Chapter 78: A Kingdom of My Own
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 78: A Kingdom of My Own
[Safe Base (10★) has evolved into Safe Base (☆).]
[Base Invincibility (10★) has evolved into Base Invincibility (☆).]
[Cheat Mode-Exclusive Quests have been unlocked.]
[You have reached the first maximum level of Cheat Mode for the first time.]
[One 19+ Cheat Mode has been unlocked.]
5 points for Level 9.
I expected Level 10 to cost 6 points, but it devoured 7.
This is clearly a joyous occasion, so why do I feel so annoyed?
This feeling of getting ripped off at the very end is probably just me being petty, right?
Sigh.
But what can I do?
I have to give it what it wants.
Cheat Mode holds all the power, and I'm just a parasite leeching off of it.
– Designates an area with a 5km radius as a Safe Base. Within the Safe Base, you can invest Coins to receive various benefits. The level can be enhanced through exclusive quests.
– Every day at 06:00, 12:00, 18:00, and 00:00, a super-large food supply will arrive at the Safe Base. Survival supplies are also frequently provided. High-grade equipment is supplied from time to time. Safe Base-exclusive items are supplied from time to time.
– Independent water, electricity, and heating services are provided to the Safe Base. These can be activated using Coins. Costs are reduced by 99%.
– Powerful refrigeration and freezing services are provided to the Safe Base. These can be activated using Coins. Costs are reduced by 99%.
(Powerful refrigeration and freezing reduce the spoilage of stored food by 100%.)
– Independent sewage disposal, food waste processing, and trash crushing services are provided to the Safe Base. These can be activated using Coins. Costs are reduced by 90%.
– A "Visiting Black Market Merchant (6★)" will visit the Safe Base every Wednesday from 06:00 to 23:59, and from Saturday 06:00 to Sunday 23:59.
– "Safe Living Facilities" can be installed within the Safe Base using Coins and points. Costs are reduced by 50%.
– A 'system' for operating the Safe Base can be created.
– An independent communication system is provided to the Safe Base.
– A construction system is introduced to the Safe Base. The Maintenance/Repair System can be used using Coins. Costs are discounted by 30%.
– "Transportation Facilities" can be installed within the Safe Base. Installation is possible using points and Coins.
– The base's range can be expanded to areas outside the Safe Base. The Safe Base will expand upon dominating or dismantling at least 1 Medium Faction, or dominating or dismantling at least 5 Small Factions in the corresponding area.
Upon reaching Level 10, the Safe Base's star turned into a white star.
Reading the description made it clear why.
The level can be enhanced through exclusive quests.
A message had popped up saying I couldn't raise it past Level 10, so I wondered what kind of wordplay "enhancement is possible" was supposed to be. But since this was Cheat Mode, I figured anything was possible.
Actually, it wasn't a bad deal for me.
If this insanely broken skill could be enhanced even further, it only meant it would get better.
For now, I felt a swell of pride knowing I had raised it as far as I possibly could.
With the Safe Base's radius now at 5km, it was safe to say that nearly a fifth of Seoul was covered by it.
It stretched slightly down into the Gangnam area, up to Cheongnyangni Station, east to Jamsillaru, and west to just right of Namsan—an incredibly vast area.
At this point, I felt like I could just live like this forever.
Was there really any need to venture far?
With a territory this size, I could probably spend the rest of my life doing whatever the hell I wanted.
I had the Han River. I had Namsan.
Besides, looking at the option marked with the asterisk at the end, it seemed I could expand the Safe Base's range even further.
And the conditions weren't even that difficult.
I'd have to see exactly how much land it would add, but I was highly satisfied knowing a 5km radius wasn't my absolute limit.
And the supplies had increased to four times a day.
I wondered if it would increase even more with enhancement, but since it was Level 10, I had to assume this was the current cap.
Well, food wasn't really a concern anyway, considering I had a surplus even while selling it for Coins.
Other than that, survival supplies, high-grade equipment, and Safe Base-exclusive items were steadily piling up in the warehouse.
