Chapter 173: Hard Goods, Acquiring Large Quantities of Blueprints and Skill Books!

"It seems I must bring out some hard goods to get them to cough up the good stuff they have in their hands!"

Then, Cao Xing opened the [Market] and prepared to list [Purified Forest Wild Boar Meat (Purple)].

This was also the beast meat with the strongest attributes he had ever listed.

It could directly increase Strength by 7 points and Agility by 3 points!

A single piece of wild boar meat was equivalent to a two-level upgrade; it was incredibly powerful.

However, he didn't have much of this in his reserves, only about three hundred pieces.

It couldn't be helped; although that Boss-level wild boar was as big as a small hill.

Most of its body consisted of bones and internal organs, and the meat added up to nearly four hundred kilograms, which was actually a very high yield.

Things are valuable because they are rare.

So Cao Xing decided.

This batch of purple-grade wild boar meat would only be used to exchange for recruitment scrolls, construction blueprints, equipment blueprints, skill books, and so on.

Thus, Cao Xing began setting the trade information.

[Consignment Item: Purified Boss Wild Boar Meat (Purple)]

[Stock Reserves: Medium Amount]

[Required Items: Recruitment Scrolls, Blueprints, Skill Books, etc.]

[Seller's Note: Need various recruitment scrolls and blueprints. In addition, I am also accepting skill books for Frost Mages, Aurora Knights, and Frost Iron Mechanics. Private message me to trade.]

After thinking for a moment, Cao Xing added two types of high-grade materials: [Magic Pattern Stone] and [Evergold Ingot].

Because he still had a golden construction blueprint in his hands called [King's Altar], which could be used to resurrect heroes.

But the required materials had been difficult to gather.

It was perfect; he could take this opportunity to acquire these two materials from all the Survivors in District 174.

At this moment, after seeing Cao Xing list beast meat for the third time, the chat channel fell into a momentary silence.

Then came a huge sensation!

"Hiss! Such strong wild boar meat; it actually increases Strength by 7 points and Agility by 3 points directly!"

"Yeah, isn't this too outrageous? The level 5 green weapon in my hand only adds 5 points of Strength!"

"Damn! I'm going to take out all my Ice Dragon Marks to buy this kind of beast meat!"

And just then, another Survivor replied: "Don't even think about it. Great Lord Cao Xing is not accepting Ice Dragon Marks and such materials this time; he only accepts blueprints, Magic Pattern Stones, and Evergold Ingots."

The other Survivors, upon hearing this, also burst into laughter.

"As expected, Great Lord Cao Xing would not use such precious beast meat to trade for ordinary materials."

"What are Magic Pattern Stones and Evergold Ingots? I've never heard of them."

"Brothers, dig through your inventory for any hidden blueprints to trade with Great Lord Cao Xing. Then, come to the trade channel and resell the purple wild boar meat for ordinary materials; we will definitely buy it from you."

Hearing this, the other Survivors suddenly realized something.

"That makes sense! You can make quite a bit by reselling it!"

"Anyone else who has Wild Boar Warrior recruitment scrolls? One scroll trades for 2 pieces of beast meat, which is equivalent to directly getting 20 portions of beast meat. I am willing to offer 100 Ice Dragon Marks to buy one portion; one piece of beast meat can sell for 1000 Ice Dragon Marks!"

"Haha, I have 2 Wild Boar Warrior recruitment scrolls in my hand; I'm going to get rich this time!"

Cao Xing naturally knew that this kind of reselling phenomenon would occur.

But he did not stop it.

Just as he had said before, he eats meat, but he should also let others have some soup.

Cao Xing was unwilling to trade such precious beast meat for ordinary materials, but other Survivors were willing.

Everyone got what they wanted; it was a win-win.

Of course, Cao Xing had already earned the greatest benefit from it.

Three consecutive trades had attracted the attention of almost all the Survivors in District 174.

Soon, he received a large number of private messages.

Many people immediately sent their hidden treasures as soon as they started chatting.

Glancing over them, he discovered many skill books.

For example: [Primary Mechanical Affinity], [Improved Self-Destruct Robot], [Ice Breaking Flying Blade], etc…

Because Cao Xing was preparing to cultivate Tong Chuchu, he added Mechanic skills this time.

Most of them were just ordinary skill books, and Cao Xing and Liu Muxue had already learned them.

