Campfire Upgrade, Recruiting Polar People

Clearly, if the Eternal Power talent is to be effective, it is only natural to raise a larger force for the territory.

It seems I will be heading toward a lord-style development in the future, Cao Xing thought to himself.

At this moment, Cao Xing noticed a countdown timer above his head.

Time until nightfall: 4 hours 32 minutes...

Note: During the novice protection period, no monsters will attack the camp. Remaining novice protection period: 5 days 17 hours...

"There are only 4 hours left until dark!"

Cao Xing's scalp tightened instantly.

He was well aware that in this world of extreme cold, the temperature would drop drastically once night fell.

Cao Xing turned his gaze toward the campfire in front of him.

Campfire: Level 1
Campfire Effect: Increases the temperature of the area within a 10-meter radius by 5~20°C
Consumption: 1 wood per 15 minutes.
Materials required for upgrade: Stone*5

The temperature near the campfire was already at -32°C, and it would plummet by another 20-plus degrees at night.

Clearly, the heat radiated by this Level 1 campfire would not be enough for him to safely survive the night.

Cao Xing then looked at a collapsed hut nearby.

Damaged Lord's Hut: Can be repaired
Materials required for repair: Stone*10, Wood*20.

Cao Xing's eyes lit up instantly.

This was it!

Once repaired, he could unlock the territory interface and crawl inside at night to escape the freezing cold.

However, repairing the Lord's Hut required materials like stone and wood.

Cao Xing looked at the surrounding snow; near the campfire lay a pile of white stones and some cut wood.

Stone (White): A basic material.
Wood (White): A basic material.

Just as Cao Xing was about to go pick up the wood, he heard Liu Muxue ask softly from the side, "A-Xing, that notification sound is asking me to choose a class. What should I choose?"

Clearly, this woman had already processed the system information and accepted the fact that she had arrived in a new world.

Cao Xing nodded inwardly; her ability to adapt was quite fast.

"Sister-in-law, you should choose Aurora Knight."

Cao Xing had selfish motives for suggesting this class.

Because the Aurora Knight would gain many powerful buff skills in the later stages, though their effects were usually very short-lived.

And with his own Eternal Power talent, he could turn these buff effects into permanent states.

One could only imagine how terrifying the combat power would be when Cao Xing commanded a group of troops stacked with permanent buffs.

Although, whether in temperament or appearance, Liu Muxue didn't seem to fit the image of a knight at all.

Especially since she was wearing white silk stockings today.

As soon as Cao Xing imagined the image of Liu Muxue later wearing armor with white silk stockings underneath, he felt it was full of dissonance.

Uh... wait, actually, that might not be bad?

White-silk knight... hehehe...

"Okay, then I'll choose Aurora Knight." Liu Muxue did not doubt Cao Xing's decision.

In this strange world, he was the only person she knew.

Cao Xing nodded, and then he saw a small wooden box beside the campfire.

Territory Storage Box: Level 1
Storage Capacity: 40 slots
Note: Contains some supplies and tools needed for the early stages. Please open as soon as possible.

Cao Xing stepped forward and opened it, and a large amount of supplies immediately appeared inside.

Opening successful: Obtained Bread*20, Obtained Iron Pot (White)*1, Obtained Stone Axe (White)*4, Obtained Stone Hammer (White)*4, Obtained Wooden Staff (White)*1, Obtained Wooden Round Shield (White)*1

The supplies inside were for four people; the system had not deducted any items just because they were only a two-person team.

Cao Xing nodded in satisfaction.

With the stone hammers, they could start working on building the Lord's Hut, which was the key to whether they could safely survive the first night.

He then began to hurry and collect the nearby stones and wood, carrying them over one by one.

System notifications appeared continuously.

Stone +1

Stone +1

Wood +2

These stones were quite heavy, and after moving them for a while, Cao Xing was covered in sweat.

As a modern person, his physical fitness was ultimately a bit lacking.

However, after nearly twenty minutes of effort, the materials required to repair the Lord's Cabin were finally gathered.

Cao Xing arrived in front of the small cabin.

[Do you wish to begin repairing the damaged Lord's Cabin? This repair will take 17 minutes...]

"Yes."

Then, Cao Xing began swinging his stone hammer, hammering away with a "clang, clang" sound according to the blueprint provided by the system.

There was no other way; only after repairing the Lord's Cabin could other territory buildings be unlocked.

Before recruiting any Polar People, Cao Xing had no choice but to do everything himself.

Watching his busy figure.

Liu Muxue, standing to the side, crouched on the ground. The bitter cold made her hug her arms tightly, perfectly accentuating her flawless body curves.

She asked with curious eyes, "Axing, is there anything I can help you with?"

Cao Xing glanced at the campfire on the ground, then looked at the stones and wood scattered across the snow, and nodded. "You go collect nearby stones and wood first, and then upgrade the camp campfire as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Liu Muxue did not hesitate in the slightest.

She stood up immediately and began walking away from the campfire.

Before long, she could be seen clumsily carrying a stone over.

It was evident that the weight of this stone was a bit of a struggle for her.

Liu Muxue held it in her arms, her hands frozen bright red.

Yet she gritted her teeth and pushed through, continuing to move the stones.

Stone +1

Since her high heels were inconvenient, Liu Muxue took them off, walking barefoot on the snow with her pink feet, her small face pale from the cold.

Cao Xing, who was busy building the Lord's Cabin, did not stop her.

In this world, in order to survive, everyone had to contribute.

