Strategic Planning and Talent Distribution
To refine the Awakening Pill, one needs five types of monster bones above the sixth rank boiled into a soup, plus ten inner pills and ten spar. This process yields ten Awakening Pills at once. Yuto Saito thought that when the time came, he could let team members No. 3 through No. 12 take these ten Awakening Pills first. He could then privately restore his talent to Yun Yun through inheritance.
Currently, they possessed two of the necessary sixth-order materials: the six-winged centipede and the giant brown bear. Three more materials were still needed. In the early days of the apocalypse, sixth-order monsters were hard to come by, but a week after the initial outbreak, they would become much more common. I heard a sixth-order Overlord Salamander appeared in Sichuan Province, Yuto mused. Why not look for it tomorrow?
With that thought, Yuto Saito addressed the girls, "Everyone, quiet down, I have something to say." The chatting ceased.
"You all performed well today," Yuto said, "gaining a lot of experience and spar, making a great contribution to the Floating Island. We have three tasks for tomorrow."
"First, we need to find more monsters above the sixth rank to refine the Awakening Pill as soon as possible. We currently have two of the five required sixth-order materials, so three are still needed. I've heard there are sixth-order Overlord Salamanders in Sichuan Province; you can look for them tomorrow. Also, Natto, you should constantly monitor the comments and private messages. If any netizens provide locations for monsters above the sixth rank, inform everyone immediately."
Natto nodded. "Okay."
Yuto Saito continued, "Second, we still need over 2,000 spar to upgrade the Floating Island again. Let's strive to get the Floating Island to Level 5 tomorrow."
Everyone nodded. "No problem."
"Third, farming will begin tomorrow. Mifen, your parents will be primarily responsible for this. Ruoruo, please send a message to the female classmates living in Building 2 and ask them to gather at the community gate at 8 AM tomorrow morning."
"Okay, I'll notify them immediately," Ruoruo responded.
Yuto Saito suddenly remembered something. He had previously given each of the girls ten double experience pills. However, Chen Xinyu, being a new member, didn't have any, and he didn't have any double experience pills on him either. He couldn't just give Chen Xinyu ten triple experience pills; if the other girls found out, it would be difficult to explain. While he had privately given Yun Yun five times the experience pills before, he could confidently say Yun Yun was his wife, and he could give her whatever he wanted. But for a new member, Yuto Saito couldn't find an excuse. If the other girls knew, they would inevitably feel it was unfair.
Yuto Saito had an idea, and a smile touched his lips. He took out eleven triple experience pills. "Here," he said to the girls, "each of you take one of these eleven triple experience pills. Chen Xinyu just joined, and she doesn't have any double experience pills, and I don't have any on me either. So, each of you, please give Chen Xinyu one of your double experience pills."
"Okay," Yuqi nodded.
Yuto Saito's meaning was clear: use a triple experience pill to effectively 'buy' a double experience pill from each of them for Chen Xinyu. This way, the distribution of double experience pills among the girls would largely be balanced.
Chen Xinyu happily accepted the experience pill. She looked at the rosy pill in her hand, finding it amazing. "Do you eat one of these experience pills every day?" she asked.
Yuqi explained, "It's most cost-effective to eat them when you encounter a large group of zombies or monsters. Each experience pill only lasts for one hour. After taking it, you'll gain an experience bonus based on the pill's multiplier."
Ni Shuang smiled. "Don't worry, we'll definitely remind you when we take our experience pills."
Yuqi nodded. "Yes, we'll tell you."
"Okay, I understand," Chen Xinyu said, feeling cared for by everyone and experiencing the warmth of a home.
Family and Progression
"By the way," Yuto Saito said, "everyone else has brought relatives to the island. Xinyu, where's your family? We can pick them up."
Chen Xinyu's brows furrowed slightly as she said softly, "My hometown is the capital. My parents... they passed away five years ago in an accident. They're no longer here."
"I'm sorry," Yuto Saito said, looking at her with a hint of sadness. He hadn't expected Chen Xinyu's experience to be so similar to his own.
Yuqi put her arms around Chen Xinyu and held her close. Today, Chen Xinyu was lively and cheerful, seeming to have come to terms with her past. In Demon Capital, a large-scale zombie outbreak had occurred just yesterday morning. If her parents had still been there, they likely would have turned into zombies.
A faint smile appeared on Chen Xinyu's face. "I'm fine, I came to terms with it a long time ago. Now that I've met all of you, I feel the warmth of a home, and I look forward to the future even more."
"It's great that you can think that way," Yuqi smiled. "I was just thinking about how to comfort you."
"Don't worry," Chen Xinyu said firmly. "I'm not that weak. I have five-star combat power now!"
Yuqi smiled and gave Chen Xinyu a thumbs-up. "Amazing!"
Natto smiled, relieved she was no longer the lowest-ranked in the team.
Yuto Saito checked his personal panel and saw he now had 119,700 experience points. Earlier, Ni Shuang and the others had gone to Lighthouse Country, killing ten ordinary zombies and gaining 100 experience points. Yun Yun and the others had killed three Tier 6 giant brown bears, earning 1,800 experience points. They also killed 101 second-order colorful pheasants, gaining 20,200 experience points. Excluding the newly joined Chen Xinyu, everyone else had gained 22,100 experience.
