Chapter 005: Upgrade Territory

After obtaining the desired information from others, Zhou Zhengping quickly turned back to find Xiao Bai and talked them through the situation outside.

"It's probably the so-called Newbie Protection Period at work, with fewer Demon Beasts around and lower levels. However, I think more powerful Demon Beasts might appear as time goes by and as we level up," Xiao Bai analyzed. Before the end of the world, she played enough games to have some understanding of the patterns.

In the early stages of the game, it's definitely the time for them to accumulate their initial capital, especially resources. They have plenty of Gold Coins, but are in great need of supplies.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing, so our family must work hard to raise our levels this month," Zhou Zhengping agreed, "and Xiao Bai, you should try to get to Level 5 quickly, and also try to increase the level of the territory as much as possible for greater security."

"Then let's wander around nearby to get used to it," Xiao Bai suggested, while checking her Lord panel, which showed various small red and small green dots nearby.

With such map indications, they already had an advantage over others.

"Okay," Zhou Zhengping and Ding Qiurou both agreed promptly, already mentally prepared.

No sooner said than done, the family of three quickly left their territory together.

Watching this family of three, armed with Iron Axes and exuding vigor, some of the resting villagers exchanged glances and then quickly got up to take action.

If a family with two weaker women could be so brave, how could they fall behind?

Those who were short on resources also quickly followed suit since wood and Stone could be exchanged for quite a few copper coins! The territory's purchase price was even higher, and they could save it to sell back to the territory later. Seeing the Price of the Iron Axe, they knew future weapons wouldn't come cheap, and it was better to save more money. After all, this was their capital for survival.

**

Meanwhile, Zhou Bai and her parents had arrived at a small woodland.

"Dad, Mom, I've checked this place, and there are no Demon Beasts for now. Let's try collecting wood first. If we encounter any solitary Demon Beasts, we'll deal with them then, which seems more appropriate," Zhou Bai said cautiously.

"Okay," Zhou Zhengping and Ding Qiurou nodded, and the look they gave Zhou Bai was filled with a touch of relief.

After the apocalypse, their daughter had changed from her previous laziness to being smart and decisive. If anything unfortunate happened to them in the future, they'd feel much more confident in her survival.

Then the family of three started chopping down trees with their Iron Axes.

With one swing of the Axe, Zhou Bai only left a mark on the tree. She blinked and continued chopping, and after about a dozen more chops, the tree in front of her flashed white and turned into wood.

[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained wood*5, Experience Points +1.]

After collecting the wood and checking on her parents' progress, her father was already on his third tree, while her mother hadn't finished her first.

Clearly, the speed of collecting wood was related to one's Constitution. That meant as character levels increased, a person's physical attributes should strengthen.

Thinking this, Zhou Bai continued chopping down trees—collecting wood also gave Experience Points! Though small, it was better than nothing.

After realizing that chopping trees also gave Experience Points, Zhou Zhengping, who had roughly figured out how many chops it took to collect the wood, simply let Zhou Bai make the final chop.

Zhou Bai didn't refuse.

And so, the family diligently went about their collection, moving from tree to tree as they chopped.

Before long, the family had gathered several hundred units of wood, and Zhou Bai had leveled up to Level 3.

Gradually, Zhou Bai also received announcements of other refugees entering Hope Village. Equipped with a map and other people in their territory, she felt less worried and simply chose to block those notifications.

Until a different kind of message came.

[Dear Host, your number of Residents has reached 100, satisfying Upgrade condition 1.]

Hearing this, Zhou Bai's lips curved upward involuntarily.

Now that conditions 1 and 2 had been met, only condition 3 remained.

After glancing around and seeing no one, Zhou Bai looked at the map and saw a little red dot not far from them, whispering, "Dad, Mom, can we go hunt Demon Beasts now? If I get to Level 5, I can promote the territory tonight."

"Let's go!" Zhou Zhengping's eyes sparkled.

Quickly, under Zhou Bai's guidance, they encountered small Demon Beasts such as Magic Rabbits and Demon Rats wandering nearby.

They discovered that for Demon Beasts with a lower level than theirs, they could see their levels, but not for those higher. But even so, it only took a few more attacks to take down the Demon Beasts. It was clear that even if the Demon Beasts were higher, they were not much higher than themselves.