For example, the Frost Mage's: Ice Wall, Great Ice Spear, Ice Orb, as well as the Aurora Knight's Holy Heal, Shield Counter, etc.

However, there were some skill books that hadn't been learned yet, and the attributes were actually quite good.

After Cao Xing negotiated the prices with these people, he began the trades directly.

[Trade Successful: You obtained [Primary Frost Control Skill Book], you lost [Purified Boss Wild Boar Meat (Purple)] * 3]

[Trade Successful: You obtained [Ez-6 Mark Chaser Skill Book], you lost [Purified Boss Wild Boar Meat (Purple)] * 4]

[Trade Successful: You obtained [Holy Shield Assault Skill Book], you lost [Purified Boss Wild Boar Meat (Purple)] * 2]

[Trade Successful…]

A flurry of system notifications appeared.

At this time, Cao Xing saw a blueprint that caught his full attention.

[Intermediate Alchemy Workshop Construction Blueprint].

This thing was the key to crafting Improved Life Secret Potions!

And now, as long as Cao Xing built it and found an Alchemist, he could mass-produce Life Secret Potions!

Thinking of this, Cao Xing became somewhat excited!

After some haggling, Cao Xing finally traded 11 pieces of beast meat with the other party.

This was also the most expensive blueprint he had bought.

But clearly, he had made a huge profit on this trade!

[Trade Successful: You obtained [Intermediate Alchemy Workshop Blueprint], you lost [Purified Boss Wild Boar Meat (Purple)] * 11]

With the blueprint in hand, a look of intense joy appeared on Cao Xing's face.

"Great, great, great! Everything is finally ready, only an Alchemist is missing."

"I'll see how things go over the next two days to see if I can find a town or village and trick an Alchemist into coming back."

Cao Xing was full of anticipation.

Then, he continued to click on private messages, checking them one by one.

Among them, he discovered more things that interested him.

For example, Magic Pattern Stones and Evergold Ingots, as well as some construction blueprints, etc.

Cao Xing also began haggling and then bought them at a reasonable price.

[Trade Successful: You obtained [Primary Training Ground Construction Blueprint], you lost [Purified Forest Wild Boar Meat (Purple)] * 2]

[Trade Successful: You obtained [Intermediate Cow Shed Construction Blueprint], you lost [Purified Forest Wild Boar Meat (Purple)] * 2]

[Trade Successful: You obtained [Tier 1 Wild Boar Warrior Recruitment Scroll * 1], you lost [Purified Forest Wild Boar Meat (Purple)] * 2.]

[Trade Successful: You obtained [Evergold Ingot * 2], you lost [Purified Boss Wild Boar Meat (Purple)] * 1]

[Trade Successful…]

This time, Cao Xing used 324 pieces of beast meat to exchange for a large amount of supplies.

Most of the beast meat was used to exchange for recruitment scrolls and materials like Evergold Ingots and Magic Pattern Stones.

He glanced at the number of recruitment scrolls obtained this time.

[Tier 1 Wild Boar Warrior Recruitment Scroll * 71]

[Tier 1 Imperial Archer Recruitment Scroll * 5]

[Tier 1 Imperial Soldier Recruitment Scroll * 5]

"Very good, counting the previous wave of trades and adding the recruitment scrolls I have on hand, it is already completely enough to assemble a hundred-man Wild Boar Warrior army!"

A satisfied look appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

Although these scrolls consumed a large amount of his purple beast meat, it was clearly a very profitable deal!

Then there were the two materials: [Evergold Ingot] and [Magic Pattern Stone].

This time, he had accumulated:

[Evergold Ingot * 64]

[Magic Pattern Stone * 31]

"Building the King's Altar requires 100 Evergold Ingots and 50 Magic Pattern Stones; currently, it is still a bit short."

Cao Xing felt a little regretful.

However, this was also normal.

After all, Evergold Ingots and Magic Pattern Stones were both very high-grade materials.

Being able to receive so many in District 174 was already considered quite good.

Besides these, Cao Xing also exchanged for ten skill books and six blueprints!

Then, he began to check them one by one.

First were the three skill books for the Frost Mage.

They were: [Ice Soul Spinning Spear], [Ice Breaking Flying Blade], [Primary Frost Control].

He glanced at the introductions of the three skill books.

