Clearly, for the [Eternal Power] talent to be effective, he would naturally need to raise more Territory Troops.
"Looks like I'll probably develop along the lord route from now on," Cao Xing thought.
Just then, Cao Xing noticed a countdown above his head.
[Time Until Nightfall: 4 hours 32 minutes...] [Note: During the Newbie Protection Period, monsters will not attack the camp. Newbie Protection Period remaining: 5 days 17 hours...]
"Only four hours until dark!"
Cao Xing's scalp immediately prickled.
He knew that in this world of extreme cold, the temperature would plummet even further at night.
Cao Xing looked at the campfire before him.
[Campfire: Level 1] [Campfire Effect: Raises the temperature by 5-20°C within a 10-meter radius] [Consumption]: 1 wood / 15 minutes. [Materials Required for Upgrade]: 5 stone.
The temperature around the campfire was already -32°C, and it would drop by more than 20 degrees at night.
Clearly, the heat given off by this Level 1 campfire would not be enough to get him through the night safely.
Cao Xing looked at a collapsed hut nearby.
[Damaged Lord's Hut: Repairable] [Materials Required for Repair: 10 stone, 20 wood.]
Cao Xing's eyes lit up at once.
This was it!
Once he repaired it, he could unlock the territory interface and crawl inside at night to escape the freezing temperatures.
But repairing the Lord's Hut required materials like stone and wood.
Cao Xing looked over the snowy ground. 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, Liu Muxue softly asked from beside him, "A Xing, that prompt told me to choose a class. Which one should I pick?"
Clearly, the woman had already processed the system information and accepted the fact that she had arrived in a new world.
Cao Xing nodded to himself. She really was adapting quickly.
"Sister-in-law, choose Aurora Knight."
Cao Xing had a selfish reason for telling her to pick that class.
At higher levels, Aurora Knights gained many powerful buff skills, but their effects were all very short-lived.
With his [Eternal Power] talent, he could turn those buffs into permanent effects.
Just imagine how terrifying it would be when Cao Xing commanded a group of troops with permanent buffs stacked on them.
Although Liu Muxue's bearing and appearance were both a far cry from those of a knight,
especially since she was wearing white stockings today.
Whenever Cao Xing pictured Liu Muxue wearing armor with white stockings on her lower half, it felt so incongruous.
Uh... wait, that actually seemed pretty good?
A white-stockinged knight... Heh heh heh...
"All right, then I'll choose Aurora Knight." Liu Muxue had no doubts about Cao Xing's decision.
In this unfamiliar world, Cao Xing was the only person she knew.
Cao Xing nodded, then spotted a small wooden chest beside the campfire.
[Territory Storage Chest: Level 1] [Storage Chest Capacity: 40 slots] [Note: It contains some supplies and tools needed in the early game. Please open it as soon as possible.]
Cao Xing walked over and opened it. A pile of supplies appeared inside.
[Opened successfully: Obtained 20 bread, 1 Iron Pot (White), 4 Stone Axes (White), 4 Stone Hammers (White), 1 Wooden Staff (White), and 1 Wooden Round Shield (White).]
The supplies inside were enough for four people. The system hadn't withheld any just because they were a party of only two.
Cao Xing nodded in satisfaction.
With stone hammers, they could start building the Lord's Hut. That was the key to whether they would make it through their first night safely.
Then he hurried to gather the nearby stone and wood, carrying them over one piece at a time.
System prompts kept appearing.
[Stone +1] [Stone +1] [Wood +2]
The stones were quite heavy. After carrying them for a while, Cao Xing was sweating all over.
His body was, after all, still a little too weak for a modern person.
But after nearly twenty minutes of effort, he had gathered all the materials needed to repair the Lord's Hut.
Cao Xing went over to the hut.
[Begin repairing the [Damaged Lord's Hut]? This repair will take 17 minutes...]
"Yes."
Then Cao Xing began swinging the stone hammer himself, following the blueprint provided by the system as he hammered away with a clang-clang-clang.
There was no helping it. He could only unlock the other territory buildings after repairing the Lord's Hut.
Until he recruited any Polar Folk, Cao Xing would have to do everything himself.
Watching him work,
Liu Muxue crouched on the ground. The bitter cold made her hug her arms tightly, and her perfect figure was fully on display.
She looked at him with curious eyes. "A Xing, is there anything you need me to do?"
Cao Xing glanced at the firepit, then at the stones and wood scattered across the snow, and nodded. "Go gather the nearby stone and wood first, then upgrade the Campfire as soon as you can."
Liu Muxue didn't hesitate at all.
She stood up and headed straight beyond the firepit.
Before long, she came back carrying a stone, a little awkwardly.
It was clear that the stone was a bit heavy for her.
Liu Muxue held it in her arms, her arms red from the cold.
But she gritted her teeth and kept pushing herself, going back to move more stones.
[Stone +1]
Her high heels were inconvenient, so Liu Muxue took them off and walked barefoot through the snow, her small face pale with cold.
Cao Xing, who was repairing the Lord's Hut, didn't stop her.
In this world, everyone had to contribute if they wanted to survive.
"Mm..."
As Liu Muxue set the stone down, her pert bottom faced Cao Xing, its rounded curves on full display, enough to set anyone's blood racing.
