Chapter 16

When night fell that day, Baiye Village was not shrouded in darkness.

The strange flowers blooming on the Tree of Creation, while releasing a strange fragrance, also emitted fluorescent spores from them, diffusing throughout the territory and illuminating the entire territory.

After a day of preparation, the villagers all followed Ye Bai's instructions and hid in their homes, leaving only Carrie and four villagers carrying bows and arrows and Ye Bai standing beside the Tree of Creation in the center of the village, preparing to deal with the first attack on the upgraded territory.

Among these four villagers, except Roman who was arranged by Ye Bai to explore the map, the other three are special talents, Lucy, Sean, and a villager named Wade from the third batch of refugees.

Wade's talent is [Mineral Identification], which is more suitable for the [Blacksmith] profession. Ye Bai changed his previous training strategy for Sean and planned to train Sean to become a hunter professional in the territory.

Special talents are not so easy to appear. Both groups of refugees have special talents. This is because Ye Bai’s title of "First Lord" is powerful and he is lucky.

“Here I come!”

Ye Bai observed the movements of the territory through the bird's-eye view of the Tree of Creation. When night fell, he immediately saw a "small black dot" appear on the edge of the territory.

As soon as these words were spoken, the four villagers beside Ye Bai, except Carrie, all showed nervous expressions and clenched their bows and arrows, but their loyalty of 60 forced them to overcome their fear and stay where they were without running away.

When upgrading from a level 0 territory to a level 1 territory, the level of monsters that attack the village will probably range from level 5 to 15, depending on what type of "beasts" are nearby.

If wild animals are meat resources and ordinary villagers can hunt them, then ferocious beasts are threats to ordinary villagers and can only be dealt with by villagers with a certain amount of military power.

For example, a hunter working in a hunter's lodge can use bows and arrows and traps to deal with a single beast when he does not encounter a group of beasts, just like hunting wild animals such as deer and rabbits, and harvest leather and meat; if he becomes a professional hunter, he will be able to deal with more beasts.

In addition, military professions such as territory guards, sentinels, and patrols can fight against wild beasts.

The small black dots came from three directions. They were not refreshed out of thin air, but were the beasts closest to the territory.

Under normal circumstances, when establishing a territory, if there is a habitat of wild beasts nearby, they will migrate outside the range of the Tree of Creation, just like wild animal herds. The stronger the beast, the farther away from the territory it will be. Ultimately, just like NPC towns, the farther away from the town, the stronger the monsters you will encounter.

In terms of the game setting, the Tree of Creation itself has a sheltering effect, which allows stronger animals to sense that this is their territory and they need to stay away.

However, the only exception is that every time the territory is upgraded, the Tree of Creation will lose its previous protective barrier and become fragile. The fragrance of the flower will also spread to the surrounding area, causing the surrounding living creatures to fall into a frenzy and want to destroy it at all costs.

The higher the level, the farther the fragrance spreads, which is why the higher the level of the monster, the stronger it is.

The first priority of these beasts that invade the territory is the first living creatures they encounter in the territory, that is, the villagers. Once the hatred is locked, even if the villager escapes into a building, the monster will attack the building until it is destroyed.

If they see no living creatures, they will follow the scent and destroy the Tree of Creation.

The Tree of Creation is the most important core base of a territory. It also has a "health bar". If it is attacked and damaged, supplies must be invested to repair it, otherwise the relevant functions cannot be used. If the health bar is cleared to zero, it will directly declare the destruction of the territory, and all the troops, professionals, and villagers in the territory will become ownerless forces.

So Ye Bai only brought five villagers to guard the Tree of Creation, and the other villagers were locked in their homes. This meant that all the attacking beasts would attack them directly in a straight line.

However, the fastest wolf pack attacked from the northwest, but not a single wild wolf managed to appear in Ye Bai's sight.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

To the northwest was the military zone planned for the future territory. There was not a single building there. Not long after more than a dozen wild wolves set foot in that area, they stepped on some sharp metal objects one by one.

Hunting Trap

Level: Ordinary

Hit Damage: 100-150 (+500)

Effect: Hits carry a 100% chance of bleeding, a 50% (+40%) chance of slowing down, a 20% (+30%) chance of crippling, and cause 50% additional damage to beasts.

Inlay: Source Crystal (poor)

The hunting trap is a standard animal trap mechanism, which is difficult to trigger for human enemies, but very useful for wild beasts. Hunters working in hunter huts, before becoming professionals, mainly rely on traps instead of bows and arrows for hunting.

The only drawback of this thing is that its durability is related to the damage caused. For example, if it is used to hunt a rabbit with only 20 health points, the durability of the trap can be used another 5 to 7 times. If it is used to hunt prey with a long health bar and the damage exceeds the maximum, it can only be used once.

Now these embedded source energy crystals only bring additional damage, but cannot increase damage durability, so the trap cannot be used after being triggered by these wild wolves with 180-200 health bars.

However, considering the current damage, it is not necessary.

“Ouch…”

More than ten wild wolves fell to the ground before they even crossed the "military zone" from Ye Bai's Planning Office.

The damage added by the Source Energy Crystal is fatal to ordinary monsters below level 20, not to mention that it also increases the probability of triggering the two negative effects of [Slowdown] and [Crippling].

As for why Ye Bai can ensure that the trap is effective?

Of course, she had to thank Roman, the villager she sent out on the fifth day after the village was built. He followed the "mosquito-repellent incense exploration" method taught by Ye Bai and explored the environment around the territory in circles, allowing her to understand the distribution of wild beasts around.

