Chapter 47 – Florida Man Invents AI Robot, Neighbor Panics
While Cat ransacked Leo's granary, the latter was busy shopping. As he had learned from the granary, he built a warehouse behind the first alchemy workshop. Then, he checked its upgradeable features.
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Warehouse Level 1
Warehouse Automaton Level - (0/5)
Storage Size Level – (1/5)
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
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Different from the granary, the warehouse offered automaton workers, which seemed odd. Leo was puzzled about what the warehouse workers could contribute to this building, so he pressed on the text, hoping to see its detail.
DING
Leo wasn't disappointed. A new window appeared, explaining how the worker would do.
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Automaton Worker Level 1
- Enable one warehouse automaton
- Automaton will automatically gather items in the shop domain that exists in your warehouse.
Automaton Worker Level 2
- Enable two warehouse automatons
- Retain the previous operation function.
- Increase automatons' traveling speed by 20%.
Automaton Worker Level 3
- Enable three warehouse automatons
- Retain the previous operation function.
- Automatons can explore outside of the shop domain for resources.
- Increase automatons' traveling speed and gathering speed by 30%.
Automaton Worker Level 4
- Enable four warehouse automatons
- Retain the previous operation functions.
- Automatons can mine minerals, chop wood, and collect food resources inside and outside the shop domain.
- Increase automatons' traveling speed, gathering speed, and carry limit by 50%.
Automaton Worker Level 5
- Enable five warehouse automatons
- Retain the previous operation functions.
- Automatons can hunt and butcher animals for meat and other resources.
- Automatons can retaliate if provoked or attacked first.
- Increase automatons' traveling speed, gathering speed, and carry limit by 100%.
- Increase automatons' strength, stamina, agility, and dexterity by 100%.
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Once again, Leo regretted not building a warehouse earlier. He smacked his forehead and upgraded the warehouse to level five. Then, he increased the workshop size to level four and added one level to the automaton feature.
The physical appearance of the warehouse changed from a hut to a concrete house with a massive double door. However, the interior of the building expanded to 22,500 sqm, which was larger than the general store's space. The ceiling was also taller than the granary.
CRACK-CREAK
A wooden humanoid mannequin rose up from the ground. It stood on two legs while its arms dangled. Its face had two camera lenses, serving as its eyes. However, it had no mouth or nose.
Looking at the round head of the human-sized wooden doll, Leo wondered how he would order it to work. It simply stood there, staring forward in a daze.
Leo patted its head, checking if he could summon a system window to command it. Unfortunately, nothing happened. After pondering for a few minutes, Leo remembered that the description told him to add an item to the warehouse first.
He pushed a large bin of blue stones and essence stones into the warehouse. Then, he placed it at the center of the building.
Before Leo could walk out, the automaton mannequin turned around and walked toward another large bin behind the workshop. Although it walked like a ragdoll, it moved its arms, pushing the bin toward the warehouse.
Leo watched it work. The doll was a lot slower than him as it didn't have the same superman strength. It took a few minutes for the doll to bring a large bin full of blue stones to the building.
The automaton didn't stop there. As soon as the bin entered the warehouse, its head turned 360 degrees as it observed the warehouse's space. Then, it pushed the second bin toward the deepest part of the warehouse and carefully arranged it there. It moved to the first bin and brought it next to the second container afterward.
Seeing how it automatically arranged the warehouse, Leo was satisfied. He left the doll alone to fetch other resources, which he had stored in the first alchemy workshop. He spent hours moving the food-related alchemy ingredients to the granary, and he tossed in some iron tree bark and iron pine nuts into the warehouse, letting the automaton recognize the collectible resources.
DING
After three hours passed, the workshops completed the Yang Flame Dan. Leo stopped what he was doing and went to the cauldron to see the result.
When Leo opened the first cauldron's lid, 30 red Ping-Pong-sized balls were covered in flame, and they hovered over the pot. The flame balls were suspended there, waiting to be collected.
Not afraid of the fire, Leo took off his gloves and grabbed one of them with his bare hand.
