Chapter 3: Earth Crystals, Upgrading the Castle!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

While Xu Hang was taking a break, Hill quickly processed the useful parts of the wolf. He obtained wolf meat x10, wolf teeth, wolf skin, and other refining materials.

Xu Hang accessed the system’s panel and summoned two more farmers. They would be responsible for building warehouses and mining stones.

At present, there were a total of nine farmers. Two were farming, three were cutting trees, one was mining, one was building warehouses, and the last one was mining stones.

Hill followed Xu Hang and they continued to explore the place.

They went back to the place where the treasure chest was located and found some sparkling gemstones in it.

The gemstones were not big. They were only about the size of a palm.

Xu Hang picked one gemstone up and placed it on his palm. It was glistening.

[ Obtained Earth Crystal +50 ]

[ Earth Crystal: A magic crystal from the depths of the earth. It is a basic tool-refining material and can be used to upgrade buildings. ]

‘Used to upgrade buildings?’

Xu Hang opened the building panel and noticed that apart from the basic resources, upgrading a castle to level 2 required 15 earth crystals. Meanwhile, upgrading to a level 3 castle required 30 more earth crystals.

The 50 earth crystals that he had now were enough to upgrade his castle to level 3. Once his castle was upgraded to level 3, new functions would be unlocked!

He could barely contain his excitement!

“Hill, carry the supplies. We’re going back!”

With that, both of them embarked on their returning journey. The dangers along the way were eliminated by Hill. Having such a capable bodyguard by his side really eased Xu Hang’s mind.

[ Food +50 ]

[ Gold Nugget +30 ]

[ Wood +50 ]

[ Stone +30 ]

…

The notifications popped up whenever Xu Hang obtained any resources. It was becoming more and more frequent. 

Even Xu Hang was surprised by the number of resources he had.

Food: 1500, Wood: 1000, Stone: 600, Gold Nugget: 500, Earth Crystal: 50.

‘Grain and wood are consumed when building gold-mining buildings and warehouses. Otherwise, I would have more of them. I have a lot of gold nuggets too. How are they excavating so quickly?

‘As for stones, if I remember correctly, it hasn’t been that long since I summoned the farmer to excavate them, right?

‘Good heavens, these people aren’t farmers, they’re machines, right?!

‘Could it be that they’ve leveled up again?!’

Xu Hang was lost in his own thoughts. He checked the system and discovered that indeed, the nine farmers’ average levels were already at level 4 or 5.

After killing the wolf and collecting the earth crystals, Hill had reached level 6.

“I’m so happy with you farmers!”

Xu Hang was in a great mood. Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to see what people were talking about on the world chat channel.

The world chat channel was very lively.

[ Song Xiaolei: It’s over. I don’t want to play this game anymore! ]

[ Song Xiaolei: Can someone tell me why there are guardians in the treasure trove? It wasn’t easy for me to find a treasure trove and all my soldiers are dead! My head is about to split into two! ]

[ Song Xiaolei: I’m surrounded by wolves now and have no protection. Help! ]

[ Song Xiaolei: I’m injured. It hurts so much. There’s so much blood. Somebody help me! ]

…

[ Hahaha, what were you thinking? The guardians are at least level 5. You’re crazy to even attempt to fight them! ]

[ Zhang Wuji: You’ll need at least three level 5 soldiers. Otherwise, you won’t be able to defeat the guardians. ]

…

‘Level 5? Guardians are at least level 5? Then how did Hill kill the wolf?’

Xu Hang silently glanced at Hill, who was smiling innocently. 

Then, he remembered his farmers’ statistics compared to Zhang Wuji’s level 5 soldiers. 

‘Oh, my farmers have way higher attributes. No wonder!’

[ System Announcement: Lord Song Xiaolei has died due to excessive blood loss. ]

[ ??? ]

[ What the hell!!! ]

[ He’s dead? Just like that? Is this for real?! ]

[ Isn’t this just a game? What’s going on? ]

[ I don’t want to die! Can I quit?! ]

…

Xu Hang’s pupils constricted and his breathing became slightly stifled.

‘If you die in this game, then you’re actually dead!

‘The system even mentioned at the beginning that we can get everything we ever wanted here, including eternal life!

‘This is really interesting!’

Xu Hang continued to read the chat.

Then, a new system announcement suddenly popped up.

[ System Announcement: Special reminder! ]

[ Beast Tide! ]

[ This is the wild beast’s call. The Beast God’s crazy and bloodthirsty energy had spread through the entire continent, causing all the beasts to fall into a frenzy! Their strength had doubled! ]

[ Every ten days, a bunch of beasts will invade the territory of the Lords. Please reinforce the castles and take appropriate measures! ]

The moment the announcement was made, the world chat channel exploded into an uproar.

[ The strength of the wild beasts had doubled? That’s crazy! How are we supposed to survive? ]

[ We were also only given ten days. Even if we summon as many soldiers as possible, it’s useless. We won’t have enough resources to level them up. Low-level soldiers are basically food for the beasts! ]

[ We need to quickly think of a way! ]

[ What should we do? I don’t want to die! ]

[ Zhang Wuji: Wait for my strategy. ]

[ Okay, boss! We’ll wait for you! ]

[ Yes! We’ll wait! ]

[ Please come up with something! ]

It was obvious that everyone was filled with fear and depression.

Xu Hang closed the world chat channel and thought to himself.

‘There are still ten days before the beasts’ attack. According to the productivity of my farmers, I should gain 1,500 grains, 1,000 pieces of wood, stones, and gold nuggets a day. Multiply them by 10 and…

‘Hmm… something doesn’t add up.’

Xu Hang did a rough calculation and realized that he could not come to a conclusion.

Since the farmers’ level would keep increasing, their productivity would also increase. 

In other words, at this moment, there was no point for him to figure out the farmers’ combat strength and productivity level.

He just needed to continue what he was doing!

Both of them returned to the castle and found out that a small chunk of forest trees had been cut down. It made the castle look particularly protruding.

Additionally, the shabby farmhouse seemed out of place since the newly built warehouse was placed next to it.

Xu Hang instantly upgraded the farmhouse to level 4.

A Level 4 farmhouse could accommodate up to a total of ten farmers. Xu Hang summoned another farmer. The farmer was to take over the work of cutting down trees from the first batch of farmers.

As for the first batch of farmers, they had all reached level 5. He appointed Hill as the leader and they were to begin constructing the castle.

Ten minutes passed and the castle upgraded to level 1.

Another half an hour passed and now the castle was level 2.

Finally, after one more hour, the castle reached level 3.

[ System Announcement: Congratulations to Lord Xu Hang for being the first to obtain a level 3 castle. You have received 100 gold coins as a reward ]

There was a deathly silence.

Then, the world chat channel went crazy.

[ Where did this guy come from?! ]

[ Seriously?! A level 3 castle?! ]

[ Is it true that a level 3 castle will unlock a new function? Boss, please accept me as your subordinate! ]

[ No way! I’m only level 1 and he’s already level 3? ]

[ Me too… ]

[ + 1 ]

…

[ + 10086 ]

…

[ + ∞]

….