Chen Ning, Lan Xinyu.
"Long time no see." Ye Qian nodded at them.
"Oh my god, Ye Qian, you're actually wearing white stockings. You look so pure."
Lan Xinyu ran over with sparkling eyes, looking Ye Qian up and down before reaching out to pat her head. "You're so cute. How about becoming my little sister?"
"Umm..." Feeling the head pat, Ye Qian didn't know what to say.
At that moment, a burst of intense light flew out from inside the intact Arrow Tower and entered the three of them.
The Life Energy stored by the Arrow Tower has been distributed. You have received one-third, for a total of 48 Life Energy.
"This is..."
Feeling the changes within her body, Ye Qian couldn't help but feel delighted.
"Combat buildings can store some of the energy from killing invaders for us to absorb after we return," Chen Ning walked over and explained. "Looks like quite a few wild monsters invaded our territory during this time."
"So that's how it is." Lan Xinyu immediately tapped her interface. "I leveled up."
"Mm. Keep it up, everyone. There's only one Arrow Tower left now, and it's badly damaged. We need to hurry and collect the loot, then build another one."
Everything felt familiar.
Quite a few corpses could be seen on the distant ground, most of them Gray Wolves and little white rabbits. Only one creature that looked like an armadillo had died beneath the destroyed Arrow Tower, with at least twenty Iron Arrows embedded in its body.
After quickly gathering the corpses and picking up the money, Chen Ning bought the materials for a new Arrow Tower and began construction.
Ye Qian also bought some arrows, intending to climb up and install them.
"I'll do it."
Lan Xinyu snatched the Iron Arrows from her and pointed at Ye Qian's skirt.
"Uh... all right."
I'm wearing safety shorts, though. What's there to see?
"Damn, there are only eight left?" Lan Xinyu jumped in fright.
That was enough to show just how dangerous the starting territory was.
After about half an hour of work, they built the first Arrow Tower and repaired two layers of wooden walls. They were temporarily safe now.
Ye Qian checked the logout button.
It now showed that she could leave only after three days.
"That long?"
She couldn't help being surprised.
Fortunately, when they were in the Main World, time in the real world moved extremely slowly. At least, she could clearly feel that her duplicate and main body were severely out of sync. Relatively speaking, it was practically frozen.
"This is quite a long time. Fortunately, we still have plenty of resources. I think we can build another Arrow Tower in two hours and repair the old one. Once all three are dealt with, we can continue chopping trees and reclaiming land. Once we obtain combat units capable of exploration, we can head out and explore."
Ye Ning looked completely confident.
"Combat units?"
"That's right. This world isn't purely tower defense. We can also actively expand our territory. Some special items, such as things that guarantee our survival after defeat, can only be found outside. If we stay home forever, we'll eventually meet our end."
Hearing him say that, Lan Xinyu immediately became nervous. "Then let's hurry up. I don't want to die here."
"Mm. Let's get to work."
As usual, Ye Qian picked up a hoe and began tilling the ground.
She realized that she was much stronger than before. Swinging the hoe no longer took any effort, and on average, she could dig up three Copper Coins per minute.
Her acquisition rate was much higher than the other two's.
By around noon, a white-quality drop appeared on Ye Qian's side.
Item: Tethered Bird (White) Type: Scouting Description: A special scouting bird connected to a string. It can fly up to a height of 100 meters and report distant enemy activity to its user.
"Seems pretty good."
Ye Qian pinched one end of the string. With a thought, the bird flew up.
"Did you get an item? Isn't your luck a little too good?" Chen Ning gave a helpless, bitter smile. "Lan Xinyu and I don't seem to have gotten any items so far."
"No, I got one." Lan Xinyu ran over from afar with a grin and handed over a green blueprint.
Building: Skeleton Nest (Green) Type: Blueprint Construction Materials: Life Energy ×10, bones sufficient to form a biological body Description: Consumes part of one's vitality to use the bones of the dead and form Skeletons from LV1 to LV10.
"This is it!" Chen Ning was instantly overjoyed. "Unbelievable. Looks like our team's luck really is great. Not only did we start with defensive buildings like Arrow Towers to help us survive, but now we have combat units too, and the cost is this low."
He looked over the blueprint. The construction method for the nest was written below.
In the end, it was just digging a hole.
"I'll dig it." Ye Qian swung her hoe. "I've experienced a dungeon once and improved my strength."
"All right. We'll keep chopping trees and building defenses."
Ye Qian was highly efficient. She was quite strong now.
Strictly speaking, this time still wasn't safe. Creatures occasionally entered the territory, but all three Arrow Towers were now ready to fire. Most creatures were killed before they could even get close.
They didn't even have to fight, yet their Life Energy soared.
According to Chen Ning, a normal newcomer team could never have things this easy. Not only would they face the risk of death at any moment, but their development would be slow as well. It was impossible for them to improve so quickly.
In short, after Ye Qian worked for half an hour, a round pit nearly one meter deep and fairly large in area appeared before them.
Then, following the blueprint's instructions, they carried a ring of stones around it and carved strange words into them.
