Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone

Chapter 839 - 531: Windfall, Array Advancement (2)

Twenty rangers were present, and Lieutenant Colonel Shen also placed some Shadow summons as guards here."

Fang Zhou nodded, indicating he understood.

"Major Fang, the houses in the forest were all destroyed, so I’m afraid you’ll have to live here temporarily.

Once we repair the houses, we’ll move you immediately."

After Captain Zhang took Fang Zhou around the forest, he led him to a large military tent.

Looking at the tent occupying nearly fifty square meters, Fang Zhou nodded, saying, "Not bad, this is fine. My living requirements aren’t high."

After settling in, Fang Zhou went to the forest’s Central Room.

This was underground and had been destroyed by the Beastmen in the previous war.

However, Captain Zhang and his team had been here for over half a month, and this area was the first to be repaired.

Descending underground, Fang Zhou inspected the Central Room.

It’s a room situated about ten meters below ground, with walls specially reinforced. In the center is a recessed platform.

This is where the Defense Array Core is placed.

Fang Zhou took out the massive Defense Array Core given to him by Shen Zhongyun from the Space Storage Capsule.

This is an enhanced version of a Black Iron Tier Defense Array Core, occupying a space comparable to a small car.

It’s several times larger than the diminished version of the Black Iron Tier Defense Array Core Fang Zhou had previously seized from the Bandit Group.

After placing the Array Core in the central groove, Fang Zhou poured a pile of Magic Stones into the adjacent charging pool, activating the core.

Under intense energy stimulation, the Array Core began to tremble like an ignited engine, accompanied by a loud roar.

With the contraction of runes, the Array Core was officially activated.

But it’s not finished yet; this is a full version Defense Array Core, not portable.

To achieve the highest efficiency of the Defense Shield, numerous defense points must be established on the perimeter.

Fang Zhou stepped outside, took out the Defense Array blueprint given by Shen Zhongyun, and started placing small defense cores at various defense points around the forest.

After spending most of the day, he finally completed placing each defense core.

Fang Zhou then returned to the Central Room to officially activate the Defense Array.

Soon, a somewhat ethereal energy defense shield rose on the perimeter of the forest.

Fang Zhou delved his mana into the Defense Array Core to sense the effectiveness of this array.

This array is a Bronze Tier Basic Early Warning Array and Defense Shield.

The Early Warning Array can monitor within ten kilometers; if any energy fluctuations at Bronze Tier or above occur, it alerts the guards.

It can negate detection evasion methods below Bronze Tier, but not those above Bronze Tier.

The Defense Shield can create a maximum defense shield capable of blocking Bronze Tier attacks, securing the core location of the forest.

Usually, this shield isn’t activated unless the Early Warning Array detects a large number of enemy units or is actively triggered by the rangers; otherwise, it’ll only protect this Central Room.

Fang Zhou can set up the Defense Array but cannot directly create it.

Creating such Defense Arrays requires advancing to a high-level Array Master.

After setting up the Defense Array, the next task is the Energy Gathering Ring Array.

Even in Beast Fighting City, where energy concentration far surpasses Blue Star, planting spirit medicine isn’t as simple as scattering seeds wherever.

Regardless of whether spirit medicine can survive, in such ordinary energy environments, it could take years to reach harvest.

No one can afford to wait that long.

Mass plantation isn’t feasible with merely one plant per several acres.

Not to mention the difficulty of cultivation, just the care required would be incredibly high.

The most cost-effective solution is placing an Energy Gathering Ring Array over vast lands.

It gathers energy from a large area, concentrating it in a small region.

Shen Zhongyun’s forest is like this; he owns over ten thousand acres, but the core planting area is only five hundred acres with little usable land.

This is still insufficient, necessitating periodic use of fertilizer made from low-tier Fierce Beast blood or corpses.

Only through such combinations can the dense planting of spirit medicine requirements barely be met.

To set up the Energy Gathering Ring Array over such a large area, Chain Rune Array Stones are indispensable.

On average, each acre requires one Chain Rune Array Stone to be buried.

This is a substantial investment.

Even for experienced Mid Level Array Masters, crafting such Chain Rune Array Stones costs approximately five Magic Stones each.

For a novice like Fang Zhou, the possibility of crafting failures increases the cost.

Thankfully, these runes are buried in the ground.

Though deliberately damaged by Beastmen and affected by war aftermath, most remain intact.

Fang Zhou spent several days surveying Shen Zhongyun’s plantation, understanding the number of runes needed this time.

He needs to craft approximately over twenty thousand Chain Rune Array Stones to repair the Energy Gathering Ring Array.

Repairing about ten thousand runes will restore enough effect for the forest to start planting spirit medicine.

With a clear plan, Fang Zhou officially began working.

While maintaining his cultivation, he accelerated his efforts, crafting nearly a thousand Chain Rune Array Stones daily.

Despite numerous crafting failures, the cost was still within acceptable limits.

Initially, the average cost per rune was five Magic Stones.

As his crafting experience increased, he managed to control the cost below four Magic Stones.

Given his novice status, slightly lower than the industry’s cost control was quite commendable.

Upon learning this news via his personal terminal transmission, Shen Zhongyun was delighted.

He anticipated the cost would be about six Magic Stones per rune but didn’t expect Fang Zhou to adapt so quickly.

Beast Fighting City’s forests and farms require array restoration now.

There’s a shortage of Array Masters capable of crafting array runes, and no one is available to work.

With the forest close to full shutdown, the demand and prices of various spirit medicines are rising.

The earlier the forest resumes production, the earlier they can seize opportunities.

Shen Zhongyun prepared his materials according to the six Magic Stones standard.

Thus, in high spirits, Shen Zhongyun generously directed Fang Zhou to proceed, awarding him with the remaining materials as task rewards.

In this increase and decrease, Fang Zhou’s profits surged by tens of thousands of Magic Stones.

Upon receiving this reward, Fang Zhou’s enthusiasm for work increased further, decisively pushing himself fully into the workshop, continuously crafting these runes.

After more than 20 days, he completed crafting all the required runes. The next step was arranging these runes.

Fang Zhou deployed nearly three hundred Corpse Warriors under his command throughout the forest, beginning to dig pits.

Guided by his mana, he arranged the Energy Gathering Rune Stones.

After more than a week, he finally completed placing all the runes.

This moment heralded the effectiveness of the Mid Level Energy Gathering Ring Array.

A substantial amount of energy was absorbed by the Energy Gathering Ring Array, concentrated on the forest’s five hundred acres of spirit medicine planting fields.

Feeling the dense energy in the planting fields, Fang Zhou couldn’t help but smile.

His busy month not only empowered him to master the creation and setup of the Early Warning Array, Defense Array and Energy Gathering Ring Array but also earned him a hefty sum.

The remaining materials in the warehouse now belonged to him, valued at approximately forty thousand Magic Stones.

This was a tremendous gain.