Chapter 3: Stockpile Grain, Bide Your Ti to Beco King!
????What happened today made one thing painfully clear: almost no one ever passes through this stretch of wasteland.
??He couldn’t count on collecting lodging fees to earn enough Ghoststones. If he wanted to survive long-term, he’d have to hunt Ghostbeasts himself and harvest their Ghoststones.
??You can’t just sit around and watch your resources run dry.
??He needed a steady source of inco.
??Without hesitation, he thrust his arm directly into the blazing Ghostfire. Strangely, his skin—and even his clothes—remained completely unhard. From the heart of the flas, he fished out a single intact Ghoststone, then pressed it together with the one he’d just acquired, closing his eyes.
??Imdiately—
??Crippled Monkey stared, wide-eyed, as the two Ghoststones in Chen Fan’s palm began to liquefy, oozing out between his fingers as a milky white fluid. Before it could hit the ground, the liquid transford into dozens of shimring white threads that drifted into the air. The threads twisted and wove together, gradually taking shape and solidifying.
??A few seconds later—
??A steel beast trap dropped to the ground with a heavy clank.
??It was his creation: a Level 1 Beast Trap, forged by consuming two Ghoststones. Simple in design, but deadly—enough to injure low-level Ghostbeasts. This was his new ticket to a steady supply of Ghoststones.
??“It’s done.”
??Chen Fan stood there, gazing down at the crude trap, a grin spreading across his face. The tension, fear, and confusion that had plagued him ever since his sudden transmigration into this perilous world—all of it faded away in that instant.
??At least… there was hope now.
??No more despair.
??“Young Master!”
??Crippled Monkey, who had witnessed everything, looked pale but couldn’t contain his excitent. He glanced at the wooden shack, forcibly lowered his voice, and spoke, trembling with emotion: “Young Master, you’ve awakened as a Builder!”
??“And you succeeded on your very first try!”
??“If Master finds out, you’ll be welcod back to the Chen Clan at once. No one will ever dare bully you again.”
??“Master will finally give you justice for all the unfairness you’ve suffered!”
??“No.”
??Chen Fan’s eyes sparkled as he chuckled softly. “I don’t need anyone to fight my battles for .”
??…
??Centuries ago, Eternal Night descended.
??The world’s order collapsed in an instant. Countless people were slaughtered by Ghostbeasts, their corpses littering the land. But after untold sacrifice and hardship, humanity slowly found a way to survive.
??A single Ghoststone, absorbed into the body, could strengthen one’s physique—and even unlock the ability to wield spells, granting the power to fight Ghostbeasts like the cultivators of legend.
??Those who awakened such powers beca known as Practitioners.
??But—
??Hiding beca the mainstream thod of survival in this world. No matter how powerful a Practitioner beca, no one could stand alone in the darkness against the endless tide of Ghostbeasts. Without the protection of Ghostfire during Eternal Night, even the strongest would eventually be worn down and killed.
??A lucky few, however—
??So Practitioners, after absorbing a Ghoststone, awakened into sothing more. These special Practitioners gained unique abilities.
??For example, Nightwalkers—who could see in the darkness after Eternal Night fell.
??Or Alchemists—who could craft miraculous pills from Ghostbeast carcasses and rare spiritual herbs.
??Compared to ordinary Practitioners, these unique types—Nightwalkers, Alchemists, and the like—were far more powerful, equipped with a greater array of tools. Any faction would welco them as honored guests, and if they signed a contract to join, they’d receive a generous monthly salary.
??But among all these special Practitioners, one kind stood at the very top—rarest and most revered of all: the Builder.
??Ghostfire itself was the creation of Builders. No one else could construct such miraculous structures.
??Without Builders, this world would have perished long ago.
??Every towering city wall, every fortress at the heart of a great clan—these were all the work of Builders.
??To judge the true strength of any faction, you only had to ask: do they have a Builder?
??The Jiangbei Chen Clan, for example, owed its prestige to a resident Level 5 Builder.
??The Chen Clan operated seventy-seven Waystations, each one equipped with Ghostfire crafted by this honored Builder. Those Waystations funneled a steady stream of inco into the clan’s coffers.
??And now—
??He, too, had beco a Builder.
??But…
??His abilities were a cut above the rest. According to the mories in his mind, no Builder in the world could use building blueprints directly. Typically, blueprints only dropped by rare chance from high-level Ghostbeasts, and Builders would have to study the image, gather the listed materials, and experint with Ghoststones to try to replicate the structure.
??If they succeeded, they’d morize the recipe and pass it down as a secret technique.
??Take Ghostfire, the most widespread structure—one of the few whose recipe had leaked out. The common formula required “10–30 Ghoststones, a strand of a False Man-Ghost’s hair, a Beheaded Ghost’s skull, a Daylight Ghost’s heart, a wisp of dead grass… seven ingredients in all.”
??But in reality—
??According to the basic building blueprint for Ghostfire displayed on his interface, all it took was three Ghoststones and a handful of dry grass for kindling.
??So why did the recipe beco so convoluted?
??Simple: no one else could see the full blueprint. Through trial and error, people just piled up materials until sothing worked. Most of the extra ingredients canceled each other out, leaving only the dry grass in the end. It was like stacking bugs in a code—sotis, it just runs.
??Miss a single step, though, and the whole thing falls apart.
??And the inflated Ghoststone cost? That ca from energy loss. Without direct access to the blueprint, Builders wasted energy. He, on the other hand, could use blueprints directly, achieving one hundred percent efficiency—less cost, more stability, every ti.
??If other Builders climbed the mountain by winding switchbacks, he took the cable car—a straight line from point A to point B.
??Faster, more efficient, and direct.
??…
??“Whew…”
??He let out a slow breath, carefully placed the Level 1 Beast Trap at the edge of the protective circle, then gave it a casual kick, sending it sliding into the darkness. Now, he just had to wait for dawn and see what he’d caught.
??He had no intention of returning to the Jiangbei Chen Clan.
??The body’s previous owner might have longed to rush back, desperate for his father’s approval, but Chen Fan had no such pointless desires.
??A man who lives for others’ approval is already half ruined.
??Besides, even if he wanted to go back, he couldn’t.
??Without a sound transmission talisman or enough money for the journey, he couldn’t return to his family—or even contact them.
??For now, his goal was simple: build a sanctuary of his own, slowly amassing enough strength to protect himself. Only then would he consider anything else.
??After all, this world didn’t just have ghosts that hunted people at night—it had monsters that devoured the living in broad daylight, too.
??He couldn’t focus only on Ghostbeasts.
??Stockpile grain, bide your ti, and only then claim the throne!
??Those six words were his plan for the days ahead.
??He wasn’t going anywhere.
??This was where he would make his stand.
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