Chapter 66 – Florida Man Trainee Warned Not to Insert Fingers into Electric Outlet, Gets Electrocuted.
"I have nothing to teach you," Leo rejected Wu Buyi's request.
"Then, can I observe you when you concoct new pills?" Wu Buyi negotiated.
"Fine. I'm working on one right now. Go take a look if you want, but don't disturb me."
"THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MASTER!"
"…"
Wu Buyi smacked his forehead to the ground. He was so overjoyed that he cried. However, the alchemist was greedy by nature. After getting an inch, he wanted a foot.
"One more request, master. Can I bring the disciples from the sect to learn from you?"
Leo rolled his eyes, "Do whatever you want."
"YES, MASTER! HAHAHAHA!"
Wu Buyi was delighted. He immediately dashed toward the second alchemy workshop, where the alchemy automaton had been working on the Hope and Dream Pills.
Leo sighed. In the end, he took in Wu Buyi as a subordinate. Although they didn't officially agree to it, their statuses already changed that way.
After Wu Buyi was not in sight, Leo resumed working. He rechecked the remaining lifespan and buildable structures.
So far, Leo spent 20,000 years of lifespan on the native auto-speech translation feature so that he could understand the locals outside the shop domain. Then, he upgraded the store and the second workshop twice, costing him 13,000 years of lifespan. This didn't include the cost of the recycling center and its upgrade – 6,500 years in total.
<Current Lifespan: 51,731 years…>
Once again, the investment was money-sinking, but Leo enjoyed doing so. After all, this was the only entertainment he had in this world.
"Let's go. I want the most expensive building first!"
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Mystic Realm Portal
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 7
Price – 10,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – 20 x 20
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As this structure demanded a lot of space, Leo picked the empty area west of the farmlands and granary. Coincidentally, it was at the southwest corner of the domain.
DING
<Activating the Cleaning Feature.>
<Half of the natural resources will be sent to the recycling center.>
Although some of the trees hadn't been cleared in the area, the system automatically removed them. Half of the vanished trees reappeared in the junkyard due to the cleaning feature.
RUMBLE
As usual, the ground elevated, creating a concrete foundation of a platform. An oval ring frame of blue steel manifested from nothingness and hovered above the platform's center. The central axis of the oval steel remained in place, but the wings began to rotate, producing strange energy at the center of the ring.
Natural Qi gathered in the center of the platform. Then, four pillars emerged from the concrete ground, becoming the four scorpion tail obelisks, pointing at the rotating ring.
WHOOSH
The structure continued to charge its energy. Blue light gathered, and a beacon of blue light shot up from the ring to the sky.
"Wow."
Leo admired the scene, thinking of it as a firework or a light show. He also clapped his hands for it.
However, admiring it wouldn't change anything. Leo approached his new toy and touched the scorpion tail obelisk, wondering what it was for.
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Mystic Realm Portal – Level 1
Entry Limit (Person) – (1/10)
Portal Cooldown Reduction – (0/5)
Portal Duration – (0/5)
Next Destination: Unknown Low Plane
[Upgrade] – 10,000 Years of Lifespan
Status: Ready to Open
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Leo almost vomited blood when he noticed the upgrade cost. Instead of 1,000 years of lifespan per level, the portal required 10,000!
The upgradable things here were self-explanatory. Still, Leo touched every panel to see the explanation.
<Entry Limit – The number of people allowed to enter the portal at a time.>
<Portal Cooldown – After activation, the portal will undergo a maintenance cooldown. Without the reduction, the average cooldown is 80-90 days. Each upgrade decreases the cooldown time by 10 %.>
<Portal Duration – The length of the active portal. Once a portal is opened, it will remain open for ten days. Upgrading this section increases the length by five days per level.>
<Next Destination – Indicate the next destination that the portal will link to. The destinations cannot be chosen as it generates randomly. A low-level portal can only find low-tier mystic realms while a high-level one can send you to demon realms or immortal realms.>
Leo nodded in approval. By having this, Leo had something to look forward to.
<Current Lifespan: 41,731 years…>
Looking at the remaining lifespan, Leo started calculating. He counted his fingers, counting the number of buildings that he needed to upgrade.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLEEEEEEE!!! HOWW!?"
Leo heard a certain someone's voice from behind the store. It seemed that Wu Buyi had a heart attack or something similar. He shrugged and continued working.
.
At night, Leo finished upgrading the essential buildings. The first alchemy workshop, warehouse, granary, and two farm plots were raised to level seven, costing him 10,000 years of lifespan.
The next investment was the third alchemy workshop. He erected it next to the second workshop. Leo didn't care what Wu Buyi might think about it since he had no time to check his reactions. He upgraded it to level 7 like the others as well, and he also raised the pill quality to level 5. As for two additional points, he put one in automaton and one in pill quantity each.
After dumping 7,000 years of lifespan for the pill factory, Leo built another farm plot next to the first farm. Using the alchemy workshop as a template, Leo allocated the points of all farms the same way.
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Basic Farmland Level 7
Automaton Farmer – (1/1) MAX
Growth Speed Level – (0/5)
Production Quality Level – (5/5) MAX
Production Quantity Level – (1/5)
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
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Three automatons rose up from the ground, and they began working by themselves. They used the seeds that Leo had stored in the granary to sow the lands, and they carried tools to do their jobs.
