...
Chen Fan glanced at the retreating figure of Pockmark Wang, then took the bag Crippled Monkey handed over. Inside the bag were the Eerie Stones that these men had just turned over. Among all the Chen Clan stationmasters, he only recognized Pockmark Wang.
In his memory, the original owner of this body had once been very grateful to this Pockmark Wang, because the original owner had accidentally overheard him say, "The young master is actually quite pitiable." The previous Chen Fan appreciated this and had specifically inquired about Pockmark Wang's background.
Grateful?
He weighed the bag in his hand, chuckled softly, and didn't say anything.
The six men's savings were limited; there were a total of 176 Eerie Stones in the bag.
Combined with 200 Eerie Stones in his hand, that made a total of 376.
This exceeded the 320 Eerie Stones required to build a City Wall, allowing him to construct one before nightfall, making the night safer.
However...
Wang Kui alone had contributed 137 Eerie Stones, while these six had only contributed 176 combined. He wasn't sure if they genuinely had fewer savings than Wang Kui or if they had kept some for themselves.
He didn't say anything.
Instead, he looked at the City Wall blueprint on his panel.
Constructing this building only required Eerie Stones; no materials were needed.
"Whoosh..."
Chen Fan stood in the pouring rain and slowly closed his eyes.
The next moment—
Hundreds of Eerie Stones floated in the air, shattering one after another with a series of pops, as a milky-white liquid formed a silvery swath in midair.
Centered around the Eerie Fire, a ring-shaped City Wall illusory silhouette made of white lines suddenly rose from the ground. As the milky-white liquid flowed into the silhouette, the City Wall began to solidify.
The wind was still blowing.
The rain was still falling.
But a ring-shaped City Wall, appearing abruptly, had now firmly protected the Eerie Fire, constructed from massive stone blocks.
Five meters high, three meters wide.
Its appearance gave a sense of weighty, plain-looking ancientness.
It was quite sturdy.
This was the building that he had expended the most to create--- the stone wall!
A ring-shaped stone wall with an internal diameter of ten meters, perfectly matching the size of a Level 1 Eerie Fire safety zone.
There were no gates, tightly sealed.
Or rather, its gate was hidden. He could will any section of the wall to retract into the ground, creating an opening. This ensured no weak points while not hindering movement.
Additionally—
Inside the City Wall, there were four stone staircases, allowing one to climb to the top via the steps.
...
Chen Fan walked alone up the steps onto the City Wall. The solid footing greatly satisfied him.
The base of the wall was three meters wide.
Wider at the bottom, narrower at the top.
The top of the wall wasn't sharp-edged; instead, it featured a sturdy passage about two meters wide.
On the outer edge of the runway stood chest-high parapet walls, and on the inner side, there were even arched niches where people could rest.
"Not bad."
After a while.
Standing on the City Wall and looking down over the entire camp, Chen Fan suddenly smiled. He placed his hands on the parapet wall and gazed at the farmland outside the wall. This was the first time he had viewed the camp from this perspective.
Currently, the Eerie Fire was at level 2, with a safety zone diameter of 20 meters.
The reason he had built a City Wall with a diameter of only 10 meters was simply that he lacked what it took to enclose the entire camp. But now, it seemed like a fluke of a choice.
If the City Wall had been built right at the edge of the camp, he would have had almost no outward visibility.
Eerie Creatures could rush right up to the wall.
But now, he had sufficient visibility. As soon as Eerie Creatures entered the camp, he could see them from the City Wall. The distance from the camp's edge to the wall provided enough reaction time.
His resignation to insufficient Eerie Stones had actually brought about a sensible decision.
And—
He looked at the panel for "City Wall".
To upgrade this ring of City Wall to level 2 would require 1,600 Eerie Stones, which he definitely couldn't afford for now.
The City Wall already stood taller than the Archery Towers.
This meant the Archery Towers couldn't attack targets outside the City Wall.
However, the "City Wall" had several reserved slots for various defensive structures. He could directly place the two Archery Towers onto the City Wall.
No additional resources were required.
Just with a thought, he could make it happen.
The next moment!
The two level 2 Archery Towers beside the Eerie Fire suddenly transformed into milky-white light and slowly dissipated. Immediately after, Archery Tower silhouettes appeared on the north and south sections of the City Wall, gradually solidifying.
In the blink of an eye.
The two Level 2 Archery Towers in the camp had been relocated onto the City Wall.
For him, with access to the panel for a structure, this was a slice of cake. But for a native Architect, this would be a fantasy, something utterly impossible.
There were still 56 Eerie Stones left.
Chen Fan looked at the farmland outside the City Wall and sighed softly. It measured five meters by five meters, and could just barely fit inside the City Wall, though this made the space cramped.
But as it turned out, it couldn't be relocated.
He just hoped that there wouldn't be too many Eerie Creatures tonight. This batch of crops still had two days to mature, and he didn't want the farmland destroyed before the fruits were ripe.
...
Pockmark Wang, who was dismantling the wooden hut, stared blankly at Chen Fan's back on the City Wall. Even in the heavy rain, he kept standing pencil-straight. Though Chen Fan wasn't talking, Pockmark Wang felt as if he could see a mix of emotions in this man with his back to them.
After swallowing hard, he looked at the several-meter-high, bulky stone wall and took a deep breath. Then, he turned to the men beside him and raised his voice.
"Pack the bedding into the porcelain vats and seal them up. Be careful not to let any water in."
"Stationmaster Qi, you need to speed up over there, too."
Stationmaster Qi was the last of the three stationmasters brought back by Wang Kui.
This wooden hut was quite crude and easy to dismantle. The main task was to protect the bedding from getting wet.
"Got it!"
Stationmaster Qi nodded immediately to acknowledge, rolled up his sleeves, and began pulling down the hut in the heavy rain. His eyes were full of drive and hope. The moment this City Wall rose, a glimmer of hope appeared in everyone's eyes.
A glimmer of hope to survive.
This was an Architect!
This was why various forces were willing to pay a high price to compete for Architects. As long as with enough resources, they could create miracles!
Any force that wanted to rise would need an Architect. Forces without Architects were like rootless duckweed, likely to lapse into insignificance anytime.
...
At this moment—
Chen Fan had already stepped outside the City Wall and placed one of the Animal Traps next to the farmland. He wanted to protect his farmland as much as possible.
"Little seedlings..."
He squatted beside the farmland, looking at the small sprouts breaking through the soil in the field, and murmured, "You must fight hard to survive. This little rain surely won't crush you, right?"
The seeds had sprouted.
They looked fairly sturdy, unbent despite the storm.
But they probably couldn't withstand the onslaught of an Eerie Tide.