Chapter 493 Soaring Potential! A Brand New Territory!
Before the territory upgrade function was unlocked, Su Mo had once thought that the billion-level civilization upgrade function was the killer ace that he would have up his sleeve and that, as long as he could continuously upgrade his territory’s civilization level, and improve the skill and knowledge levels of its residents, he could rapidly develop his territory and technology tree and overpower the other inhabitants of the New World. However, after seeing the system panel on the territory upgrade function, Su Mo realized that he had it all wrong! Instead of the slow and daunting road of civilization upgrade, this territory upgrade function had come at the perfect time, and it would be the most important aspect in his conquest of the New World in the future!
(Territory: Su Mo’s Basin Area] (Territory Weather: Drizzling (+)] (Territory Area: 150 square km (+)] [Territory Potential: 7.12 (+)]
[Territory Resources: Tungsten mine, iron mine, copper mine, geothermal steam, fertile land… (+)]
(Territory Terrain: Rugged and full of holes (+)]
[Locked): …
[…]: …
At the current moment, the territory upgrade function only had 5 unlocked sections that were glowing with a cheerful green light. The tens of sections below it were still in a locked state, and no one knew what they held.
However, from the 5 unlocked sections, Su Mo was confident that even if the basin area’s potential was still vastly inferior to the that of the region with the highest potential, in 6 months’ time, through the constant acc.u.mulation of territory points, the basin area would develop at a speed that other territories could only dream of! “I currently have 7.3 territory points, and enhancing one attribute will consume one territory point.” “Regarding the weather, the drizzle we’re experiencing now will not only dilute the concentration of salt left in the ground, but it will also water the fruit tree mountain, so I’m not too worried about this section for now.”
“As for the area and terrain, it’s the same as well. Now, since everyone’s still concentrated in a small area, the upgrade would not be as significant or effective as it would be later
on.”
“The choice I have to make is whether I should upgrade the territory’s resources or potential!”
Every upgrade presented a difficult decision for him to make.
Given that he had limited territory points, Su Mo reverted to his ultra cautious and careful self like when he had first arrived at the wasteland!
Before the data was updated, the potential of the basin area was rated at a feeble 0.15. After obtaining the 12 resource nodes, this value had increased to 7.12.
This was nearly 50 times its original value!
Su Mo tapped onto the resource panel and scrolled to the very top.
He read through the description of each and every resource node the territory possessed, their different upgrade options and methods, as well as the points required. Su Mo then nodded discreetly. He continued to scroll down, making sure he memorized all of the upgrade options of each resource node by heart.
When he reached the bottom, Su Mo closed the panel unexpectedly without making any changes to any of the resources. “System, add all territory points to potential!” His choice was swiftly made. As soon as he finished speaking, the 7.3 survival points disappeared in a flash. A faint green plus sign started to swirl around at the end of the territory potential section.
After 3 seconds, the points addition process was completed.
The 7.12 potential rating from before had risen to 14.42 after the addition of the territory points! Even though there was still a huge gap between this value and the highest possible value in the New World, it was still a small victory when compared with the average potential value of the territories of the New World.
The change in potential did not create any visible effects.
As Su Mo looked at the misty, rainy territory in front of him, even if it did not look very different from before—the gaping cracks and crevices still looked as ghastly as the devil’s smile—he knew deep in his heart that, over the course of the next one month, this territory would experience a complete transformation.
“Leader, leader, that mountain…” “We’re rich! That mountain over there is filled with fruits… ripe fruits that we can eat right after we pick them!”
Holding three freshly-picked, radiantly gleaming, apples in his hand, Chen Shen stumbled up the mountain, shrieking in delight as he ran toward Su Mo from the foot of the mountain.
Su Mo could clearly see the excitement on his face as he watched Chen Shen run like a madman in his direction.
Taking a rain-soaked apple from him, Su Mo cleaned the surface of the apple with his s.h.i.+rt and took a bite. “Tsk, not bad. Such a juicy fruit! Send my orders down. Everyone that partakes in the fruit-picking today will have their share of fruits.”
Chen Shen was dumbfounded, “Err, so… Leader, every single one of us will have some fruits?”
“The fruits on the fruit tree mountain may be abundant, but if all of us were to have our share, we won’t have many to go around… Why not wait until some of the villagers perform well and use the fruits as…”
Su Mo shook his head. “No, let’s do it this
way.”
“All of us haven’t had any fruits for three months now. It’s time for our tastebuds to be stimulated once again!” Su Mo thought about Hu Ren’s silent complaints and made the decision right away.
“Also. bring a few men and… You know what, just come with me!”
Standing at the top of the mountain, Su Mo pointed at a few places and started marching down the mountain.
Chen Shen, who was behind him, was initially stunned. Then he leaped three feet high in excitement as if he had just won the jackpot of five million dollars.
He had suddenly gained a deeper understanding and revelation from the things Su Mo had mentioned earlier. He had also felt fiercely hopeful about the future of the territory. ‘Our territory may be poor and broken, but we have the strongest human, Almighty Su, with us!’
What else was there to say about the future?!
