Chapter 7 Tree House Residence

Without enough wood, we'll have to make do with energy, hoping to gather more of it.

Mu Ying had a sudden inspiration, Recovery Spring must be quite valuable, being a product of Orange Mythical Equipment, and since it would replenish fully tomorrow after being used up anyway.

She converted all of the remaining Recovery Spring into energy, and indeed it did not disappoint her, amounting to a full 200 points.

Feeling wealthy all of a sudden, Mu Ying confidently transformed the blueprint of the Tree House Residence.

The most important thing in building a treehouse is a large tree, the bigger, the better. Its advantage is that it doesn't affect the tree's growth and being off the ground offers more efficient use of space.

These woods border the Qingshan Forest with trees of no small age, where just three could support the smallest treehouse, roughly 20 square meters, requiring 20 energy and 20 pieces of wood to build one.

Mu Ying tried building the smallest type of treehouse.

One by one, planks of wood took shape in the spot she had chosen, assembling into a tiny treehouse with a pointed roof, which, with the vines that originally clung to the trunk now stretched to the walls of the house, combined with equally small arch-shaped doors and windows, added a childlike and dreamlike sense to the design, perfectly meeting her imagination.

In the harsh apocalypse, such a warm and beautiful dwelling place provided much comfort.

In front of the treehouse was a tiny platform with a railing marked "Tree House No. 1," and at the edge hung a wooden ladder.

Mu Ying climbed up the ladder and pushed open the door, finding the inside empty and devoid of any furniture, with just a small fireplace connected to a chimney and a stove in the corner.

Furniture was not part of the territory's facilities, so its absence was normal, but she discovered that the fireplace was made of the same wooden material as the treehouse.

Mu Ying snapped her fingers, producing a small flame at her fingertip, and used it to scorch the wooden planks, which seemed to have an invisible layer on their surface as they remained unaffected by the fire.

This fireproof effect was quite remarkable, ensuring that cooking fires within the house wouldn't be a cause for concern.

Mu Ying caressed the wood's grain, the scent of timber still lingering; she immediately fell in love with this house.

Unfortunately, there was only enough wood to build one treehouse, and if there was a wood shortage, 1 point of energy could replace 2 pieces of wood.

Mu Ying did some calculations and realized that after transforming the blueprint for a store, the remaining energy would be enough to build 3 more treehouses and still leave her with 20 points.

She spent 100 energy to transform the store blueprint.

Once exchanged, the store blueprint displayed various types of stores to recruit.

[Store Selection Types: General, Clothing, Food, Furniture, Weapons, Armor, Accessories, Materials, Potions…]

Mu Ying opened one of the categories, which contained all the store types available for a Camp Level territory.

At a glance, the wares varied widely—some recruitment costs were too high, others had stringent requirements.

The most common and least expensive was the low-level general goods store in the General category, which required no additional energy costs, only meeting the merchant's requirements.

This was just what she needed at the moment; a general goods store basically covered all aspects of everyday life, and while the selection was limited, one could survive in the camp with money in hand.

Even for a general goods store, different merchants had their own characteristics and requirements.

[Copper Coin Grocery: Sells common adventuring supplies with a complete selection and low prices. Requires a resident population of over 100, with taxes ≤ 4%.]

[Homely Grocery: Sells common adventuring supplies and a variety of textiles. Requires double-structured residences, rent-free, with taxes ≤ 5%]

…

Mu Ying searched for a long time, and most were similar to the above two, with requirements like a minimum resident population or specific store styles and tax rates. Taxes weren't a big issue, but she couldn't do anything about the requirement for a certain number of residents.

The items for sale were similar, including common adventuring gear, but some stores, like Homely Grocery, offered unique merchandise.

In the end, Mu Ying simply filtered for grocery stores that met the requirements.

[Oak Grocery: Sells common adventurer items, purchases various animal and plant materials, requires the territory to have a strong natural aura, and lush vegetation.]

Compared to the other stores that had come before, this one's requirements were much more down-to-earth; they didn't even ask for taxation, which made Mu Ying somewhat concerned about the store owner's management ability.

However, the emphasis on a natural setting appealed to Mu Ying, giving her a sense of encountering a like-minded individual. Such a store would probably be satisfied with the environment of her territory.

Mu Ying directly recruited them using House No. 1 as the address.

[Recruitment successful. Merchant will move in on the next working day. Countdown: 13:59:59]

"Working day?" Mu Ying calculated, and figured she would probably have to wait until tomorrow daytime. She could wait.

Mu Ying built the remaining three Tree Houses and assigned them numbers as well.

"Tree House No. 2 (Rented Out)"

"Tree House No. 3 (Rent: 10 copper coins/day)"

"Tree House No. 4 (Rent: 10 copper coins/day)"

Now that everyone didn't have much money, it was more suitable to rent out the residences. Mu Ying planned to live in House No. 2 herself, hence the status on the doorplate showed it was rented out. She intended to rent out Nos. 3 and 4, and could continue to build more once she had accumulated some energy.

Constantly using Recovery Spring to convert into energy was a bit of a waste – it was best for territory development to be self-sufficient.

Besides that, Mu Ying had also changed the appearance of the Territory Shield.

The territory was surrounded by a low wall of vines emitting a faint luminescence, with the glow coming from the veins on the leaves of the vines. Near Moon Lake stood an arched gate, twined with vines as thick as an arm. A plaque hung at the top of the gateframe with "Qingshan Camp" inscribed on it; the font also emitted a soft light, eye-catching and beautiful, sure to attract more visitors.

Next to the camp's gate, there was also a double-sided bulletin board outlined in vines, with a paragraph of text that was clearly visible whether one was outside or inside the camp.

This was the territory rule she had just formulated. Rules set by the Lord could not be violated by others; she was absolutely safe in her own territory.

"Qingshan Camp Rules (Provisional):

1. Entrance fee: 5 copper coins/day

2. Taxation: 5%

3. Any form of fighting is prohibited within the camp

4. Destruction of camp facilities (including trees within the camp) is forbidden"

The camp gate, low wall, and bulletin board were all just for show – Mu Ying had simply altered the appearance of the protective shield; those vines were not actually alive but were a part of the shield.

Others could only enter and leave the camp through this gate; however, she herself wasn't restricted and could enter from any location.

The entrance fee was half that of other camps, not because she didn't want to make money, but because her camp was still very primitive, with only one shop, and it was not easy to earn copper coins in the early stages. She preferred a thin-profit, high-turnover strategy to quickly accumulate funds.

With the addition of a beautiful fence gate and four Tree Houses, it finally started to look like a camp.

Mu Ying moved all her belongings into Tree House No. 2 overnight.

Lacking shelves for storage, most items could only be piled on the floor, which was an inefficient use of space.

Fortunately, leaving things here was very safe. The locks on the doors and windows of this house were very simple, serving only to open and close, but the house's anti-theft effect was very good. As long as the doors and windows were closed, outsiders could not enter.