It was getting to the point where I'd need to build a separate warehouse just for them.
Almost all the other service costs now had a 99% discount.
I suppose they gave me this discount because the service costs for an area this size would normally be astronomical. But since I was currently in the position of selling these services for a fee, it was an incredibly lucrative business for me.
Even if the day came when I provided my Safe Base services to this entire region, I planned to charge even more Coins for it, so whatever.
The Visiting Black Market Merchant had also reached Level 6 and now visited on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, giving me plenty of leeway. The 50% cost reduction for Safe Living Facilities was also pretty sweet.
With new options being added and existing ones improving every single level, checking them all took quite a while.
I had to know every single change inside out to avoid getting screwed over later.
And then there was the Level 9 option.
The introduction of the construction system.
I could now construct buildings within the Safe Base.
This was a completely different system from the "Safe Living Facilities."
While Safe Living Facilities allowed me to erect pre-determined structures, construction literally let me customize and build whatever I wanted.
I could build high-rise buildings, or I could build single-family homes.
Above all, the core of the construction system was the Maintenance/Repair System.
Currently, not just high-rises, but any building with six or more floors had to be considered practically unusable.
It was the same anywhere in the city.
You needed electricity to run elevators, but not only was power supply unreliable, even if it did work, there was no one to fix it if it broke down while in use.
I'm sure they existed if I looked.
There had to be a surviving elevator technician somewhere.
But where would I find such a person? And having them pack up their tools, rush through hordes of zombies to fix an elevator, and then make it back?
Unless a faction possessed an absurd level of stability, it would be practically impossible.
There was a reason even the Multiplex faction gave up on using elevators and stuck to the stairs.
In other words, this system allowed me to utilize the countless hollow shells of buildings abandoned throughout the city.
To be honest, it would be a lie to say I hadn't coveted a nice high-rise apartment.
When you can move into a home worth one or two billion won for free just because a zombie apocalypse broke out, why on earth should I stubbornly stick to my original Studio Apartment?
Of course, since I was a Romantic Survivalist who chased romance even in the apocalypse, I didn't care all that much. But if I could use this system, even if I didn't use it myself, I could offer highly attractive housing options to other "Residents."
Not having to hire people to do repairs meant the maintenance and repairs would be much cleaner and sturdier.
And the Level 10 option was exactly what the Safe Base needed.
A 5km radius.
Walking a straight-line distance of over 10km was absolutely not fit for human endurance.
No matter how much my stats had increased, physical speed and limits still existed.
I could drive, but clearing all the roads within that radius was a massive chore in itself.
But if I could use "Transportation Facilities"...
It would cost Coins, but if I could implement something like a "subway," my membership would offer an even more overwhelming advantage, turning into a system that the people living in the Safe Base couldn't survive without.
And eventually, everyone would struggle and beg just to come live in my territory. My paradise. My kingdom.
I liked the sound of that.
I had never been interested in factions, nor were they my style, but framing the constraints of a faction as a "Paradise Membership" in an MZ-generation way was nothing short of a stroke of genius.
I didn't have to deal with the stress of dealing with dumbasses.
And if there was someone useful among them, I could just promote them to the higher tier of "Resident" and manage them.
Since I didn't even have to see their faces, I could just do my own thing while the Coins rolled in automatically. It was an incredibly simple setup.
"Hmm."
Of course, my head was starting to throb.
Two levels at once.
How should I utilize these two new pieces of content: construction and transportation facilities?
As I prepared to start, I faced my very first dilemma.
I decided to resolve an issue I had been putting off for a long time.
"It's time to move."
The Safe Base had reached its first maximum level, and all the basic systems required to establish my own kingdom through it had been unlocked.
Now that I was going to set things up one by one, there was no longer any need to cling to a Studio Apartment.
Cleanly and perfectly.
I would build my own house first, and then build the infrastructure out from there.
To do that, I had to choose the site first.
"A Han River view would definitely be best."
Just as I finished up with the hunting side of things, a mountain of base-related tasks came pouring down. This endless hell of content.
I'm so fucking happy.