Chapter 54: Chapter 54

Tom had chosen his class not long after the shops had moved in, and was now a level 1 Ranger.

He was the only NPC who trained his class skills daily. On the day the zombies besieged the camp, he’d even joined the fight. He could leave the camp, though Mrs. Seraph usually wouldn’t let him.

Wu Yayaya also wasn’t restricted by the territory, but it was lazy and obsessed with money, rarely moving around. Still, it had plenty of good stuff.

As for Grandpa Shaum, he was probably the strongest of all the shopkeepers. None of the others could expand their shop’s interior space, let alone have a sizable plantation. He barely managed the general store, devoting himself to plant research.

Thinking back to the general store’s odd requirements for moving in, and his later habit of buying seeds and mutant plants, Mu Ying figured he’d come here out of interest in Deep Blue Star’s flora.

He was also restricted by the territory and couldn’t leave.

Comparing them all, the general store’s catalog might be the most ordinary, but its strength was the greatest. Many items weren’t listed, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have them. And with Wu Yayaya’s greed, as long as you could pay, you could negotiate.

But Mu Ying wasn’t about to be taken advantage of. With the territory shield set to maximum defense, daily energy consumption had shot up, so she had to save wherever she could. She decided to try tricking Wu Yayaya first.

“Isn’t today the end of your so-called newbie period? You and those new monsters all come from the same place, right? Don’t tell me you don’t know anything? This is a golden opportunity to make money—if you can’t even think of that, how do you expect to get rich?”

“Bullshit! Of course I know there’s money to be made, but I’m not xxxxxx—” Wu Yayaya started cursing.

“…”

So they really did come from the same place. Mu Ying nodded in satisfaction, having fished out another piece of information for free. These NPCs were always bound by certain rules and couldn’t reveal information proactively, but as long as you caught on, you could use wordplay or actions to get around the rules. Passive or accidental leaks were tolerated, after all.

“You!” Wu Yayaya realized it had been tricked. It could accept not being able to make money, but being taken advantage of was basically like being robbed. But because of its old man, it could only fume helplessly.

Mu Ying had teased it enough. She tossed it a silver coin and tried to smooth things over. “Well, if you don’t have it, forget it. Let’s talk about something else.”

“I picked up a special packet of seeds the other day. I was planning to sell the harvest at the Mercenary Guild. Even though the guild only takes commissions, if you set the quest target as money and the reward as goods, you can still sell things. I should make a good profit. Too bad I don’t know who dropped the seeds—otherwise, I could split half the reward with them.”

Mu Ying deliberately emphasized certain words.

Wu Yayaya was confused at first, but then caught on and muttered a curse. This girl was way too sly! But only a fool would turn down easy money, so it grumbled, “Half is too little. The seeds belonged to someone else. Since you picked them up on the sly, you should at least give them eighty percent!”

“Hmm, eighty percent isn’t bad. Let’s do it your way. Anyway, I’d better hurry and check on the garden!”

As if afraid it would change its mind, Mu Ying rattled off her words and dashed off. Wu Yayaya felt something was off—had it just gotten the short end of the stick?

Ha! Mu Ying left the general store in high spirits. She’d gotten monster info for free and would still make twenty percent of the profit. Any more and Wu Yayaya would probably have gone back on the deal.

Not long after Mu Ying left, Wu Yayaya smacked its forehead as it realized: its book didn’t need to be grown before it could be sold. “Damn brat! She tricked me again!”

Mu Ying strolled back to her treehouse, deliberately pausing along the way. “Oh no, my mana hasn’t recovered yet. I’ll go to the plantation later!” After all, even tossing things took time.

While she was recovering her mana, a raven flapped its wings and landed above Mu Ying’s vegetable patch, muttering about what a good place this was for reading.

It pulled out a stack of books, read for a while, then, feeling tired, left—“accidentally” dropping a brown-covered book by the edge of the field.

