Chapter 54 - Undead Enclave Shelter
Zach studied how the shelter would work. First, he learned that he could level up the shelter to the next class which is surprisingly a silver shelter. What he just needs to do is to continue providing the totem inside which was called the Shelter's Core with Bronze Cores which makes him smile knowing that he could level it up now after having endless duplicated Bronze Cores in his inventory.
Second is the use of the Shelter Store which is to allow all the residents of the shelter to place the items that they want to sell or buy something that they want given that there were items placed for sale in the Shelter Store. Zach also learned that one of the other two huts outside was the Shelter Store.
Third is the Shelter Evolution Pool which was the last hut that could be found outside. Its function is to allow the residents or anyone who has met the requirements for evolution to be baptized to become a Tier 2 Human and will be immediately transported to the other sanctuary to continue evolving. The requirement was very simple and that is to reach level 100.
Fourth is the Shelter Protective Shield. Just like its name suggests, it was a protective shield that would block the monsters outside from coming inside the shelter. Being a bronze shelter, it was capable of blocking the attack of any class of monsters of level 25 and below. However, it was not free as it would consume Evolution Coins every day depending on how big the protective shield Zach wanted to have. The bigger the protective shield the more costly it would become. Furthermore, in the case that it has been destroyed, a huge penalty will be sanctioned to the shelter owner which is.
Fifth is the Shelter Income which was greatly associated with the Shelter Residents as the income would be in the form of rent from the residents who wanted to be part of the shelter. The reason behind the rent was that after they became a resident, the shelter would automatically provide a house for them to stay. As long as they were a resident of the shelter, the rent would be automatically deducted from them where the rent was obviously Evolution Coins that every survivor had. Also, only by becoming a resident can one be enabled to enter the Shelter Store. It was one of the perks of being a resident of the shelter.
Also, if the resident could no longer pay the rent, the house would automatically no longer be accessible to him unless he would pay together with the interest. On the other hand, the moment he/she dies or evolves to Tier 2 and leaves the sanctuary, the house would automatically be destroyed aside from the main house. Being a resident also allows one to decide whether he/she would continue becoming a resident of the shelter however, upon deciding not to continue would ban him/her for a year from becoming a resident of the shelter. That means he/she will no longer be allowed to enter the Shelter Store.
Talking about the rented house given by the shelter, it mentioned that it has soundproofing capability and is also indestructible from any attacks inside the shelter for as long as the Shelter Protective Shield is active so it would give assurance that the resident living inside would not be harmed in any way and that it also had the option of not allowing anyone inside for as long as the owner didn't give permission.
Furthermore, the owner of the rented place can upgrade the house if he wants it to become more accommodating as long as he would pay all the costs that the system requires however, it would also depend on what class the shelter you were a resident of. As the Undead Enclave was a bronze-class shelter, it only provided a hut to every resident thus explaining why the three huts outside as this was a bronze-class shelter to begin with.
Sixth would be Zach's role as the owner. As the owner of the shelter, he had full control over which people he would allow to go inside and outside of the shelter, the power to appoint the people who wanted to become residents of the shelter, and full control over how much rent he would impose on the residents or just specific residents. Meanwhile, the role of the Shelter Manager would be someone that the owner appointed to act on his behalf by giving him/her the power of an owner except for the income that only the owner could touch.
Finally, and most importantly, the Shelter Sanctuary Portal which was noted as indestructible. It only had two functions and that was to allow them to get back to Earth while at the same time restricting any monsters, beasts, or creatures from using it just like humans. Unfortunately, it couldn't be activated at the moment as it always says that the tutorial is still ongoing when Zach tries activating it.
After knowing everything he could learn, Zach then finally put his attention back to the hut he was in since as the owner, this place would be his house from now on so he immediately took a hundred Bronze Cores from his inventory and had the Shelter's Core to consume them so that the shelter would evolve to a Silver Shelter.