DING
<The Basic Alchemy Workshop Level 5 has refined 15 Medium-Grade, 13 High-Grade, and 2 Superior Yang Flame Dans.>
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Medium-Grade Yang Flame Dan
Increase physical strength by 25% for 120 Hours
Increase fire essence by 50 years' worth of cultivation
Increase yang Qi by 50 Years' worth of cultivation
Increase lifespan by 5 years
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High-Grade Yang Flame Dan
Increase physical strength by 35% for 168 Hours
Increase fire essence by 70 years' worth of cultivation
Increase yang Qi by 70 Years' worth of cultivation
Increase lifespan by 7 years
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Superior-Grade Yang Flame Dan
Increase physical strength by 50% for 240 Hours
Increase fire essence by 100 years' worth of cultivation
Increase yang Qi by 100 Years' worth of cultivation
Increase lifespan by 10 years
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The pill quality made a difference. Leo was glad that he had upgraded the workshop correctly. At long last, Leo had proper cultivation pills for cultivators.
'These balls are similar to wolf Fenrir Dantian Pills. Speaking of which, I only have two sets of materials. I should upgrade the workshop's quality to the max first.'
Leo collected the cultivation balls and stored them in an empty Tupperware in the warehouse. Afterward, he queued the cauldrons to make more cultivation pills. Then, he rechecked his remaining lifespan.
<Current Lifespan: 14,688 Years…>
"Hold up. Where does all my lifespan go?"
Noticing that a lot of his lifespan was gone, Leo was shocked. A shopping spree could sometimes be financially dangerous as money could vanish in a flash.
Leo had planned to upgrade the store to level six, but upon seeing how little he had, Leo changed his mind. He stopped the upgrade project and summoned the shopping system. Afterward, he searched for a language skill that he had bookmarked a few days ago.
DING
[Divine Shang Language Auto-Speech Translation] – 20,000 Years of Lifespan
[Divine Shang Language Reading Comprehension Knowledge] – 10,000 Years of Lifespan
Leo smacked his forehead. He no longer had enough lifespan to buy the auto-speech translation feature. However, he still had enough for the reading skill.
Although vexing, Leo purchased the reading comprehension skill so that he could read books of this world.
DING
<Integrating knowledge, please do not move…>
Two hundred small floating system panels appeared and surrounded Leo. Strong rays of light burst out, followed by the intense pain that stunned Leo. His vision blurred, and he was forced to kneel.
Leo remembered this feeling. It always happened whenever his cancer cells and his DNA evolved. Every time it happened, he always fell unconscious for days or months. The last time, it took him six months to recover. Leo was afraid that he might black out for a year this time.
The two hundred system windows vanished, and the system congratulated him.
DING
<Divine Shang Language Reading Comprehension Skill has been successfully installed.>
"…"
Surprisingly, Leo didn't faint. The pain vanished like smoke. His vision slowly recovered, and he regained his body balance. Leo stood up while he massaged his temples.
"What was that?"
Leo dragged his feet and looked for a sacred wood block to sit on. However, as Cat stole all sacred wood, he found nothing in front of his store. Noticing that his precious sacred wood chairs were gone, Leo yelled at Cat.
"DAMN CAT! DID YOU EAT MY FREAKING CHAIRS?!"
Because of his loud noise, Cat rushed out of the granary. As soon as "she" left the building, Leo noticed her.
Seeing how Cat emerged from his precious granary, Leo was enraged. He felt like his pet had sneaked into his fridge and eaten the food inside.
"DAMN CAT! YOU ATE MY POTATOES, DIDN'T YOU?!"
"MYAAA!!"
Cat ran away. She sprinted, using her roots like spider legs.
After Cat vanished into the forest, Leo scratched his head and rushed inside the granary to see the carnage - Pieces of potatoes and dirt scattered all over the floor. Two of the giant potatoes were half-eaten, but the rest was soiled and scratched by Cat's thorny vines, roots, and branches.
"…"
Leo deeply sighed. Although he was angry, he wasn't heartless enough to hit the innocent creature. Moreover, Leo could simply grow more potatoes to replace the damaged ones, so there was no point getting mad at Cat. He fetched a broom in the alchemy workshop and cleaned the place. As for the small pieces of potatoes, he collected them to a corner, planning to either use them as cat food or alchemy materials later.
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Late morning of the same day, Wu Buyi returned to Life Sword Sect. He headed back to the alchemy quarter, but he ran into his colleague.
Han Hao, who was in charge of preparing the mystic realm gate, found the returning alchemist. He stopped what he was doing to greet the guy.
"Hey, how's business, you lazy bum?" Han Hao sneered at Wu Buyi.
"Excellent! My lifespan is now over 4,000!"
"…"
The corners of Han Hao's mouth twitched. He was envious and annoyed that Wu Buyi ditched the sect's work for a side job. Thus, he reminded Wu Buyi.
