+18 Ultimate Greatsword

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Frost Wolf broke into a heavy run in the direction Han Xing had ordered.

Watching the man and wolf disappear into the distance, Cao Xing nodded in satisfaction.

A few minutes later.

A system notification appeared.

[Your territory building, Polar People Hut, has been upgraded successfully. Current level: Level 2. Recruitable Polar People: 4/8.]

Cao Xing's eyes lit up. "Good, good, good. The Polar People Hut has been upgraded too. That means more people can work for me!"

Before long, four Polar People carrying tools arrived beside Cao Xing.

"Lord, the task has been completed!"

Cao Xing nodded, then walked over to the Level 2 Polar People Hut.

After the upgrade, the Polar People Hut had changed from a small tent into a modest single-story house nearly three meters tall and covering roughly twenty square meters.

The building's attributes appeared before him.

Level 2 Polar People Hut: Consume food to summon Polar People to work for you.

Area: 30 square meters. Maximum recruits: 4/8. Upgrade requirements: Level 3 Lord's Hut, Stone x100, Wood x200, Iron x50.

Cao Xing pondered, "A Level 2 Polar People Hut can only recruit four more Polar People. We're still short on manpower."

"To keep upgrading it, I need a Level 3 Lord's Hut. I can't build that anytime soon."

Shaking his head, Cao Xing spent another 20 food to summon four Polar People.

The hut trembled.

Four Polar People rushed out.

"Honored Lord, the Polar People report to you!"

Liu Muxue exclaimed softly from the side, "Ah! More Polar People came out..."

Cao Xing nodded, then continued naming the Polar People.

He went from Wuzhuang and Liuzhuang all the way to Bazhuang before stopping.

The Polar People all said respectfully, "Thank you, Lord, for granting us names."

You have successfully named a Polar People. Wuzhuang's loyalty toward you has increased by 5 points...

You have successfully named a Polar People. Liuzhuang's loyalty toward you has increased by 5 points...

System notifications about increased favorability kept appearing.

Cao Xing looked first at Dazhuang and said, "Dazhuang, lead Erzhuang through Sizhuang. The four of you will mine that coal mine with all your strength."

"Wuzhuang and Liuzhuang, your task is to chop down the nearby trees and transport them to the Lumber Mill for processing."

"Qizhuang and Bazhuang, your task is to gather more stone and build the Ore Processing Plant."

"Do you all understand?"

After hearing this, the eight Polar People exchanged glances and respectfully bowed. "Understood, Lord!"

Then, led by Dazhuang, the Polar People began working in full swing.

"Ah Xing, is there anything you need me to do?" Liu Muxue asked softly from the side.

Cao Xing glanced at Liu Muxue's current equipment. Apart from the small wooden shield given by the system, she only had a stone axe.

Cracks had also appeared on that small wooden shield from battle.

It felt like one more fight would destroy it completely.

Thinking of this, Cao Xing said, "Sister-in-law, I'll check the market and see if there's anything useful."

Liu Muxue nodded lightly. "Mm... I'll listen to you."

Cao Xing checked his food reserves.

Food: Bread x45, Snake Meat x10, Wolf Meat x132

"Food is still plentiful at the moment. I can take some out to exchange for supplies or equipment."

He opened the market channel.

There were several dozen more pages of listed items.

It seemed that more and more survivors—or rather, teams—had built markets.

Cao Xing entered the word "equipment" in the search bar and filtered the results.

Scattered among the listings were some basic white-grade items, such as stone axes and stone spears.

A few iron items were also being sold at quite high prices.

Cao Xing shook his head. Their attributes were all too poor. They offered practically no improvement.

Just then, he spotted a listing.

Listed Item: Rusty Iron Shield (White) x1.

Wanted: Food x50 or Medical Kit x1.

Seller: Chen Yuan. (Seller's note: Ultimate iron shield with astonishing defense. First come, first served.)

Cao Xing checked the shield's attributes. It had 5–8 armor, nearly double the small wooden shield Liu Muxue carried.

It was not exactly an ultimate item, but it was still decent.

So, as usual, Cao Xing immediately made an offer.

Cao Xing: "20 food for the Rusty Iron Shield."

A moment later, the other side sent back one word.

"Get lost."

Damn... this guy had quite the temper. He couldn't even stand bargaining.

Cao Xing was amused.

Shaking his head, he did not pay it any mind.

So he listed an item himself.

Listed Item: Fresh Wolf Meat (Green)

Wanted: Equipment, weapons, skill books. Seller: Cao Xing. (Seller's note: Fresh wolf meat. One piece of wolf meat = 5 food. Looking for equipment or skill books usable by Aurora Knights and Frost Mages. Interested parties, message me privately.)

Not long after the wolf meat was listed, survivors immediately noticed the market post.

"Holy shit! Someone's selling food in the market—and it's green-grade wolf meat!"

"Wolf meat? Aren't wild wolves at least Level 3 monsters? Which big shot killed wolves this quickly?"

"That's insane. I'm still gnawing on dry bread while someone else is already eating meat."

"This big shot wants equipment and skill books. Whoever has them, hurry up and trade with him!"

