I've already reached the maximum level, and you guys are just starting out?

Chapter 93 You Conquered the Interstellar Refugee Fortress Alone! (Seeking First Subscriptions)
Your Tier 1 Light Attribute Ability 'Laser' has been upgraded to level 9!

Your Tier 1 Lightning attribute ability 'Lightning' has been upgraded to level 9!

Your Tier 1 spatial attribute ability 'Spatial Perception' has been upgraded to level 9!

……

So far.

Ember awakened a total of seven attributes. Not counting the 'numerical' attributes, the first-tier abilities of the other six attributes were all 'maxed out with one click'!
"Cool!"

Yu Jin felt as if billions of pores all over his body had opened up!

prior to.

He's just a liar.

Now?

He's a super-rich cheater!
"Looking at it this way, what was the point of that being at max level before?"

"A bunch of level 1 and level 2 skills, does that even deserve to be called max level?"

"Only when every attribute and every ability is maxed out can you be considered truly maxed out!"

Yu Jin is full of expectations for the future.

But at the same time.

He also felt a little regretful.

There are still over 140 million points left unspent.

even……

Right next to me is a 'fully automated wool production machine'.

"How come the most expensive one is only three million?"

The embers were filled with regret.

He looked at Naya, only to find that the little Moor Star loli's mouth was still open, as if an egg could fit inside.

"Nyarlathotep?"

Ember shouted.

Naya's unfocused pupils slowly returned to their senses.

"One hundred and forty million..."

Naya continued to mutter to himself.

She doesn't understand!

The man before me, though he will be terrifyingly powerful in the galactic wasteland in the future, and though he has only been in this world for a few days, he is already at the ninth rank, a higher level than me...

but!

One hundred and forty million!
Including the 18 million spent, the total is 160 million!

Nyarlathotep swore—

She had lived in the wasteland for 150 years, but had never before felt so lost.

Yes, I feel lost.

She recalled that fifty years ago, in order to upgrade the 'Ice and Fire Dual Realms' ability to level 8, she mobilized thousands of refuge cities under her command to collect crystals!
She herself left Naya City to search for rare high-level mutated beasts/infected beings.

Even so, it took a full three years to accumulate enough points.

But now?
In front of this man, Naya felt like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

"hello?"

Ember stared at Nyarlathotep and called out again.

Only then did Nyarlathotep slowly raise his head.

She looked at Yu Jin, really wanting to ask where he got so many points...

"Your Excellency, Lord of the City."

"Is there anything I can do for you, Naya?"

Nyarlathotep responded softly to Ember's call.

The form of address remained the same, but the tone carried an inexplicable air of reverence.

"Oh, it's nothing."

Seeing that Nyar had come to his senses, Ember voiced his doubts:
"Why is the most expensive item in this store only 300 million points?"

"This doesn't seem reasonable, does it?"

"Moreover, after looking around, the highest crystal I found was only level five, not even level six or seven crystals. Isn't this shop a bit too shabby?"

Nyar took a deep breath.

Her barely noticeable chest heaved slightly because of Yu Jin's words, "The most expensive one is only 300 million."

"Your Excellency, the City Lord..."

Nyar answered in an extremely complicated tone:

"The grade and quality of goods in the resource mall are limited by the level of the refuge city."

"The higher the level of the refuge city, the higher the grade of the goods... and the more expensive they are."

Upon hearing this, Yu Jin nodded.

This was pretty much what he had guessed.

Since there is a refuge city level system, it makes sense for the in-game store to have a corresponding level.

What is the typical exchange rate between crystals and points?

"Ember asked again."

"Hmm...it's a bit complicated."

"Because crystallization includes contaminated crystals, infected crystals, and energy crystals, different crystals are classified into different grades, including varying degrees of purity—"

Naya stopped mid-sentence.

"You, you..."

"What you're holding in your hand..."

Naya lost her voice.

"Oh, you mean this?"

Yu Jin waved the irregular, multicolored crystal in his hand.

"I had one left over from before, and I wanted to see how many points I could exchange for it."

Ember's tone was somewhat casual.

Kanaya, however, was completely stunned!

no……

If she wasn't mistaken, was that a ninth-order crystal?

Right...?
It must be!!

She's consumed countless eighth-tier crystals; there's no way she wouldn't recognize one!

The energy aura of this crystal is clearly stronger than that of an eighth-order crystal, no, it is far stronger than that of an eighth-order crystal!

not only that.

