Chapter 003: Preparing to Build a Magic Array

When the people of Doha City first saw the trebuchets entering the city, perhaps not many noticed them. But by the time they entered a second time, it was impossible to ignore them.
One reason was their concern over the trebuchets themselves, and another was that there were already over a hundred of them—there was no way to ignore such a large number!
So when they saw those over a hundred trebuchets, they all thought at the same time that Du Fan must have these things, meaning the bandit groups would soon have a hard time. Trebuchets were most effective when used for defending a city. Since Du Fan could produce so many to sell, he surely had many more on hand.
Apart from those who delivered the trebuchets, no one else in Dasha City knew about Du Fan’s actions. Just three days after these trebuchets arrived, Du Fan had already earned around 200,000 gold coins—mainly due to their scarcity.
As soon as these trebuchets hit the market, everyone wanted to get them first. Although they were a bit expensive, they were essential for warfare and could save lives, so people weren’t shy about paying. Moreover, this was the South—a region full of trouble!
Du Fan truly had a favorable location!
Though he had made a huge profit, it was still far from what he wanted. So after some thought, he decided it was most important to develop his foundation first. He put the gold coins away.
Du Fan wasn’t in a hurry to produce more trebuchets. He wasn’t rushed—after all, gold couldn’t be earned overnight. By deliberately slowing down the production of trebuchets, he naturally couldn’t satisfy the demands of those nobles. No matter what they said, he refused to supply them. There simply weren’t any left—everyone who made trebuchets had gone to build dungeons!
The dungeons were bustling with activity. When they saw those vast dark spaces, they felt instinctive fear. But since Du Fan had been there many times unharmed, they thought he must have driven away the demons there. So they bravely stepped forward. Of course, Du Fan hadn’t—and couldn’t—drive away the “demons,” Mr. Ming Wei. But he could comfort them a bit.
In the magic tower at the heart of the dungeon, seeing his “home” no longer lifeless, Ming Wei smiled. Though he avoided contact with others due to his abilities, he liked watching people. It was a habit formed over ten thousand years and impossible to change—nor did he want to.

The people of Doha City had been warned many times by Du Fan not to approach the Magic Tower under any circumstances, as a testing platform was being built there. If successful, Doha City’s defenses would rival those of the capital! Although many didn’t believe it was true, hope was good, so people were more inclined to trust Du Fan’s words. Moreover, ordinary people wouldn’t dare approach a mage’s magic tower anyway. In this way, Ming Wei had a lively yet disturbance-free “home.” Du Fan hadn’t returned to Doha City yet. Though he already knew the name of the last item and realized that those nine items, which even Ming Wei didn’t possess, weren’t as expensive as he thought, the thought of tons still caused his heart pain—after all, that was countless gold coins!! But when he thought about the power of that magic array, he became excited again. Gold coins would be obtained; everything would be fine. Due to lack of funds, he hadn’t considered it for now. Anyway, the magic array could still sustain him for another year if he used it sparingly. After selling those hundred trebuchets, the gold coins would naturally go to Du Fan. It wasn’t that Du Fan didn’t trust them, but the return journey wasn’t safe! Even those bandit groups could wipe out those less than thirty people delivering the trebuchets with a single attack. They knew this too, which was why Du Fan had come in person once. For this reason, they guessed that the leaders of Doha City must also be in Desha City. By the time they received the news and rushed to the inn where Du Fan had stayed, it was already too late. Since it was said to be the inn where Du Fan had stayed, Du Fan had naturally left. Once Du Fan left Desha City, for the next sale of trebuchets, he would ask them to go to Doha City themselves! When the people of the Beiba family received Du Fan’s message, they breathed a sigh of relief. Having scarce goods in hand wasn’t easy either. Right now, it felt like they had fought a major battle—every noble who came to buy trebuchets! How could they not be nervous! It was also thanks to Du Fan’s previous action with the Fire Fruit, which showed his stance, that those nobles didn’t dare to trouble him too much. That’s why they could cope better with those nobles; otherwise, things would be even worse! Du Fan’s request was simple: exchange supplies for trebuchets in Doha City!

