MDT Chapter 140 (Patreon)

Chapter 140: Special Item 'Civilization Order'

Chen Mang had already successfully upgraded the "Maneuver Console" to Level 10. The two advanced effects were both "None"—upgrading this accessory only granted more slots.

"Hmm..."

After a moment's thought, he spent 240,000 units of iron ore to upgrade the Energy Shield to Level 3. This item's price was also based on the number of carriages and wasn't cheap. It could only defend against energy attacks, though its Level 5 advanced effect would allow it to defend against physical attacks—but doing so would consume energy.

Level 3 was enough.

With the "Absolute Defense" train maneuver activated, his defense level could reach 9. At Level 9 defense, nothing in the Sand River Plains could harm him.

He still had 139,000 units of iron ore left.

It was about time to consider upgrading to a Level 5 train.

He examined the upgrade conditions:

[Upgrade Conditions]: All five mandatory vehicle accessories must be crafted, 20,000 units of Level 2 iron ore must be consumed, and the combined level of all accessories in the carriages must exceed 100.

The conditions were much simpler than before—there wasn't even a requirement for the number of carriages. He completely ignored the accessory level requirement and just needed to consume 200,000 units of iron ore. After today's mining was finished, he could start upgrading directly.

"And..."

Chen Mang's eyes narrowed slightly. With each train upgrade, the number of craftable accessories decreased, and the upgrade conditions became fewer. If this trend continued, by the time he reached Level 6 or 7, there would be no craftable accessories left.

In other words, at that point, he'd have to find all the accessories himself.

It felt like a newbie tutorial—once the tutorial was over, you were on your own.

…..

On the third day, at dawn, the Level 2 iron mine had been completely excavated, yielding a total of 210,000 units of iron ore.

He didn't hesitate, immediately taking out 200,000 units to upgrade the train.

Soon, lines of text appeared on the train's screen:

[Your train has been upgraded to Level 5.]
[More craftable accessories will be unlocked.]

After upgrading to Level 5, the number of craftable accessories was even smaller—only four.

A new function had appeared on the control console: "Mech Crafting."

"Huh?"

Chen Mang was slightly stunned as he examined this new feature. It wasn't an accessory, but a new function that allowed him to customize an exclusive mech using a single soldier exoskeleton as a frame—the kind of mech that truly had defense and ranged attack capabilities, not like a soldier exoskeleton.

The stronger the mech, the higher the comprehensive physical fitness required of the operator.

However, crafting a mech required a "Mech Blueprint," and he currently didn't have a single one.

But there was good news: crafting a mech didn't consume iron ore, but "Crimson Heart Ore"—a rare resource. He'd mined a full 180,000 units of it back in the Ironridge Wasteland and hadn't used any of it. It was practically rusting in the refrigerator.

He'd thought he wouldn't be using this stuff for a long time, never expecting to be able to use it after the train reached Level 5.

"This is good stuff."

Chen Mang smiled. It seemed his 180,000 units of Crimson Heart Ore could finally be put to use.

Then he took a card from the drawer, inserted it into the control console, and looked at the coordinates displayed on the screen. The Stellar immediately sped off across the wasteland!

The stuff was good, but he couldn't use it without a mech blueprint for now. He planned to go to the "Goblin Ruins" first and see what was going on.

…….

Two hours later, after speeding all the way, the Stellar slowly came to a stop in front of a small mountain. This mountain looked unremarkable—only about a dozen meters high. If it weren't for being the only protruding feature in the surrounding plains, he wouldn't even want to call it a mountain.

The next moment, as the card in his drawer flashed with white light, the small mountain in front of him suddenly split open, revealing an opening large enough for a train to pass through.

It seemed the card wasn't just a map, but also a key.

The moment the Stellar entered, a line of text appeared on the control console screen:

You have successfully entered the Goblin Ruins map.

When the train had completely entered the passage, the small mountain closed again, leaving no trace from the outside.

The passage led downward. After about a dozen minutes of traveling along it, the train arrived at an underground plaza.

The surrounding walls were covered with countless murals depicting scenes of goblins mining, living, singing, dancing, and performing rituals. At the edge of the plaza sat a "Goblin Train"—just in a state of disrepair.

The next moment, a light screen appeared out of thin air above the plaza:

Welcome to the Goblin Ruins.

