Chapter 316 – Hungry Killer Whale Mistakes Ohio Man as Takeout Special. Ohio Man Claims He's Just Making a Protein Shake after Workout.
Florida Domain
After converting the entire mountain range into a soul stone mine, Leo stopped messing around. He elevated a square kilometer of land and opened his online shopping system.
All system buildings were available for purchase. Leo handpicked the basic infrastructure-related items first.
A water supply system and electric generators were implemented first as they were necessary for the local population. Instantly, waterworks buildings occupied the land.
Two electric pylons stood at the edge of the land. Gigantic water curing tanks emerged. At the same time, it created a large water tunnel system underneath until it reached the nearest water source, aka the sea.
In front of the drainage tubes, a small array prevented small fish, sea creatures, and microorganisms from entering the factory. They got stuck in a transparent barrier and were pushed away by the current.
The pylon towers drained Qi in the environment to generate electricity, which the water curing factory required. The pumps absorbed seawater into the facility, where the desalination took place. Electric Qi from the pylon towers hasten the chemical reactions, extracting salt and substances from the seawater.
Within five seconds after the factory's creation, raw water was poured into the first storage tank. Then, the water underwent another curing process, making it safe for consumption.
Leo observed the automated facility and distributed status points to a few attributes. The facilities and equipment were upgraded, and the tank capacity was enhanced. 20 mannequins rose up from the ground and began managing the facilities and water tanks.
After setting up the basic infrastructure for the mortal town, Leo elevated more terrain and paved concrete roads, outlining the future city plan of this district. The roads extended to the expanding slum area and connected with their small streets.
Leo didn't stop there. He explored the logistical items in his shopping system and found an underground tunnel structure.
"Aha!"
He giggled and waved his hands, strengthening the ground underneath the slum district. Then, he inserted a new system structure under the town.
RUMBLE
An underground tunnel road manifested. The excess dirt, stones, and minerals transformed into reinforced pillars and walls, stabilizing the expressway.
Leo finalized the creation. He linked the entrance of the expressway to the main road of his shopping mall domain. The two roads automatically adjusted and connected together.
"Whoops. Underground drainages. I forgot."
As if Leo was possessed by Lloyd Frontera 'The Great Engineer', he meticulously adjusted the structures and ensured the safety and stability of the passageway. However, his expression wasn't as ugly as the original.
An hour passed. Leo wiped his face with a wet towel and admired the empty road.
"Alright. The logistic highway is completed. Now, I just invest in the general store, a warehouse, and other business ventures."
Leo rubbed his hands. His fingers moved like professional gamers in LOL tournaments, pressing a hundred buttons and purchasing a thousand items.
RUMBLE
A humble one-story shopping mall was erected in the middle of the empty land, 200 meters away from the main road. The front empty area turned into an open parking lot.
Behind the mall, a large warehouse appeared and linked with the shopping mall. As usual, mannequins emerged from the warehouse and assumed the role of the warehouse workers.
The store also got its employees. 20 automatons and five supervisor golems appeared to manage the store.
RUMBLE
20 high-rise condominiums manifested around the block, surrounding the shopping mall. Each came with a parking lot building, allowing the residents to own land vehicles. Every building also received basic electricity and water supply from the factory, west of the second shopping mall.
Besides the skyscrapers, Leo purchased pre-made empty townhouses, just in case the new residents didn't like living in a tall building. Those houses were close to the main roads, which could be renovated into small stores in the future.
For the finishing touch, Leo planted small signboards and manually wrote the same sentences.
[FOR SALE! CONTACT FLORIDA MAN FOR DETAILS!]
Leo patted his hands and muttered in satisfaction.
"Done!"
The crowd gazed at the new structures in astonishment. Tang Xuan and Tang Tian gawked at the condominiums and drooled.
Both men had visited Leo's eastern hotel before. They knew how modern and comfortable the beds were, and they were envious of the new residents.
"S-Senior Florida Man," Tang Tian rubbed his hands. "Although we have already reached the celestial rank, can some of us live here?"
Leo rolled his eyes and pointed at the shopping complex's building, where another condominium stood on top of the mall.
"You geezers can't live here. If you want a condo room to live in, you can only buy a room and live there. Of course, each room contains a WHOLE ANOTHER WOLRD inside. Therefore, buying the entire room can be pricey. But if you don't mind living in a smaller quarter, I can allocate a place for you to establish a manor or a mansion inside that condo-verse."
"…Condo-verse?"
"You'll understand when you see those places." Leo sighed and changed the subject, "Cat! Come here!"
Cat jolted as she didn't expect Leo to call her over. She rushed to her father.
"Nom-Nom Meow?"
Leo patted Cat's head, "No nom-nom at the moment. But it is time for you to learn how to earn some cash on your own. From now on, you will be the guardian of the second shopping mall over here."
