Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!

Chapter 33 So many upgrades to choose from!

'So many things to choose from...' Theo thought, momentarily stunned by the number of options the system offered.

On one hand, he low-key expected this kind of a thing, given how there were only five options for upgrades to the mansion's insides and the extensions to its outside, just like it was the case when he got his manor to tier one.

Taught by his experiences, however, he didn't expect the perk that the system brought up before to be of actually any real value!

"I stand corrected, system," Theo spoke out loud, as if to make it known that he was fully and willingly acknowledging the system's help. "Those gradual progression perks are awesome!"

Just by seeing how long it took to get the manor upgraded to tier two, Theo could imagine just how bloated the timings for the other upgrades of the same level would be. And yet, as if to counter exactly this problem that artificially slowed his progress down, the system came in clutch with the constructor's office, which not only was supposed to cut down on those times... but also decrease the number of materials needed to get those constructions started to begin with!

'That's a must-have for me,' he thought, quickly committing this particular upgrade to his memory before even allowing his eyes to move not down... but up, to the very beginning of the notification, a choice reasoned by the fact that his eyes instantly drew towards the parts he couldn't instantly recognize as the direct counterparts of tier 1 stuff.

'What's the use of a hall of arms when I have yet to get any defenses for the place besides just the palisade?' Theo quickly squinted his eyes in confusion. 'That is, unless there's something else down there...' he quickly scanned the list, only paying attention to the names and then to the warding tower in particular...

But despite his hopes, not a single active defense system appeared to be in store, making Theo question the very idea of building the first of the potential tier 2 rooms.

"Not only is it useless for me as of now, it does come at a steep price too..."

If there was one thing that differed between the mansion and manor upgrades, it was the scale of their costs. And while neither was cheap... the manor extensions were noticeably more expensive than their mansion counterparts.

That is, such was the case until Theo laid his eyes on the cost of the war room upgrade.

"Ten thousand wood, five thousand stone?" Theo squinted his eyes again, worried he simply wasn't seeing right... even though those system windows didn't seem to have anything to do with his eyes, being imprinted directly into his consciousness rather than appearing as some sort of magical artifacts only he could see.

For a moment, Theo felt like cursing his fate, the injustice of the system, and then all its parts separately... only to ultimately shake his head, roll his eyes, and sigh out before moving on to the next potential upgrade.

In the end, however, there wasn't a single upgrade that Theo could claim to be particularly more excited about than the rest. And that was simply because all of them came offering one heck of an awesome perk!

'As little as people care about the map in games, having a live-updated one in real life...' Theo shook his head. 'I can imagine entire empires coming to blows over something so convenient, especially if it could be upgraded to be used on a battlefield...'

The corner of Theo's mouth twitched.

'And I get the feeling that a battlefield is what this place is going to soon turn into!'

With all those perks... not even the material costs of implementing them made up for a rightful, justifiable price. And since it wasn't the construction cost that was the meat of the challenge, then...

"Well, there's no use thinking about it, is there?" Theo chastised himself out loud before putting his attention over the rest of the upgrades.

The craftechamber that would open a whole new level of development and progress potential, the degree of which Theo didn't even dare to guess. The Study, where he could progress his potential even further by researching new techs. And finally, the meditation room that would open up the world of magic for him!

Baffled by those numbers, Theo could do nothing but just sigh and shake his head.

"Well, I guess this is going to have to wait... And this also explains what those lumberjack and mining guilds are likely for," he spoke out to the sky as his eyes drew up, only to then dutifully move down to the second-to-last segment of his notification.

"Those..." Theo uttered a small moan, hardly even noticing the names of the potential expansions when his eyes drew to their respective prize-tags... each of which boasted numbers that broke through the mental barrier of five digits and stepped into the realm of hundreds of thousands of blocks!

"Yeah, those are deffinitely the late game of this subroutine," Theo muttered, overwhelmed by the massive numbers attached to each of the area upgrades, a completely new avenue he could expand his claim with.

Still, that left him with one more, the very last part of the notification, one that was considerably smaller than all the stuff Theo went through before. And, as opposed to those, it also updated every second, making it quite clear what each of the numbers showcased was supposed to mean.

[Time before the first wave of challengers: 19:43:27]

[19:43:27]

[19:43:26]

[19:43:25]

"..."

Theo stood in silence, struggling to even gulp his saliva down when faced with the sudden emergence of what felt like a doom scenario for him, who dared to think his system would make his exile any different than what it was supposed to be—a freaking execution.

"Well, I will be damned..." Theo finally managed to utter, feeling an overwhelming sense of dread take over his body and paralyze it, stopping him from even shaking in fear.

Those challengers...

Theo had no doubt they were either on the Oilrat's level or even stronger. And the wording of the warning was clear.

It wasn't going to be just one or two of those.

It was going to be an entire wave of them.

And as it stood, Theo still lacked any real means to defend himself, his possessions, or his claim!

"I wonder what will happen if they take over the manor..." he muttered...

Only for the fire of determination to suddenly spark up from the very bottom of his soul, chasing away the fear-induced paralysis and filling his body with strange energy that somehow felt extremely familiar.

"I've worked too damn hard to get all of this done!" Theo shouted out to the sky as he jumped up to his feet, his hand already summoning the axe from his inventory. "And I will be damned if I'm going to just let a bunch of monsters take it all away from me!"