"Don't forget about the mystic realm opening. There are less than 2 weeks left, and we don't have enough healing pills for the participants."
Hearing about the mystic realm, Wu Buyi remembered that he hadn't heard about the quota of the sect yet, "What about the quota selection? Have the sect master decided?"
"Yeah. Five elders, two deacons, one core disciple, one inner disciple, and one outer disciple."
"What about me? Do I get the elder slot?"
Han Hao cackled, "Of course not. You missed the selection meeting. Why would anybody vote to send you?"
"Tsk!"
Wu Buyi's expression turned ugly as he missed this season's expedition. Still, he instantly recovered and grinned as he no longer needed to rely on the mystic realm to grow stronger.
He had 4,000 years to live. Why should he compete for a trivial travel ticket?
"Fine. Anyway, care for a drink?"
Wu Buyi brought out a bottle of rejuvenate tea that he got from Leo. Seeing the juice, Han Hao drooled and repeatedly nodded, "Yes! Yes! Right away, my good friend."
"Tsk, you two-face geezer."
"Hehehe. Why should I decline such a delicacy? Come on, let us drink that premium tea!"
Both men laughed and flew toward Han Hao's pagoda.
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Wu Buyi and Han Hao forgot about work and enjoyed the delicious tea. However, one liter of tea could not last long. 20 minutes later, the bottle was empty.
Both men looked at the empty bottle and deeply sighed. They wished they had a dozen bottles of rejuvenate tea to enjoy.
Wu Buyi thought of Leo's shop. He remembered that there were a dozen bottles in the fridges, and it only cost 200 years of lifespan per bottle. With his membership, the price would only be 180. He counted his fingers, calculating if he should sacrifice a couple thousand years of his life for such luxury.
While Wu Buyi was in deep thought, Han Hao asked, "Stinky crook, you went to the capital city, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Have you met Ouyang Long?"
"Ah…"
Wu Buyi remembered the incident. He sweated profusely, wondering if he should tell his friend.
Han Hao continued asking, "I bet Ouyang Long knows about his son's death, and he must be dying to come here and find the killer. Say, damn crook, I heard an airship pass by. Was it Ouyang Long's ship?"
"…"
Wu Buyi didn't know what to explain. He was afraid that Han Hao might have a heart attack if he revealed the truth.
Meanwhile, Han Hao noticed the strange expression of Wu Buyi. He frowned, "Why are you nervous? Something happened?"
"Umm, there is an issue…" Wu Buyi fidgeted, unable to craft the right words to explain.
"…"
Han Hao suspected his colleague. He stopped looking at his face and scanned through Wu Buyi's clothes and belongings with his eyes and Qi. Then, he noticed an aura of a premium flying sword, which Wu Buyi had put it next to his chair.
"Where did you get that flying sword? I have a feeling that I have seen it somewhere before."
"…"
"Also, isn't that a treasure sword behind you? I thought you hated practicing swordsmanship. Why are you carrying a sword artifact? And why the hell hasn't your aura merged with the sword? Is it not yours?"
"…"
Wu Buyi couldn't hide it anymore. He slowly pulled out a name token from his sleeve pocket and put it on a table in front of them.
It was the name token of Ouyang Long.
Wu Buyi took several deep breaths to calm down while Han Hao's eyes were almost ejected out from the eye sockets due to shock. Then, the former confessed.
"Daoist Florida Man has killed Ouyang Long. He's dead."
"…"
"…"
Both men remained quiet for five minutes, and their expressions were dark and solemn, maintaining Kenshiro-like faces. Han Hao's hand didn't stop shaking as he reached out to pick up the name token to see up close. Then, he asked in a hoarse voice.
"… When did it happen?"
"Umm, last night."
"… Wasn't Ouyang Long as strong as our sect master?"
"Yes."
"… And how is Daoist Florida Man? Is he injured?"
"No."
"… And how did Ouyang Long die?"
"Daoist Florida Man instantly turns him to ash. I don't know how."
"… Was the fight fierce?"
"One-sided. Ouyang Long died in one move."
"…"
Han Hao and Wu Buyi's expressions were solemn. The former slowly stood and muttered.
"... Let's run away."
"But why?!"
"I DON'T CARE!" Han Hao cried a river, "I DON'T WANNA DIE! THE JIANGHU ALLIANCE'S GOONS ARE GOING TO SWARM OUR SECT! WE NEED TO CONVINCE OUR SECT MASTER TO GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE RIGHT NOW!"
