CHAPTER 291: CHAPTER 291 NEGOTIATION AND TRADE

Inside the Rusted Fortress.

After a brief negotiation, Lin Yi agreed to charge the power cores for the fortress at a price of 100 Coins for each Second Level core and 1000 Coins for each Third Level core.

He essentially rented out the power cores, eventually earning 600,000 Coins.

He also agreed to charge 10,000 empty Second Level power cores and 500 Third Level power cores.

The charging price was only one-tenth of the rental fee, and the fortress would pay after the cores were charged.

Lin Yi essentially didn’t have to do anything; he just needed to take the cores back to the Shelter, wait a day or two... and the cores would automatically restore energy.

The fuel issue was even simpler.

Immanuel spent 120,000 Coins to create a special device that could directly convert biomass into fuel without needing to use a bioreactor.

Next, it was time to help the fortress eliminate zombies.

The soldier squads advanced step by step, clearing each occupied area, but there were too many enemies, and they almost continually fired their weapons.

The Archbishop watched these alien soldiers fighting and got an interesting idea.

"Lin Yi, can you charge energy weapons?"

"Of course I can."

Lin Yi nodded, still closely monitoring the battle.

If his soldiers were in danger, he would transport them out of the danger zone at any time.

The Archbishop pulled out a huge weapon that looked similar to a submachine gun.

"What about this?"

[AZ-1 Energy Rifle, Fourth Level]

A weapon using Magic Power plasma, it has a built-in battery and an additional power slot.

It boasts strong stopping power but low accuracy and can quickly overheat. The AZ-1 has two shooting modes: standard mode and charge mode.

Note: Extreme overheating may cause an explosion.

Hidden Attributes detected:

Attack Power: 40-55 (depending on charge level)

Battery Capacity: 9/100

Each shot consumes 1 point of Magic Value.

"Not bad!"

Lin Yi examined this weapon and then used almost half of his Magic Value to charge it.

"Unbelievable!" The Archbishop widened his eyes, and the generals also became excited.

If other energy weapons could also be charged, they wouldn’t have to wait for reinforcements to arrive.

They could easily eliminate entire groups of enemies!

"Are you willing to charge our weapons?"

"As long as you’re willing to pay."

"We will pay! We will!"

"The fun is about to begin, watch below."

The soldiers cleared the occupied wall areas, helping the fortress eliminate the enemies climbing the walls.

Following Lin Yi’s orders, these twenty people split into pairs, distributing along the entire wall area.

Then Lin Yi issued another order, initiating the classic combo attack—Flame Wall combined with Gale.

At ten places about 50 meters from the top of the walls, large fires ignited, rapidly spreading and connecting together to form a single flame wall.

Lin Yi equipped each soldier with a Fourth Level staff matching their Elemental Affinity.

[Elemental Mage Staff, Fourth Level]

Magic Skills +30. Mages can use the Magic Power stored in the staff to cast spells.

Magic Power consumption is reduced by 20%. The staff has a battery and a second-level power core slot. It can also filter Magic Power, preventing any viral infection.

Selected Elemental Attack Power increased by 40%.

Note: The selected element can be changed by a Weapon Craftsman.

Note: When the staff is in the Shelter, it restores 1 point of Magic Value per hour.

It has four modes: Magic Staff, Long Spear, Battle Halberd, and Magic Absorption Device.

Hidden Attributes detected:

Battery Capacity: 300/300

When in Magic Absorption Device mode, the staff restores 5 points of Magic Value per hour. When the staff is in the Shelter, the recovery rate doubles.

The Magic Power in the battery and second-level power core is enough for twenty mages above level 10 to turn five acres of land into scorched earth.

The Flame Wall shot up more than ten meters high, almost reaching the top of the wall.

Then, a gust of wind rose, and the entire battlefield was engulfed by a raging Flaming Tsunami.

Wherever it reached, zombies turned into molten iron.

Lin Yi transported all soldiers who had depleted their Magic Power to the recovery center, preparing to deploy a new team of mages.

"What... what exactly is this?"

The Archbishop shouted in disbelief, unable to believe his sensors.

It definitely wasn’t just fire!

The intensity was beyond imagination!

At least ten thousand mechanical zombies were burned into melted scrap metal, though the newly cleared space was quickly filled with new enemies...

"So shocking..."

