Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!

Chapter 40 Erect!

"Fucking finally!"

Theo's arms were in as much pain as if someone had soaked them in gasoline and then set them on fire.

His breath was ragged, labored, coming from the movement of his entire body rather than just his chest alone.

The young man's face was a mess, covered in a thick layer of oily sweat infused with dirt and sawdust from all the trees he had felled.

By every means and judgment criteria possible, Theo was one hell of a mess.

And yet, his eyes were full of jubilation. All because right now, rather than standing firmly on the ground, Theo kept only one of his feet on a stable footing while using the other to step down on the trunk of the fallen tree—the last one in the long, circular line marked out by the faint glow of his system's making.

Stepping down on the massive log like a modern hunter would when posing for a photo with their hunted-down prey, Theo momentarily forgot he was on a strict schedule.

And it was all because of the fact that with the fall of this tree... the color of the glow marking the space for the construction of his wall had now lost its slight reddish hue, turning into the pristine white that matched the color of the construction strings that would appear to transport the required resources around!

In other words, three hours after he started the task of cutting down those trees... Theo was finally done!

"I don't think I've ever worked as hard ever before in either of my lives..." Theo whispered to himself... only to step off the log and then bring his axe down on it again, first splitting it into chunks before then brutalizing each of them into quarters that he then promptly put into his inventory.

"It's not like I'm lacking wood... But this wood in particular, I'm not going to just let rot away," he muttered to himself as he quickly retreated to the inside of the circle marked out by the pristinely white light.

Theo then brought his hand up to the sky and, caring not for the possible consequences, shouted out from the bottom of his lungs.

"SYSTEM!"

Theo's scream carried through the air. Yet, judging by the lack of changes to either of his threat detection abilities, he did so to no detrimental consequence.

"I wish to construct the stone wall!"

What came next, by every means, was just more of the same.

A set of white strings suddenly cut through the air. A faint glow that marked the construction area now expanded upwards, turning from just the marker to a see-through projection of the whole construction.

A quick look through his inventory and the upgrade list, Theo rose up before stretching his hands out.

Now that the task of cutting the trees was all but over, he could feel a strange kind of weight lifting off his shoulders. It felt as if a considerable chunk of the weight that had been pressing him down had finally vanished.

Not disappeared in its entirety... but still, partially lifted.

"Between all the stone I mined out since I planned the whole thing up, the discount of the constructor's office, and then all the stone I've expended on the wall and the mining guild..." Theo quickly did the math. "Five towers, huh?"

Initially, when Theo first planned out his defense of the manor, just two towers already felt like a lot. Now that this number swelled to more than twice the original, however... It no longer felt impressive at all.

After all, while the number of towers Theo could make appear grew, so did his perspective when he realized just how massive this stone wall of his would be. And with over a kilometer of the wall to keep protected, having just five towers... Somehow, it no longer felt like all that much.

"Yeah, there's no way I can defend this whole wall. Not when those towers only weaken the enemy rather than actually attacking them on the approach," Theo sighed, having no other choice but to face the harsh reality.

But accepting the unfavorable terms had absolutely nothing to do with giving up. On the contrary, it had everything to do with Theo opting to just look at his situation with a sober, pragmatic mindset, taking in the challenges instead of ignoring them, and, most importantly—making the most out of the limited means he had.

"I guess that means we are back to just baiting those bastards out, huh?"

Shaking his head, Theo turned his eyes right back to the gate he had just closed. Yet, he didn't need to step back to recall just how that forested area looked.

"I guess I could arrange all five of those towers in a circle, dig the trenches with bunkers on top between them, and create a kill zone in the middle while still having the ability to shoot in every possible direction out..."

Theo's face changed now that he moved from absorbing the harsh truth about his situation to actually planning how to take advantage of what little he could still do or achieve.

"Yeah, that seems like a sound plan..." Heaving a long, exhausted sigh, Theo resisted the desire to just sit down on the ground, opting to turn his steps back toward not the mansion, but the hole in the ground leading all the way down to his mining base.

"For now, however, there's no doubt what should come next," he sighed to himself as he started a slow descent down the steps, taking proper care not to let his burning exhaustion be the reason behind a potentially fatal slip down this long staircase.

"It's been roughly three hours since I went to get rid of those trees, so I should have quite a bit of ore stacked up by now," Theo muttered, upholding his habit of having conversations with his very own self to keep himself from going absolutely insane. "And once it's all smelted down..."

Theo suddenly grew silent when his foot slipped on the dirt, nearly leading him to fall down the circling steps of his mining staircase.

"Once it's all smelted down," gritting his teeth, Theo repeated himself, refusing to let the most hopeful and, at the same time, the most important part of his plan be left unsaid, "I'm finally going to get that damned industry up and running!"