Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Inside the valley, the construction of the new residence was in full swing.

The fifteen-meter-high wooden walls had already been erected on all sides, and the internal load-bearing pillars were being constructed in conjunction with the roof.

One after another, giant Goldfrost wood logs that had already been cut were continuously transported to various parts of the wooden house for installation.

Countless iron materials were also being moved by people working together to various locations to assist in the construction…

Clang clang… thump thump…

“Pass over a piece of wood!”

“Old Yuan, an iron hammer is needed here, bring it quickly.”

“Coming, coming, four wooden planks, seven meters long, are needed over there, get a few people to move them over, quickly.”

… … … …

Inside the valley, a dense crowd of people was spread everywhere, with figures busy going back and forth, the sounds of iron and wooden materials and tools being hammered echoing incessantly.

Now, the Great Xia was different from half a year ago. Xia Hong and the others returning with prey was no longer a novelty. Those who noticed their group simply greeted them. The vast majority of people were still wholeheartedly invested in the construction work.

After instructing people to take the Cold Beasts away for processing, Xia Hong walked into the wooden house alone, found the force-measuring stake, and after fiddling with it for a while, his already furrowed brow furrowed even more.

“A little over twenty thousand pounds… It seems I didn't feel wrong. The Cold Beast meat I'm currently eating has a negligible effect on my improvement. What could be the reason…?”

In the first month after moving to the valley, Xia Hong's base strength increased from thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand pounds.

In the subsequent five months, until the day the new house broke ground, he measured it and it was just over twenty thousand pounds at that time.

Today is the eleventh day since the new house started construction, and his base strength has only increased by one or two hundred pounds at most.

As base strength increases, the speed of improvement slows down. It's understandable that the increase decreased from two thousand in the first month to a decreasing amount each month thereafter.

But to suddenly decrease to an increase of only a hundred or so pounds in ten days is clearly abnormal.

Looking at the string of Cold Beast meat hanging by the stove, Xia Hong's eyes were thoughtful.

“The more times I eat Cold Beast meat, the less heat my body produces, and the rate at which my base strength increases also decreases. Logically, it means that low-level Cold Beast meat is no longer effective for me, so I now need to eat mid-level Cold Beast meat to continue improving?”

The moment this thought popped into Xia Hong's mind, he immediately shook his head violently.

Not to mention low-level Cold Beasts, he had only encountered three types so far. In the Cold Beast scroll left by Luo Ming, there were still another three types he had never seen before.

He was completely ignorant of what mid-level Cold Beasts looked like specifically and how strong they were. Under such circumstances, let alone hunting, whether he could save his life if he accidentally ran into one was debatable.

“It doesn't necessarily have to be mid-level Cold Beasts. The Cold Beast meat I've eaten so far is only Snow Mane, Frost Wolf, and Demon Sheep. Maybe my body has developed antibodies to these three types of Cold Beast meat. Trying other Cold Beast meat might still be useful.”

Xia Hong thought of the second possibility.

His body heats up after eating Cold Beast meat.

This symptom is actually very similar to signs of poisoning.

Moreover, Cold Beast meat is azure blue, and its blood is emerald green. Combining these two characteristics, it's not difficult to deduce that Cold Beast meat should have a certain degree of toxicity. There must be an upper limit to the human body's ability to absorb its essence to increase base strength.

At least for low-level, or rather, the three types of Cold Beast meat that Xia Hong has encountered, this is the case.

“Guessing wildly is useless. To be safe, I'll continue to slowly improve with these three types of Cold Beast meat. As long as it's not completely ineffective, I'll eventually be able to improve to the thirty thousand pound limit, it'll just be slower. To be more aggressive, I'll expand the hunting range and try the other three types of meat to see if my guess is correct!”

Xia Hong took out the Cold Beast illustrated manual left by Luo Ming, looked at the last three Cold Beasts, thought for a moment, and made a decision.

“According to what it says above, the remaining three Cold Beasts are just different in abilities and still belong to the category of low-level Cold Beasts. As long as I'm careful, there shouldn't be any problems. Moreover, the sinew of the Cloud Mist Soaring Serpent is an essential material for making bows, so it's originally a necessity. Luo Ming was able to lead people to hunt successfully, so of course I can too!”