The goblins were once the most diligent race in the universe. They never thought of dominating the universe, nor did they have any ambitions. They just wanted to live in peace with humans and build their own underground cities.

And then occasionally curse a few foolish humans. This was their only hobby—it wasn't like this before. After humans often insulted goblins for being ugly, this hobby was added.

However... the arrival of the apocalypse led to the complete extinction of this extremely insignificant race in the universe.

Perhaps, in the distant future, goblin civilization may have a chance to be revived, but before that, you can accept the final gift of the goblin civilization before its demise, make yourself stronger, and thus allow human civilization to survive longer in this disaster.

Please choose one of the following five difficulties of gifts. After completion, you will receive the corresponding reward. If you fail, you will not be able to accept other missions again.

S-Rank Difficulty Gift: A single spark can start a prairie fire. Even if a civilization is completely wiped out, there will always be some remaining sparks of hope. You need to collect the remaining goblins in the days to come and let them be sheltered by your train. When more than 50 goblins are sheltered by you, you will have successfully completed the mission.

PS: After a civilization is wiped out, all goblins will lose all their wisdom and become monsters. Perhaps they will attack you, perhaps they will cause trouble, but please be as tolerant of them as possible, for the sake of the Civilization Order.

Reward: Civilization Order.

A-Rank Difficulty Gift: You will fall into a deep sleep here for 30 days. During these 30 days, your consciousness will be pulled into a virtual space, which is the last battle before the goblin civilization was wiped out. After successfully surviving for 30 days, you will have successfully passed.

PS: Your train will be materialized in the virtual space.

Reward: A random blue-grade accessory blueprint.

B-Rank Difficulty Gift: Next, only you will be able to see a video of a certain city of the goblin civilization before its demise. After watching it, you will be asked five questions. Answering four correctly will be considered a pass.

PS: The answers are all in the video.

Reward: A random yellow-grade accessory blueprint.

C-Rank Difficulty Gift: Your consciousness will be attached to a goblin. You will enter an extremely dark place. You need to grope in the dark to find a pickaxe and a mine, and dig 12 units of iron ore within 24 hours.

PS: If the search fails, this difficulty cannot be selected.

Reward: A random green-grade accessory blueprint.

D-Rank Difficulty Gift: Next, a goblin of the opposite sex will appear. You need to have intercourse with it.

PS: Try to create one that fits your aesthetic.

Reward: A random white-grade accessory blueprint.

All accessory blueprints produced in this map are exclusive accessories for the "Goblin Train," which can only be produced in places closely related to goblins, such as the Goblin Ruins. They can be used for "Mechanical Trains," but not "Flesh Trains."

"..."

A flicker of shock crossed Chen Mang's eyes. He would naturally choose this S-rank difficulty mission—he'd already completed it simply by making the selection.

But this panel revealed something disturbing: how monsters were actually formed.

After a civilization was wiped out, its remaining members would become monsters—goblins, zombies, and others. The zombie monsters in this world weren't infected by some virus or transformed from local people. They had simply appeared after the apocalypse began.

In other words, those zombies had once been people from some distant planet. When their civilization was completely destroyed in the apocalypse, they became these wandering monsters.

If the human civilization on this planet were wiped out, they would also become walking corpses like zombies, joining the next planet as one of the apocalypse monsters.

Hmm... this shouldn't have anything to do with him, right?

He had transmigrated here! His previous world didn't have an apocalypse. Even if the human civilization on this planet were wiped out, it shouldn't affect him, right? It shouldn't...

Chen Mang felt a little unsure. He just didn't know what counted as a civilization being completely wiped out. When the countdown ended? Or were there other determining factors?

After a long moment, Chen Mang shook his head and stopped thinking about it. Instead, he had Duo Ba get out of the car to see if he could choose all of them—oh, except for the last one. After all, this was the Goblin Ruins, the goblins' home.

Sure enough, the moment Duo Ba jumped out of the car and looked at the murals of goblins on the surrounding walls, his eyes instantly turned red. Then he knelt on the ground and began to wail, clearly homesick, remembering his family before the goblin civilization was wiped out.

It was quite moving, but this wasn't the time to dwell on it.

Become an Enforcer on my Patreon to unlock early access chapters for all my translated novels. Read ahead now!

Please leave a 5-star rating on Novel Updates!

[Chapters List]

[Prev]  ||  [Next]