Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 63 - 62 Life Skills

Chapter 63: Chapter 62 Life Skills

The first item on the meeting agenda: Life Skills.

Stone reported, "The base currently has nine Skill Books, namely Piping Study, Electronic Engineering, Agriculture, Fishing, Automotive Engineering, Civil Engineering, Trade, Leadership, and Culinary Arts. Based on interactions with the outside world, especially the experience gained by the trade team on this trip, it is known that Piping Study allows for the construction of a bathhouse, which, once built, enhances base morale."

Electronic Engineering: It allows for the upgrade of the base’s radio station. An upgraded radio station has a larger coverage radius, and most importantly, can receive random missions issued by the Fortress through the radio.

Agriculture: Unknown.

Fishing: Provides 1 point of food to the base daily, and fishing gear can be crafted. The fish obtained with the gear can be converted into system food, with 20 kilograms of fish exchangeable for 1 point of food.

Automotive Engineering: Can manufacture car repair tools, which increase efficiency by 50% and reduce fuel consumption by 20% when acting as a driver. Learning requirement: Mastery of mechanical engineering.

Civil Engineering: Can upgrade the crafting station. The upgraded Level 2 crafting station can disassemble firearms and manufacture firearm accessories. Crafting items reduce material consumption by 30%, and disassembling items increases yield by 30%.

Trade: Can construct a commercial trade station. Periodically, NPC merchants will come to the trade station and stay for an hour. Players with Trade skills can trade with them. Note: NPC merchants will spawn 150 meters in a straight line from the trade station. NPC merchants will not drop any items, and their bodies will disappear immediately upon death.

Players from Right County explained that NPC merchants will spawn 150 meters away from the trade station and run towards it. Whether they can reach the trade station depends on their luck and the assistance the personnel of the base where the trade station is located can provide. Constructing a trade station requires a large outdoor grid, with no maintenance fee, but the construction process generates noise equivalent to one star.

Leadership: Increases the morale of the squad by 20% when acting as captain, and provides a rudimentary electronic map with a 15-meter radius.

Culinary Arts: Unknown.

Lin Wu, Little Knife, and Shana had all acquired Life Skills. Leadership naturally went to Maya. Civil Engineering was slightly controversial, but since Snow Egg admitted she couldn’t stay at the base’s crafting station, Su Shi received Civil Engineering.

Horse Soul had the chef tag, loved cooking, and wanted to learn Culinary Arts. Little Knife and Lin Wu supported him, believing that enjoying a delicious meal once a day was a very happy thing.

Culinary Arts: Can construct a kitchen to prepare food. The kitchen is similar to a crafting station; if you have the necessary ingredients for cooking, you can create dishes. Because of the variety of foods, players can obtain different BUFFs, with each player allowed only one food BUFF. To create dishes, recipes are needed, which can be found in magazines, newspapers, or inside restaurants.

Everyone was surprised that Culinary Arts, which was thought to be a minor skill, had so many complexities. What shocked everyone even more was that Culinary Arts had a super powerful personal attribute: Every time a player unlocked and made a recipe, their health cap increased by 1 point. The standard health for a player was 100 points, and if one could unlock and make 100 recipes, that would mean 200 health points. It could be said that Culinary Arts was a strong augmentative skill in terms of crafting and collection.

After hearing Horse Soul’s introduction, Stone had already wept and fainted on the spot, for it meant that he had to sacrifice a building unit to construct a kitchen. The mountaintop base had a 7+2 layout, with seven indoor small building units and two outdoor large building units. The small building units were currently configured as dormitories, a medical room, and a crafting station, with the rest being turned into storage by Stone. Reason: There were simply too many materials.

The storage system of the mountaintop base had a base limit of 30 units, and any occurrence of the five major material units exceeding 30 would result in their destruction. There were two types of constructed storages: one that increased the storage limit of a single material by 15 points and another that increased the storage limit of the five major materials by 5 points. Stone had chosen the latter; as a result, the storage limit of the Shadow Base was now at 50 points. If a building unit was sacrificed, the limit would drop to 45 points and some materials would overflow.

But since Horse Soul had already learned cooking, Stone had no choice but to create the conditions for it. After Su Shi dealt with the excess materials, Stone demolished a warehouse to build a kitchen.

Only two people were without life skills now: Stone and Snow Egg. Stone faced choices between electronics and agriculture. The reason for learning electronics was that being at the base daily, he could listen to the Fortress’s periodic mission broadcasts, earn honors, and obtain mission rewards. The reason for learning agriculture was that he was among those with the lowest risk of death, and food was fundamental for the survival of the base.

Snow Egg enjoyed playing games and going out, so the benefits from learning either electronics or agriculture were relatively low. After deliberating, Stone still chose to learn agriculture. What should Snow Egg learn? Automotive repair seemed fitting since his driving skills were decent, but it required a prerequisite engineering skill.

Piping study? Stone firmly disagreed with dismantling a warehouse to construct a bathroom.

Trade was not an option either; of the two open large plots, one was for farming, the other a barracks. In times of food shortage, they might have to use both plots for cultivation. Fishing was left, and although Snow Egg enjoyed playing games, he didn’t like fishing games. Eventually, Snow Egg decided not to learn a life skill for the time being.

Agriculture: No seeds were needed to plant crops like wheat, and it could provide 1 food point to the base daily. Hydroponics: If there was a water source at the base, it could provide 2 food points daily. Without a water source, the crop would still yield 2 food points as long as the water tanks by the wheat field were filled. Where would the water come from? It could be carried from the river a kilometer away.

Furthermore, spreading fertilizer daily could increase the yield by one food item. With electricity, greenhouse technology could double the output.

In summary, with all conditions met, a single wheat field could produce 6 food points for the base daily, coupled with Lin Wu the Hunter’s 1 food point, essentially resolving the base’s food consumption problem.

Electricity was not an issue. Since Shana had the Chemistry Skill, fertilizer was also not an issue. The only problem was water. Without water, they could only harvest 4 food points.

Carrying water might seem trivial, but the story of the three monks tells us it’s not about how exhausting it is to fetch the water, but who does the carrying and who doesn’t. According to the size of the buckets produced by the system, 40 buckets were needed to fill the four water tanks. For one person to carry the water, it would require 20 round trips, all while dealing with scattered zombies and staying alert for Screeching Zombies and Frenzied Zombies, or neither the person nor the water might make it back home.

This brought up many questions. How many people should be responsible for carrying water? Su Shi wouldn’t go, but what about Stone? Excluding them left six other members with an uneven distribution. Assuming Maya was self-sacrificing, the other five players would carry six times each, leaving Maya to carry ten times on her own. If six players each carried water seven times a day, they would have to waste two buckets, which would be quite awkward. It might be better for them to take turns resting. Moreover, players who had increased strength and physical strength could carry water faster, so what should they do after finishing their share, sit aside and rest while watching the others?

The trouble with carrying water was that it was purely an act of collective dedication, with no personal gain. After all, the daily work was still playing the game, whether scavenging, fighting zombies, or looting, where people could find some joy.

Now it was up to Stone to decide how to handle the situation. Would he forsaken the two food points each day, or could he come up with a method that would satisfy everyone?

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