Its purity is something that Naya has never seen in 150 years!

She even suspected that the purity level might be over 95%, with almost no contamination whatsoever!
【Di-】

A mechanical beep sounded.

While Nyarlathotep was still in a daze, Ember reached out and gently tossed a ninth-order energy crystal into the air.

at the same time.

Beams of light emanated from the crystal symbolizing the 'core of the city,' scanning it up and down.

Not a moment later.

The mechanical beeping continues—

[Ninth-Order Energy Crystal]

Purity: 100%

[Review: An unprecedented treasure on the wasteland planet A3, its value is immeasurable!]

[Evaluating the recycling price...]

[Recycling Price: 500000000 points]

"what?"

"Five billion?"

Yu Jin was stunned when he heard the price.

Good guy!
He seems to have underestimated the value of "Tongzi products".

[Is it for sale?]

Despite its cold, mechanical tone, the speech sounded somewhat hurried at this moment.

"Not urgent."

Instead of selling it, Yu Jin collected the ninth-tier crystal that was floating in mid-air.

While the price of 500 million points was tempting, Yu Jin felt it was more reliable to ask Tongzi about it later.

We used cheats and spent a lot of money...

Be aware of the risk of being caught by the server.

the other side.

Naya's delicate, porcelain-doll-like face has completely lost the ability to express 'expressions'.

Should……

How can one describe the feelings of this former eighth-tier city lord of Naya City?

A ninth-order energy crystal, 100% pure, the 'leftovers'?
……

……

City Lord's Mansion, Council Hall.

Yu Jin sat back in the seat reserved for the city lord.

to be frank.

He disliked this position quite a bit.

It's hard and a bit uncomfortable.

the most important is……

It's not classy at all!

"Nyarlathotep."

Ember shouted.

"Your Excellency, how can I, Naya, do something for you?"

Nyarlathotep, who was massaging Ember's shoulders, paused slightly.

"With the upgrade of the refuge city, will this seat also be upgraded?"

"I just looked around the store and it seems there aren't any products related to 'seats'."

Yu Jin's tone carried a hint of regret.

"Will do."

"Your Excellency, the seat will be upgraded according to the level of the refuge city, and only according to the level of the refuge city."

Nyarlathotep gave an affirmative answer. In Nyarlathotep City, her throne, a tapestry of ice and fire, was brought about by an eighth-level refuge city.

It's not just the throne.

The infrastructure of the refuge city, such as city gates, city walls, city lord's mansion, etc., will be upgraded as the refuge city level increases.

Other methods cannot affect it.

On the wasteland, there is a widely circulated anecdote—

The lord of an ordinary refuge city mobilized 100,000 subjects to reinforce the city walls, but the walls returned to their original state the next day.

One hundred thousand people reinforced the air.

"Upgrading the refuge city is imperative!"

Naya heard the man on the city lord's seat speak with an unprecedented firmness.

"..."

Naya didn't understand, but she was shocked.

Not a moment later.

Naya was politely 'invited' out of the city lord's mansion by Ember.

She was somewhat apprehensive, unsure if she had somehow offended this terrifying being.

……

……

"We still need to take precautions."

"We must not be careless and lose Jingzhou."

Inside the city lord's mansion, with its gates tightly shut, Yu Jin muttered to himself.

While he could easily suppress Naya, who was only at the eighth rank, it wasn't appropriate for her to be present when he was consuming crystals.

Snap!
The tenth-order energy crystal was swallowed.

The reason I didn't consume the ninth-tier crystal is because I just asked Brother Tongzi.

Tongzi's answer was—

Selling ninth-tier crystals is fine, but selling crystals of tier nine or higher carries the risk of being flagged by the server.

Yu Jin doesn't like taking risks, and right now, he has absolutely no need to take any.

and so……

"We can keep the crystals of the seventh, eighth, and ninth tiers and sell them when we don't have enough points."

"Items of level 10 and above are not for sale; keep them for yourself."

Snap!
Another tenth-order crystal was swallowed.

A familiar feeling of drowsiness then followed.

Compared to ninth-order crystals, tenth-order crystals reach another level of energy abundance.

So much so.

The ninth-tier embers had only consumed two pieces, yet he already sensed that he was not far from breaking through.

"A-Tong".

"Will there be any problems if I break through to the tenth rank on Planet A3?"