"Ugh..."

When Liu Muxue set the stone down, her perky buttocks were facing Cao Xing, displaying their rounded curves in full view, enough to make anyone's blood boil.

Cao Xing quickly averted his gaze, focusing intently on his work.

He was busy repairing the Lord's Cabin.

Meanwhile, Liu Muxue was moving stones to upgrade the campfire; the two of them worked in cooperation.

Before long, Cao Xing heard a system notification.

Your camp campfire has been upgraded to Level 2.

Campfire: Level 2. Campfire Effect: Increases the temperature of the area within a 20-meter radius by 10~20℃.

Consumption: 13 minutes/1 wood.

Materials required for next level: Stone*10

The coverage area of the upgraded campfire was significantly larger.

Even Cao Xing, who was working, felt a hint of warmth, and his work efficiency increased.

A few minutes later, a system notification appeared.

The Lord's Cabin has been successfully built. The territory interface is now unlocked. Congratulations! You can now construct more infrastructure.

Cao Xing's face lit up with joy; he could finally build other structures!

The next step was to build the Polar People Cabin, and then summon a few Polar People to officially begin his path as a lord!

At the same time, a second system notification appeared.

Because you are the first survivor in the entire server to build the Lord's Cabin, you have received a reward: Ice Healing Technique (Skill Book).

Ice Healing Technique (White): Consumes a certain amount of mental power to cast Ice Healing Technique on a target, restoring health equal to mental power * 0.8 per second for 3 seconds.

On the snow in front of Cao Xing, a yellowed skill book appeared.

Good heavens! It was actually a skill book!

And it was one he could use himself.

Although combat rarely occurred during the beginner protection period, this skill book undoubtedly gave Cao Xing much more confidence.

Do you wish to learn Ice Healing Technique (White)?

"Yes."

Cao Xing clicked to learn it immediately.

At this moment, many functional panels appeared before Cao Xing again.

They are: Territory, Buildings, Inventory, Crafting, Channels, Personal, and Territory Forces.

These interfaces cover almost all functions.

Cao Xing first clicked on his inventory, which only had 20 slots of storage space.

Of course, it was completely empty inside.

Then, he clicked on Buildings. Upon opening it, a large list of Level 1 buildings popped up.

Such as: Level 1 Simple Stove, Level 1 Simple Cooking Bench, Level 1 Smeltery, Level 1 Lumber Mill, Level 1 Blacksmith Shop, Level 1 Polar People Hut, and so on...

He ignored the other basic facilities for now.

Cao Xing first clicked on the description for the Polar People Hut.

Level 1 Polar People Hut: You can summon Polar People to work for you by consuming food.

Area occupied: 12 square meters. Population capacity: 4 people.

Materials required for construction: Stone*10, Wood*30.

Construction time: 45 minutes (additional people can participate in construction to speed up the time, limit: 2 people).

45 minutes is a bit slow if I build it alone, Cao Xing thought to himself.

There are only three hours left until dark, and I still need to do other things.

Thus, he looked at Liu Muxue nearby, "Sister-in-law, come over and help me."

Liu Muxue had consumed a significant amount of stamina moving stones and wood, and her dress was already soaked through with sweat.

Through the fabric, the outline of her white lace underwear was visible.

Hearing Cao Xing call her, Liu Muxue put down the work in her hands and walked over slowly.

"Axing, what do you need me to do?"

Cao Xing pointed to the open space in front of him and said, "I want to build a Polar People Hut here, but it takes too long to build."

"If you help me build it together, the speed will be much faster."

Liu Muxue's eyes were slightly dazed; she didn't seem to understand, but she nodded anyway.

Then, the two of them began to work together to build the Polar People Hut.

"Clang! Clang!"

A rhythmic sound of hammering suddenly echoed across the empty, snowy field.

Half an hour later.

A system notification appeared.

Successfully built: Polar People Hut, Territory Population +4.

Now, you can recruit Polar People to work for you by consuming food.

Note: As the lord, you need to provide food for your subordinates every day. If you leave them in a state of hunger for a long time, they will abandon you.

On the snow in front of the two, a hut less than two meters high, resembling a camping tent, suddenly appeared.

At this moment, another system notification appeared in Cao Xing's ear.

"Because you are the first survivor in the entire server to build a Polar People Hut, you have received a reward: Bread*50."

Seeing this system notification, a look of pleasant surprise flashed in Cao Xing's eyes.

Good heavens! A full 50 units of food; this reward is truly excellent.

Cao Xing couldn't help but feel fortunate that he had played this game before, which allowed him to build these structures in the shortest possible time and get ahead of everyone else.

Recruiting one Polar Person requires 5 units of food, Cao Xing thought to himself. If I didn't have this system reward, I could only recruit 2 at most.

But now, I can directly recruit all 4 Polar People.

Thinking of this, Cao Xing clicked on recruit.

Consume Food*20 to recruit Polar People*4?

"Yes."

As soon as he spoke, the camping tent in front of him began to tremble.

Then, the door was pushed open.

Four short people, less than 1.5 meters tall, wearing thick, rugged-looking snow cotton clothes, crawled out from inside.

These were the Polar People.

After coming out, they looked at Cao Xing and his companion and bowed respectfully.

"Respected Lord, the Polar People are at your service!"

Liu Muxue, standing to the side, was completely stunned by this scene of people appearing out of thin air.

Her small mouth opened slightly, and she exclaimed, "A-A-A-Axing, they... they came out!"