24: Why is Chapter 24 always hampered by resource constraints?

[Tian Ming · Undead Lich · Hero]

Level: 5 (188/3000)

Attack: 47 (Magic - Shadow / Ranged)

Defense: 20

HP: 320/320

Mana: 700/700

Range: 25 meters

Loyalty: 100/100 (Eternally Loyal)

Morale: None

Hero Trait: Independent Commander (Current limit: 900 undead)

Skills: Death Wither, Wither, Undead Tide, Legion of the Dead

Level 5.

Command limit 900.

Xu Qin nodded.

Not bad, Tian Ming's magic attack had already surpassed his own.

"You're really something. If you keep training for another two days, I might have to ride your coattails."

Tian Ming stood in place, its bone staff supporting it, and the ghostly blue soul fire flickered once.

Although it didn't speak, Xu Qin just felt that it was feeling smug.

"Don't get cocky now."

Xu Qin patted Tian Ming's bone armor and turned to run toward the bone workshop.

The top priority was to get two transport carts.

The thirty-two-slot inventory was only usable on the first day.

Now, every time he went out to fight, it would be full within a few hours.

Xu Qin stood in front of the bone workshop and opened the construction panel.

[Consumed: Bone × 160, Wood × 120, Iron Ore × 40, Soul Energy × 400]

Half a minute later, two transport carts rolled slowly out of the workshop.

Each had forty-eight slots of independent storage space and could follow automatically.

Xu Qin walked around the transport carts twice, more satisfied the more he looked.

"The space issue is finally resolved."

He casually added the two transport carts to the army sequence and opened the territory building overview.

The Graveyard was less than 7 hours away from upgrading to level 4.

The soul hall and bone vault had already been upgraded to level 3 a few hours ago.

Very good.

Xu Qin's gaze swept over the Dark Altar, the bone workshop, and the Cursed Temple.

All three buildings were still level 1.

And the prerequisites for upgrading the level 4 Graveyard would definitely require these buildings to reach higher levels.

Whatever, upgrade them if he could.

Xu Qin opened the upgrade interface for the three buildings.

[Dark Altar Level 2 upgrade requirements: Stone × 300, Iron Ore × 100, Magic Crystal Shards × 15, Soul Energy × 2000]

[Upgrade time: 2 hours]

[bone workshop Level 2 upgrade requirements: Stone × 250, Iron Ore × 80, Wood × 150, Bone × 300, Soul Energy × 1200]

[Upgrade time: 1.5 hours]

[Cursed Temple Level 2 upgrade requirements: Stone × 200, Magic Crystal Shards × 12, Bone × 200, Soul Energy × 1500]

[Upgrade time: 1.5 hours]

Xu Qin glanced at the resources.

The gains from five hours of continuous battle just now, plus the previous inventory, meant resources were abundant.

"Upgrade all."

[Consumed: Stone × 750, Iron Ore × 180, Magic Crystal Shards × 27, Bone × 500, Wood × 150, Soul Energy × 4700]

Three Acolytes walked forward automatically, stood in front of the three buildings, and raised their hands to infuse energy.

Dark purple light rose in three directions simultaneously.

Xu Qin continued to flip through the building list and found two buildings he hadn't had time for.

[Soul Energy Sentry Tower (Defense/Attack Building)]

A defensive tower charged with Soul Energy. After charging, it can automatically attack hostile units that enter the territory range.

Each shot consumes 5 points of Soul Energy, dealing 15 points of magic damage.

Range: Within territory.

Construction materials: Stone × 60, Magic Crystal Shards × 2, Soul Energy × 200

Construction time: 20 minutes

[Bone Wall (Defensive Building)]

Defensive fortification constructed with Bone and Stone, surrounding the territory core.

HP per Bone Wall segment: 150

Construction materials: Bone × 20, Stone × 30, Wood × 10 (per segment)

Construction time: 5 minutes

There was less than thirty-five hours left in the novice protection period.

Once the light shield disappeared, the territory's coordinates would be exposed on the regional map.

If there were other lords nearby, what would they think when they saw a Graveyard without walls?

It would be like seeing an unlocked ATM.

"Need to get it built."

Xu Qin squatted down and drew lines in the sand with the butt of his war spear.

The territory range of a level 3 Graveyard was a radius of one hundred meters.

The core building complex was concentrated in the center, not taking up much space.

If the Bone Wall was built in a full circle, the circumference would be over six hundred meters. Counting three meters per segment, it would require at least two hundred segments.

That meant a total of four thousand Bone, six thousand Stone, and two thousand Wood.

"Damn, that demand."

Xu Qin shook his head.

It wasn't realistic to consider surrounding the whole territory now, nor was it necessary.

He thought about Clash of Clans, which he played before transmigrating.

How did the experts set up their formations in that game?

The walls were never a full circle, but rather focused on surrounding core buildings, with outer paths set up to guide enemies into crossfire zones.

Xu Qin lowered his head and drew a plan on the ground.

The Graveyard and the furnace were the core, wrapped in double-layered Bone Wall.

The soul hall, vault, and altar would be surrounded by one layer.

The workshop and temple would be in the outer circle, protected by single-layered wall segments.

Passages were left between buildings, but the entrances were staggered so they didn't form a straight line; enemies would have to turn to get in.

At the turns... put the Sentry Towers.

Xu Qin used his spear to tally the resources on the ground.

The core area needed sixteen segments for two layers; other buildings plus passages needed about twenty segments.

"That means, the ideal situation right now is to build thirty-six segments of Bone Wall. The resources are 720 Bone, over a thousand Stone, over four hundred Wood... Okay, that's enough!"

[Consumed (Bone Wall × 36 segments): Bone × 720, Stone × 1080, Wood × 360]

The Acolytes received the order and immediately began the construction of the walls.

Bone and Stone rapidly took shape in their hands.

Dark gray Bone Wall segments, about two and a half meters high, rose from the ground.

The speed at which the Bone Wall formed was extremely fast.

Within a few minutes, a circle of staggered defensive fortifications appeared in the center of the territory.

Looking down from the air, the walls formed an irregular " times" shape, with the core buildings tightly protected in the innermost layer.

Then he walked to the six preset positions for the Sentry Towers.

All were at the corners of the passages.

Any enemy entering from the passage would be exposed to the range of at least two Sentry Towers simultaneously.

"Sentry Towers, build six."

[Consumed (Soul Energy Sentry Tower × 6): Stone × 360, Magic Crystal Shards × 12, Soul Energy × 1200]

Twenty minutes later, six half-person-high dark stone pillars appeared at the passage corners.

Each pillar top was embedded with a fist-sized Soul Energy crystal, with purple light rotating eerily.

Xu Qin clicked on one of the Sentry Towers.

Soul Energy charging status: Full.

Auto-attack: Enabled.

"Alright, it looks like something now."

Xu Qin withdrew his gaze, clicked on the bone vault resource list, and found the Magic Crystal Shards column.

Magic Crystal Shards: 8.

Good grief, only eight left.

He had originally wanted to add four more Sentry Towers to the periphery of the territory to form a second layer of fire.

But four would require eight Magic Crystals.

If he spent them, he'd have none left.

Later, level 4 Graveyard, level 5 Graveyard, various building upgrades—which one didn't consume Magic Crystals?

He gritted his teeth and looked at the remaining resources.

There was still some Stone, Iron Ore was just over a hundred, and Magic Crystals were bottoming out.

"Not enough again."

Xu Qin sighed.

Why was there always a feeling of being choked by resources?