Yuto Saito spent 100,000 experience points to upgrade his Beast Mastery talent to Level 5. Although the Beast Master talent didn't add attributes, Yuto Saito thought the panel looked better with it upgraded. Once his Beast Mastery talent was higher, Yuto Saito planned to consider taking a few monsters as pets, then he could direct them to kill other low-level monsters and zombies. At that point, the combat power of a high-level monster would be far superior to recruiting an army.
Yuto Saito took a closer look at the character panel:
Name: Yuto Saito
Level: Level 6 (0/10 million)
Combat Strength: 3666
Strength Evaluation: 36 stars
Talents: Psychic LV6 (0/10 million), Herculean Strength LV6, Thunder LV6, Freeze LV6, Charm LV6, Powerful Recovery LV6, Flight LV6, Enhanced Hearing LV6, Charged Strike LV6, Golden Bell Shield LV6, Teleport LV5 (0/1 million), Enhanced Vision LV5, Beast Mastery LV5.
Experience: 19,700
Items: 5 green spar, 3 redite, 6,882 white spar, 10 replica cards, 2 fifth-grade rings, 11 first-grade rings, and 73 ordinary rings. 9 10x experience pills, 29 5x experience pills, and 39 3x experience pills.
The current team strengths were as follows:
Yuto Saito: Level 6, combat power 3666, strength 36 stars...
Yun Yun: Level 6, combat power 1228, strength 12 stars, Lightning LV6, Ice LV6. Experience 2.65 million+.
Ni Shuang: Level 6, combat power 970, strength 9 stars. Herculean Strength LV6. Experience 300,000+.
Mina: Level 6, combat power 992, peak strength 9 stars. Charm LV6. Experience 300,000+.
Juzi: Level 6, combat power 990, peak strength 9 stars. Enhanced Hearing LV6. Experience 300,000+.
Ruoruo: Level 6, combat power 972, strength 9 stars. Recovery LV6. Experience 300,000+.
Nako: Level 6, combat power 970, strength 9 stars. Flight LV6. Experience 300,000+.
Yuqi: Level 6, combat power 962, strength 9 stars. Flight LV6. Experience 300,000+.
Natto: Level 6, combat power 958, strength 9 stars. Golden Bell Shield LV6. Experience 300,000+.
Hu Tuan'er: Level 6, combat power 984, strength 9 stars. Teleport LV6. Experience 220,000+.
Mifen: Level 6, combat power 966, strength 9 stars. Sixth-grade refining pharmacist. Experience 220,000+.
Chen Xinyu: Level 1, combat power 520, strength 5 stars. Experience 0.
Yuto Saito saw that there were 2 fifth-grade rings and 11 first-grade rings. "Xiaoyun and the others got two fifth-grade rings when they fought the brown bear," he announced. "One for Xiaoshuang and one for Natto. Your third-grade rings will be passed on to others according to team number."
"Okay," Ni Shuang and Natto happily took the fifth-grade rings and gave their third-grade rings to Mina and Juzi, respectively. Ruoruo and Nako already had rings. So, Mina and Juzi gave their first-grade rings to Yuqi and Hu Tuan'er, respectively. Yuto Saito then took out two first-grade rings and gave them to Mifen and Chen Xinyu.
From that moment on, everyone in the team wore at least a first-grade or higher ring. Among them, Yuto Saito possessed a sixth-grade ring with 10 million cubic meters of space. Yunyun, Ni Shuang, and Natto had five-grade rings with 1 million cubic meters of space. Mina and Juzi had three-grade rings with 10,000 cubic meters of space. The rest had first-grade rings with 100 cubic meters of space.
"Everyone use these for now," Yuto Saito said. "Later, when we get better rings, they'll be distributed to everyone according to team number."
"Okay," the women all agreed, none of them expressing any objections.
"Ruoruo," Yuto Saito asked, "have you sent a message to the people in Building 2?"
"It's already posted," Ruoruo replied. "I told them to gather at the gate of the floating community at 8 AM tomorrow morning."
Yuto Saito nodded. "Okay, everyone worked hard today. Xiaoshuang, why don't you sing a song for us?"
"Huh?" Ni Shuang was baffled. "Why suddenly ask me to sing? I thought everyone would go back to their rooms to rest."
Yuto Saito smiled. "I suddenly want to hear you sing, can't I?"
"Sing a song, sing a song!" Natto coaxed with a smile.
Ni Shuang said, "Well, I'll sing with Natto, okay?"
Yuto Saito nodded. "Of course! Natto, come on!"
Natto gave Ni Shuang a playful glare. "My dear, you pulled me into this!"
Ni Shuang smiled. "Good sisters, we must share weal and woe!"
"Okay, since it's a happy day, here's a song!" Natto said with a big smile. Ni Shuang and Natto then sang "Hua Tuo Is Here" together. Their singing was strong and very pleasant. After the song, the group applauded.
"It sounds great!" Chen Xinyu said, surprised. "Are you professional singers?"
"They were originally singers," Yuqi explained.
Natto laughed self-deprecatingly. "We're 18th-line singers."
Ni Shuang was modest. "Yes, the kind that isn't famous."
Yuto Saito teased, "Don't listen to their nonsense. They have a lot of original songs, all of which are very good. At the very least, they must be 17th-line singers."
"Goodness, Xiao Tutu, you're making fun of me!" Ni Shuang said, beaming.
"Brother Su, how could you?" Natto said playfully.
The atmosphere in the house was very harmonious and filled with laughter.