With excitement and a tinge of lamentation in his heart, Chen Shen picked out 40 men at random and followed Su Mo into the distance with umbrellas in hand.
The long-awaited walk across the basin area now carried a totally different feeling, as they trudged along in the rain. The group did not walk very quickly but, led by Su Mo, a commotion of exclamations broke out as soon as everyone pa.s.sed the hillside and the open land came into view. “F*ck, quickly, look there! What the f*ck is that?! It’s moving! Could it be a foreign race that snuck in?!” “That’s no foreign race! Isn’t that… F*ck, isn’t that a f*cking sheep?”
“Quick, look there! Since when did we have such an open field of gra.s.s? b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, there was nothing there at all when I looked around yesterday!” “Sheep, quick, let’s go catch some sheep. Don’t let them escape!”
“Attack!”
Splat!
Splatter!
At that moment, no one cared about the umbrellas in their hands any longer.
Everyone, including Chen Shen, looked like children that had just gotten their hands on a new toy as they howled excitedly, running toward the sheep. The poor sheep that had arrived in the New World not too long ago did not even have time to react as to why they had suddenly appeared here before they were tightly hugged by the humans who had endured the trials and tribulations of the Doomsday wasteland for three months. Hugging the sheep gave them a sense of comfort that they had not experienced before, not even on Earth. “One, two, three, four… ten! We have ten sheep!” “F*ck, what are those?!” “The f*ck, could those be wild yaks?! Sh*t, what a fortune! Has our territory been invaded by animals?!”
“Who wants to catch some yaks!”
“Sun De, you go! You were the fastest to capture a sheep just now. Why are you still here?”
There were ten yaks that now existed in the territory. The male yaks were burly and strong, with fur that glistened healthily in the gloomy rain, whereas the female yaks were muscular and healthy, as if each muscle on their backs were packed with power. These hefty-looking animals weighed about half a ton each. If they were to go berserk, only Su Mo would be able to bring them back under control. As for others, if they did not have their weapons with them, they would not stand a chance. “Calm down, everyone. These babies are precious a.s.sets to develop our territory’s agriculture and farming in the future. Don’t scare them off!” “Let go of the sheep. This is their home, so why and where would they run to anyway?” With a bounce in his steps, Su Mo briskly walked down the hill and stopped in front of the strongest-looking bull of the herd before everyone’s eyes.
This was the pack leader.
With these types of bulls around, the other bulls and female yaks would automatically follow its lead in forming a harmonious little herd.
It was also this type of bull that was more hot-tempered than ordinary yaks. There was video footage of pack leaders like these charging solo into a herd of wolves, headb.u.t.ting and killing wolves while disregarding the attacks and bites of the other wolves within the herd.
However, as Su Mo stretched out his hand, the pack leader did not charge aggressively at Su Mo like how everyone else was worried that it might.
Instead, it laid its head in Su Mo’s hand gently and moved its head around affectionately so that Su Mo’s hand could caress its head.
With Su Mo taking the lead, the others looked down and were surprised to find the sheep they were hugging did not have confused gazes like the sheep they had seen back on Earth, but rather had glittering eyes that sparkled knowingly. As everyone watched, some braver male sheep bleated a few times, looking adorable and polite.
As the sheep were released from the grips of the men, they strolled leisurely around the gra.s.s field in the rain, occasionally lowering their heads to chomp on a mouthful of gra.s.s while bleating in satisfaction. If the people did not see this with their own eyes, they would not be able to relate the scene that was unfolding before their eyes with the poor, sad-looking basin area they had seen yesterday.
Even so, as they looked at the greenery around them, they were still flabbergasted and so dumbfounded they plopped down onto the ground and started laughing. “Haha, did you think that this was all there is?”
“Get up, everyone! Follow me to the next place! If you can’t even take a surprise like this, how are you gonna develop our territory in the future?”
Patting the pack leader’s head gently, Su Mo gestured for the yak herd to move to one side as he brought the residents that were still on cloud nine and resumed their journey.
This time, the destination was slightly further away; about 15km away.
Once they were within ten kilometers of their destination, everyone could already see the gigantic freshwater lake from afar.
The size of this lake was at least 3 square mu, which was equivalent to about 2000 square meters.
It looked like a pristine mirror on the ground, glistening a soul-moving blue! “Leader, why not move our base of operations here? This place looks like it was made just for us to live in!”
“Indeed, it’s still best to live near the mountains and water sources. If only we could move the fruit tree mountain over here, then it would be perfect!” “My eyes might be playing tricks on me, but why do I feel like there’s something moving in the lake?”
“No way… F*ck, I see it too!”
As they approached the lake, the people started allowing their imagination to run wild as they gazed at the clear blue lake. When they finally saw the carps that were leaping into the air to get some fresh air, they… could not believe their eyes!
Even though they had prepared themselves mentally, when they actually came face-to-face with the lake that was teeming with so much life, they felt like their presence there seemed… “out of place”.
None of their mental preparations could have prepared them for the surprise given to them by reality.
It felt like opening your wallet to find a lottery ticket you did not buy, but just as you were prepared to throw the lottery ticket away, you walked past the lottery ticket booth and realized that you had won five million dollars!