The generals of the Rusted Fortress swallowed oil collectively, no longer daring to underestimate these alien soldiers.

~~~~~~

In some place within the Sea of Space-Time...

A twenty-meter-high wall was under attack by a large group of zombies and mutants.

Arrows, magic, and long spears rained down on them, with each hit causing explosions that instantly wiped out masses of enemies.

"Your great strategy, Your Excellency, is highly effective."

"Ternu, this is Lin Yi’s strategy," Terghai replied from the top of a tall tower in the center of the city.

In the past two weeks, the Orc lord has been very busy.

He accomplished something extraordinary!

He allied with several Taru tribes and their arks, forming a large tribe.

He also dismantled all the cities and villages, constructing a new city in the center of the ark and building a huge stone wall around the city.

Thanks to the vassal shelter store, he was able to construct the city and wall out of thin air.

At least, that’s how it appeared to his people.

He transformed everything he could recycle into material and spent quite a bit of Coin.

But he couldn’t afford to build walls like Lin Yi, so he had to settle for a stone wall.

He also developed agriculture and animal husbandry on the ark,

and thanks to the spring, the Taru people became stronger than ever.

The sick recovered, the weak became strong, and the elderly were rejuvenated.

Every Taru person completed Earth enlightenment, reaching at least level five.

After determining all the useful crafting skills he could utilize, Terghai had people start making Healing Potions, weapons, equipment, and more.

The crafting industry was supported by slaves.

They had many slaves, just the united tribe alone had nearly 6,707 slaves.

Terghai, emulating Lin Yi’s approach, had the slaves sign a contract, swearing allegiance to his tribe.

Not everyone agreed, and not all slaves got the opportunity to sign the contract...

All non-useful female slaves, as well as all captives from the Great Ark Terghai attacked, were sacrificed.

This resulted in the birth of 8,000 Beastmen.

These Beastmen, known as the "children of the ritual," grew quickly in body and mind, and half of them could already wield a sword.

Terghai stayed at a nearby port, selling many slaves and excess spoils.

He bought Skill Books, then invested the remaining money into developing his ark.

He always remembered what Lin Yi said: "Money begets money!"

The ark began clearing a moving island!

He had 70,000 Taru people, who could kill thousands of zombie enemies every second, causing rewards and Coins to continuously flow into his treasury.

He couldn’t wait to meet Lin Yi.

~~~~~~

In the shelter, while soldiers were defending the walls of Tilian, the Archbishop delivered fuel crates.

Lin Yi sent these fuel crates back to the shelter, ordered them to be filled, and had a general from the fortress accompany them to bring energy weapons to the shelter for charging.

At this point, the Archbishop pleaded with Lin Yi to construct a headquarters so he could deliver energy weapons and power cores there, then transport them to the shelter for charging.

Lin Yi agreed, but the service would come at an additional cost.

He also sold some steel to the Tilian people.

He originally didn’t want to sell, but the price was too enticing — 5,000 tons of steel for 2 million Coins.

Normally, you could buy much more steel for a tenth of that price!

Once the Tilian people got the steel, they immediately made it into ammunition turrets and steel spears.

In just two hours, Lin Yi earned 3 million Coins and reached a very lucrative series of transactions.

With negotiations over, it was time to make a move.

Lin Yi took over a section of the wall.

All the generals were there, wanting to see again how to repel the enemy.

Lin Yi summoned two hundred soldiers, along with twenty soldiers wearing level four armor.

Sixty-four of them were equipped with laser rifles, the rest were archers.

The archers unleashed a shower of arrows, with countless explosions shaking the battlefield.

The equipment allowed them to shoot three Magic Arrows at once, and accuracy wasn’t really important.

There were so many enemies that they’d hit something randomly.

"This weapon is too powerful!" a general stared at the battlefield, muttering to himself.

Another general added, "They use physical ability to directly shoot projectiles with explosive heads at the enemy."

"Low cost, and effective."

"Please permit the design of similar weapons, Archbishop!"

"Approved!"

"Wait, sir! Currently, our energy weapons aren’t worried about energy supply problems."

"Ha! I completely forgot, but projectile weapons must also be manufactured, they’re excellent combat tools."

"Understood, Archbishop, I’ll get to it right away! Look! That projectile just released an electric current!"

"What!?"

The Archbishop could hardly believe his eyes.

When an arrow hit a second-level mutant, the Mechanical Zombie immediately smoked and then fell.

"Impossible... wait!"

The Archbishop activated his sensors, carefully observing the human soldiers on the battlefield.

Thanks to his eight pupils, he could track multiple targets simultaneously and analyze everything he saw extremely quickly.

"This doesn’t make sense... they’re firing simple wooden rods with metal arrowheads and some kind of organic feather from a creature!" the Archbishop shouted.

The generals immediately began asking questions.

A device like that shouldn’t be able to release electrical currents.

"Is this their Power!? Just like the flame that wiped out 16,000 infected!"

Soon, with help from the shelter, the walls of the Rusted Fortress were back under control.

As the Tilian people racked their brains trying to figure out what they were witnessing.

Lin Yi, Hubert, and Solomon were devising tactics against the infected Half-Mechanical People...