Chapter 17: The beast wakes up

The video call was quickly answered. Through the screen, Xu Xin could clearly see that the furniture behind Li Wenxi had been replaced with new ones, identical to his own.

"You really made the same furniture too!" Before he could speak, the pretty young woman on the other side took the initiative, looking at the furniture behind him and saying, "You even made a high-end grill?"

"How can you tell?" Xu Xin was puzzled, wondering if she also had some special ability.

"It just looks much fancier than mine!" Li Wenxi pointed to the grill behind her, which indeed looked much simpler compared to his.

"Why didn't you make a high-end one?"

"I forgot, I just made it without thinking much." Li Wenxi answered nonchalantly, then continued, "Oh right, I went out again tonight and brought back a bunch of ores. At least we won't be short on stones and ores for a while. This is getting boring though, I hope the newbie protection period ends soon. Right now, all we can do is mine, and we're not allowed to go too far from the treehouse. I even got a warning when I went too far."

"A warning?" Xu Xin was startled and quickly asked, "What did it warn you about?"

"It said not to go too far from the treehouse or bad things would happen. The voice didn't tell me what would happen, but it sounded quite stern."

"How far did you go approximately?"

"How would I know? I just walked for a long time, it took almost two hours round trip."

That meant about an hour one way. At a normal walking speed, it would be about four to five kilometers per hour, but in the forest, it couldn't be that fast. Three kilometers would already be quite far.

In other words, their activity range was restricted to the area around the treehouse, and they couldn't go too far?

Xu Xin had also walked to relatively distant places, but at most about two kilometers away. He hadn't gone further because his ability showed that beyond two kilometers was no longer a resource area, and there were no high-grade resources.

Xu Xin thought of those who had planted their treehouses at their spawn points and suddenly felt sorry for them. There really wasn't much around the spawn points, and with the activity range restriction, they would have access to even fewer resources.

"You'd better be careful tomorrow," Xu Xin remembered the black bear cave he encountered and warned, "You're mining in caves, right? There might be fierce beasts living in those caves that will return once the newbie protection period is over."

"I thought of that too, that's why I went down to mine a bunch more." Li Wenxi held up the ore in her hand. Even through the screen, Xu Xin could see the blue glow emanating from the ore. "I've made pretty much everything I can make now, and I've filled an entire layer with stones. Even if I do nothing else, just selling stones will be enough for me to survive for a while."

Hearing her say this, Xu Xin felt relieved. After all, this pretty young woman was currently his only source of blue ore. Although he had also found a cave, there was a black bear inside. Who knows when he'd be able to confront the black bear.

The two exchanged some more information before ending the video call, already looking like a pair of partners.

Xu Xin moved a chair to the bedside. The night jungle had a hint of coolness compared to the daytime. The dense banyan leaves outside, while not blocking his view, could block the wind. The dense banyan canopy outside swayed with the wind, making rustling sounds.

Listening to the natural wind sounds, Xu Xin felt drowsy, and his consciousness began to blur.

[Congratulations to all survivors for passing the newbie protection stage and owning your own treehouses. From now on, the world will no longer protect the survivors. Please strive to survive.]

[First stage begins, unlocking feature: Weapon and Armor Crafting]

[On this dark and terrifying night, the beasts that have been suppressed for three full days are beginning to stir. Survive, survivors! Only by surviving tonight's beast surge can you welcome true rebirth!]

The sudden voice in his ear jolted Xu Xin awake.

The mechanical words made his heart tighten. Beasts stirring? Survive tonight?

Indeed, as soon as the newbie protection stage ended, the cruel challenges arrived.

He hurriedly looked out the window. An owl with a wingspan of nearly two meters suddenly flew past the edge of the tree canopy, letting out a hoarse and shrill screech that almost made Xu Xin cry out in surprise.

"How is this owl so big? It's even bigger than the largest owls on Earth, right?" Xu Xin thought to himself in shock.

The jungle was no longer quiet. Various bird calls and beast roars rose and fell, as if giant beasts that had been caged and starved for many days were finally released into an arena, venting their anger and desire to kill.

A wolf howl came from the distance, making Xu Xin swallow hard. Fortunately, his treehouse was high enough. Even the bottom floor was ten meters above the ground, and the thick banyan canopy blocked his windows, making it impossible to see inside from the outside. His small treehouse was completely concealed from all angles, so there shouldn't be any danger.

Thinking of this, Xu Xin breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to go to the screen to see everyone's reactions, a sound like a massive waterfall came from the direction of the lake, as if something had emerged from the lake water.

He hurriedly looked towards the lake, and the scene before his eyes made them widen.

A giant anaconda head rose from the center of the lake. The patterns on its head resembled cracks in rock, its pitch-black eyes like abysses. Its scales gleamed a ghastly white under the moonlight. The entire anaconda's body had a diameter of a full two meters, and just the head that emerged from the water was six or seven meters long. Its massive form was like that of a dragon.

The immense pressure it exerted caused the beasts at the lakeside to quickly flee back into the jungle.

The giant anaconda's gaze moved away from the lakeside. Now its gaze seemed to turn towards the direction of Xu Xin's treehouse. A crimson tongue flickered out from its tightly closed mouth, as if looking at a plate of delicious food.

Xu Xin's pupils constricted, and he retreated into the treehouse. He ate a large red berry to gain night vision ability, then slightly poked his head out to look outside again.

The scene in the forest could no longer be described as chaotic. The most dangerous nocturnal birds of prey circled in the sky, wolf howls occasionally echoed through the forest, and a terrifying giant beast lurked in the lake. Countless ferocious beasts that had been imprisoned by the world for three days were now frantically entangled with each other, as cruel and bloody as a battlefield.

This night would not be as easy to get through as Xu Xin had imagined.

He suddenly remembered the weapon and armor crafting that had been unlocked in the earlier prompt. He immediately rushed to the screen and opened the basic resource crafting menu. Several new blueprints had been added.

[Wooden Stick (White): A simple and crude blunt weapon. Although it sounds useless, with enough strength, it can become your best companion. Durability 200. Requires Wood (White) x10]

[Wooden Hammer (White): A simple and crude blunt weapon. Although it looks clumsy, the wooden hammerhead is not as heavy as imagined. Even ordinary people can easily wield it, but its power is correspondingly less. Durability 200. Requires Wood (White) x10]

[Boning Knife (White): A simple small knife that can be used for basic dissection of animal carcasses to obtain the lowest grade materials. Requires Stone (White) x5]