The Bio-Energy Terminal was upgraded to Level 2.
Now in the "Tier Two" state,
The level cap for all buildings within the base was also raised to Level 2.
First was the Wooden Cabin Shelter.
It could now be upgraded with stone into a Stone Cabin Shelter.
Not only did its defense increase dramatically,
but its living space also more than doubled!
Next came the Workbench.
After being upgraded to Level 2, it unlocked a whole new tier of equipment and tools.
The first was the long-awaited Intermediate Control Collar.
The Basic Control Collar could only "capture" Small Hilichurls.
But the Intermediate Control Collar…
could now "capture" Mitachurl and other monsters of a similar level!
The range of capturable combat units instantly jumped by a whole tier.
Especially those Axe-Wielding Mitachurl—
Liang Chuan had been wanting to catch a few of them to help chop wood for the base.
With their brute strength, the rate of lumber gathering would skyrocket several times over!
Next came weapons.
The Level 2 Workbench unlocked the Silver Sword, Mercenary Greatsword, Seasoned Hunter's Bow, Iron-Tipped Spear, and Pocket Grimoire, all two-star gear.
Although these were "plain" weapons without special effects,
At least now every combat profession could have its own two-star exclusive weapon.
For armor, the new tier unlocked Stone Plate Armor,
as well as Long Boots that boosted movement speed.
There were also categorized gear pieces like Helmets, Pauldrons, Gloves, and Greaves.
With enough materials, one could now be fully clad in defensive equipment from head to toe!
But what delighted Liang Chuan the most
was the newly unlocked Boarhide Backpack!
Every veteran gamer knew that in any "game,"
if something was called a backpack—it probably had inventory expansion functions.
The Boarhide Backpack was no exception.
It was a two-star equipment item,
with twenty item slots.
Its description read:
"Anything you can carry by hand can be placed directly inside the backpack!
Regardless of its actual size, it only occupies one slot.
Identical items can stack up to 99 per slot."
In other words,
if you had 1,980 identical items,
you could fit them all inside a single Boarhide Backpack!
After crafting one on the workbench,
Liang Chuan immediately tested it out.
Using materials turned in by players, he made himself a full set of armor,
plus three weapons — the Seasoned Hunter's Bow, Iron-Tipped Spear, and Silver Sword.
He then used mental control to store them all inside the Boarhide Backpack at once.
Seven pieces of armor, three weapons — exactly ten slots occupied.
And even with all that gear inside,
the backpack's outer appearance didn't bulge or distort in the slightest!
The Boarhide Backpack truly had spatial storage capabilities!
It was a genuine space-storage artifact!
With such an item, both combat and daily activities became far more convenient.
Even for lumbering or mining,
players could now haul hundreds of material units back to base in one trip!
Given how vital this item was,
Liang Chuan immediately had the system broadcast an announcement:
"All players are strongly advised to craft a Boarhide Backpack first!
It will greatly enhance your gameplay experience!"
Once that message went out,
a long line instantly formed in front of the Workbench.
Every player understood how valuable spatial storage equipment was.
They were willing to grind—or even pay real money—for Boarhide!
Prices for boarhide on the trading platform skyrocketed within minutes.
Many players quickly saw the business opportunity and stopped doing anything else,
opting instead to roam around hunting wild boars.
Meanwhile, Liang Chuan continued his behind-the-scenes work.
After advancing to Tier Two, he could now build one additional Workbench.
He dismantled the old one,
and neatly placed two new Workbenches side by side near the Warehouse.
Liang Chuan had a bit of a perfectionist streak when it came to base layout—
buildings of the same "type" absolutely had to be grouped together!
Otherwise, it just looked wrong!
The Workbench placement was also carefully chosen,
right at the junction between the Warehouse and the Residential Building,
so players could easily craft items right after coming downstairs.
Of course, both the Warehouse and Residential Building were still under construction.
Even with Architect-class players using skills to accelerate the process,
it would still take some time to complete.
But players didn't mind the manual labor at all—
they were actually enjoying it!
In real life, none of them would ever want to work at a construction site.
But here in the game, they were shouting things like:
"Get me up! I can grind through another all-nighter!"
At this rate,
it wouldn't even take three days to finish building a Residential Building!
Housing was now well on track.
Food, however, has become a new problem.
Some Farmer players had already tilled a few plots of farmland to grow food.
Thanks to their Farming Skill,
a crop could grow to maturity in just about three in-game days.
However, so far, they have only managed to acquire seeds for Meatdragon Palms and Honeydew Berries.
Both were easy to grow, but their fruit wasn't filling at all.
"Potatoes!!! We still need to plant potatoes!!!"
A Farmer player with the ID [Waibi Babble] frowned deeply.
"To solve this food crisis, potatoes are the one true answer!"
"Then can't we just dig some up somewhere?"
another player named [NoCookedBeans] asked.
"Dig? From where?
I asked the Flower-Feather Clan NPCs—
there aren't any potatoes in the entire Natlan region!"
[Waibi Babble] sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"They said… we could wait for merchants from Mondstadt.
In this world, potatoes are a Mondstadt crop.
There's also a Liyue merchant named Liben who might sell them…
but who knows when those merchants will show up…"
"Why don't you ask Brother Chuan?
I think he's got a shop function too—maybe you can buy some from him."
[NoCookedBeans] thought for a moment.
"Otherwise, what are we even supposed to spend our quest rewards on?"
"Good point! I'll go ask Brother Chuan right now!
I just got paid ten silver coins from the base construction quest!
Even if the potatoes are pricey, I should be able to afford them!"
[Waibi Babble] slapped his thigh, eyes lighting up with excitement.
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