Chapter 67 – Florida Man Skins His Arm to Make Evening Dress for Sale
Leo was oblivious to Wu Buyi's deed and how he zapped himself. He continued building his little empire.
<Current Lifespan: 17,231 years…>
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Clothing Store
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 6
Price – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – 10 x 10
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Livestock Shed
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 7
Price – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – 10 x 10
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Aside from the roads and the decoration items, two core structures were buildable. However, Leo hesitated if he should invest in them since his lifespan was low again. He contemplated if he should upgrade the general store first or construct these side-job buildings first.
The next general store upgrade would cost 7,000 years of lifespan. However, it would unlock the next upgrade and new buildings. On the other hand, Leo didn't want to miss out on the perks of the new structures.
As Leo was greedy, he chose to build everything. He put the clothing store building to the west of the general store, designating the area as the shopping district.
RUMBLE
A rundown wooden cabin was erected. It looked similar to the general store when it was at level one as it came with a small door and thin showcase glass windows.
Leo entered the building and looked around. However, he found a blank building with one wooden mannequin, standing creepily in the dark, staring at Leo.
"…"
Leo ignored the creepy wooden mannequin. Curious about its feature and functions, Leo touched a wall to summon the building menu.
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Clothing Store Level 1
Automaton Worker (0/5)
Automaton Weaver – (1/5)
Weaver Skills – (0/5)
Store Quality – (0/5)
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
[Research]
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Leo read through the description and scratched his head. He felt like it was a waste of lifespan since it could only make clothes.
However, the [Research] button reminded him of what the alchemy cauldron could do. He pressed on it, checking its feature and functions.
DING
<Please give a clothing design, pattern, or complete sample to the weaver to research.>
<Please noted. After the item has been researched, the automaton weavers will automatically procure materials and weave the clothes for you.>
"…"
Leo had a feeling that the building should be called a tailoring factory instead. Still, as it was named "Store", he believed that it had a hidden function. Testing things out, Leo upgraded the building to level 7. He put five points to weaver skills and one point to store quality.
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Clothing Store Level 7
Automaton Worker (0/5)
Automaton Weaver – (1/5)
Weaver Skills – (5/5) MAX
Store Quality – (1/5)
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
[Research]
.
RUMBLE
The store's interior space expanded, but it still looked old. Meanwhile, the weaver automaton transformed into a female mannequin, and it wore a modern maid uniform. It even had a frilly cat ear headband and had movable robotic eyebrows.
The maid slightly bowed like a noble lady, greeting Leo without saying anything.
Leo stared at the cat-ear maid for a moment. Then, he frowned at the unusual big knockers.
"Fake boobs," Leo snorted as he believed that everything was made from wood like her body.
The automaton flinched. She turned around and silently sulked in a corner.
Seeing the mannequin's reaction, Leo was surprised. He thought that they had no feelings, but this weaver doll seemed to be conscious of her surroundings. He coughed and patted her back.
"I'm sorry. You're beautiful. I was joking."
The doll's head turned around 180 degrees like an Asian ghost. Her eye-lens glittered, staring into Leo's eyes. Then, she twisted her body to correct her posture and stand up.
Leo was taken aback. This doll seemed to be a fan of horror movies. Still, he didn't hate her.
Testing her functions, Leo asked the doll, "What can you do for me?"
The doll tilted her head. Then, she pointed at the empty air in front of her.
DING
The store menu appeared in front of Leo. Then, the doll pointed at the research button, gesturing for him to use it.
Leo pursed his lips. As he had no experience in fashion sense, he had no idea how to procure a fashion design or a pattern.
"Ah, right. I can do that."
Fortunately, Leo remembered about the online store. He purchased the dress that he used to purchase a couple days ago. At that time, Leo resold them to the girls from Amazonian Sanctuary. He wondered if it could be used as a sample.
A cardboard box appeared. Leo unpacked it and pulled out a beautiful evening dress and fluttered it in front of the mannequin.
"!!!"
The mannequin girl's eyes shone. She carefully received them and flipped them around. Then, she gave Leo a thumbs up.
DING
<You have researched a common evening dress.>
<Your automaton will try to create a better version of this dress.>
"Heh. How cheeky," Leo found the doll amusing and the system. He believed that they might get along well.
The next moment, the mannequin did something unbelievable. She transformed her hands into a hundred nails. Her arms also shone and produced a vacuum force, absorbing the air around them.
The usual radiating light aura around Leo also got sucked into her arms. Leo stood there, watching what the doll would do with his radiation.
WHOOSH
The arms made a 3D printer noise. The light flickered and glittering white threads slowly came out from her wrists as if she was a spiderwoman. Then, the threads entered the nail holes, and the mannequin skillfully knotted them.
"Huh?"
A minute later, the mannequin produced ten coils of white silver sewing threads. However, she kept on absorbing Leo's aura and made more threads.
Leo nodded as he started to understand how the store worked. Instead of procuring threads from nature, this robot absorbed his radiation and 3D-printed the threads. Then, it would use them to make clothes.
As Leo understood how the weaver automaton functioned, he left her alone. He exited the store and was about to build the last structure and call it a day.
CREAK
However, the mannequin followed Leo. She stood behind him, stealing the endless rainbow aura into her arms.