[Ice Soul Spinning Spear: Frost Mage Exclusive Skill Book (Blue)]

[Skill Effect: Throw a spear condensed from frost forward, making it spin at high speed like a windmill, dealing multi-stage damage equal to 112% of Attack to all enemies along the path. Skill Cooldown: 60 seconds]

[Ice Breaking Flying Blade: Frost Mage Exclusive Skill Book (Purple)]

[Skill Effect: Quickly condense 1~3 large ice orbs with sharp ice shards, which detonate upon hitting the enemy to deal 273% damage, then splatter a large amount of fragments, dealing 87% piercing damage to surrounding enemies. Skill Cooldown: 90 seconds]

[Primary Frost Control: Frost Mage Exclusive Skill Book (Blue)]

[Skill Effect: Understanding of Ice Power deepens; all Ice-type attacks gain 10% damage, casting speed increases by 10%. At the same time, you can also experiment with different skill combinations in actual combat.]

(Tip: Continuously compressing Ice Ball can increase explosion damage.)

…

"Too powerful!"

These three skill books were all important skills for a Frost Mage, as far as Cao Xing was concerned.

They cost him a full 20 units of beast meat.

But it was worth it! Totally worth it!

Especially [Basic Ice Mastery]. Even though it was just a blue-tier skill book, it was a crucial skill.

By learning this, he could gain a preliminary understanding of how to utilize these ice magic spells and create different attack methods.

For example, before this, learning from skill books was like just copying the answers.

But now that he had learned [Basic Ice Mastery], he could understand how those answers were derived and what the calculation formulas were.

Thereby learning more advanced ways of utilizing them.

Cao Xing clapped his hands together and learned the three skill books without hesitation.

In an instant, he felt a massive amount of memories flooding into his mind.

These memories contained various combinations of ice elements and incantations.

It took nearly a minute or two for Cao Xing to absorb these memories.

He opened his eyes, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said in surprise: "Damn… such a huge reaction from learning a skill?"

"Feels like my brain is about to be stuffed full…"

Cao Xing clapped his hands and continued checking.

Next were the three skill books for the Aurora Knight, which also cost Cao Xing nearly twenty units of beast meat!

They were [Holy Shield Assault], [Basic Sword Mastery], and [Defensive Stance].

He checked the attributes of the three skill books as usual.

[Holy Shield Assault (Purple): Aurora Knight exclusive skill book]

[Skill Effect: Condense Aurora power onto the shield, quickly dash forward 5~30 meters, knock back enemies in the path, and deal Attack * 89% damage to them. Cooldown: 30 seconds]

…

[Basic Sword Mastery (Blue): Melee skill book for Warriors, Aurora Knights, etc.]

[Skill Effect: Understanding of sword techniques deepens. When using sword-type weapons, Attack increases by 10%, Attack Speed increases by 10%. At the same time, you can also experiment with different combinations in actual combat.]

(Tip: At the end of the Arctic Warrior's Thrust skill, immediately follow up with the Hamstring skill for unexpected results~)

…

[Defensive Stance (Blue): Aurora Knight tactical skill book]

[Skill Effect: Switch to a full defensive stance; unable to attack. Probability of being knocked airborne reduced by 50%, Defense increased by 20%. No cooldown.]

…

These three skill books were also quite good; they could enhance Liu Muxue's mobility, combat ability, and defensive capability.

Especially [Basic Sword Mastery]; the importance of this skill was almost the same as [Basic Ice Mastery].

"Not bad, not bad."

Moreover, following the system's prompts, Cao Xing suddenly had different ideas.

For example, after an Aurora Knight uses [Holy Shield Assault], could they follow up with [Shield Bash] to quickly dash and control the enemy?

Obviously, this was feasible.

"Interesting… can different skill combinations produce different effects?"

Cao Xing suppressed his thoughts and decided to let Liu Muxue try it when there was an opportunity.

…

Finally, there were the four skill books for the Mechanic.

They were: [Basic Mechanical Affinity], [Ez-6 Mark Chaser], [Ez-8 Improved Self-Destruct Robot], and [G-1 Corona].

He glanced at the attributes.

[Basic Mechanical Affinity (Blue): Frost Iron Mechanic exclusive skill book]

[Skill Effect: When summoning mechanical creatures for battle, increase duration by 20% and mechanical attributes by 10%. When the mechanical creature's duration ends, refund 20% of materials.]

