its good quality and low price, it was much more suitable for him than a heavy machine gun right now.
After finishing this, Chen Mang built another open-air carriage and placed four "40-barrel Sakura-Fall Rocket Launchers" in it.
This was a blue-grade accessory.
One launcher cost 1,000 units of iron ore; four cost 4,000.
He looked at the resources required to upgrade it to Level 2. Just getting to Level 2 required 1,000 units of iron ore. The rate of fire was fast—one volley was 40 rockets, and they were all gone in a second.
It also didn’t require a corresponding production line; it just consumed resources directly.
But the price was much higher than heavy machine gun bullets.
"Level 1 Rocket": 10 units of copper ore per rocket.
"Level 2 Rocket": 50 units of copper ore per rocket.
"Level 3 Rocket": 100 units of copper ore per rocket.
A full 10 times more expensive.
If all four "Sakura-Fall Rocket Launchers" were loaded with Level 3 rockets and fired a single volley, it would cost 16,000 units of copper ore. One volley could wipe out a Level 1 copper mine.
Compared to that, the "Rapid-Shot Crossbow" was so much better.
—
Five days later.
The sky was just beginning to lighten.
The Level 2 iron mine at the bottom of the Apocalypse Abyss was almost depleted. It would be completely mined out in another week at most. Today, the Level 1 copper mine had been completely excavated.
But next to it was a brand-new Level 2 copper mine, one Chen Mang had created with the "Level 2 Copper Mine Refresh Scroll."
And in these few days, there had been no incidents. Everything had gone smoothly, and Chen Mang had accumulated a good amount of resources.
80,000 units of iron ore and 6,600 units of copper ore.
As the sky brightened, the slaves were already lining up for their breakfast under the direction of Lao Zhu and the others. Chen Mang, however, sat alone in the command car, preparing to spend all the resources he had accumulated over the past few days.
Some of the accessories, due to a lack of resources, had only been upgraded to Level 5.
And he had a bit of a compulsion. Those Level 5 accessories were starting to look a little unsightly.
They all had to be upgraded to Level 10 to look good.
First, the Windfire Wheels.
From Level 5 to Level 10, it would cost 50,000 units of iron ore.
"Mm."
Chen Mang nodded, looking at the resource cost for the upgrade on the semi-transparent panel before him, and silently chose to give up.
Fuck that!
50,000 units of iron ore, a staggering amount of resources.
He suddenly found that his compulsion seemed to be cured. This Level 5 Windfire Wheel looked pretty good.
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