Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse-Chapter 199 - 187: Utilization and Charging of the Treehouse Core

The sky was about to get dark, and Xu Xin quickly returned to the vicinity of his treehouse.

He planted the newly brought-back [Parasite Treehouse Seeds] at the outermost edge of his "backyard," opposite the previous location of [Parasite Treehouse 01], planting it on the other side.

He hadn’t given it much thought; he just felt that having symmetry was more comfortable.

Taking advantage of the fact that this parasite treehouse hadn’t fully grown yet, Xu Xin sent a voice message to Ji Chaoyang. He wanted to analyze today’s information with Ji Chaoyang and then consider whether to share their deductions with other explorers.

The call connected quickly.

"I encountered people from other zones." Xu Xin started bluntly.

"...Oh?" Ji Chaoyang’s voice on the other side became serious. "Which zone are they from?"

"Pretty much as you guessed, Jungle Zone 187."

"...Neighboring zone, huh? That’s good."

Both Ji Chaoyang’s concerns were similar; he was worried that surrounded areas did not only consist of Zone 187, 189, etc., but also numerous other zones. Handling one or two regions was feasible, but widespread conflict across multiple zones would greatly increase the difficulty.

Xu Xin conveyed all information he got from Le Youfang to Ji Chaoyang.

"It seems our deductions are likely correct." Ji Chaoyang pondered for a moment before speaking.

"What did you find over there?"

"I also went around the protection zone’s perimeter and found two treehouses. Unfortunately, both had lost their owners and were on the brink of dying; I didn’t encounter any living survivors."

"Have you noticed a problem?" Xu Xin frowned. "None of us have found anyone from our zone; it seems there are only survivors from other zones around us. Could it be that we are completely isolated from others in the same zone?"

He had found a total of three treehouses, and upon reflection, their positions were even somewhat in line.

The first treehouse was to the east, the second to the north, and the third, which belonged to Le Youfang, to the south. Despite minor discrepancies, they were largely consistent.

Each direction corresponded to a treehouse, yet all three treehouses were not from their zone!

Were it not for previously visible lightning rod glow atop Li Wenxi’s treehouse in his due east direction, approximately thirty kilometers away, he might have doubted his own position.

"This is probably what I mentioned before, cross-distribution." Ji Chaoyang mused for a moment before speaking. "All of us are separated."

Xu Xin naturally understood what cross-distribution meant, similar to black-and-white interspersed floor tiles.

Every survivor’s treehouse protection zone from Jungle Zone 188 is equivalent to a white square, while survivors from other zones are black squares. White squares connect only to black squares, and black squares are surrounded entirely by white squares.

In other words, only in diagonal directions, like northwest or southeast, can one find co-zone producers.

However, protection zones aren’t squares but circles, and circles aren’t able to cover entirely like squares. Between diagonal circles, there are dangerous zones not covered by protection areas.

Therefore, until the protection zone continues to expand, same-zone areas are incapable of directly connecting.

Now, seeking out others from the same zone requires traversing protection zones of other survivors.

"I think it’s time to tell them; we need to swiftly establish a close-knit group. Otherwise, if some harbor malicious intents, it might adversely affect others." Xu Xin said. The "them" he referred to naturally were the other explorers.

"Let’s do it tomorrow. Since protection zones can interconnect now, functions akin to world channels should also be unlocked. We’d better verify again today."

"Alright."

Xu Xin ended the call.

At this time, the treehouse had fully grown. Silver King and Mimi were circling the treehouse, as it was their first time witnessing a tree grow so rapidly, full of curiosity.

Xu Xin renamed this treehouse to [Parasite Treehouse 02], activated its some functions, and returned to his treehouse with his four beasts.

He took out the two [Low Treehouse Cores], intending to use the cores for resource upgrades.

"What should I upgrade?"

For now, he set aside the carving knife, since even if he crafted a purple-grade carving knife, with his artist level, he wouldn’t be able to sculpt a purple-grade statue. It was rather pointless, except maybe a slight increase in carving speed, but his current speed was sufficient, and he didn’t need to consume a purple-grade resource just to enhance it.

A weapon was indeed a good choice; he could upgrade two materials and fully craft a weapon. Xu Xin had just acquired the highest quality steel material among peers; if he upgraded steel block (blue) to steel block (purple) and used the steel block to make a weapon, he’d gain the strongest weapon in the purple grade!

This way, he’d be entirely equipped in purple-grade gear!

Yet, in terms of practicality, he should upgrade the boning knife, as the purple-grade boning knife could extract purple-grade materials, and possibly increase the chance of extracting blue-grade materials too.

After much consideration, Xu Xin ultimately chose to upgrade the weapon.

Currently, neither beasts nor mutant creatures were present around him; it was uncertain when they would appear. Before venturing west, Xu Xin planned to equip himself fully and then explore the west side, hoping to find another treehouse core.

Finally, he opted for a steel spear among all weapons, instead of the crossbow.

The purple-grade steel spear required just wood and steel two purple-grade materials, whereas the purple-grade crossbow needed wood, animal sinew, and steel three materials, which he couldn’t create yet. Plus, with high-power explosive arrows, the shooting speed and throw strength of the crossbow itself wouldn’t be of great importance; adequate use was all that mattered.

