After learning to use Sense Nature, Lin Chen gradually became immersed in it, tirelessly using this Skill to observe the Nature Power within various plants.
Especially these large trees; the longer the growth period of a tree, the richer its Natural aura, and the easier it was for him to sense it. In this state, he could truly feel the vitality of the plants, which filled him with joy, making him unwilling to harm them.
Cultivating by sensing Nature Power to gain professional experience was much easier than killing zombies, though the efficiency was lower.
After several attempts, Lin Chen discovered that not every sensing attempt resulted in an improvement. Experience was only gained when he had an epiphany during the sensing process or felt closer to Nature.
If he helped plants that were in poor condition, making their Nature Power more vigorous, he would also gain experience.
Using Sense Nature would cut off his perception of the surrounding environment, so Lin Chen only dared to use it freely within his territory. Once outside the territory, he had to be extremely cautious and did not dare to go far. As soon as it got dark, Lin Chen returned.
At this point, he was already [Druid LV1 (21/100)], which was equivalent to killing 21 zombies.
Lin Chen was quite satisfied, happily using collected dead branches to start a fire and cook a pot of fish soup, even luxuriously adding some spring of recovery.
He gave a small bowl of fish soup to Yuan Gun Gun, and used the rest to soak instant noodles.
His only regret was that his phone was missing, so he did not know any outside information. Bai Lang had not come looking for him yet, so he had probably already gone to other dimensions to receive his inheritance.
Without novels or online news to accompany his meal, even the fragrant fish noodle soup seemed a bit bland. Lin Chen could only pull out the player handbook to read.
By this time, the World Forum was already very lively.
The leaderboard at the top of the Forum had also been unlocked, divided into two lists: a level ranking and a combat achievement ranking, displaying the top one hundred players.
Lin Chen clicked in to see that he was not on either the level ranking or the combat achievement ranking.
This was to be expected.
Well trained soldiers, people with certain combat skills, or even strong adult males with greater strength and physique than him, would have no problem killing zombies.
If they were in densely populated areas, they might even have had to fight zombies, gaining a lot of combat experience.
The top hundred players all had progress above 40, and the top 10 were all at 50.
The combat achievement ranking and the level ranking had a large overlap, with 80% of the players on the list being physical attack professions like Warriors.
Scrolling down to the public chat area, the first hot post was:
"Warriors are the best! Spellcasting professions are too tragic!"
Posting in the public chat area was not linked to player IDs, like an anonymous confessional. Lin Chen clicked into the first hot post.
"I chose a Mage and got nothing..."
"Where do I even get Spells?! Is this damned Apocalypse Game bugged?"
"So Warriors are still the best, Skills are learned super fast, killing a zombie or two is no problem."
"No way, no way, Mages do not even have Spells? We Clerics have a Spell list, it is just a bit hard to learn. Who told me I am an atheist and not good at praising gods!"
"As a senior game designer, professions with low learning difficulty generally do not have a high ceiling, to ensure balance. Spellcasting professions are harder in the early stages, but they will definitely make a comeback later..."
Browsing the chat area of this Forum felt like browsing Weibo, and he could also find a lot of information.
For example, the moment the Apocalypse Game launched, some people's phones disappeared while they were playing, which was considered lucky. Some people were driving and were suddenly thrown onto the road, not to mention those on planes and boats.
The water supply system, power system, and transportation system all collapsed, and the only weapons left were cold weapons. The entire human civilization regressed several hundred years in an instant.
Besides that, another post caught his attention.
"Found a camp with NPCs, coordinates Qu City Southern Suburbs!"
"I found one too, right in my field. It also fell with a meteor, starting very small, then suddenly expanding hundreds of times. There are buildings inside, but I have not seen any people. But you have to pay a 10 Copper Coin entrance fee to get in, it is too expensive!"
"I went in! Those buildings are all shops, selling all sorts of things. The NPCs are all in the shops, and there are even Spell scrolls for sale!"
"Our planet is not really being taken over by a game, is it? Even NPCs have appeared. Is this camp a newbie village? Can we even do quests?"
Lin Chen looked through a lot of related information. He strongly suspected that the lord token he picked up was the predecessor of a camp. If a lord token was not picked up for a while, it would directly turn into a camp.
Looking around, his camp had nothing, so why did other camps have shops and NPCs?
He checked his territory information. In the blueprint design section, there was indeed a functional facility: a shop.
[Facility: Shop]
[Function: Can attract merchants to settle in and provide protection to the shop owner]
[Scale: Determined by the size of the residential materials used during construction]
[Required Materials: Residence x 1, merchant recruitment cost calculated separately]
[Blueprint Conversion Requirement: 100 Energy]
To build a shop, there must first be a residence as the main building. The shop blueprint is more like imparting different functions to a residence. Its appearance and scale are also determined by the style of the residence. The conversion cost is 100 Energy, and he currently only has 80.
Lin Chen then looked at residences. Residences also had blueprint templates. Lin Chen looked at them and saw they all required large open spaces. These trees were his cultivation resources, and he could not bear to cut them down.
To keep these trees, Lin Chen simply designed one himself. Blueprint design did not require superb drawing skills; buildings could be designed by adding conditions.
Residences are for living. This Apocalypse Game is not like a real online game with a game inventory for storage, so many people will need a safe storage point to pile up materials. Residences are naturally a good choice.
So the first condition was safety, with certain anti theft measures.
In addition, it had to be compatible with the forest environment, ideally utilizing these trees without affecting their growth.
Finally, the appearance should match the characteristics of the forest: fresh, natural, warm, and comfortable.
After inputting the conditions, the residence blueprint in his imagination gradually took shape.
[Facility: Treehouse Residence]
[Function: Can be inhabited, fireproof and moisture proof, with certain anti theft and protective functions]
[Scale: Determined by the volume and number of large trees supporting the Treehouse][Required Materials: Large trees, wood, small amount of Energy]
[Blueprint Conversion Requirement: 50 Energy]
A blueprint only needs to be converted once to be reusable. Shops and residences are facilities that need to be built in large quantities in the camp, but residences require very little Energy. Large trees are also readily available, but some wood is mainly needed.
If he did not want to cut down trees, collecting wood would be troublesome. Dead branches and leaves within the camp area could also be converted into wood, but even converting all of them would only yield 20 units.
Although the main body of the Treehouse residence was large trees, this amount of wood was still not enough.