Hearing this, everyone's hearts grew even heavier.
However, Jax continued, "But I still have a plan! Don't worry, we'll get through this Insect Swarm together!"
Then, Jax looked at Barnaby.
"Barney, how many Energy Shards do we have left now?"
Barnaby was now responsible for keeping the Energy Shards, and he would tally them up daily.
Although he only had the intelligence of a three-year-old, Barnaby was definitely the smartest among three-year-olds, able to count from one to a thousand.
"Brother, we have 115 Energy Shards left!"
"Over a hundred! It still feels a bit insufficient. Now, each reload of a Sentry Tower consumes two, and reloading a Howitzer Turret consumes four."
"And when the Insect Swarm comes, it will attack day and night without stopping. By then, these Energy Shards will be completely inadequate!"
At this moment, Kaleb suddenly stepped forward and said, "Let me become a miner too! I need to do something for us!"
"Good!"
This time, Jax did not refuse, after all, Silas had already gone to The Sprawl, and this trip of his wasn't just to The Sprawl; he also had to go to Redrock Bastion to help Jax deliver a letter to Elena.
Because Jax vaguely felt that this time he needed to bring Elena over as well; this Insect Swarm made him feel something was off.
If they really encountered some insect race they couldn't resist, the Cores in his hands would be his final guarantee. He had to bring Elena over as soon as possible and find a place to settle down.
They had quite a few Cores on hand, enough to live comfortably for many years.
If they used them sparingly, they might even be able to get their own Defense Tower eventually.
After all, if the System's fortress was destroyed in this Insect Swarm, he would have no security left, so he needed to leave himself a way out.
Then Jax reached out and patted the other's head.
[Kaleb, age 22, Loyalty: 75]
Seeing this Loyalty, Jax was also stunned; he hadn't expected Kaleb's Loyalty to be so high.
"Alright! Then I'll start now! You meet the requirements for a miner."
Kaleb just nodded, with no resistance on his face.
Then a light flowed from Jax's palm into the other's head.
After a while, Kaleb felt his hands filled with strength.
"This strength only manifests when you're mining! So, work hard from now on!"
Kaleb nodded, then walked into the room, took out a hoe, and looked at Jax.
"Then I'll go work now!"
After Jax hummed in agreement, everyone also started to get busy.
Jax took this opportunity to check his storage space.
"Whew! Another new thing! But I wonder if this Tar Pit is a one-time use!"
Jax opened the blueprint for the Tar Pit Trap.
[Tier 1 Tar Pit Trap: Slows down enemy attack speed, covers an area of 4*4, after consumption requires 10 Stardust Stones to restart]
[Tier 1 Tar Pit Trap construction required: Stardust Stone*50, Refined Iron*50]
"Alright, still a trap I can't afford!"
In the end, Jax helplessly withdrew his consciousness from the System.
But he still learned some information about this Tar Pit Trap.
"Four by four means a range of four meters by four meters; this area is quite large! Even spider monsters would be trapped! But I don't know how long this Tar Pit Trap can hold monsters!"
However, Jax didn't think too much about it; instead, he looked around and decided to choose a place to set up these Tar Pit Traps.
Jax still placed the selected location for setting up the Tar Pit Traps near the wall, because that was the hardest place for monsters to pass, and if he could trap the insect race there, then the Howitzer Turret and Sentry Tower could both hit that spot.
So Jax went to the location and measured the width.
"Haha! It's exactly four meters; now if they want to come over, they must pass through this Tar Pit Trap!"
Thinking this, Jax couldn't help but feel relieved.
But next, he still needed to obtain Stardust Stones and Refined Iron.
Now, Jax lacked materials, feeling as uncomfortable as lacking blood.
Two days later, Jax finally gathered the materials to build the Tar Pit Trap.
But it was just enough for four Tar Pit Traps.
Looking at the spent 200 Stardust Stones and 200 Refined Iron, Jax couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart.
"How on earth can this stuff be farmed? System, is there any way to get Refined Iron and Stardust Stones?"
[User, Tier 2 fortresses have buildings that can solve your problem!]
"Oh? There are buildings? What buildings?"
[Sorry, User, this cannot be disclosed for now! Please complete System Missions automatically to obtain!]
"Alright! Won't say anything! Forget it! I'll just honestly do missions!"
Jax very helplessly returned to the fortress.
But during dinner that day, Jax saw someone coming from the direction of the valley entrance.
"Boss, Silas is back!"
Kaleb, with his 3.0 vision, immediately spotted Silas in the rain curtain.
Jax immediately put down what he was holding and went over.
Silas was wearing a raincoat, carrying some things in his hands, with a large backpack on his back.
Everyone helped him bring the things up.
After taking a sip of water, Silas finally spoke, "Boss! Mission accomplished, I've gotten all the information you asked me to find out!"
Hearing this, Jax and everyone immediately felt relieved.
Then Silas took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Jax, with a trace of worry on his face.
"Boss, I heard some bad news!"
Hearing this, Jax immediately stopped opening the envelope.
"What bad news?"
"The Elysium Lounge... is going to close!"
"What? The Elysium Lounge is closing? When did this happen? When did it close?"
"No, no, it hasn't closed yet, I just heard from the cleaners there when I delivered the letter! It should be soon!"
"Is this information accurate?"
Jax looked at him with a serious expression.
Silas nodded, "Accurate! Just don't know when it will close!"
"Why is it closing?"
"Because the Chief of The Elysium Lounge mortgaged the club to prepare to build a batch of Defense Towers! So he mortgaged the guild, and it probably won't be long before The Elysium Lounge might close! Then it's unknown whether it will be transferred to others or sold directly."
Hearing this news, Barnaby, who was nearby, couldn't help but tug on Jax's arm.
"Brother, sister is still inside! Let's go save sister!"
Jax gently patted Barnaby's shoulder, "Yes! Leave this to me! I'll definitely save your sister! Don't worry!"
Then, Jax looked at the envelope and put it back in his pocket.
"By the way, you went to The Helios Syndicate this time, did you hear any other news?"
"Yes! I did! First, under The Helios Syndicate's manipulation, your wanted status has been removed!"
Hearing this, Jax immediately felt relieved, "Great, I thought I could never return to The Sprawl again!"