[It is detected that the shelter is now capable of evolving.]
[Proceed shelter evolution?]
[Yes/No]
"Yes." Without any second thoughts, Zach immediately answered from which the place suddenly shook before the hut started changing or more like transforming, and after only a couple of seconds, the hut he was in before had completely become something wooden. Amazed by the sudden changes, he then thought of trying to evolve it again, however, the Shelter's Core no longer accepts Bronze Cores as it needed Silver Cores this time around, and 50 of them at that.
"Maybe the next class above the ordinary-class monster was a bronze-class monster? And the one above that is a silver class? I'm not a hundred percent sure but it might be the case. So, from this order, there might be another which is probably a gold-class monster. I wonder if there were still higher than that." Zach muttered upon seeing the requirement of the shelter's evolution this time which was completely out of his hands since he still hadn't seen a silver-class monster and even if he did I bet he wouldn't be able to kill it given his current level and stats.
Following that, Zach then just looked to see if there was a change in the shelter as he looked at the Shelter's Core.
[Shelter: Undead Enclave
Shelter Classification: Silver
Shelter Evolution: Silver Core (0/50)
Shelter Owner: Zach Anderson
Shelter Manager: None
Shelter Residents: 1
Shelter Simulation: Activated.
Shelter Store: Activated
Shelter Sanctuary Portal: Unavailable
Shelter Evolution Pool: Activated
Shelter Protective Shield: Activated
Shelter Income: None]
Aside from the change of class, Zach found another function from the Shelter Core's status window which is the Shelter Simulation and it surprised him upon knowing that he could now simulate the shelter like he was playing a simulation game where he had the power to move the huts or anything built inside the shelter to his liking. Also, it allows him to see the whole map of the shelter and see the location of the residents inside through dots.
"This is quite convenient." Zach muttered since it would become disorganized if the huts would just appear in every place inside the shelter. After that, he then just closed the Shelter's Core's system window before shifting his attention to the other totem that also caught his attention.
Looking back, Zach noticed that there was a handprint on top of the totem, and thinking that he might need to touch it, he then put his hand on it from which another system window appeared in front of him.
[Name: Undead Enclave Shelter's Main House
Owner: Zach Anderson
Ratings: 1 Star
Classification: Silver
Evolution Requirements: 1,000 Evolution Coins.]
"So, this is the information of my house. That's great." Zach said before looking at the requirements given for the next evolution which was as simple as giving Evolution Coins. With that, he immediately brought his house to the highest possible it could have. Though more and more Evolution Coins were needed, it was something of no problem to him since he had an unlimited supply of it.
[Name: Undead Enclave Shelter's Main House
Owner: Zach Anderson
Ratings: 10 Stars
Classification: Silver
Evolution Requirements: Gold-class Shelter is required.]
"It's really a cheat to be able to duplicate Evolution Coins." Zach said after he was very satisfied by the smoothness of the evolution since it would only shake the place for a moment before it started its magic by renovating the house. With that, he then closed the information of the house as he wanted to look at the changes inside as he felt like he was now in another place.
Meanwhile, little did Zach know that everything that he did inside his house was witnessed by Patrick, Kazuya, Maria, and Eun Ae as they first saw the sudden activation of the Shelter's Protective Shield.
They all knew that it had something to do with Zach since not long after that, they found the hut he was in and the other two suddenly underwent a transformation after it magically became wooden. But that was not the end of their shock after they saw the wooden building where Zach went suddenly experienced a massive reconstruction seeing it now look like a two-story wooden mansion.
They were all too eager to look for Zach as they didn't know what was happening however knowing that he was still inside, they decided to stay still and just wait for him to get out which did not take long before they saw him get out of the wooden mansion while having a satisfied smile on his face.
"I'm sorry I took too long." Zach said before looking at the changes that happened after all the things he had done inside especially the outer appearance of his house which really had become a wooden mansion after upgrading it to the highest ratings possible.
