18: Two new features

After seeing Yun Qiqi off, who was reluctant to leave, Lu Yang lit a cherished cigarette.

This stuff was very scarce; the half-pack he had was found on the Amethyst.

After puffing on it for a while, Lu Yang opened the train control panel.

After more than two days of excavation, this newly discovered small Iron Mine collection point was almost depleted.

It was estimated that the cleanup would be completed in about an hour.

The Iron Mine reserves on the train had also surpassed the six thousand mark.

Train Existing Resource Units: Level 1 Iron Mine 6105 units, Level 1 Wood 1202 units, Level 1 copper 500 units, Level 2 Millipede Legs 269 units.

This was what remained after building the Mutant Creature Research Lab.

However, although over 6000 units of Iron Mine seemed like a lot, it was used up even faster.

Ever since Lu Yang learned that vehicle components would unlock magical properties when they reached Level 5, he now aimed to upgrade vehicle components to Level 5 in one go.

This would maximize the overall improvement of the train.

However, many vehicle components required more than just one type of material for upgrading.

After some calculations, Lu Yang discovered that with the current resource reserves on the Xinhuo Train, it was only enough to upgrade a few of the cheapest vehicle components to Level 5.

Repeating Ballista Production Line Level 2.

Quality: White.

Upgrade Cost: 200 units of Level 1 Iron Mine, 200 units of Level 1 Wood.

Upgrade Effect: Can craft Level 3 bolts.

Upgrading the Repeating Ballista Production Line from Level 3 to Level 4 required 300 units of Level 1 Iron Mine and 300 units of Level 1 Wood.

Upgrading from Level 4 to Level 5 required 400 units of Level 1 Iron Mine and 400 units of Level 1 Wood.

Upgrading it to Level 5 would cost a total of 900 units of Iron Mine and 900 units of Wood.

The existing resources were just enough.

Moreover, after the bolts were upgraded, the power of the Repeating Ballista would also increase.

Therefore, Lu Yang chose the Repeating Ballista Production Line as his primary target and upgraded it to Level 5 in one go.

Congratulations, Train Captain, the Repeating Ballista Production Line has been upgraded to Level 5, acquiring the 'Explosive Arrow' characteristic.

'Explosive Arrow': Standard bolts produced from a Level 5 Repeating Ballista Production Line will come with an explosive effect. Upon hitting an enemy, they can cause a small-range explosion, with an explosion radius of 3x3 meters.

Seeing the effect of the new characteristic, Lu Yang was full of pleasant surprises: "The characteristic is truly amazing!"

"Now, the Repeating Ballista can be renamed the Repeating Ballista Cannon."

"If I encounter the Amethyst again, with three shots, I probably won't even need to aim for the power cabin; he'll have to kneel down and sing 'Conquer' directly."

"The Iron Centipede will probably be similar; even if it's still a Level 2 bolt, with the explosive effect, the bolt's damage range greatly increases. After a dozen shots, no matter how powerful it is, it'll be game over."

"Awesome, truly awesome!"

With Explosive Arrows, Lu Yang's sense of security greatly increased.

A Level 5 Repeating Ballista Production Line could produce Level 5 bolts, capable of damaging enemies below Level 5.

Coupled with the Repeating Ballista's 'Enemy Lock' characteristic, within the Donglin Plain, as long as he didn't encounter bizarre creatures immune to physical damage, he could almost walk sideways.

After replenishing his attack capabilities, Lu Yang's second choice for an upgrade was the 'Resource Detection Radar'.

Resource Detection Radar Level 1.

Quality: Green.

Upgrade Cost: 100 units of Level 1 Iron Mine, 50 units of Level 1 copper.

Upgrade Effect: Conventional resource detection range increased by 5 kilometers.

The Xinhuo Train still had 500 units of copper, which was just enough to upgrade the Resource Detection Radar to Level 5.

After the Resource Detection Radar was upgraded to Level 5, its conventional resource detection range would increase to 30 kilometers.

Lu Yang had wanted to upgrade it before, but the amount of copper was limited, and some had to be reserved for manufacturing machine gun bullets.

He only dared to use up the remaining copper now that he saw the Repeating Ballista Production Line had unlocked Explosive Arrows, greatly increasing the Xinhuo Train's attack capability.

Congratulations, Train Captain, the Resource Detection Radar has been upgraded to Level 5, acquiring the 'Fixed Refresh' characteristic.

'Fixed Refresh': The Resource Detection Radar will refresh a new unmined mineral deposit coordinate every week. Refresh chances: Level 3 mineral deposit 5%, Level 2 mineral deposit 20%, Level 1 mineral deposit 75%.

Seeing the characteristic of the Resource Detection Radar after it reached Level 5, Lu Yang slapped his thigh.

"Damn it, if I had known the Resource Detection Radar's characteristic was this, why would I have waited? The sooner I upgraded, the sooner I would have benefited."

When the Resource Detection Radar was first built, it would automatically refresh a Level 1 resource point coordinate to help new Train Captains overcome the initial difficulties.

This was also why the Xinhuo Train was able to accurately find the first small Iron Mine collection point.

Originally, Lu Yang thought this benefit could only be enjoyed once.

Unexpectedly, after the Resource Detection Radar was upgraded to Level 5, it could refresh once a week, and there was even a chance to refresh a Level 3 mineral deposit coordinate.

This characteristic was simply divine.

Its role for the train was definitely in the first rank.

At this moment, the two light spots appearing on the Resource Detection Radar were clear evidence.

One was within a thirty-kilometer radius, a Level 1 copper deposit.

The other, although in the same direction as the copper deposit, was much farther away, a full five hundred kilometers, almost approaching the Green Mist Forest in the northwest of the Donglin Plain.

The terrain there was complex, and ordinary trains couldn't enter.

But Lu Yang had to go, because it was a Level 2 Iron Mine collection point.

After upgrading to a Level 2 Train, the Strongest Train Captain System's task panel automatically refreshed with three new tasks.

They were in the same vein as the Newbie Train Captain tasks.

Level 2 Train Captain Tasks.

Task One: Collect 3000 units of Level 2 Iron Mine. (0 / 3000).

Task Reward: Various resources, one blue-grade component blueprint.

Task Two: Kill 1000 Level 2 zombies. (0 / 1000).

Task Reward: Various resources, one blue-grade component blueprint.

Task Three: Train passenger count reaches 500. (162 / 500).

Task Reward: Various resources, one blue-grade component blueprint.

As long as that Level 2 Iron Mine collection point was fully mined, the amount of Iron Mine collected would definitely be enough to complete Task One of the Level 2 Train Captain tasks.

At that time, with the task rewards, the development of the Xinhuo Train would take another big step forward.