Skeleton Nest (Green) construction complete.
"Then let's prepare to synthesize Skeletons."
He placed a complete set of wolf bones inside.
"Whose Life Energy should be consumed? How about establishing a shared resource pool? Each person contributes the same amount of Life Energy, and all team expenses come from the pool?"
"Mm-hmm." Lan Xinyu nodded repeatedly.
"Open the interface. There's a team contribution option there. You can enter the amount here. Let's start with ten points each."
Ye Qian did as instructed. Then Chen Ning consumed the Life Energy. After a beam of light descended, the bones assembled themselves under a mysterious force, and a Skeleton Wolf crawled out.
Combat Unit: Skeleton Wolf LV: 3 Skills: Bite, Claw Strike, Fireball.
The text above its head already showed its strength.
"Barely acceptable. It doesn't seem as agile as a Gray Wolf of the same level. It has to kill a level-three Gray Wolf before we can consider this worthwhile."
Chen Ning had it turn around a few times on the spot and found it quite obedient.
"Let's recruit a few more before going out to explore. Who goes first?" Lan Xinyu asked.
"We'll take turns. Going outside is risky. My level is higher than yours, and I'm a man, so I'll scout the way for you first," Chen Ning said responsibly.
After saying that, he glanced at Ye Qian and coughed. "You two girls should try to level up more with the Arrow Towers. For now, stay home and chop trees and till the land."
"Mm-hmm." Ye Qian looked very obedient.
It was best if someone else bore the danger. She planned to lie low until she was stronger before considering going out.
Fetching Water and Ruins
The thirty points of Life Energy contributed by the three of them were all used up, producing three Skeletons at LV1, LV3, and LV5 respectively.
Probability-wise, the higher-level ones were harder to produce, but getting even one meant they had made a profit.
Chen Ning left the home base with two Skeletons.
Since it was his first exploration, he said he would go no farther than five hundred meters beyond the Arrow Tower's range.
That way, if he encountered another dangerous armadillo-like creature like before, he could still escape back in time.
After he left, Ye Xin considered that they would be staying for three days and decided to purify some water from the nearby pond.
Carrying the small wooden bucket they had made earlier and a small wooden bowl, Ye Qian ran quickly to the water's edge.
She tried lying beside it and reaching down with her hand, but she still couldn't reach.
"Looks like I can only jump in."
Fortunately, with her current physique, she could climb back out even if she fell into the water.
She carefully held onto the edge, then slipped and fell directly into the water.
Splash—
Seeing that the pond water only reached her calves, she relaxed slightly.
Purification in progress...
"Ugh, now it really is foot-washing water."
Sitting on the grass beside the pond, she watched the water before her become completely clear at a visible speed, even revealing her little feet in white stockings beneath it. She let out a breath and picked up the bowl to scoop water.
Before long, the pond was completely clean.
She pulled her feet out and stepped onto the grass, beginning to pour bowl after bowl of water into the bucket.
Soon, the wooden bucket was nearly full.
Lifting her damp little foot and looking at how soft and tender it was, Ye Qian silently let out a breath. "My charm really is too ridiculous. I still need strength to protect myself."
In normal society, laws restrained some people's evil actions. But once supernatural worlds were involved, things became hard to say.
There were many good people in this world, but plenty of bad ones too. She was rather fortunate that Chen Ning was decent enough. At least, he was fairly proper, though his gaze was occasionally drawn to her just a little.
Once everything was done, Ye Qian sent the bucket up, climbed out, then hurried back to the home base across the grass while carrying her shoes.
"What were you doing just now? Your feet are all wet."
Lan Xinyu looked at her curiously, but after noticing the bucket in her hands, she understood what had happened.
"The water is so clear. Actually, my ability is to purify water. I just tried it out, and the effect was pretty good."
"Ah, so the water last time was also..."
"Mm. I wasn't sure at the time, but now I can confirm it. This is my ability." Ye Qian held out her hand.
"That's great. I barely drank any water before coming here, and I was worrying about what to do for these three days."
Lan Xinyu ran over excitedly, picked up a bowl, poured herself some water, and drank it in one gulp.
Halfway through drinking, her gaze fell on Ye Qian's feet. She suddenly thought of something, and her expression turned strange. "You didn't fall into the pond, did you?"
She knew just how small that pond was.
Ye Qian's face reddened slightly. "It was an accident, but my feet... were very clean."
"It's fine, it's fine. It's nothing." Lan Xinyu hurriedly waved her hands. Halfway through, she suddenly muttered, "I can't bring myself to dislike such soft little snow cones."
"Uh..."
Calling them snow cones was ridiculous. Ye Qian felt embarrassed from what she said. Why did this girl seem a little perverted?
More than ten minutes later, Chen Ning came running back, panting heavily.
Only two Skeletons followed behind him. The LV3 one was badly injured, with several bones broken. The LV5 one was in relatively better condition, but it was missing two ribs as well.
"I ran into an armadillo. Its strength was ridiculous. Good thing I escaped quickly."
After saying that, he placed a pile of Copper Coins on the ground before them.
Before you continue