"W-What just happened? Did you do something inside?" Eun Ae took the initiative to ask since everything had changed drastically after Zach took some time inside the house.
"Well. It's going to be a long explanation so let us talk about it during dinner. Follow me first so you won't feel surprised anymore later." Zach said before he headed towards the Shelter Store just beside his house. Looking at its plain wooden infrastructure, he felt like it could also be upgraded so he wanted to look at what was inside of the building.
Hearing this, Eun Ae, and the rest then just followed him as they entered the Shelter Store and they didn't expect to meet a person inside where even Zach was surprised as they looked at the man who was standing on something like a counter.
Looking at the design inside, the place was all made of wood, and aside from the counter from which a man was standing while smiling at them, there were wooden shelves all over the place which was probably the spot where the items would be placed if someone were to sell something.
"Welcome to the Shelter Store. I'm Pedro, the store's manager and I am very sorry to tell you that the store has no item on sale today." The man introduced himself as he welcomed Zach and the others in the store.
"H-Hello." Zach greeted Pedro while still surprised as the description that he read a while back didn't mention that there would be a man who would manage the store. He then just looked carefully at Pedro and thought that he might not be a human after seeing him act like an automated robot instead.
"Welcome to the Shelter Store, Owner. How can I be of assistance today?" Pedro immediately greeted Zach after noticing that he was among the visitors this time seeing him already got out from the counter and moved closer to him.
"Is this place also capable of evolving?" Not minding Pedro's actions, Zach then asked the very purpose of his visit thinking that this place was too shabby. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if more and more residents came because he felt like this place would be too small to accommodate them all.
"Of course, Owner. This way please." Hearing Zach's inquiry, Pedro then moved back again to his counter and told Zach that he could evolve the place through it.
Seeing the counter, Zach saw that it had the same handprint just like the thing that allowed him to upgrade his house. Knowing what to do, he then just pressed his hand on it and a system window appeared in front of him that probably only he could see seeing Patrick and the others curiously looking at what he was doing.
[Name: Undead Enclave Shelter Store
Owner: Zach Anderson
Manager: Pedro
Ratings: 1 Star
Classification: Silver
Evolution Requirements: 10,000 Evolution Coins.]
Seeing the requirements, Zach immediately didn't hold back and upgraded it to its highest possible rating however, unlike what happened to his house, they all felt a sudden blindness and headache, but it only lasted for five seconds before they returned to normal.
As Patrick and the others wanted to ask Zach what just happened, their mouths immediately went wide open as they looked at the sudden transformation of the place. They couldn't believe how and when it happened as the place had just become much bigger and more beautiful despite still being made of wood.
"Thank you for generosity, Owner." Pedro said with great appreciation for what Zach had done to the store.
With that, Zach then just looked at the place for a while and came to know that the building had also become two-story. With that, they then moved towards the other wooden infrastructure of the building which was the Shelter Evolution Evolution pool.
After they went inside, each one of them immediately thought that the place was even shabbier than the store before it evolved as all they could see inside was a pool made out of wood with water that was not leaking any water inside of it.
As there was no man who would welcome them around, Zach then just looked after the place and there he saw the same thing that would enable him to evolve the place which he immediately did so that he would no longer think about it later on. Surprisingly it didn't change much unlike his house and the store which had another floor as it remain a single floor though the place has gotten bigger, especially the pool inside of it.
After that, Zach and the rest then finally headed to the last thing and probably the most important infrastructure of the place, the Shelter Sanctuary Portal. The two totems who were being protected by the Undead Soldier before were still unavailable however, a change could be found with it upon seeing it projecting something like a portal of some sort in between that looked quite dangerous to look at.
As it could not be evolved and used by them at the moment, Zach then just let it be before finally telling the others to follow him back to his house so he could explain everything that happened so far and what he had learned during that time while they ate dinner around a table.