Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

"I don't have a problem, actually I've already agreed to go to Li Wenxi's place."

"...You two really have a special relationship, huh."

"Not really, but do you know where Qi Xuefei is? How about you help Qi Xuefei, and I'll help Li Wenxi."

"Are you doing some sort of targeted support? It's not much of a problem though. Mainly, I just want everyone to get together. We've never truly met, and it feels like there's something missing when working together. Plus, we can discuss things in detail face-to-face, especially about special abilities."

"Seems like you also noticed it, we're too close."

"Yeah, people with special abilities are indeed clustered too closely, perhaps because there's something special around here."

Something special?

Xu Xin's mind conjured the image of the Hilly Resource Zone, thinking of that hill like a giant abyssal mouth.

"Let's meet tomorrow, and if there's time, I'll take you all to a place within my protection zone, it's very unique, we might discover something," he said to Ji Chaoyang.

"Oh? I have a special location on my side too, I want you to see it."

He actually has one too. It seems there are still many things in this world that they need to explore.

"Then let's take a look at both, we have mounts anyway, it's no hassle. There are truly too many peculiar things around here," said Xu Xin.

"Alright. By the way, I've already shared our thoughts with others on the regional channel, their reactions are quite positive, many are volunteering to come to our protection zone, requesting our shelter."

Ji Chaoyang's words didn't surprise Xu Xin. Everything they've done previously was exactly for this purpose.

Every event comes with guides, the last one made huge efforts, saving almost everyone.

Their image among other survivors in the same area has long been very positive, it's normal that some people are willing to entrust their lives to them.

"Since that's the case, tomorrow we should be able to bring back nearby survivors from the same area who are willing to follow us. But," Xu Xin reminded, "be very careful stepping out of the protection zone. Further out, other tree houses' protection zones might not be as large as ours, lacking connections."

"...I was about to remind you of this," Ji Chaoyang laughed.

"Haha, then I'll ask the explorers about the meeting tomorrow."

"Alright."

After hanging up the call, Xu Xin immediately addressed the explorers, "Wenxi, Sister Xuefei, tomorrow, Ji Chaoyang and I will meet with you all. We can help clear your surroundings."

Li Wenxi: "Meeting together? Yes, yes!"

Qi Xuefei: "I have no problem, but how do we meet? Where do we gather?"

Ji Chaoyang: "No need, Xu Xin and I have mounts, we'll come to you directly."

Qi Xuefei: "Mounts? I'll be waiting then. Oh, I was just worrying about how to solve the surrounding issues, since you're coming, I'll leave it to you."

Xu Xin: "Do you remember those two glowing points' directions previously?"

Qi Xuefei: "Yes, to the south, one is due south, the other slightly southwest."

Xu Xin calculated. Hmm, they should be north of Li Wenxi since he is to the west of Li Wenxi.

Xu Xin: "Alright, I got it, wait for us tomorrow."

Li Wenxi: "Yay, finally meeting Sister Xuefei!"

Qi Xuefei: "You little girl, you're looking forward to meeting Xu Xin, aren't you? Haha."

Li Wenxi: "No way! I'm looking forward to meeting everyone!"

Wang Lei: "Oh man, I'm jealous... Why am I not nearby..."

Xu Xin suddenly thought, since the experts here are grouped together, maybe Wang Lei's side is also grouped.

So he said: "The other five of you, are surrounded by survivors from District 189, right? Although we're not in the same place, maybe the distances between you are close too, try finding out tomorrow."

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Really! We're also close? That's great! I've had enough of solo survival!"

Ji Chaoyang: "You guys probably are quite close, try finding each other, but be careful of nearby survivors, they might be strong."

Qin Yunlong: "Let's give it a try tomorrow, I feel my brother and I aren't far apart."

Wen Guixin: "Why is it just the five of us, all guys... And Sister Xuefei and Wenxi are hogging the two most handsome, while here it's just guys, boohoo..."

Qin Yunhu: "?"

Qin Yunlong: "?"

Zhao Xiaochuan: "?"

Wang Lei: "? What do you mean, I'm handsome, okay!"

Xu Xin restrained his laughter and shook his head, no longer focusing on the explorers.

He didn't rest but went to the art room.

Though the green-level crystal carving cap has been reached, green-level painting and redwood carving can still increase decoration value.

Before going to sleep, he'd paint a few paintings to add decoration value, aiming to boost the success rate of alchemy.

Having eaten an orange to boost his spirit to the peak, Xu Xin manipulated the brush, fully immersing himself in the process.

Soon, over an hour passed.

Looking at the five paintings before him, he nodded in satisfaction.

He painted landscapes, including a three-story towering tree house, an underground world's chaotic dance, an eerie hill in the hilly area, a thunderous tornado during the stormy season, and the heart of a mutated plant wrapped in vines.