The importance of bows and arrows is not fully apparent in the hands of Lumbering Realm humans. After all, with the strength of the Lumbering Realm, even if they hit a Cold Beast, they would at most injure it. Killing it would be completely impossible.

But it's different in the hands of Earth Burrowing Realm humans.

Arrows shot out with ten thousand pounds of force deal more damage to Cold Beasts, and coupled with the fact that Earth Burrowing Realm humans already have the strength to directly confront low-level Cold Beasts head-on, the success rate of hunting will definitely be higher with bows and arrows in hand.

Especially since the bows and arrows currently used in the camp are still just ordinary iron, not tenth-tempered iron. Xia Hong had already been planning this in his mind when he first noticed this.

As iron ore becomes abundant, in the future, the standard equipment for the hunting team members of the Great Xia will definitely be a broadsword and a set of bows and arrows for each person.

Although the wood in this world is strong, it can't withstand the even stronger base strength of humans. To create bows and arrows that can be used by both Lumbering Realm and Earth Burrowing Realm cultivators, both the bow body and the arrowheads must be made of pure iron, while the bowstring, because it has to withstand tension, has the most stringent requirements for materials and must be made of the spine sinew of the Cloud Mist Soaring Serpent.

The Cold Beast illustrated manual left by Luo Ming clearly stated that a Cloud Mist Soaring Serpent can have thirty meters of spine sinew extracted, which is enough to make at least a dozen longbows.

“Expand the hunting range, prioritize finding the Cloud Mist Soaring Serpent, the other two types of Cold Beasts can wait. With my current strength, taking five Earth Burrowing Realm cultivators shouldn't cause any accidents.”

Xia Hong made up his mind and soon summoned Xia Chuan and the other four.

The five of them were holding weapons, their upper bodies were bare, and sweat was constantly dripping from their foreheads and temples. Clearly, the blow that Xia Hong had given them earlier was not small, and they had plunged into frenzied cultivation as soon as they returned.

Seeing the five people's hard work, Xia Hong's expression was slightly gratified.

“Chuan, how much Cold Beast meat does the camp currently have in reserve?”

“176,820 pounds.”

Xia Chuan blurted out the number almost without thinking.

Upon hearing this astonishing number, whether it was Luo Yuan, Zhao Long, and the other four, or Xia Hong, their expressions remained unchanged as if it were commonplace.

Those responsible for hunting actually had a rough idea of the number of Cold Beasts hunted in the past six months, so they were not surprised to hear this number.

The meat distribution system seemed to consume a lot, but that was based on insufficient hunting ability.

If you calculate carefully, according to the earliest algorithm, the hunting team, logging team, and reserves consume about seven hundred pounds a day, which is only twenty-one thousand pounds a month. Add to that two thousand pounds per month for those under thirteen, and finally add Xia Hong's large portion, and at most it's twenty-five thousand pounds.

And half a year ago, Xia Hong led a team and hunted three Cold Beasts on the first night, obtaining a total of 4,200 pounds of Cold Beast meat.

Therefore, once the hunting ability is improved, the speed at which Cold Beast meat overflows is extremely fast, and the rate at which reserves increase is also extremely terrifying.

You should know that half a year ago, when the meat distribution system was first implemented, the camp's Cold Beast meat overflowed by more than 10,000 pounds in the first six days.

Even if we don't consider the improvement in the hunting team's strength later, if we calculate 10,000 every six days, after half a year, the Cold Beast meat reserve would be at least 300,000 pounds.

In fact, if Xia Hong hadn't spent a lot of time on mining, forging iron, and building new wooden houses, the Cold Beast meat reserve would probably be more than 300,000 pounds, even more.

“Seventeen thousand pounds, enough for the camp to use for many days, right?”

Hearing this question, a strange look appeared on Xia Chuan's face, and he shook his head and replied: “The camp currently has 140 Lumbering Realm cultivators. Excluding the ten members of the hunting team, the remaining 130 have entered the gathering team and logging team respectively. The camp service and the artisan workshop have also taken in a few. The quota for these people is 5 pounds per day.

