I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

"Are you hurt?"

Chen Fan looked over at Lame Monkey, who stood nearby holding a Long Spear.

"No."

Lame Monkey shook his head, panting heavily with lingering fear. "Young Master, that Ghost Object was at least Level 3. If it weren’t for these two Arrow Towers, we might have died here today."

"Let’s get to work."

He didn’t say much more, just motioned for Lame Monkey to throw the Beast Traps into the darkness to begin the night’s hunt.

Now that the big one had been driven away, they could work as usual tonight.

The Arrow Towers could only attack Ghost Objects within the Ghost Fire’s range. They were good for defense, but not so great for actively attacking.

...

About an hour passed.

Chen Fan’s brow furrowed slightly. After a moment’s pause, he said, "Looks like we won’t be catching anything tonight. Let’s go back to the house and sleep. We’ll deal with it in the morning."

An hour had passed, and not a single Beast Trap had been triggered.

Not a single Monkey-headed Ghost was to be seen.

’This isn’t right. I don’t know if we’ve killed all the Monkey-headed Ghosts around here, or if that big one from earlier called them away.’

He knew too little about the conditions during the Eternal Night.

He was especially ignorant about many things in this world. ’I need a tutor from a Private School. I have to find a way to capture one. Intelligence is crucial.’

He had just crafted five Beast Traps, and before he could even get started, he couldn’t catch any Ghost Objects.

But...

’Aren’t the Ghost Objects in the Eternal Night supposed to be endless? Even if I can’t catch any Monkey-headed Ghosts, there should be other Ghost Objects, right? How can it be completely empty?’

Drifting in a daze, Chen Fan fell asleep on his bed.

’I only have three Ghost Stones left.’

’If I don’t find a way to earn more Ghost Stones soon, I won’t be able to maintain the Ghost Fire.’

Lame Monkey slept on a pallet on the Wooden House floor.

...

"Young Master!"

"Young Master!"

In a daze, Chen Fan was woken by Lame Monkey’s urgent calls.

"What is it?"

Chen Fan rolled out of bed, rubbed his eyes, and walked out of the Wooden House. ’How does Lame Monkey always wake up earlier than me? The guy looks so skinny, but he’s got way more energy than I do.’

The next moment—

Stepping out of the Wooden House, Chen Fan suddenly broke into a wide grin.

About a dozen meters from the camp, last night’s lead Monkey-headed Ghost lay quietly on the ground, already dead. It had apparently been severely wounded last night, escaped into the darkness, and collapsed after just a few steps.

Several glowing items were scattered beside it.

As expected, these must be the Exotic Treasures dropped by the Monkey-headed Ghost upon its death.

Lame Monkey stood outside the Wooden House calling for him, his face full of excitement. The sky had just begun to lighten, the darkness having recently receded. It was still twilight; it was impossible that anyone would pass by their camp at this hour.

"Coming!"

The corners of Chen Fan’s mouth curved up uncontrollably. He strode over to the Monkey-headed Ghost, picked up the two glowing items, and stuffed them into his robes. ’It’s a good thing Lame Monkey woke up early, or someone else might have picked these up.’

Of course...

’...that was unlikely. After all, very few people passed through this area.’

"I’ll dig out the Ghost Stones."

Lame Monkey was very excited. He detached the small knife from its wooden stick and began to dissect the corpse.

Normally, a Low Level Ghost Object would only have a single Ghost Stone inside. This Monkey-headed Ghost, however, clearly had more than one. After Lame Monkey cut open its monkey-like head, he used his knife to dig out Ghost Stone after Ghost Stone from the flesh and blood.

The whole process looked like... digging out tonsil stones, one after another. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

It was extremely satisfying.

Soon, all the Ghost Stones were dug out and laid neatly on the ground.

A full 17 of them!

Added to his existing 3 Ghost Stones, he now had 20.

"Very good."

Chen Fan nodded in satisfaction. "Gather up this Monkey-headed Ghost’s corpse and put it in the Haystack behind the Wooden House with the other Monkey-headed Ghost corpses. It might be useful later."

’Even if it’s useless, I have to hide it first. If passersby see this obviously unusual Monkey-headed Ghost corpse, they’ll definitely wonder if it dropped something good, which could lead to unnecessary trouble.’

Most Ghost Objects don’t eat the corpses of their own kind.

And humans couldn’t eat the corpses of Ghost Objects either.

Aside from certain body parts that could be used as "Ghost Materials," most corpses were burned on the spot.

Only then did he turn his attention to the two white-glowing Exotic Treasures in his hand.

Any Exotic Treasure could not be man-made, and its value was never too low. Especially after killing that mother and daughter yesterday and getting the "Building Replication Stone" Exotic Treasure, his expectations for the two treasures in his hand were now very high.

"I hope it’s an Exotic Treasure that can expand my territory or provide a steady supply of Ghost Stones."

Chen Fan clasped his hands together and muttered a prayer.

He was a bit short on territory right now.

The safe zone of a Level 1 Ghost Fire was 10 meters in diameter. After placing the Arrow Towers, the Wooden House, and the Ghost Fire itself within its range, there wasn’t enough space left for a plot of Farmland. If the Farmland wasn’t placed within the Ghost Fire’s range, it would be completely ravaged by Ghost Objects once the Eternal Night fell.

He originally had the Beast Traps to continuously hunt for Ghost Stones.

But with no Monkey-headed Ghosts appearing last night, that source of Ghost Stones had been cut off. Although he had just reaped a sizable haul of Ghost Stones, it wasn’t a sustainable method. How he would acquire Ghost Stones in the future was still a problem.

The first Exotic Treasure, like the Monkey Head Mushroom Seeds, was a Seed-type Treasure.

It was wrapped in a thin membrane.

-

[Exotic Treasure Name]: Ghost Ore Vein Seed.

[Exotic Treasure Level]: White.

[Exotic Treasure Effect]: Must be planted in ’Farmland’. Maturation period is three days. Will grow Ghost Stones upon maturity. Requires Ghost Corpses as fertilizer.

-

"What a great item!"

Chen Fan started laughing. Even if the other Exotic Treasure was trash, this one alone made it a huge win. ’It looks like building the Farmland has to be put on today’s agenda.’

’I wonder how many Ghost Stones it will yield.’

’Good thing I kept all those Monkey-headed Ghost corpses; they’ll be perfect for fertilizer now.’

He looked at the other Exotic Treasure.

-

[Exotic Treasure Name]: Godslaying Spear.

[Exotic Treasure Level]: White.

[Exotic Treasure Effect]: Deals considerable damage to Low Tier Ghost Objects. Can change its size at will.

-

"Not bad."

With a thought, the originally pocket-sized spear in Chen Fan’s hand instantly grew, transforming into an imposing and majestic Long Spear. The so-called "change size at will" only meant it could switch between its normal form and a miniature version.

It couldn’t transform into one that was dozens of meters long.

’A pseudo-size-changing ability, then.’

It was a personal weapon.

It was definitely much more effective than the crude long spears they had fashioned from wooden sticks and knives.

"It’s yours."

Chen Fan tossed the spear in his hand to Lame Monkey, then strode toward the Ghost Fire. Even though Lame Monkey was a cripple, he was slightly better than Chen Fan in both physical fitness and combat experience.

The spear would be of greater use in Lame Monkey’s hands.

After returning to the camp, he took a deep breath, placed the 20 Ghost Stones on the ground, and slowly closed his eyes.