Strongest Lord by Opening Blind Boxes

Chapter 77: Lumberyard, Wooden Ox

"I’ll hold another fighting competition..."

Nangong Jin continued his "recruitment," holding one competition after another without a break. He worked through the night until Yang Qingniu and the others were so exhausted they had all fallen fast asleep.

Before dawn, Wang Yi turned off the Energy Lighthouse’s illumination. He had watched the fighting competitions all night and felt he was holding up well. It was just one all-nighter, so he didn’t feel the need to specifically go and catch up on sleep.

Nangong Jin, however, was struggling to hold on. He was coughing nonstop and felt like he was about to spit up blood.

Wang Yi thought, ’This precious talent of mine is so frail. I can’t have him working himself sick.’ He stopped Nangong Jin from holding any more fighting competitions and said, "There’s plenty of time, you don’t have to run yourself into the ground with these competitions. Everyone’s exhausted. Let’s go to the First Dining Hall for breakfast and get some rest. Jelena will arrange accommodations for you all."

"As you command!"

Nangong Jin bowed and finally stopped the fighting competitions. Yang Qingniu and the others were at last free to go. Yawning, they all departed.

Wang Yi then checked Nangong Jin’s "recruitment results." He had held a total of 30 fighting competitions. After the initial Beast Taisen, he had also recruited a Potential Level Boyka twice, a Feng Yuxiu once, a Taisen once, and an Elite Level Leonidas once!

This Taisen was a regular, Potential Level version. It looked exactly like Beast Taisen, just a size smaller.

Of course, every recruitment from Nangong Jin multiplied the number of units summoned. So now, there were 12 Potential Level Boykas, 8 Potential Level Feng Yuxius, 4 Potential Level Taisens, 8 Elite Level Leonidases, and 4 Heroic Level Beast Taisens!

In total, Nangong Jin had spent 1,281 Gold Coins and 900 Chaos Energy.

Wang Yi had never seen the information panels for other barracks, so he didn’t know how much other Players spent on recruitment, but he had a good feeling about his own expenses.

’If I’m going to be recruiting this many soldiers, I have to think about the food problem again. A small fishery can’t sustain a large force. I have to start cultivating the farmland...’

With this in mind, Wang Yi grabbed some dried fish to fill his stomach, then went to find Yang Wanli. He got straight to the point: "Minister Yang, I need you to make another trip to purchase farm tools, grain seeds, cloth, and other daily necessities. It’ll be the same as last time: a Barbarian Guard will accompany you, and you’ll have five Hardworking Turtles at your disposal!"

Yang Wanli seemed to have anticipated this. "It is my honor to relieve your worries, my lord," he said. "I will gather my things and set out at once."

"Good!"

Wang Yi nodded, left him 100 Gold Coins, and then set off for the southern part of the village.

Of course, as he had done before, Wang Yi also instructed Qin Mo to secretly follow and protect Yang Wanli and his companion.

Soon, Wang Yi arrived at the 70 acres of fertile farmland.

Last night, he had obtained three Fertile Land Vouchers from Xiang Tianchen, and he now intended to use them.

As for the other items from the trade, the Lumber Mill Construction Drawings and the Wooden Ox Spirit Talisman were in his Storage Waistband, the swords and sabers had been sent to the Storage Warehouse, and the three Magic Crystals had already been given to Jelena.

Wang Yi would have been happy to have a Player friend with whom he could trade resources, but unfortunately, Xiang Tianchen wasn’t trustworthy.

The Fertile Land Vouchers were simple to use. After activating all three, Wang Yi created another 50 acres of farmland, bringing his total to 120 acres.

’One hundred and twenty acres of farmland. I can’t let it go to waste. Now we’ll see what Yang Wanli manages to bring back...’

After a moment of silent contemplation, Wang Yi moved on to build the Lumberyard.

The Lumberyard was a functional building that could only be constructed within his territory. It only required an area of four square meters.

Wang Yi found a random corner and constructed the Lumberyard.

The structure looked like a small, square wooden hut, five meters tall. It couldn’t be entered, and it had only one function: to automatically provide 5 units of wood each day.

This wood wasn’t physical but was treated as a virtual resource, reflected in the territory management panel. The first batch was credited the moment the Lumberyard was completed.

The Lumberyard could be upgraded using Gold Coins. It cost 200 Gold Coins per upgrade, and each upgrade increased the building’s durability and added 5 units to its daily wood production. It could be upgraded a maximum of five times.

Wang Yi currently had 1,930 Gold Coins, and he wasn’t about to be stingy. He immediately spent 1,000 Gold Coins to upgrade the Lumberyard to its maximum level. It would now automatically produce 30 units of wood per day, and the first day’s 30 units were credited to his territory panel upfront.

’The Production Team can stop gathering wood from now on. We can pull out the logs stockpiled in the Chaos Warehouse and use them for firewood! This Lumberyard is pretty neat, but one is still not enough. It would be great to have a few more...’

Wang Yi then turned and used the Wooden Ox Spirit Talisman.

Upon activation, the Spirit Talisman ignited, flew forward, and transformed into a Wooden Ox Puppet the size of a rhinoceros.

This Wooden Ox Puppet was a type of Refined Puppet. Its exterior was somewhat crude, and its abdomen was hollow. It could be used as a mount or to transport goods, but it required Spirit Stones for power.

’It needs Spirit Stones to run? That’s probably why Xiang Tianchen was willing to sell the Wooden Ox Talisman Paper. I don’t have any Spirit Stones, but I have the Energy Lighthouse! The Lighthouse’s electrical power can be converted into all sorts of energy, including Spiritual Power, and it can even be transmitted wirelessly. That’s far more convenient than using Spirit Stones.’

Wang Yi immediately pulled up the Energy Lighthouse’s information panel and found that the newly created Wooden Ox Puppet had, as expected, already connected to it.

The Wooden Ox Puppet was no match for a Mecha like Prototype No. 1, of course, but it was still quite useful for ordinary people.

Wang Yi enabled "infinite charging" for the Wooden Ox Puppet. After studying it for a moment, he found that its intelligence was extremely low, making manual operation the best option. The controls were very simple—it could be led by a rein or ridden directly.

However, its top speed was only fifteen kilometers per hour.

A short while later, Wang Yi led the Wooden Ox Puppet to Eggshell Castle. He handed it over to Jelena and briefed her on the new Lumberyard and the puppet itself.

Just then, Li Huaizheng arrived at Eggshell Castle to report for duty.

He was wearing a long robe that, while old, was very clean. His hair and beard had also been neatly combed.

"Li Huaizheng, Mr. Li," Jelena began. "Father has already spoken to me about building the school. I will select a location for it as soon as possible and have the Guardian Beasts begin construction. For now, you will come with me to see Lord Nangong. He is Eggshell Village’s Military Governor, and he’s quite frail. Father has instructed me to take good care of him. We need to consult with him about providing food and lodging for the Octagonal Cage Soldiers..."

"...After we’ve sorted that out, you can begin gathering information on the surrounding villagers and compiling it into a register. Oh, and right, the Wooden Ox Puppet. You can use this one as your mount for now..."

Jelena was also in need of capable subordinates, and now that Li Huaizheng had arrived, she didn’t hesitate to put him to work.

As for Li Huaizheng, he was full of drive, shaking off twenty years of despondency.

He was more farsighted than the average villager and knew that being able to work in Eggshell Village promised a future of limitless potential.