Chapter 369 - 169: [Eternal Night Calendar, Year 380, Early Seventh Month]

Chapter 369: Chapter 169: [Eternal Night Calendar, Year 380, Early Seventh Month]

’Ghost Fire, then.’

It was the core structure of the Mortal Realm, the foundation supporting all other buildings. He had already surrounded the Mortal Realm’s primary Ghost Fire with layer upon layer of defenses, making it the most heavily guarded structure. He even set up several decoy Ghost Fires nearby, masquerading as the realm’s core.

That way, even if an intruder managed to sneak into the Mortal Realm and tried to destroy the Ghost Fire, they would only be able to destroy the decoys.

Furthermore, he had also forged two backup Level 9 Ghost Fires inside Nameless Mountain.

These two Ghost Fires were also connected to the various buildings through Copper Pipes. They remained dormant on a daily basis, with no Ghost Fire flowing through the pipes. But in the event of an emergency—if the Mortal Realm’s primary Ghost Fire were destroyed—these two backups would activate instantly to maintain the realm’s structures.

This would prevent the Mortal Realm’s buildings from failing just because the core Ghost Fire was destroyed.

However, the unique "Direction of Qualitative Upgrade" that came with the primary Ghost Fire would be lost.

The next moment—

He grabbed a handful of dry grass from the ground and threw it into the air.

An ethereal projection of a Ghost Fire building slowly materialized in the air before quickly settling onto the ground.

He tossed the Celestial Dao Stone in his hand onto it.

Once the Celestial Dao took effect, it would apply to all buildings of the same type within the camp. From that point on, any Ghost Fire inside the camp’s territory would gain this Celestial Dao Blessing Effect, eliminating the need to make a special trip back to Nameless Mountain for each one.

Soon, a panel appeared before him.

-

"You have used a ’Celestial Dao Stone’ on the Ghost Fire and obtained three Celestial Dao Blessing Effects. Please choose one within one hundred breaths."

"A building can only have one Celestial Dao Blessing Effect."

"1: Celestial Dao Blessing Effect (Trickling Stream): The Ghost Fire will absorb energy from the Eternal Night, forming one thousand Ghost Stones daily (only effective on one Ghost Fire)."

"2: Celestial Dao Blessing Effect (One More Time): When any building in the camp is upgraded and randomly gets a Direction of Qualitative Upgrade, you get one chance to re-roll. The re-roll will not change the grade of the Direction of Qualitative Upgrade, but it will randomly switch to a different one."

"3: Celestial Dao Blessing Effect (Reign Over All Nations): Ghost Fires built and placed within the camp’s territory will no longer require Heavenly and Earthly Treasures for each upgrade, only Ghost Stones."

-

"..."

Chen Fan stared at the three "Celestial Dao Blessing Effects" on the panel before him. He was stunned for a long moment, then suddenly grinned, his eyes fixed on the third Celestial Dao Blessing Effect, "Reign Over All Nations," unable to look away.

Then, without a shred of hesitation, he chose the third option.

’Reign Over All Nations.’

This Celestial Dao Blessing Effect would allow him to create Level 10 Ghost Fires without consuming any Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, requiring only Ghost Stones. This meant that once Wang Mazi finished surveying the continent and produced a Ghost Map of the entire New Continent, he could begin his project of covering the entire landmass with Ghost Fires.

And claim the special reward for "Ruling the World."

The harder the mission, the greater the reward.

He figured that covering an entire continent with Ghost Fires was already an incredibly difficult task.

Normally, one could only accomplish such a feat after the war was already over, after humanity had decisively won.

He was taking a bit of a shortcut.

He was completing this special mission on a New Continent that had already been defeated, which meant he was claiming a reward that should have only been obtainable in the late-game, far ahead of schedule.

His greatest regret in this life was never having the things he wanted as a child.

In his past life, he had desperately wanted a model car as a boy—just a simple toy car that only cost a few bucks—but he couldn’t afford it. Every Christmas as a child, he would hope for Santa Claus to come down from the sky and bring him one.

He never had expectations for his birthday.

He was an orphan, and had been since he was very young, with no parents.

The possibility of Santa Claus suddenly appearing with a Christmas gift seemed higher than his parents dropping out of the sky to give him one.

But that wish was never fulfilled throughout his entire childhood.

Later, when he grew up and had played with things far more extravagant than model cars, he still couldn’t forget the one he never owned as a child. He often thought about what it would be like if his younger self could have a taste of his current wealth—not a lot, just a thousand bucks or so.

His younger self would have been so ecstatic he wouldn’t have been able to sleep for nights on end.

In this life, as long as you keep on living, you’ll eventually get everything you want. But the timing is off, and the feeling of finally obtaining it is no longer the same.

And this Celestial Dao Blessing Effect, "Reign Over All Nations," was what would allow him to obtain a reward meant for the late-game—"Ruling the World"—only a few years from now. This, naturally, made him happy.

"Pretty good."

Chen Fan smiled. Looking at the Celestial Dao Blessing Effect now fixed upon the Ghost Fire, he felt as if he had just been given the model car he had longed for but never received as a child.

"Go!"

He strode over to the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage. The first order of business was to lay down High-speed Rail lines on the Guanxi Plain. Once Wang Mazi finished drafting the Ghost Map of the New Continent, he could begin planning the bigger project.

The dragon-horses neighed.

The Nine-Five Dragon Carriage departed the Port.

Once again, it thundered across the Jiangbei Wilderness, heading straight for Jiangnan.

The Mortal Realm had officially begun its southward expansion.

...

「Two days later.」

Chen Fan had already reached Fuyao City, the southernmost city in Jiangnan. He had been delayed slightly along the way, stopping for a while by the Great River and taking a detour to a mountaintop to admire the scenery of Jiangbei.

He wasn’t in a great hurry for the time being.

He stopped whenever he passed a place with beautiful scenery.

’This world doesn’t have cameras.’