Unexpected surprises like these would throw anyone off their feet, including Chen Shen! “There are two thousand fishes here. Not too many, but later, after we return, Chen Shen, pick out some people who can swim and catch around…”
“Three hundred fishes.”
“Tonight, we will mobilize and begin the briefing for the infrastructure construction project and, by the time we’re done, I want to see everyone enjoying a bowl of hot fish soup!”
After Su Mo made his decision to pick the fruits, Chen Shen no longer voiced any objections when Su Mo announced this and only nodded quietly instead. This time, when the other residents that were around finally snapped back to their senses, they exploded with joy! Their voices echoed and rang out as their excited facial expressions were reflected on the surface of the lake.
The carps were not only unafraid, they were leaping up and down the lake like a ‘dance’ performance.
After these two surprises, when Su Mo introduced them to the rest of the things, the residents managed to better contain their excitement.
Chinese red pine forest. Scotch pine forest. These two did not take up as much s.p.a.ce, but they were just as majestic as a regular forest would be, and were located 14km in front of Iron Rock Mountain, which would make the wood harvesting process extremely convenient.
The copper and tungsten mines were too deep underground, so Su Mo did not bring the residents there. He only brought them to where the heatstone ores were located.
According to the terrain, there were hearthstone ores scattered within 30 square kilometers in the vicinity.
At the current moment, if they wanted to mine the ore, it was purely a game of chance. “Everyone, take out your shovels and dig the ground where you are standing. See if you can find any surprises?”
“It should look something like a pure black
rock.”
Opening his storage s.p.a.ce, Su Mo took the shovel he had kept in a corner, threw his umbrella aside, and started shoveling aggressively as well. Even if Su Mo was the one who had activated this resource node, after 30 minutes digging, the whole lot of them had only managed to find a single palm-sized rock. Heatstones looked very una.s.suming. The black stones exuded cold air as they quickly absorbed the heat from their surroundings and stored it internally. As they stored the heat, the color of the rock would gradually change from pure black to light black, then to a cream color, until they finally became pure white.
When they were pure white, they would slowly release the heat they had stored at the same speed at which they had absorbed the heat.
They were the equivalent to a natural… powerbank! “Let’s go. Stop digging over here. I’ll get someone to drive King Kong over here and give it a go. The efficiency of us digging here like this is too low!”
Unaware of the function of the heatstones, everyone kept their shovels and stopped digging after hearing Su Mo’s words. Then they went back the way they came.
As they walked past the fruit tree mountain, Su Mo went over to take a walk inside out of sheer interest.
In just two hours, under the influence of the doubled territory potential rating, though it might have been difficult for others to notice, Su Mo realized immediately that changes were starting to take place on the fruit tree mountain.
The soil was firmer and the trees were st.u.r.dier. Even the fruits grew a size larger, and were juicier and more nutritious. ‘Not bad, not bad. When they are picked later at night, the increased potential would have fully showcased its effects.’
On the other side, it was not just the fruit tree mountain that displayed a gradual change, but even the land below their feet was changing little by little as well. The residents that were working on it may not have noticed it, but as Su Mo made his way down from the mountain, the salt content of the ground was rapidly diluting, and the many cracks and crevices on the ground were also beginning to close up.
The change that was happening on a microscopic level was even greater.
The microorganisms that were living in the salty environment were changing rapidly under the influence of a mysterious power. The biological constraints that were restricting the growth of living organisms were quickly being removed, and the microbes that were beneficial to the growth of microorganisms were quickly growing and multiplying All in all, even though this land had not regained its former glory, it would no longer hinder the planting and growing of ordinary plants and crops! In reality, the invisible benefits were far greater than the visible ones. The air in the basin area had become clearer and fresher, the water quality of the rain had increased exponentially, and even the concentration of iron in the iron mines of Iron Rock Mountain had also increased by a percentage at a gradual pace. The increase in potential signified that all parts of the basin area were increasing in terms of quality as well. When compared to upgrading individual resources, those 7 points could be considered to have been very well
spent!
“Leader, the trench is ready!” The residents that had been working from 10 in the morning could finally take a break.
Su Mo looked at the residents who were chit-chatting on the floor while keeping an eye on him. He did not slow down his pace but made long strides forward.
Instantly, a miniature version of Hope One appeared in Su Mo’s hand. As he threw it forward, Hope One started to increase in size, like the soldiers appearing right out of a fairytale storybook. Within 30 seconds, the familiar s.h.i.+p had appeared and sank into the trench after losing its magical power.
All the people that were seated on the ground exploded with excitement!
“Go on and carry our things down.” “We will build our very own houses, and our very own city on this land!” After verifying the captain’s authority, the OS opened the doors to the second level, and Su Mo, after observing the hopeful faces of all 1000 of his territory residents, lifted up his hands, and bellowed at the top of his lungs! Those simple few words sounded like lightning and thunder as they rang in the residents’ ears.
Unbeknownst to them, once more, another page had just been recorded in the historical annals of the New World. From then on, the hope of all humans, at the core of this wasteland world would…
Rise from the ashes once more in this very place!