[Steel Spear (Green): A sharp spear made of steel, sharper than iron spears, the hardest and sharpest weapon among peers! Durability 1000. Requires wood (green) *5, steel block (green) *2]

A purple-grade steel spear requires four blue-grade woods, one purple-grade wood, one blue-grade steel block, and one purple-grade steel block.

Taking out one blue-grade steel block and one [Low Treehouse Core], Xu Xin tried to place the two resources together.

[Would you like to use the core of the low-lying treehouse to upgrade the steel block (blue) to steel block (purple)?]

The prompt sounded, and Xu Xin didn’t hesitate, immediately choosing yes.

The core of the treehouse, which was originally emitting a glistening white light, suddenly shone brightly. Then, under his discerning ability, the blue glow on the steel block slowly began to shift towards purple.

Finally, the core of the treehouse dimmed, transforming from a glowing white "Luminous Pearl" to an ordinary pale yellow spherical stone. Meanwhile, the steel block fully turned purple level.

[The energy-depleted core of the low-lying treehouse: The treehouse core, having exhausted all energy, has become an ordinary stone, but there might be a way to recharge it.]

Recharge fully again! As expected, even a core that has lost its energy can be recharged!

This made Xu Xin overjoyed. If he found this method, he could actually produce purple level resources on his own!

But, how to recharge it?

"Treehouse core..." Xu Xin muttered to himself. "Could it be related to the parasitic treehouse?"

He had checked all the functions of the parasitic treehouse, and none of them had an option for recharging the treehouse core.

He suddenly remembered, while he was operating in his parasitic treehouse 01, Keke kept scratching the floor with her little paws. When he left last, she was still scratching the floor, and he hugged her away, though she was somewhat reluctant at that time.

Xu Xin initially thought she was sharpening her claws, but now it seems, perhaps...

It doesn’t matter about the purple level weapon now, he can make it anytime. He picked up Keke from the sofa and headed to parasitic treehouse 01.

"Ying ying ying?" Keke, who was dozing on the sofa, was lifted to Xu Xin’s shoulder, with little question marks all over her head.

"Help me check if there’s something special in the parasitic treehouse."

"Ying!" Upon hearing this, Keke was immediately alert, waved her little paws, and seemed to be saying that she had already discovered it, but last time she was directly picked up by Xu Xin.

As expected, it was similar to his guess.

Arriving at the first floor of parasitic treehouse 01, Keke jumped down from Xu Xin’s shoulder, ran to the center of the treehouse, and scratched the floor with her little paw: "Ying!"

This location, Xu Xin was very familiar with. Isn’t this the position of the treehouse trunk and where the treehouse core originally was?

Parasitic treehouses don’t have cores, so it should be empty inside.

Could it be that you need to pry open the floor at the center of the treehouse and insert the treehouse core into the original location of the treehouse core?

Xu Xin touched the floor with his hand, but didn’t trigger any hint to control the floor to lift.

...Then chop with an axe!

After all, it’s just removing a piece of treehouse floor, if removed, it’s removed, even afterward he doesn’t need to fix it himself, the treehouse’s self-repair ability can restore it.

Let’s get to it. Taking out the iron axe, Xu Xin slashed at the floor.

"Ka!"

As before, the green-level parasitic treehouse stood no chance against the blue-level iron axe. With just one hit, the floor at the center position cracked. After several hits, the floor shattered.

Xu Xin cleared the debris from the floor, exposing the situation beneath.

"Just as expected!"

Under the floor was different from a normal treehouse. A normal treehouse has a hollow trunk, with the treehouse core buried at the bottom in the soil. Whereas the trunk of a parasitic treehouse was solid, only having a hemispherical concave shape, perfect for placing the treehouse core within.

[Discovered parasitic treehouse charging slot, unlocked core charging function]

This core charging function had to be discovered by oneself.

Xu Xin placed the [core of the low-lying treehouse] that had run out of energy on it. With a light "click," the treehouse core fit perfectly into the hemispherical slot. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A faint white sheen again emitted from the previously dimmed treehouse core.

Xu Xin touched it, and the core that was cold after losing energy now felt warm, like a hand warmer.

[Remaining charge time: 4 days 23 hours 59 minutes]

It really can recharge!

"Ying!" Keke also touched it, finally even lying on it, showing a comfortable expression, tongue sticking out.

Xu Xin fell into thought.

Originally, the core of the treehouse was meant to provide energy to the treehouse. However, the energy of a parasitic treehouse is obtained from the host treehouse, so it doesn’t need the core of the treehouse to specifically supply energy; instead, it can supplement the energy from the host treehouse into the treehouse core.

This should be the principle of charging the core.

However... seeing it this way, the host treehouse, that is, his treehouse, needs to provide more energy, bearing a greater burden, and it isn’t known how many parasitic treehouses it can tolerate at most.

Although a five-day charge time is somewhat long, purple level resources are worth such a wait.

If more parasitic treehouses are acquired in the future, wouldn’t it mean purple level resources can be batch-produced!

Speaking of which, what would happen if you put a fully charged core on it?