Not enough wood, so energy will have to do; I can only hope to get more energy.
Lin Chen had a flash of inspiration: the spring of recovery should be quite valuable, right? After all, it is a product of an orange mythical grade item, and it will be fully restored tomorrow anyway.
He converted all the remaining spring of recovery into energy, and it did not disappoint him—it yielded a full 200 points.
Suddenly rich, Lin Chen felt much more confident and decisively converted the Treehouse Residence blueprint.
The most important thing for building a Treehouse is a large tree. The taller the tree, the better. The advantage is that it will not affect the tree's growth, and being elevated off the ground allows for more efficient use of space.
This grove, right next to Green Mountain Forest, has old trees. Just three trees can support a minimum sized Treehouse, about 20 square meters. Building one requires 20 energy and 20 wood.
Lin Chen tried building a minimum sized Treehouse.
Planks gradually formed in his chosen location, assembling into a small, pointed roof Treehouse. The vines originally attached to the tree trunk were guided onto the Treehouse walls, paired with equally small arched doors and windows, creating a whimsical, fairytale like dreaminess that perfectly matched his imagination.
In the cruel apocalypse, such a warm and beautiful dwelling brought a sense of peace.
In front of the Treehouse was a small platform. On the wooden railing of the platform, "Treehouse No. 1" was carved, and a wooden ladder hung from the edge.
Lin Chen climbed up the wooden ladder, pushed open the door, and found the inside empty, without any furniture. Only in the corner was a small fireplace connected to a chimney, which was also connected to a small stove.
Furniture is not considered a territory facility, so its absence was normal. But this fireplace was made of wood, just like the Treehouse's material.
Lin Chen snapped his fingers, and a small flame appeared on his fingertip. When he used the flame to scorch the wooden board, the surface of the board seemed to have an invisible film, unaffected by the fire.
This fire resistant effect was quite rare. Now he would not have to worry about fires when cooking inside.
Lin Chen caressed the patterns on the wood and could still smell the fresh scent of the trees. He immediately fell in love with this house.
Unfortunately, there was only enough wood to build one Treehouse. If there was not enough wood, 1 energy could replace 2 units of wood.
Lin Chen calculated that after converting the shop blueprint, he would have 20 energy left after building three more Treehouses.
He first spent 100 energy to convert the shop blueprint.
After the exchange, the shop blueprint displayed recruitment types.
[Recruitment Types: General, Clothing, Food, Furniture, Weapons, Armor, Accessories, Materials, Potions...]
Lin Chen opened a category, and inside were shops available for camp level territories.
At a glance, the items for sale were varied. Some recruitment costs were too high, others had too many requirements.
The most common and cheapest among them was the low level grocery store in the general category. It required no additional energy expenditure, only that the merchant's requirements be met.
This was also what he needed at the moment. A grocery store basically covered all aspects of clothing, food, housing, and transportation. Although the choices were not many, if there was a grocery store in the camp, one could basically survive as long as they had money.
Even for grocery stores, different merchants had different characteristics and requirements.
[Copper Coin Grocery: Sells common adventure supplies, complete variety, low prices. Requires resident population greater than 100, tax ≤ 4%.]
[Home Grocery: Sells common adventure supplies and various textiles. Requires a double story residential building, no rent, tax ≤ 5%]
...Lin Chen searched for a long time. Most were like the two above, with resident population requirements, or shop style and tax requirements. Taxes were manageable, but resident population was impossible to meet.
The items sold were largely similar, all including common adventure items, but some stores, like Home Grocery, had specialty goods.
Finally, Lin Chen simply filtered for grocery stores that met his requirements.
[Oak Grocery: Sells common adventure items, buys various animal and plant materials. Requires the territory to have a strong sense of Nature and lush vegetation.]
Compared to the previous stores, this one's requirements were much more down to earth. It did not even have tax requirements, which made Lin Chen a little worried about the owner's business acumen.
However, the requirement for a strong sense of Nature made Lin Chen very happy; it felt like meeting a kindred spirit. Such a store should be satisfied with his territory's environment.
Lin Chen directly used Treehouse No. 1 as the address for recruitment.
[Recruitment successful. The merchant will move in on the next business day. Countdown: 13:59:59]
"Business day?" Lin Chen calculated that he would have to wait until tomorrow daytime, which he could afford.
Lin Chen built the remaining three Treehouses and assigned numbers to them.
"Treehouse No. 2 (Rented)"
"Treehouse No. 3 (Rent: 10 Copper Coins/day)"
"Treehouse No. 4 (Rent: 10 Copper Coins/day)"
Currently, everyone does not have much money, so it is more suitable to rent out residences. He plans to live in Treehouse No. 2, so its status on the doorplate shows as 'Rented'. Treehouses No. 3 and 4 are both for rent. After accumulating some energy, he can continue building.
Constantly converting the spring of recovery into energy is a bit wasteful. It is best for the territory's development to be self sufficient.
In addition to this, Lin Chen also changed the appearance of the territory's protective barrier.
The territory was surrounded by a low wall of tree vines emitting faint glows. The glowing parts were the patterns on the tree vine leaves. Near Moon Lake, there was also an arched gate made of arm thick tree vines. A plaque hung at the top of the gate frame, inscribed with "Qingshan Camp". The letters also glowed faintly, making it striking and beautiful, capable of attracting more people.
Next to the camp gate was a double sided bulletin board, also outlined by tree vines. It displayed a passage of text that could be clearly seen from both outside and inside the camp.
These were the territory rules he had just established. Rules set by the lord cannot be violated by others; he was absolutely safe within his own territory.
"Qingshan Camp Rules (Provisional):
Entry Fee: 5 Copper Coins/day Tax: 5% All forms of fighting are prohibited within the camp. Destruction of camp facilities (including trees within the camp) is prohibited."
Whether it was the camp gate, the low wall, or the bulletin board, they were all just forms. Lin Chen had only changed the appearance of the territory's protective barrier. Those tree vines were not real living things, but merely part of the barrier.
However, others could only enter and exit the camp through this gate, while he himself was not restricted and could enter from any location.
The entry fee was half that of other camps. It was not that he did not want to make money, but rather that his camp was still very primitive, with only one shop. Earning Copper Coins in the early stages was not easy, so it was better to take the path of small profits and quick turnover to help him quickly accumulate funds.
With pretty fences, a gate, and four Treehouses, it finally looked a bit like a camp.
Lin Chen moved all his belongings into Treehouse No. 2 overnight.
Because there were no shelves, most things could only be piled on the floor, making space utilization very low.
Fortunately, things were very safe here. Although the locks on the doors and windows of this house were very simple, only serving as switches, the house's anti theft effect was very good. As long as the doors and windows were closed, outsiders could not enter.