The Heritage the Mistress Left for the Young Master?

The white-glowing stone in his hand had dropped straight out of that young girl's mouth. It was an exotic treasure! Last night, he had killed thirty-seven monkey-headed ghosts just to see one exotic treasure drop; today, killing a mother and daughter had immediately yielded another. The drop rate on that mother and daughter was so much higher. This mother-and-daughter pair had to be the "pseudo-human ghosts" the green-robed man had mentioned. They possessed little strength of their own; their trick was to disguise themselves as humans just as dusk fell, hoping to slip into a camp. Once their disguise was seen through, they were easily slain. Naturally, such pseudo-human ghosts could not hold ghost stones either—they would be burned by them. "I understand." Quehou scratched the back of his head with a touch of self-reproach. "Good thing you woke up, Young Master. Otherwise, we would have missed a stroke of good fortune. I was mostly worried it'd be bad if I harmed an innocent by mistake." "How could there be any mistake?" Chen Fan shook his head with a laugh. "Without ghost stones, no camp would take them in. Even if they really were human, once you drove them away, they would still die in the Eternal Night." "Besides, even if you did harm someone by mistake, it wouldn't matter." "That's just their fate." "They have to accept it." "All right, you got enough sleep during the day, right? There might be a big battle tonight. Come eat something. Fill your belly so you're ready to work." *** The instant the sun dipped below the horizon, darkness surged in from the sky like a tidal wave, blanketing the entire world in a split second. Eternal Night descended! This was already the third night the master and servant were spending on this wasteland. Yet compared to the previous two nights, they felt far safer tonight. "Young Master," Quehou said, taking a hefty bite of the flatbread in his hand as he sat beside the campfire. He stroked the solid, heavy arrow tower beside him, his eyes brimming with excitement. "From what I know, an architect who can build an arrow tower isn't some apprentice architect who only knows how to build ghost fires anymore! "To hire an architect to build an arrow tower for a camp costs at least 150 ghost stones! "If the Master knew you could already build arrow towers, he would definitely regret everything he's done all these years." There was one more thing he hadn't spoken aloud: Who gave the Young Master the blueprint details for building an arrow tower? Could it be... The heritage the Mistress left behind for the Young Master? Chen Fan merely smiled without answering. Looking down at the stone in his arms, he thought: this truly was a wonderful treasure. *** [Exotic Treasure Name]: Building Duplication Stone [Exotic Treasure Grade]: White [Exotic Treasure Effect]: Can be used on any building at or below Level 2 to duplicate an identical copy of that building. *** Naturally, the most valuable structure in his camp right now was that Level 2 Arrow Tower. Without overthinking it, he pressed the stone against the arrow tower beside him. Immediately, an illusory silhouette of the arrow tower woven from countless streams of ghostly white light appeared in midair once more. The stone dissolved into a milky-white liquid that poured into the tower's phantom, rapidly condensing it into solid form until it settled firmly on the opposite side of the campfire. Flanking the campfire, one on the left and one on the right, they framed it right in the middle. The arrow towers could only attack creatures that trespassed into the camp's boundaries. Placing them too close to the camp's edge would leave them exposed to immediate damage from ghost creatures, risking destruction; keeping them well within the camp was far safer. He took out another ghost stone and slotted it into the base of this brand-new arrow tower. With that, he had only three ghost stones left. His savings were practically cleared out. Having witnessed this scene firsthand while daydreaming about the future, Quehou froze on the spot. Struck speechless for a long while, he finally mumbled, "Young Master..." "Yeah?" "You need to take a wife and have children soon." "Why's that?" "Young Master, even though you're only a Level 1 Architect right now, your talent surpasses every architect I've ever heard of. You're bound to become a formidable architect in the future. If you branch out and have children early, you'll be able to build a great family of your own." Hearing this, Chen Fan chuckled and shook his head without replying. Quehou seemed to harbor an obsession with families; he was always dwelling on making the Chen family see Chen Fan in a new light, and now he even wanted Chen Fan to start a whole family of his own. Level 1 Architect... That was this world's cultivation system. The higher an architect's level, the stronger their physical constitution, the lower the cost of erecting buildings, and with sufficiently high cultivation, the higher the grade of buildings they could construct. However... To him, all of that was superficial. It held no real value. As long as he had the resources and blueprints, he could build top-grade structures right now. The architects of this world were essentially neutered architects lacking an interface; only by having a panel could one become a true architect. In other words, this world was essentially a game world. Yet some mishap had occurred during the transition, leaving the natives of this world without player panels, unable to even see one. Chen Fan, as the only person who could see the panel, had become the true player—the sole player. After all, his Eternal Night Lord panel didn't possess any bizarrely extraordinary powers. It was essentially just a player's interface. As for absorbing ghost stones to raise his level, that only served one purpose for him: boosting his physical constitution. Once he had an abundance of ghost stones, he would definitely upgrade, but at this stage, it was a very low priority. Right then— The darkness outside the camp suddenly seemed to boil, churning relentlessly. Piercing, shrill howls could even be heard clearly from within. "It's here!" Chen Fan swiftly rose and ducked beneath the framework at the base of an arrow tower. Scanning their surroundings, he narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice, "A big one is coming. It might breach the camp. Get ready. "If it really breaks in, don't charge forward to fight it. Leave it to the arrow towers!" He hadn't set any bear traps tonight out of concern that the big creature that escaped last night would return. He hadn't expected it to actually show up. *Phew...* His breathing could not help quickening slightly. He had no clear grasp of the enemy's strength, nor did he know whether these two Level 2 Arrow Towers could fend that brute off... If they couldn't stop it, there would be nowhere left to run! The very next instant! *Screeech!* Ear-piercing, shrill shrieks abruptly erupted from the night outside the camp. Moments later, a massive monkey-headed ghost nearly two meters tall burst from the darkness, plunging straight into the camp! It moved at blistering speed! This was the first time he had seen a ghost creature dare to charge headlong into a camp with burning ghost fire. The oppressive pressure emanating from the black mist cloaking its entire body made them instinctively hold their breath. Humans seemed all too tiny before such a monstrosity. Yet at the same time, the crossbow mechanisms atop both arrow towers flanking the ghost fire swiveled in unison, locking onto this colossal monkey-headed ghost. The ghost stones embedded in the bases of the towers flashed with a fleeting, faint white gleam. Immediately afterward! *Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!* The sound of air being torn apart pierced the night, echoing beside their ears. Several crossbow bolts shot forth, sinking accurately into the massive monkey-headed ghost's body. The firing rate wasn't particularly fast or slow, but the shots were remarkably precise, maintaining an accuracy well over seventy percent. Gravely wounded on the spot, the monkey-headed ghost couldn't care less about revenge. Shrieking and roaring in agony, it bolted out of the camp at extreme speed and vanished into the darkness. "It ran?" Chen Fan poked his head out from behind the arrow tower. Looking out at the darkness outside the camp, which had returned to stillness once again, a flicker of regret and wistfulness flashed in his eyes. "What a pity. "That monkey-headed ghost would definitely have dropped something good if it died."