Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!-Chapter 42: Screw sleeping, I’ve got a job to do!

[Time until the construction of "Specialized Industry: Ballistarii" completion: 59.28]

’An hour, huh?’

Staring at the timed notification, Theo whistled a little before shaking his head and then just… collapsing down to the ground, struggling to keep himself either standing or awake.

His entire body felt like it was on fire. His consciousness was wavering. And even though it wasn’t all that long since he had the sleep of his life, the extreme toil of all the work he did since took a considerable toll not only on his muscles but also on his mental state.

"Still, before it gets completed… I can’t really afford to rest, can I?"

With how Theo rushed through everything, the state of the attack timer was quite a lot better than what he assumed it at the current point of the development.

Still, if he allowed an entire hour to just pass by…

"With how tired I am, it seems quite risky to push myself that far. What if I end up sleeping for three whole night cycles instead of the usual two?"

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

As someone who once dived heavily into the idea of lucid dreams, Theo’s knowledge on the matters of sleep was surprisingly more advanced than the norm. As such, he was no stranger to how human sleep could be generally classified into four stages that together formed a sleep cycle.

A cycle that during normal, regular, and usual sleep would be repeated twice, coming to somewhere between six and a half and nine hours. But if someone was just tired enough, their sleep could extend for an additional cycle, making their sleep last as much as twelve, or even thirteen hours.

Right now, Theo was more tired than he was ever before in either of his lives. And regardless of the bonus perks to his sleep from his bedroom…

"Well, I will just have to hope for the best, I guess," Theo thought before taking a deep breath and picking himself up from the ground before directing his steps to the very same hole that, over the past few days, grew to be the single most important place in all of his manor.

Normally, it would take him only a few minutes to move down the circling staircase dug directly into the ground. Climbing it back up was a little tougher… but came with much lesser risk of him losing his footing only to fall down the entire remaining length of those stairs.

That’s why, rather than risking it, Theo decided to use the one ability of his that completely ignored his current physical state while allowing him to time his actions perfectly.

And so, as he stood over the simple hole in the ground stretching for a total of five blocks out with each block-sized step further leading one block’s height further down, he took in a deep breath before pushing his mind to its current limits.

’I wish to mine away, keeping the mining shafts in parallel to the main one, starting at my underground mining base, for as long as until I receive the next notification.’

Thankfully, this time the mental algorithm Theo needed to set up for his zone wasn’t all that complex, limited to just what he wanted to do, where, how, and for as long.

Snap.

"Ugghhh…."

Theo, surrounded by nothing but darkness, fell down to his knees, his entire body trembling with exhaustion.

[Construction of the Specialized Industry: "Ballistarii": Completed]

[You can now set up the production of the following:

- Latch Crossbow - The earliest and simplest type of crossbow, using the strings spun and reinforced with the foliage to push out simple wooden bolts - Cost: 2 blocks of wood, 1 block of foliage

- Arbalest - Heavy crossbow, using the strings spun from the foliage, advanced lock mechanism, and cranequin. Can shoot iron-tipped bolts - Cost: 5 blocks of wood, 2 blocks of foliage, 4 iron ingots

- Siege Ballista - Siege equipment mountable on walls and towers, shoots out Garrots - Cost: 30 blocks of wood, 10 blocks of foliage, 20 iron ingots]

[You can now craft the following sets of ammunition:

- Set of simple wooden bolts - Cost: 2 blocks of wood

- Set of iron-tipped bolts - Cost: 5 blocks of wood, 2 iron ingots

- Set of Garrots - Cost: 10 blocks of wood, 3 iron ingots]

[Specialized industry can be upgraded to expand their production range]

[Applying the specialized industry perks to the existing upgrades]

[Outer Stone Wall: Can now house mounted siege ballista stations every twenty meters]

[Armed Warding Tower: Alternate design for the Warding Tower, requires a siege ballista to be built. Requires at least one set of Garrots to operate. Decreases the strength and agility of the approaching enemies, automatically fires upon the detected enemies for as long as its supply of Garrots lasts]

Just the sheer length of the notification, in Theo’s current state, was nearly enough to make him just… fall over, ignore the notification altogether, and just… go sleep directly on the cold, stone floor.

Yet, by some sort of a miracle, with the last few sparks of what energy Theo could force out of himself, he managed to drag himself back up and then slowly walk out of the shadowy mining shaft before starting the arduous climb—not before going through the motion of gathering all of the smelted iron and then refilling the furnaces with the little ore his mining guild provided while he mined away himself.

’From what…’

He took a moment to regain a breath and sort his thoughts out before trying to climb another step.

’What I gather, those are exactly what I needed. But…’

What Theo could normally process in a matter of a single moment now turned into quite the mental challenge, a riddle for his weary mind to take his time solving.

"But they don’t seem to have the same perk of raising the threat detection range, do they?"

Producing those words of self-commentary was already a feat Theo had all the right to be proud of. And yet, rather than celebrating… by promptly falling asleep directly on the dirt steps of his staircase, he gritted his teeth as he continued to drag his weary flesh up the steps.

’Meaning…’

Theo gritted his teeth even harder before twisting his bottom lip into his mouth and biting down on it instead.

Flash!

A shocking explosion of quite the intense pain from where his teeth cut into the living flesh of his lip somehow allowed Theo to sober up, regaining the clarity of thought for just the short moment he needed to… climb a few more steps, while already planning out the new, improved layout of his defensive position.

If he had to come up with a new one right off the bat… Theo would simply give up, having no mental capacity to even start thinking about such an important concept.

Yet, with the basic idea already prepared, the heavy task of climbing up the stairs to the surface proved to be just long enough for Theo to somehow iron out all the kinks as to include the new and improved designs.

"System… I’m begging you…" Theo then muttered as he sat down directly in his wooden gate, locking his eyes on the spot he had long since picked.

To the side, with but a series of his thoughts, Theo already set up the production of the six siege balllistas and then several sets of Garrots, while simultaneously setting up the construction of the three normal warding towers that he kept within his mental blueprint of his kill zone.

"I’m begging you…" With his voice breaking, Theo stood up while keeping his eyes locked on the spot where the strings of light already shot through the air only to smash smack-dab into the projections of the huge, stone towers. "Can you start the construction of the other three towers?" Theo begged from the very bottom of his soul, already turning around as he now desperately dragged himself towards the mansion, where his bedroom awaited his arrival.

With the whole ten minutes crafting time for each of the stationary armaments... there was simply no way for Theo to stay awake for that long! And even if he somehow managed to do it, the risk of oversleeping the moment the invasion would start...

It was simply too great for Theo to accept.

As such, he was left with only one mean of achieving the now improved version of his plan.

"I swear, I will provide the ballistas and the ammunition later, but for now… I beg you, just fucking do it!"