Tower Defense: Public Enemy

Chapter 43 Custom Levels

"A war dragon boat, a large war machine, you can move it by paddling. Brother Bao, do you like it? If you do, take it!"

Lei Chi acted like a guide, giving introductions in his camp square. Pointing to the Beast brand bicycle, he said, "This bicycle will never break down. Take it if you like! Oh, right, there are some other gadgets, like barbells and berets. There are also gold coins in the gold mine chest. Take them all."

"How did you get all this stuff?"

Hua Tianbao was puzzled. Something like a war dragon boat was extremely rare and couldn't be bought even if you had money.

He didn't understand why there was a ship in the Lei Chi camp.

Lin Donglei, Yang Taiyang, Lu Xiaoman, and Li Tianming were also very puzzled.

Lei Chi said, "It was given as a hidden quest."

"Don't you keep some for yourself?"

"The hidden quest requires that you be plundered!"

"That's a steal for me! Hehe, I didn't expect to get such a good deal this time! This war dragon boat is nice, I'll take it. I'll remember you if there are any good things in the future!"

Hua Tianbao didn't stand on ceremony with Zhou Nan; if he liked someone, he liked them, and he wasn't being pretentious at all.

Lin Donglei also went to ride a bicycle.

At this moment, the orc laborer Harley appeared. Trembling with fear, he immediately knelt down upon seeing Hua Tianbao and the others, raised his hands in surrender, and said, "Don't kill me! I surrender! I'll lead you to rob gold coins, I'll lead you to the chicken farm, I'll lead you to the slime camp! I'll show you the way!"

Hua Tianbao sat at the head of the war dragon boat, feeling quite pleased with himself. Hearing the orc laborer's words, he was puzzled and looked at Lei Chi, asking, "What does this orc laborer mean? He's a traitor, how can we still keep him?"

Lei Chi said, "He's a quest guide NPC. He was just worried that your intrusion wouldn't be thorough, so he kindly reminded you."

"A quest guide NPC? Interesting?" Hua Tianbao said. "You said before that you were going to be killed, is that also necessary for the quest?"

Lei Chi thought about it. If the war dragon boat and other things were all looted, the system would definitely suffer huge losses when calculating the compensation. He didn't care about his own life, so why not just die one less time?

Thinking of this, he said, "Brother Bao, why don't you spare my life?"

The orc laborer suddenly chimed in, shouting, "Yes, yes, take whatever you want, just don't kill us! Spare our lives!"

Lei Chi glanced at the orc laborer and said, "What use is your life? Brother Bao, this guide NPC must be killed, it's essential for the quest!"

"Sir, you..."

The orc laborer scratched his head, looking miserable. Lei Chi guessed he wouldn't swear, otherwise he definitely would have sworn at himself.

As for Hua Tianbao and the others, they were quite motivated after receiving the benefits. Lei Chi personally led them in the plundering, and everything was perfect.

In the end, Hua Tianbao, Yang Taiyang, Lu Xiaoman, and Li Tianming rowed a famous dragon boat, while Lin Donglei rode a bicycle. They left Lei Chi's secret camp with boxed lunches, drinks, and other necessities, all with smiles on their faces.

The invasion war thus came to an end.

Lei Chi quickly received a system notification: "Ding, your secret camp has been maliciously invaded by players. Losses reported: 40 boxed lunches, 40 bottles of drinks, 10 gold coins, one Beast Brand bicycle, one War Dragon Boat, 20 eggs, two barbells, one oak shield, one beret, two low-level magic gems, the War Guardian Slime King killed, and the Orc Peon killed. Experience points reset. Awaiting respawn..."

"Ding, claim calculation in progress..."

"Ding! Your deposit is 70 gold coins, and your camp defense index is 92. After calculation, you will be compensated with a claim chest worth 7000 gold coins. Would you like to claim it?"

"7000 gold coins!"

Lei Chi laughed loudly, looking up at the sky.

Stimulate!

So exciting!

"It seems that the war dragon boat is quite valuable in the system's calculations."

Lei Chi understood and retrieved the compensation treasure chest.

This time, the treasure chest isn't made of wood, but of iron, which makes it look much more high-end.

Upon opening the treasure chest lid, Lei Chi immediately received a system notification.

"Ding! One insurance policy ensures the safety of the city. No fear of invasion, worry-free reconstruction. You have opened the claim treasure chest and obtained camp reconstruction materials: ten blueprints for a Tier 1 Beast Tower, 100 gold coins, the resurrection of the Slime King, and its level increased to LV6, and one blueprint for a custom level."

"That's all the 7000 gold compensation chest I got? What's this 'custom level' thing? Is a single blueprint worth over 6000 gold?"

Lei Chi was the first to retrieve the [Construction Blueprint for Custom Levels] from the treasure chest.

[Custom Level Construction Blueprint: Special Item, Rare Item, Bound. Use to set up a Beast Level in the War Corridor. Complete the customization by filling in the customization panel.]

Without hesitation, Lei Chi unfolded the blueprint on the spot, and a window popped up in front of him.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Level Name: Custom Level (Modifiable)

Type: Beast Tower

Appearance: Not selected (options include archways, gate towers, etc. Click to show more appearance styles, and you can also perform customization operations, such as modifying the text on the appearance style, etc. Please explore on your own).

Interior scene: Not selected (options include mountains, grasslands, deserts, etc., circular, approximately 50 meters in diameter. Click to see more interior scene styles...)

Area occupied: 1 meter × 1 meter × 2 meters: …

Place Beast Tower: None (Select one Beast Tower to place in a custom level. Can be changed. Cooldown time: 24 hours)

Note 1: After completing the customization, the blueprint name will be regenerated. After use, it will be built in a custom level in the War Corridor.

Note 2: Players can place a Beast Tower in a custom level. This Beast Tower gains a living characteristic within the level's environment and can generally grow on its own.

Note 3: Custom levels have dungeon characteristics. When invading monsters or players enter, they will be attacked by the Living Beast Tower alone.

Note 4: Custom levels only target monsters or players that are invading from the front. Please explore on your own to find out more.

Note 5: Custom levels can be reset once every 24 hours. The reset package includes the level name, appearance, interior, placement of beast towers, level location, etc.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"This seems interesting. Do I need to set it up first before I can see the actual effect...?"

Lei Chi continued to research custom levels, and selected "Mountain Forest" from the more than thirty interior scenes provided by the system.

The available interior scenes are all about the same size, which is just a circular area with a diameter of 50 meters. Lei Chi chose the mountains and forests because he thought the mountain roads were difficult to walk.

As for the appearance of the level, Lei Chi chose "ancient archway gate tower".

As for the beast tower placed inside, Lei Chi chose the [Big Tiger].

Subsequently, Lei Chi named this custom level "Jingyanggang".

After a moment's thought, he added some textual decorations to the "ancient archway gate tower".

Soon, after completing all the settings, the blueprints in Lei Chi's hands transformed into the [Jingyanggang Construction Blueprints].

"Ahead lies Jingyang Ridge, where fierce tigers roam. Three bowls of wine and you can't cross the ridge—how about that?"

Lei Chi used the blueprint, and a semi-transparent phantom of an ancient archway appeared. Lei Chi placed this phantom at the end of the war corridor, which was also the entrance to the camp square, and the phantom solidified.

At the same time, a large tiger in front of them transformed into a beam of light and flew into the ancient gate tower.

"Ding! Congratulations! You have built a custom level, Jingyanggang. Camp defense index +100!"