Leo left them alone as the resource shortage wouldn't be a problem in the future. The only issue was the limited worker slot as one automaton might not be able to harvest everything on their own, which was why Leo needed helping hands from Life Sword Sect.
<Current Lifespan: 27,731 years…>
After making sure the production factories operated, Leo turned his attention to the welfare of his future employees.
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Small House
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 4
Price – 500 Years of Lifespan
Space – 5 x 5
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Leo was reluctant to build this, but he did it anyway. He built all three available small houses and erected them east of the general store.
That day, Leo designated the eastern part of his domain as the residential area. Although the granary was nearby, he didn't care as he could spend his lifespan to move it elsewhere like in a simulation game.
After the three buildings appeared, Leo stopped what he was doing to inspect the potential homes of future employees.
It appeared as a one-story straw shack. No matter how Leo looked at it, it was too pathetic to be called a house.
Fortunately, the system allowed Leo to upgrade them.
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Small House Level 1
House Size – (1/5)
House Quality – (0/5)
[Upgrade] – 500 Years of Lifespan
.
The upgrade cost was cheap. Without hesitation, Leo tested one of them by raising its level to seven. Then, he put five points to house quality and one to house size.
RUMBLE
The straw shack instantly transformed into a 25 sqm concrete house. It was still one story, but the exterior appearance drastically improved.
Curious, Leo entered the first house to check the space inside. Then, he had a déjà vu. It seemed that the spatial expansion was a thing for his system.
Instead of finding a small 25 sqm studio-room house, Leo found a sizable home. Judging from his eyes, Leo estimated that it was about 49 square meters or more.
As Leo looked around the house, he noticed something attractive. He saw a small room in the corner. Without hesitation, Leo rushed toward the small room to check it right away.
"My word…"
Leo finally found what he had desired the most – A functional modern toilet!
Although Leo had one in the store, having one in a private home was a real improvement.
"Should I move here?"
Leo was tempted to bring his belongings there to occupy the first house. However, after minutes of contemplation, he shut down the thoughts.
It was not the time. There might be a bigger house in the future. After all, this building was called "Small House" for a reason.
"I'll wait until I get something worth my time. A mansion, maybe? If possible, my dear ring, I want a penthouse with glass walls, please. Oh, I also need a swimming pool in my yard and a large space to park my Rolls Royce and Bugatti."
Leo started having a daydream while he stood in the middle of the empty house.
While Leo was absentminded, Wu Buyi knocked on the door and coughed. The former came back to his senses and turned around.
Wu Buyi's face was as pale as a sheet. He sweated bullets, and bloody saliva seemed to leak from a corner of his mouth.
Worrying about Wu Buyi, Leo asked him, "What's up? Do you need help? Did you just vomit blood?"
"M-M-Master. Care to explain what you were doing? This disciple doesn't understand how you created buildings and… MYSTIC REALM PORTAL out of nothingness *cough*."
Wu Buyi's condition was worse than Leo had imagined. Leo pulled an elixir grain pill from his pocket and softly flickered it into the alchemist's mouth.
Because Leo controlled his strength, the pill was still intact. However, it slightly grazed the alchemist's uvula, causing him to choke. Fortunately, the medicinal effect soothed him as it boosted his lifespan.
"Better?" Asked Leo.
"T-Thank you very much, master."
Leo bitterly smiled and looked around, trying to change the subject. He then came up with an idea.
"I'm building a house for you. Since you'll be studying here for a while, it won't be good if you stay out 24/7. You can bring your belongings here. Oh, the toilet is over there. If you don't know how to use something, just ask me."
"… Eh?"
Wu Buyi was taken aback. He looked inside the house and found LED lights and an air conditioner. He also found random small holes in the wall.
Leo followed Wu Buyi's gaze and found electric outlets. He broke a sweat and warned Wu Buyi.
"If you're not immune to… tribulation lightning, do not stick your finger or anything into those holes. They will zap you, and you will die."
"… Y-Yes, master," Wu Buyi gulped, but he was tempted to do it. He fervently looked at Leo, "I can feel the aura of fire element and tribulation lightning in this building. Can I cultivate here?"
Leo flinched. He was puzzled about how Wu Buyi would cultivate Qi from the system's electricity. As Leo didn't know what to answer, he let Wu Buyi test it.
"Suit yourself. Don't get yourself killed."
"THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MASTER!"
"…"
Again, Leo had no idea why Wu Buyi seemed so excited. He left him alone in his new house.
.
.
After Leo left the house, Wu Buyi rushed into the house and touched the marble floor tiles. He then inspected the electric outlets and touched the surface of the holes.
From Wu Buyi's perspective, this place was rich in fire essence, which was hidden behind the outlets. He could also sense the electricity, which was milder than the heavenly tribulation lightning bolts that he had experienced in the past.
"C-Can I cultivate the mythical Lightning Element here?! Is this even possible?!"
Wu Buyi smacked his chest, preventing himself from having a stroke. Earlier, he almost had a heart attack twice when Leo built the mystic realm portal and the third alchemy workshop. And when the first and the third workshop's mannequins began working, he vomited blood for the third time.
As Wu Buyi was overexcited, he immediately injected his Qi into the electric outlet's holes. Then, the electric current followed the Qi and reached him.
BZZZ
The breaker was immediately switched off, and the house went dark. Wu Buyi got a taste of zappy zap.