Recently, a batch has been added to the reserves, with a total of 212 people. The quota for this part is directly calculated at 2 pounds per day; plus 372 people under the age of thirteen, they are distributed on a monthly basis, more than 1,800 pounds per month, averaging 60 pounds per day.

Including the leader and the five of us, our current daily consumption of Cold Beast meat is about 1,300 pounds. According to the camp's current Cold Beast meat reserve, even if we don't hunt for four months, there won't be a big problem!”

Xia Chuan, the camp supply officer, is obviously very competent.

Whether it is the total reserve of Cold Beast meat or the current consumption of the camp, he knows it by heart. After a long talk, not only Xia Hong, but Luo Yuan and the other four also had a few traces of appreciation in their eyes.

Xia Hong had a rough idea of the amount of Cold Beast meat consumed, but it wasn't as accurate as Xia Chuan said.

Half a year ago, Xia Hong led a hunting team composed of fifteen Lumbering Realm cultivators, and they could hunt three Cold Beasts in one night, harvesting a total of more than 4,200 pounds of Cold Beast meat, let alone now.

But now, the camp's daily consumption of Cold Beast meat is only 1,300 pounds.

This means that the hunting ability of the Great Xia has far exceeded the current population size requirements of the camp.

“Leader, there is a lot of Cold Beast meat overflowing. I think that people over the age of thirty can also be included in the reserves. These people are in their prime and strong. As long as they are given a fixed Cold Beast meat quota, they can also break through to the Lumbering Realm.”

“Okay, you can arrange this matter.”

Xia Hong agreed to Xia Chuan's proposal almost without thinking.

There are less than two hundred people over the age of thirty in the camp, and including them all in the reserves will only consume three or four hundred pounds more per day, which is nothing.

“In addition, find a group of children ranging from six to thirteen years old to try, and find out the lower age limit of the reserves. As long as they can practice normally after eating Cold Beast meat, they can be included in the reserves in the future.”

Hearing this, Xia Chuan's eyes lit up immediately, and he nodded immediately.

The other four, especially Luo Yuan and Zhao Long, couldn't help but dilate their pupils and their faces were excited when they heard this.

The current reserves are required to be at least thirteen years old, which was previously based on the number of people, not the actual cultivation age. If it is relaxed a little, the number of reserves should be able to increase a lot.

Successfully determining the age limit for consuming Cold Beast meat, Xia Hong's task can be said to be of great strategic significance. Once this experiment is completed, it will mean that in the future, the children of Great Xia, as soon as they reach the age of cultivation, will be able to receive Cold Beast meat.

This is no ordinary matter.

Carrying on the family line is one of the most basic and solid concepts of mankind. Hoping that future generations will have better conditions and live better lives than oneself is perfectly normal.

Luo Yuan and Zhao Long both have families and children, which is why they reacted so strongly to Xia Hong's words.

Xia Hong didn't think as far ahead as Luo Yuan and the others. His original intention was simply to consume more Cold Beast meat.

Although Cold Beast meat doesn't risk spoilage, keeping it untouched is just a pile of dead things, no matter how much there is. Only by taking it out and converting it into strength can it be effective.

After pondering for a moment, Xia Hong turned to look at Luo Yuan and the others and asked:

"Also, Luo Yuan, among you, does anyone know the location of Chen Ye's and Lu Shang's camps?"

Luo Yuan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, but he immediately reacted, a look of excitement on his face, and nodded: "I know the approximate location. Give me time, and I can find it soon. Leader, are you planning to take in the people from these two camps?"

Xia Hong's expression was calm, and he nodded.

The hunting capacity is already far saturated, and there is so much Cold Beast meat overflowing. Increasing the population base and expanding the camp's scale is a natural thing to do.

In fact, he had already been considering it three months ago, but at that time, the overflowing Cold Beast meat was not too much, and the Great Xia's absorption of four groups of people had not been long, and the centripetal force was not too strong, so it was delayed for so long.