…

[Ez-6 Mark Chaser (Purple): Frost Iron Mechanic exclusive skill book]

[Skill Effect: Consume some materials and mechanical power to summon a Mark Chaser robot that inherits 120% of the Mechanic's attributes. The Mark Chaser possesses skills like Thermal Tracking, Thermal Acceleration, and Cutting Blade. Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes.]

…

[Ez-8 Improved Self-Destruct Robot (Blue): Frost Iron Mechanic exclusive skill book]

[Skill Effect: Advanced version of Self-Destruct Robot. Consume some materials to summon a self-destruct robot with Durability equal to HP. It has simple attack skills. After Durability is exhausted, it detonates, dealing 280% explosive damage to enemies within five meters. Up to 2 can be summoned simultaneously. Duration: 120 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.]

…

[G-1 Corona (Purple): Frost Iron Mechanic exclusive skill book]

[Skill Effect: Consume a large amount of materials to summon a permanently existing Corona robot, which inherits 100% of the Mechanic's attributes and possesses skills like Energy Conversion, Energy Impact, and Energy Bullets.]

(Note: If you need to summon a new Corona, you must destroy the original one.)

…

"Very good. The Mechanic class is still quite powerful, especially in the mid-game. After advancing to a War Mechanic, you can also learn three exclusive War Machine blueprints."

"Then, through the Machine Factory, you can mass-produce these three types of machines, and one person can deal with an entire army."

"Of course, the consumption after one battle for a Mechanic is also astronomical. Plus, crafting these machines requires a large amount of high-level materials."

"According to the current situation, I'm afraid one region can only afford to raise one high-end Mechanic."

"And with my talent, the Mechanic class could even undergo a qualitative change, becoming the true King of War!"

Cao Xing thought excitedly.

He didn't feel regretful about not choosing Frost Iron Mechanic himself.

In this world, every class had its own strengths.

When a Frost Mage reaches the late game, isn't a Forbidden Spell that wipes out a city cool enough?

Besides, he also had a Mechanic in his territory, Tong Chuchu.

Cultivating her would be the same.

After finishing these ten skill books, Cao Xing nodded with satisfaction.

Next, were those blueprints.

Excluding the [Intermediate Cattle Pen], [Intermediate Toilet], [Intermediate Alchemy Workshop], and other construction blueprints whose functions could be seen from their names.

Cao Xing checked the attributes of the other three new blueprints.

First was a training ground blueprint.

[Basic Training Ground Construction Blueprint]

[Building Effect: Can build a training ground in the territory, allowing residents to train inside, and can increase experience points.]

[Area: 120 square meters]

[Armor: 40]

[Durability: 1200]

[Maximum Training Capacity: 20 people]

[Training Experience Gain: 1 hour / 500 experience points]

[Construction Materials Needed: Wood * 200, Stone * 100, Iron * 50, Copper * 20, Basic Elemental Crystal * 20]

[Construction Time: 8 hours 43 minutes]

[Staff: Instructor 0/1]

(Note: Residents possessing skills like Sword Mastery, Spear Mastery, etc., serving as instructors for training have a small probability of enabling other residents to also learn the same type of weapon mastery.)

…

A thoughtful expression appeared in Cao Xing's eyes. "Interesting…"

"This thing has similar effects to a training barracks, except this one allows other residents to learn skills, and they can also gain experience points."

"In that case, if I let Assam serve as an instructor, it's equivalent to others learning the Frost Wolf Sword Mastery skill, although the probability is a bit small."

"Of course, even if they don't learn the skill, it doesn't matter. After those Arctic People level up, their physical attributes will also increase, which will make them more efficient at work."

The appearance of this blueprint gave Cao Xing different ideas.

In the future, when those Arctic People or Cao Yi and the others are free, he would arrange for them to go train.

When they truly encounter battle, these residents can just pick up their weapons and join the battlefield.

"Not bad, not bad."

Cao Xing continued to look down.

[Basic Hot Spring Hall Construction Blueprint]

[Building Effect: Can build a hot spring hall in the territory, which can be divided into male and female baths.]

[Area: 270 square meters]

[Armor: 50]

[Durability: 1500]

[Maximum Capacity: 50 people]

[Construction Materials Needed: Stone * 500, Wood * 200, Iron * 100, Mithril * 10, Basic Elemental Crystal * 20, Electronic Components * 5]

[Construction Time: 17 hours 32 minutes]

…

"Hot spring…"

"This is good stuff!"

…