Chapter 197 – Florida Man Mistook Lithium as Iron. Mined a Ton. Threw Raw Ores to Furnace. And Caused an Explosion. Scientists and Chemists Baffled Why He is Still Alive.
"…"
Leo was not disappointed, but he wasn't impressed either. The new buildings seemed complicated.
Moving on, Leo glanced at the icon of a guaranteed SR lucky draw. Since he couldn't exploit the 10+1 draw like the regular lucky draw, he used it on the spot.
DING
A new building icon appeared. This time, it looked different.
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Genetic Modification Lab (Super Rare)
Surgeon Automaton (0/20)
Surgeon Skills (0/20)
Genetic Storage (0/20)
Capsule Module (0/20)
Space: 100 x 100.
Cannot be built inside Shopping Mall. Require Fate Crystal Bearer's blood to operate. Max Level: 50.
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Leo pursed his lips, finding this building interesting. He closed all menus and built this structure next to the pylon tower. He also didn't forget to build other buildings that he had been neglecting.
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Food Court
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 10
Price – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – Three Humble General Store's Rooms or Shopping Mall's Rooms.
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Essence Stone Quarry
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 10
Price – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – 200 x 200
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Leo added the quarry southwest of his domain, west of the farm district.
As for the food court, Leo added it to his shopping mall, occupying three slots near the entrance. A fast-food chain restaurant was also put in the adjacent room. All buildings were upgraded to level 12.
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Food Court Level 12
Automatons Cooks (2/5)
Accommodation Size (2/5)
Food Quality (5/5)
Food Variety (3/5)
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Fast-Food Chain Restaurant Level 12
Automatons Cooks (2/5)
Cooking Speed (2/5)
Food Quality (5/5)
Food Variety (3/5)
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Basic Alchemy Workshop Level 12
Active Cauldrons: (4/5)
Automatons Alchemist (1/5)
Production Quality (5/5)
Production Quantity (2/5)
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Clothing Store Level 12
Automaton Worker (1/5)
Automaton Weavers (3/5)
Weaver Skills (5/5)
Store Quality (3/5)
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Gunsmith Workshop Level 12
Automaton Gunsmith (1/1)
Automaton Hand Loader (1/1)
Firearm Technology (5/6)
Product Quality (2/6)
Structure Quality (3/6)
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Blacksmith Workshop Level 12
Automaton Blacksmiths (2/5)
Furnace (5/5)
Product Quality (5/5)
Production Speed (0/5)
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For alchemy, Leo prioritized the number of cauldrons as the past production rating was too slow. The gunsmith got new technology upgrades while the clothing stores obtained two new workers.
The blacksmith was a nice addition. Leo hadn't figured out its features yet, but he learned from the alchemy workshops. Thus, he put all points to furnaces so that he could produce more goodies.
After Leo had constructed all the common buildings in his shopping mall, he built rare structures next.
An alchemy factory replaced one of the newest alchemy workshops. Leo checked its features.
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Alchemy Factory Level 12
Automaton Alchemists (2/10)
Active Machine (5/10)
Factory Capacity (5/10)
Factory Output Speed (0/10)
Currently Making: Elemental Grain Pills
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Leo went to the 5th floor of his shopping mall and visited the factory.
The front office of the factory resembled the other workshops. However, it utilized machines instead of cauldrons to produce pills. A cargo elevator emerged at the back of the factory and connected to the warehouse.
The factory's automatons automatically fetched pill ingredients from the shopping mall's underground warehouse, using its exclusive elevator at the back.
When Leo arrived at the factory, the structure and the automatons already started working even though Leo hadn't given it an order. Five sets of machines moved in sync, converting iron pine nuts into elemental grain pills.
Within ten minutes, a factory belt rolled a dozen elemental grain pills into a bucket. 20 round balls caused a loud noise in the enclosed space.
CLANK
CLANK
The first batch gave Leo 20 metal grain pills. As for the other machines, they produced other types of meds. Fire grain pills, water grain pills, and other elemental grain pills came out.
Leo picked one of them to inspect its quality. Then, he deeply frowned.
The quality was mediocre.
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Medium-Grade Metal Element Grain Pill
- Satisfy your hunger for 120 hours.