These are some of the most impressionable scenes since coming to this world.

Five paintings, each adding 10 decoration points to the treehouse. With his 20% increase, in just over an hour, his treehouse gained 60 decoration points.

Although the increase was quick, Xu Xin was still somewhat worried in his heart.

Now, his green-level crystal sculpturing has reached its limit, and the number of paintings in the house has reached seven. According to the pattern, ten should be the peak.

He initially thought his decoration points were quite abundant since they were far more than others. But unexpectedly, the alchemy ability emerged, and the alchemy room was really demanding on decoration points.

Now, he can use alchemy to create things like potions, enhancements, and coordinates, all at blue-level. The success rate is only 50%, requiring 500 decoration points to ensure complete success. If making purple-level items, the success rate would definitely be even lower, making it a hole that couldn't be filled.

Fortunately, he can now perform blue-level creations, but this involves another issue—the speed at which he creates blue-level artworks is too slow. So, should he allocate the current decoration points to the art room, or the alchemy room?

His current enhancement for function areas is as follows.

Bedroom: 1%

Art Room: 100%

Planting House: 50%

Alchemy Room: 60%

Workshop: 100%

The art room already has 100%, which is temporarily sufficient for green-level artworks. The enhancement for the alchemy room is really too little, it needs to be increased.

Why not skip sleep tonight?

Get through the night with oranges and apricots, and then raise the decoration points!

His planting park is very fast now, the blue-level fruits planted will mature soon, no need to save them.

Go, all-nighter!

Xu Xin eats an apricot and gradually restores his stamina, continuing his painting.

When he finished the tenth painting, sure enough, the notification sound came.

[The number of paintings (green) in the treehouse has reached the limit; further additions will not increase decoration points.]

Now, his house has ten green-level sculptures and ten paintings, all complete.

Xu Xin took a piece of green-level rosewood, preparing to carve it.

The feeling of rosewood carving is different from crystal carving. Crystal is very small, belonging to fine miniature carving, rosewood is very large, belonging to large sculptures, using different carving tools. Fortunately, when Xu Xin made the "Carving Tool Set," the tools inside covered everything needed for carving.

Again eating an orange and apricot, replenishing the nearly exhausted spiritual power and physical strength, Xu Xin fixed the rosewood, picked up the carving knife, and immersed his spirit into it, rapidly carving on the entire rosewood.

Sawdust flew everywhere, some even into his face and mouth, yet he paid no attention, continuing to wield the carving knife. If someone was watching beside him, they would be very surprised, because his hands were moving so fast they almost became a blur.

In just fifteen minutes, an almost life-sized sculpture of Xu Xin himself appeared before him.

Very nice!

The green-level rosewood sculpture, like other green-level resources that add decoration points, also adds 10 decoration points. Xu Xin sculpted seven rosewood statues in quick succession and then stopped.

Wow, having made so many statues, all as tall as a person, surrounding the art room, the atmosphere is almost like that of a haunted house.

The spiritual boost from the orange just ended, and a strong sense of lethargy surged in.

What's going on? Isn't the duration of the orange effect equivalent to resting?

He rested his heavy head, thought it over, and suddenly realized.

Eating oranges can enhance spiritual power to the peak, and the duration is indeed equivalent to resting, but only comparable to resting for two hours, completely unable to offset the spiritual power consumed by sculpting so many statues.

So when the effect wore off, the accumulated mental fatigue immediately threatened to overwhelm him.

"...I guess I should avoid doing this in the future." Xu Xin whispered to himself, holding his throbbing head.

During this period, he made eight paintings and seven rosewood sculptures, totaling an increase of 150 decoration points, with a 20% boost, translating to 180 points.

His total decoration points have now reached 491 points.

He increased 140% in the alchemy room and 40% in the art room.

Thus, the enhancement levels of his function areas were refreshed.

Bedroom: 1%

Art Room: 140%

Planting House: 50%

Alchemy Room: 200%

Workshop: 100%

The alchemy room reached 200%, increasing the success rate by 20%, making the success rate for creating coordinates 70%! Coupled with the lucky bonus from the koi fish, an actual success rate of 80% should not be a problem.

Feels ready to take the gamble.

Xu Xin looked at the time; it was already past two in the morning.

Better get some rest; tomorrow there are important things to do, especially meeting others. Continuing to rely on the effect of the orange to stay up all night isn't appropriate; he's too mentally exhausted now.

In the living room, Silver King and Mimi were already asleep. As Xu Xin walked by, Mimi cautiously lifted her eyes but closed them again upon seeing it was Xu Xin.

Patting Mimi's big head, Xu Xin did a simple wash-up and returned to the bedroom.

Keke was already sprawled out, snoring on the bed.

Xu Xin also lay down on the bed, gradually falling into a deep sleep.