บท 104: Chapter 104、Level Up and Max Out!
"Prioritize Upgrades!"
Yi Bai made his decision. He couldn't let so many points sit idly in his inventory without being spent. After all, only the points that were spent had real value.
"Now that my tech projects and rooms are mostly complete, I can continue upgrading. This will boost my talent level too," Yi Bai muttered to himself.
The requirement for upgrading to a level 3 shelter was double the demands of level 2. It required 5,000 electronic components, 10,000 survival points, at least 10 talent units, and two B-grade talents. Looking at the conditions, it was clear: only Yi Bai could pull this off in the whole city.
Just the talent requirements alone would deter most shelters from even attempting it, especially those with enough points but lacking the right talents.
"I've got enough points and talent units... but I'm still short on electronic components," Yi Bai mused, tapping his fingers against the table. "I have 1,568 units of electronic components, but that's far from enough."
Yi Bai opened the trading market and checked his inventory. His previous sales of large bills and refugee wood had brought in 97,238 survival points. After withdrawing those points, he checked his remaining balance—333,601 points.
"Well, that's a nice surprise!" Yi Bai grinned. After a large-scale construction spree, his points had actually increased instead of decreasing.
"How is it that the more I spend, the more points I have?" Yi Bai shook his head. It was no surprise, though. Materials for upgrades were in high demand, and any survivor still alive would go to great lengths to upgrade their shelter—even if it meant paying sky-high prices for materials.
Yi Bai's prices were fair, with minimal markup, so things sold fast.
"With over 300,000 points, I should be able to buy plenty of electronic components," Yi Bai thought, scanning the online market. He filtered by material types and found that, among the three major upgrade materials, large bills were sold out, and refugee wood was almost gone as well.
However, there were still plenty of electronic components available—more than before, in fact. The price of large bills had surged from 80 points per unit to 105 points, and the price of refugee wood had jumped from 30 to 55 points. Meanwhile, electronic components, which were normally priced at 52 points per unit, had dropped to 22 points.
"Strange... Why are electronic components so cheap?" Yi Bai blinked in surprise. He had suspected that very few survivors would opt for a tech-based shelter early on, as it was difficult to develop. But he hadn't expected this—almost no one had chosen it at all.
"Well, that's good for me," Yi Bai mused. "While tech shelters are resource-hungry, it doesn't matter to me."
Without hesitation, Yi Bai selected all the orders for electronic components priced under 30 points and purchased them in bulk.
[Congratulations! You spent 74,424 points and acquired 2,658 units of electronic components!]
Yi Bai's eyes widened. "That's still not enough... I'm about 700 units short. Fine, let's just buy more."
After a moment's thought, he went ahead and completed the purchase.
[Congratulations! You spent 32,857 points and acquired 5,000 units of electronic components!]
He had now accumulated enough. As a bonus, Yi Bai had helped raise the price of electronic components in the market, pushing the lowest price to 45 points per unit.
Soon, survivors who had been watching the market's price fluctuations began to chatter on the chat channel.
"Whoa, guys, someone's buying up all the electronic components! The price is shooting up! It was under 30 points just a few minutes ago, and now it's at 45!"
"Must be a hoarder, huh? I've heard some people talking about stockpiling goods like they're merchants in a video game."
"Yeah right, who has the money to hoard stuff in the apocalypse? What, are they looking for trouble?"
"Wait... It's gotta be the top guy on the leaderboard! He just passed 330,000 points, and now he's dropped under 300,000."
"Whoa, 300,000 points? Who is this guy? How come his shelter's still unnamed?"
"Maybe it's that guy from the city center, the one who's been recruiting like crazy. Seems like his work."
The entire city chat buzzed with speculation over the mysterious buyer. Many survivors had already speculated about his identity, guessing he was the leaderboard leader or perhaps the only survivor with a level 2 shelter. His shelter was gradually outpacing the small White Bear Shelter in terms of development.
Yi Bai didn't care about the chatter in the chat anymore. Once he had gathered enough materials for his upgrades, he didn't hesitate. It was time for a major upgrade.
[Congratulations! Your shelter has been upgraded to level 3. Your shelter talent has been improved!]
[Your shelter talent "Homebody's Haven" has been enhanced!]
[Homebody's Haven]: Every time you stay in your shelter for 24 hours, you will randomly receive a current, urgently needed survival reward! The reward will be at least a B-grade! Additionally, the time for your talent resets to 12:00 PM! There is a small chance of receiving double rewards when the talent is triggered! You will have a 3-hour exemption from going out each day, which doesn't affect the reward time calculation.]
Yi Bai was ecstatic as the new information flashed across the screen.
"Still B-grade rewards?" he murmured. "Wait... there's a chance of double rewards?"
He smiled. "That's a nice upgrade, although it's a bit too reliant on luck."
Before Yi Bai could finish speaking, another notification popped up.
[Congratulations! You are the first survivor in the nation to upgrade to a level 3 shelter. You have received a special award: "Bloodline's Blessing"!]
[Bloodline's Blessing]: An A-grade special item. When you trigger a talent effect, you can choose whether to use this item to enhance your talent's effect. If used, the talent effect will be enhanced by 2-10 times. It's a consumable item and can only be used once.]
Yi Bai's eyes widened in surprise. Another achievement reward?
"This one's a consumable..." Yi Bai noted as he studied the item description. He would have hoarded it if this were just a game, using it when his talent level was high enough. But in the real-world apocalypse, things were more uncertain. While there was no immediate survival pressure, Yi Bai knew the future was unpredictable.
Before he could ponder further, another notification arrived.
[Congratulations! You have stayed in your shelter for 24 hours, triggering your talent reward!]
[It has been detected that you have a special consumable. Do you wish to use "Bloodline's Blessing" to enhance this talent effect?]
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