Now, Great Xia has abundant resources; the Cold Beast meat reserves are sufficient; and basic foods such as crystal fruit are even more massive.

The new residences that are about to be completed, according to Xia Hong's previous vision, can accommodate tens of thousands of people, while the current camp has a total of only 902 people.

Not to mention Lu Shang and Chen Ye, these two small camps with only five or six hundred people combined, even if there were ten more, Great Xia could afford to support them, and also provide them with opportunities to cultivate.

As for whether these two camps will agree to merge into Great Xia, it is not within Xia Hong's consideration at all.

Eating enough, sleeping well, wearing warm clothes, a safer and more stable environment, and a massive Cold Beast meat quota, with opportunities for everyone to cultivate.

Chen Ying and Lu He, these two leaders, as long as they are not stupid, will know what to choose.

"Okay, I'll take some time later to go north to find Lu He and Chen Ying. If they know that the leader is willing to accept the two camps, they will be ecstatic."

"These two camps together have more than five hundred people. Once they merge, our Great Xia's total population will be almost one thousand five, not far from the standard of a large camp!"

As soon as Luo Yuan finished speaking, Xia Chuan couldn't wait to add the sentence at the end.

The faces of the others were extremely excited when they heard the words "large camp".

Even Xia Hong was no exception.

Even the strongest Rogge camp before had a population of only one thousand three or four hundred at most.

In the vicinity of Redwood Ridge for decades, there has never been a large camp.

Once Great Xia completes this achievement, it will be considered to have created a historical precedent in the vicinity of Redwood Ridge.

More importantly, such a great achievement was accomplished by Xia Hong, the leader, in just over a year.

Realizing this, Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and the Zhao brothers, all five of them turned to look at Xia Hong, their expressions moved, without concealing the fanaticism and reverence in their hearts.

"In the next month, when going out hunting, I will not take action unless it is absolutely necessary. The five of you will be the main force. I hope you will not disappoint me. After a month, you can successfully take over the hunting team from me!"

The five of them looked solemn when they heard this, and they all nodded heavily.

After thinking for a moment, Xia Hong continued: "If you perform well, next month, I will take the five of you to expand the hunting range and go five hundred meters deeper into Redwood Ridge!"

Hearing that Xia Hong was going to expand the hunting range, the five people instantly became excited.

Curiosity about the unknown and the desire to explore are the ancient and unchanging primitive impulses in the human heart. Not only Xia Hong is like this, but also Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and others.

The humans in the Ice Abyss are certainly unfortunate, with dangers everywhere, crises everywhere, and death is commonplace;

But in a sense, they are also lucky, because for them, there are too many unknown things to explore.

Taking the Great Xia camp as an example, the area five hundred meters inside Redwood Ridge is completely unknown to them, not to mention the area further inside.

Of course, it's far more than just Redwood Ridge. On the map left by Luo Ming, there is the frozen river south of Redwood Ridge; the arrow bamboo forest to the north; the Pingxi Plain after passing through the arrow bamboo forest path, and so on…

Even the valley where the Great Xia camp is located, they have no idea what is on the high mountains on the left and right sides.

Of course, curiosity is curiosity, and no matter how strong the desire to explore is, Xia Hong will not mess around. After all, there is only one life. It is safest to gradually expand the scope of exploration with the improvement of strength.

The basic strength increase provided by the current Cold Beast meat is already negligible, so Xia Hong temporarily gave up cultivation and allocated all the time he spent in the camp to practicing archery and forging knives.

After realizing the role of bows and arrows, Xia Hong made a rigid rule that everyone in the Great Xia camp, no matter who it is, must practice archery, and he also appointed Shi Qing as the chief instructor.

Shi Qing finally had a proper task, and it was personally appointed by Xia Hong, so he was very attentive.

The camp originally only had eleven bows and arrows, so he ingeniously asked the people in the workshop to make a batch of imitation bows with wood and Cold Beast tendons, specifically for people who had not yet broken through to the Lumbering Realm to practice with.

People in the Lumbering Realm have too much basic strength, and imitation bows are not enough. Shi Qing asked Xia Hong for instructions to keep one of the eleven bows of the hunting team in the camp for people to practice with for a long time, which was also approved by Xia Hong.