Yu Jin was worried.

After all, the highest level on Planet A3's server is only level nine, so it would seem rather presumptuous for me to break through to level ten here.

【Searching...】

Search complete!

Breaking through to the tenth rank on Planet A3 will most likely cause a disruption in the server's rules!

【Solution——】

[Upgrade the Refuge City level!]

The higher the refuge city's level, the weaker the rules governing Planet A3 within its territory!

"What level do I want to upgrade to?"

Yu Jin pressed for an answer.

[Level 1 Refuge City + System Avoidance: Safely break through to Tier 10.]

Tongzi's reply came very quickly.

"level 1?"

This surprised Yu Jin somewhat.

He thought that a refuge city would easily be at level 567.

In that case, I really won't be able to break through to the tenth level anytime soon.

Of course, Yu Jin knew very well that it was definitely Tongzi Ge's efforts that played a greater role.

"Let's digest the energy from these two tenth-tier crystals in Dawn City first..."

"If there's still time after you've finished digesting, go to Baiyan City."

"Find Little Turtle to guide me, hunt some high-level mutated beasts or infected creatures, and collect some eighth and ninth-level crystals. It would be even better if we could collect tenth and eleventh-level crystals."

Yu Jin made a plan.

……

……

The next day, early in the morning.

White Rock City.

Xiao Ming, a seventh-tier mutated giant tortoise, was lying about one kilometer outside the city gate.

Yu Wenbo sat on its enormous head, watching the refugees coming and going at the city gate.

"Lord Yu, will he ever return?"

Yu Wenbo gazed in the direction where the embers had disappeared.

A day has passed since that 'laser' from the embers.

Yu Wenbo and Guigui also stayed here for a day.

It is worth mentioning that.

The 'large hole' that was blasted into White Rock City by the embers a day ago has automatically healed.

This change also drew gasps of surprise from the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Baiyan City.

During this day.

Because of the fall of the Lord of White Rock City, the refugees who were originally used as slaves in White Rock City have regained their freedom.

Many refugees, mostly from Earth, traveled together, searching and hunting first-tier mutated beasts near the buffer zone.

Although the process was difficult, the refugees finally obtained food and filled their stomachs.

just.

It's clear to everyone.

Baiyan City now belongs neither to Yu Wenbo nor to the mutated giant tortoise, but to that man—

ember!

His name became known to everyone in Baiyan City in just one day.

Several young men with buzz cuts became extremely excited upon hearing the name.

Yu Wenbo assumed they were Yu Jin's 'acquaintances' or 'friends', but after inquiring, he learned that they were not.

"How come the soldier knows Yu Jin?"

Yu Wenbo pondered this question.

"Well……"

Suddenly.

He felt the turtle's body beneath him tremble slightly.

"Afraid……"

The turtle let out a low whimper.

Swish-!
Yu Wenbo suddenly looked up.

"Is Lord Yu returning?"

The voice just fell.

Om-!
The space not far from the man and the tortoise trembled like ripples on water.

It was just a fleeting moment.

A slender figure appeared in the sky, standing on air.

"Lord City Lord Yu!"

Yu Wenbo was extremely excited and shouted.

"Ok?"

Yu Jin raised an eyebrow. What strange titles, both City Lord Yu and Lord Yu?

Yu Wenbo's shout was undeniably loud and clear.

So much so that——

The refugees at the city gate of Baiyan City also turned to look at the sound.

Then they saw the embers in the sky.

"Lord City Lord Yu!!"

"..."

It only took a few minutes.

Inside and outside Baiyan City.

Tens of thousands of refugees shouted in unison.

at the same time.

A system panel notification suddenly popped up in front of Yu Jin—

[You descended with divine might, conquering the 'White Rock Interstellar Refuge Fortress' single-handedly with your insignificant ant-like body!]

[Wasteland Points +1000000!]

[You have obtained the following resource: Tier 10 Energy Crystal *1!]

[You have gained the ability: Loyalty Lv1!]

Loyalty lv1——

[No attribute-based abilities, but can view the loyalty of the target!]

【hint--】

The more subjects you have, the higher their loyalty, and the higher this ability level!

[Your current subjects have high loyalty; this ability level has been increased to lv2!]

"Uh?"

"White Rock Interstellar Refuge Fortress...?"

Yu Jin looked up at White Rock City not far away and fell into deep thought.

(End of this chapter)