Day 85 Reincarnated as a castle.
Points remaining: 231.
I had to admit it—I was an idiot!
Instead of releasing those goblins, I should have taken them prisoner and slowly tried to domesticate them!
For example, I could have left them hungry for days and then started bribing them with food. It was an extremely evil method, I know, but at least it had the highest chance of success. And even if it didn't work, I would have gained another hundred points for upgrades by selling the corpses!
Yeah. Anything would have been better than this.
No more goblins coming. No more easy point farming. My point generation had returned to an abysmal one point a day.
And so, I decided to act.
Instead of hoarding points, I would upgrade my other shops. At the very least, I could work toward improving my passive point generation!
I checked the list of available upgrades with my current balance, and two notable options stood out:
UPGRADE CONSTRUCTION SHOP TO LEVEL 2
Upgrade Cost: 100 points
Unlocks: Land expansion, building construction.
UPGRADE CASTLE CORE TO LEVEL 2
Upgrade Cost: 300 points
Unlocks: Point generation level 2 (10 points/day)
Oh shit…
I was in a real dilemma.
Should I upgrade the Construction Shop, or go straight for the Castle Core?
Both were incredible options.
If I upgraded my Castle Core, my point generation would increase to ten points a day—literally ten times faster than before! At that rate, I'd recover my investment in just thirty days. Not bad at all.
However, the cost was 300 points.
That was a lot.
I was still seventy points short. Even if I sold everything in my inventory—every weapon, piece of clothing looted from goblins, and all the torches—I would still be about twenty-five points short.
That meant waiting another twenty-five days just to afford it.
Safe… but slow.
But on the other hand—
There was a skill unlocked by upgrading the Construction Shop that suddenly caught my attention.
Land expansion.
Oh yeah.
Right now, the biggest problem was that skull-marked stick the elder goblin had left in front of my gate. It was outside my territory, which meant I couldn't touch it.
But if I unlocked land expansion?
Naturally… I could just yoink that stick.
Problem solved.
And on top of that, this upgrade only cost 100 points, leaving me plenty of points to do something else—like upgrading another shop!
So…
What should I do?
Upgrade the Castle Core?
Or upgrade Construction and get rid of that skull stick?
…
Alright, It's decided!
[Ding!]
[Construction Shop Upgrade Successful!]
[-100 Points]
[Construction Shop Level 2 Unlocked!]
[Skill: Land expansion unlocked!]
[Skill: Building Construction unlocked!]
Points remaining: 131
I went with the second option and upgraded the Construction Shop! After all, I was far too impatient to wait another twenty-five days just to upgrade the Castle Core—and then another thirty days just to break even on the investment!
Feeling awesome, I quickly checked my newly unlocked skills.
First, of course, was Land Expansion!
Alright, let's see how much bigger I can expand now!
[Land Expansion — Level 1]
You can spend points to expand your land, increasing your total territory area! Each purchase expands your land, allowing you to build more structures and granting your citizens more space to live.
Cost: 10 points per square meter
Expansion Limit: 0 / 1000
Upgrade this skill to increase your maximum expansion limit!
…
…
As I read the description… once again, it rubbed me the wrong way.
Of course…
OF COURSE I WOULD NEED TO PAY MORE POINTS JUST TO USE MY FREAKING SKILL!
At this point, I shouldn't even be surprised. It was that greedy system, after all!
Ten points for a freaking tiny square meter?
What the heck is this?!
Are we buying Hong Kong real estate now?
That's just absurd!
Right now, my total land area was already 500 square meters. So even if I spent all my remaining points, I would only be able to increase it by another 100 square meters—a mere 20% increase!
Well… either way, it was still good. At least I could expand my land.
Because right now, the biggest problem wasn't living space.
It was that damn skull stick sitting right in front of me.
With this skill, if I expanded my territory outward, I should at least be able to get rid of it.
…Right?
Right?
…
…
WRONG!
[Ding! Utilizing Land Expansion skill! Successful!] [-10 points] [Your land has been increased by 10 square meters!]
[Ding! Utilizing Land Expansion skill! Successful!] [-10 points] [Your land has been increased by 10 square meters!]
[Ding!]
[Your land has been increased by 10 square meters!]
[Ding!]
[Your land has been increased by 10 square meters!]
…
Oi!
What is the meaning of this, System?!
I was absolutely sure I had spent all my points expanding outward from my gate.
So why the fuck was that skull stick still there?!
No matter how much I expanded, the distance between the stick and my gate stayed exactly the same. Nothing changed at all!
Well—something did change.
My front yard got bigger.
But that was NOT what I wanted!!!
I wanted that damned stick gone!
In the end, it took another 100 points for me to finally learn the hard truth.
Turns out, Land Expansion wasn't territorial expansion at all.
It was internal expansion!
The system wasn't pushing my borders outward into the world. Instead, it was increasing the amount of space contained within my domain, without altering the external geometry!
Which was…
Impossible!
Illegal!
And utterly fucking insane!
It broke every law of physics I knew. Space couldn't just expand inward without affecting the outside world!? RIGHT?!
That was some higher-dimensional bullshit!!!
And yet, there it was, happening right in front of me.
So in the end, nothing was solved. The stick remained.
Sure, I got bigger—but for what? My points were gone now, all spent on this useless land!
That system scammed me again.
DAMN YOU, SYSTEM BASTARD!