Cat didn't actually understand her role. She tilted her head.
"Then, can I get some nom-nom?"
Leo explained, "You will receive food from the logistic officers every morning, afternoon, evening, and midnight. However, you will have to work to get those free food."
"EEEEEEHHHH?!"
Like any child, Cat didn't understand the adult concept and why she should work. If she wanted food, she could easily hunt some stray cockatrices, thunder caimans, or mad cows at the cow level.
"What's the point of working for Nom-Nom, meow?"
Leo deeply sighed, "If you work here, you will be worshiped as the local lord. The townsmen will naturally bring offerings for you in exchange for your protection. All you need to do is sit on top of the shopping mall and prevent mishaps from happening. For example, if an idiot tries to rob the store, you have the duty to catch and eat the thieves. Got it?"
"OH! So thieves can be NOM-NOMed?"
"Correct!"
"I love this job! Let me work and Nom-Nom everybody, meow!"
"Hey. You can't just eat anybody. Let them steal something first, then you can eat. Don't eat if they don't steal anything, okay? Also, some of those mortals might buy something from the shopping mall. Those guys aren't thieves. You need to know how to differentiate them."
"How, meow?"
"Simple! If they walk out of the store while holding plastic bags full of items from the store, they are not thieves. But if they secretly store our items in their storage rings and leave without paying, you catch that moron and eat them. Leave the rings behind, alright?"
"EASY, MEOW!"
The bystanders sweated profusely while they listened to the conversation. Their blood pressure spiked as they grew concerned over Cat's education and her future antics. At this rate, this little dryad would evolve into a bloodthirsty lunatic like her parent.
Leo clapped his hands and flew back to the Soul Stone Mountain. He then assigned his followers another task.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time for me to announce the highlight of this trip. As you can see, we have a WHOLE mountain range full of soul stones. I think you know what I'm thinking, right?"
Everybody nodded and gulped.
Leo clarified their new tasks, "For starters, let's start mining this mountain! Grab a pickaxe, a shovel, a dynamite, or… your fist! Let's start hammering this mountain and break it into smaller rocks! Whatever you mined, you can keep half! Make sure to bring back half of what you mined to me when we're done here!"
The crowd cheered. Everybody scattered throughout the mountain range.
Leo crossed his arms and watched how his followers displayed their secret techniques, attacking the Soul Stone mountain range and breaking them into smaller pieces. He wasn't worried that he wouldn't get all the cultivation resources from here.
In fact, he wished for his followers to get stronger ASAP. With these soul stones, they would have enough cultivation resources to boost their inner Qi to a higher level.
Leo thought of the deity stage. According to the universal standard, this realm was the most important. Only the deities with the strongest foundation and largest dantian capacity had the chance to advance to the sage rank.
The sage stage was where karma strings and mandates came into play. Their power was enough to erase a solar system or a million deities with a thought.
Leo regretted that he didn't learn this power when he first arrived in this world. His life would have been a lot easier if he had known the basic power of the sage realm.
As Leo fell into a deep thought, he recalled that he had encountered Sieg once. Therefore, his system already recorded the transcendent being, and he could summon his clone to fight in the simulation mode.
"Right. I should start training too. I need to learn how to use my power as a transcendent."
Leo closed his eyes and meditated in mid-air. He sank his consciousness to his dantian universe.
.
.
RUMBLE
Planet Eater Number 47, or PEN47, was a karmic sovereign. Although he ate enough stars to gain sentient, his intelligence was still the same as a teenager, minus the sexual drive.
The monster only had one hobby – Eating! His diet consisted of gas stars and habitable planets. As for his favorite food, it was fate crystals!
After receiving a direct order from its overlord, PEN47 leisurely swam the universe at light speed, planning to snack on random stars on the way. As a result, his traveling speed was slower than usual.
After flying for an hour, its stomach growled. Because the void tree was out of its reach, it could no longer steal the tree's Qi to sustain its hunger.
Starved and famished, PEN47 picked up the speed. Instantly, it traveled across a galaxy and arrived at Leo's galaxy.
Colorful stars became visible. PEN47 salivated, unable to contain its hunger anymore.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
It roared and dashed toward the nearest helium star. By opening its mouth wide, it swallowed the entire gas star whole!
The gas exploded upon making contact with its digestive fluid and flame inside. The monster burped in satisfaction, but it hadn't had enough.
It wanted more.
The monster looked around to find another star to eat. This time, it wanted a solid star or a planet with many plants.
As it looked around, the corner of its eyes spotted a glowing dragon at a distance. Upon paying closer attention, it didn't look natural as the entire body of the dragon was made of minerals and man-made plate armor.
PEN47 smirked. It thought that it found the first challenger.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Without hesitation, PEN47 charged at the golden dragon.