"…"
Leo turned around and looked at the mannequin girl. He pursed his lips and patted her head.
"Well. At least, you don't start screaming PUTA like a creep. If you need my essence, I'll find a way to make some for you."
Leo grinned and purchased a glass cup from the online store.
KAAAAAAAK-PTUT!
As usual, Leo spat into the glass and gave it to the automaton, "Here, my essence."
The automaton flinched and took a step back. She repeatedly shook her head, and she squinted her eyebrows in disgust.
"What? You don't want it?"
"…"
Again, the mannequin repeatedly shook her head.
"Then, what do you want?"
The mannequin was silent for a moment. Then, she stabbed Leo's arm with her nails. Unfortunately, she couldn't penetrate his skin, and one of her nails was broken.
Leo silently observed her action. From her behavior, it seemed that she wanted something else.
"Do you want my blood?"
"…"
Again, the mannequin shook her head. Then, she poked his skin with her nails.
"Do you want my skin?"
"…!"
The mannequin's expression was brightened. She repeatedly nodded and waved her hands around, trying to communicate. However, Leo didn't understand what she meant.
Leo scratched his head. He found the doll weird and creepy. Still, he found her demand understandable since his skin might be the toughest hide in the fallout world. After all, nothing got through his skin for several millennia.
"This is gonna hurt. Oh, well."
He looked at his fingernails and found a small hangnail on his pinky finger. He took several deep breaths, preparing his mind.
"HMM!"
Leo grabbed the hangnail and pulled it with full force.
SQUAK
"!!!"
Leo bit his lower lip, and his voice muffled in his throat.
The hangnail came off along with a layer of skin. It extended from the pinky nail to his palm, and it continued down to his wrist, forearm, and elbow. Fortunately, it stopped there. The starting piece was thin in the beginning. Unfortunately, it got bigger the longer he pulled.
After pulling a long piece of his forearm and hand skin, Leo quietly passed it to the mannequin. His mercury-like blood seeped out from the wound, but they instantly regenerated his lost skin.
Just like that, Leo's wound was gone.
"There you go. Don't ask for my skin again. That was damn PAINFUL!"
The mannequin was overjoyed. She happily received the long piece of skin, which endlessly emitted a thick rainbow aura.
Her right arm suddenly split, showing the sophisticated 3D-printer mechanism inside her. She inserted the skin into her right forearm and closed it.
WHOOM
The same rainbow aura leaked out from the mannequin's forearm. Her printing machine worked faster, and more colorful threads came out from her wrists.
Seeing how the threads ceaselessly came out, the mannequin returned to the clothing store building and closed the door behind her.
Meanwhile, Leo watched her leave. She didn't even utter a word of appreciation.
"You're welcome." Leo chuckled and scratched his forearm. The wound was gone, but it was still itchy.
DING
<Current Lifespan: 10,231 years…>
With only 10,000 years of lifespan left, Leo deeply sighed. Although he made his decision to build every new building first, he hesitated if he should proceed with it.
After thinking it through, Leo chose to postpone the Livestock Shed project. He returned to the general store and upgraded it to level 8 so that he could take a sneak peek at the next batch of buildings.
Leo touched the external wall of the store. He upgraded it to level 8, spending 7,000 years at once.
<Humble General Store has been upgraded to Level 8.>
<New Construction Options!>
RUMBLE
The store transformed again. Instead of a hybrid brick-wood building, it became a two-story brick building. It looked like something from the Renaissance Era instead of a shabby wooden house.
Leo entered the store and checked the interior. As soon as he entered, he blankly stared at the wide space.
It was huge. He could no longer measure the dimension of this place with his eyes anymore.
"This is not a HUMBLE general store. This is a freaking SHOPPING MALL!"
Aside from the wide center area, 20 partitioned rooms occupied the west and east side of the building. Each room consisted of 25 sqm, which was enough for someone to set up a small store there. They also had sufficient electrical outlets and came with a shutter door.
Secondly, there was a wooden staircase near the entrance. Leo climbed the stairs to the second floor and found 20 partitioned rooms and another wide area.
Looking at the massive shopping mall space, Leo paused and sat on the stairs. His expression was dark.
"I'm going to develop Agoraphobia at this rate. What am I going to do with the wide space?! I can't fill everywhere with shelves and goodies. I can't possibly monitor everything when many guests enter the store at once."
The development was overwhelming. Leo failed to adapt to the change, and he had a lot of concerns about thieves. After all, he had seen so many shoplifters in shopping malls and supermarkets in the modern world. As a shopkeeper, he feared shoplifters the most.
"I need securities…"
Leo's eyes gleamed. He thought of the elders of the Life Sword Sect, wondering if he could scam them to work in his store permanently. The more he thought about the elders, the more Leo leaned toward recruiting them.
A new project came to his mind. Leo looked at the glass windows from the second floor, gazing at the mystic realm portal. He recalled the words of Wu Buyi, Han Hao, and Han Meng when they mentioned the mystic realms.
"Quota, is it? Can I permanently hire somebody by offering a ticket to go through my gate? Rather, can I set up a company? No, it should be called a sect or a cult by this world's standards. Should I really make one?"
