7: Cross-class synthesis, dual-track magic catapult
The faint light of the third day's early morning struggled to penetrate the hazy sky, casting its glow upon the fortress platform.
Lin Feng opened his eyes, sat up from the stone bed, and stretched, feeling a bit stiff.
The bed that came with the Level 3 Main Base was finally not the hard wooden plank from before; though still cold and hard to the touch, he felt a hint of luxurious satisfaction.
He unhurriedly picked up his breakfast for the day.
A slightly coarse sandwich and a cup of milk.
However.
Overnight, the icons of the four Refined Gold Mines had accumulated a considerable sum.
"Ding! Your Refined Gold Mine has been operating for 10 hours, producing 800 Gold Coins."
"Ding! Your Refined Gold Mine triggered the 'Touch of Gold' effect 7 times, granting an additional 140 Gold Coins!"
A total of 940 Gold Coins.
Looking at this number, Lin Feng's heart, unlike before, did not immediately surge with the impulse to upgrade his Main Base.
The invisible pressure brought by the SS-rank talent, "Hedge Fund," was like a fine thorn, constantly pricking his heart.
Mere economic advantage, in the face of absolute power, could turn into a bubble at any moment.
Only one day remained of the novice protection period.
He had to quickly convert the economic snowball he had rolled into an indestructible fighting force.
Lin Feng's thoughts sank into the Main Base, opening the silver-white Institute panel.
With the Main Base upgraded to Level 3, two brand new blueprints lay quietly in the list.
"Cannon": Unlock cost 400 Gold Coins. (Heavy single-target defensive turret, dealing devastating physical damage to ground units, but unable to attack air units and with an extremely slow attack speed.)
"Goblin Hut": Unlock cost 500 Gold Coins. (Barracks-type building, can continuously dispatch Goblin fodder during battle to harass and draw fire on the front lines.)
Lin Feng's gaze lingered on them only briefly before quickly moving down, finally settling on an option that had been unlocked at Level 2 but had been put aside by him.
"Trebuchet": Unlock cost 200 Gold Coins. (Area damage, remarkably effective against dense ground units.)
He needed area damage.
Last night's elite Werewolf tide had already proven that both the quantity and quality of monsters were soaring simultaneously.
No matter how high the single-target damage, it would eventually be stretched thin when facing hordes of enemies.
"Unlock the Trebuchet blueprint."
"Consuming 200 Gold Coins, 740 Gold Coins remaining."
"Build a Trebuchet in an empty defensive turret slot."
"Consuming 200 Gold Coins, 540 Gold Coins remaining."
Accompanied by a mechanical roar, a war machine made of thick logs and huge rocks, full of primitive and violent aesthetic beauty, rose from the empty ground of the fortress.
Lin Feng immediately pulled up its attributes.
"Trebuchet"
Quality: White (Common)
Attack Power: 10
Attack Speed: 1 time / 5 seconds
Range: 200 meters
Durability: 200
Special Effect: "Shatterstone" (Passive) — The projectile will deal damage to all enemies within a small radius upon landing.
"Crushing Weight" (Passive) — Enemies hit will experience a brief knockback effect.
Lin Feng's brows furrowed slightly.
10 attack power, an attack frequency of once every 5 seconds—this output efficiency was shockingly low.
More critically, its description concealed a major flaw: the projectile required a considerable flight time from launch to landing.
Once it encountered fast-moving units, it was highly likely to land in an empty spot, becoming a flashy but impractical decoration.
This was a building with extremely obvious pros and cons.
Lin Feng's gaze slowly moved away from this clumsy Trebuchet, finally resting on the Double-shot Heavy Crossbow Tower silently standing in the warehouse.
That, with the divine skill Rapid Fire, was his first major contributor to his rise.
A crazy, yet incredibly tempting thought, flashed through his mind like lightning.
What if... he fused the two together?
After upgrading to a Level 3 Main Base, the system had previously indicated that his current maximum number of fusionable buildings had increased from 2 to 3.
This meant he could completely cross-class synthesize the Heavy Crossbow Turret with the Rapid Fire skill and this brand new Trebuchet.
One had extreme firing speed and single-point burst damage.
The other had area-of-effect damage and crowd control.
What kind of terrifying monster would their combination give birth to?
Lin Feng's heart began to beat uncontrollably faster.
This was not just a simple synthesis, but a huge gamble.
He was betting on the infinite possibilities of the system's rules.
He no longer hesitated.
"System!"
"Select the Double-shot Heavy Crossbow Tower (with Rapid Fire skill) in the warehouse, and the newly built Trebuchet."
"Perform a cross-class synthesis!"
His command was like a giant rock thrown into a calm lake, stirring up immense waves!
"Ding! Detecting different types of buildings, proceed with cross-class synthesis?"
Double-shot Heavy Crossbow Tower + Trebuchet = ?
"Hint: In cross-class synthesis, the new building will completely retain all special effects of the basic buildings, but its base attribute values can only inherit 50% of the total."
"Yes!"
The moment the words fell, the metallic Heavy Crossbow Turret and the rugged Trebuchet simultaneously transformed into two distinctly different streaks of light, soaring skyward from their original positions!
One sharp as a sword, one heavy as a mountain!
The two beams of light chased, collided, and intertwined wildly in the air, as if engaged in a primal and violent conquest and fusion!
Finally, with a deafening roar, the two beams of light suddenly merged into one, forming a white orb of light even more dazzling than the sun, and slammed back down into the original defensive turret slot!
The light dissipated.
A brand new, strangely shaped war creation appeared before Lin Feng's eyes.
It retained the sturdy, heavy base of the Trebuchet, but the launching structure was completely reconstructed, becoming two giant crossbow cannons, side-by-side, gleaming with metallic cold light.
And mounted on the crossbow cannons were no longer crossbow bolts, but two black stone projectiles the size of millstones, inscribed with strange patterns on their surfaces!
"Ding! Synthesis successful! You have obtained a rare building — Twin-Rail Magic Catapult!"
Lin Feng's breath hitched the moment he saw that line of text.
He forcibly suppressed the wild joy in his heart and immediately clicked on its attribute panel.
"Twin-Rail Magic Catapult"
Quality: Green (Excellent)
Attack Power: 15 ((20+10) x 50%)
Attack Speed: 1 time / 3 seconds
Range: 200 meters
Skill: "Dual Projection" (Passive) — Each attack will simultaneously launch two magic stone projectiles. (Inherited from Rapid Fire)
Skill: "Shockwave Shatter" (Passive) — The stone projectiles will deal damage to all enemies within a large radius upon landing. (Inherited from Shatterstone)
Skill: "Powerful Impact" (Passive) — Enemies hit will experience a strong knockback and slow effect. (Inherited from Crushing Weight)
Lin Feng's pupils suddenly contracted into the most dangerous needle-like shape!
Perfect!
This was simply beyond imagination, perfect!
Although the attack power only inherited half of the total, becoming 15 points.
But it inherited the Rapid Fire skill, transforming into Dual Projection, and the total damage per attack was still 30 points!
The most terrifying thing was the attack speed!
Originally, the Heavy Crossbow Turret was 1 second, and the Trebuchet was 5 seconds. Lin Feng was even mentally prepared for the new building's attack speed to become once every 5 seconds.
But the result was 3 seconds!
This meant that this brand new killing machine could deal 30 points of area damage to a huge area every 3 seconds, accompanied by powerful knockback and slow effects!
This improvement could no longer be described as "a little bit."
This was a qualitative leap!