- Improve your blood circulation and internal organ efficiency by 15% for 120 hours.
- Increase your lifespan by five years.
- Increase Metal Qi by two years' worth of cultivation.
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Instead of making top-tier pills, the factory rapidly chugged medium-graded ones and consumed a lot of ingredients in the warehouse.
Leo hated it as he wanted the best pills. However, as things went on, a mass production line was necessary as he couldn't restock the supermarket fast enough. Cheaper products would do the trick since he didn't need to give every commoner the best items.
After checking the factory, Leo upgraded another alchemy workshop into a new SR structure. Again, he upgraded it to level 12.
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Land Vehicle Factory Level 12
Engineer Automatons (2/20)
Technology (5/20)
Vehicle Quality (5/20)
Production Speed (0/20)
Currently Making: None
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Unlike the pill factory, this one allowed Leo to choose which product to build. He opened its menu, and a screen appeared, showing a catalog of retro vehicles.
Judging from their models, they were cars from the 70s era. Leo didn't need them at the moment, and he didn't want to waste his precious resources to make any. Still, he queued one for science.
The model he chose was a brown military jeep. As soon as Leo confirmed the production, the factory warned him about the necessary materials.
DING
<You lack materials and recipes.>
"…"
The factory didn't bother to tell him which material Leo lacked. Instead, it just refused his order.
Leo sighed as he couldn't do anything. He moved on to check the next structure that he couldn't build inside the shopping mall.
The next one was the quarry.
West of the farmlands, a rocky mountain elevated the ground.
Leo then assigned points to the quarry.
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Essence Stone Quarry Level 12
Automaton Miners (4/5)
Mining Speed (0/5)
Quarry Tools (3/5)
Essence Stone Quality (5/5)
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Four mannequins holding pickaxes emerged. They ignored Leo and walked toward the stone mountain.
Leo followed after them to see how they worked.
The miners stopped at the foot of the mountain. They touched the surface of a boulder and patted its dirt. After the mud and dirt had come off, the boulder revealed its true value.
Instead of calling it a boulder, it was a massive black crystal hiding underneath mud and dirt.
The miners rushed toward the giant crystal and swung their pickaxes on it.
CLINK
CLINK
The miners instantly extracted several pieces of crystals. One of the miners collected and put them in a wheel cart. When the cart was full, the mannequin pushed the cart back to the patched area close to the quarry. He lifted the cart and poured everything to the ground. Then, he went back to get some more.
Leo picked up the extracted crystals and inspected them.
[High-Graded Essence Stone]
[High-Graded Spirit Stone]
[Medium-Graded Spirit Iron Ore]
[High-Graded Rough Tin Ore]
Although the crystals came from the same origin, each had a different property.
The spirit stones and essence stones were a no-brainer. Leo grabbed a spirit stone with his bare hand and instantly upgraded it into pinnacle-graded essence stones. As for the essence stones, their quality rose to the pinnacle grade upon touch.
Iron ores and tin ores were new to Leo. Like usual, he touched them and hoped to get an upgraded version of these minerals.
Leo's instinct was correct. The brown ores blackened. However, Leo had no idea what they were.
He brought the newly mutated ores to the blacksmith workshop. He gave them to the automatons, and they threw them to the furnaces on the spot.
BOOOOOM
The furnace exploded, breathing flame and almost cooked both blacksmith automatons.
DING
<You have discovered Immortal Iron Ore!>
<You have discovered Immortal Tin Ore!>
"…Aren't they just the same? Tin and iron? Hello?"
Leo shrugged, unable to figure out their value. He left the ores in the blacksmith alone and went to check the other new structures.
He didn't notice the changes in the blacksmith's eyes. The two mannequins stood in front of the working furnaces, waiting for the ores to completely smelt and work on them.
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Leo built a greenhouse on the shopping mall's rooftop. It didn't occupy a wide space, but it worked the same way as farms. He left the new farmers to work on the yin cabbages as the horses needed them.
With that, Leo finished building almost all the new structures. He still hadn't checked the new gene lab yet. However, Leo had a short-concentration issue. He moved on to the automaton gacha next.
Leo gazed at the banner and the poster girls. They looked attractive and unique for mannequins. Curious of what they could do, Leo reached out and pressed on the [10+1 Summon] button.