There is only one bow in the camp, and of course more than one hundred people in the Lumbering Realm are not enough, but for now, this is the only way. People who want to practice archery either have to queue up, and if they can't get in line, they have to wait for the ten bows of the hunting team to be idle when they don't go out.

As the leader, Xia Hong naturally has some privileges. When he practices archery, Shi Qing will accompany him and give him pointers. With this archery master present, Xia Hong's archery level has naturally improved rapidly.

The second thing, forging knives, is prepared for those who are about to break through to the Digging Realm.

The camp currently has a total of six people in the Digging Realm, but even counting Xia Hong's Shocking Cold, there are only five Ten-Forged Knives in total. If it weren't for Xia Chuan having the Wooden Puppet Black Knife and not needing the Ten-Forged Knife, the six people wouldn't even have enough weapons.

Having weapons for people in the Lumbering Realm can at most give them some ability to protect themselves, but the Digging Realm is different. Equipping them with Ten-Forged weapons can actually break through the defenses of low-level Cold Beasts, and their strength will not be improved by a star and a half.

Taking advantage of the current surplus of iron ore and no other places to use it for the time being, prepare a batch of weapons first and leave them for the Digging Realm people who will break through later, just in case.

The pervertedness of the Whetstone is now reflected.

From melting iron, shaping, hammering out forging patterns, to the final sharpening, there is no need for too many skills at all, only the strength of the Digging Realm is required, and the whole process only takes one night.

Now that the camp not only has one Digging Realm himself, but also has a Whetstone, Xia Hong will naturally not do the work of forging weapons himself as before, but hand it over to Xia Chuan and the Zhao brothers.

Of course, he still has to supervise the forging.

The standard broadswords currently used in the camp require six to seven hundred pounds of iron ore to make each one. This amount of iron ore is enough for six Digging Realm people to mine for a whole day, but it cannot be wasted at all.

Of course, Xia Hong handed over the forging task not only to be lazy, but mainly to see if there are any people in the current Digging Realm who have forging talents.

It is said that a person like him who knows nothing about forging can easily forge Ten-Forged weapons with a Whetstone. If he were to replace him with someone with forging talent, wouldn't it be easier? Maybe he could forge stronger weapons on the existing basis.

Unfortunately, after some observation, Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and the Zhao brothers, all five of them are obviously only interested in weapons, and do not have any special talents in blacksmithing.

Xia Hong was not discouraged. Talents are piled up by the population base.

When there are more people who break through to the Digging Realm, there will definitely be talents with forging talents. There is no doubt about this.

Of course, practicing personal archery and forging weapons with Xia Chuan and the others are just things that Xia Hong does in his spare time when he stays in the camp and doesn't go out.

Currently, hunting and mining are still the main tasks of Great Xia.

Needless to say, mining, coal and iron are necessary and scarce materials. Since there is so much Cold Beast meat overflowing, it is natural to allocate more time to mining.

Xia Hong originally intended to hand over the matter of hunting to Xia Chuan and others, so in subsequent hunting trips, in order to train the hunting team, he would only watch and not take action unless it was absolutely necessary.

It should be the almost failed experiment in the previous battle against the Snow Mane that Xia Hong's blow and ridicule played a role.

Since then, the five of Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan have become much more careful and cautious in several hunts, their hunting techniques have become more and more skilled, and their harvests have become more and more abundant. More importantly, there have never been any dangerous situations again.

Xia Hong saw the rapid improvement of the five people in his eyes, and he was naturally satisfied in his heart. At the same time, he also relaxed the restrictions on the five people, allowing them to carry out hunting activities according to their own ideas, while he only watched from the side to prevent accidents, without giving any suggestions or issuing any orders.

After several attempts confirmed that the five of them truly possessed the ability to hunt together, Xia Hongcai was truly relieved and began to intentionally leave the team during subsequent hunting activities, allowing them to hunt independently.

… … … …

Half a month later, on the northern periphery of Redwood Ridge.

Bang… … … …

An adult Gold-Eyed Magic Goat crashed to the ground.