But those bandit groups made them hesitate again. If Du Fan wanted gold coins, they could set out lightly and return without fear, as they wouldn’t bring anything back except trebuchets. Yet Du Fan wanted life-threatening supplies!
Didn’t Du Fan know this? He wasn’t a fool, and surely he had his reasons for doing this. Those bandit groups could be considered wiped out by him, and the news had already spread.
Du Fan wasn’t afraid they would find out or worry—after all, they wouldn’t come to attack now, and the tunnels were almost ready. They thought they could catch him off guard, but he had already prepared graves for them to fall into! They just didn’t know it yet.
As for those supplies, Du Fan merely wanted to create an illusion—making it seem like they lacked supplies when in fact they didn’t! Otherwise, it would be Du Fan who was anxious, not them!
All the construction materials for the dungeon were polished stones. Du Fan had specifically chosen high-quality stones from the mines to build the city. These materials were taken underground not to be used immediately for construction but to build passages.
Drainage channels, water supply channels, ventilation channels… ventilation wasn’t needed, as Ming Wei had already taken care of that.
Those underground passages were like a maze. Their current task was to connect the passages and prepare the hidden traps in the city—just need to carefully poison them.
Most of their efforts were still focused on building the dungeon. Du Fan hadn’t ordered them to build the city right away—after all, it wasn’t cold here, nor did it rain, so it didn’t really matter whether there was construction or not. But when it came to a city, it had to be built.
Du Fan had them make the pulleys he had designed. With pulleys, transporting things became much faster.
Although it took them three days to set up the pulleys, it shortened the time needed to transport goods by countless times!
The shouts of the people seemed to reflect their struggles, yet everything was still developing prosperously.
The bandit groups were aware of what was happening in City Doha, but it wasn’t the right time for them to make a move. But City Doha—no, not just City Doha, every corner of the Siluo Province—was changing day by day, improving steadily!

They didn’t understand how Du Fan could be so capable. The previous lord couldn’t even save the city of Doha, yet Du Fan took care of other cities as well—how could this not astonish them!
What surprised them the most was that, aside from sending supplies in, they kept their city gates tightly closed. Since no one usually came in or out of their city, it was better not to open them at all. That’s what they thought!
Du Fan felt the same way, and this also made it harder for thieves to sneak in. Now only Doha allowed people in and out. But inside Doha, aside from the basic residential houses to ensure its people had a place to live, there was hardly anything else. They didn’t need it now, and their city would be built around the lower area in the future! As for the upper area, it would naturally be built too, but as a transportation center!
That was Du Fan’s plan: the upper area as a transportation center, and the lower area as the actual city!
Du Fan returned to the dungeon. After analyzing the dust-covered remnants there, he decided on the most efficient method—turning that dust into mud bricks for construction. The result was quite good. The mud bricks had good cohesion and were quite fine.
The materials for building the dungeon had been determined, and they were easy to obtain. While the upper area changed day by day, the lower area changed rapidly as they prepared the mud bricks and added the already cut stones, quickly constructing houses.
They could also assign people to repair the city walls.
Though it was called wall repair, what puzzled those thief gangs was that the people of Doha only made the walls look better. In terms of strength, there were no weaker city walls in the south than those of Doha!
“Does that young duke really think he’s something special just because he killed the four fierce beasts?” He still didn’t realize that those beasts had initially hidden their true strength.
Someone said darkly, “Don’t underestimate anyone. If you haven’t experienced what happened back then, don’t talk rashly! Even if those four fierce beasts aren’t the best, they’re still many times stronger than you!”
The person who spoke first was just a minor thief; he didn’t dare confront their new advisor. Though he didn’t understand why the boss trusted the new advisor so much, it wasn’t something a small thief like him could question.

The strategist looked in the direction of Doha City. He didn’t know if he could kill Du Fan, but the more defenseless Doha City seemed, the more uneasy he felt. If it were him, he would surely rush into Doha City without thinking and turn it into a dead city!
But the person who promised to let him seek revenge and gave him this opportunity demanded that he not act recklessly out of hatred. What did that mean? It was just a warning not to casually sacrifice that person’s subordinates! He simply didn’t understand how terrifying Du Fan was! And was there really nothing in that seemingly empty city? After all, they had spent over a month building it! Apart from seeing the city walls patched up superficially, no other activity could be seen—was there really no problem?
Alexander looked ahead, feeling somewhat worried. Although he didn’t know much about Du Fan, he knew that Du Fan was by no means ordinary—just look at the hidden strength he possessed, not to mention his cunning. He had almost fallen for Du Fan’s tricks; it would have been better if he had died. Watching his brother die right before his eyes was unbearable!
Night after night, he thought about Du Fan, wondering how to kill him and avenge his brother!
What Alexander didn’t know was that this might be a form of the empty city tactic—yet in this seemingly empty city, deadly traps lurked everywhere. But they had reacted too slowly. By then, Alexander was already on guard, but Du Fan’s preparations were already complete. Was he still afraid of them?
Du Fan and his group had slowed down construction, pretending to be short of funds, but still insisting that they send supplies. This act of feigning weakness only raised suspicions. Perhaps Du Fan refused to admit his financial shortage to preserve his face?
Meanwhile, Du Fan had also sent letters to the Beiba family, the Green family, and some others connected to him. They could guess what the letters contained. From the Beiba family, some news came through—Du Fan needed money, a lot of it!
Everyone was puzzled. Didn’t Du Fan want supplies? Why did he need money now?