As long as the location of the beast's habitat is determined, when the territory is upgraded, a straight line will be drawn from the Tree of Creation as the starting point, which must be their route of movement. Ye Bai has asked the villagers to stay at home and not come out, minimizing the possibility of their hatred being drawn away. Finally, traps will be set on that route. Wouldn't it be a sure thing to catch them?

The wild wolf habitat is closest to the territory and they are also the fastest, so the first wave hits the trap.

After waiting for a while, the southeast direction saw silence in the residential area with closed doors.

The villagers locked their doors tightly, and stood nervously behind the doors with tools such as hoes and axes in their hands, not daring to make any sound.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

A heavy sound was heard in the distance. Soon, the sound became louder and faster, and one could even feel the ground vibrating slightly.

“Hmph…Hmph…”

The footsteps were accompanied by shouts, and wild boars with sharp black thorns, bloodshot eyes, and a pair of protruding fangs also arrived.

There were eight wild boars in total, and they all broke into the residential area at once.

At this distance, Ye Bai and the five villagers were able to see their figures from afar from the slightly higher terrain at the location of the Tree of Creation.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

“Ouch~!”

The trap set in the center of the "well" shape was triggered again, and the herd of wild boars suddenly stopped, and the wild boar in the front began to scream miserably.

The wild wolves didn't even have the chance to scream, because they were just like the cave bats that Ye Bai had killed in the dungeon, fragile monsters with high attack and low health.

Wild boars are different. Not only are they 3 or 4 levels higher than the average level of wild wolves at 10-12, they are also thick-skinned and tough among monsters. Not only do their health bars usually exceed 800, but their attack damage is also good. The disadvantage is that their attack method is ramming, and they have poor maneuverability and are not flexible enough.

At this time, the wild boar stepped into the trap and did not die immediately like the wolves. Instead, it entered a state of low health and howled because of the pain. The formation suddenly became chaotic and began to rush in all directions.

As early as the first wild boar stepped into the trap, Ye Bai raised the bow in his hand, put a rocket on the bowstring, and pointed it at the circle of haystacks set up during the day.

Draw the bow, pull the arrow - shoot!

...The shot went astray!

"Cough..." Feeling the gazes of the five people next to him all falling on him, Ye Bai coughed dryly and continued to quickly pick up another rocket.

Look, with the bow and arrow's touching hit rate, it's no wonder Ye Bai didn't choose it as his initial weapon to play the dungeon at the beginning.

"call out!"

The second rocket immediately ignited the previously placed haystack, and the flames shot up high, illuminating the surrounding residential area like daylight.

The non-free mode that Ye Bai had been using would be affected by the hit rate, but compared to her own archery skills, this mode was obviously more reliable. After all, the system's hit rate was directly affected by the distance and the target. The haystack was only thirty meters away from here, and the target was still very large. The fact that the first arrow did not hit the target was really a sign of Ye Bai's "luck plummeting."

As the haystacks caught fire, the wild boars, which had been lost, finally found their way - anywhere, except in the residential area where the flames were.

'Fear of fire' is a characteristic that all beasts have. The only difference is that the action priority is different for different beasts.

After the wild boar fell into the trap, it ran rampant in the residential area. Even though Ye Baixian had ordered all the villagers to stay at home, it would be troublesome if the wild boar accidentally broke into the houses.

After the flames appeared, the wild boars scattered out of the residential area and fell to the ground one after another after running a few steps.

The 100% triggered bleeding effect will take away 30 points of health per second. In addition, the slowdown and disability rates are increased to 90% and 50% under the effect of the source energy crystal. These wild boars, whose health bars have been cut by half by the trap, can't struggle for much time.

"Very good!"

Seeing this scene, the four nervous villagers around Ye Bai breathed a sigh of relief and cheered when they saw that the crisis was over.

At this time, Ye Bai raised his bow and arrow, and with the bowstring, the cold arrow tip pointed towards the uncut woods in the north.

"It's not over yet."

Carrie seemed to sense something, and her eyes looked in the same direction as Ye Bai's.

Seeing this, the other four villagers felt nervous and looked over.

The woods were quiet.

Then, faint, heavy footsteps were heard...

Unlike wild boars, the footsteps were slower and heavier. Step by step, rhythmically, seemed to step on people's hearts, with an inexplicable deterrent effect.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The footsteps grew louder and louder, and I could see the leaves on the branches swaying.

Suddenly, a crisp "clang" sounded, and the thudding footsteps stopped. This was the familiar sound of a trap taking effect.

Just when the four villagers were cheered up——

"Dong, dong..." The footsteps sounded again.

This time it was faster. Obviously, the owner of the footsteps was not seriously injured by the trap like the wild wolves and wild boars. Instead, he seemed to be enraged and quickened his pace in this direction.

A moment later, a tall shadow emerged from the woods.

The man was three meters tall when standing up, with a pair of eyes that had turned scarlet like those of other beasts, and his brown-black fur was covered with a layer of silver light under the reflection of the spore light.

With an 'Identification' skill, some of the attributes of this giant brown bear appeared in Ye Bai's eyes.

Brown Bear

Level: 18

Status: Frenzy, Bleeding, Slowdown

HP: 3040/4000

Compared with the wild boars and wolves before, the health bar is wider and more complicated, which clearly shows the identity of this brown bear as an [elite monster].

"Today's protagonist is here." Ye Bai said with a smile.