"Concoction?!"

After he processed what the word meant, Axel wasted no time checking the menu. And there, he did see the new function! With excitement, he quickly tapped on it and wanted to try, but...

[Warning! You need a Chemistry Laboratory to use the Concoction Function!]

A boorish red window blocked him.

"A chemistry laboratory..." Axel muttered, thinking for a moment, before turning to Navi. "This laboratory, is it specific? Or any building that I labeled that way would work?"

He was calm!

After all, he did expect that one or two problems would arise with every new function he got. Thankfully, this time, a simple building was what he needed... or so he thought.

[Any building would work, but it needs to be equipped with the minimum Chemistry Laboratory tools. To be specific, here are the minimum requirements!]

As he spoke, a long list of items was presented to Axel, making his lips twitch. Items range from a simple test tube to complicated instruments like a distiller, condenser, and centrifuge!

He was quite surprised at the long list of requirements, but it shouldn't be a problem. Estimating the costs, he should be able to gather all of it after spending about 10 million Colts.

Having money truly speeds things up! If not for his financial prowess, he feared he would have to craft everything from the start!

"But, a building, huh..."

Now that he needed another building, he looked over at the tenement house and nodded. "Since it came to this, let's step up the plan. Let's begin industrialization!"

Of course, even though he said industrialization, he didn't mean to make factories or such. After all, he had the system's crafting panel for that. Instead, what he was talking about was the basics of a modern person's life—electricity!

The Industrial Revolution began after the steam engine was invented. That brought forth a new paradigm, ushering in rapid progress for humanity as a whole.

And one of the most common uses for it is as an electrical generator.

Thus, Axel wasted no time checking the shop for generators... but found that they were way too expensive! Even more expensive than his Humvee!

"This... should I just repurpose the Humvee's engine as a generator?" Axel muttered, tempted.

After all, he was quite sure his current level of income couldn't support an expense reaching tens of billions at the moment. Not to mention his weekly down payment of 100 million Colts (2.5 billion all in all), he also has to save money to offset his astronomical amount of debt.

Thanks to his new products and the auto-crafting, his current balance just went past 1.2 billion Colts. But now that Concoction was unlocked, he would definitely use it for building construction and recipes soon enough.

Furthermore, having an electric generator is more of a luxury than a necessity!

After some thinking, Axel shook his head, throwing the idea away. "No, I can't dismantle the Humvee. It should be useful for further exploration and rescue operations later."

And thus, his priorities were set.

To be specific, he needed money.

Money to buy the required laboratory equipment and make the laboratory building itself.

Money to procure a few concoction recipes and materials.

Money for his Humvee's installments.

Lastly, he needs money to finance his autocrafting endeavors.

Long story short, the more money he has, the better!

Second is welfare.

They have more hands available now. But since Axel no longer asked them to go around gathering materials, the girls literally had nothing to do other than cooking, resting, and defending the walls at night.

This situation, where they're mostly idle, is a waste of manpower!

Thus, his second idea was to make something that the girls could do to generate income. Axel could then pay them for their services, allowing them to gain "money" for necessities and luxuries and improving their lifestyles.

Of course, his mind quickly drifted back to what he had made before—soap!

"I can make a simple manual production line for soap and let the girls handle each step." He muttered, nodding to himself.

Of course, he planned to let them make it using proper, modern-standard ingredients this time. Although it would raise the material cost, it would save them a great amount of time that they would spend gathering materials otherwise.

As such, he decided on two short-term milestones. He planned to build the Laboratory for himself and the Workshop for the girls. Weighing the two structures' cost and return, he was sure which of the two he needed first.

"Let's start with the workshop!"

It's true that making the Laboratory would yield bigger returns, as it was system-related. But if he did that, he would lose time to spend on making the workshop or teaching the girls to make soap! Considering other factors, like efficiency, the same still stays true.

As such, the workshop comes first.

Only after their manufacturing line is set properly would Axel begin on the Laboratory.

Thus, without delay, he began.

Of course, the "workshop" only has a few basic requirements. It requires a roof to protect against the sun and rain, as well as walls to shield it from strong winds. And since they're working with harmful chemicals, they also need good ventilation.

All that considered, Axel chose a simple design from the Housing Panel.

Technically, it was a dry-goods warehouse design.

It still satisfies every requirement, though. Ventilation, roof, and walls! Not to mention, it offers a wide space to work with and could act as storage for their finished products as is!

The cost of the building was about the same as the tenement housing, barely 500 million Colts. It was a large expense, but not something he'd lament about. It's not a consumable either, but an asset investment.

After he bought the materials—which were set neatly in an open space to the south of the center of the camp—Axel walked toward the northern end and dragged his slaves over.

Since they only had a few bites of bread as a meal for two days, the bandits were already showing weakness in their movements. They weren't cursing as frequently as before, either, almost as if they were instinctively saving energy.

Still, with the Obedience Curse on them, they had no choice but to follow Axel's commands.

"Place that pillar there! Right, make an array straight, with a 5-meter gap each. You, not there! To the left, two steps!"

And to ensure everything proceeded perfectly, he even acted as the foreman of the construction.

Of course, it's not like he has an instruction manual or a blueprint, but given that he saw the final appearance of the warehouse and knew its structure beforehand, it wasn't difficult to just wing it.

Thanks to the diligent slaves, just as the sun was hanging low on the horizon, the workshop was complete.

"Now, time to give the girls their jobs!"

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