At this stage, when everyone was worrying about food, someone selling food—especially precious wolf meat—immediately caused a stir.

Sure enough, Cao Xing soon received his first private message.

Ren Yixu: "Brother, I can tell you're an extraordinary talent. I have a +18 ultimate greatsword here. I'll sell it to you for just five pieces of wolf meat. What do you say?"

Cao Xing was delighted. "Send it over for me to see."

Rusty Iron Sword (White). Quality: Common. Attack: 6–8. Additional effect: None.

Cao Xing: "..."

"This is the +18 ultimate greatsword you mentioned?"

Ren Yixu laughed. "Forgot to mention it—this is a future +18 enhanced greatsword. With my abilities, I'll definitely be able to enhance it to +18 someday!"

Cao Xing was speechless. "Two pieces of wolf meat."

Ren Yixu froze. "That little?"

"Are you selling or not?"

"Selling!"

Ren Yixu agreed without hesitation.

Cao Xing wordlessly revised the trade offer.

Trade successful. You obtained Rusty Iron Sword (White). You lost Fresh Wolf Meat (Green) x2.

Then, Cao Xing received many more private messages.

There were not many people selling equipment. Most wanted to trade other territory resources, such as wood, stone, and small amounts of iron.

Cao Xing reminded these survivors that basic resources were important and the foundation of survival, so they should not sell them lightly.

Some survivors listened and abandoned the trade, but others insisted on trading with Cao Xing.

They told Cao Xing that they were about to starve to death. Who could care about future development then? Filling their stomachs came first.

Seeing their messages, Cao Xing pondered inwardly.

"Since they want to sell, I can indeed collect a batch of resources first."

"But I don't have much wolf meat in reserve, so I can't buy large amounts of stone and wood."

"Still, I can exchange for some iron first, then build the Blacksmith Shop."

Once the Blacksmith Shop was built, he could make simple iron tools inside, such as iron axes, iron pickaxes, and iron spears.

Other equipment, however, required the corresponding blueprints to craft.

But the survivors currently had too little iron, at most two or three pieces.

Exchanging one piece of wolf meat for two iron would definitely put Cao Xing at a loss.

So Cao Xing asked the system, "Can wolf meat be divided into smaller portions?"

A system notification appeared.

One piece of wolf meat can be divided into at most ten small portions, with 100 grams per portion.

Cao Xing paused. It actually could!

So he took out five pieces of wolf meat and divided them into fifty portions.

Then, Cao Xing adjusted the trade conditions.

The exchange rate was one portion of wolf meat for two iron.

The regional channel stirred up again.

"Brothers, this big shot changed the terms! You can trade iron for wolf meat too. Whoever has iron, hurry up and exchange it!"

"I happen to have two pieces. I'm going to trade with this big shot right away."

"Damn, I want meat too! Save some for me!"

Trade requests kept flooding in on Cao Xing's end.

Trade successful. You obtained Iron x2. You lost Wolf Meat x100g.

Trade successful. You obtained Iron x4. You lost Wolf Meat x200g.

Trade successful. You obtained Iron Round Shield (White) x1. You lost Fresh Wolf Meat x5.

Besides a large amount of iron, Cao Xing also received a shield as he had hoped.

Cao Xing checked its attributes.

Iron Round Shield (White). Quality: Common. Armor: 9–11. Additional effect: None. Though it was only a white-grade shield, its attributes were far better than the wooden shield in Liu Muxue's hands.

Before long, the dozen or so pieces of wolf meat Cao Xing had listed were all bought instantly.

And Cao Xing's backpack now contained 100 extra iron!

The iron in his possession was now fully sufficient to build a Blacksmith Shop.

Joy appeared in Cao Xing's eyes. "Compared to gathering resources slowly, trading with other survivors is much faster!"

Of course, this method depended on having enough resources.

Now that the territory's population had suddenly increased so much, daily food consumption would be no small amount.

So he could only sell a small portion of his food in exchange for supplies.

Just as Cao Xing was about to end the trades, the survivor named Chen Yuan messaged him again.

"Brother, I'll sell you that iron shield. Ten pieces of wolf meat."

He had apparently noticed the activity in the market as well.

Seeing this message, Cao Xing could not help laughing.

This guy really dared to name a price. He was treating that broken shield like a treasure.

The shield Cao Xing had just traded for not only had better attributes than that Rusty Iron Shield, it had only cost him five pieces of wolf meat.

So Cao Xing replied, "No need. Keep it for yourself."

Upon hearing that, Chen Yuan immediately became anxious.

"Brother, don't be like that! Everything is negotiable. Eight pieces—eight pieces should be fine, right?"

Cao Xing had no intention of paying him any attention.

The other side hurriedly said, "Six pieces. It really can't go any lower. Don't be too greedy."

Cao Xing still did not reply.

Chen Yuan said anxiously, "I'm Chen Yuan from the Three Heroes Association. Do me a favor—take this shield for five pieces of wolf meat."

"..."

Chen Yuan seemed to have lost his patience.

"Four pieces of wolf meat! That's my absolute limit. I advise you not to refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!"

His tone grew increasingly impatient.

At that moment, Cao Xing replied flatly, "Get lost."