Chapter 76: Everyone Can Cultivate |
“Brother, what do you think of my proposal?”
Xia Hong, who had been trying to guess Luo Ming’s intentions, was interrupted by Xia Chuan. Deciding not to speculate any further, he roughly calculated in his mind and then said:
“Let’s follow the rules you proposed, but I want to add two more points. First, the age limit for the reserves can now be relaxed to between thirteen and thirty years old; second, those under thirteen will also receive five jin of Frost Beast meat every month.”
Seeing Xia Chuan’s anxious expression after hearing this, Xia Hong raised his hand in a calming gesture, signaling him to listen further.
“I have the population data for the camp. The age group from thirteen to thirty totals just over one hundred, about thirty more than your initial count. Even including them, the monthly additional Frost Beast meat consumption is roughly a thousand jin.
The under-thirteen group is slightly larger, about one hundred and fifty. At five jin per person per month, that adds up to just over seven hundred jin.
In other words, the two points I added mean we only need to hunt two extra Frost Beasts per month to fully cover it.”
According to Xia Chuan’s calculations, successfully hunting four adult Frost Beasts a month would cover the current consumption. Adding these two points would bring the total to six per month, which is entirely feasible.
“Six Frost Beasts a month—are you still afraid we can’t manage that?”
In reality, just one month ago, they had hunted more than six Frost Beasts. With iron tools now improving their hunting ability drastically, and considering the terrifying Frost Beast density in Redwood Ridge, hunting six per month should definitely be doable.
But the problem was that hunting carried risks.
The recent Snow Mane they hunted seemed straightforward, but that was with ten people working together, the blessing of the Jinghan Blade, and their knowledge of Snow Mane behavior. It was a combination of many factors.
So far, they had only encountered three types of Frost Beasts. Facing unknown beasts would still be very risky.
Besides, risking lives just to feed the ordinary people in the camp didn’t seem worth it to Xia Chuan.
After much thought, Xia Chuan finally spoke.
“Brother, hunting two more Frost Beasts means taking greater risks. For these ordinary people in the camp, I think it’s not worth it.
Also, the hunting area we have access to, including the original territory of Boulder Camp, covers only about a thousand meters from north to south. Although Frost Beasts are dense, the area is still limited. Adding two more kills might quickly wipe out the beasts in this zone.
Then, we’ll have to venture deeper into Redwood Ridge, which is even more dangerous.”
As Xia Chuan spoke, the three of them arrived at the cave entrance of the camp.
“Greetings, leader!”
“Greetings, leader.”
“The leader has returned…”
“Brother Chuan, Brother Cheng are back as well.”
“All right, you guys get back to your own tasks.”
Xia Hong smiled as he responded to the people greeting him at the cave entrance, then led the two inside the camp. They walked all the way to the smelting furnace before Xia Hong gestured for them to sit. Then, pointing at the ordinary people in the camp, he asked Xia Chuan:
“What do you think these people mean to the camp right now?”
Xia Chuan was momentarily stunned, then after a brief pause, answered with two words:
“A burden.”
“Exactly, a burden. So, are you willing to abandon them?”
Both Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng immediately fell silent.
The answer was obvious—they were not willing to abandon them. Aside from the fact that some of those ordinary people were their family and friends, even without relationships, living together for so many years would naturally create emotional bonds.
“You said risking more for these people isn’t worth it. I can understand that. But think about it, before they gained the ability to go out, we were already taking risks for them.
Hunting, gathering Crystal Fruit, logging, and future mining—all of these require going out. Who can guarantee absolute safety? Isn’t that also risking?”
After saying this, Xia Hong exhaled lightly, his expression growing serious.
It was a common consensus that ordinary people were a burden.
They couldn’t go out. Forget logging, hunting, or mining; even moving wood required several people. Previously, they didn’t dare open the cave entrance at night, so even collecting snow water had to be done by the lumberjack team.
When the Golden-Eyed Demon Goat attacked, aside from Xia Hong leading Xia Chuan and six others to resist, the other hundred-plus people could only watch helplessly.
If that was the case with Frost Beasts, the even stronger Abominations were out of the question.
The destruction of Boulder Camp and the tragedy of Rogge Camp were brutal lessons right before their eyes.
Xia Hong wasn’t blaming these people. Under resource shortages, ordinary people in any camp were burdens. They couldn’t help at all, and to maintain their survival, the camp’s active forces had to risk their lives venturing outside.
Going out inevitably involved danger, while the ordinary people inside, though safe, couldn’t help or produce anything.
This was a zero-sum game. If it continued, the camp could never develop healthily.
Everyone in the camp had to participate in development.
In the terms of the previous life, this meant liberating their productive forces.
The first step was to provide enough Frost Beast meat.
After all, without the ability to go out, everything was empty talk.
Allowing more people to contribute more power and participate in the camp’s development was worth taking some initial risks.
Moreover, this risk would not last long.
Through his own cultivation progress, Xia Hong had realized that the Lumberjack Realm and Digging Realm were almost threshold-free for humans. With sufficient Frost Beast meat, anyone could break through. The only difference was speed, influenced by age and talent.
With more people at the Lumberjack Realm, Xia Hong and the others could focus entirely on hunting without worrying about logging. Mining would follow the same logic.
More people each performing their role and contributing would enrich the camp’s output. Using these outputs to support the camp would create a virtuous cycle. Great Xia could then develop to its fullest potential.
After explaining his thoughts in detail, Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng quickly fell into contemplation. Unlike the last time when proposing the four-tier classification method, this time they understood much faster.
In fact, the very fact that Xia Chuan had proposed the four-tier division showed his thinking was already close to Xia Hong’s. So he quickly accepted Xia Hong’s words.
“Have you ever thought that maybe one day, everyone in Great Xia will be able to cultivate, and even children five or six years old will have the strength of the Lumberjack Realm?”
“Leader, don’t joke around.”
“Brother, you’re dreaming. How is that possible?”
Xia Hong’s last sentence made Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng laugh out loud.
The idea that everyone could cultivate was already outrageous enough. Children that young having Lumberjack Realm strength was simply fantasy to them.
Unless the Frost Beasts just lay there motionless, waiting to be killed.
Xia Hong didn’t refute them. After a moment’s thought, he laughed with them:
“Hahaha, just joking. You two go tally the numbers and announce the new meat distribution rules. Let everyone be happy!”
Watching them leave, Xia Hong hid the smile on his face and looked around the camp with a flicker of ambition in his eyes.
He wasn’t joking. With the camp system, this day for Great Xia was only a matter of time.
After Xia Chuan announced the new meat distribution rules set by Xia Hong, the camp naturally erupted in cheers and applause.
Especially the newly merged Boulder Camp members—when they heard that everyone would get Frost Beast meat, and that they were included, at first they couldn’t believe it. After confirming it was true, tears streamed down their faces in an instant.
Seeing the massive crowd rush toward him, Xia Hong immediately sensed what was happening. He hurried to stand and tried to speak to stop them.
But before he could open his mouth, the crowd surged forward, with some people even carrying him high.
“Long live the leader!”
“Long live the leader!”
“Long live the leader!”
The loud cheers, though uneven, were all filled with gratitude and reverence. As the cheers grew louder, this emotion gradually turned into fanaticism.
But at that moment, a familiar voice suddenly came from outside the cave.
“Brother Xia Hong, good to find you on the road!”
Though not loud, the voice was clearly heard inside the cave, interrupting the cheering crowd.
Everyone immediately fell silent, some looking nervously toward the cave entrance.