The post title read: "Warning! Dark Elf Squad!"
Clicking on it revealed several pictures of monsters along with their stats. The tall, slender figures with pointed ears marked them as Dark Elves.
The Dark Elf squad encountered by Papaya Starling was almost identical to the one Han Xing had faced.
In the post, Papaya Starling emphasized the strength of these Dark Elves and their intense aggression. He had barely escaped with his life, almost perishing there. He also warned other survivors to pay attention to the system notifications. If they saw anything about "Corrupted Creatures," they must avoid it at all costs, or else they would likely meet a grim fate.
After reading the post, many survivors felt a sense of relief.
"Dark Elves are strong monsters. I hope I don't run into them."
"Yeah, it's lucky that Papaya Starling was willing to share this information. If it were us, we might have been killed by the Dark Elves right away."
Han Xing pondered after reading through the chat channel. Papaya Starling had also encountered a Dark Elf squad, but the item they were guarding wasn't the Spirit Spring Water. Instead, it was a silver treasure chest.
"So, it seems that not all Dark Elves are guarding water sources. They might be protecting other treasures."
With this thought, Han Xing relaxed a little, realizing that he could continue to monopolize the Spirit Spring Water for a while longer. But it also served as a reminder that the survivors were growing stronger. Soon enough, they would be able to solve their water problems on their own.
"I need to release another batch of Spirit Spring Water soon," Han Xing thought. "If I wait too long, it might lose its value once everyone is no longer desperate for water."
With this in mind, Han Xing opened the trade channel. Compared to yesterday, there were thousands more trade offers listed.
A smile curled on his lips. "Everyone's been working hard today. Surely they've found a lot of resources, right? After all that effort, they must be quite thirsty, no?"
He let out a sly laugh but quickly wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, realizing he was getting too carried away.
Han Xing then put the Spirit Spring Water back on the market. This time, compared to yesterday, he added more exchange conditions. He removed green equipment blueprints and added other types, such as various territory and defense building blueprints. He also added strong blood essence, herbs, mithril, and other materials for trade.
The appearance of the Spirit Spring Water caused another stir. While not as intense as yesterday, Han Xing still managed to trade for a lot of materials.
After two or three hours of trading, Han Xing had exchanged 432 liters of Spirit Spring Water for three full storage boxes containing materials, filling 2,550 storage slots.
Among the materials were 21,643 energy cores, 45,387 refined iron blocks, 103 one-star beast hides, 86,646 units of rare earth... as well as items like ether, dark fire stones, moonlight grass, and countless others.
However, he didn't manage to trade for any blue equipment or blueprints, as the other survivors weren't foolish. They knew the value of those items.
Unlike yesterday when the trade channel was desperate for water, some groups had now found a bit of drinking water. But for the time being, the healing function of the Spirit Spring Water remained unique, with no competitors in the market.
Han Xing thought to himself, "I still have over 800 liters of Spirit Spring Water. I can probably release one more batch, which will be tomorrow."
"After this sale, the market for Spirit Spring Water will start to shrink, and I won't be able to gather materials from other players as easily."
"But that's fine. I've gathered most of the materials I need. Once I acquire some blue blueprints, I'll mass-produce equipment and sell it to the survivors, kicking off a new wave of profits."
"Then I'll store most of the materials and, once my territory reaches a certain size, I'll begin mass construction of large-scale defensive structures to fortify my territory."
"After that, I'll focus on obtaining new equipment blueprints to keep this cycle going, expanding and growing stronger!"
As he thought this, the smile on Han Xing's face could barely be contained.
Han Xing had laid out his initial plans for the future. There might be unexpected situations along the way, such as version updates, but he was confident in his ability to adapt.
No matter what changes came, he had an advantage that no other survivor had—100% success in crafting!
As long as he had the blueprints, he could mass-produce even divine-level equipment!
He doubted that the other survivors could resist the allure of higher-quality, stronger-attribute gear.
And as long as they had that demand, Han Xing could continue profiting from them.
With these thoughts in mind, Han Xing looked up at the sky. It was late into the night, and after a full day of exploration and continuous battles, he was starting to feel fatigued.
"That's enough for today. Fighting while tired isn't a wise move."
He glanced at the system interface for his exotic beast egg.
[Time remaining until hatching: 76 hours, 17 minutes, and 48 seconds…]
"There are still over 70 hours left until it hatches. Hopefully, whatever creature is inside won't disappoint me…"
Han Xing lay down on his bed, ready to fall asleep again.
Meanwhile, in the territories of other survivors...
A middle-aged man wearing a mage's robe and holding a bronze staff was in the middle of a battle with a group of jungle boars.
He waved his staff, and a fireball the size of a basin slowly formed. Without hesitation, he hurled it into the group of boars. With an explosion, the boars let out cries of pain.
Next, several thumb-sized ice arrows shot forth, piercing through the bodies of a few boars, leaving bloody holes.
Suddenly, a large elite boar charged out of the group, its eyes glowing red as it rushed toward the human mage like a small mountain.
The human mage remained calm. With a wave of his hand, he used a blast of air to widen the distance between himself and the boar. Then, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking the elite boar squarely on the head.
Crack!
The elite boar's body stiffened as black smoke rose from its charred form, and the human mage even caught a whiff of roasted meat.
The elite boar collapsed, leaving only a few ordinary boars. The battle was now a foregone conclusion.
After wiping out the boar herd, the human mage pulled down his hood, revealing the face of a middle-aged man.
He was the leader of the "Whisper of God" guild, known as the Whisperer, currently ranked second on the points leaderboard.
Squatting down, the Whisperer smiled and said, "Excellent. This floating island is 12 square meters. That'll add a nice boost to my points."
He quickly merged the boar territory with his own floating island.
On the leaderboard, his points shot up from 164 to 176, just 8 points away from surpassing Han Xing and claiming first place!
The Whisperer mused, "It's been a while since Xinghe's points changed. Could it be… that he's gone to sleep?"
A sly smile crossed his face as he realized, "How leisurely. But this gives me an opportunity."
"Xinghe, while you're sleeping, I'll surpass you and claim the top spot. That hidden profession scroll will be mine!"
With that, the Whisperer moved his floating island toward the next location.
What he didn't notice, however, was that his eyes were already bloodshot.
Meanwhile, the third-ranked Black Eagle and fourth-ranked Papaya Starling were also racing against time, exploring as fast as they could.
By the time the night was over, the rankings had quietly changed.
...