Chapter 6 Public Chat Area

After learning how to use "natural sense," Mu Ying gradually became addicted to it, tirelessly using this skill to observe the natural power within various plants.

Especially those large trees, the older they grow, the richer the natural essence they carry and the easier it was for her to sense. In such a state, she could vividly feel the vitality of the plants, which brought joy to her heart, and she could no longer bear to harm them.

Acquiring Professional Experience through the cultivation of natural power was much easier than killing zombies, although it was less efficient.

After several attempts, Mu Ying discovered that not every sensing session led to improvement, only during those moments when she achieved new insights or felt closer to nature would she gain Experience.

If she helped a plant in poor condition to enhance its natural power, she would also gain Experience.

When using natural sense, it cut off her perception of the surrounding environment, so Mu Ying only dared to use it freely within her territory. Once she left her territory, she had to be extremely cautious and would not venture far, returning home as soon as it got dark.

By now, she had reached "Druid Level 1 (21/100)," equivalent to having killed 21 zombies.

Mu Ying was quite pleased and blissfully started a fire with some dry branches she had collected, cooking a pot of fish soup and even extravagantly adding some Recovery Spring.

She portioned out a small bowl of fish soup for Gungun, and used the rest to soak her instant noodles.

The only regret she had was losing her phone, not knowing the information from the outside world. Shi Yin had not come to look for her till now, probably having gone to another dimension to receive her inheritance.

Without novels or internet messages to accompany her meal, even the delicious fish soup noodles seemed a bit bland. Mu Ying could only pull out the Player Manual to read.

By this time, the World Forum was already bustling.

The leaderboard at the top of the forum was also unlocked, divided into two lists: level leaderboard and combat leaderboard, showing the top hundred players.

Mu Ying clicked in and saw that she wasn't on either the level or combat leaderboard.

This was expected.

Well-trained soldiers or people with considerable combat skills, even strong adult males with greater Strength and Constitution, had no problem killing zombies.

If they were in densely populated areas, they might even have to fight zombies, gaining substantial Slaughter Experience.

The progress of the top hundred was all above 40, and the top ten were uniformly at 50.

The combat leaderboard overlapped significantly with the level leaderboard, 80% of those listed were warriors or other Physical Attack Professions.

Upon scrolling down to the public chat area, the first hot post appeared.

"Warriors are awesome! Magic professions are so tragic!"

The public chat area's posts weren't linked to player IDs, acting like an anonymous communication hole. Mu Ying clicked on the first hot post.

"Choosing Mage left me lonely, still knowing nothing..."

"Where the hell are we supposed to get Spells? Has this damn Doomsday Game glitched?"

"That's why warriors are superior, learning Skills quickly, handling a couple of zombies is no issue."

"No way, no way, do Mages really have no Spells? We Priests have a Magic List, but it's a bit hard to learn, that's what I get for being an atheist, not much for sucking up to gods!"

"As a veteran game designer, Professions that are easy to learn usually don't have a high ceiling, that's necessary to maintain balance. Magic professions are tough early on, but they can definitely make a comeback later..."

Scrolling through this forum felt like scrolling through social media feeds, where one could uncover a lot of information.

For instance, when the Doomsday Game went live, some people's phones disappeared while they were using them, considered lucky compared to those who were driving and suddenly found themselves thrown onto the road. Not to mention those on planes or ships.

Water supply systems, power systems, and transportation networks all went down, and only melee weapons were left, sending human civilization back by hundreds of years in an instant.

Aside from that, another post caught her attention.

"Discovered a campsite with an NPC, coordinates Qu City South Suburb!"

"I found one too, right in the field of my house, also came down with the meteor. It was tiny at first, then suddenly expanded hundreds of times, containing buildings. I didn't see any people, but you have to pay 10 copper coins for the entrance fee, which is too expensive!"

"I went in, all the buildings were shops, selling all sorts of things, and the NPCs were all inside. There were even those selling Magic Scrolls!"

"Could our planet really have been overtaken by the game? NPCs have even appeared. Might this campsite actually be the beginner's village? Can we accept missions too?"

Mu Ying read through many related messages, seriously suspecting that the Lord Token she picked up might be the precursor to the campsite. If no one picks up a Lord Token in a short time, it automatically turns into a campsite.

Looking out, there was nothing in her campsite, so why did other campsites have Shop NPCs?

She flipped through the territory information, and indeed there was a functionality in the design blueprints column: Shop.

[Facility: Shop]

[Function: Can attract businesses to settle in and provides protection to the shop owner]

[Scale: Depends on the size of the residential material used during construction]

[Required materials: Residential × 1, recruitment cost calculated separately]

[Blueprint conversion requirement: 100 energy]

To build a shop, you first need a residence as the main structure. A shop blueprint is more like granting a residence some different functions, the shape and scale also depend on the style of the residence. Conversion consumes 100 energy, but she now only has 80.

Mu Ying then looked at residences, which also had blueprint templates. She looked around, all needing large swathes of open land—these trees were her cultivation resources, and she couldn't bear to cut them down.

Wanting to keep these trees, Mu Ying decided to design it herself. Blueprint design didn't need high-level drawing skills. It could be done by adding conditions to design the building.

Residences were meant for living. This Doomsday Game was not like a real online game with an in-game inventory for storage, so many people would need a safe storage point to place materials, making residences a natural choice.

So, the first condition was safety, with certain anti-theft measures.

It also needed to integrate well with the forest environment, ideally utilizing these trees while not affecting their growth.

Last of all, the design needed to fit the character of the forest—fresh, natural, and cozy.

Inputting these conditions, the blueprint for the residential building she imagined gradually took shape.

[Facility: Tree House Residence]

[Function: Suitable for living, fireproof and moisture-resistant, with certain theft prevention and protection features]

[Scale: Determined by the volume and number of the trees supporting the tree house]

[Required materials: Large tree, wood, and a small amount of energy]

[Blueprint conversion requirement: 50 energy]

You only need to convert the blueprint once to reuse it. Shops and residences are facilities that need to be built in large quantities within the campsite, but the energy cost for residences is low, trees are readily available, mainly just needing some wood.

If she did not want to cut trees, collecting wood would be troublesome. Dead branches and fallen leaves within the campsite could also be converted to wood, but that only yielded 20 pieces total.

Even though the main body of the Tree House Residence was large trees, that amount of wood was not enough.