More than a dozen sharp arrows were sticking out of its back; its right leg was dragging a beast trap half a meter in diameter; its neck was tightly wrapped with white silk thread; and there were seven or eight deep cuts on its abdomen, from which a dark green blood was gurgling out.

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and the Zhao brothers were surrounding the Magic Goat's corpse, panting heavily, but their faces were excited, and their pupils were full of excitement, showing no signs of fatigue.

Among the Zhao brothers, Zhao Hu was the most impulsive. As soon as the battle ended, he rushed to the Magic Goat's corpse, pulled out the sharp arrows stuck in its back, and found that the Magic Goat's golden eyes were still intact. His expression became even more excited, and he turned to look at Xia Chuan and the others:

“None of those arrows just now hit the Magic Goat's golden eyes, so wouldn't this Magic Goat be considered to have been directly killed by the five of us?”

The other four did not respond, but the excitement on their faces was no less than Zhao Hu's.

The strength of the Gold-Eyed Magic Goat was definitely above that of the Snow Mane.

Especially its eye on its back, before it suffered any fatal damage.

Hiding in a tree and using a bow and arrow to deal with the Gold-Eyed Magic Goat was indeed a tried and true trick, but it didn't always work. Magic Goats are not fools; they won't stand still and let you shoot them.

Moreover, cold beasts can climb trees. If there is no combat power on the ground to directly confront the Magic Goat, it would be wishful thinking for just a few archers to hunt it down.

What's more, even the best archers are affected by the environment, climate, wind direction, and even personal factors, which can lead to problems with accuracy.

Tonight, coincidentally, the Gold-Lined Tree where the Magic Goat was entrenched was located in a very open area, with no other suitable large trees nearby for the other ten people to hide and set up their bows. Helplessly, they could only choose a more distant location.

It's not that they didn't want to stand closer; Yuan Cheng and the other ten were only at the Wood Chopping Realm. If they got too close and were targeted by a cold beast, they wouldn't even have time to run. If Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and the other five at the Earth Digging Realm had to deal with the cold beast and protect the ten of them, it would be more of a loss than a gain.

As expected, the accuracy became a problem when the position was far away.

None of the ten bows hit the golden eye on the Magic Goat's back.

In desperation, Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and the other five could only choose to face it head-on.

Unexpectedly, the five of them working together really killed this Magic Goat.

Snow Manes, Frost Wolves, and Magic Goats are all low-level cold beasts, but whether it's from their size or strength, the Magic Goat is definitely the strongest.

The fact that the five of them could directly kill this Magic Goat not only proved their strength but also meant that they truly possessed the ability to take over the hunting team from Xia Hong's hands.

This was the reason why the five of them were so excited.

“Isn't the leader here?”

“He left long ago, probably to explore the inner area again.”

Everyone was inevitably disappointed that Xia Hong didn't witness such a symbolic scene, but upon hearing Xia Chuan's next sentence, the expressions of Luo Yuan and the other four became even more excited.

In the past few days of hunting, Xia Hong had not followed the hunting team but had ventured alone past the 500-meter boundary to explore the terrain inside Redwood Ridge, preparing in advance to expand the hunting range of the camp.

“Let's clean up and go back first. Two prey tonight are enough.”

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, everyone nodded. They had already hunted a Frost Wolf earlier. Adding this Magic Goat, it was already very good to hunt two cold beasts in one night without Xia Hong leading the team.

When Xia Hong comes back and learns that the five of them directly killed the Gold-Eyed Magic Goat, he will definitely be very happy. Perhaps he will hand over the hunting affairs to them in advance.

Everyone was excited. They quickly collected the beast traps and the Gold-Eyed Magic Goat on the ground and prepared to embark on their journey home.

Only Luo Yuan turned to look north. After thinking for a moment, he said to Xia Chuan, “It's still early before dawn. This place is not far from Chen Ye's camp. I'll go find Chen Ying to talk about what the leader said before. You guys go back first!”

Upon hearing this, Xia Chuan's eyes lit up, and he nodded directly.

Luo Yuan left the team alone and flew swiftly towards the north.