Cao Xing quickly turned his gaze away and focused on his own work.
He was repairing the Lord's Hut.
Liu Muxue was carrying stones to upgrade the Campfire. The two of them worked together, each doing their part.
It wasn't long before Cao Xing heard a system notification.
[Your Campfire has been upgraded to Level 2.] [Campfire: Level 2] [Campfire Effect: Raises the temperature by 10-20°C within a 20-meter radius] [Consumption]: 1 wood / 13 minutes. [Materials Required for Next Level]: 10 stone.
The upgraded Campfire's range was clearly much larger.
Even Cao Xing, who was working, felt a little warmth, and he worked even faster.
A few minutes later, a system notification appeared.
[Lord's Hut construction successful. Territory interface unlocked. Congratulations! You can now build more basic facilities.]
Cao Xing's face lit up. At last, he could build other structures!
The next step was to build the [Polar Folk Hut], then summon a few Polar Folk and officially begin his journey as a lord!
At the same time, a second system notification appeared.
[As the first survivor on the server to build a Lord's Hut, you have received a reward: Ice Healing (Skill Book).] [Ice Healing (White): Consume a certain amount of mental strength to cast Ice Healing on a target, restoring health equal to 0.8 times your Spirit per second. The effect lasts for 3 seconds.]
Smack!
On the snow in front of Cao Xing, a yellowed skill book appeared.
Well, would you look at that! It was actually a skill book!
And one he could use, too.
Although battles were rare during the Newbie Protection Period, this skill book undoubtedly gave Cao Xing a lot more confidence.
[Learn Ice Healing (White)?]
"Yes."
Cao Xing clicked to learn it.
At that moment, several more function panels appeared in front of Cao Xing.
They were: [Territory], [Buildings], [Inventory], [Crafting], [Channels], [Personal], and [Territory Troops].
These interfaces covered nearly every function.
Cao Xing first opened [Inventory]. It had only 20 storage slots.
Of course, it was completely empty.
Then he opened [Buildings].
As soon as he opened it, a whole slew of level 1 buildings popped up.
Such as: [Level 1 Simple Furnace], [Level 1 Simple Stove], [Level 1 Smelting Plant], [Level 1 Logging Mill], [Level 1 Blacksmith], [Level 1 Polar Folk Hut], and so on...
He set the other basic facilities aside for now.
Cao Xing first opened the description for the [Polar Folk Hut].
[Level 1 Polar Folk Hut: Spend food to summon Polar Folk to work for you.] [Footprint: 12 square meters] [Population capacity: 4.] [Materials required for construction: Stone*10, Wood*30.] [Construction time: 45 minutes (You can add people to help with construction and speed it up. Maximum: 2 people.)]
Cao Xing thought to himself, "It takes 45 minutes. Building it alone is a bit slow."
"There are only three hours until nightfall, and I still have other things to do."
So he looked over at Liu Muxue. "Sister-in-law, come help me for a bit."
Liu Muxue had used up a great deal of her strength hauling stones and wood. Her dress was already soaked with sweat.
Through the fabric, the outline of her white lace underwear could be seen.
Hearing Cao Xing call her, Liu Muxue set down what she was doing and walked over slowly.
"A Xing, what do you need me to do?"
Cao Xing pointed to the open space ahead. "I want to build a Polar Folk Hut here, but it takes too long to build."
"Help me build it, and it'll go much faster."
Liu Muxue looked a little bewildered. She seemed not to understand, but she still nodded.
Then the two of them began working together to build the Polar Folk Hut.
"Clang! Clang!"
Rhythmic hammering soon rang out across the empty, snow-covered ground.
Half an hour later.
A system notification appeared.
[Successfully built: Polar Folk Hut, Territory population +4] [Now, you can spend food to recruit Polar Folk to work for you.] [Note: As the lord, you must provide food for your subordinates every day. If you leave them hungry for too long, they will abandon you.]
A small hut, less than two meters tall and resembling a campsite tent, suddenly appeared on the snow in front of them.
At that moment, another system notification appeared by Cao Xing's ear.
[As the first survivor on the server to build a Polar Folk Hut, you have received a reward: Bread*50.]
Cao Xing's eyes flashed with delight when he saw the system notification.
Well, would you look at that! A full 50 food items. What a great reward.
Cao Xing couldn't help feeling lucky that he had played this game before. That was how he had managed to build these structures in the shortest possible time and get ahead of everyone else.
Cao Xing thought to himself, "It takes 5 food to recruit one Polar Folk. Without this system reward, I could recruit at most two."
"But now, I can recruit all four Polar Folk."
With that, Cao Xing clicked to recruit them.
[Spend Food*20 to recruit Polar Folk*4?]
"Yes."
As soon as he said it, the campsite tent in front of them began to tremble.
Then the door swung open.
Four short, stocky dwarves, less than one and a half meters tall and dressed in thick padded snow clothes, emerged from inside.
These were the Polar Folk.
After coming out, they looked at Cao Xing and Liu Muxue and bowed respectfully.
"Honored Lord, the Polar Folk are at your service!"
Nearby, Liu Muxue stared at the sight of people suddenly appearing out of nowhere, completely dumbfounded.
Her mouth fell open, and she cried out, "A-A-A Xing, they... they came out!"
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