Once her mana was fully restored, Mu Ying made her way to the plantation. “Wow! Who left a book here?”

She exaggeratedly picked up the book, glancing at the trampled seedlings and pouting. That little guy really held a grudge, venting its anger on her garden. Still, she’d gotten the book in the end.

The book wasn’t very big or thick, but it contained entries on quite a few monsters. As one might expect, the descriptions were extremely brief.

Each monster had just a name, a small illustration, and a level range—nothing else. Three or four monsters could fit on a single page.

Fortunately, the level ranges gave her a rough idea of their strength.

She read as she matched the monsters to the descriptions people had posted on the forums.

She found that although there were many types of monsters this time, their strength was only around level 1 to 3, with limited potential. Only a rare few might reach level 4.

Take goblins, for example. Most were around level 1, with level 2 being minor leaders, and only the chieftain reaching about level 3. It was almost impossible for them to reach level 4.

This level was a nightmare for most people, since Mu Ying was still the only player to have reached level 3. The others on the rankings had all hit level 2, but were still grinding for enough experience to reach the next class level. Most ordinary players were still at level 1.

By now, everyone had a basic understanding of how to train their classes, but the speed of gaining experience still varied greatly, depending on class-related stats.

Those with poor stats not only progressed slowly, but also had a hard cap on their potential.

On top of that, these monsters weren’t as dumb as zombies. Their combat skills and experience were far beyond this group of rookies, who had spent their lives in a peaceful world and only practiced on slow-moving zombies for a month.

So at the same level, monsters were probably a bit stronger than players. But their potential was lower, so while there might be some tough days ahead, in the end, they wouldn’t pose too great a threat to humanity as a whole.

Mu Ying couldn’t shake the feeling that this apocalypse game wasn’t meant to wipe out humanity, but to temper it.

Her upgraded shield was more than enough for now.

Feeling reassured, while everyone else anxiously gathered in the tavern and eateries to discuss what to do next, Mu Ying quietly slipped out of the territory."

"Mu Ying’s luck was pretty good—she made it all the way to the forest’s edge without encountering any danger, further proving that the density of monsters in this wave wasn’t too high.

Suddenly, there was a loud “Bang~”.

Mu Ying stopped in her tracks. The startled birds quickly helped her pinpoint the source of the noise. She climbed a nearby tree to get a better look.

Moments later, another strange sound rang out, and a clump of treetops in the distance abruptly vanished.

Who would be out chopping trees just a few hours after the monsters descended?

Mu Ying felt something was off and approached the area even more cautiously.

Sure enough, it was goblins cutting down the trees! They looked just like the ones she’d seen before near the territory.

One goblin was swinging an axe nearly as tall as itself, chopping at a tree. Two others were breaking down the felled wood, and more goblins kept arriving to carry away the sorted logs.

Just by looking at the size of those logs, it was clear that goblins were at least as strong as adult men.

Mu Ying observed for a while and, judging by their clothing, counted six goblins hauling wood.

Curious about what they were doing with all the lumber, Mu Ying circled around to investigate where the goblins were transporting it.

Goblins didn’t seem to have sharp senses. Even though Mu Ying had Stealth Steps and Forest Strider to help her, her tracking skills weren’t that great, but the goblins still didn’t notice her.

Their destination was the banks of the Clearwater River outside the forest, where even more goblins were active.

There were roughly sharpened makeshift barricades and a small hut with a newly built frame.

Mu Ying was amazed at how quickly they were building things. There were also more goblins than the sparrow mother had mentioned before—probably more had arrived since then.

From their construction work and the chattering among them, it was clear that goblins were intelligent creatures with their own language, though Mu Ying couldn’t understand it.

Compared to them, the zombies from before seemed more like bundles of data.

Since these were living, breathing creatures, they would inevitably compete with humans for survival space. What’s more, they would actively attack humans—and to them, humans might even be prey.

Their activity zone wasn’t far from the territory, meaning anyone venturing out could run into goblin attacks.